10 Albums That Shaped Your Musical Experience...

I've thought about this for a bit, and I've whittled down a voluminous vat of vinyl to the essence of what shaped how I listen to music, or at least the sorts of music I love to listen to and play as a guitarist. Naturally, many of the albums I've listed were from my formative years as a teen (or a pre-teen in some cases), but there are a few outliers in later decades because music is a journey, not a dead end. This isn't a "Greatest Albums of All-Time" list, rather just the albums that changed my ideas of music. So, here's my ten:

Alice Cooper - Killer. I've already related elsewhere how my older cousins basically lied to my mother about my whereabouts and took me to see Alice Cooper for the 1972 School's Out Tour. I was only 12 years-old (and mom would've had a stroke if she knew I went -- Alice having been considered Satanic by most American parents). Marked me for life. And I think the Coop's Killer album was the central focus of that mental tattooing. Actually, it was probably the powerhouse trio of Love It to Death, Killer and School's Out that did me in, but Killer was the best of the bunch, and the most powerful, perverse and controversial (yeah, play "Dead Babies" loud in your bedroom in the early 70s and watch your parents freak out), not to mention musically diverse and downright proggy ("Halo of Flies" anyone?).

Jethro Tull - Aqualung. To an 11 year-old upon the album's release in 1971, the very idea that the lead singer was singing "Snot is running down his nose" was pretty neat (in a gross, pre-teen manner), not to mention references to teenage prositutes. But as a youngster finding the rigid Catholicism of my upbringing to be unduly constraining, the anti-religious ideas propounded by Ian Anderson affected my view of the world. There may be a god, but he's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays. Also, Anderson's acoustic guitar work informed my playing and impressed me far more than his flute.

Fairport Convention - Liege & Lief. I actually caught on to this album in the later 1970s (it was released in 1969), but it had a profound effect on me and introduced British Folk into my musical canon. I found myself gravitating more to that genre than American folk/Americana (although I dearly love Dylan and the Band). The album also introduced me to Child's Ballads, and the poetry and literature of the 13th - 17th century (which came in handy, as my degree is in English Lit).

The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album). I grew up with The Beatles. Literally. I saw them on Ed Sullivan in 1964, and loved them ever since. But there was always something about The White Album that differentiated itself from the slicker (some would say overproduced) studio albums of their catalog. It was raw, it was funny in spots (mocking the Beach Boys in "Back in the USSR", for instance), and in many ways fiercer than previous albums. And, to be honest, it gibed with my mangled mental processes better in the drug-addled 1970s. Ummm...What were we talking about? And are you going to eat that donut?

Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. Like Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, this is the Pink Floyd album that was not my older brother's Floyd, but the one I could call my own from the date it was released. The melancholy and moroseness of the songs matched my teenage angst. It's a tragic album, really, and tragedy is a heightened and relatable experience for teenagers.

Okay, enough with the dissertation-length expounding, I will just list the next five without further explanation, and allow you to offer your own choices, as I'm interested in what you have to say...

Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
Willie Dixon - I am the Blues. It is remarkable that Mr. Dixon wrote ALL the great blues songs.
Roy Harper - Stormcock
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues

Of course, there are The Brandenburg Concertos, A Kind of Blue, Romantic Warrior, Take Five, and a host of classical and jazz albums I could wedge in there, but I'm sticking to rock albums for this exercise. I could have easily listed In the Court of the Crimson King, Close to the Edge, Foxtrot, and a whole host of prog albums. But I'm sticking with ten.

Your turn.

 

From here - Your Personal Ten Most Influential Albums

 

Yep, I’ll just post the same pic I posted in the earlier thread.

 

In no order.

