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. 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!
*sigh* How do I get myself sucked into these things???
Unlike Bruce, I'm going to include multiple listings from the same artist (but just a couple)... There's a distinct hard edge to my listings, which reflects my love of metal and punk music. I've avoided compilations for the most part (there is one sentimental favorite on the list), as it's really not in the spirit of the listing.
So here goes...
1. Pink Floyd, "Dark Side of the Moon". As the expression goes, if I had a nickel for every time I listened to this album, I'd have a shitload of nickels... Seriously, I went through a period in college where I listened to this album literally every night ("Nu-nights with Floyd")...
2. AC/DC, "Back in Black". This is another one, I've listened to this album so much, I've worn out a cassette tape (remember those, you old farts out there?) *and* a CD... There is not a bad song on this album, and when you consider that this was Brian Johnson's first album with AC/DC after Bon Scot's untimely death, it kicks ass so much it should be titled: AC/DC "Chuck Norris"...
3. Van Halen, "1984". If there were a soundtrack to my mid-teens, this was it. Many nights were spent cruising around the local hangouts with this album jammed in the tape deck of my buddy Paul's Subaru...
4. Def Leppard, "Hysteria". This was to high school what 1984 was to Junior High. I've heard "Pour Some Sugar on Me" so many times that the words have lost all meaning {/Milhouse}. Used to cruise around in my buddy Joe's Toyota Corona wagon drinking beer out of a 5 gallon bucket filled with skating rink shavings to this album...
5. Guns 'N' Roses, "Appetite for Destruction". This was to college what the above two were to their respective epochs. I have "Paradise City" seared, seared into my memory, specifically of sitting on the ancient gas heater in Neil's apartment on 14 Clinton Street in Fitchburg, MA, listening to this song and playing air drums...
6. Metallica, "Black". Also came out when I was in college. Also listened to it several thousand times. Had a friend who could play the guitar riff note-for-note and we'd jam until like 3 in the morning...
7. Roger Waters, "Radio KAOS". This was Waters' second post-Floyd album, with a central theme that made it a kind of "serialized" album like Styx's "Mr. Roboto". Except that instead of creepy Japanese robots holding humans in check, "Radio KAOS" was about a paralyzed computer genius who had accidentally started WWIII... It worked, oddly enough...
8. Aerosmith, "Greatest Hits". Ah. This was the first album I ever listened to while making out with a girl. For that reason alone it makes the top ten, easily. Pam was the first - but certainly not the last - girl to rip my heart out of my ribcage, stomp on it with golf cleats, and walk out of my life. Not that I'm bitter or anything...
9. Van Halen, "5150". Yes, two VH offerings make the top ten, one with Dave, one with Sammy. 5150 is one of those "perfect" albums - not a single song on the album gets skipped over. And as a side note, I used to wake up my drunkard roommate in college with "Get Up" playing at 11...
10. The Cult, "Electric". I loved this album so much, I decorated my favorite pair of Chuck Taylors with "The Cult" on one sneaker and "Electric" on the other. Did a damn good job if I may say so myself. "Love Removal Machine" kicks total fucking ass when you've had your heart broken (again; see #8).
11. Run DMC, "Run-D.M.C.". Whoa. To a pasty white kid from suburbia raised on Kenny Rogers and the Beach Boys, this was about as far from anything I'd ever heard. Hooked instantly. It's like that, and that's the way it is...
12. Rush, "Moving Pictures". Even having a music teacher in eighth grade dissect "Tom Sawyer" line-by-line couldn't shake my unwavering love for this album. I amazed The Boy by playing YYZ for him and pointing out Peart's smokin' drum work...
13. Boston, "Boston". Despite nearly running my truck into a bridge abutment at 75 MPH while listening to "More Than A Feeling" (never listen to "I closed my eyes, and she slipped away" right after you got dumped, that's Jay's handy advice for the lovelorn teen...), I still love this album. To this day, I still get ready for a night out by listening to "Smokin'"...
14. AC/DC, "The Razor's Edge". This one makes the list purely on my undying love of "Thunderstruck", which I consider to be one of the finest songs ever written.
