I started working at Google in 2003, when it was still a smallish company. I think there were about 2,400 employees when I joined.

I worked out of a Denver sales office, removed from the Googleplex, writing AdWords ads for advertisers in the mountain states. 25-35-35 is etched in my brain like the winning lotto number from Lost.

I’ve seen Sheryl Sandberg just a handful of times: once in a meeting, and I’ve sat through many of her speechs at sales conferences.

Immediately you could tell she was special. There were a lot of special people at Google, but she stood out, even among them all.

The first few weeks of my time at Google were spent at the old Googleplex in Mountain View for training. I was in the first of a pilot training program for new employees in sales; remote new hires spent a month on campus in the hopes that we would be inculcated in the Google values before going to work full time in Denver, LA, New York & Chicago — away from all of the perks and personality of the mothership.

My first week there my new hire class — a group of 25-30 bright, ambitious young people from all over the world — was scheduled for a special meeting with Sheryl Sandberg.

We met with Sheryl in a large, open conference room with rows of seats meant for presentations.

Sheryl asked us to each take a chair and form a circle, and we sat facing each other, awkwardly at first. She tucked both of her legs underneath her and sat cross-legged in the chair.

I don’t remember what Sheryl said to us in exact words. This was 10 years ago. But I remember how she make all of us feel, which was special and important.

She said that every job at Google, no matter what level, mattered because it was helping to change the world.

Which ended up being true. Google has changed how the world finds information, and I think we take that for granted now.

This sounds hokey, but what she said was important to me because at Google I was surrounded by people who were much smarter and more accomplished than I was, and I felt outclassed and overrated.

But she was saying that didn’t matter. I was here for a reason. Every time I was scared and insecure in my job, I tried to conjure those things that Sheryl told us.

After training ended, I saw her only at sales conferences, where she gave inspirational pep talks to the sales force, striding up and down hotel ballroom aisles with a microphone, power dress-suit, and baby bump.

The women in the room would invariably turn to each other and say, “I love Sheryl Sandberg” because she spoke with such sincere conviction and level-headed poise that was totally feminine and modern.

The last time I saw Sheryl was in 2008, when I was trying to figure out what was next after Google. Sheryl had just joined Facebook as COO.

I was in downtown Palo Alto at a coffee shop for breakfast, and just as I was leaving, Sheryl walked up to the front door in a long peasant skirt, sandals, and wet hair, patting her head as she looked at her reflection in the glass. Just like a regular girl would. She walked over to a guy waiting at a table for a meeting with her.

She didn’t recognize me of course, and I kept on walking even though I wanted to tell her congratulations: Facebook had made a great choice and would be very successful. But I didn’t. I figured she already knew.

Your mission

Move a massive solid maple Room & Board desk from your apartment in downtown Chicago to a storage facility in the burbs.

The challenge

You have no SUV and no friends with SUVs. You don’t want to rent a van from a traditional rental place because 1) they’re expensive 2) you don’t need it for the entire day 3) you don’t want to have to take the train out to O’Hare to pick it up 4) you’ve had issues in the past with truck rental reliability 5) standing in line at rental places is a time suck 6) their online booking experiences are circa 1996.

The solution

Zipcar. There’s a service in Chicago and other major cities called Zipcar (I know, you’ve already heard of it) that allows you to rent cars by the hour inexpensively. It’s a really interesting system: you get a membership to Zipcar, place a reservation online, walk down to the parking lot where the car is (there are Zipcar lots all over Chicago), use your Zipcar card to magnetically unlock the car, and you get in and drive away and return the car at the end of your reservation.

You don’t have to pay for gas or insurance, just a yearly membership fee of $60, a $25 application fee, and the hourly rate of the vehicle.

Zipcar recently added cargo vans to the fleet — and there’s typically one Zipvan per lot.

The execution

Signing up for Zipcar took only about 5 minutes online. They do a driving record check, and since I have a clean record (except for that time I clipped that 70-year-old woman crossing the street with my Beetle in the West Loop and just kept driving KIDDING, HA) I was approved immediately.

You can either have your Zipcard mailed to you, or you can pick it up at a Zipcar office location by presenting your driver’s license and credit card. I opted to pick up the card since there was a Zipcar office close to my office downtown. If you go the mail route, make sure you get your membership set up at least a couple weeks before you need your first reservation.

