Posted February 12, 201015 yr Not sure if this has been done before, but anyway here goes...... Can you list the 7 albums through your life (so far) that show the changes in your musical likes? They don’t have to be the best or the most famous albums, just the ones that were personal to you. America - America. When I was quite young I loved acoustic guitar music, and this album was great for that and its melodies. I just couldn’t get enough of “A Horse with no name”. Hey, I was young. This was the first record I ever bought with my pocket money, and I still have it. George Martin (Beatles) produced a few of their albums, and it shows. Beatles - Sgt Pepper’s Lonely hearts club band. When I went to college some of my first grant cash went on this album. I had heard about it, but now I owned it. It just made me feel great, most of the songs I hadn’t heard before but I felt like I knew them. Still sounds as good today, and is still voted one of the best albums of all times in polls. It would be many years before I would own all their albums. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from mars. I liked Bowie the first time I heard Starman, but now I could afford to buy some of his albums, and this was my first choice. Not a single bad song on it. I still own the LP, but it’s all scratched due to the thousands of times I played it. Recently bought the CD version. I could have listed lots of his as I own a good few, but this one had the most impact. Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon. I heard this at a friend’s house, and I was blown away. Went out and bought it the next day. Another album that sounds great from start to finish, if you put it on, you have to listen to the complete album. This was really my first album that was not “chart type” music. A big sea change for me. Blondie - Plastic Letters. First time I heard this, my music tastes changed away from the Beatles, Pink Floyd, 10CC etc, it was me starting to like new wave and then new romantic & electronic music. Human League - Dare. One of my favourite albums of all time, I think from 1981 to 1982 I must have played it 3 or 4 times a week, every week. Love every track. This led me to find similar artists like Ultravox, Soft Cell, Duran Duran, XTC, Japan etc. The Smiths - The Sound of (greatest hits). How did I miss them in the 1980’s, but somehow I did. However since rediscovering them a couple of years ago, I can now appreciate it second time around, and I would place it in my top 10 albums I own. Although I bought a few in the 1980/1990 and 2000’s, they didn’t really change my developing music taste. I think it only does that when you are younger, but maybe I’m wrong. If you don’t buy albums then singles will do just as well.
February 13, 201015 yr A great concept here goes ........ The Beatles - Red Album 1962-1966 & Blue Album 1967-1970 - My parents got these albums on double cassette via Readers Digest and I loved these albums. When I was really young I preferred the Red cassette, but as I got older that changed to the Blue cassette. Unlike Popjustice's Peter Robinson I subscribe to the Paul Gambaccini; David Hepworth, Stuart Maconie, Noel Gallagher, etc viewpoint that people who say they don't like The Beatles music are either liars or don't like music. Period. Duran Duran - Rio - The first album I ever bought with my own pocket money (thank goodness I never bought the Kids From Fame soundtrack). And it still sounds great today. David Bowie - Fame & Fashion (All Time Greatest Hits) - I'd always liked the alienation of the former Robert Jones. As a child I loved Ashes To Ashes; China Girl & Modern Love, so when I saw this RCA rip off compilation going cheap in a sale in Our Price I just had to buy it (Track listing: Space Oddity / Changes / Starman / 1984 / Young Americans (full length version) / "Fame" / Golden Years / TVC15 / "Heroes" (full length version) / D.J. / Fashion / Ashes To Ashes). From there the rest is history. The Smiths - A Hatful of Hollow - The first indie type album I ever bought by the greatest indie pop band of all-time. The irony is apart from the live album Rank this is the worst The Smiths album in my collection. Kate Bush - The Hounds Of Love - As a child my first memory of TOTP was seeing an early 1978 episode featuring debuts by Blondie - Denis & Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights; I also remember loving The Man With The Child In His Eyes; Wow & Babooshka. But I will never forget hearing Running Up That Hill on radio for the first time and being hooked. Whilst the album is other worldly bonkers brilliant. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon - The second CD I ever bought (after The Beatles - Sgt Peppers ...). The older I get the more this album makes sense by the proto Radiohead. The third incidentally was Led Zeppelin - Four Symbols) Prince - Sign O' The Times - I'd always liked his music beforehand but I remember one Saturday afternoon listening to Johnnie Walker play exclusives tracks from this album. I was hooked and just had to buy the album. The first Prince album I'd ever bought. Without Prince I would not have moved backwards and discovered the great late 1960s/early 1970s output of Sly & The Family Stone nor Stevie Wonder's run of albums from 1972-1976.
February 21, 201015 yr i havnt enough albums that i still like.... well, not enough to fit the criteria of this thread. my fav albums (dare, searching for the young soul rebels, parellel lines, etc etc are all from a similar era). same with singles really, my favs tend to be concentrated on fav eras.
