Music That Changed Your Life

[hedges]

I kept my list as small as I could (omitting blues, jazz, and classical) and it's still pretty long.
Music has played a big part in my life. The albums I'm going to put down, I can remember the first time I heard them. I don't know exactly how they changed my life but they did.

ACDC Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Allman Bros. Live at Fillmore East
The Band Music From the Big Pink
Roy Buchanan
Captain Beefheart Safe As Milk/Clear Spot
Circle Jerks Group Sex
Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
Black Flag Nervous Breakdown
The Doors An American Prayer
Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
Danny Gatton The Humbler
Grateful Dead Vegas shows '93
Hendrix Electric Ladyland
Husker Du Zen Arcade
Led Zeppelin 4
Minor Threat (all)
Pink Floyd The Wall
Rites of Spring
Rush 2112/Moving Pictures
Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollocks
Suicidal Tendencies
Lee Perry Arkology
Tom Waits Nighthawks at the Diner
The Who Tommy
The Mothers of Invention Freak Out

[MacVittie]

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/last_waltz_DVD.jpg

[TheGameHHH]

Transformer- Lou Reed
Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band- The Beatles

[underdog]

Nirvana - Nevermind
NIN - Broken into The Downward Spiral
Tool - Undertow
Marilyn Manson - Portrait of an American Family

[drjoek]

7/31/74
Dillon Stadium Hartford CT
Escapin' through the lily fields
I came across an empty space
It trembled and exploded
Left a bus stop in its place
The bus came by and I got on
That's when it all began
There was cowboy Neal
At the wheel
Of a bus to never-ever land

[IMSlacker]

X - Los Angeles

[denko]

in no particular order

Led Zeppelin III
Bob Dylan - bootleg series vol. 4
Stevie Ray Vaughan - in the beginning
Robert Johnson - the complete studio recordings
The Ramones - its alive

[Gvac]

I'm trying to do it off the top of my head and in chronological order of when I discovered them, and even though these aren't the albums I like best from these bands, they're the ones that led me to delve deeper into their catalog

Lynyrd Skynyrd - One More From The Road
Rolling Stones - Some Girls
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap
Dire Straits - Dire Straits
Ramones - Rocket To Russia
The Clash - Combat Rock
John Lee Hooker - The Great John Lee Hooker
Waylon Jennings - Greatest Hits Vol. 2
Robert Johnson - King Of The Delta Blues Singers
Lyle Lovett - Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Willie Nelson - Spirit

[DiabloSammich]

NWA - Straight Outta Compton


Seriously.

[Hottub]

http://www.ronfez.net/gallery//watermark.php?file=3015

[Thomas Merton]

Grateful Dead's May 1977 run

[epo]

http://www.mnhs.org/collections/mplsmusic/web_assets/fullsize_images/mf008385.jpg

[styckx]

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g174/damiien666/Online%20Photo%20Album/Faith1.jpg

[IWOWedGregBrady]

Green Day's album Dookie got me listening to the rock radio stations going into junior high.
Guns n Roses made me want to play guitar.
Zeppelin's music just had a huge impact on me, not the least of which was first making me want to smoke pot.

Since high school though, music - no matter how good - has affected my life less and less (ouside of my listening choices).

That said, XM changed my expectations of good radio...and E Street Radio changed my expectations of a good artist-exclusive channel (so disappointed in the Zep channel by comparison).

[MC Pee Pants]

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g174/damiien666/Online%20Photo%20Album/Faith1.jpg

But not Mr.Bungle?

Id hafta say Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. That album made me pick up the bass guitar for real and realize its not some bullshit throw away instrument. I was like 15 and I learned that fucker over the course of a year and I havent put the bass down since.

[styckx]

But not Mr.Bungle?


They go hand in hand but I heard FNM first which started me on a long road of music exploration. They were my Nirvana before Nirvana even existed.

[paulisded]

I just filled out something similar on Facebook. I could probably go up to 50 albums that changed my life, but the format on there was 15.

Think of 15 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. When you finish, tag 15 others, including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!

