The One Album That Changed Your Life

[SuNomi]

You know the one I mean. The album or song which hit you with such an emotional punch that you go back to it again and again for inspiration. Maybe it was that Jam album that made you don the parka and go to scooter rallies, maybe it was that Germs album that made you shave your head, or that Gang Of Four that made you question your values and question authority...

For me, if IT would have to be The Who's "Quadrophenia". That spawling saga of being an outcast in a society of outcasts rang so true with what my youth was like, and was such a perfect bridge
between the 60's and the 80's underground. No wonder there was a mod revival.

[Frau_Blucher]

My very first record of any kind was Van Cliburn's performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1 with Kiril Kondrashin, recorded at Carnegie Hall. The liner notes had this cool story of how the 23 yr old skinny Texan went to Moscow at the peak of the Cold War and wowed the Russians and won the first ever Tchaikovsky Competition. Maybe I was just a brain-washed military brat, but I thought that just kicked ass in so many ways. I was probably 4 years old and it immediately fed my interest in piano and music general.

[ben_at_work]

It would have to be The Mama's and the Papa's "Farewell to the First Golden Era". I remember it was the album that really got me into music. I was in grade school, probably 4th grade. I even brought it to class and our teacher, Ms. Pilafac, played it. It was from that point I really started paying a lot of attention to music. Mostly oldies and 70's rock as thats what my parents listened to. KEARTH 101 with Charlie Tuna out of L.A.

[DougMash]

XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel" was in my head when I switched my college major from Architecture to Communications. I took 3 years of Architecture in High School, so thought my "future was as good as sealed." How I went from Radio/Advertising/Journalisme to owning a CD store...that's another question!

www.cdislandny.com

[manekineko]

Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. My older sister bought it when I was ten (1972). GYBR totally changed my listening habits from single-oriented to album-oriented. Prior to GYBR, I listened primarily to 45's (with my cute little record carrying case) and I had a fairly short attention span for music. But GYBR was the first album that I listened to in its entirety, as a complete work. I felt so grown up, like my twelve year old sister. I listened to all four sides over and over and over, studying the sleeve with its lyrics and graphics. I knew every song by heart. Granted, some of the lyrics I didn't really understand at age ten, and I'm sure my parents raised an eyebrow or two as I sang along with the record.

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[ben_at_work]

[quote][i]Originally posted by manekineko[/i]
<br>Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. My older sister bought it when I was ten (1972). GYBR totally changed my listening habits from single-oriented to album-oriented. Prior to GYBR, I listened primarily to 45's (with my cute little record carrying case) and I had a fairly short attention span for music. But GYBR was the first album that I listened to in its entirety, as a complete work. I felt so grown up, like my twelve year old sister. I listened to all four sides over and over and over, studying the sleeve with its lyrics and graphics. I knew every song by heart. Granted, some of the lyrics I didn't really understand at age ten, and I'm sure my parents raised an eyebrow or two as I sang along with the record.

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[/quote]

Great Album!!

[WolverineSyr]

[quote][i]Originally posted by manekineko[/i]
I'm sure my parents raised an eyebrow or two as I sang along with the record.

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[/quote]

All the girl's love Alice?
That album was also a big catylist for me too. Sadly, I never think of it any more. Remember the gatefold sleeve with all the pictures accompanying the lyrics?

[manekineko]

[quote][i]Originally posted by WolverineSyr[/i]
<br>All the girl's love Alice?
That album was also a big catylist for me too. Sadly, I never think of it any more. Remember the gatefold sleeve with all the pictures accompanying the lyrics?
[/quote]

Yep, that's the song. Also Sweet Painted Lady ("getting paid for being laid...")--the parents weren't too thrilled to hear that coming out of their ten year old's mouth. Yes, the sleeve was great. Remember the drawing of Marilyn Monroe that accompanied Candle in the Wind? I drew a replica of it and used it as the cover for my biography of Marilyn Monroe in 6th grade.

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[dcappe]

The Hurting by Tears For Fears opened my eyes to a whole new world of music which was the soundtrack to my adolescence. It was my first.
Before that was Foxtrot by Genesis. Supper's Ready blew my mind!

www.thespoons.ca
"This is where the loose ends tie together"

[WolverineSyr]

The B-52's thread reminds me of how much of an impact that debut album had on me. A bunch of weirdos who could barely play their instruments making some very cool & fun music. It was off the wall, seemed home-made and it was kind of off-putting at the same time. (I can't really explain that - it was just so weird.) It made me feel like if they can make it, anyone can. It was deceptively simple sounding & brilliant.

I don't know if that album or any other changed my life though. I suppose like Manekineko, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road moved me from collecting 45's to listening to whole albums.
Blondie's Parallel Lines got me into punk & new wave.
The Motels Careful still intrigues me today - it's probably what I'd call my perfect album. I just can't put my finger on any one lp.

[schwenko]

I would have to say "Meet The Beatles".
My mother bought this album for me and my 2 sisters. Right about the time of the Ed Sullivan Show appearances. And the Life magazine cover story.
At one point (early 1964?) the Beatles had 7 somgs in the top 10 (at least that's my memory).
That massive media exposure, plus my young and tender age, made for indelible impressions on my malleable mind.

[empyrean]

For non NW bands, it would be The Beatles Revolver. When i first listened to that song Tomorrow Never Knows, i suddenly had this urge to buy all the Beatles records.

For NW, its Tears For Fears The Hurting that made me a New Wave fanatic. The first time i heard Shout, im totally hooked to this genre. (but now, i despise Shout [:D] )

[DonGately]

More Fun in the New World, by X. I'd already been listening to lots of different stuff, but this album really hit home for me -- it spoke directly to me. It was really my introduction into punk, maybe preceeded only by the Repo Man soundtrack. Then I went and picked up their earlier albums and found them equally as great, and started digging into a bunch of other bands which to that point I'd had no idea existed.

[New Wave Dave]

[quote][i]Originally posted by empyrean[/i]
<br>The first time i heard Shout, im totally hooked to this genre. (but now, i despise Shout [:D] )
[/quote]
I've never really been a big fan of lyrical content but when I first heard the line "They gave you life, and in return you gave them Hell", it was like someone flipped a switch. It sounds silly but that one line made such an immediate impact with me in so many ways. Can't really explain it. Freaky-deaky. [:D]

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On topic... the one "album" I listen to when I need to find my center again is U2's Red Rocks concert which I taped off the radio back in 83 (since converted to digital). A great combination of youth, optimism and exuberance!

[bpdp3]

Sounds like a cop-out, but "London Calling" was my gateway drug, at the age of 13. The cover, the way they looked in the pictures inside, the lyrics (no lovey-dovey stuff), and the power in the music. From there it was unstoppable.

Some great mentions earlier here, also. That B-52's debut is undeniable - forget that this was the band that went on to do 'Love Shack', remember that this was the band that came out of nowhere with that amazing debut.

And 'Goodbye Yellow Brick' is so nice - - Love Lies Bleeding is my personal fave on that one. Elton was ROCKING - - not just a little, but really putting the hammer down.