Eleven albums that changed my life
Andrew Stewart
1. The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
(David Bowie)
I saw Starman on TOTP, and was immediately hooked. The next day, it
became the first single I ever bought (or more correctly, the first I
ever badgered my Dad into buying), and soon after, this became the
first album I ever bought, and the one that made me a music fan (and
lifelong Bowie fan).
2. Raw Power (The Stooges)
The first album I ever bought without having heard a single track from
it. I only bought it for the Bowie connection. Before I had heard it,
I thought Ziggy was about as hard as you could get. Did this ever open
my eyes. Stood me in good stead as a late teen when all my friends
were going wimpy and buying Eagles records while I got into the
Pistols and The Clash.
3. Berlin (Lou Reed)
I'd bought Transformer for the Bowie connection (I still think of it
as a Bowie album by proxy). Then I got Berlin by default because I'd
liked Transformer so much and this was the follow-up. This changed my
life because up till now I thought the main things you could get from
music were either wild energy (a la Stooges), fun (Ziggy) or
reflective introspection (other Bowie). This was the album that opened
my mind up to the fact that music could be very dark and examine
sordid depressing ideas.
4. Young Americans (David Bowie)
This album shook from my head forever that every artist should be a
one-trick pony worshiping the false God of "authenticity". All my
Bowie friends deserted him, but I persevered with this album. Stood me
in good stead for my later interest in the New Romantics.
5. Low (David Bowie)
Bowie changed again and in so doing cemented his place at the centre
of my musical taste. In interviews, he talked up the influence of
Kraftwerk, Neu, Cluster, La Dusseldorf and other Krautrockers. I loved
Low so much that it sent me scurrying out to buy those albums, thereby
opening up a whole new world. Also prepared my mind for synthpop,
which made up most of my late 70s/early 80s musical diet.
6. Never Mind The Bollocks (Sex Pistols)
This album sucked me fully into the punk scene. By now, I was feeling
smug about my ability to move with the times musically as I watched
all my once hip friends from school listening to their old Ziggy
albums endlessly and sobbing into their beer that they didn't make
records like that any more and this modern stuff was all bollocks.
7. Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division)
This album combined my favourite music of my early teens into
something new and thrilling, and made Joy Division my favourite band.
8. Doolittle (Pixies)
I bought this never having heard anything by them simply because David
Bowie kept recommending them in interviews. Well, his recommendations
had worked out in the past, so why not now? I came to love it, and
eventually got into stuff like Sonic Youth and Glenn Branca.
9. Nevermind (Nirvana)
The album that mainstreamed what was now my favourite genre, meaning
my friends that I loved to torment with Pixies and Sonic Youth records
when they called round my house could no longer dismiss it as minority
drivel.
10. Goldie (Timeless)
The album that got me into drum n bass, thereby opening up a whole new
rich world.
11. 1. Outside (David Bowie)
After years of sticking by Bowie through inferior albums like Tonight,
Labyrinth, Never Let Me Down and Tin Machine, I was ready to give up
on him after Black Tie White Noise. As a result, I almost didn't buy
1. Outside, but the Eno connection convinced me. When I did, it took a
bit of getting used to, but eventually succeeded in reigniting my
Bowie obsession. I went back and got The Buddha Of Suburbia (the
second album from 1993) to find that that was really the comeback
album. Got me into Scott Walker's Tilt (I'd only heard his early stuff
and dismissed it as crooner toss, but people kept going on about Tilt
and how similar it was to certain things on Outside).
So---what about you other folks? What albums changed your lives, and
how?
(np: Best Of Bowie 69/74)
_______________________________________________
"David Bowie irrevocably altered our culture. In terms of influence, the only new development in pop's last 30 years that he hasn't had some kind of influence on is drum'n'bass. Of all the artists, Bowie changed popular culture in his own image. He introduced things like androgyny and a sense of otherness to pop music in a dramatic and accessible way."
Time Out critic Garry Mulholland explaining why a survey of British stars, critics and music industry figures named Bowie the most important musical figure of the past 30 years.
To join 1300 fans receiving a regular free BOWIE newsletter, send a message to bowie...@hotmail.com with the subject "Subscribe"
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Dirk Pehrke
albums.
Dirk
Warszawa72
In chronological order....
1. Van Halen - Van Halen I: grew up in a grade school where everyone listened
to Michael Jackson (around 1983..i was in 7th grade)...when i heard it it blew
my mind, opened me up to things that weren't playing on the radio...and the
energy of the music blew me away!
2. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I : Right around the beginning of my high school
years i listened my dad's old vinyl copy of Led Zeppelin I....and introduced me
to the blues (in a warped sort of way..heh) Made me aware there can be feelings
in music...led to a long period of time where i listened to the Stones, the
Who, and Zep.
3. Violator - Depeche Mode: During a drunken stupor during senior week i gave
my friend 20 bucks and told him, "go buy me the album that this damn song they
keep playing on MTV is on" Well the song was Enjoy the Silence....and it was
the first time I allowed myself to enjoy what my friends called "the music all
those witches listen to in the corner" Oh well it set me on my current course..
4. Pornography - The Cure: After breaking down the mental wall of not being
allowed to listen to groups like this...i went out and bought a few Cure
albums, brought on by the song Lovesong, which was playing alot on MTV. The
first time i listened to it, i was like, "umm....i dont know what to think of
this" Then i proceeded to listen to it 4 more times that night.
5. Never Mind The Bullocks Here's the Sex Pistols: well i thought Van Halen had
kick! heh...these guys REALLY blew my mind...and the 'sound' of the album was
completely alien to me. Started me on my punk phase.
6. Plastic Surgery Disasters - Dead Kennedys: Showed me there was a political
message in music that i could somewhat relate to...started me thinking in more
liberal ways
7. Pretty Hate Machine - NIN: along with Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili
Peppers got me into alternative music of the early 90s. Kinda thought of them
as an evil sounding Depeche Mode. And after hearing them on the Crow soundtrack
I wondered "hmmm who are these guys I. Curtis, etc who wrote Dead Souls, which
brings me to...
7. Closer- Joy Division: Read something about Joy Division in some album review
guide; said they were possibly the most important bands of the 80s.
Hmmmm...Thought I'd take a listen. Like Pornography I didnt think I liked Joy
Division too much after the first couple of songs...by the ending synthesizers
of 'Decades' I was hooked.
8. Pink Opaque - Cocteau Twins: Allowed me to actually allow myself enjoy a
group with a female lead vocalist. Was tempered somewhat by previous listenings
to Lush (which were pretty much a later incarnation of Cocteau Twins,
eh?)....but as the final minutes of the Spanglemaker washed over me I felt
somehwhat dizzy (which might have been the beer...ever since this band has been
one of my favorites while drinking)
9. Swing The Heartache - Bauhaus: My friend played it for me while driving down
the shore after hearing about them in a Poppy Z Brite book.......Even though
they opened up the goth genre to me I always considered them more 'artsy' along
the lines of Bowie
10. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division: By now JD was my favorite band, and after
repeated listenings was able appreciate this album much much more than at
first. The perfect meshing of late 70s punk and early 80s gloom. Without
question my favorite album of all time.
11. The Idiot - Iggy Pop: the album I've listened to most lately. Pretty much
brings everything together from that period. Of course Im a big Bowie fan but
really liked the bands he influenced more than him. So what was Iggy saying
about how much he wanted to remix Raw Power? Seems like he might have given in
a little by this point.
Moon HaloX
my life. There are a cluster of grungey type albums for that period (In Utero,
Live Through This, Pussy Whipped..), but I think the one album that I can
honestly say changed my life was Wish. It was the only Cure album my dad had on
CD, so it was the first one I decided to listen to. Listening to The Cure
really broadened my life musically. It got me into Siouxsie and the Banshees,
Joy Division, Tones on Tail.. Picking up Wish that one day may very well have
been one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.
And so it goes...
Natasha*
-----
former airline
http://users.aol.com/moonhalox
Cecrle
I like that CD very much. The only song on it I don't ever really enjoy
listening to is Wendy Time.
I think it's better than Cure's _Disintegration_, which is so often a
favorite.
But I'd have to say the coolest Cure album I have is _Faith_. An album
that Joy Division fans should most *definitely* check out if they have not
yet done so...
-FC
kr
My Life Changing Albums.....
1. Sabotage - Black Sabbath
2. Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends - ELP
3. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
4. Joshua Tree - U2
5. Quadrophenia - The Who
6. Never Mind the Bollocks - Sex Pistols
7.
Well, how about 7 albums?
fernando
>My Life Changing Albums.....
>
>1. Sabotage - Black Sabbath
>
>2. Welcome Back My Friends to the Show that Never Ends - ELP
>
>3. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
>
>4. Joshua Tree - U2
>
>5. Quadrophenia - The Who
>
>6. Never Mind the Bollocks - Sex Pistols
>
>7.
>
>Well, how about 7 albums?
Well, how about 6 albums just for the sake of those with words in them? =+)
-fernando
:: Modify email on reply by removing my name and period ::
-*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*-
Through the black port, the cyclone sailed her heart, where the bora blows
a wind that cries through the town, across the sea, she says she won't go.