1) The Monkees - The Monkees. The first album I ever owned.
2) The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper. The first album I ever bought with my own money.
3) Aerosmith - Rocks. The discovery of FM album-oriented radio.
4) Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks. A NBC late-night news magazine profile forever changed how I looked at music.
5) Elvis Costello - This Year's Model. My generation's Dylan...and "Radio Radio" completely captured my thoughts on radio...both then and now.
6) The Clash - London Calling. The second greatest album of all time came out while I was in my first year as a record store employee. Most nights ended with this at full volume.
7) R.E.M. - Murmur. The release of the ultimate college album coincided with my freshman year of college. My tastes have been "left of the dial" ever since.
8) Replacements - Let It Be. I had heard the 'mats before this release, but this is the one that completely turned me into a "Westernerd".
9) Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory. Literally discovered in the college station garbage can, CVB's debut was the soundtrack of my most decadent summer.
10) Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street. Yes, I was quite a few years late on this one, but the CVB summer was the perfect year for me to become immersed in the greatest album of the rock era.
11) Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone. Country, punk, and Neil Young mixed together? Wow.
12) Nirvana - In Utero. Just how many late nights have I spent screaming the lyrics to "Pennyroyal Tea" and "All Apologies"?
13) Son Volt - Trace. Overall, I enjoy Wilco more than Son Volt, but Son Volt's debut is the real classic of all of the post-Uncle Tupelo albums.
14) Radiohead - OK Computer. Simply a perfect album.
15) Paul Westerberg - Folker. Truthfully, it's a flawed album, but it had as big of an emotional impact as Let It Be or Tim did 20 years earlier.

[MC Pee Pants]

They go hand in hand but I heard FNM first which started me on a long road of music exploration. They were my Nirvana before Nirvana even existed.

I hear what your saying. Mr.Bungle opened me up to an alternate universe of music, it seemed like so much time and effort went into making some of their songs un-listenable.

[styckx]

Ok, I had to think about this before I drummed up a real list, these aren't only my favorite bands growing up, I can pretty much link them all to a certain part of major changes/experiences when I was growing up.

FNM - First concert, turned me on to more alternative music
Bungle - ^^
Blind Melon - Fun times, and sad times - First band I was into that someone died in.
311 - Living in Vermont
Nirvana - Getting laid a fucking lot cause I had long dirty blonde hair and turquoise like eyes and a goatee
AIC - Drugs
Helmet - Anger
Weezer - Guilt
The Urge - Party stage at Rowan
Sublime - Pseudo fake hippie stage
Ben Folds Five - Ditchinig shitty friends and moving on/growing up
Deftones - Heroin.. Lots of heroin
Dinosaur Jr - Amanda and the beginning of my slumming it in Pitman N.J. Darkest part of my life.
Sonic Youth - ^^^
RHCP - First album I listened to while tripping face.
Incubus - Things aren't so bad after all (only taking Fungus Amongus and Science into play here)

[beachbum]

The Clash-The entire catalog
The Ramones
The Rolling Stones
Neil Young
The Talking Heads
Iggy and The Stooges
BB King
Buddy Guy
Howlin' Wolf
NIN
Tool
Jimi Hendrix

[FMdoug]

I can name many bands and albums that change my mood/day/week/year but my ultimate is Darkness on the Edge of Town. For some reason it speaks to me. It's dark, it has great lyrics, it completely rocks. You can listen to Racing in the Streets on a nice summer night and feel what Springsteen is singing about or you can listen to it in the dead of winter and feel nostalgic. Then there is darkness which has the rebellious lyrics: some folks are born into the good life/other folks get it anyway anyhow/i lost my money when i lost my wife/them things don't seem to matter much to me now/tonight i'll be on that hill 'cause i can't stop/i'll be on that hill with everything i got/lives on the line where dreams are found and lost/i'll be there on time and i'll pay the cost/for wanting things that can only be found/in the darkness on the edge of down... So emotional, so good.

[DonInNC]

Steve Earl/ Copperhead Road
John Prine / Prime Prine (Yeah I know it's a greatest hits album, sue me. It was the first Prine I'd heard)
Gram Parsons/Live 1973
Nirvana/Nevermind

[Dave's Cackle]

Pearl Jam - Ten

Nirvana - Nevermind

[Kublakhan61]

Dr. Dre - The Chronic
Weezer - Blue
Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
VU - White Light/White Heat
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Beach Boys - SMiLE
The Upsetters - Blackboard Jungle Dub

Each has had an impact on my life. There's more but this could go on forever.

[high fly]

Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges
Fun House by Iggy and the Stooges
The Ramones by the Ramones
Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols
Horses by Patti Smith
1969 Live Velvet Underground With Lou Reed by the Velvet Underground
Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones
Some Girls by the Rolling Stones
Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed

[hedges]

Most of the ones that I forgot on my original list, somebody picked later--except maybe Iron Maiden - Powerslave. I just feel now that I need to go into blues and jazz a little bit.

