Matt and I have begun the long process of creating an archive list of all of our CDs, textbooks, other books, computers, tech toys, etc. for insurance purposes. Dave let us know about Delicious Library, and it's been pretty good. We noticed that it seems to have trouble identifying many of the uniquely Canadian CDs we own (and I've noticed just how heavily our tastes lean towards Canadian artists in general).
It's weird going through the CD collection; between the two of us, we've probably been racking up CDs for ten years, and some of these CDs probably haven't left the stack in five or six years. (Some of them got assigned there after the first listen through and probably won't come out ever again. I'm looking at you, Smash Mouth.)
It's funny how I can identify when almost all of them were purchased within about a year or two... I've definitely gone through music phases. These days, new purchases are leaning heavily towards electronic; Cuica, dZihan & Kamien, Global Communication, Deep Forest. For me, it's great music to study by. The fact that I'm not singing along helps me to focus on programming or writing or whatever while blocking out office noise around me. During the later university days, I was getting a lot of "training electronica"; Delerium, Wild Strawberries. It could almost pass as popular music, but not quite. In the earlier university days, it was mostly rock - I still had time to listen to the radio those days and knew what was new and hip. I've got some Barenaked Ladies from that era, some R.E.M., Garbage, Sugar Ray, Matchbox 20.
And then, at the bottom of the pile, we found the high school stuff.
Man, I was a confused kid or something. It is all over the map. If I can't place a CD, it was likely purchased during high school. I've got Boyz II Men, Garth Brooks (huh?), the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, one Tragically Hip album. And then, there is the truly embarassing stuff.
Now, you have to understand that I was a competitive dancer in high school. I was immersed in the stuff. I either learned to love it, or I found a new hobby.
I have some classical music, for the ballet classes, but also at the bottom of the pile was the Spice Girls, the Prince, the MuchMusic "Dance Mix" CDs.
And you know what? I still love it, just a little. OK, more than a little. I am rocking out to Michael Jackson this morning ("Don't stop till you get enough!") and I am having a great time.