Reserving online was intuitive and easy. The van was priced at $17.75 per hour, and I booked a 4-hour window so we’d have plenty of time to get out to the burbs and back (you have to return the van to the same location from which you picked it up) and not be late. Zipcar charges $50 per hour if you go over your reservation time.

Yesterday (a Saturday) I had a reservation from 10am – 2pm.

My husband Jason and I walked down to the Zipcar lot, which was only a couple blocks from our apartment.

There was no cargo van there.

I get an indication on my iPhone that there’s a voicemail. I listen to it: it’s a Zipcar agent informing me that the party who rented the van before us is stuck in traffic and will be 30 – 45 minutes late.

OK, NBD I think, but I’m a little pissed. We walk back to the apartment, and I call Zipcar to figure out what that means for us. Do we get the van an extra hour? Do I get a refund for the hour they’re used up, etc.

I’m on hold for 5 minutes, and when I talk to an agent, it turns out that someone has booked the van directly after us, so we can’t just push our reservation back an hour. We have to shorten our reservation window to 3 hours, and we get a refund for that lost hour.

So I rebook the reservation for 11am. We walk down to the lot at 11am.

No van, still. We stand there waiting for 20 minutes. It’s starting to rain. No van.

I’m starting to get snippy, and Jason is starting to have regrets about marrying to me. Good thing there’s not an app for instant divorces (or is there? probably so).

Trying to fight back turning into She-Hulk, I can’t believe these jerks ahead of us are so bad at planning they’re almost two hours late. SHE-HULK IS AN EXCELLENT PLANNER AND THIS MUST BE RESPECTED.

They get charged for being late — $50 per hour — but it’s really throwing our plans out the window. And it’s funny: I thought about booking the van in the earlier slot in case something like this would happen, but I wanted to have a leisurely Saturday morning and not have to be out the door at 7am.

But, there’s a homeless guy sitting a few yards from us. Keep this shit in perspective, yuppie. This is not critical. No lives are lost.

So I call Zipcar again, tell the agent what’s going on, and she says that the next time available for the van is from 6pm onwards and they would give us driving credit for the inconvenience, so the van would be free pretty much be free, except for the membership fee and application fee.

So, this is what happens: we pick up the van at 7pm; move the desk; return van. End of story. In total it would have cost us $136.50 for 3 hours, including membership & application. We ended up being charged $84.98 after the inconvenience fees refunded $53.23.

Zipvan pros:

• Clean, new, well-maintained Ford cargo van in your neighborhood that you just walk up to, unlock, & drive
• Easy to book online or by app
• Hourly rather than daily charges
• Don’t have to pay for gas
• iPod adaptor
• Pretty friendly customer service by phone

Zipvan cons:

• You’re at the mercy of other members’ time management skills
• There’s only one Zipvan per location, so if it doesn’t show, you’re SOL or need to find another location or time
• If YOU have poor time management skills, this could get expensive

Grade: B

If timing is critical, book a few hours of buffer around your reservation time. If you need to start moving by 10am, book the van for 9am to minimize the disruption if someone doesn’t return on time. If they don’t show, call Zipcar, and they’ll refund you the lost hour. If they do show, great. You can start early.

Moving shit always takes more time than you think it will. For the benefit of yourself and others, book more time than you’ll need, just in case you run into traffic or something unforeseen happens. You could save yourself late fees and getting punched in the face by the next reservation behind you. It’s just good karma.

Yep, I know I’m biased because I work for Twitter, but I’m really bullish about American Express’s Sync with Twitter program.

Not only have I saved $90 in the past two weeks using Amex deal hashtags, but I’ve been really impressed with the redemption execution.

After I tweet the hashtag, I get an @reply from Amex letting me know I’m enrolled in the deal, and a couple minutes after placing my order with the retailer, I get an email from Amex confirming I’ll be credited.

The only piece of  “Yeah….but…” criticism I’ve heard from people is “I don’t want to spam my followers with a bunch irrelevant tweets.”

That’s something I’m sensitive too as well, and after I synced my first deal, I figured this might be the case with other less-talkative tweeters as well.

This can be easily solved by replying either to the retailer or Amex handle.