Buddy Guy - I Was Walking Through The Woods ; At times he's been the best blues guitarist in the world, and that's most of the time
.
Jelly Roll Kings - Rockin' the Juke Joint Down ; Mississippi funked up blues made by
veterans 30yrs ago. Guitarist Big Jack Johnson. Frank Frost on harp. Sam Carr on drums.

Charlie Musselwhite - Ace of Harps ; My first year of college. I owned a harmonica--didn't
know how to play it. I hear this album, full of over-driven harmonica, and not only did it bring me closer to the music and the blues, but I became obsessed with learning the harmonica.

Jo Jones - The Essentials ; Probably been out-of-print for a while, I taped it off a collector years ago. Jo Jones was the tempermental drummer for Count Basie. He was also a master of the drumset. Me being a drummer, this was like the source. One of the most smooth and technically proficient drummers, Jo Jones was both delicate and powerful.

The Tatum Group Masterpieces ; Art Tatum - piano , Lionel Hampton - vibes , Buddy Rich - drums. A real acoutsic set-up to this one. I think I got this without knowing Art Tatum was blind. His runs up and down the piano are unreal. Buddy Rich played with brushes the whole time and held back, just keeping impecable time. An Lionel jams on the vibes quite nicely. The lesson in drumming from Buddy: less is more. A beautiful tape.

Mingus - The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady ; What's there to say about this disc? It is brilliantly arranged. The orchestra is like a living organism, growing larger than smaller.
The horn parts alone draw you in and they talk. Excellent woodwinds as well, along with piano.

[hedges]

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g174/damiien666/Online%20Photo%20Album/Faith1.jpg

I probably should have these guy on my earlier list. My friends band opened for them on the Introduce Yourself tour in '87. Then that album became a soundtrack for me that summer and fall. "Faster Disco" ,"Anne's Song" "Introduce Yourself" etc. The whole album rocks.

[Thebazile78]

I know that hedges omitted blues, jazz & classical, but, since I got a phone call from my sister (and my best friend and a follow up e-mail from a buddy) today about the death of my high school chorusmaster I couldn't stop thinking about the music we performed, both in the Concert Chorus (which was the "everyman", non-audition chorus) and in the elite groups (Chorale - mixed voices and Chamber Singers - women's voices; both elite groups were by audition-only and were the public faces of the choral music program)

When I was in college, I mentioned some of the pieces we performed to some of my music-major friends. The pieces, which ranged from traditional Christmas carols during our "Winter Concert" to spirituals, modern compositions, chant and complex classical pieces, both sacred and secular, with pretty much everything in between, were always met with the astonished question "you performed that in high school?"

Yes, we did.

Because of this experience, I've been privileged to perform Handel, Haydn, Schoenberg, Pinkham, Flummerfelt and Mozart, as well as Britten, Rutter, Dennis and other wonderful composers and arrangers. Not everyone gets that experience and, despite being in tears after several rehearsals because I just couldn't get my voice part correctly learned, I am incredibly grateful for the entire thing.

The director always said that this experience, this wonderful, treasure-it experience would be what makes us human in our future. It would make sure we could comfort our children when they were frightened or angry; turn to our spouses or partners for strength and comfort and remember the soothing power of a wonderful concerto or whatever it was that we were performing. The music would help us remember all that was wonderful about our humanity.

These rehearsals and performances are the music that had the biggest impact on my life, with the second most important being my "discovery" of The Beatles through my parents' old record albums.

Singing along with the radio or in the shower just can't compare to those moments.

[John Galt]

No particular order.

1. Astral Weeks: Van Morrison
2. Blood on The Tracks: Bob Dylan
3. Dreams To Remember: The Otis Redding Anthology
4. Rum, Sodomy, & The Lash: The Pogues
5. Small Change: Tom Waits
6. Nighthawks at The Diner: Tom Waits
7. Foreign Affairs: Tom Waits
8. Exile on Main Street: The Rolling Stones
9. Revolver: The Beatles
10. Highway 61 Revisited: Bob Dylan
11. Red Roses For Me: The Pogues
12. Comfort Eagle: Cake
13. Unplugged in New York: Nirvana
14. Live on The Sunset Strip: Richard Pryor
15. That Nigger's Crazy: Richard Pryor
16. Superunknown: Soundgarden
17. The Best of Townes Van Zandt: Townes Van Zandt
18. Still on Top: The Greatest Hits: Van Morrison
19. Standup Comic: Woody Allen
20. La Double Vie de Veronique: Zbigniew Preisner
21. De Stijl: The White Stripes
22. King of The Delta Blues: Robert Johnson
23. Horses: Patti Smith
24. Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols
25. Shuggie Otis in Session: Various Artists playing with Shuggie

[hedges]

Because of this experience, I've been privileged to perform Handel, Haydn, Schoenberg, Pinkham, Flummerfelt and Mozart, as well as Britten, Rutter, Dennis and other wonderful composers and arrangers. Not everyone gets that experience and, despite being in tears after several rehearsals because I just couldn't get my voice part correctly learned, I am incredibly grateful for the entire thing.