February 21, 201015 yr Not at all my favourites but the ones that changed my musical direction each time REM - Automatic for the People First album I bought. Really thought every song was great and played it endlessly for about six months. Got Out of Time soon after and now prefer it, probably because I never overplayed it as much as Automatic. I never play this any more and when I do it's just Sweetness Follows and Find the River that do anything for me. Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes 8th Dec 1993 Yes, I still remember the day that I fell in love with this lady. Winter made me cry when I heard it. It was just the most amazing music I'd heard - and yes, I already had Kate Bush's The Whole Story but this actually connected on an emotional level - something Kate often doesn't do. Less than two months later Under the Pink was released and I had a whole new world to explore and enjoy. I spent the next few years seeking out singles and b-sides and have bought everything on the day of release. New Order - Republic Got this for 2 quid and really got into it. I had always loved True Faith and Blue Monday but never purchased anything. This just sort of worked. Since then I went about buying everything they had done and also got Joy Division stuff too. Suede - Dog Man Star I had already recognised that Suede had choruses that connected with me but I wasn't a big indie fan at the time. I got a cheap copy in a local market in Nov 1994 and it's long atmospheric songs really suited the long winter nights. Took about three or four weeks before it was in my Top 3 albums of all time. Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go Having heard the title track on TOTP I was intrigued by this. I hadn't really heard much from them before - Roses in the Hospital ad La Tristessa Durera, but I hadn't warmed to them. I decided also to get cheap copy of this and within a fortnight with was sitting behind Dog Man Start in my all time albums list. Not long after it was number 1 and I would really get into the band. Orbital - In Sides Took about two years to get into - the 24 minute Out There Somewhere hooked me. I used to listen to it to put me to sleep. Edited February 23, 201015 yr by tonyttt31
February 22, 201015 yr actually, after thinking about this...i can do it with singles... 1 Spencer Davis Group - Keep on Running you lot know its a firm fav of mine, it was when i was 9 and its one track i never tire of hearing. in many ways it was the theme tune to my childhood (not lyrically...lol.. ) but it takes me back to my boyhood. 2 Steeleye Span - Gaudette an odd track to pick?... but its the track that got me into folk music in a time where chart music made me :puke2: 3 Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant could easily have picked 'nmtb' as an album, this reprisents it. possibly the track that got me into punk and conteporary music. the track that opend up the doors to punk/new wave. 4 Human League - The Sound of the Crowd no surprises here maybe, its my theme to the new romantic era and symbolises my life at that time 5 Shamen - Boss Drum got me into dance, the lyrics appealed to me in my hippy phase! and laid the foundations for my interest in dance 6 Binary Finery - 1999 the trance track that opend my eyes to how anthemic , uplifting trance can do to you. it grabs you and evolkes a euphoric sensation ...love it. 7 Queens of the Stoneage - No one Knows the track that awakend my interest in modern rock. imho as good as any retro rock track classic if not better.
February 22, 201015 yr this is a good topic, but im only just reaching the 18th year of my life, but my music taste has definatly developed, it wont be very retro but i'm going to list a progression of my music taste through albums just because it's interestng... Cartoons - Toonage - 1998 This was my favourite album when I was 6, I was that cool, but obviously I was 6, I wasnt really into music then, but my taste did mature a bit soon after, but still in chart/pop music, but not as kiddy as Cartoons... 5ive - Invincible - 1999 This is the last album I remember getting before my music taste dramatically changed, it might of been their next album thinking about it, but I remember the songs on this album better, but then I moved house and met new people, I dont think I got this album when it came out when I was 7, but more about 10 or 9. But as I just said my music taste then changed quite dramatically... Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler - 2001 I remember around this time (when I was 10) I just moved house, just got Sky TV and was flicking through music TV channels, I started getting attracted to songs off channels such as Kerrang rather than the pop songs of boy bands i previously liked, I remember having the money to buy one album in a Virgin Megastore, or maybe my mum volunteered to buy me one, anyway, I picked this, and it was one of my only CD's so was played to death, I still like it, mainly for nostalgic reasons, but if it came out today I would most likely backlash it like hell. The Futureheads - The Futureheads - 2004 Since 2001 I basically only listened to pop punk and nu metal, and punk and nu metal, all from bands such as Sum 41 and Linkin Park that got me into guitar music, I mainly listened to new music, but occasionally listened to older bands, but didnt really venture too far away from rock, punk or metal, then for some reason, I started liking indie music, probaly through this record, which sort of is a branch between punk and modern indie, from this band I got into the likes of Bloc Party, The Young Knives, Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, The Libertines, Arctic Monkeys some of which I still listen to, some of which I no longer do, but indie was a main thing I listened to, but it didnt last too long, I think when more people my age (I was 12 or 13 when I got into indie, bit before most) started to also like indie, I went off it, I dont think I wanted to listen to popular music, I wanted to be different. Beastie Boys - To The 5 Boroughs - 2004 Also around the time I got into indie, I also got really really into Beastie Boys, to the point that they were my favourite band, this got me into hip-hop, it's never been my favourite genre, but through this album I got into some really good 80's hip hop albums, aswell as getting into rappers such as Eminem. The Specials - Specials - 1979 <discovered around 2003-2005> I also around this time got really into ska, really really into ska, to the point where it was my favourite type of music, and 70% of the music I was listening to, at some point I randomly listened to this album by The Specials, I think I was trying out music, and my mum had this, and I liked it a lot, around 2001-2003 I discovered a band called Reel Big Fish who are a third wave ska band who were biggest in the 90's during this time I only really knew a few songs by RBF such as 'Sell Out' and 'Where Have You Been?', so through The Specials, I got really into RBF who becaome one of my favourite bands, it also got me into more traditional ska such as Desmond Dekker and Toots and the Maytals, aswell as acts from The Specials' time such as The Selecter, I was really into ska, and I still am, the first gig I went to was a ska punk band called Fandangle (in 2005), which I only went to because I knew someone who knew someone who was supporting them, I got really into them, probaly mainly just because I saw them live, I then shortly had the oppotunity to see Reel Big Fish, I just wanted to go to gigs, and I think I got really into these bands just for seeing them live, making me a really big ska fan. Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth - 2005 This is the album that possibly started the big change, the massive development of my music taste that really made me like not only the stuff I had been listening to between 2001 and 2005 but also a large amount of other genres, more abstract and unpopular genres such as industrial and also electronic music, of course it wasnt just this album, but this is the album that got me into Nine Inch Nails, this is the first album by them I had been old enough (13/14, still a bit young but I think I started early) to appreciate, I heard 'The Hand That Feeds' and got obsessed with the band, a workmate of my mum copied me all of their albums and I was soon so compelled from the music of NIN that they became my favourite band, and they still are to this day, I think I have been my most obsessed the last year or two, but still have been very obsessed at times, especially when I first saw them live in 2007, 'With Teeth' is the album that got me into NIN, so it is a definate landmark in my musical journey. Obviously I was 13 in 2005, and will be 18 in 2010 so my music taste has changed dramatically since 2005, but is still based on the foundations of the albums above (apart from the first 2), I have definatly expanded my musical taste alot, especially appreciating electronic music, somewhere along the lines I got very much into folk I think thanks to Willy Mason - Where The Humans Eat - 2004 which expanded onto me liking acts such as Bob Dylan, by this it definatly looks like the year that I really got into music was between 2004 and 2005, I seem to be very open about music these days apart from the chart topping pop, I listen to mainly punk and electronic music these days, but do listen to folk, reggae, metal etc aswell. Where next? obviously my music taste will proably develop still, I believe everyone's does until they die in my opinon, but I think my development has reached its main point, I like a wide range of genres, and will probaly stick with them, but I will probaly develop to listen to some more dominatly over others, I seem to be heavily listening to industrial, punk and electronic these days, and am starting to get increasingly into bands such as Godspeed You Black Emperor! and 65daysofstatic which suggest I may start becoming a large listener of post-rock, I like bands who branch out and do something different, I have listened to a lot of Sonic Boom Six and Streetlight Manifesto in the last year or two, both bands i'd say are based upon ska punk but branch out to all sort of different genres, genre are not a boundry to these bands and I think thats could be where my music taste is going, I rarely listen to new bands, so I think there could be a lot out there I may discover from 50's to now that I could really get into in the next few years, I do listen to a large amount from all eras, but im sure theres some smaller movements and sub-genres that I havent discovered yet, and a large amount of underground stuff just waiting for me out there.
February 22, 201015 yr Hmm, I shouldn't really do this as my choices wouldn't be "retro" in the slightest, but I like the idea, so... Spice Girls - Spice - the first album I ever listened to (unfortunately) so obviously belongs here. For about 2-3 years, I only listened to Spice Girls. B*witched - B*witched - first non-Spice Girls album. I stayed with pop for about 5 years after this. Oh, and sorry for the awful and cheesy start. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand - the first non-pop album I ever bought, and led me into "indie rock" which is now one of my favourite genres. Basement Jaxx - Singles - the first remotely dance album I ever bought. Probably wouldn't have started to delve into other dance music without this. Björk - Homogenic - from 1997, but I bought it in 2006. Since then she's become my favourite artist so this more than deserves a place on my list. Would like to think it led me into many other "alternative" female acts too such as Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Beth Gibbons etc. M83 - Saturdays=Youth - I didn't even know what "shoegaze" was before this album, and it led me to discover a whole new genre full of great acts. Can't really think of a 7th. My music taste is still developing I feel so we'll see. I like folk music as well but no album really jumps out to me as kick starting that. Feel free to moan at me and be all "this is the retro forum!" :heehee:
February 22, 201015 yr Hmm, I shouldn't really do this as my choices wouldn't be "retro" in the slightest, but I like the idea, so... Spice Girls - Spice - the first album I ever listened to (unfortunately) so obviously belongs here. For about 2-3 years, I only listened to Spice Girls. B*witched - B*witched - first non-Spice Girls album. I stayed with pop for about 5 years after this. Oh, and sorry for the awful and cheesy start. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand - the first non-pop album I ever bought, and led me into "indie rock" which is now one of my favourite genres. Basement Jaxx - Singles - the first remotely dance album I ever bought. Probably wouldn't have started to delve into other dance music without this. Björk - Homogenic - from 1997, but I bought it in 2006. Since then she's become my favourite artist so this more than deserves a place on my list. Would like to think it led me into many other "alternative" female acts too such as Kate Bush, PJ Harvey, Beth Gibbons etc. M83 - Saturdays=Youth - I didn't even know what "shoegaze" was before this album, and it led me to discover a whole new genre full of great acts. Can't really think of a 7th. My music taste is still developing I feel so we'll see. I like folk music as well but no album really jumps out to me as kick starting that. Feel free to moan at me and be all "this is the retro forum!" :heehee: hmm im now thinking Franz Ferdinand should be where The Futureheads are on mine, they are who really got me into indie.