Instead of sending out a tweet with the deal hashtag to all of your followers’ timelines, an @reply will be seen only by your followers who follow that handle (@americanexpress, @zappos, etc) — limiting its visibility to only the people who would probably be most interested in seeing the hashtag deal.

Problem solved.

Persona

1967

Director: Ingmar Bergman

Principal Actors: Bibi Andersson, Liv Ullmann

Gut-level Take

Sometimes it’s exhausting being yourself. Or knowing who your self should be.

Basic Plot

Liv Ullmann plays an actress who stops talking. By choice? Psychosomatic illness? Bibi Andersson plays the nurse assigned as her caretaker as she convalesces at a seaside cottage.

Themes

• Short hair vs long hair
• Introverts in the spotlight will eventually snap
• Spend enough time around someone else, and you’ll start acting like them
• You’re more transparent than you realize
• Not all women want to be mothers
• The tyranny of the beautiful
• Silence is a potent weapon

Unexpected Awesomeness

• Minimalistic Swedish 60s wardrobe. You will want to wear dark turtlenecks and stare meaningfully out to sea.
• Sven Nykvist. Sven Nykvist. Sven Nykvist. Cinematography that will make you wish more films were made in B&W.
• Seeing the stylistic origins of Stardust Memories.
• The film gets better in retrospect. I didn’t enjoy watching it. But afterwards, after thinking about it, it became a good film.

Harry & Tonto

1974

Director: Paul Mazursky

Principal Actors: Art Carney, Tonto the Cat

Gut-level Take

Everything either changes or dies. Observe it, accept it, and keep moving on.

Basic Plot

Evicted from his lifelong apartment in New York, old-guy Harry and his old cat Tonto take a road trip west meeting sweet, eccentric people along the way.

Themes

• The death of your generation and its culture
• Meeting strangers is transformative
• Individualism vs community
• Animals as family
• Is the world really getting more dangerous, or do we just perceive it to be more so?

Unexpected Awesomeness

• 1970s economy referred to as the “worst since the Great Depression” — gave me hope that the dire economy now will eventually get better
• Melanie Mayron (eccentric photographer in Thirtysomething) as a kooky young runaway with crazy round glasses
• A road movie in which nothing bad happens to the travelers
• Larry Hagman as a wanna-be West Coast playboy with a penchant for tightly tied neck scarves

Full Metal Jacket

1987

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Principle actors: Matthew Modine, Vincent D’Onofrio

Gut-level take

It’s impossible to be ironic, detached, intellectual, and objective in war.

Basic plot

A journalist enlists in the Marines, and we follow his journey from basic training to reporting on the front during the Tet Offensive.

Themes

• The importance of chain of command
• Sadism and bullying
• The desire for peace vs vengeance
• Price of freedom via militarism

Unexpected Awesomeness

• Hearing the origin of 2 Live Crew’s “Me So Horny” samples
• John Terry (Christian Shepard on Lost) as a journalist lieutenant
• Seeing the origin of R. Lee Ermey’s drill sergeant persona in pop culture

See also: the Kickstarter project to turn Matthew Modine’s limited edition book Full Metal Jacket Diaries into an iPad app.

The Conversation

1974

Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola

Principal actors: Gene Hackman & Harrison Ford

Gut-level take

An introvert’s greatest nightmare is being observed without knowing it.

Basic plot

Gene Hackman plays a guarded surveillance expert hired to record the conversation of two people in SF’s Union Square but his morality starts to intrude on his professionalism and exactitude.

Themes

• Advanced technology eroding privacy
• Paranoia
• Isolation
• Fear of being duped despite exceptional intelligence and research
• Perception vs reality

Unexpected Awesomeness

• Harrison Ford as a charismatic, ambitious executive assistant
• San Francisco in the 1970s
• Haunting piano score by David Shire
• Old-school character-driven narrative that challenges our current attention spans.
• Cindy Williams looks like Zooey Deschanel! Or vice versa!

See also “Old-School Paranoia” by Benjamin Strong.

It was the summer of 1990. I was 14 years old and at a crossroads.

New Kids on the Block, Sweet Valley High books, and Growing Pains didn’t appeal to me anymore, and I was looking for whatever would come next.

I’m not sure how I came across Sassy magazine for the first time, but it was probably while browsing the magazine rack at a suburban Minneapolis Super America, looking for something to read other than the YM I had already read and the dozens of boy-crazy rags like The Big Bopper with Kirk Cameron’s goofy mug on the cover.

