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records that changed my life?
Mar. 19th, 2009 12:28 amThere are a couple of these memes drifting around. One says, "Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dig into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it."
Another says, "Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world."
I'm really not good at "things with deep meaning," but this one's music, so I'll talk about that.
1. Styx - Paradise Theater. I was a fan of Styx from when I first heard them - "Renegade". My first favorite song, my first favorite band. When I really started being interested in music in general, I was attracted to this record. I asked for it for Christmas, and it was my first album. I still like it.
2. Jethro Tull - Stand Up. This was among my first dozen or so albums. I'm sure I got it after Aqualung, and as great as that one is, Stand Up is my most favorite Tull records, and one of my most favorite of all records. It's been on that list for a good 25 years.
3. Led Zeppelin II. Another early classic. I don't rate it as highly now as I did back then, but I sure loved it. You know that part of "Whole Lotta Love" that has the bass bomp, bomp followed by the quick guitar solo bit? I loved cranking that part, on my mom's cheap stereo, so loud the speakers would distort on the bass hit, but the guitar was still clear.
There are a whole lot of classic albums that I listened the hell out of during the eighties - Who's Next, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Are You Experienced?, LZ I, LZ IV, Machine Head, Thick As A Brick, Moving Pictures, 2112, Animals, Dark Side of the Moon, L.A. Woman... Over the course of the eighties, rock music stagnated, but there was so much classic rock yet to be discovered (though it wasn't called classic rock back then, even though it was the "old" stuff).
4. My younger sister had discovered the Violent Femmes, and brought the music home, starting with their debut album. I loved it. It was really just a diversion, as far as I was concerned, but they were fun. Wild stuff.
5. But then Nirvana blew it wide open. "Smells Like Teen Spirit"/Nevermind. Like most new music that's challenging to me, this one took about three listens for it to sink in. Being stuck in that classic rock phase for a decade, and very little new music that *excited* me, this was really something. The song, along with some other music at the time really did change my perception of music, and greatly expanded the boundaries of what I listened to. At the time, I was interested in different kinds of rock music, but couldn't really call myself a fan of much of it. Opening up my horizons led to...
6. Nine Inch Nails, Broken. Another amazing new sound, the distorted synth and industrial grind. It was just so heavy. I head heard "Head Like A Hole" before Nirvana, but it hadn't grabbed me yet. Their follow up EP, Broken was the record that really won me over. I love the way "Pinion" builds and explodes into "Wish". I'll add The Downward Spiral onto this entry. That one diverged a bit from the sheer power of Broken, became darker, and featured actual songwriting.
7. U2, Achtung Baby. U2 was a band that evolved quite a bit over it's first decade. It took me a while to get into Joshua Tree, and I was a solid fan by the time they released Rattle and Hum. That was an eclectic package, and tucked in near the end were a couple of songs that hinted at their future direction. An electronic edge with distortion. I picked up Achtung Baby and listened to it once, but wasn't impressed. I had liked the first song I heard, "The Fly", but it wasn't awesome. A while later, I listed to the CD again (one of my first CD purchases), and something caught my ear. I played it again immediately and was hooked. Wow. There was nothing quite like that amazing, deep sound.
8. R.E.M., Out of Time. This one was released earlier in the year, before Nirvana hit the scene, but I'm not sure when I picked it up. I had Green already, and I saw the "postcard" special edition of Out of Time, and picked it up. I was impressed by the richness, and probably found it refreshing against the alternametal scene.
9. Rush, Roll the Bones. This one, and the previous for albums all came out in 1991. I'm sure I got this album when it came out, but I don't remember how quickly it became a favorite. None of the old bands from the seventies were still putting out good music in the eighties, in my opinion. They'd had their heydays, and if they were still around, they were just going through the motions. Hold Your Fire was listenable. Presto was decent, but one day I realized I loved Roll the Bones. A band that was still putting out great albums!
10. The Who, Quadrophenia. I had seen the movie, at some point, and had a basic idea of the story. The album, however, put so much more emotion into the young man's story, than the movie could portray. Townshend is one of the great writers. His songs are about life. This album is the one that clued me into that. The music is so full. Only a few of the songs really stand out, but it's a beautiful work as a whole.
11. Violent Femmes, Hallowed Ground. How can an album so dark be so much fun? "I threw my child into a bottomless pit/She was screaming as she fell, but I never heard her hit." "Can you keep a secret for me?/Make sure no one finds out/cause then the lights will go out/and I will find you out/and I will cut you up." "I follow the bombs as they're coming down." But then there's the bouncy "Jesus Walking on the Water", and... that's it. "I hear the rain, I hear the rain, I hear the rain, Gotta kill the pain..." But how do they make songs about such weird things, and such wild sounds? I don't know. You just gotta dance.
12. Radiohead, The Bends. I liked Radiohead's "Creep", and after The Bends came out, with "Fake Plastic Flowers", I bought it. There's not much I can say about this one. It just washes over me. I can hardly even tell you the names of the songs.
13. Patti Smith, Horses. Around 1997, Patti Smith had a bit of publicity, being featured on an R.E.M. album. Her name kept coming up, and having heard it before, I decided I needed to know what she was about. What's this whole "legendary punk poet" thing mean? Again, it took me a few listens, but one day "Gloria" hit me. I couldn't believe the raw energy. Once I could get a handle on some of it, the rest fell into place. Picked up Gone Again, shortly thereafter (and loved it), and saw her play in Chicago the year after. Amazing.
None of this music every really changed my life, but... I think that point that I realized all music was good - even the bad music - I realized that that applies to everything. Everything has something worth appreciating. You just have to keep your eyes, ears and mind open.
