The most influential albums in your life.

[Australis]

My favourite Rolling Stones song is "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve.

Mine too.

Thirded.

Fourthed. And The Verve were robbed.

 

[{ Emilia }]

At least I'm sure nobody's gonna claim their favourite Led Zeppelin song is Puff Daddy's "Come with me" from the Godzilla soundtrack.

Kashmir all the way, right?!

 

[Australis]

I have to agree because, for some unfathomable reason, Piff Ditty is not on my playlist.

And Kashmir is great. A list of my favourite individual songs would be too, too long. Hundreds.

 

[lurok]

Led Zeppelin: IV Aside from Stairway, there's Black Dog, Rock & Roll, When the Levee Breaks, Battle of Evermore. Just wow.

One of the greatest albums of all time. And, imho, anyone who says they like blues, should listen too. Levee is so good.

 

[1001001]

Making Movies, Dire Straits. Not their best album (shut up, digits) but the one that really introduced me to the complete greatness of that band.

Geez, what did I do???





For me, the timing of that album in my life played a big part too. Going through my first adolescent break-up, listening to Romeo and Juliet and Hand in Hand over and over...

Ah, youth.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I'd have to say one of the most influential albums in my life was Kraftwerk's Computer World.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YPiCeLwh5o[/yt]

 

[Kirby]

The Stranger by Billy Joel[/I]
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.

I completely forgot about The Stranger. That goes on my list as well!

 

[Pondwater]

CrazySexyCool-TLC
First album I bought on my own. I think it was 5th or 6th grade. I used to know every word to side A.

Thriller-Michael Jackson
Very upbeat and there wasn't a song on there that I didn't like. Most favorites would be "Human Nature" and "Lady in my Life"

Off the Wall-Michael Jackson
I clean the apartment to this album. And know every song. In fact it was my mom that used to love this album. She told me she bought it with her first pay check back in the day.

1999-Prince and the Revolution
I had a major crush on Prince. For reasons I won't share publicly. Anyway, 2005 was a year of hell for me personally. Listening to this album helped me get through it.

Violator- Depeche Mode
A little latent as I didn't get into them until 2006. "Enjoy the Silence" was playing on VH1 Classic and I looked it up and enjoyed DM since.

Ultra- Depeche Mode
"Barrel of a Gun" spoke volumes to me, something I won't discuss publicly. Also that album contains two of my favorite DM songs and music videos, "It's No Good" (my most favorite) and "Useless".

Music for the Masses - Depeche Mode
Has a few of my favorite all time hits by them. Mostly "StrangeLove"

Signs of the Times- Prince
Another favorite of mine. The only song I really don't care for is "The Cross" but "Adore" and it's b-side "Pink Cashmere" are my two most favorite songs by him.

Garbage 2.0- Garbage
Shirley Manson is hot!!! This album is the the first official CD I ever bought.

The Downward Spiral-Nine Inch Nails
"Closer" enough said.

The Diary of Alicia Keys-Alicia Keys
Reminder of my "salad days"

Speakerbox/The Love Below-Outkast
Reminds me of when I got my driver's license.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Another candidate for most influential album:

Every one ever recorded by the Alan Parsons Project. (Got me through college!)

I mean, how can you not love this:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLvFbBR4XOg[/yt]

Or even this:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWIZ3rWv18o[/yt]

 

[Yoda]

Influential might be a little dramatic, but here are the ones that probably most influenced what I listen to:

The Kindness of Strangers
Scenes from a Memory
Rust in Peace
OK Computer

 

[RyanKCR]

Chariots of Fire - Vangelis
Star Trek The Motion Picture - Jerry Goldsmith
The Planets - Tomita
Snowflakes are Dancing - Tomita
Rendezvous - Jean-Michel Jarre
Ricochet - Tangerine Dream
Similitudes - Jeff Johnson

Most everything else is just single tracks or songs.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

^ Love the New Age emphasis.

 

[Orac Zen]

Making Movies, Dire Straits. Not their best album (shut up, digits) but the one that really introduced me to the complete greatness of that band.

Geez, what did I do???

Exactly.

 

[Saga]

Scenes from a Memory
OK Computer

yes! especially Scenes from a Memory.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Incomplete list.