Bubblemath - Edit Peptide
Kansas - Leftoverture
Gentle Giant - Free Hand
Allan Holdsworth - I.O.U.
Dream Theater - Images and Words
The Aristocrats - Culture Clash
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Frank Zappa - One Size Fits All
Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
National Health - Complete

 

Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix. Made the guitar sound exciting and got me to take it up.
Diary of a Madman - Ozzy Osbourne. First heavy metal album I got. Great guitaring too!
Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan. Virtuosic blues guitar playing. Not so keen on it today, but I loved it back in the day.
Reckoning - R.E.M. Made me realize how full a sound a clean electric guitar playing arpeggiated chords, undergirded by a melodic bass line, could sound.
Zen Arcade - Hüsker Dü. Aggressive music par excellence.
Aerial Boundaries - Extraordinary acoustic guitar playing. Huge fan of "Ragamuffin."
Bitches Brew - Miles Davis. Immersive sound that proved to be my gateway into jazz.
Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo. Finally a country influence album ('cow punk'?) I could get into.
88 Elmira Street - Danny Gatton. In my opinion the greatest instrumental guitar album ever. It made me realize it was pointless to take the guitar seriously - I could practice for a 100 years and not even come close to this.
Buried Life - Medicine. Shoegaze heaven. Best distorto guitar sounds ever.

 

I don't know that it shaoed the way I listen to music but here's my 'Killer' story...

My older cousin turned me on to 'Love It To Death' and so buying the follow-up album was a no-brainer.
But! I'll never forget going into the record store and seeing 'Killer' on the wall.
What an incredible album cover. Absolutely hypnotic and in your face. That snake!
I would have bought that album regardless of who it was by.
The fact that it was a great album was icing on the cake.

 

Ooo...this is tough...thinking off the top of my head:

David Bowie - ChangesOneBowie - this was a staple in my house
The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock N Roll - look, they were played nearly non-stop in my house, but this is the one I most remember
KISS - Rock N Roll Over - my first KISS...
KISS - Lick It Up - changed the way I look at heavy music
Heart - Dreamboat Annie - I remember listening to this in my basement
Adam & The Ants - Prince Charming - this and maybe Blondie and Joan Jett got me into New Wave/Alternative
Kim Wilde - Kim Wilde - this was my deep dive into New Wave and Post Punk
MDC - Millions of Dead Cops - I was into a lot of punk and hardcore music but it all kinda blended together, this one stood out
Queensryche - Rage For Order - this made me want to learn how records were made
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine - another one that made me re-think what music could be

 

This is a great question because it goes beyond the usual 'what are your favourite albums' debate.

It's an interesting concept, that you have some records whose influence is such that they're almost imprinted on you, to the extent that they either determine the sort of music you might create yourself or else set a benchmark for the sort of sounds you're likely to seek out in the future. Take one of the examples above - Roy Harper's Stormcock - which would definitely be on my list. The rich tone of the recording, the interplay of the guitar playing (and tunings), the attention to lyrics, the development of the songs into longer pieces of art, the dynamic delivery...all of these set the template for what I'd look for in an acoustic album. Artists, including Roy himself, have struggled since then to achieve that level.

I was late to New Order, Technique was my introduction and again it was transformative.

The Dylan trilogy - Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde.

I'd have to think about the other five!

 

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Art Ensemble Of Chicago - People In Sorrow
Steve Reich - Music For 18 Musicians

I've already written about these many times, I'd only be repeating myself

Dadawah - Peace And Love - Psychedelic roots reggae. It was picked as a top 10 album by Lenny Kaye in the 1978 book Critic's Choice The Top 200 albums, and I looked for it for 20 years before finding a copy. It became easily available on CD after that. I compare it to the next album on the list - they both have a similar feel
Funkadelic - S/T - their swampiest voodoo sounding acid funk album. Maggot Brain gets all the press, but I prefer this one. I found it as a cut out at Midland Records at the Arnot Mall in Horseheads NY in the late 1970's
Jimi Hendrix - Band Of Gypsies - the third album in this trilogy --If I had to describe my wheelhouse in music, these three would be it
Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul -- throw this one in there as well with it's acid guitar and pychedelic orchestral sound. I love orchestral soul, I grew up on Philly soul, and though this is from Memphis, it really took that big backing sound to the next level that the Philly groups would build on.