I remember reading Sassy for the first time knowing immediately that it was different. It called bullshit on the crap that other teen magazines fawned over and instead covered independent film, music and NYC culture. It was honest and funny and ironic, and it had the tone of a street-wise older sister who was much cooler than I was.

Sassy’s awesomeness is well documented on the internet—there’s even a book about it—so I’m not unique in saying that Sassy magazine changed my life. And it did, in a big way.

Back in the summer of 1990, Sassy’s editors compiled a small pull-out booklet for the July issue of the magazine. Titled 150 Things to Read, Watch, and Listen To, So You Don’t Die of Boredom This Summer, it was an annotated list of seminal records, movies, and books that were favorites of the editors and writers.

Not only had I not seen, listened to, or read any of the titles in the booklet, and I not even HEARD of most of them. And this intrigued me. It was like the cooler older sister was throwing down the gauntlet to see if I was up to the challenge.

And so I made it my personal quest to find the books, movies & music on the list and study them that summer.

Of course, this was all before the internet, before Amazon, Google, eBay, Netflix, YouTube, and iTunes made it ridiculously easy to find anything that you want instantly.

This was when tracking down physical copies of obscure titles was a quest, and the hunt became part of the media’s meaning.

A lot of the stuff on the list I flat-out didn’t get.

Movies I watched went right over my head—Dr. Strangelove for example. And when I listened to a band like the Buzzcocks, I heard mostly noise.

But though some of the movies, books, and music were cryptic to my 14-year-old brain, they planted something in my unconsciousness, and they created a life-long love of Stanley Kubrick, Lou Reed, and Frank Conroy.

In fact, I can trace just about every piece of media that I love back to that pull-out booklet from 1990.

Like almost all pieces of ephemera, my pull-out booklet was thrown out in the trash, and I never saw it again.

Until this spring when I was able to track down on eBay a July 1990 copy of Sassy with the booklet intact.

In the spirit of the true Internet, where everything is shared and nothing is ever lost, I decided to digitize the booklet’s suggestions so some 14-year-old girl has instant access to all the media it took me years to find on foot back in the ’90s.

To today’s 14-year-old girl, most of the stuff on the list is going to seem dated. But I hope it will help her understand her Gen X parents better, and know that wherever we are right now in culture, it came from someplace else.

The Movies/Videos

The Music

The Books

Download a copy of the scanned booklet

Get the background on this list.

Videos/Movies

Adam’s Rib

Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy play husband-and-wife lawyers on opposite sides of a women’s right’s case. (Comedy/Drama)

Annie Hall

The best break-up movie ever, through the eyes of Woody Allen. (Comedy/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex.)

Baby, It’s You

A doctor’s preppy daughter takes up with a greaser, much to the horror of your equally preppie friends. (Drama/Romance/Comedy/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

Barbarella

Pre-politicized Jane Fonda as a space-traveling sex kitten. Also where Duran Duran got their name. (Comedy/Sci-Fi/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

Birdy

Matthew Modine is a shell-shocked Vietnam vet who thinks he’s a bird. Nicholas Cage tries to help. (Drama/There is no way you’ll guess the ending/Cute boy fest/Sob alert/Movie with a message)

The Blob

Double feature: See Steve McQueen in the 1958 original, then view the ’88 remake with Kevin Dillon. (Horror/Sci-Fi/Cute boy fest/Do not eat before, during or after this movie)

Blood Simple

This twisted tale of murder and passion will make you scared of rednecks. (Comedy/Drama/There is no way you’ll guess the ending)

Brazil

Mind-blowing futuristic nightmare that also manages to be darkly funny.  (Comedy/Drama/There is no way you’ll guess the ending/Movie with a message)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Starring Audrey Hepburn, featuring clothes you gotta have. (Comedy/Drama/Romance/Sob alert)

Dawn of the Dead

Ghouls in a shopping mall. Sequel to—and better than—Night of the Living Dead. (Horror/Comedy/Do not eat before, during or after this movie)

Decline of the Western Civilization, Part 1 and Part 2

The punk and heavy metal movements, featuring shockingly candid interviews with real musicians. (Documentary/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/Movie with a message)

Desperately Seeking Susan

Madonna is the very essence of early ’80s hip New York-ness. (Comedy/Romance/Mystery/Cute boy fest).

