Only recently have I encountered The Beach Boys, but today I understand why Pet Sounds is such a popular album; it is good! Also a newcomer in my world -and I love it. Autobahn -but only the first side (well: the track Autobahn) -I'm still looking for my cassette (even though I know it's gone the same way as my Dodo). Brilliant album (had to put it on right as I saw it mentioned here) I think it would be fair to mention that it's my favourite of theirs.
"Abbey Road" is still my favourite. The Beatles going out with a bang with a strong line-up of their finest songs and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer."
Where to begin? There are so many albums that I love from a wide range of genres and over several decades. I'll try a few: Pink Floyd - The Division Bell: A lot has been said on this already, and I didn't even know it suffered critically. I thought it was the perfect way to go for Pink Floyd, and although certainly not as creative as Water's I like the lyrics. "What Do You Want From Me", "Wearing The Inside Out" (that Sax <3) and "High Hopes" are certainly stand outs. I don't have the energy to type about all of these but my other favourite Floyd albums are: The Dark Side Of The Moon, Wish You Were Here, Meddle, The Wall and that early single with Barrett "See Emily Play". Keane - Hopes & Fears and Strangeland: Hopes & Fears reminds me of my childhood- "Bedshaped" and "Somewhere Only We Know" especially, the songs are fantastically written, the piano in there is beautifully done. Although I also love the albums in between, Strangeland was the album in which they returned to their roots. Owl City - Ocean Eyes: The first album I bought myself. The thing I love about Owl City, or at least this era of his is his innovative style, with both lyrics and sound. I thought it was fantastic (before anyone says anything, I think 'Give Up' by the Postal Service is fantastic and of a very similar if not the same genre but the songs themselves are not similar enough to warrant the criticism Ocean Eyes sometimes gets). Now I find it much harder to relate to a lot of electronic music but because this is so different from most electronic stuff and I already love it there's no going back. This is mostly here for nostalgic reasons. Ok, if I type explanations for everything I'll be here all night so I'll just list whatever I can think of in no particular order: Spoiler: Long list Fleetwood Mac - Rumours Keane- Under The Iron Sea Keane- Night Train Coldplay- Parachutes Coldplay- A Rush Of Blood To The Head Coldplay- X&Y The Cat Empire- Two Shoes The Beatles - Abbey Road Muse - Origin Of Symmetry Muse - Supermassive Black Hole Muse - Absolution Death Cab For Cutie - Plans Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms The Postal Service - Give Up Madeliene Peyroux - Careless Love Owl City - All Things Bright And Beautiful Lights - Siberia (and the Acoustic version) The Hoosiers - The Trick To Life Oasis - What's The Story (Morning Glory?) Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More Mumford & Sons - Babel Relient K - Five Score And Seven Years Ago Sky Sailing - An Airplane Carried Me To Bed Paramore - Brand New Eyes Bastille - (All This) Bad Blood Caro Emerald - Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope Noah & The Whale - Last Night On Earth Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum Eagles/ Queen / Simon & Garfunkel - Only got the best ofs for most of their work for these but didn't want to leave them out Backbeat Soundsystem - Navigate The Motivator And I've left tonnes out, check the link for Last.FM in my signature if you like, it's much easier just to see what I listen to.
That's what happens When I use the word favourite... now I'm not so sure any more -Nah, I think I'll stay with Revolver for now.
I'm going to just tell you about 2 albums Now That's What I Call Music 2 - UK edition, various artists. I'm not kidding you here This came out in 1984, when I was 8. It is the first album I bought with my own money. I used all my birthday money, it cost £8 as it was a double album, which was a lot of money then, especially for an 8 year old. I remember saying I wanted to buy The Works by Queen because it had Radio Ga Ga on it, but my parents talked me into buying that instead because as they pointed out, it had Radio Ga Ga on it and a lot of other songs that were popular too. Not really advice I thank them for as most of the rest of the songs were crap, but it is what it is. But the important thing is, it had Radio Ga Ga on it, and I wore the album out playing that song over and over. A Kind of Magic - Queen It is not Queen's best by a long long shot and is nowhere near to being my favourite album, but that fever around the Magic tour and their performance at Live Aid the year before was what really cemented my interest in music, and this is the album they had out around that time. I remember Freddie Mercury seemed like a superhero to me, holding thousands in thrall. Nobody else has ever commanded a stage quite like that. And he was rude, I remember that. He said fuck a lot and nobody even seemed to care. He must be something really special! Incidentally Live Aid was also the day I found out what gay meant, and that Freddie Mercury was gay. I remember particularly because my neighbour's son told me while we were watching Queen and explained what it meant, and his mother scolded him and said that as a fan, I wouldn't want to find out he was gay, which seemed to me like a much more horrible thing to say.
