If there is one album of music that simultaneously pisses me off and transports me back to freshman\sophomore year of high school, it is most certainly Out of the Vein by Third Eye Blind. I would recommend it, but at the same time, the lead singer's childish, and altogether self-absorbed lyrics piss the the hell off. He's a friggin' whiner that is obsessed only with himself and his own fulfillment. And yet, those are the tones burned into my brainstem: just a few notes from the opening to "Faster" and i'm bouncing around in the back of our school bus on a soccer tournament trip up to Illinois. Or dozing on the ride back while the sun beats down on faux-leather and exhausted bodies.
I can't shake it, but i hate to have such a strong, very real attachment to it.
Its a rare song, rarely an album that has such a strong impact on me anymore, and certainly in the range of maybe 3 or 4 such that can place me in the past with such a distinct place and time.