Day Nine: The same friend who gave me the Gear Daddies’ CD discovered Matthew Sweet with me and to this day we go see him together when he tours. There was something about this album, Girlfriend, that was just so perfect. Every song is good. I don’t know if it really influenced me, but it sure played to my influences. The songwriting reminded me of the Carpenters. (I guess I should have put a Carpenters album on this list, huh?)