I love this thread.  I pretty much remember my life through the music that I was listening to at the time.  I love to put my iTunes on random and get all nostalgic for various times and places.

Probably my biggest nostalgia provoking albums are:

Weezer's Blue album- This is an instant flashback to 5th grade and a group of friends that I will never forget.  This also wins the award for most staying power in my life- it was one of the first cds I ever owned and I've NEVER gotten sick of it. 

Middle of Nowhere- I turned 13 the summer of 1997 and it was in a lot of ways the last summer of real childhood for me.  Every song from that album gives me instant flashbacks to that period of innocence and self-discovery.  Plus, it was the beginning of my now 14-year love affair with the amazing band.  I would give anything to go back to that summer.  <3

Eve's Scorpion album, Nelly's Country Grammar, and The Eminem Show- I was oddly enough a big hip hop/rap fan in high school, and these three cds lived in my car the first year or so that I started driving.  I associate them with freedom and parties with my old friends and the excitement of being young and "bad" and getting away with it.  This is also when I discovered Aerosmith, so several of their greatest hits albums (Big Ones and the "Oh Yeah.." cd set) were in constant rotation during that time.

Nickelback, The Long Road- I am really not a Nickelback fan, exect that I make an exception for every single song on this album.  It was what I listened to constantly on my iPod the first semester of my freshman year of college.  The boy who would eventually become my fiance (and is now my ex) gave it to me and every time I listen to it I remember that fall- feeling so lost at college, but still having a wildly fun time... and slowly falling in love with him.

There are tons more, but for the most part it's songs and not whole albums.  In fact, I popped in my "Summer 2009" playlist cd while driving yesterday and all of a sudden I wanted to take off my coat, put on my sunglasses and roll down the windows.  Music is such a powerful reminder of places and times.

Wish I could edit- I'm bad at math- I guess it's been 13 years since 1997, not 14.  =)

Middle of Nowhere Hanson

Cracked Rear View Hootie and The Blowfish 

Mariah carey Daydream

Celine Dion Falling into you

this is   all the music that influenced my love of music in high school and Middle school . Im so greatful  for that .

Ballad hits from Roxette.

"Hotel Paper" by Michelle Branch and "So Long Astoria" by The Ataris remind me of the summer of '03, truly the best summer of my life. I was between junior and senior year of high school. It was my "summer of love" :p

That essay called "The White Album" sounds fascinating. 

I don't really have many albums in whole that make me feel nostalgic but I definitely have certain songs that give me that feeling. :)

beck's sea change and radiohead's ok computer also the pixies make me super nostalgic and so do the american analog set! hardcore nostalgiaz!

So Long Astoria makes me think of that summer as well.  For me, '03 was the summer between high school and college, and it was also when I first fell in "love."  (Or so I thought at the time!)

Middle of Nowhere - I consider this piece of work my ultimate favourite album. Every time I listen to it I remember certain times and places, feelings and vibes I cant re-visit without the aid of the songs. Each song holds a different meaning for me, and like some smells remind people of times in their life, the music on this album takes me back to snapshots of my past, in particular the summer of '97. I'm still completely in love with it.

Pearl Jam's 'Ten' and 'VS' albums are also brilliant, and as for individual songs 'Black' which is also by Pearl Jam is genius.

Individually, there's too many songs to list but considering I'm here on a Hanson forum some 13 years after MMMbop shows how much their music in particular has stayed with me

There isn't a single album that brings me back to any specific point in my life. I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about the past, it's just a waste of time and a lot of it isn't worth reminiscing. However, There is one song that makes me think about two people from my past. Relatively recent song, Viva La Vida by Coldplay, a song I try my hardest not to ever listen to. It was the first song I heard on the radio after my grandma died. Actually, in those whole two weeks that I was out in CA planning her funeral, that song was the first song I had listened to since she died. We were driving from the church to the cemetery and it was playing on the radio in the car. Oddly enough, I was riding with my friend Jason who passed away this past January from cancer. So now whenever I hear that song I'm reminded of that day in the car with a friend I lost going to a cemetery to bury someone I spent my life loving more than anything. Still kind of hard to believe they're both gone now.

