What a great thread to resurrect. Kudos to brainofp for finding a thread that was buried for three years.

I have an obvious one with a sad but honest story to share with you:

Okkervil River — The Stage Names
Sort of a unique and strange correlation. It was a gift from the woman I intended to marry last year and it was the penultimate album she ever gave me as a gift. She wasn't into music like many of us here but I really wanted it so she bought it for me on release day.

I was immediately consumed by it; I was engrossed by its subjects on mortality, love, despair, life & death, heartache, humanity and its overall uplifting theme. Sometime during my love for the album, she ended things with me and I was left alone: resentful, sad and depressed.

I tried to chug on and this album moved me beyond words. It was that light at the end of the tunnel and through every frayed chord, striking rocker and poignant ballad I was honored with a gorgeous album. There is a method to my madness and this band only brings out that giddy, childish feeling I have for music. Every note played, word sung, instrument expressed is masterfully orchestrated with an enchanting prowess that is simply brilliant and it goes without saying that they crafted the most beautiful and compelling album of 2007.

It made me reconsider my entire musical philosophy and it opened up my ears to how such simple music (is it really simple?) could be so moving. It's mostly influential for me because it helps me realize how blessed I am for having it and for getting it, rather than being bitter that she left me. Someone out there has to feel the same way I do about this band and their music but at least I know that I am one of the few that really, really gets them.

I'm probably going to get rolled eyes for this one, but Fragile's story inspired memories of mine, and this one is a sad one, too. I think that the Music that gets us at our weakest is often the Music that has the most lasting effect.

I was eleven when Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette was released. A few months later, my mother passed away from a terminal illness on the other side of the country. I remember listening to the album on repeat, specifically the song "That I Would Be Good", and if any bittersweet song that's simultaneously optimistic could make that pre-teen kid who just lost his mother bawl like a baby, that was the one.

Yikes. Brings back some forgotten feelings just thinking about it.

Anyway, that's one of many albums that were very formative of my current self. I'll write more about others later.

...And Justice for All

I am on a Metallica kick lately again, but the reason I say this album was most influential for me, was because at the time, I was going through a lot of bad emotional stuff growing up. Hearing this album inspired me to get excited and into something positive, and inspired me to play the drums, etc etc... I know it may sound corny, but in all reality, it turned me to get into music, which is about all I had at the time. So in a way, it was a very important influence on me that changed me a bit, and probably kept me out of a lot of trouble.

Something struck me about the last couple posts...and it brought up a question in mind. It's a serious (albeit somewhat philosophical) question, I'm not being whimsical.

Does music touch us because of something happening in our life (creating some emotional connection), or because the music is inherently that influential and good?

Put another way: would the same album that helped you through a bad time (or good) be as influential if you heard it at a different time/ in a different mood?

Would Stg. Pepper be as influential if it came out in 1964, or 1969, rather than the so-called "summer of love" and the feeling/context of the time?

The reason I ask these questions is because if an album's influence is based largely on mood/ mind conditions, then isn't the influence largely arbitrary? Or maybe arbitrary isn't right, would it be fate? Accidental? Say Fragile wasn't in his situation at the time, I seriously doubt that Okkervil River album would have been SO influential to him. I'm sure he would have still loved it, but would he put it on this list were it not for the circumstances he described?

This relative arbitrary nature of music parallels the notion that some very talented bands become famous and are regarded as legends while just as talented bands are lost forever. How do some become famous? Is this also somewhat accidental? Or fate?

I know I'm rambling, but the thought popped into my head and I had to explore it (even though I'm sure I've done a poor job at articulating it).

quote:

Originally posted by His Dudeness:
Something struck me about the last couple posts...and it brought up a question in mind. It's a serious (albeit somewhat philosophical) question, I'm not being whimsical.

Does music touch us because of something happening in our life (creating some emotional connection), or because the music is inherently that influential and good?

Put another way: would the same album that helped you through a bad time (or good) be as influential if you heard it at a different time/ in a different mood?

Would Stg. Pepper be as influential if it came out in 1964, or 1969, rather than the so-called "summer of love" and the feeling/context of the time?

