The Album That Changed Your Life

Motley Crue

Ok, so you've got albums like Nevermind, Use Your Illusions and Dookie. Albums that define a generation and make another group of kids support another band. More recently, albums like American Idiot have turned Green Day from Punk Gods to Punk Rock Megastars, and what I'm trying to find out is peoples favorite album of all time......name the ONE album that changed your life and maybe talk about why it did that.

No abuse, no name calling, no backlash of any sort on this thread. Just literally an album that changed the way you felt and taught about music for some reason, when you first heard it, and what you think about it now (looking back).

I'll go first, and say that the album is Queens Innuendo album, because it was one of the first albums I ever bought, and at the time I didnt realise just how sick Freddie Mercury actually was (being 6, I didnt realise anything) and I was just blown away by the sheer skill and majestry displayed on some of those tracks. Years later, looking back, I think that some of the songs have a very morbid quality to them (such as 'I'm Going Slightly Mad' and 'The Show Must Go On') because it must have been so unique for a man like Freddie to realise his own death was coming so fast and yet still face it in a productive way. A true showman, perhaps the best, that album always made me think about a man who truly inspired.

John

Nick Cave's Let Love In. It was like a musical kick in the teeth. I had started listening to the Prodigy not long before that. Other than that all I knew was pop. But even the Prodigy can't compare you for a song like "Loverman". I still listen to this album all the time (I have it on vinyl and it's getting worn out). I even still get chills when I hear the opening to "I Let Love In". Ten perfect songs. Completely shaped my musical direction in life (I've even ended up doing a couple of gigs with Blixa Bargeld's other band Einstuerzende Neubauten).

Karl Hungus

You know, it was probably Dusk And Her Embrace, by Cradle Of Filth. Probably not the greatest album of all time, but a definite life-changer for me if there ever was one.

All I was really listening to before that was Metallica, Pearl Jam and such. As I seem to remember many a year ago, a friend of mine talking about them and how evil they were. This was back when there was a lot of controversy over them and people getting arrested for wearing their famous "Jesus is a c*nt" T-Shirt, so when me and the aforementioned friend actually found some of their CDs in the local musical emporium one day, we being right little rascals dared each other to buy a CD each, and what with this being the music the BBC was warning parents about, we couldn't help ourselves, so we ended up getting a CD each.

Now at this point, it's worth noting that the Cradle Of Filth of old is simply not the same band that's around today, and I mean that in the literal sense, practically nothing of the original band remains, and the members that made things really special just aren't with the band any more.

I had no idea what to expect, but what I heard really floored me! Everything about it was unlike anything I had heard before, the drums, the guitar harmonies, those baroque keyboards, and the vocals... Nothing even came close to it.

From this starting point, I branched out into the classic Gothic Metal bands such as Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, and got really into the whole Norwegian Black Metal scene, which opened me up to a lot of wierd and wonderfull bands like Emperor, Arcturus, Ulver. Lots of Death Metal started sneeking into my musical vocabulary, with bands like Death and Opeth, then more recently the experimentation of a lot of the Death Metal Bands has gotten me into some Jazz Fusion, namely The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and plenty of 70's Prog Rock like Yes, ELP and of course my favourite, the legendary Camel.

Nea

I would have to say Faith No More's The Real Thing. Jesus, when that came out it was like a kick in the face. I had been listening to the likes of Def Leppard, The Crue, GnR and the like but this was something else entirely.

This album paved the way my musical tastes veered from many fantastic thrash bands to stuff like Soundgarden, AIC and Janes Addiction.

It wouldnt be my favourite FNM album (that goes to King for a Day) but it just changed everything.

Mike Patton you are a god and deserve to be worshipped!!!
(Please reform MR.B tho)

rainbow kirby

It was different albums at different stages... but:
At 13, it was Nirvana's Nevermind album. Cliched I know, but it set up my tastes really well.
At 17, it was System of a Down's Toxicity album and a lot of early Metallica stuff. Started getting me into heavier stuff then.
And at 20, it was Sonata Arctica's Ecliptica album, for making me realise how utterly fantastic power metal is.

