What's the album that changed your life?

[mvd]

For me, it was The Beatles 62-66. It's a record - not a CD or even a tape. I was young and this album helped to bring me out of children's listening, and it paved the way for the Beatles becoming my favorite artists in music.

[brainshrub]

1. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

That was mine.

The Beatles were the best band of all time.

[Gildor Inglorion]

54. Oh, yes...

I loved the Beatles before "Sgt. Pepper," of course, but THAT album was earth-shaking and life-changing. I was in Nha Trang, South Vietnam, at the time, in the US Army, and my buddies and I listened to it obsessively, absorbing every nuance of every lyric. We wore out two albums, and it was my first purchase after coming back stateside. I STILL love it, after all these years.

[MirrorAshes]

2. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

No album has ever touched me quite the same way.

[nikatnyte]

3. Village Green Preservation Society

By the Kinks. It might be a stretch to say that any album "changed my life," but I wore that one out. It did help when I was trying to get through high school -- a tough time for me. (I agree about the Beatles as well.)

[Screaming Lord Byron]

74. You have marvellous taste.

[unblock]

4. help! the soundtrack, not the bastardized cd rerelease

the original soundtrack featured the regular (i.e., with lyrics) tracks as well as the instrumental versions of each song, as used in the actual movie.

this had a profound impact on me not only for help(groan)ing me to appreciate the beatles rock but also to appreciate instrumental and classical works. my parents played classical music but i always thought it was boring and meandering and structureless and yawwwn.

but the instrumental works made me rethink that, and, especially the one song with a small snipet from wagner's tanheuser overture.

i'm not sure i ever would have turned on to classical music were it not for the beatles.

hmm, i think i may just be the first person to ever utter that particular sentence, at least, in appreciation of the beatles!

[Taverner]

5. Several Have....but heres a few

Ozzy Osborune "Blizarrd of Ozz" - made me get into Metal and be the headbanger God himself intended.

Sonic Youth "Goo" - Made me realize that headbanging wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" - the one album that really got me into jazz.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

68. I had the exact same experience with Goo.

[enigmatic]

6. "The Days Of Wine And Roses" by The Dream Syndicate and..

The Velvet Underground Live 1969" album, but I could easily put 20 more albums on this list..

[flamingyouth]

7. Probably a tie - "Never Mind the Bollocks" and "London Calling"

I would also add The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, The Velvet Underground and Nico and Love It To Death by Alice Cooper, all for varying reasons.

[Chuletas]

10. woah

London Calling and Bollocks!

Exactly, I'd throw in Sandinista as well but you got mine.

[auburngrad82]

59. These two and Fear of Music by Talking Heads

My favorite TH album

[Atlas Mugged]

8. 'Beggar's Banquet' n/t

[Mr. Blonde]

9. Led Zeppelin IV

made me a believer in classic rock. Side B still hasn't gotten me laid like is advertised but oh well.

[LynneSin]

52. Me too - it converted me from being a Shaun Cassidy fan

God forbid if it wasn't for Led Zeppelin, I'd probably be listening to Celine Dion & Shania Twain and believe that "W really does stand for Women"

Led Zeppelin IV saved me along with Queen's "Night at the Opera"

[Tangledog]

11. We're Only In It for the Money

...by the Mothers of Invention before Frank Zappa sold his soul. I listened to it every day after school, my senior year.

[JohnOneillsMemory]

14. 'Absolutely Free' at the public library when I was 12. Changed my life.

Zappa warned of the fascist Christian-Nazi alliance against the Constitution with internment camps to back it up starting in the mid-60s..

Frank Zappa never sold out. Witness his 1988 tour partly archived on 'Broadway the Hard Way' which was mostly exposing the Repub evangelical militant jihadists like the tune 'When the Lie's So Big.'

He was also doing voter registration at the theater the whole tour.

[XNASA]

64. WOIIFTM changed me forever too.

I was in the 7th grade.

I had it memorize in about a week.

[sundog]

12. Pink Floyd - The Wall...

when I was a kid. It was one of the first things that made me look internally, fortunately at a young age.

[zeemike]

20. The Wall

Is the only movie I have seen more than twice.
And I could see it again and still love it. To me it was the best musical ever made.

[sundog]

43. hello from nm

:hi:

[zeemike]

57. Red or green?

North or south?
I am from the Espanola Vally.

[sundog]

73. south...

Sierra County aka
freeperland, usa

[zeemike]

81. It is Kerry country up here

I guess it is more like Texas down there.

[skygazer]

82. Another vote for The Wall

Literally saved my life. Depressive, suicidal - The Wall made me realize I was not alone. Whenever I got down, I'd put it on and it was like a friend in the darkness. To this day, it's my favorite. Pure genius.