The reason I ask these questions is because if an album's influence is based largely on mood/ mind conditions, then isn't the influence largely arbitrary? Or maybe arbitrary isn't right, would it be fate? Accidental? Say Fragile wasn't in his situation at the time, I seriously doubt that Okkervil River album would have been SO influential to him. I'm sure he would have still loved it, but would he put it on this list were it not for the circumstances he described?

This relative arbitrary nature of music parallels the notion that some very talented bands become famous and are regarded as legends while just as talented bands are lost forever. How do some become famous? Is this also somewhat accidental? Or fate?

I know I'm rambling, but the thought popped into my head and I had to explore it (even though I'm sure I've done a poor job at articulating it).

Interesting questions. I think that the arbitrary nature of Music has a lot to do with the mood of the listener, and the environment in which it is heard. That Alanis album wouldn't have impacted me nearly as much had I heard it first during a summer when life was a peach. I probably would have still liked it, but it wouldn't have been that little gem I kept buried in my backpack to get lost in whenever I found a corner in which to be alone. The same thing rings true with my love of Rufus Wainwright's Music: I was a 17-year-old kid, just coming out of the closet when I started listening to him. I'd heard him a few years earlier open for Tori Amos in Seattle, but it didn't hit me the same way. But later, when I was going through what I was, his openness and lyrics that nonchalantly dealt with homosexual themes really hit me.

On a less emotional level, regarding the environment certain Music plays into: think about fads. It's the same general rule, I believe. When someone instigates a fad (be it in fashion, Music, politics, food), they create an environment into which similarly-minded things can fall and be accepted and even praised by those who agree with the principles of that fad.

Now apply the fad principle to emotional connection. When an event in one's life instigates a personal mindset, anything that falls within that mindset (to uplift it if its down, or agree with it, or unthreateningly challenge it) is prone to the same acceptance and praise. It makes sense to me.

Art, as a tangible being, has always existed thusly. There are artists who should have been popular when they were alive, but weren't, and when things changed after they died, they were. There are artists who perhaps shouldn't (the use of the word "should" is a completely new discussion in itself) have been popular when they were, and time changed to either continue accepting or eventually reject their vision.

A lot of things are arbitrary. It's very difficult to quantitate artistic value. Even the most technically (contrapuntally, tonally, etc.) perfect fugue could fail to arouse emotion from a listener. Does that mean it's not a work of art? Couldn't any average human be taught certain rules in an arena in which they have a sliver of natural talent that could be applied to create art that is technically near-perfect, but not emotionally arousing?

Questions for the ages, I say. Thinking about it makes me think more, and then more. Eventually, I wind up with a headache and a hankering for a cocktail and Bronski Beat's Age of Consent: "It ain't necessarily so..."

I prefer to simply enjoy what I do, let others do the same, and keep on living my life in sound.

As ans avid hip hop fan, no album has been more influential than Illmatic, at least for my generation.

Weezer(The Blue ALbum), they esentially created an entire genere by accident. All these emo bands look and sound like them.

Radiohead-OK Computer. This is to obvious, Coldplay and Muse have spent thir entire careers trying to be this good.

Liz Phair- Exile in Guyville, started the whole pissed off anry woman genre.

from earliest (for me) to most recent:
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
Green Day - American Idiot (my first rock album)
Led Zeppelin IV
Nas - Illmatic
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/Love Below, Stankonia
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois, Seven Swans, Michigan
Gorillaz - Demon Days
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Beatles - White Album (I tried for years to like the Beatles, this album did it for me)
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um, Black Saint and Sinner Lady

But yeah. That. More or less.

OK, here's another formative album for me:

Björk - Homogenic
I first got this album when I was 13 or 14, I think. I remember hearing "Bachelorette" on MTV a few years earlier, and liking it. So I went out on a limb, having heard nothing else by her save for a rendition of "Aeroplane" on an MTV 120 Minutes Live album (which I liked quite a bit). I lived in Oregon, and had gotten it in Seattle visiting family. On the way back, I put it in my portable CD player. First time through, disappointing. I was honestly regretting having spent the $15. But there was something that urged me to listen to it again. I pushed play and put the disc on repeat. Second time through, I warmed up to it. Third, even more, etc. By my sixth time through the album (straight), it had flip-flopped my perception of popular Music. It left an impression on me so indelible I don't think I could ever deny its power over me.