February 22, 201015 yr Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - The first album I remember hearing as my mum played it in her car non-stop for about 3 years. Still the benchmark for me in terms of a complete album because not one song is anything below excellent. There's no question for me that this is stronger than 'Definitely Maybe' and I can only dream that Noel Gallagher can reach the same heights as a solo artist. Green Day - American Idiot - Still my favourite album of all time by some distance nearly six years after I first heard the electric title track, it's inevitbale that every punk/hard rock album I hear I compare to this. The scope and imagination in its record are unbelievable even before you consider how big a leap it was for the band. Stunning. Kings of Leon - Because of the Times - I find that so often everyone seems to ignore what to my mind is undoubtedly Kings of Leon's masterpiece. The indie hipsters and hardcore fans tend to prefer their first album, the majoritty of critics their second, and they became household names with the all-conquering fourth. To me they all pale in comparison to 'Because of the Times', and "On Call" is still my favourite ever KoL track. Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf - A proper old-fashioned dirty rock 'n' roll album, the word 'masterpiece' is often overused but in this context it's completely justified. It's impossible to argue with an album where every song is a killer and the compressed production simply steamrolls over any criticism. Not that much is necessary. Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight - LP had already made a huge impact on my musical life with 'Hybrid Theory' - the absolute creative and mainstream highpoint of the nu-metal scene. This album, their third, alienated a lot of their fans with its polished 'alternative' (cringe word) sound but the variety, songwriting and playing on it make it one of my favourite albums. Green Day - Dookie - I picked up this album far too late, it was years after I fell for 'American Idiot' that I discovered the pleasures of the album that preceded it by a decade. The definitive sound of youth rebellion in the mid-'90s, it puts it in perspective that before its arrival only one punk album had ever sold more than a million copies in the US. This sold ten million, and deservedly so. Paramore - Riot! - My last album is by a band that, on the surface, seem to be much of a muchness in a self-indulgent 'emo' scene. The difference is, most 'emo' bands would give their left arm for even one of the mid-rate songs on 'Riot!' and Hayley Williams and co. had radio-ready tunes to spare. The whole thing could seem a little cynical if it wasn't for the honest lyrics and delivery of the band's singer, who has already become by 21 a superstar.
February 22, 201015 yr David Bowie - Diamond Dogs - 1974-5 My Dad had this on cassette (one of only about three albums that he owned) and I remember hearing him play this a lot. Then I ended up nicking it around 1979 and keeping it for an inordinately long time! Finally bought him a CD copy last year for his birthday. Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier - 1981-2 I was 11 or 12 and how much did I love this band. My mum wouldn't let me buy singles as she thought they were a waste of money (never have forgiven her!) so had to wait until I had enough money together to buy the album and what an album it was. Every song was magnificent and old Mr Ant was a perfect pop star. This album turned me onto music in a big way. The Smiths - The Smiths - 1984 The album that turned me on to Indie or whatever it was called at the time. I remember seeing This Charming Man on TOTP and going absolutely ape-$h!t. 6 months later I got this on my 14th birthday and my eyes were opened wide to new strange worlds where tales of the Moors Murders mixed with songs of unrequited love. This made me actually listen properly to lyrics. Various - NME C-86 - 1986-7 It could have been this or the first Indie Top 20 tape as both turned me onto the realms of non-chart (indie) music. This is a perfect encapsulation of a time in music where every track and band stands for something different and a plethora of ideas are unleashed on the listener. It also included the amazing Velocity Girl by Primal Scream, a track probably responsible for most of what we call indie today. Metallica - Master of Puppets - 1986 I had started listening to some hard rock and metal the year before and I suppose the heaviest stuff was probably either Maiden or Motorhead. My mate had given me some tapes just to try stuff out. I remember Helix and some other bad glam metal were on them but then this came on and I had a true WTF? moment. This was so incredibly heavy and fast. How the hell had the band produced the noises that were coming out of my $h!tty little tape deck and still retained so much melody? Unbelievable The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu - 1987 (What the f***'s Going On) - 1987 One of the first hip-hop/dance records I ever got into. The KLF had already had to destroy all existing copies of the album under orders from Abba but there were enough copies still doing the rounds and I managed to get a badly dubbed copy from a mate in my first term at Uni. This really opened my eyes to all things that didn't have guitars in them and along with the Rebel Without A Pause and Paid in Full singles really drastically altered what i would consider listening to. This is probably one of the most influential records of the 80s and hardly anyone knows about it. The Orb - U.F.Orb - 1991 This is still my favourite late night listen and this opened my ears to electronica, dub and ambient of all kinds. A brilliant melange of styles and genres and formed the basis of one the greatest night of my life when I saw them at Glasto 1993.