As for albums that are close to my heart, Brainwashed is the only album. I can't really explain why but it is.

Middle of Nowhere.  That album seriously changed my life.

Al Martinos greatest hits.....dancing around the house aged 7

Godspell the london cast recording...... idolising David Essex aged 14

fulfillingness, first finale.... stevie wonder.....aged 16...moving on from motown

Joni Mitchell ....... realising aspects of great music aged 17

she's so unusual...cyndi lauper..... bringing some fun into domesticity aged 32

This Time Around...Hanson.....learning to play again and rediscovering the vitality of new music

for me it goes back to songs played by my dad in the car so certain albums remind me of certain places

My dad would give us the case with all his cassettes (yes cassettes i was a child of the 80's as i was born in 1983) and let us pick

I always used to pick the best of The Sweet purely because the cover was a picture of dolly mixture sweets.

I also remember asking him to play "The Ketchup Boys" (Pet Shop Boys)

Albums he used to play that make me feel nostalgic are as follows

Wings - Greatest Hits

Rod Stewart - Out Of Order

Queen - Greatest Hits

Rod Stewart - Vagabond Heart

The other day i had my ipod on and The Only Way Is Up by Yazz came on which made me remember hearing it when i was only 5 years old

And obviously Middle of Nowhere - the same for me as for most of the fans who have been with the band from the beguining i think we were all roughly the same age 13-14 and i remember feeling anything was possible when i listened to the album (oh the naivity of youth)

Elton John's, all of them.

This Time Around - I was 17 in the summer of 2000 and I remember being in my room at my parents cottage and listening to the CD over and over again all summer long. So whenever I hear any song from TTA I'm transported back to summers in Muskoka when it felt like I had all the time in the world. 

Middle of Nowhere- Hanson

Snowed In- Hanson

Yourself or Someone Like You- Matchbox 20

Sticks and Stones, and Self-titled- New Found Glory

Dizzy up the Girl- Goo Goo Dolls

Bang Bang- Dispatch

Take This To Your Grave- Fall Out Boy

Swiss Army Romance, and A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar- Dashboard Confessional

Third Eye Blind, and Blue- Third Eye Blind

All bring back great memories. :)

I was actually four when Middle of Nowhere was out, but I remember a couple of years later that I would dance around my room to that cd, in particular Where's the Love. Great memories. Yeah, I'm on the young end of the Hanson generation. I was lucky to have a teenage babysitter who was a fan and introduced me to them! :)

So Long Astoria was my summer between Junior and Senior year of high school, too. I was so happy and care-free that summer! Ahhhh!

Tragic Kingdom-No Doubt.  They really were the first band that I loved listening to.  Sometimes I hear songs from that album such as "Spiderwebs" or "I'm Just a Girl" and hearing those songs especially just makes me smile..and just in general remind me of when I was pretty young..7 years old.

Then comes two years later and Middle of Nowhere-Hanson<3 I thintk the album will always remain one of my absolute favorite albums of all time. It will always remind me of that beginning time of becoming a Hanson fan. Yes there's been times in the past 13 yrs that I seemed to be less interested in them.  But my interest in them has never truly stopped. Being a fan of them I think will always remind me, once again, of my younger years and how I miss those days so much.

Best of Hanson: Live & Electric: It was the album that got me back real interested in them as a fan. Even though when I discovered that album, that was an amazing time, it will also always remind me of the time I missed out as a fan of the like 4 years that I didn't think of myself much of a fan of theirs at all.s

The first Backstreet Boys album and also Black & Blue: So many of those old BSB songs will always remain some of my fave songs ever lol. And whenever I hear any of them, once in a blue moon, on the radio I get a huge smile on my face.