Yeah, I'm being dramatic, but it honestly felt that important back then.

This is a very interesting thread. I am enjoying reading the reasons why people like things. It makes a very refreshing change. It's like a more in-depth version of Desert Island Discs

My own selections would be -

1) Sigue Sigue Sputnick - Love Missile F1-11 (7 inch single). The first time I ever heard music and enjoyed it. I played that track to death on my sister's clapped out record player.

2) Metallica - Kill 'em All An odd selection, but I loved the adrenalin on that record and it was the first time I liked something non-mainstream. It opened the door to tons of bands that never got played on the radio or the TV. Some would find the idea of Metallica being an obscurity pretty bizarre, but trust me - they really weren't that popular back then.

3) Ozric Tentacles - Strangeitude The soundtrack to my teenage years on a tiny island in North Wales. Lots of hippies and beach parties in the middle of nowhere.

4) The Orb - Pomme Fritz It's just very beautiful.

5) Steve Reich - Electric Counterpoint Ditto

6) Mr Bungle - California My favourite album in the whole world. It is perfection. Great musicianship, inventive writing, an incredible analogue production and a wealth of colourful sounds. It has emotion, humour, heaviness, subtlety, beauty, ugliness... the list is endless. The one album that has everything. If my house was on fire and I could only rescue one album, that would be it.

older to newest:

rage against the machine - rage against the machine
coldplay - a rush of blood to the head
the white stripes - white blood cells
primus - sailing the seas of cheese
the notwist - neon golden
wilco - a ghost is born
ulrich schnauss - goodbye

and maybe 1 or 2 french record that you won't recognize anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by MXH:
from earliest (for me) to most recent:
Eminem - Marshall Mathers LP
Green Day - American Idiot (my first rock album)
Led Zeppelin IV
Nas - Illmatic
Outkast - Speakerboxxx/Love Below, Stankonia
Elton John - Tumbleweed Connection
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois, Seven Swans, Michigan
Gorillaz - Demon Days
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Beatles - White Album (I tried for years to like the Beatles, this album did it for me)
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um, Black Saint and Sinner Lady

But yeah. That. More or less.

Hey, another Hoosier! What part of Indiana you from? I'm near Ft. Wayne.

quote:

Originally posted by eggtweedyegg:
and maybe 1 or 2 french record that you won't recognize anyway.

dis toujours / try me

There were two albums, introduced to me in college by my sister, that were crucial in making me the music junkie that I am today. One was Flood by They Might be Giants, and the other was the self-titled Violent Femmes record. I listened to Flood over and over, and it along with my growing love for the Talking Heads at the time, helped foster my belief that if music isn't fun, and energizing, and doesn't have a sense of playfulness and humour, well, then there really just isn't much point. The Violent Femmes taught me that this fun music could also be personal, very dark, and cathartic.

A recent album that falls into all these catagories and has become very meaningful to me is Tanglewood Numbers by The Silver Jews. I just started posting on this forum, but I have been reading for the last year. I'm a fan of Okkervil River's Stage Names, but I was more impressed by FKA's enthusiam for it than the actual album itself. I know how it feels to find an underappreciated album that cuts into your soul making you want everyone to feel the same way about it as you. Tanglewood Numbers is my Stage Names. The songs are terrific, but what makes it absolutely staggering is the spirit of the album: David Berman and his collaborators find cause for celebration in the midst of a world looming with horrific possibilities. This is Berman's first album after a suicide attempt and subsequent treatment for depression and alcohol and drug abuse. He finds salvation in his friends as Stephen Malkmus's signature guitar style and Berman's wife Cassie's backing vocals blend in sublimely with his twisted and jubilant vision. Is there a happier two minutes in indie rock than "How Can I Love You if You Won't Lie Down?" Yet even that song opens with the hilarious but sobering line "fast cars, fine ass, these things will pass, and it won't get more profound." There is not another album on the planet that deals honestly with the harsh realities of this world, and, at the same time, has as much faith in humanity as Tanglewood Numbers. This is completely refreshing and uplifting.

quote:

Originally posted by Jamieg:
There were two albums, introduced to me in college by my sister, that were crucial in making me the music junkie that I am today. One was Flood by They Might be Giants, and the other was the self-titled Violent Femmes record.