Another says, "Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world."
I'm really not good at "things with deep meaning," but this one's music, so I'll talk about that.
1. Styx - Paradise Theater. I was a fan of Styx from when I first heard them - "Renegade". My first favorite song, my first favorite band. When I really started being interested in music in general, I was attracted to this record. I asked for it for Christmas, and it was my first album. I still like it.
2. Jethro Tull - Stand Up. This was among my first dozen or so albums. I'm sure I got it after Aqualung, and as great as that one is, Stand Up is my most favorite Tull records, and one of my most favorite of all records. It's been on that list for a good 25 years.
3. Led Zeppelin II. Another early classic. I don't rate it as highly now as I did back then, but I sure loved it. You know that part of "Whole Lotta Love" that has the bass bomp, bomp followed by the quick guitar solo bit? I loved cranking that part, on my mom's cheap stereo, so loud the speakers would distort on the bass hit, but the guitar was still clear.
There are a whole lot of classic albums that I listened the hell out of during the eighties - Who's Next, Fragile, Close to the Edge, Are You Experienced?, LZ I, LZ IV, Machine Head, Thick As A Brick, Moving Pictures, 2112, Animals, Dark Side of the Moon, L.A. Woman... Over the course of the eighties, rock music stagnated, but there was so much classic rock yet to be discovered (though it wasn't called classic rock back then, even though it was the "old" stuff).
4. My younger sister had discovered the Violent Femmes, and brought the music home, starting with their debut album. I loved it. It was really just a diversion, as far as I was concerned, but they were fun. Wild stuff.
5. But then Nirvana blew it wide open. "Smells Like Teen Spirit"/Nevermind. Like most new music that's challenging to me, this one took about three listens for it to sink in. Being stuck in that classic rock phase for a decade, and very little new music that *excited* me, this was really something. The song, along with some other music at the time really did change my perception of music, and greatly expanded the boundaries of what I listened to. At the time, I was interested in different kinds of rock music, but couldn't really call myself a fan of much of it. Opening up my horizons led to...
6. Nine Inch Nails, Broken. Another amazing new sound, the distorted synth and industrial grind. It was just so heavy. I head heard "Head Like A Hole" before Nirvana, but it hadn't grabbed me yet. Their follow up EP, Broken was the record that really won me over. I love the way "Pinion" builds and explodes into "Wish". I'll add The Downward Spiral onto this entry. That one diverged a bit from the sheer power of Broken, became darker, and featured actual songwriting.
7. U2, Achtung Baby. U2 was a band that evolved quite a bit over it's first decade. It took me a while to get into Joshua Tree, and I was a solid fan by the time they released Rattle and Hum. That was an eclectic package, and tucked in near the end were a couple of songs that hinted at their future direction. An electronic edge with distortion. I picked up Achtung Baby and listened to it once, but wasn't impressed. I had liked the first song I heard, "The Fly", but it wasn't awesome. A while later, I listed to the CD again (one of my first CD purchases), and something caught my ear. I played it again immediately and was hooked. Wow. There was nothing quite like that amazing, deep sound.
8. R.E.M., Out of Time. This one was released earlier in the year, before Nirvana hit the scene, but I'm not sure when I picked it up. I had Green already, and I saw the "postcard" special edition of Out of Time, and picked it up. I was impressed by the richness, and probably found it refreshing against the alternametal scene.
9. Rush, Roll the Bones. This one, and the previous for albums all came out in 1991. I'm sure I got this album when it came out, but I don't remember how quickly it became a favorite. None of the old bands from the seventies were still putting out good music in the eighties, in my opinion. They'd had their heydays, and if they were still around, they were just going through the motions. Hold Your Fire was listenable. Presto was decent, but one day I realized I loved Roll the Bones. A band that was still putting out great albums!
10. The Who, Quadrophenia. I had seen the movie, at some point, and had a basic idea of the story. The album, however, put so much more emotion into the young man's story, than the movie could portray. Townshend is one of the great writers. His songs are about life. This album is the one that clued me into that. The music is so full. Only a few of the songs really stand out, but it's a beautiful work as a whole.
11. Violent Femmes, Hallowed Ground. How can an album so dark be so much fun? "I threw my child into a bottomless pit/She was screaming as she fell, but I never heard her hit." "Can you keep a secret for me?/Make sure no one finds out/cause then the lights will go out/and I will find you out/and I will cut you up." "I follow the bombs as they're coming down." But then there's the bouncy "Jesus Walking on the Water", and... that's it. "I hear the rain, I hear the rain, I hear the rain, Gotta kill the pain..." But how do they make songs about such weird things, and such wild sounds? I don't know. You just gotta dance.
12. Radiohead, The Bends. I liked Radiohead's "Creep", and after The Bends came out, with "Fake Plastic Flowers", I bought it. There's not much I can say about this one. It just washes over me. I can hardly even tell you the names of the songs.
13. Patti Smith, Horses. Around 1997, Patti Smith had a bit of publicity, being featured on an R.E.M. album. Her name kept coming up, and having heard it before, I decided I needed to know what she was about. What's this whole "legendary punk poet" thing mean? Again, it took me a few listens, but one day "Gloria" hit me. I couldn't believe the raw energy. Once I could get a handle on some of it, the rest fell into place. Picked up Gone Again, shortly thereafter (and loved it), and saw her play in Chicago the year after. Amazing.
None of this music every really changed my life, but... I think that point that I realized all music was good - even the bad music - I realized that that applies to everything. Everything has something worth appreciating. You just have to keep your eyes, ears and mind open.