15. George Thorogood, "Move It On Over". Even though the title track has gotten me pulled over three times (I used to call it my turbo...), I love this album. "Cocaine Blues" is one of the few songs that I would consider doing in karaoke...
16. Iron Maiden, "Piece of Mind". Hell, most anything by Iron Maiden from the 1980s would be fine, but "Piece of Mind" has three things going for it: "Die With Your Boots On", "Sun and Steel", and a parody, "fuck you" backwards-recorded message poking fun at the holy rollers who accused them of Satanism.
17. Rolling Stones, "Tattoo You". It's not their best album, nor their best known, but "Start Me Up" is my favorite Stones song, bar none. Even selling it out to Microsoft for the abomination known as Windows 95 doesn't lessen my love for this tune...
18. Grateful Dead, "American Beauty". Oh, the stories I could tell about this album if this weren't a public place... "Truckin'", "Friend of the Devil", "Ripple"... every song on this album is a masterpiece.
19. Garth Brooks, "No Fences". "Friends in Low Places" was the song played for our wedding party, and it was intended as the highest of compliments. None of us are movers and/or shakers, captains of industry, or high society; however a greater group of people you would be hard-pressed to find. And "Unanswered Prayers" makes me cry every time I hear it (and yes, I had to find it on YouTube and listen to it again...)
20. The Ramones, "Ramones". The album's only five years younger than I am, and yet it's still being sampled today - how many times has the "Hey, ho, let's go" from "Blitzkrieg Bop" found its way into pop culture? I thought about one of the compilation albums, as "I Wanna Be Sedated" is my fave Ramones tune bar none, but their debut album stands out...
21. Anthrax, "Among the Living". Oh, speed/thrash metal. I used to grab a couple of Anthrax/Megadeth/Maiden tapes and head over to the library when the goons in my dorm were partying too loudly. I still get a wicked urge to outline the Krebs Cycle every time I hear "Efilnikufesin"...
22. Billy Joel, "Piano Man". Captain Jack will get you high tonight... Oh, man... There's another "nickel" song... I had a good friend in college explain to me what "feed your head" meant. And now, before Jay writes something that might get him in trouble...
23. Huey Lewis and the News, "Sports". Hey, I'm a child of the '80s. Had to toss in one of the most enduring '80s albums out there. From the Miami Vice-like sport coat over fluorescent T-shirt look favored by Huey Lewis to the brassy sound that went out of style after the 1980s, "Sports" is about the closest thing to a soundtrack of the 1980s there is.
24. The Sex Pistols, "Never Mind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols". Oh yeah, punk rock played a heavy role in my teen years. Think of it as "rap for white kids in Catholic school". You want a conference with the headmaster? Play "Anarchy in the UK" too loud on your imitation Walkman during study hall...
25. Creed, "Human Clay". Really, this one's about "With Arms Wide Open". This song was released in 1999, and coincides with my own journey to fatherhood. Another song I can't listen to without tearing up a bit (and, yes, it's playing as I type this). "Everything has changed". These are the truest lyrics ever written...
So there are my 25 albums. Give me all 25 of these and I'll have enough music to keep me happy for a very long time. And I'll relive a good chunk of my youth as well... I'm not going to tag anyone specifically for this one, but if you want to play along, consider yourself tagged.
That is all.
8 comments:
I don't think that any album changed my life or the way I looked at it - but some certainly sucked me in.
Dark Side of the Moon. Certainly.
Something or another of Bob Dylan's. Probably more than one.
No Fences. That's another overlap with you. I wasn't "sucked in" by it, but I dug the Creed you mentioned. More than one Beatles / McCartney / Lennon recording. Velvet Underground with Niko - I forget the name.
I'm glad you mentioned it.
Not in any particular order . . .