[autorank]

13. "Come on in" R. L. Burnside n/t/

[zeemike]

15. "Magical Mystery Tour"

The Beatles
Not that any one album changed my life but that came out when I had developed an interest in eastern mysticism and Native American religion, and it just seemed to fit.

[gmoney]

16. Firesign Theatre "How can you be..."

An amazing comedy tour de force featuring the astounding "Nick Danger" ...their "Everything You Know is Wrong" was a close second.

Musically, Nick Lowe's "Pure Pop for Now People" was tremendously influential, too.

All from my friendly, local public library.

[fudge stripe cookays]

19. "And everything will be outta sight...

when Eric struts his strat at the Rollers Show tonight..."

Definitely my favorite Nick Lowe album! :D

FSC

[Magrittes Pipe]

17. Surfer Rosa

by the Pixies.

Music was never the same to me after that.

[fudge stripe cookays]

18. "Love Junk" The Pursuit of Happiness

for its poppy harmonies and hilarious observant lyrics about relationships, and...

"God Fodder" - Ned's Atomic Dustbin, for sheer unabashed happy headbanging!

and...

"Frosting on the Beater" - The Posies for awesome guitar and some more headbanging ('Definite Door' in particular)

All 3 albums never fail to put me in a good mood.

FSC

[flamingyouth]

25. Ah! Another Posies fan!

Ken & Jon went to high school with a sorority sister of mine, so I've known those guys forever (since '86 or so, when the earth was cooling).;)

"Dream All Day" is one of my favorite songs of all time.

[fudge stripe cookays]

56. See? You knew there was a reason we got along!

In addition to everything else!

Still in touch?

Any chance of hanging out while I'm up? Jon's dreamy. :loveya: But no telling Al I said that!

FSC :D

[tigereye]

48. TPOH were pretty cool

[fudge stripe cookays]

55. I have all their stuff-- even Moe's solo album.

I wanted really badly to check out his new band, Monteforte, when we were in Toronto last year, but alas it was not to be.

I met them in 1989 when their first album came out and they played Austin. Got a kiss on the cheek from Moe. What a cutie! And they were all really nice. I have a thing for that geeky look.

FSC

[tigereye]

60. I always have too

but then I was, and am a geek as well. If there is such as thing as a geek mommy. :)

so does that mean that women always make passes at guys who wear glasses. It does in my case.

[fudge stripe cookays]

62. Yep!

It's when they take the glasses off that the fun begins!

Wouldn't you know....reprehensor has nearly perfect eyesight. :-( He'd look so cute in a pair of nerd glasses! Kinda like one of the guys in Weezer!

FSC

[tigereye]

63. how is your Halloween planning coming along?

Mikd Mills -drool _ before he went hipster.
BTW, my husb. can't see without his glasses.

[fudge stripe cookays]

67. Thanks for asking! My favorite topic!

See for yourself!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1613251#1613360

This past weekend, worked on our graveyard fence (have to do some paint touchup this week), and I need to order some finials from this cheap source I found.

Also have my Nosferatu almost ready to go.

Managed to crank out 6 plaster fingers for our invitations, only 48 to go! Oi!

And I'll be carving more tombstones this week when I get an opportunity here and there between meetups, liberal movie screenings, voter reg, etc.

[tigereye]

77. that is way cool, FSC

I love Halloween. Nice tombstones, BTW. I admire your energy and sense of fun. Plus the political themes should be fun as well.

[fudge stripe cookays]

78. Thanks Tige! Fake tombstones are my business!

I'll take more pix of props etc, and of course, of the party before and during.

That should rev everyone up near Dallas and entertain everyone here for a day or 2 before the election.

Wait til you guys see the mad scientist's lab!

FSC

[Screaming Lord Byron]

70. 'Frosting on the Beater' rocks, particularly Solar Sister.

[fudge stripe cookays]

72. Indeed.

Headbangin fun! In a non headbanger sort of way, of course.

FSC

[Pale Blue Dot]

21. Crowded House - Temple of Low Men

I learned that often the best albums are the ones that don't really hit you until you've heard them a few times.

I've been a committed Finnfan ever since.

[chiburb]

22. "Second Contribution" by Shawn Phillips... n/t

[NeoConsSuck]

23. Lee Michaels - Barrel

What Now, America.
Murder in my Heart (For the Judge)

a lot more on this album. I became more politically aware after hearing this album.

[Lancer]

24. Miles Davis

Miles Ahead. I have played this one at least 1,000 times and know it note for note.