Excellent albums.

I don't think I realized it until just now but They Might be Giants' Flood has had a Huge influence on me as well. I think it was possibly one of the first albums to really knock me over the head and forced me to take it apart completely, because there were so many treasures in it. I was shocked recently when I realized how short most of those songs are. I remember them all being 5 minutes at least.

OK, really. HOT DAMN!!! I know I just agreed that Flood's good, but I'd forgotten just how good. For a refresher, look at this track list:

1. Theme from Flood
2. Birdhouse in Your Soul
3. Lucky Ball & Chain
4. Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
5. Dead
6. Your Racist Friend
7. Particle Man
8. Twisting
9. We Want a Rock
10. Someone Keeps Moving My Chair
11. Hearing Aid
12. Minimum Wage
13. Letterbox
14. Whistling in the Dark
15. Hot Cha
16. Women & Men
17. Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love
18. They Might Be Giants
19. Road Movie to Berlin

I can actually hear the entire album playing in my head when I read that. I forgot how consistently delightful this album is. I remember how insanely hard I laughed when I first heard the lyrics

If I were a carpenter, I'd
Hammer on my piglet. I'd
Collect the seven dollars, and I'd
Buy a big prosthetic forehead
And wear it on my real head.

Everybody wants prosthetic
Foreheads on their real heads.
Everybody wants prosthetic
Foreheads on their real heads.

from "We Want a Rock".

I could try to figure a deeper meaning, but the literal images are so funny I can't help but imagine some hilarious, demented cartoon.

Must... listen... to... soon...

quote:

Originally posted by pianofaerie

I could try to figure a deeper meaning, but the literal images are so funny I can't help but imagine some hilarious, demented cartoon.

Must... listen... to... soon...

That's exacty it. They are hilarious songs that come across sounding like genius cartoony childrens tales. But seriously there is so much depth to most of them if you are actually paying attention. It's not on Flood, but the lyrics to "I, Palindrome I" are possibly the most insanely clever lyrics in the history of lyrics. Couple that with the fact that the John's write hooks better than any other band, at a rate of one an hour. It's sad that they have never completely been taken seriously.

They Might Be Giants write songs that are musical equivalents of what George Orwell did with Animal Farm. They get into your brain with their short and sweet sugary hooks and goofy characterizations, and then they explode into so much depth once you casually let them in.

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:

quote:

Originally posted by pianofaerie

I could try to figure a deeper meaning, but the literal images are so funny I can't help but imagine some hilarious, demented cartoon.

Must... listen... to... soon...

That's exacty it. They are hilarious songs that come across sounding like genius cartoony childrens tales. But seriously there is so much depth to most of them if you are actually paying attention. It's not on Flood, but the lyrics to "I, Palindrome I" are possibly the most insanely clever lyrics in the history of lyrics. Couple that with the fact that the John's write hooks better than any other band, at a rate of one an hour. It's sad that they have never completely been taken seriously.

They Might Be Giants write songs that are musical equivalents of what George Orwell did with Animal Farm. They get into your brain with their short and sweet sugary hooks and goofy characterizations, and then they explode into so much depth once you casually let them in.

Agreed whole-heartedly. They, indeed, do write some of the catchiest hooks in pop Music. I think it's their lyrics that come off (immediately, anyway) as silly and their voices (which are, admittedly, almost as nasal as Fran Drescher singing on a perpetual "ng") that have kept them from the acclaim they deserve. If nothing else, their composition skills are outstanding.

Great question.
Grand Funk-Caught In The Act turned me on to album rock.
Queen-A Night At The Opera hooked me for good. Rock was an obsession after that.
Marillion-Misplaced Childhood completed it all.
Rush-A Farewell to Kings also had a major influence.