February 23, 201015 yr Where next? obviously my music taste will proably develop still, I believe everyone's does until they die in my opinon, interesting read chris, but i do strongly disagree with you on this. i find that most people become arrested in their musical tastes, especially when they get hitched. i used to be on the old totp forums and the retro forum there was full of people still getting off on old tracks, and completely ignoring new material... all chanting the old and untrue mantra 'music died in (insert a year) all modern music is crap, they dont write songs like this (insert oldie) anymore' .... musical tastes though should develop... they just dont .
February 23, 201015 yr In order of appearance: Michael Jackson - Dangerous (1991) The first album I bought myself. I still love this and consider it as his best album. It sums up what pop means to me: innovative production (Jam), over-the-top ballads (Heal the World, Will You Be There), mixing different influences (Black or White, Give in to Me), bigger-than-life masterpieces (In the Closet, Who Is It). Michael was the best. Dangerous is not from this world and neither was he. Pet Shop Boys - Very (1993) Couple of months later I guess I bought this. As English is not my first language, I only later realised the brilliance of lyrics like Can You Forgive Her? and Dreaming of a Queen. The Theatre was awesome then and is now. I still listen to this a lot and love Pet Shop Boys from the bottom of my heart. Their Pandemonium tour was one of the highlight of 2009 for me. Blur - Parklife (1994) The no. 1 britpop album to me although Different Class and Coming Up are better. This was just the first. After this came Oasis, Manics, Pulp and Suede. (Never Kula Shaker or Terrorvision) Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile (1999) and Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals (1998) Former label mates were the highlight of 1999 for me together with Manics' This Is My Truth... I learned that rock music can be offensive but have some artistic value and pop flavours at the same time. The Fragile is a double album and contains some filler but Mechanical Animals is pure genious. Lady Gaga is Marilyn Manson of pop btw. Belle and Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap (1998) I bought this after I heard their song Jonathan David back in 2001. Somehow I hadn't listened to them before. I had heard of this band but not their music. It was love at first listen. Nothing can touch the brilliance of Sleep the Clock Around and the title track. I own all their albums and EPs except the Storytelling soundtrack (which is not a good album at all.) Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball (1995) Not really a country album but helped me to approach the genre. I adore her voice. Lately I've listened to her older stuff more. This is a cover album and strong contender when naming the best albums ever. Currently I'm into indie more. Nothing is better than a great pop song. Except a fantastic indie album :D Edited February 23, 201015 yr by SKOB
February 23, 201015 yr Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile (1999) and Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals (1998) Former label mates were the highlight of 1999 for me together with Manics' This Is My Truth... I learned that rock music can be offensive but have some artistic value and pop flavours at the same time. The Fragile is a double album and contains some filler but Mechanical Animals is pure genious. Lady Gaga is Marilyn Manson of pop btw. good choice.