Sly And The Family Stone - There's A Riot Going On - I've always liked dark pessimistic damaged music and this is probably where I first developed this preference
John Coltrane - Meditations - I have to have a Coltrane album and this one's probably my favorite. Getting into his music was very important in my development.
Charles Mingus - The Great Concert Of Charles Mingus - from the 1964 tour with Eric Dolphy. One of the first jazz albums I bought, and jazz has been my favorite type of music since I was a junior in high school.

 

The Beatles - Meet the Beatles
The Pretty Things - s/t
The Hollies - Bus Stop
The Who - My Generation
The Who - Sell Out
Steppenwolf - s/t
The Who - Tommy
The Pretty Things - Parachute
The Who - Live at Leeds
The Who - Who's Next

 

Pet Sounds
Revolver
Smile (in variously assembled boots until 2011)
Dark Side of the Moon
Second Helping
Late For The Sky
Excitable Boy
Some Girls
Reckoning
Tomorrow The Green Grass

 

Ask me tomorrow, it might change slightly...

1. Queen - Queen II
2. Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps
3. Further - Griptape
4. Eleventh Dream Day - El Moodio
5. The Church - Starfish
6. Folk Implosion - One Part Lullaby
7. Versus - The Stars Are Insane
8. Weedpecker - III
9. R.E.M. - Reckoning
10. Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle

 

HA!! I literally just changed one of mine from Murmur to Reckoning because I would never have heard Murmur if I hadn't heard Reckoning.

 

Kiss - Alive II or Dynasty
One of these records introduced me to my first favorite band (can’t remember which came first, because I was like six years old)
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
Put me on the path to punk rock when I was 8, and in doing so, probably literally changed my life
Circle Jerks - Wild in the Streets
Introduced me to the world of punk and hardcore beyond the Pistols
V/A - Flex Your Head
Introduced me to DC hardcore in general and Dischord records in particular, which both became obsessions
Marginal Man - Identity/Faith - Subject to Change
First steps toward the next level of punk/hardcore that was brought to fruition by the Revolution Summer bands
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
The first step outside of the punk/hardcore bunker that I constructed for myself as a pre-teen and teen
The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come
My gateway to indie rock
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
My gateway to classic post-punk (I head PiL records before that, but they didn’t really click in a big way until later)
A.R. Kane - Sixty-Nine
My gateway to dream pop and shoegaze
V/A - Logical Progression
My gateway to Drum & Bass and rave culture

 

10 albums that blew me away when I first heard them (and around the time that they first came out - except the last one) and changed the way I listened to music.

1. Paris-Concert (Circle)
2. Hatfield and the North - The Rotters Club
3. Cream - Wheels of Fire
4. Coltrane - Live at Birdland
5. Allman Brothers - Live at Fillmore East
6. Pink Floyd - Ummagumma
7. Miles Davis - Live at Fillmore
8. The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers
9. Otis Redding - Otis Blue
10. Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Years

 

This is tough, since I listen to prog, jazz, and contemporary classical genres.

I'll give it a go.