Diva

Cute postman loves opera and that’s what gets him in trouble. An amazing movie to look at—you’ll wish you were French. (Drama/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee directs a day in the life of a Brooklyn pizza joint and says more about racism in America than anyone else in Hollywood. (Comedy/Drama/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/Movie with a message/Sob alert)

Dr. Strangelove

Still brilliant (and true) political satire after 20 years; dead genius Peter Sellers plays three of the parts. (Comedy/Drama/There is no way you’ll guess the ending/Movie with a message)

Drugstore Cowboy

The first cliche-free movie about drug addicts. Plus Matt Dillon. (Comedy/Drama/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/Teenagers as they really are)

East of Eden

The only James Dean movie worth getting excited about. (Drama/Cute boy fest)

Fandango

Boys on the road right before Vietnam. (Comedy/Drama/Cute boy fest)

Gates of Heaven

This deadpan look at a pet cemetery proves truth is stranger than fiction. (Comedy/Documentry)

The Girl Can’t Help It

Bodacious Jayne Mansfield wants to be a rock star. Great early cameos by Little Richard and Eddie Cochran. (Comedy/Romance)

The Graduate

Angst-ridden college grad has an affair with a married woman, then falls in love with her daughter. (Comedy/Romance/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

A Hard Day’s Night

Comedy starring The Beatles that captures their early fabness. (Comedy/Cute boy fest)

Harold & Maude

Optimistic old lady + pessimistic young man = the kookiest love story ever. (Comedy/Drama/Romance/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/There is no way you’ll guess the ending/Movie with a message)

Heathers

(Teenagers as they really are, like, x5)

High School

A fly-on-the-wall view of a real, live high school in the ’70s. (Documentary)

High School Confidential

A 1950s anti-drug morality tale that’s a scream. Dig that crazy beatnik poet. (Comedy/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

How to Marry a Millionaire

Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable all snag rich husbands (Comedy/Romance).

Lady and the Tramp

And for that matter, 101 Dalmatians.

The Misfits

Marilyn Monroe again, this time trying to save lots of wild horses from dog-food-hunting cowboys. Her last film. (Drama/Romance/Sob alert)

My Life as a Dog

Gorgeous little boy loses dog. Loses mom. Finds quirky uncle. Finds friends. From Sweden. (Drama/Sob alert)

Near Dark

Even cooler than The Lost Boys. Gorier too. (Horror/Mystery/Cute boy fest/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex/Do not eat before, during or after this movie)

A Nightmare on Elm Street

See Johnny Depp get sucked into a bed. (Horror/Cute boy fest/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

Notorious

Ingrid Bergman was never so sexy, Cary Grant was never so dark. Arguably Alfred Hitchcock’s best. (Romance/Mystery)

Polyester

Forget Cry-Baby, this is the kind of truly sick stuff John Waters does best.  (Comedy/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/Do not eat before, during or after this movie)

Pumping Iron and Pumping Iron II, The Women

Real body builders (including Arnold Schwarzenegger) get big bodies and heads for the Mr./Ms. Universe contests. (Documentary/Movie with a message)

Repo Man

This movie about a punk-style car repossessor proves that Emilio Estevez was cool. Once. (Comedy/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex/Movie with a message)

River’s Edge

The dark side of friendship. Keanu has yet to top this. (Drama/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex/Teenagers the way they really are)

Rock ‘N’ Roll High School

Punk-era celebration of mindless adolescence, starring the Ramones (Comedy/Romance/Teenagers the way they really are)

Say Anything

You mean you haven’t seen this yet? (Comedy/Romance/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex/Teenagers the way they really are)

Some Kind of Wonderful

Eric Stoltz when he was humble. (Drama/Romance/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex/Teenagers the way they really are)

Soylent Green

Campy story about post-Greenhouse-effect life, and getting truer by the minute. (Sci-Fi/You’ll never guess the ending/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex/Movie with a message)

Stand by Me

River Phoenix was only this big. (Drama/Cute boy fest)

The Stepford Wives

You’ll never look at your mother the same way again. (Horror/Mystery)

A Streetcar Named Desire

If your mom’s always going on about Marlon Brando, this is why. (Drama/Romance/Sob alert)

This is Spinal Tap

Docu-style comedy about a trash metal band. If you’re left wondering who would make a movie about a band this bad, you didn’t get it. (Comedy/To be seen with a member of the opposite sex)

2,000 Maniacs

Do not eat before, during or after this movie!!!!!