February 23, 201015 yr Hmm 7 is too few but probably 1) Adam & The Ants - King Of The Wild Frontier - 1980 The 1st album I bought back in the days when pop music could be anything. Has a couple of filler tracks but still holds up pretty well especially the title track. My school was almost totally polarised between being fans of these guy as or Madness. I liked both but this was tops and it opened my eyes to the more underground bands out there. 2) Pink Floyd - The Wall 1979 I got into this properly around 1984. I'd heard it before but never really 'got' it. However, once I hit puberty it seemed to suddenly make sense. Make of that what you will, but this record awakened an interest in the darker side of humanity and has a thoroughly nihilstic attitude that I can reconcile. This was more punk than a lot of punk bands could ever hope to be. Even now in my late 30s it resonates still. And this lead me nicely into... 3) Kate Bush - The Dreaming 1982 Obviously I knew her from Wuthering Heights and Babooshka etc but I hadn't ever bought an album. However in '84 after reading about her this one stood out and I was astonished by it's genius even on first listen. Every song is different and each one unique. The sheer creative force at work seemed unrivalled and beyond comparison. This record holds such a dear place in my heart that no record has come close to being so fondly thought of by me. I think this is her masterpiece and when Hounds Of Love first surfaced I was largely disappointed. I also adore that record but it seemed like the poor reception to The Dreaming had caused her to clip her own wings artistically and I don't think she's ever fully recovered that glory. 4) The Sisters Of Mercy - First And Last And Always 1985 The next band to really draw me in to their world. For a while my favourite band ever. Eldritch's lyrics were obtuse but always clever, always funny and full of fantastic imagery. So often misunderstood as po faced super goths, when in fact they'd taken goth parodied it so well that they literally created a monster that is imitated (but never bettered) to this day. Plusd any band that loved Iggy & The Velvet Underground was worth checking out. Oh, and I was wearing black before I discovered them. 5) Gaye Bykers On Acid - Stewed To The Gills 1989 By now I was 17 and had long since discovered beer and chemicals and that would be reflected in my music choices. GBOA had released a decent first album of grungy psychedelia mixed with punk and had been much hyped as forerunners in the grebo movement that spawned PWEI & Wonder Stuff but they sort of imploded under their own debauchery. After blowing their entire advance on drugs and booze their label Virgin ordered them into the studio, effectively stood guard, and they nailed this in a very short time indeed. Once the band had finished adding the samples the label promptly tore up their contract. It effectively finished them as 'the next big thing' but for one album they got it spot on. 6) Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking 1989 Probably the band that got me into rock properly. Yeah, I'd liked the odd tracks by Motorhead or even Guns N Roses but I was always more of an indie or (post) punk kid. Here though they took LA glam rock and slapped it around the face with artsy leanings. It was downhill for them after this but without this breaking into the mainstream others like Faith No Kore and RHCP would have taken longer to break through 7) Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible 1994 Untouchable. This has been my favourite album since the day it came out. Possibly even before that due in part to the band 's initial press releases simply being a 2 page spread in the NME etc with the lyrics and artwork printed. No title, no band name. Even having digested the lyrics I was still unprepared for the sheer power and beauty of the record. It may have almost killed the band (and possibly did for one of them) but they never before or since have seemed so alive. In many was this is the last Manics album, as once they came back following Richey's departure they've never been quite the same band. They've not been the same since live or on record and I still miss them as they were. They seem slightly dumbed down these days and the last time I saw them play it seemed the audience had finally shed the last of the old school fans too. Other honourable mentions go to (in release order): David Bowie - Aladdin Sane (1974) Ultravox! - Ha Ha Ha (1977) Dead Kennedys - Fresh fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980) Christian Death - Only Theatre Of Pain (1983) The Pogues - Rum Sodomy & The Lash (1985) Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986) Pop Will Eat Itself - Go! Box frenzy (1987) Fields Of The Nephilim - The Nephilim (1988) Pixies - Surfer Roa/Come On Pilgrim (1988) R.E.M. - Green (1988) Ministry - The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste (1989) Carcass - Symphonies Of Sickness (1990) The Cramps - Stay Sick! (1990) Killing Joke - Pandemonium (1994) Eighties matchbox B-Line Disaster - Horse Of The Dog (2003) All of the above have gone some way towards influencing my tastes (eg The Cramps opened me up to the joys of Psychobilly, Ministry to Industrial)
March 8, 201015 yr Abba - Greatest Hits The first album I bought, virtually all still classics over 30 years later Human League - Dare As already mentioned on this thread Stevie Nicks - Belladonna Got into this at College. "Edge Of Seventeen" still sounds superb, and even Lindsay Lohan's cover version was acceptable. Counting Crows - August And Everything After First heard them on a Danny Baker radio show, and then saw them several months later on his then Saturday night TV show. Seen them live a number of times, just about the best live act I've taken in. Jill Souble - Things Here Are Different A change of pace for this one, and probably most Jill fans would say I've got the wrong album listed, but this is still my favourite of hers. Seen and met her a couple of times as well, comes across as the nicest person in the world. Sarah Harmer - You Were Here Had never heard of Sarah, and was following a discussion on a Jill Sobule forum when this album cropped up. Back in the days of certain illegal file sharing networks(!) I took a chance and downloaded a couple of tracks and was hooked. Ordered the CD the very next day. Who says illegal downloads costs musicians!!!! Killers - Hot Fuss The most recent of my 7, an irresistable tour-de-force of indie rock, headlined by the superb Mr Brightside. And, as a previous poster, some honourable mentions Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The PleaseureDome Half Man Half Biscuit - Back in the DHSS Fairground Attraction - First of A Million Kisses How's that for some variety!! -- Richard