1. Beatles - Sgt Peppers / Opened my ears to rock/pop going further than what was typical, i.e., 3 minute songs, in 3 chords, etc. Even though I am no longer a Beatles fan, this was probably the most pivotal album for me.
2. T2 - It'll All Work Out in Boomland / Opened up my ears to music that can take one on a journey beyond what more simple songs can achieve, for me. Without being able to verbalize at the time why, they sounded very different than the other stuff I was listening to (Sabbath, Deep Purple, Who, Grand Funk, etc).
3. Yes - Closet to the Edge / As above, but even to a greater level. Also changed my conception of the levels of musicianship within 'rock'.
4. PFM - Storia di un Minuto / Clued my in that prog as good as the better known Brit bands, exists in other parts of the world.
5. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame / My first foray into jazz, and an eye opener it was! Terrifying levels of musicianship, all members playing at ecstatic levels of feeling and intensity. This recording lead me to other subgenres of jazz (post bop, avant-garde, chamber-jazz).
6. Henry Cow - Western Culture / Opened up my ears the entire prog subgenre of avant-prog. Took some work to wrap my head around it, but once I got used to the atonality and dissonance, it made perfect sense. Now, avant-prog is one of my favorite subgenres of prog.
7. Igor Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring / After years and years of trying to get into classical music, and being bored by the usual warhorses (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, etc), this was a game changer for me. While I am no longer as big a fan as I used to be, this lead me to discover all the more avant-garde side of classical (Elliott Carter, Bruno Maderna, Joan Tower, Charles Wuorinen, etc) that I love so much now.
8. The Art Ensemble of Chicago - Full Force / Lead me to avant-garde jazz.
9. Magma - Mekanïk Destruktïẁ Kommandöh / Another subgenre (Zeuhl) opening album for me. Mixture of soaring melodies, militaristic rhythms, threads of Coltrane influences, hypnotic and ecstatic at times.
10. Pain of Salvation - Remedy Lane / after years of hearing prog-metal that was mostly Dream Theater clones, these guys broke the mold. While they certainly have the chops, they never seem to be showing off. Their musicianship almost always seems to be serving the emotional content of the music.

There are so many more I could have gone with, but I will stand with this list for now.

 

The first Roxy fer sur.

 

Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight
The Clash - London Calling
U2 Boy
AC/DC - Back In Black
Candlemass - Nightfall
King Diamond - Them
Janes Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Beatles - White Album
Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
Ten albums that certainly were a part of my evolution.

 

Four years ago, I participated in a Facebook challenge to post over 10 days, 10 albums that had/have an effect on my life. Here are the 10 I posted.

Made in Japan - Deep Purple

The Cars - The Cars

One for the Road - The Kinks

London Calling - The Clash

Some Girls - The Rolling Stones

The Pretenders - The Pretenders

You're Never Alone with a Schizophrenic - Ian Hunter

Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell - Social Distortion

Meddle - Pink Floyd

Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks

 

Beatles--Abbey Road
Zeppelin 2
Black Flag --Damaged
Fugazi 13 songs
The Who--Quadrophenia
Grateful Dead--Fillmore East 2-11-69
John Coltrane--Blue Train
Bob Dylan--Love and Theft
Bob Marley--Survival
Tedeschi Trucks--Everybody's Talkin'

 

Off the top of my head, in no order:

Beatles--Sgt Peppers or just about any of them
Rolling Stones--Beggar's Banquet
FZ and the Mothers--We're Only In It for the Money
C,S,N--Self Titled
Joni Mitchell--Blue, Ladies of the Canyon, or Court and Spark. Hard to decide.
Jimi Hendrix--Electric Ladyland
Simon & Garfunkel--Bookends
James Taylor--Sweet Baby James
The Band--self titled
Jefferson Airplane--After Bathing at Baxters

 

MDC - Millions of Dead Cops
Roxy Music - S/T
David Bowie - Station to Station
Sonic Youth - EVOL
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
Joy Division - Closer
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
PiL - Metal Box
The Stooges - Fun House

 

The first 10 albums that I can remember owning and loving:

Rush - Moving Pictures
Saga - Worlds Apart
Triumph - Never Surrender
Cheap Trick - In Color
Zebra - No Tellin' Lies
Herbie Hancock - Sound System
Journey - Frontiers
Kansas - Drastic Measures
Loverboy - Keep It Up
Yes - 90125

 

Michael Jackson Thriller
CCR Chronicles (or rather a greatest hits mix tape my dad played in my parents old VW van)
Miles Davis Bitches Brew
Bob Dylan Greatest Hits 2
Black Sabbath Paranoid
Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here
Albert King Thursday Night in San Fran
Augustus Pablo East of the River Nile
Rolling Stones Hot Rocks
James Brown Star Box