Valley of the Dolls

Classic ’60s bitchery between Hollywood starlets, and some mighty swell hairdos. (Comedy/Drama/Romance)

Viva Las Vegas

Indisputable proof that Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley are the same person. (Comedy/Action/Romance)

The Year My Voice Broke

A younger boy loves an older girl. She gets pregnant and he gets burned. (Comedy/Drama/Potentially embarrassing if viewed with the folks/Teenagers the way they really are)

Get the background on this list.

Music

After the Gold Rush

Neil Young. Yeah, he’s weird, but this stuff comes straight from the heart. (Folk rock/Music to be alone with)

Ain’t That a Groove

James Brown. He’s old enough to be your grandfather but still showing the world how it’s done. (Soul/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

Avalon

Roxy Music. Bryan Ferry is the master scribe of superior love songs. Great makeout or pining music. (Rock/Soul/Music to be alone with/To be heard with a member of the opposite sex)

Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks. The ultimate of their trashy-metal-glam sound for those who like to crank up the volume. (Metal/Best at speaker-busting volume/Music to be in the car with)

Blood on the Tracks

Bob Dylan. Released in ’75, this was Bob’s last true masterpiece. (Folk rock/Rock/Music to be alone with)

Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits

Miss Cline is the Bob Dylan of barn dances. (Country/Dead artist/Music to be alone with/Music to be in the car with)

Cosmic Thing

The B-52′s. Surreal meets funky in outer space. Rock the house. (New Wave/Rock/Take to a party/Music to be in the car with)

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen. Raw boss, not the commercial stuff of Born in the U.S.A. (Rock/Music to be in the car with)

Different Light

Bangles. Their second, most popular and least predictable. (Rock/Take to a party/Music to be in the car with)

Dirty Mind

Prince. The Purple One when he was still controversial—crude, throbbing and very danceable. (Soul/Take to a party/Music to be in the car with)

English Settlement

XTC. The British quartet’s multi-layered sound takes some getting used to, but then it becomes addictive. Get the two-record British version. (New Wave/Music to be alone with)

Exile on Main Street

Rolling Stones. The Stones discover America and let it all hang out. Their zenith—and that’s saying something. (R0ck/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

More Fun in the New World

X. The best cruising music on this or any planet, by the vastly underrated L.A. post-punks. (Punk/Best at speaker-busting volume/Music to be in the car with)

Al Green/Greatest Hits

A good place to start getting to know one of the best R&B voices in the biz. (To be heard with a member of the opposite sex)

The Harder They Come, Soundtrack

Jimmy Cliff and others. Beach music doesn’t get much better than this. Pass the coconut oil, mon. (Reggae/Take to a party)

Hexbreaker!

The Fleshtones. Semi-psychedelic ’80s garage rock from one New York’s finest. (Rock/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

Hunky Dory

David Bowie. This is pre-Ziggy Stardust,  with charming acoustic stuff like “Fill Your Heart” and “Kooks.” (Rock/Music to be alone with)

King of Rock

Run-D.M.C. These rotund masters of the mike have an awesome sense of humor. “You Talk Too Much” could be the soundtrack to your worst dates. (Rap/Best at speaker-busting volume)

Eartha Kitt’s Greatest Hits

“Sort of like being in a dinky Paris nightclub in the ’40s–with a sense of humor,” Karen Catchpole, Sassy Magazine. (Music to be alone with)

Labour of Love

UB40. Reggae classics lovingly recreated by these Brits. This one stands the test of time. (Reggae/Bring to a party/Music to be in a car with)

The Lion and the Cobra

Sinéad O’Connor. Her debut album is angrier than her latest, but just as hypnotic. Wear it out. (Rock rock/Rock/Music to be alone with/To be heard with a member of the opposite sex.)