Wow Bazile, you did some amazing stuff, and it just opened a door in the back of my mind of some stuff I did. My mom was the church choir director, so of course I was in choir. When i was about eight we were hired on as the children's choir for Bach's St. Matthews Passion at the Kennedy Center in D.C. It was a small part, but we had to learn the German. When I was around twelve we did Britten's Noye's Fludde at the National Cathedral in D.C. This whole time I was playing viola in the church's string quartet. The only thing I can remember playing was Bach's Brandenberg Concerto. By junior high I had switched to percussion. I still know next to nothing of classical music. My mom sends me good cds for birthdays and x-mas. Although I like Holst The Planets, and Mussorgsky's Pictures at An Exhibition.
During my younger years, aside from classical music and church music, I was listening to the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. By the time I was ten I was listening to pop/rock radio: the top 5 at 10. That is where I discovered ACDC.

[Thebazile78]

Wow Bazile, you did some amazing stuff, and it just opened a door in the back of my mind of some stuff I did. My mom was the church choir director, so of course I was in choir. When i was about eight we were hired on as the children's choir for Bach's St. Matthews Passion at the Kennedy Center in D.C. It was a small part, but we had to learn the German. When I was around twelve we did Britten's Noye's Fludde at the National Cathedral in D.C. This whole time I was playing viola in the church's string quartet. The only thing I can remember playing was Bach's Brandenberg Concerto. By junior high I had switched to percussion. I still know next to nothing of classical music. My mom sends me good cds for birthdays and x-mas. Although I like Holst The Planets, and Mussorgsky's Pictures at An Exhibition.
During my younger years, aside from classical music and church music, I was listening to the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. By the time I was ten I was listening to pop/rock radio: the top 5 at 10. That is where I discovered ACDC.

I've performed at the Kennedy Center as part of the Festival of Gold, which was an invitational choral competition for high school choral groups who'd earned gold medal ratings at festivals consistently, as our groups had. (Too bad that was the year we really sucked.) We did Daniel Pinkham's "Wedding Cantata" and an interesting arrangement of "America the Beautiful" which we'd also rehearsed on the National Mall. Amazing acoustics and surprisingly comfy seats ... once-in-a-lifetime experience, for me anyway.

One of our "standards" in Chamber Singers was Britten's "Ceremony of Carols" ... I still remember each and every note, especially the spot in "There Is No Rose" where I would ALWAYS make a mistake. Sometimes, I'll find myself singing the soprano solos, which is interesting because I'm a contralto, but I always admired the way our soloist for "Balulalo" sang the part.

In both Concert Chorus and Chorale, we tackled John Rutter arrangements of Christmas carols (his arrangement of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" will be indelibly etched in my mind) as well as his own composition, "What Sweeter Music."

It was positively incredible. It's not often that I get to share this with someone who can appreciate it ... not many people outside serious musicians know the names Britten, Rutter or even Bartok. It's madness, really. To this day, I love the boychoir sound of American Boychoir (which is in Princeton) or the Vienna Boy's Choir for its purity, a sound I would often describe as "silver" or "moonlight" ... which was also the sound we aimed for in Chamber Singers for our winter concert. By the time our spring performance tours and concert rolled around, that silver, moonlight sound would have matured into a golden, sunshine sound - no less pure, but different. The springtime was the time for pieces like Appalachian folk tunes, like "He's Gone Away," or Vaughan Williams "Whither Must I Wander."

It was something special.

[El Mudo]

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (first "alt" album I ever got)

Willie Nelson - Spirit (best breakup/depressed/everything sucks album ever)

Tom Waits - Mule Variations (my wedding song's on there)

Dwight Yoakam - Last Chance for A Thousand Years - Greatest Hits of the 90s (first Dwight album I ever got)

[hedges]

In both Concert Chorus and Chorale, we tackled John Rutter arrangements of Christmas carols (his arrangement of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" will be indelibly etched in my mind) as well as his own composition, "What Sweeter Music."

It was something special.

I happened to talk to my mom today and she refreshed my memory on some of the stuff we did. Last fall my mom sang Rutter's Requiem with a full orchestra. In choir at the church, we sang Rutter's Gaelic Blessing. At the Kennedy Center (this is all early 80s) we sang Handel's Judas Maccabeus. And at the National Cathedral we sang Mahler's Symphony #8 (Symphony of 1000). I went to the Royal School of Church Music at Princeton in 1980. It was something special and it is cool to have a dialog with someone about it.