King Crimson
- In the Court of the Crimson King

Robert Fripp
- Exposure

The Moody Blues
- In Search of the Lost Chord
- On the Threshold of a Dream
- A Question of Balance
- Every Good Boy Deserves Favour

Pink Floyd
- Meddle
- The Dark Side of the Moon
- Wish You Were Here

The Alan Parsons Project
- Tales of Mystery and Imagination Edgar Allan Poe
- I Robot
- Pyramid

The Rolling Stones
- Let It Bleed

Led Zeppelin
- Led Zeppelin II
- Houses of the Holy
- In Through the Out Door

Jerry Goldsmith
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture

John Williams
- Star Wars: A New Hope
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Superman

Peter Gabriel
- "Car"
- "Melt"

Grace Jones
- Slave to the Rhythm
- Inside Story

The B-52's
- The B-52's
- Whammy!
- Cosmic Thing

David Bowie
- The Man Who Sold the World
- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
- Changesonebowie
- Scary Monsters

Wendy Carlos
- Switched-On Bach
- Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange

The Who
- Who Are you
- Quadrophenia

Kiss
- Alive!
- Alive II

Styx
- The Grand Illusion
- Crystal Ball

The Beatles
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Magical Mystery Tour

 

[{ Emilia }]

King Crimson
- In the Court of the Crimson King

Yes!!!

Masterpiece if you ask me.

I also got a kick out of the fact that all the enemies in one of Everquest 2's raid zones were named after "characters" from that album. I know, I know... computer games.

 

[J.T.B.]

Kashmir all the way, right?!

It's great, but I've always been partial to "When The Levee Breaks."

1978.

"Some Girls".

Every song on that one is great.

Agreed. Actually the Stones' '70s output is pretty solid, "Exile," Black and Blue and Some Girls being the high points, but It's Only Rock and Roll and Goat's Head Soup are highly listenable. In the '80s Tattoo You and Dirty Work were also great albums. Personally, I never bought into the Beatles vs. Stones thing much, as it mas mostly clever marketing on the Stones behalf. I love the Beatles, all of it, but they never really grabbed me like the Stones. Partly it is the Stones' stronger connections to blues and country, which carries my interest further. Partly it is the unique dynamics as a live band (Mick and Keith, Keith and Charlie, Keith and Woody) and the way they have evolved over the years. Partly it is the way they reacted to and/or embraced soul, funk, reggae, punk, etc.

Anyway... Ten?! No way, can't do it. Here's what I can pare it down to at the moment:

The Band, The Band
The Blasters, The Blasters
Blondie, Eat to the Beat (first LP I bought with my own money, and a good one)
The Clash, London Calling
Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
The English Beat, I Just Can't Stop It
Donald Fagan, The Nightfly
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
The Knitters, Poor Little Critter On The Road (made me realize that rock and roll, country and folk were all the same thing)
Modern Lovers, Modern Lovers
The Pretenders, Pretenders
The Ramones, Ramones
The Replacements, Tim
R.E.M., Murmur
Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
Rolling Stones, Exile On Main Street
Talking Heads, Remain In Light
Television, Marquee Moon
The Who, Who's Next
X, Los Angeles
Neil Young, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Warren Zevon, Warren Zevon

I seem to like debut records.

Compilations: Citizen Steely Dan, Hank Williams, Curtis Mayfield, The Kinks, CCR, Dionne Warwick, Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf.

Live: Rolling Stones, Get Yer Ya-Yas Out, Talking Heads, The Name of this Band is Talking Heads and Stop Making Sense, The Who, Live at Leeds, Neil Young, Live Rust, Bob Dylan and The Band, Before The Flood.

 

[Pingfah]

Live - Secret Samadhi

This is great, a really underrated album. People always go on about Throwing Copper when discussing Live, but Secret Samadhi is an order of magnitude better.

For a short while there, Live were a really good band, then the singer had to go ruin it by turning them into a Christian folk act instead of a spiritually influenced hard rock band.

 

[Shaytan]

King Crimson
- In the Court of the Crimson King

Yes!!!

Masterpiece if you ask me.

I'd say Red. It's maybe considered a less influencial album but I like it better.

King Crimson is the best live "thing" I have seen, like "I'm not certain I did understand everything but that was great".

 

[C.E. Evans]

Live - Secret Samadhi

This is great, a really underrated album. People always go on about Throwing Copper when discussing Live, but Secret Samadhi is an order of magnitude better.

Yeah, Secret Samadhi was a cool album, but I liked it pretty equally with it Throwing Copper.

As a bit of aside, when I was working in college radio about the time Throwing Copper was released, their record label actually sent out pretty good-sized promotional pieces of copper with the band's name and the album title stamped on it.
http://991.com/NewGallery/Live-Throwing-Copper-264321.jpg

We at the radio station did as the album suggested and threw them--on the floor, at the walls, and even each other.

For a short while there, Live were a really good band, then the singer had to go ruin it by turning them into a Christian folk act instead of a spiritually influenced hard rock band.

Oh, so that's the black hole they vanished into...