I organized this from top to bottom, left to right - the first column represents my tastes in middle/high school, the second in college, and the third since I came to Japan. I still listen to all of it (and stuff like it, of course), but yeah. Of course there's a story behind all of these.
1. Eminem - The Slim Shady LP (I know that saying 'I was into Eminem before he got big' is asking for mockery but his older stuff? The b-sides and collabs he was doing around the time this album came out? It's as good as he ever was. Tragedy he went the direction he did after the MM LP)
2. Limp Bizkit - Significant Other (Yeah... angsty teenager phase. I loved the artwork on this album)
3. Weird Al Yankovic - Running With Scissors (I listened to Weird Al since I was a kid, but this is still one of my favorite albums of his - the one time I saw him live was on the Scissors tour)
4. The Pillows - My Foot (College is when I started getting more into Japanese culture, and this is one of my favorite Pillows albums - just the right amount of edge to go w/ that melody)
5. VNV Nation - Empires (My best friend introduced me to the Goth/Industrial scene the summer before my freshman year - it's hard to pick an album to represent that phase in my life but this would come pretty close)
6. Mae - The Everglow (yeah, I know, me and half of RDS)
7. Ellegarden - Eleven Fire Crackers (This is the kind of stuff I've been into lately - melodic punk, except of course all of the Japanese bands, save for Ellegarden, have really bad English. I've pretty much sold my soul to Ellegarden as anyone who's read my concert reports will attest to, and as long as they keep playing I'll gladly pay off the interest)
8. The Cherry Coke$ - Rouse Up (These guys are <i>goddamned awesome</i>. A Japanese Irish-Punk band, I am not shitting you. I'm actually good friends with them through the photos I've taken at their shows. On the same level as Flogging Molly and the Pogues)
9. Various - Atomic Ray (This is actually a compilation of Final Fantasy themes, all happy hardcore/gabber/etc remixes. This is the kinda music I loved but never really knew where to find before I attended Comiket, now I have at least 2-3 gigs of it in my iPod)