Sch!Sm

I have to say i love metallicas ..and Justice for all. the songs are so well written and even though the production is really bad i still love it.

Favourite album of all time has to be Machine Head's Burn My Eyes. every song on that album is excellent. I can listen to it over and over, pity they havent reached the same level with any album since, close with throught the ashes of empires though.

and i think tool's aenima deserves a mention b4 i go, cant explain why its so good just love it!

thats it ive said enough for 1 day

Dragan

Life changing???? I would have to say Kyuss "Blues for the Red Sun". Man, the first night i heard that i also smoked my first joint. That was an experience, the finest in Stoner Rock at the same moment as i got wrecked for the first time?????

Now that was lift changing. Made me reaslise that music was more than something you just listen to, it's something that you feel deep inside.

Noice!!!!!

Zulu

Iv

Sch!Sm

very concise

thewing

The Black Album/Rage Against The Machine

Went through about 3-4 copies of each on tape I listened to them so much..

phantom_lord

The Wall.

After getting that album I was set on a new path...

dimerocks

The Holy Bible....made me realise it does't have to be metal to be heavy.

Civilian_Target

I think Abbey Road by the Beatles is the greatest thing since sliced bread. When I heard that album my taste in music changed forever.

Deloused in the Comatorium, Rage Against the Machine and Inflammable Material are all also worth of mention.

pbsuxok1znja4r

Thrice - The Illusion Of Safety (2001)
This album changed my whole sense of aural aesthetics. Suddenly, nearly all the other metal and punk seemed like cheap, cheesy imitations of this mature and powerful music. From the artwork inwards, this album cut right through all the bullshit and gimmickery that comes hand-in-hand with so many heavy bands. The music took everything I loved about metal and punk and refined it, leaving behind what simply didn't cut it. With harmonized guitar riffery that didn't sound dated or cheesy; caustic, screaming vocals that still sounded human; poundingly heavy breakdowns that never forgot about the melody; lyrical themes that were neither trivial nor pretentious - this was the album that raised the bar, in every sense, for me.

Splinter

gonna b Aerosmiths "get a grip" album, fantastic from start to finish and was my first introduction to rock

Zulu

Sch!Sm wrote:

very concise

Thanks
it meant so much to me, I figured anyone who felt the same would understand, and those that didn't... ...well I wouldn't know where to start/how to explain.

Matthewthebig

It would be Slipknot's self titled that got me into the world of metal

and i progessed from there

It wasn't me!

I really can't say for certain if there is just one, but I'll list a few and define my reasons. These came all at different stages, so it's kinda a path through my musical development. I'll try list it chronologically.

Master of Puppets: Having already been listening to fairly generic rock and such for about a year, a year and a half, this was a Christmas present, and it was an utterly new experience. Battery blew me off my feet and I had this on constant repeat for at least a month. The sheer intensity was incredible. I loved its pounding, brutal rhythms, and the solos, whatever anyone will ever say about Kirk, owned.

RATM: Another fabulously intense album. The anger and expression really cut across me, and the weirdness Morello experimented with made me interested in weirder sounds and what a musician could do with them.

Blackwater Park: My first Opeth album, and their most rounded work, the darkness, as well as the ability to shift effortlessly between delicate acoustic compositions and pounding, driving metal, while retaining an intricacy of arrangement and style that I have yet to hear from any other band was stunning. This album, while probably not my favourite Opeth album (it being a tie with about five of them:rolleyes: ), was a new and exciting experience for me.

Rust In Peace: A review of this album could actually be summed up in two words: Technical genius. It carries a huge amount of energy and anger, which is periodically discharged by wonderful, emotive solos, that nonetheless show an absolute mastery of the guitar. It really made me look more towards a musician's skill than I had been before.

