Albums that changed the way you think about music

Dali

Dali

Well-known member
Not best, not favorite. Albums that open new sonic possibilities, new territories to your own musical life. Just a few of those for me:

1. Joe's Garage, Frank zappa (I was 12, it impacted my whole life)
2. Speechless, Fred Frith
3. Let The Power Fall, Robert Fripp
4. Another Green World, Brian Eno
5. Jehovahkill, Julian Cope
6. Filigree & Shadow, This Mortal Coil
7. My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Brian Eno and David Byrne

I could go on, but I'm curious about yours!
 
First and foremost, hearing southbound train by Mountain on a Woodstock comp CD I had when I was about 13. I thought it was the heaviest song in existence. Mountain is still one of my favorite bands to this day

Next, Napalm Death- From Enslavement to Obliteration. It changed the course of what I was into for a long long time afterwards and the kind of bands I played in
 
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Freak Out!
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention: Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Todd Rundgren: A Wizard, A True Star
King Crimson: Three of a Perfect Pair
Joni Mitchell: Hejira
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Ween: Pure Guava
Rush: Permanent Waves
Gentle Giant: Free Hand
Weezer: Blue
The Cars: The Cars
Carole King: Tapestry
 
STP - Purple. I loved Core, but this album really took it home for me. STP's best album ever, IMO. They had me at the albums opening riff.

CAKE - I love everything about CAKE and they are in my top 3 bands of all time. But the album that started it for me was Fashion Nugget in high school.

Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom. I love this album. I think that it is perfect from start to finish and I think that it is a master class in production and laying out an idea from start to finish. I wish that more bands had the ability/whatever to put the thought and effort in to creating an entire album that fits together and flows from start to middle to finish. I feel that it has become a lost art. It didn't hurt that EC had Geoff Enerick on this album, a big departure from the Nick Lowe produced albums.

Buddy Miles - Them Changes. If this album doesn't move you then I don't know what will. I found this one in college and it was like a revelation. Most of the songs on the album are covers, but they are done so well that he ends up owning them. His cover of Down by THe River is worth the price of admission alone. It also introduced me to Rufus Thomas, which would have been enough even if the album were'nt fantastic.

Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark. What is this album? I don't even know. It is brilliant from start to finish, jazzy and cerebral, *and* it managed to be a hit in it's time? It's almost as if the general population has more sense than I generally give them credit for. She even managed to work in Cheech and Chong! Brilliant.

Traveling Wilburys - Vol. 1. My dad gave me this album on tape when I was a kid and I listened to it constantly. I was a little kid and I had no idea that I was listening to one of the greatest super groups of all time. How all of those minds came together and were able to leave enough space for everyone to shine is crazy to me. This album still has serious rotation on the turntable.

Descendents - Somery. Somery is a compilation album but it had most of their music on it. I have been listening to this album in one form or another (tape, CD, record) since I was in junior high. Descendents are the reason I hated Weezer when I'd first heard them. I thought that they were just ripping off the Descendents. I couldn't appreciate things then as I can now.

The Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues. I was a kid in the 80's and I can't remember life without The Talking Heads. They were everywhere, and my mom listened to them a lot as well. Speaking in Tongues has one of the greatest love songs of all time on it - This Must Be The Place. But it's my mom rocking Burning Down the House over and over that is burned in to my mind.

I'm sure I could go on... Silver Jews, Pavement, Jimi Hendrix, Devo... there's just not enough time!
 
Opeth - Still Life

The Black Queen - Fever Daydream

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough

Isis - Panopticon

Tool - ænima

Soundgarden - superunknown

What? I was born in 1986, all the stuff that "changed the way I thought about music" occured around the 90's to the oughties.

Though fever daydream was '16.

*Edit* Shoot, almost forgot:

CLIPPING - Wriggle
 
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Big Audio Dynamite II, The Globe.
Towa Tei, Last Century Modern.
Foetus, Nail.
Willy Nelson, Red Headed Stranger.
OOIOO, Feather Float.
Atom And His Package, A Society Of People Named Elihu.
GodheadSilo, Elephantitis Of The Night.
 
TOOL - Aenima

As a teenager in the 90’s, hard rock, metal, and grunge became my music. I was all about the anger, the angst, the fat guitars, fast riffs and the loudness. It wasn’t until discovering TOOL that I noticed things like odd time signatures, dynamics, and subtlety.
 
I should add to this the Punk-O-Rama compilations, at least the first four or so, I couldn't get enough. Fifteen is another band that I spent a lot of time with. And Bad Religion's 80-85 compilation, that album was in heavy rotation. Thanks, @Betty Wont - you mentioning Atom and His Package got me thinking about these bands again.
 
In no particular order...

Kate Bush "The Dreaming"
Clash "London Calling"
David Lindley "El Rayo-X"
Strange Advance "Worlds Away"
Kraftwerk "Computer World"
Herb Alpert "Whipped Cream & Other Delights"
Elvis Presley "Elvis Presley"

The last two were in my Dad's vinyl collection, all others were in my vinyl collection.

Funny how the Clash borrowed the Elvis album cover ... may have something to do with my liking both... or not.

album-cover-parodies.jpg
 
NIN - The Downward Spiral / Fragile
Smashing Pumkins - Siamese Dream / Mellon Collie
Nirvana - Nevermind
HUM - Downward is Heavenward
A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms
Soundgarden - Superunknow
Temple of the Dog
Pearl Jam - Ten
Tool - Aenima /10.000 Days
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Failure - Fantastic Planet
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Death - The Sound of Perseverance
Shiner - The Egg
The Dellinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

....and more
 
Stickman393 said:
Opeth - Still Life

The Black Queen - Fever Daydream

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough

Isis - Panopticon

Tool - ænima

Soundgarden - superunknown

What? I was born in 1986, all the stuff that "changed the way I thought about music" occured around the 90's to the oughties.

Though fever daydream was '16.

*Edit* Shoot, almost forgot:

CLIPPING - Wriggle
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I was born in 65 and my list is much more severe than this so don’t feel bad😂😂
 
In HS it was U2 (Joshua Tree), REM (Document) and Led Zeppelin (IV).
In college it was Pavement (Slanted & Enchanted) and Dinosaur Jr (You're Living All Over Me).
Those were a long time ago.
Post-college, its been a lot of things that can probably be traced to be either influenced, or were influenced, by the above bands.
 
NickC said:
NIN - The Downward Spiral / Fragile
Smashing Pumkins - Siamese Dream / Mellon Collie
Nirvana - Nevermind
HUM - Downward is Heavenward
A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms
Soundgarden - Superunknow
Temple of the Dog
Pearl Jam - Ten
Tool - Aenima /10.000 Days
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Failure - Fantastic Planet
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Death - The Sound of Perseverance
Shiner - The Egg
The Dellinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

....and more
Click to expand...
Yes to all of this. I'll just add Radiohead - OK Computer
 
There are so many albums that I could list.
I’ll just list a few as many of them have been mentioned already. Here’s some from my recently listened to…

in rainbows- Radiohead
Vheissu- Thrice
Dock of the bay sessions - Otis Redding
All of a sudden I miss everyone - explosions in the sky
 
This one as of late:


It's called The Age of Aquarius by a Greek band. Its a concept album about rebirth, resurrection, the cyclical nature of prophecy and it's astoundingly good.

There's a bit in the first section where the drums roll and hiss like breaking waves and it's brilliant. Pop an edible, close your eyes and dive in.
 
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