Garbage's self titled debut and Fiona Apple's Tidal.

As weird as it sounds it was Korn's self-titled debut CD for me.

No question - Everclear's Sparkle and Fade.

Oddly the first one I remember is Janis Ian's "Between the Lines" my mom would play it over and over and I think that it was the first time in my life I realized that songs could hit me in a way I didn't know how to verbalize at the time. "Dilate" was my first real break-up and She Wants Revenge continues to be the end all be all of cd's for me.

This a hard question. To be honest I've only started liking and really listening to what I consider really good music in the last 5 years so I wasn't a preteen or a teenager by the time I payed attention to music I consider relavent and meaningful. I guess I might name Scout Niblett's music in general especially the song Wolfie and if I picked a specific album, maybe Kidnapped By Neptune. I would also have to pick Fur and Gold by Bat For Lashes. For more songs I would probably pick Masters Of War by Bob Dylan and Famous Blue Raincoat by Leonard Cohen which I originally actually heard a cover of by Z Berg of The Like. I have other music I might list but I don't think it's fits into this (I think) and I always end up listing a lot of stuff for any of these music postings. I guess it's obvious I'm musically obsessed.

Hands down Fiona Apple's first album, Tidal.
Coming in second would be the Cardigans, "First Band on The Moon"

I also have to agree with scorpstar, Everclear "sparkle and fade" was also on heavy repeat back in the day for me.

when i was a junior and senior in high school i had these huge pieces of oaktag on my ceiling. they were my "chansons des la mois" and each had the lyrics to a song that i thought articulated what i couldn't at the time. the first one was "pressure" by billy joel (it was the 1993! cut me some slack!) by the time i stopped in college i had over two dozen of them. paula cole, blessid union of souls, indigo girls, toad, counting crows... they were all there. sadly, i lost most of the list in a very unfortunate mold accident. c'est la vie!

i dated a guy who was really into ani. i was proud to have "discovered her" at my high school and anything from her self titled album to buildings and bridges touched my soul.

sesame street songs like "imagination" and "i don't want to live on the moon" also rated high on my "wow, i wish i'd written that" list.

Weezer's Blue album.

Easy. Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pill. I was in 8th grade and her 3rd album was coming out, but somehow my friends and I had a copy of that one and we used those songs to apply melodramatically to our lives for years after. Sometimes we still do!

Any Mariah Carey cd!! They always have a gret mix of love songs and songs that deal with internal struggles. I always relate to her lyrics. I was too young to understand Christina's Stripped cd when it came out--but now all of the songs on it represent me. Sexy songs mixed with emotional ones. Beautiful, Cruz, Soar, I'm OK...they all sound exactly like me!

While I enjoyed music quite a bit since I was a youngster I didn't start identifying with music until I was into my teens and... Nine Inch Nails spoke to me in volumes, and still do. Trent Reznor writes in such a way that it makes my soul ache to comfort him in his pain and pleasure, make him understand that on some basic level, we all feel like that. Wow, I'm corny. ha.
Probably the first time I wanted to identify with a cd was TLC's Crazy Sexy Cool, great album and I listened to it too much for my age, way before I was a teen- I didn't understand most of it until I was older and moved on from that scene.

me too, danny. fiona apple's tidal for sure.

The Smiths!!

Lene Marlin (anyone remember her?) - Playing my Game, or slightly later Counting Crows - Hard Candy. I think I had that on repeat for about a year!

Alannis and Sarah McLaughlin ,but I also was impacted by The Cranberries,Stevie Nicks,Mary J Blige.

this is more than a little embarrassing, but it was Jewel's Pieces of You. that's right. i loved her.

Alanis's first album and The Blue album by Weezer.

Lucy76's answer reminds me. The Smiths too.

Watching SYTYCD on Thursday totally reminded me of Ani DiFranco...I had totally fogotten about how obsessed I used to be with Untouchable Face...ahh high school...

Agree, Fiona Apple Tidal and Alanis Jagged Little Pill.

Depeche Mode was and still is my #1 favorite. "Violator" is probably my favorite album. And then Tori Amos was in second place as a teen.

I guess I would have to say Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" album and The Cranberries' "No Need to Argue" album.

That's hard. Either Radiohead's OK Computer, Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, or Iggy and the Stooge's Raw Power. OK Computer is special to me because I found it on my own instead of raiding my dad's music collection like I usually do.

Fiona Apple When the Pawn, I still think it's great in fact. *sigh* I miss the old DiFranco days. She's so annoying to me now.

I loved Dilate - I can't even tell you how many hours I spent listening to that. And Alanis' Jagged Little Pill and Fiona Apple's Tidal. Tori Amos was great too.

Jagged Little Pill. Not surprised that so many people have said it either - it is a really powerful album. I even walked down the aisle to the instrumental version of Head over Feet!

Jagged Little Pill was the first album where I was like....hey, she writes how I feel right now and what I am going through during these college years.

billie holiday - lady in satin
i may have been only in high school when i heard it, but the pain and life in her voice on that album speaks to me everytime

as for something more modern, i have to say a tie between exile in guyville (so much of that was reflecting my life when i first heard it) or neutral milk's in aeroplane over the sea (how can a album so beautiful and also written about anne frank's diary not affect you)

By The Way by The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Alanis Morisette's Jagged Little Pills, Anouk's Urban Solitude and Christina Aguillera's Stripped.

Oh, so easy: Incubus's Morning View got me through a lot of adolescent funk, and Korn's first and second albums captured my angst perfectly.

Shleebs, I'm going to have to agree about Incubus - but Make Yourself first, in middle school. They evolved with me through high school with Morning View and Crow Left of the Murder to a lesser extent. Motion City Soundtrack's "I Am the Movie" hit me with every track, as well.

I liked and identified with other albums before MY, but not in the way that it spoke for me like Brandon Boyd and co did.

Agree with a lot of the ones already said. I wanted to throw in Tracy Chapman too.

Sade was my childhood favorite. Third Eye Blind was/is one of my favorite cds of all times. Incubus just blew my mind. The last 2 are the ones that just blew EVERYTHING open to me because they just made me want to listen to all music in general.

Shapeshifter by Marcy Playground is my major standout.

Grunge baby here : Nirvana's 'Nevermind' album and Pearl Jam's 'Ten'.

"Make Yourself"-Incubus