1. Aqualung, Jethro Tull
2. Cosmo's Factory, Creedence Clearwater Revival
3. Sounds of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel
4. Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits
5. The Stranger by Joel, Billy
6. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin
7. Hotel California, Eagles
9. Back in Black, AC/DC
10. The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
11. Green River, Creedence Clearwater Revival
12. Pearl, Janis Joplin
13. Aja, Steely Dan
14. Deja Vu, Crosby Stills Nash and Young
15. Toys in the Attic, Aerosmith
16. The Downward Spiral, Nine Inch Nails
17. A Night at the Opera, Queen
18. Nick of Time, Bonnie Raitt
19. Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath
20. Stardust, Willie Nelson
21. Joshua Tree U2
22. Workingman's Dead, Grateful Dead
23. Pyromania, Def Leppard
24. Eliminator, ZZ Top
25. Fragile, Yes
Okay here’s a list featuring many names none of your readers has heard of before:
1. Schooner Fare “Day of the Clipper” Great group who became great friends.
2. The Who “Who’s Next” College days purchase, tried out new speakers.
3. Stan Rodgers “Fogarty’s Cove” What a voice, tragically stilled so young.
4. Vivaldi “Four Seasons” Never tire of Spring
5. Paul Simon “Graceland” Saw him perform one of the best concerts I have ever seen
6. Gordon Bok “Gordon Bok” Introduced at college, hard to find this first LP
7. Bill Staines “Bill Staines” Great performer, wonderful writer
8. Credence Clearwater Revival “Cosmo’s Factory” College memories
9. Three Dog Night “Suitable for Framing” ditto
10. Moody Blues “Days of Future Passed” ditto – “Breathe deep…”
11. Jimmy Buffett “Changes in Latitudes Changes in Attitudes” Birth of a Parrothead, many pleasant memories to come.
12. Tony Bennett “Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues”. Love his voice
13. Garth Brooks “Garth Brooks “ Got me back to listening to country music, love “Cowboy Bill”
14. Santana “Santana” Love Santana’s Black Magic Woman (hums tune while writing, plays desk as bongos)
15. Dvorak New World Symphony It’s classical, and a favorite.
16. Ray Charles “Genius Loves Company” what can I say? It’s Ray Charles!
17. Matt Molloy Stony Steps Fabulous flute player, plays with Chieftains
18. Guy Van Duser "American Finger Style Guitar" Great guitar player
19 Chris Norman "The Man with the Wooden Flute: Wonderful flute player
20. Bothy Band "The First Album" Reintroduction to real Irish music
21. Andrea Bocelli "Vivere" Great voice, and good for practicing my Italian
22. Buster Poindexter “Hot Hot Hot” Parrrrr ty! Love Latin dancing to this!
23. Bee Gees "Saturday Night Fever" True confessions, I love this disco album!
24. The Ventures "Walk Don’t Run" The first album I bought with my own money
25. Glenn Miller "In the Mood" If this is playing, and you are female, we’re dancing
This was fun, and brought back a lot of wonderful thoughts, and prompted me to buy some of these on CDs. And okay, a couple are just songs from albums, I only did so much research.
Wow. The parallels are a bit scary. You hit 19 out of my 25, Jay, and Brigid hit 3 of the remaining 6 (#s 5, 15, and 24; until this day, I always thought I was the only one who enjoyed The Stranger). I still whistle the title track opening notes when I walk down a long hallway or through a large empty room/building that provides the proper echo effect.
Time to cue-up some hits from the old days and slip back in time...
libertyman - Schooner Fare is on my favorite music list on my blog profile. No one ever commented so I thought I was the only one that liked them.
I never thought of adding classical to the mix though, only in that the meme brought rock and roll to mind but Four Seasons is played almost every weekend morning when I first get up and Bocelli's in my truck for the drive home.
DJ - good taste, what can I say.
AC/DC, "The Razor's Edge".
....That was my Desert Storm Soundtrack.......
I was in an 8" SP (m110a2) Field Artillery Battalion....... "Fire Your Guns" and the "The Razor's Edge" still bring back the memories of the smell of burnt steel, burnt oil, diesel and dust......
Oh, crap, curse you Jay AND Bruce!!! There's no way I can ignore this one....[sigh] I guess a facebook note will soon be in order.
I'm now off to find Electric. How could I have missed that? The Cult should be included on every MP3 player standard.
You were a school step ahead, but the transitions were lock step for me here in the mid west. Amazing how music is so personal yet also so group binding.
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