March 14, 201015 yr 1. Romanian folks music albums - won't help if i would put the name here. This was my first love. I was fascinated by romanian folk music as a very little kid, I used to hear them over and over . the fascination came back latter and i still love a lot of folks music from different countries. 2. Beatles - no album particular, as in comunism times you got songs on a magnetophon band, from radio and friends. I even didn't knew they are the Beatles, if i am honest. I heard them because i like the melody and that was for me the first reason. That is as i was under 14 :lol: . Now i understand them at a new level, the lircs got more deeper as i could think with 12 :lol: 3. Depeche Mode - Music for the masses - i had money from my parents to buy my first album. I choosed between NKOTB , which i found at that time , ahem, good looking, and Step by step was a hit at that moment, and Depeche Mode . I choose DM and this seems to be a love for the life, even when i don't like everything they brings out. Depeche Mode + the book Dune = the best of my teenager era ! 4. Janis Joplin - once again mixture, no particlar album, they were to expensive back in time - first time when i realise music can have a program, a meaning and a style. 5. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman - do i need to explain this one? Timeless tunes, timeless lyrics. It was a revelation what a great songwriter can do. 6. Prince - Diamond and Pearls - a perfect album, who brought me behind silly charts and TV music. Funny thing: the worst songs on the album were the singles. Brilliant music. Brilliant musician, instrument choices. I could listen and listen again just to catch the sound of a new instrument. 7. Mark Owen - How the mighty fall - Many will wonder to see here in thsi list of great names, I don't have to say how much prejudices i had against boybands and their shirt ripping image strategy since i was 16 (when i think i was quite to spend my money on a NKOTB album then, only in a couple of month to discover meaningful music and to be ashamed of it :lol: ). This album came in my life when i needed. It is more for the personal message of the songs but also to open my mind that the musician don't have to have success but that his music is still worth to try. Teached me a good lesson. From that moment on, i was more open to give a chance to not known artists, to strange styles or voices, to appreciate personality. I could have choose on my way a far lot more of albums, my journey is not done. I had great revelations with Queen, REM, Bob Dylan, Credence clear water revival, Goran Bregovic, Simon and Garfunkel, Lennon, Joan Baez, Razorlight, Doors, Pink Floyd. My last one was Arctic Monkeys for example. I could go on and on. I learned from which one how versatile music can be, what "moment" music is and what music " for years". I learned to choose and don't let me driven by a mode or by charts. Sometimes one album is more important than the other, sometimes my heart need one style over the other. I cannot said which one is the best, and what for? :lol: Also i didn't counted my revelation in classic music, which were as great as in the "light" music and took also a lot of time to refine and to go over prejudices.
March 14, 201015 yr The Original Sountrack - The Sound of Music Well if you're going to have a soundtrack to a musical it may a well be the very, very best. My uncle bought me this album when I was a kid ... after taking me to see the film. Julie Andrews was one of the loves of his life ... on watching the film on subsequent occasions ... I found that it was Christopher Plummer that did it for me. My favourite song from the whole soundtrack actually features the incredibly handsome Mr Plummer 'Something Good'. ELO - A New World Record Oh how my friends at VI Form College mocked me for liking ELO. They were all into 'concept' albums, 'prog-rock' bands and others like Steely Dan and Wishbone Ash and a whole lot of other stuff which at the time I just thought was ... well not to put too fine a point on it ... frigging boring. I can say that I recently (well about six years ago) bought two SD albums ... and well apart from the obvious songs (Ricky Don't Lose That Number, Haitian Divorce and perhaps Kid Charlemagne) I can safely say that my friends must have had sh/t in their ears ... what a load of pseudo hippy crap! I'm glad I stood my ground and was never ashamed to say I was an ELO fan. I'm proud to say I have all their albums ... but ANWR is the one that I can listen to from start to finish without EVER skipping a track. Can't really pick a favourite song as I love the whole album but if a gun were to be put to my head - I'd pick Do Ya and Above The Clouds. ELO at Wembley 1978 ... one of the best nights of my life! NB - In defence of Wishbone Ash ... I still do have a soft spot for Argus. Blondie - Parallel Lines This is one album that my boyfriend (now husband) bought me ... that I can honestly say I liked at the time and still like it now. Amongst other albums he tried to 'woo' me with around the same time .... Boomtown Rats and Joe Walsh albums ... they were crap but I didn't have the heart to tell him! Favourite song : One Way Or Another The Beatles - Revolver Perhaps a bit out of sync in my list ... and there is a reason for this. Being from Liverpool ... and having a brother that was into them from the word go ... I just sort of went along with the obvious songs. I don't think I realised at the time just how frigging brilliant the Beatles were (still are). This album though ... is like ELO's ANWR ... one that I can listen to the whole way through without skipping tracks ... although I do find Tomorrow Never Knows a bit of a trial. Favourite songs : I'm Only Sleeping, For No One, Doctor Robert. Level 42 - Running In The Family I got into these pretty late on in their being and it was only after seeing them a few times that I worked backwards and bought some of their earlier stuff. I shouldn't have bothered really ... as apart from a few tracks on World Machine ... well two in fact ... World Machine and Something About You ... I could have saved meself some money! This album was pure gold though ... with only one duff track ... It's Over. Favourite songs : To Be With You Again and Running In The Family. They are still one of the best live acts I've seen and ... when you pick out their best stuff ... it is some of the best dance music ever. Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane I heard 'This Love' and fell in love with this album (perhaps a few years later than Adam Levine fell in love with himself). I actually bought the album on the strength of this one song and I was not disappointed. Went to see them at Manchester Apollo in 2004 and although they performed brilliantly ... I was a bit disappointed that the harmonies that are present on the album just are NOT there in their live performance ... I'm assuming that this is because Levine must be doing all the vocals (BV's included). One of the few acts that I've seen where the live vocals were a bit of a disappointment when compared to the studio album. Favourite songs: This Love, Harder to Breathe, Sunday Morning (although I actually love almost every track) Take That - Beautiful World If I got into Level 42 late in their career ... then I've probably come into Take That while they are in their middle age. This album ... whilst not exactly brilliant (apart from the obvious track) ... is a damned fine set of songs to have come up with considering the pressure that was on them and the ridicule that had been heaped upon them - Gary Barlow in particular. I hadn't actually bothered with Take That first time round ... even though at the time I found myself singing along to Pray, Never Forget and Back For Good. To me they were just a silly little boy-band with a lead singer who had an unfortunate succession of hair-cuts and an irritating, gurning, unfunny little $h!t of a drama-school boy in the line-up. I was dragged reluctantly to see them at the MEN in May 2006 (I had been hoping to see Dave Brubeck ... but just didn't get around to it). I'm glad my niece talked me into it. I did think ... what a flipping fabulous show (The Ultimate Tour) and that was the end of it. I was a bit sceptical when I heard they were actually doing a 'proper' comeback with an album and single and was very, very nervous for them. One listen to Patience though ... and I knew that they'd made the right decision. Since then they've brought out The Circus and while it isn't really as good as Beautiful World ... the concert that went with it was unbelievable ... I don't know how they do it and I don't know how they're going to better it. From their shows ... I've actually started to like some of their lesser known earlier stuff (as juvenile as it was). Anyway ... favourite songs from BW: Patience (obviously), Reach Out, Like I Never Loved You At All, What You Believe In. Honourable mentions: Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmares Gorillaz - Demon Days Harry Chapin - Harry Chapin ... Live .... almost any single song / story from Jake Thackray! Particularly 'The Lodger'. Norma Edited March 14, 201015 yr by Norma_Snockers
March 15, 201015 yr 1. Romanian folks music albums - won't help if i would put the name here. This was my first love. I was fascinated by romanian folk music as a very little kid, I used to hear them over and over . the fascination came back latter and i still love a lot of folks music from different countries. 2. Beatles - no album particular, as in comunism times you got songs on a magnetophon band, from radio and friends. I even didn't knew they are the Beatles, if i am honest. I heard them because i like the melody and that was for me the first reason. That is as i was under 14 :lol: . Now i understand them at a new level, the lircs got more deeper as i could think with 12 :lol: 3. Depeche Mode - Music for the masses - i had money from my parents to buy my first album. I choosed between NKOTB , which i found at that time , ahem, good looking, and Step by step was a hit at that moment, and Depeche Mode . I choose DM and this seems to be a love for the life, even when i don't like everything they brings out. Depeche Mode + the book Dune = the best of my teenager era ! 4. Janis Joplin - once again mixture, no particlar album, they were to expensive back in time - first time when i realise music can have a program, a meaning and a style. 5. Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman - do i need to explain this one? Timeless tunes, timeless lyrics. It was a revelation what a great songwriter can do. 6. Prince - Diamond and Pearls - a perfect album, who brought me behind silly charts and TV music. Funny thing: the worst songs on the album were the singles. Brilliant music. Brilliant musician, instrument choices. I could listen and listen again just to catch the sound of a new instrument. 7. Mark Owen - How the mighty fall - Many will wonder to see here in thsi list of great names, I don't have to say how much prejudices i had against boybands and their shirt ripping image strategy since i was 16 (when i think i was quite to spend my money on a NKOTB album then, only in a couple of month to discover meaningful music and to be ashamed of it :lol: ). This album came in my life when i needed. It is more for the personal message of the songs but also to open my mind that the musician don't have to have success but that his music is still worth to try. Teached me a good lesson. From that moment on, i was more open to give a chance to not known artists, to strange styles or voices, to appreciate personality. I could have choose on my way a far lot more of albums, my journey is not done. I had great revelations with Queen, REM, Bob Dylan, Credence clear water revival, Goran Bregovic, Simon and Garfunkel, Lennon, Joan Baez, Razorlight, Doors, Pink Floyd. My last one was Arctic Monkeys for example. I could go on and on. I learned from which one how versatile music can be, what "moment" music is and what music " for years". I learned to choose and don't let me driven by a mode or by charts. Sometimes one album is more important than the other, sometimes my heart need one style over the other. I cannot said which one is the best, and what for? :lol: Also i didn't counted my revelation in classic music, which were as great as in the "light" music and took also a lot of time to refine and to go over prejudices. thats an interesting perception coming from former communist (?) germany.
March 15, 201015 yr Hmmmm. I think I'll try and put one together, even though my music taste developes all the time..
March 15, 201015 yr thats an interesting perception coming from former communist (?) germany. Former communist Romania :lol:
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