___________________ "Cyclone" :: Silver Soul :: And Also The Trees :: 1998
-*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*- -*-
D Kriel
In article <19981222023710...@ng109.aol.com>, warsz...@aol.com
(Warszawa72) writes:
>2. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I : Right around the beginning of my high
>school
>years i listened my dad's old vinyl copy of Led Zeppelin I....and introduced
>me
>to the blues (in a warped sort of way..heh) Made me aware there can be
>feelings
>in music...led to a long period of time where i listened to the Stones, the
>Who, and Zep.
>
>
Actually ... it introduced you to the blues in a pretty direct way ... they
stole a bunch of old blues songs ... claimed they wrote them ...
Kriel
--------------------------
This is a song about life in the west country a long before most of you were
born and a long time after the rest of you were dead ... Robyn Hitchcock
--------------------------
Solomon Rutzky
> I think it's better than Cure's _Disintegration_, which is so often a
> favorite.
>
> But I'd have to say the coolest Cure album I have is _Faith_. An album
> that Joy Division fans should most *definitely* check out if they have not
> yet done so...
> -FC
..i cant say that i like wish more than _disintigration_, but i have found that few
people have ever heard _faith_ which i think has some of their best music on it,
especially from a jd perspective...so, i definitely agree on that one...
..S*L*M*N....
--
Solomon Rutzky
Director of Technology
Chicago Net Visions
----------------------
915 West Huron
Chicago, Illinois 60622
312.492.7080
----------------------
mailto:sru...@cnvisions.com
http://www.cnvisions.com
Jim Curtis
Black Flag "Jelous Again" ep
Led Zeppelin I ( and all the others )
The Who The Kids are Alright
Sex Pistols NMtB
Iron Maiden Piece of Mind
Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland
Big Country
Cecrle
>Cecrle wrote:
>
>> I think it's better than Cure's _Disintegration_, which is so often a
>> favorite.
>>
>> But I'd have to say the coolest Cure album I have is _Faith_. An album
>> that Joy Division fans should most *definitely* check out if they have not
>> yet done so...
>> -FC
>
>..i cant say that i like wish more than _disintigration_, but i have found that few
>people have ever heard _faith_ which i think has some of their best music on it,
>especially from a jd perspective...so, i definitely agree on that one...
Yeah, it's cool--very minimalist and simplistic, but in such an
atmospheric, expressive way...
And I listened to Cure's _Pornography_ album the other day--hadn't really
thought a lot about the album, liked some of the tracks and thought the
sound was interesting. But upon that recent listen, I realized that it's
really a cool album, track for track. JD fans should check it out if they
have not thus far...
-FC
D Kriel
1. Zappa - Chunga's Revenge ... friend of the family played this for me when I
was about 10 ... twisted me forever ...
2. Jethro Tull - Aqualung ... hearing that song on the radio made me realize
that there was more to music than "Oh Baby" ... still one of my favorite bands
3. Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Impossible Dream ... if you dont know them
its impossible to explain
4.`Roxy Music - Country Life ... Roxy changed music forever ...
5. Television - Marquee Moon ... it wasn't till a decade later tht I realized
that they stole so much from Fairport Convention ... and 20 some years later I
still dont care
6. The Clash - London Calling ...had the first two ... and all the singles ...
I love them all ... but the stunning ambition of this one still grabs me
7. Ultravox - Systems of romance ... before they became the new wave Moody
Blues
8. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures ... you all know why
9. Chameleons - Script of the Bridge ... best album of the 80's bar none
10. Paul K and the Weathermen - Blue Sun ... I like some of his other stuff
better ... but this is the first one of his that I heard ... my favorite
musician of the 90's
11. Kemuri - Little Playmate ... brought this old fart back into Ska ... my oh
my are these guy fun
Darkmoon5
wave - patti smith
security - peter gabriel
zombie birdhouse-iggy pop
still - jd
closer - jd
unknown pleasures - jd
so - peter gabriel
the downward spiral - NIN
urban hymns - verve
a storm in heaven - verve
northern soul - verve
Solomon Rutzky
1) Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
..when i was first getting into 'classic rock' years ago and i
started borrowing records from my uncles, i was told that this was one
of the best albums i could pick...he was right...
2) Yes - Yessongs
..this was a concert from the early or id 70s...simply
incredible...better than their studio versions...
3) Steely Dan - Aja
...i believe 'gaucho' to be their best album overall, but this was my
first Dan album and 'Deacon Blues' is still one of my all-time
favorites..
4) Ministry - Twitch
...i think 'Land of Rape and Honey' is their best, but this was the
first one i got by them and it made a very good impression...
5) Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
...wow...at the time i never knew music could be like this...the
first JD i ever heard (or was it substance)..still, i listened to this
one forever...'insight' is another favorite...
6) Joy Division - Closer
...its an obvious one, and '24 hours' is one of their best (amongst
the many others)..
7) My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
...one of the most entrancing albums i have ever heard..simply
wondeful music...
8) Polvo - Cor-crane Secret
...very inresting music...
9) the Cure - Disintigration
..what can i say...one of the best openings for an album and 'close
down' is incredible...(actually, its all good with the possible
exception of 'lullaby')...
10) Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Sings the Cole Porter Songbook
..what an angelic voice...though i would recommend 'ella and louie'
(7 or 8 duets with louie armstrong) if i could only recommend one...
11) Orbital - Insides
...the first REAL electronica album i heard...lots of good music...
..(11 aint enough)..
12) Underworld - Second Toughest in the Infants
...i would recommend this one to everybody, even those that dont
think they would like electronic music...these guys are prolly the best
and this album one of the best i have ever heard...they were incredible
in concert...
13) LTJ Bukem - the Rebirth
..another WOW...everybody should hear this one at least once...the
best intelligent drum-n-bass (jungle) album ive come across...this guy
is the master...this album is his best...
kin...@webtv.net
1)Beatles-White album
2)Dylan-Blonde on Blonde
3)Stones-Exile
4)Velvet Underground-1969 Live
5)Kinks-Village Green Pres.Society
6)Sex Pistols-NMTB
7)Mission of Burma-VS.
8)Clash-1st U.K.Lp
9)Vibrators-Pure Mania
10)Husker Du-Zen Arcade
11)Minutemen-Double Nickles On The Dime
12)Robyn Hitchcock-Eye
13)JD-Closer
14)JD-Gruftsaenge boot
When I first heard Unknown Pleasures in the summer of '79,I thought the
sound was "compressed".Check out live versions (especially from the
Amsterdam gig)& you hear the spaciousness of the band.I always thought
that Amsterdam was perfectly recorded.Hook on the left channel,Morris &
Curtis in the middle & Bernard's (Dicken,Albrecht,Sumner-what is this
guy's name anyway?)magnificent guitar on the right.
It's almost 20 years since I first heard JD & the music still moves me.
tube disaster
1) Bob Dylan -- Highway 61 Revisited
He's been all washed up for 25 years, but here he was at the top of his game
2) Sparks -- Indiscreet
Quite possibly the first album to ever enthrall me as such when I
encountered it at age 16 or so. (Before then, it was *singles* that changed
my life ... Up Around the Bend, Instant Karma, DOA, Walk on the Wild Side,
etc.)
3) Sex Pistols -- Never Mind the Bollocks
Gave me vent for all sorts of emotions as a teen-ager
4) Wire -- Pink Flag
Foreshadows -- hell, probably inspired -- about 10 different postpunk
directions ...
5) Lou Reed -- Street Hassle
Dunno why, but over the years I've probably spun this one more than my VU &
other Lou albums combined. (Must have something to do with the fact
that it's the first one I ever bought ...)
6) Fall -- Live at the Witch Trials
The world's first exposure to Mark E. Smith. Very little was ever the same
afterward.
7) Gang of 4 -- Entertainment
Postpunk at its peak. The first 4 songs may well constitute the greatest
opening segment in rock album history ...
8) Joy Division -- Unknown Pleasures
... and Disorder may be the top opening track ever. Punk anger & aggression
starts giving way to angst & despair ...
9) Cure -- 17 Seconds
... which starts to coalesce into something recognizable as a subgenre,
movement or whatever you want to call it.
10) Prince -- Controversy
The title track is singlehandedly responsible for launching me on a whole
funk sidetrack during the '80s.
11) Rudimentary Peni -- Death Church
The apotheosis of anarchopunk
12) Jesus & Mary Chain -- Psychocandy
Having my cake & eating it too -- pure pop AND pure noise
13) Mekons -- Fear & Whiskey
Made me realize (along with certain tracks by Green on Red & post-Ridgway
Wall of Voodoo, though the main catalyst was a video of Hole in the Ground
from 2 albums later) that a skewed take on country, by god, *could* be cool.
14) Sisters of Mercy -- Floodland
I'm by no means a huge goth fan, but the last time I plunged into a real
precipice of depression, I couldn't bear to listen to anything but the first
6 songs of this one for something like 10 days.
15) Pulp -- His'n'Hers
If this album had been what people were thinking about when they got hot &
bothered over Britpop, I'd understand what all the fuss was about.
