Despite my stint at a prestigious jazz publication, one with such a history that James Brown let a white man interview him in his home, I am not a music critic and won’t pretend to be. I’ve read a lot about chord progressions, improvisation and chromaticism, but I couldn’t really tell you what they mean. Yet music has played a major part of my life in the last decade.

I’m not going to break down the 20 best albums of the year across every genre or try to play up my hipster cred. I’m just going to list some of my favorite albums in the past 10 years over the next few weeks. In hindsight, some of these albums might be embarrassing to admit to loving because of who the bands are now. But then again, I’ve had some embarrassing times in the past decade. For starters, I briefly worked at Abercrombie and Fitch. And Old Navy. But I digress.

I’ve had fun going through some of these albums that I first listened to in high school and was reminded of some great times in college. Maybe a few of these will bring back some nostalgia for you, too.