Human: First time I listened to Death, and it took me off my feet again. So much speed, power and intensity, it almost scared me, but those wonderful, catchy riffs, powerful hooks, just kept me glued to it. Another one I couldn't get off repeat. :rolleyes:

Methinks I'll leave it at that. There were other notable high points, but I can't just be firing in every album I found that was ingenius. I'd be here all day.

Pugsley

Probably 'In Flames - Colony', picked it up about 5 or 6 years ago, and it was simply unbelievable, then got my hands all their other albums that were released at the time before branching out to other bands, like Dark Tranquility, and At The Gates.

Tar.Aldarion

Supultura's roots and Slayer's Seasons in the abyss were my first albums at eight.
It was my step into music. They changed my life insomuch as I became a little metal kid and have kept that up until now.
Then it would have to be Panopticon by Isis, Fallen by Evanescence and Century Child by Nightwish that broadened my musical tastes.
Dear Catastrophe waitress by Belle&Sebastian would have to be up there too. That really got me going with that type of music.
Classical music didn't really come in albums but that was there from the start too making me a rather ecstatic lad about music.

evad_lhorg

The colour and the shape by foo fighters.

Creamy Goodness

weezer - weezer aka the blue album

c - 13

Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of THe Moon
I was consisting solely on a diet of Slayer, SOAD, panthera and the likes at the age of 16 until my manager brought me in this little beauty of an album with the instructions to go home and listen to it repeatedly.
What an album ! Sent me off on a seperate track of music for about a year or so, still one of my favoutite albums of all time.

Sgt. Politeness

Magnified by Failure
Id been listening to all kinds of music by the time i got this in '97. Id gone through metal, grunge, even some dance, but nothing blew me away like this album (until failures follow up fantastic planet).
The lyrics are incredible, and the musicianship is outstanding (you wont find any 12 bar solos, granted, but the entire album was written/produced/performed by only 2 guys). Being a bassist i think this album really stands out for me because of Greg Edwards very distinctive 'buzz saw' sounding basslines, and the first time i heard the opening to the 7 minute epic closing track 'small crimes' i knew i was hearing one of the most important bands of the time.
Just a shame noone else heard them.


FYI, for anyone who cares, tool were great fans of failure. Maynard used to introduce them as 'the greatest band in the world' when they toured together. Failure & a few members from tool made a side project called replicants, who only released one album of all covers, very good stuff tho. Check it out, its hard to come by tho.
But yeah, there you have it, magnified, my favourite album.

Nevermind or OK Computer

eljono

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness over 10 years ago when I was 13. I had been a "raver" when I was a kid and just listened to dance music and techno. Then I heard this album and it just blew me away. It probably suited my angst ridden, early teenage years too. I bought it on tape after hearing it and just listened to it constantly, rewinding and fast forwarding for certain songs, depending on what mood I was in! I have since owned two copies on CD since then. This album totally opened my mind to rock, which then lead to metal and just made me more open to different genres of music. Now, my ipod library is so diverse it makes me laugh sometimes when it's on random. One minute I could be listening to Sepultura, the next Beethoven or Daft Punk. I still listen to dance when the mood takes me but metal related music is my true calling and I've only the pumpkins to thank for that.

Oral Slang

Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime.. One of the first metal bands I was into and this album totally blew me away! Still one of my top if not my favourite album..

Dream Theater - Scenes from a Memory. When this came out I hadn't heard much of Dream Theater & wasn't too sure about this album. It took a few listens, but within a week, I loved this album. Totally different to most of the bands I was listening to at the time. Again, one of my favourite albums ever!

kc66

For me it was either The Bends or Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks.
A modern classic and an ultimate classic.

pyramuid man

I would have to say that Mudvayne's LD 50 was one I will never forget. But Metallicas Black album was the one that changed me. Not a particularly good album but it got me into metallica.

redmosquito

Pearl Jam - Vitalogy

po0k

Rage Against The Machine