Pop/Rock? Apart from pure, perfect Beatles, it would be Who's Next

[henslee]

76. Who's Next, me too. I discoverd that album and felt like it was mine.

Not my sisters.

[mrfrapp]

26. Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 66 is widely considered the most important rock and roll concert of that or any era. From the first moment I heard the bootleg until today, I don't think that assessment is an exageration. The first half, where Dylan sings alone with just his guitar and blues harp, is the zenith of that particular form of folk music. The second half however, is the performance that cemented this concert's place in history.

I don't remember this the first time around (I'm not old enough) but apparantly, Dylan's decision to plug his guitar into an amplifier was a really big deal. The folkies saw this as treason, almost literally, and the recording of the Manchester concert depicts this very graphically. What I find amazing about the performance is Dylan's defiance in the face of almost universal hostility. Despite the slow handclaps, the snide comments (inaudible on the recording) and apparently, even formal written requests from members of the audience for the band to go home because they were "too loud", Dylan and the Hawks played on and became tighter and more defiant with each song.

Finally, an anonymous Mancunian who's resolve has clearly broken, brands Dylan a "Judas" much to the amusement of his peers. Both insulted and ridiculed by his audience, Dylan turns to his band and instructs them to play "f***ing loud". The performance of "Like a Rolling Stone" that followed is utterly mesmerising. It's almost as though punk music was invented at that very moment -- you can almost hear Dylan thinking to himself, "I'm going to drag you folkies into the 60s even if it kill's me. You're damn well going to listen to us whether you like it or not".

Why did this album change my life? Because it taught me a very important lesson that I had learnt years previously but had forgotten. The lesson says: do whatever it is that you think is the right thing to do for yourself. Don't be put off by other people's opinions of you and react to ridicule with sincere disobedience.

[tXr]

27. I could list at least a hundred albums

but I'll try to keep it to a few!

The White Album - The Beatles. I 'got into' The Beatles in a roundabout way - a kid in my high school English class (11th grade) was reading Helter Skelter, and, curious, I asked him about the book. He said it was a good book, and that I should read it. I did, then I bought The White Album because I just had to listen to the songs that Manson used to brainwash his Family with - I couldn't comprehend that music could be used to manipulate people in that way. It was an unsettling introduction to the power music can have over people...but the songs were good, and I became a hopeless Beatlemaniac, eventually acquiring all their albums.

Chronicle - Creedence Clearwater Revival. A good overall introduction to one of the best bands to come out of the 60s. When I was 15, I got a job and saved my money for a year, and when I turned 16, I bought my first car (a '75 Mustang II - baby blue! - used for $650 in 1986) and a copy of Chronicle by CCR.

The Cars and Candy-O - The Cars. One of the more musically talented 'New Wave' groups of the late '70s - early '80s. I was quite the little Cars fanatic for a few years, too; Candy-O was the only album I listened to for almost a year. Thus the reason for many of my current problems! :silly:

[Tikki]

28. The POP....

The POP.. "The POP" (USA 1977......

"Down on the Boulevard"....

[Deja Q]

29. Human League 'Secrets'

All I need is somebody to listen to it with! :D

[AmandaRuth]

30. soundtrack to rock n roll high school

my then boyfriend (now hubby) took my to see rock and roll high school on a first date, and i bought the soundtrack the next day. Truly opened my ears and eyes to cultures and sounds and people that were outside of my small town rural life. Until then, I thought life stopped at the county line. Have not listened to it in years, but it really did change my life.

[2bfree]

31. Elton John's Yellow Brick Road..............

I fell in love with that album in the 6th grade.

[peacefreak]

32. OK, so I'm old...

but I can still vividly remember paying my $2.98 at G. Fox & Co. (know where I mean, NightTrain?). I dropped the needle onto the record & the first few bars of I Want to Hold Your Hand changed my life forever.
The second time it happened was when I heard Suite Judy Blue Eyes for the first time.

[AlFrankenFan]

33. Scarecrow - John Mellencamp

n/t

[Bertha Venation]

34. "So" Peter Gabriel

It was my salvation while I was in a mental hospital and for about three years afterwards. I must've listened to that tape (late '80s) at least ten times a day. I went through three tapes.

[Lizzie Borden]

35. Dylan

The Tmes They Are A'Changing. Ever since I was a young girl this albumn has haunted me.

[skooooo]

40. Blood on the Tracks..

for me.

[stevedeshazer]

36. Wipers - Is This Real?

[NashVegas]

37. The First Pretenders Album

As the youngest of five, I had most of my music handed down to me by my brothers and sisters.

When punk and new wave came along, they did everything they could to discourage me from it. One of my brothers threatened to beat me up if I didn't take the Talking Heads Fear of Music album off of his stereo.