For me, I guess the most influential albums of my life are/were (in no particular order): The Wall by Pink Floyd. The perfect album for teenage rebellion and disenchantment. A powerful album for any young person. The Stranger by Billy Joel One of the first times in my childhood where I saved up my allowance to get an album and discovered that pop music actually had something to say. Escape by Journey Probably one of my favorite albums of all-time; good rock/pop mix, with Steve Perry's fantastic voice. It led me to investigate their other albums and made me a life-long fan. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles. I actually could cite any Beatles album, since I can't remember which I heard first (probably was a compilation). But I do definitely remember hearing this and just being awestruck. Dream of the Blue Turtles by Sting Again, a pop-ish album but with hints of jazz thrown in, influences from the Caribbean, Africa and unusually structured lyrics. As a teen, I fell for this in a big way. I loved the lyrics, the mix of dark humor & light melodies. I even used a quote from one of the songs in my high-school yearbook Senior portrait--much to the chagrin of the Catholic School's yearbook editor. Pyromania by Def Leppard. Yeah, OK, perhaps not the greatest album ever, but this came out when hard rock was cool. When I first heard this in 8th grade, I was so enamored with it that I spent most of that school year in a British flag T-shirt with a bandana tied around my leg. Yes, I did. Stop laughing. London Calling by The Clash Discovered when I in high school; a good rock album with real attitude, some intelligent lyrics and a point of view different from a lot of shallow stuff out at the time. It really grabbed me, and still does. The Joshua Tree by U2 Also, another high school moment. This was so different from the usual drivel; I was in love with the poetry of the lyrics, the political point of view, the melodramatic wall of sound--an almost symphony-like wave of music. I was deeply impressed.
Great pick! Also I must be the only person on Earth who really doesn't care about the Beatles. :/ I've tried, they're just not my cup of tea I'm afraid. And it's not the fact that it's "old". I like early Stones just fine.
Photograph is still a great rock track IMO. I watched a new Def Leppard DVD called Viva Hysteria! the other day, where they play the whole Hysteria album. At the end after the album they played Photograph, and they knocked it out of the park. Great performance. I went to see Def Leppard in 1992, "in the round" where they play on a round stage in the middle of the audience, they were really damn good.
^I didn't really appreciate the Stones until I was in college. But I would have to say that The Beatles left a far greater mark on my soul. The music appeals to me not just emotionally but intellectually. I've always found The Rolling Stones to be a much more visceral experience. It's emotional, instinctive, maybe a little naughty in that "13-year-old-telling-a-dirty-joke" kind of way. It's a TON of fun, but it doesn't really speak to my soul......if that makes sense. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I saw them in 92 or 93, when they were touring for Adrenalize. It was a fun show. I'm glad I got to see them
The Rolling Stones are the single most boring band in the history of rock. I don't hate them, but I absolutely cannot bring myself to get in the least bit excited about anything they have done.
In order of when I first heard them front to back ... Meet the Beatles - The Beatles Live Cream - Cream We're An American Band - Grand Funk Chicago Transit Authority - Chicago Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John Maynard! - Maynard Ferguson Boston - Boston King Cobra - Woody Herman Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughan 5150 - Van Halen 24 Nights - Eric Clapton That's jumping through several decades, but those are the standouts. There are many, many others, but these are a must have list for me.
I wonder if you'd really feel the same way if they'd stopped making music in 1969. I think a lot of what we think about the Stones today is coloured by how pathetic they are now.
You're not alone. They were so ubiquitous on the radio growing up that there was no need to buy an album or get especially excited by the sound of them.
That nicely sums up my feeling on the Beatles, too. There was no way to avoid their music, or their respective likenesses everywhere so I never really cared one way or the other. I suppose I ought to give them another listen at some point ... but I'm too busy getting caught up on Dylan's catalog at the moment.
I posted my list before I read the thread. There are a ton of albums posted by others that didn't make my list, mainly because they weren't the first ones to pop into my head. But it's nice to see that so many of us have similar tastes. I agree, 100%. Meet The Beatles was my real introduction to popular music in the mid-60s, and The Beatles continue to be my musical center. This is not the Fab Four, but The Fab Faux. It's really good, and worth a watch. http://youtu.be/HkxI0e0tOM0