[hedges]

My Add-ons


Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band- The Beatles


Led Zeppelin III
Stevie Ray Vaughan - in the beginning
Robert Johnson - the complete studio recordings


Green Day's album Dookie.


Howlin' Wolf


Raw Power by Iggy and the Stooges
Fun House by Iggy and the Stooges
Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones




Small Change: Tom Waits
Revolver: The Beatles



I would add Motorhead and that would be close to being it.

[Thebazile78]

I happened to talk to my mom today and she refreshed my memory on some of the stuff we did. Last fall my mom sang Rutter's Requiem with a full orchestra. In choir at the church, we sang Rutter's Gaelic Blessing. At the Kennedy Center (this is all early 80s) we sang Handel's Judas Maccabeus. And at the National Cathedral we sang Mahler's Symphony #8 (Symphony of 1000). I went to the Royal School of Church Music at Princeton in 1980. It was something special and it is cool to have a dialog with someone about it.

Want to hear something freaky?

Just as I'm reminiscing about John Rutter, he E-MAILED one of the past Presidents of the Chorale & Chamber Singers to express his condolences about the loss of my teacher. Craziness. Absolute craziness.

Incidentally, I happen to think that Rutter's Requiem is a beautiful piece. Most requiem masses are, though.

[hedges]

Whoa. That is kind of freaky.

[Thebazile78]

Whoa. That is kind of freaky.

I've got my finger on the pulse of the Universe this week.

[hedges]

Listening to 5/8/77 right now.

[hedges]

I've got my finger on the pulse of the Universe this week.
That's a pretty good place to have it I'd say.

[ToiletCrusher]

Dan Fogelberg anyone?

[Thebazile78]

Today was the funeral and, by god, we made music. And, in between, we cried and laughed and cried some more.

I didn't do our groups justice before, though.

One of the alumni posted their recording of the 1990 Spring Concert ... so what if that was 2 years before I got there, but it should give you some inkling of what was expected.

The sound quality isn't the best, but it's enough to get across what this was like for us.

Of the pieces in the link, I've performed the Ubi Caritas, Maria Mater Gratiae, Whither Must I Wander and I Lift Up Mine Eyes to the Hills.

LRHS Chorale and Chamber Singers - Spring Concert 1990 (http://www.box.net/shared/cbpum3k084)

[scottinnj]

The Police "Don't stand so close to me"
First Rock Song I ever heard

U2 "MLK" "40" and "In God's Country"
Songs that made me openly weep like a little girl.

Bob Dylan's "Tribute to Woody Guthrie"
Made me understand why he's "America's Poet"

[scottinnj]

BTW, just the Quadrophenia album alone makes me want to punch little Jimmy in the mouth everytime he trashes The Who.

[hedges]

Today was the funeral and, by god, we made music. And, in between, we cried and laughed and cried some more.

I didn't do our groups justice before, though.

One of the alumni posted their recording of the 1990 Spring Concert ... so what if that was 2 years before I got there, but it should give you some inkling of what was expected.

The sound quality isn't the best, but it's enough to get across what this was like for us.

Of the pieces in the link, I've performed the Ubi Caritas, Maria Mater Gratiae, Whither Must I Wander and I Lift Up Mine Eyes to the Hills.

LRHS Chorale and Chamber Singers - Spring Concert 1990 (http://www.box.net/shared/cbpum3k084)

What do you mean you didn't do your own groups justice before?

I listened to the four pieces your mentioned. I think I liked Whither Must I Wander the best. It's a pretty outstanding choir.

[Thebazile78]

What do you mean you didn't do your own groups justice before?

I listened to the four pieces your mentioned. I think I liked Whither Must I Wander the best. It's a pretty outstanding choir.

Whither Must I Wander is part of R. Vaughan Williams's "Songs of Travel" cycle ... it's one of my favorites, too.

[DonInNC]

Mingus - The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady ; What's there to say about this disc? It is brilliantly arranged. The orchestra is like a living organism, growing larger than smaller.
The horn parts alone draw you in and they talk. Excellent woodwinds as well, along with piano.

Great album. Sometimes, I'll throw it on, sip a little scotch, and relax in my favorite chair. At other times, I'll put it on my ipod and use it to give me a boost at the gym, as crazy as that sounds. I hear it differently everytime, and it seems to take the shape of what I'm experiencing at the moment.