When I heard "Precious," I was liberated. From then on, I was like, "if you have a problem with what I'm into, that's your problem bro, not mine."

[tXr]

39. I agree 100%.

"Precious" was a revelation to me at the age of 12. "Tattooed Love Boys", "Up The Neck", "Mystery Achievement", "Private Life", "Kid", and for early-80s video arcade fun, "Space Invader", complete with cheezy sound effects.

"Pretenders II" was a good, underrated album - "Talk Of The Town", "Message Of Love", "Day After Day", "Bad Boys Get Spanked"
:spank: - and for true Pretenders fanatics, "Pretenders Extended Play" had a couple great songs - "Cuban Slide" and "Porcelain".

The original incarnation of the Pretenders was a tough, talented band. Too bad half of them OD'd. :-(

[Sufi Marmot]

38. "Shoot Out the Lights" n/t

[Zomby Woof]

41. Polka With All Your Might!

[Kathleen04]

42. Beatles Anthology

The first one (before I had all of them!). I'm only 18 now, so I was young when this came out (10)..my parents bought it and I really loved the music..I also really liked asking them which songs they knew/remembered. After that my dad would surprise me by giving me a new Beatles CD every so often.

The height of Beatlemania for me was 1996. :)

[DemWitch]

44. Pink Floyd.. DSOTM

Time, for some reason spoke to me. As weird as it sounds, the first time I heard that cut, at 12 years old, I all of a sudden had a clear vision of the limited time we have here. I promised myself that I would live everyday doing something to better the world or myself (not in a selfish way, but education, spirituality, etc.). And I pretty much have. Because of that I have few regrets looking back over my 41 years. When my time is gone, and my song is over, I hope that there's nothing more I had to say...


Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown
Waiting for something or someone to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you whento run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it sinking
And racing around to come uo behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but your older
And shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone the song is over thought I'd something more to say

[PittPoliSci]

45. The Queers - "Don't Back Down"

ever since then i've loved punk. long time ago, wooooooooo boy...

[kwolf68]

46. Between two

"London Calling" of course and "Kill Em All" by Metallica...It made metal cool for punk fans.

[tigereye]

49. hard to pick one

The Clash US
Talking Heads 77
Velvet Underground All Tomorrow's Parties

[chenGOD]

47. Three albums.

Dead Kennedys - Plastic Surgery Disasters

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

Jimi Hendrix - Axis:Bold as Love

[hiphopnation]

50. Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy

Though I don't listen to it much anymore it was the album that made me want to band on drums...HARD!! And I did and have ever since.

[UpsideDownFlag]

51. melonchollie and infinity sadness by the smashing pumpkins.

heard it when i was 12, have listened to alternative ever since.

[goclark]

53. Marvin Gaye's " What's Going On"

[Gothic Sponge]

58. He moves me..........or something......

;)

[livetohike]

61. "Are you experienced?"

I wasn't when I heard it at age 15, but everything changed after that :-).

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

80. Same here - "Are You Experienced"

Actually before it was released in the US I heard the single "Hey Joe" being played all over the place everywhere I went on a trip to Europe in 1967. Even the airline had "Hey Joe" on its playlist on their inboard music selection which I could hear through headphones. I turned 17, bought the album, and learned every tune and "tried to" learn every solo, even the backwards guitar ones, and played them in my attic band. The album changed my life because it made me get very serious with my music after that.

[redqueen]

65. Duran Duran - Duran Duran

My mom raised me on shit from the 60's like Dylan, the Beatles and Steely Dan... this was my first taste of what music could really do for the world.

[redqueen]

75. On a more serious note

Peter Gabriel's "Up" did a lot for me. Wouldn't say it necessarily changed my life or anything like that... but if any album or CD has come close, it's that one.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

66. Van Morrison's 'Astral Weeks'

[Screaming Lord Byron]

69. No album has really changed my life, but the one in my sig line came close

Primal Scream's Screamadelica - the perfect acid house / rock and roll crossover.

[Chovexani]

71. Sisters of Mercy - First and Last and Always

It made me realize I was a goth. And that, in spite of having had it forcefed to me since birth, I really hated R&B.

[Kid_A]

79. R.E.M. - "Automatic for the People"

It was the first CD I ever bought, and I still have the same copy in the same horribly cracked case, with the same torn and stained liner notes, but the disc still plays perfectly. It's one of the few albums I never get tired of, even though I've listened to it hundreds and hundreds of times.

[rene moon]

83. The Joshua Tree

Still a great album---put things into perspective for me at age 13. Thanks Bono:)

[mtnester]

84. Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

NOTHING had sounded like that before or since