London Calling

The Clash. The pop-rock-shock of this two-record set has made it a punk staple, but less aggressive people will love it too. (Punk/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

Marquee Moon

Television. A searing, guitar-soaked melding of poetry and punk. Strap on the headphones and hold tight. (Punk/Rock/Best at speaker-busting volume/Music to be alone with)

Me Myself and I

Joan Armatrading. The woman they kept comparing Tracy Chapman to. Joan’s songs will get you through many a love crisis. (Folk rock/Music to be alone with)

Moondance

Van Morrison. Mood music for a rainy day–mossy green and wet. Bono loves this guy. (Rock rock/Music to be alone with)

Murmur

R.E.M. We chose this album over their others ’cause it’s the first, back when their voice-as-another-instrument, smart words, and jangly guitars really stood out. (Rock/Music to be alone with/Music to be in a car with)

October

U2. Raw stuff, before they were deified. (Rock/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

Parallel Lines

Blondie. Prior to Madonna there was Debbie Harry. (New Wave/Take to a party)

Physical Graffiti

Led Zeppelin. Zep’s only double album is also their most varied. A proven cure for metalphobia. (Rock x 3/Metal/Best at speaker-busting volume)

Pure Pop for Now People

Nick Lowe. Pop-punk cynicism, English pub rock and sugary-sweet balladeering make for some fun. (New Wave/Rock.)

Ramones

Ramones. Unrelenting. Brilliant. Enough said. (Punk/Best at speaker-busting volume/Music to be in a car with)

Rebel Yell

Billy Idol. Rock doesn’t get more straight-ahead than this. The essential beach accessory. (Rock/Best at speaker-busting volume/Music to be in a car with.)

Roachford

Roachford.  A brill R&B debut that was virtually ignored. (Rock/Soul/Take to a party.)

Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Imagine if Otis Redding were British and white. (Soul/Take to a party.)

Singles Going Steady

Buzzcocks. A collection of their A- and B-sides, these frenetic Brits are like the Ramones with intellect. (New Wave/Best at speaker-busting volume)

The Slider/Electric Warrior

T. Rex. The best in early ’70s glam rock, contains the original “Bang a Gong” (two-album set). (Rock/Dead artist/Take to a party)

Sly and the Family Stone’s Greatest Hits

Hot fun in the summertime from the king of shake your thing. (Soul/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

So

Peter Gabriel. This one’s more accessible than his usual stuff. Selections from “Sledgehammer” to “Don’t Give Up” make for some cool variety. (Rock/Music to be alone with/Music to be in a car with/To be heard with a member of the opposite sex)

Soul Mining

The The. No matter how depressed you are, singer/songwriter Matt Johnson will inevitably be more so. (New Wave/Music to be alone with)

Special Beat Service

The English Beat. Early ’80s ska (a faster predecessor of reggae). Some of its members went on to form Fine Young Cannibals. (Reggae/Take to a party)

Squeezing Out Sparks

Graham Parker. The underrated British rocker in all his nasal-voiced glory. (Reggae/Music to be alone with/To be heard with a member of the opposite sex)

Tender Prey

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Surreal lyrics and heavy, dark music–a must-have for alternative music fans. (Rock/Music to be alone with)

Ten Years of Gold

Aretha Franklin. Why Aretha is the goddess of soul. Includes some of her massive torch songs. (Soul/Take to a party/Music to be in a car with)

This Year’s Model

Elvis Costello. (Though the old, chubby, contemplating Elvis is great, let’s not forget the young, skinny, angry man he once was. (New Wave/Best at speaker-busting volume)

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul. We defy you to listen to rap’s most innovative threesome and be in a bad mood afterward. (Rap/Soul/Best at speaker-busting volume/Take to a party)

Toys in the Attic

Aerosmith. Any rock and roll fan who doesn’t have this in their collection is committing a heinous crime. (Rock/Metal/Best at speaker-busting volume/Music to be in a car with)

Transformer

Lou Reed. A kinder, gentler, almost sweet Lou. Contains the classic “Walk on the Wild Side.” (Rap/Rock/Music to be alone with)

Trouble Funk, Live from D.C.

Go-go music is like rap with a melody and horns, and it’s rarely captured on vinyl. Which is why this record is such a party. (Rap/Take to a party)

Union

Toni Childs. A voice more powerful than Aretha Franklin’s beautiful African instrumentation and poetic lyrics. A stirring album. (Folk rock/Music to be alone with)

The Kinks and the Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks. Forget about “Lola” and “You Really Got Me.” This pastoral, poetic beauty will show you the real soul of The Kinks. (Folk rock/Rock)