Choice of a New Generation by Fifteen started out as my go-to album when I was working at Paradise Cafe circa 1998 (age 25). It was my first real job, I worked my way up from dishwasher to cold prep and salad chef into my last couple years there as a sous chef. This album played almost every day I worked. It made it seem okay, the songs were about personal responsibility and not fearing your emotions. I wasn’t selling my soul, Paradise was the coolest restaurant in town. We had a lot of fun, for a long time I worked with old friends and made so many new ones. I became so much more of an alcoholic working there. That was the biggest problem. I was spending all of my paychecks on beer at the bar before I could even cash them. Fifteen helped in this respect too. In the spring of 2003, I was on my mountain bike every day fifteen or twenty miles, riding bike trails, listening to Fifteen, and sobering up from alcohol. Jeff Ott’s lyrics helped me find the strength to stay clean. Can you feel in debt to an album? This would be one. It taught me how to be an adult. The energetic beats and masterful riffs still heal my soul, and gets me in the mood to make my world better than the way I found it.
FFO Soup, Go Sailor, Jimi Hendrix
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Mystery Doll 