Think of 20 albums that had such a profound effect on you that they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, or years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, and emotions. In no particular order.
1.
Beatles "
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" I was young, and my taste in music tended to be on the cheesy mainstream side. I was fully aware of the Beatles, and I was a big fan of the animated "Yellow Submarine." I can still recite the movie pretty much from beginning to end. But one Christmas I asked for the Sgt. Pepper album. The SOUNDTRACK to the movie. The one that had the
Bee Gees &
Peter Frampton singing the
Beatles songs. Yeah, seriously. So my clueless father, got me the
Beatles LP. I was so disappointed. I did get the soundtrack from that horrible movie, but eventually, I came to really prefer the
Beatles one. My father inadvertently did good (my father as a father is a long story) that day.
2.
DJ Shadow "
Endtroducing..." This is such a haunting record, and what amazed me at the time, was that it was made primarily of other obscure records into an exciting collage. It's a shame that he's more interested in making that horrible "
crunk" music now. I can understand wanting to progress as an artist, but really?
3.
Donna Summer "
Bad Girls" Looking back, this is a great record. Probably the ideal
disco record at the time, it was more than that. It had a
rock flavor in some of the tracks, and is now a point of reference to some
techno,
electropop and
dance rock that came after. Lots of great memories of listening to this on cassette on one of tape recorders that I had that came from Radio Shack!
4.
King Cobb Steelie "
Junior Relaxer" Trippy Dub Rock from a bunch of Canadians. At the time, I was in my Alternate Canadian Rock phase. MuchMusic had been broadcasting on Long Island on cable, and it was turning me on to a lot of bands originating from Canada (which was a law in Canada, that if you were a Canadian based station, you HAD to have a certain amount of content that was made by Canadians), like
Moist,
Tragically Hip, and
Rainbow Butt Monkeys (now called
Finger 11). This CD didn't sound like anything that I had heard. Kinda a precursor to the whole
post-rock movement, although this CD had vocals.
5.
Leslie Phillips "
The Turning" During the time when I became a born-again Christian, and was searching for music that was made by Christians, I came across this. For the most part, it always seemed to me that Christian music always tended to be desperately trying to catch up with the contemporary music of the times, but always sounded horribly dated. And lyrically it got really predictable with banging you over the head with Jesus, which is a big turn off with me personally. Finding this, was a breath of fresh air both musically and lyrically. She then left the her label and changed her name to
Sam Phillips and is still making great music. Although this one still has a place in my heart.
6.
Talk Talk "
Spirit of Eden" I remember being floored by this. This 80's band got real quiet, and then got LOUD, in a perfect balance, using a wide instruments beside the typical rock stuff. It's cited as being an influence on
Radiohead and the
post-rock movement. Just beautiful.
7.
Tears for Fears "
Songs From The Big Chair" This is album that wound up growing on me in a big way ten years after it came out. This is one of the few albums that were made from the 80's that is solid from beginning to finish. Of course there are the hits that radio have kinda killed to a certain degree, but if you actually listen to it all the way through, I think you might agree.
8.
dredg "
El Cielo" After a rather harrowing year personally, a customer of the record store I was working at the time, turned me on to this group. I listened to this relentlessly. Really. I hadn't been affected by a CD in quite sometime. The emotional, lyrical, musical aspects that the music were created in went straight to my heart. It was nice to eventually meet the band and shake their hands and thank them for making a great album
9.
Ministry "
Land of Rape & Honey" This was my gateway 'drug' into
industrial. I wasn't a fan of
metal or
punk. The aggressive use of beats and keyboards spoke to me. After that, I would buy ANYTHING that was on the
Wax Trax label.
10.
Negativland "
Helter Stupid" An excerpt of the song "Helter Stupid" was put on a mix tape made for me. Another gateway 'drug' into
collage/
cut 'n' paste style of music. Led to all sorts of fondness for sampled based music. I really like the idea of using bits of music and making new stuff out of it. I mean I REALLY like it.
11.
Girl Talk "
Night Ripper" When I read a magazine about this guy, I knew that it was up my alley. And it was like a dream come true. All the best parts of all of those records put together in a continuous flow. Kinda builds on the aforementioned
Negativland, and then some.
12.
Pink Floyd "
The Wall" Gotta have at least one album that nearly every person my age has on their list. Yadda yadda indentify yadda yadda. LOVED the art. Gerald Scarfe is a hero for me. And the album still resonates for me to this day. A cousin, who had a LARGE vinyl collection, made me a copy on cassette, and I played that ruthlessly. Didn't actually get a physical copy until years later. Movie's awesome as well.
13.
Tori Amos "
Little Earthquakes" Ah, this album. They were trying to market her as a female
Elton John. I love when record companies try to do that crap. Very intense first CD, and she was GORGEOUS.
14.
Beastie Boys "
Paul's Boutique" Did NOT like their first CD. Sounded like frat boys making a rap album. This had samples galore (they sampled
The Beatles!!), and seemed a leap forward for these guys. This is such a great album.
15.
Underworld "
Dubnobasswithmyheadman" I hadn't seen my former roommate in a while, but he then turned me on to this CD. I think this is the best techno album out there. I keep coming back to this CD time and time again. Especially the track "
Dirty Epic," I listen to that song constantly.
16.
Adam Again "
Ten Songs From..." As I mentioned in the description for the
Leslie Phillips album, Christian music at the time I was listening to it, wasn't all that greatly original. Then I found this group. It was
alternative rock, with influences of
soul,
funk, and
african music.
17.
Billy Joel "
The Stranger" The big memory of this album, is listening to it in the back seat of my Aunt's car, with my brother and grandmother, driving upstate to Lake Lazurne.
18.
Stevie Wonder "
Songs In The Key Of Life" Mom had this on 8 track, and then I found it on vinyl!
19.
Art of Noise "
Into Battle With..." Another revelation in record form! Big beats and samples! You know I got the box set when it came out.
20.
Stan Getz & João Gilberto "
Getz/Gilberto" The ultimate
jazzy,
brazilian album that opened my eyes to that whole genre of music.