Dan
Fandar
Deep -Peter Murphy
Very -Pet Shop Boys
Outside -David Bowie
You'ld Prefer an Astronaut? -Hum
Disentigration -The Cure
Black Sheets of Rain -Bob Mould
Bob Mould -Bob Mould
Pablo Honey -Radiohead
Chess -its a concept album amde to raise money to stage it as a musical.
Permanent Joy Division, not an album, but still..
Wish -The Cure
a bit of my list is rather cliched, isnt it?
--
Fandar
"Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart. My land's only borders
lie around my heart" The Russian
"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True
nobility is being superior to your former self" Thom Yorke?
Andrew Stewart
wrote:
>Ok -Computer Radiohead
>Deep -Peter Murphy
>Very -Pet Shop Boys
>Outside -David Bowie
>You'ld Prefer an Astronaut? -Hum
>Disentigration -The Cure
>Black Sheets of Rain -Bob Mould
>Bob Mould -Bob Mould
>Pablo Honey -Radiohead
>Chess -its a concept album amde to raise money to stage it as a musical.
>Permanent Joy Division, not an album, but still..
>Wish -The Cure
>
>a bit of my list is rather cliched, isnt it?
I don't know, it looks pretty cool to me. They're are some very
unusual picks on there, which is always a sign of an independent mind.
(np: Best Of Bowie 69/74)
_______________________________________________________________________________
"Nobody's perfect/It's a moving world/But that's no reason/To shoot some of
those missiles/Think of us as fatherless scum that won't be forgotten/
'Cause we'll never say anything nice again"
- David Bowie's weirdly Clinton/Iraq prescient 1979 song "Fantastic Voyage"
Cecrle
>Ok -Computer Radiohead
I'm about to receive this album in the mail....I've heard good things
about it--hope I'm not disappointed!
>Very -Pet Shop Boys
Does this have "It's a Sin"? I remember hearing that song when I was a
young kid and liking it....Don't know if it was a Pet Shop Boys fluke,
though...
>You'ld Prefer an Astronaut? -Hum
What's this one like? I like that "Stars" song--hard rocking, yet lonely
and subtly sad....Don't know if they're just another dumb grunge band or
what, though....How'd you describe Hum?
>Disentigration -The Cure
Good tracks, but I think it's probably too long. The normal/first
reaction to seeing that a disc is long is "cool!", even for me, but I'm
beginning to see I like albums when they're short and sweet. I'd rather
have a 35 minute album with all GOOD songs than a 50 or 70 minute one with
many GOOD songs as well as OK ones thrown in....I tend to get distracted
or fall asleep by the end...
-FC
Fandar
> >Very -Pet Shop Boys
>
> Does this have "It's a Sin"? I remember hearing that song when I was a
> young kid and liking it....Don't know if it was a Pet Shop Boys fluke,
> though...
Its a Sin is on of my favourite songs by them, but I only have it on
their best of. No, its not on Very.
> >You'ld Prefer an Astronaut? -Hum
>
> What's this one like? I like that "Stars" song--hard rocking, yet lonely
> and subtly sad....Don't know if they're just another dumb grunge band or
> what, though....How'd you describe Hum?
I wouldnt call them grunge. I have heard them as compared to Smashing
Pumpkins, and I like the Pumpkins, but I dotn kow about that one. There
are simularities. I wouldnt call them a dumb grunge band.
--
Fandar
When replying, remove G O A W A Y, unless your a spam bot, then just
GOAWAY
kr
Dan,
You have exceptional tast in music...I recognize a lot of your choices
and I also see that you are [or were] partial to English bands, like I
was once upon a time...Here are some albums and the bands I remember in
the late 70's and early 80's....
The Buzzcocks ["I hate fast cars..."]
Wire ["12xu"]
The Jam ["This is the modern world..."]
Gang of Four ["He fills his head with culture, he gives himself an
ulcer..."]
The Clash [ "He's in love with Janie Jones, whoa..."]
The Damned ["Is she really going out with him?"]
The Stranglers - ["I feel like a wog"]
Joy Division ["This is the room, the start of it all...."]
I can also proudly say that I saw most of these bands....TTFN
K.R.
...Entertainment is a great album by the Gang of Four,
kr
Here we go again....
1. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
2. Black Sabbath - Sabotage
3. ELP - Welcome Back My Friends
4. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bullocks
5. Gang of Four - Entertainment
6. Rush - All the World's a Stage
7. REM - Automatic for the People
8. U2 - Achtung Baby
and the list goes on...BTW, I also own a vinyl copy of their Amsterdam
gig and I have to agree that it was recorded well....KR