TheBig3

1. Blue Valentine - Tom Waits

The soundtrack to those rainy nights in the city when its you and the gin and a humid summer night

Ride the Lightning - Metallica

Any angry young mans therapy. I'd run to it, work out to it, crawl out of depression while snapping my neck to the Trapped Under Ice shredding.

3. Paulallujah - MC Paul Barman

Summer of '07. I drove around Baltimore and DC for an entire week to this CD. I drove to atlantic city on a whim to meet a woman I loved to these ridiculous verses and to date, it was the best summer of my life.

4. Music to make love to your Old Lady by - Nathaniel Marriweather (sp?)

I can recall driving to Providence playing this album after I was instructed to "bring condoms." Not the best relationship, but the soundtrack made the night.

5. Cake - Motorcade of Generocity

A band my friend Matt and I see religiously. Songs like Willie Nelson, athestics like a poor, garage-mariachi band.(sp?) Lyrics as simple and as timeless and Hank Williams. In short, one of the best acts of the 90's, and this was their first release.

6. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

Bought in a used record shop on a road trip, our soundtrack to drinking while on cruise control across the eastern US.

7. Bob Dylan - Highway 61

The noisemaker in the title track does it for me every time. You hear it, and its a party.

8. Queen - Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (as a kid, this was mindblowing)

Find Freedy somebody to love. At 9, I had my album.

9. White Stripes - White Blood Cells

The soundtrack to my first year away from home. Raw, sexual, and minimal. Brava!

10. Isis - Yeah Yeah Yeah's

Bought on a whim, remembered for a lifetime. Enough haunting noise to scare away ghosts. Enough beautiful wailing to attract the vikings.

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I've moved to a new address

Alfred

I'll do a top five...

1. The Wallflowers "Rebel Sweetheart"
My second CD, and I really fell in love with it. Still one of my favorite albums today. If anything happens to my copy, heads will roll.

2. The Clash "London Calling"
It was easy for me to get into this album, and now I know it like that back of my right hand.

3. At The Drive-In "Relationship Of Command"
Really opened my eyes to what post-hardcore is about, and led me to other bands that I like.

4. Refused "The Shape Of Punk To Come"
Not only is it very innovative and influential, but it's also an insane and very incredibly rewarding listening experience.

5. Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here"
Got me into Pink Floyd, and was the first prog rock album I heard.

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crash_override

Halfway there.

Not a bad list. "Wish You Were Here" also got me into Floyd at a young age.

scottsy

I'd prefer Wish You Were over Dark Side for quite a while myself - its a sublimely put together album in my opinion...

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"If you're like me, then it's possible you're a clone generated from my stolen DNA. I suggest you turn yourself in for destruction immediately" - Shaun Micallef.

leperish frog

The Black Keys - Rubber factory

Neutral Milk hotel - In the aeroplane over the sea

Paul Simon - Graceland

Joy division - Unknown pleasurs

Edie Brickell and the new bohemians - Shooting rubberbands at the stars

Pink Floyd - wish you were here

Imogen heap - speak for yourself

Placebo - Without you im nothing and black market music

Regina spektor - Begin to hope

Steeleye span - Best of steeleye span

Urban Hat€monger ?

So why are they important to you?

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Pianogirl75

Blue - Jonie Mitchell: Cemented my lifelong love of folk

Graceland - Paul Simon: introduced me to world music, which I now love

Vitology - Pearl Jam: Began my love affair with alternative rock.

The Last of the Independents - The Pretenders: Catalyst for my punkish tendencies

Grace - Jeff Buckley: Started a major obsession with falsetto.

In Rainbows - Radiohead: Changed my taste yet again.

The Story - Brandi Carlile: Started a major girl with guitar kick.

A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection - Alison Krauss.....That was the start of my bluegrass kick. I always thought I hated country until I heard this.

40 Days - The Wailin' Jenny's: Started my search for more bluegrass bands.

Armchair Apocrypha - Andrew Bird: Yet again, a new style of music for me which I'm loving.

Mojo

A lot of these bands have other albums that are more important to me now than the one I chose, but that wasnt always the case. These are (probably) the top ten albums that have helped shaped my current taste over the years.

Michael Jackson – Dangerous
People seem to expect that you will remember what the first record you ever owned was. I cant, or at least I should say I’m not 100% sure but I think it was this one. I remember I was a kid, I was sharing a room with an older sister who worked for Our Price record shop, I had won a portable CD player from a Cadbury’s Caramel and my sister bought me (I think it was her that bought me it) Dangerous by Michael Jackson. Dangerous is still an album I like to this day, probably for that reason, even if it does have some absolute stinkers on it once you get ¾ of the way through it. But it spawned a real interest in music and also in buying and owning my own CD’s.

Oasis - (Whats The Story) Morning Glory
I liked some shockingly awful music when I was younger. I may be forgetting some important moments in my life but I remember four albums specifically that started to influence me to turn the corner. There was the album mentioned previously, MJ’s HIStory album, the red and blue Beatles compilation albums that I would steal from my sister and sit and listen to through my gigantic headphones and this one. Oasis were a big, big deal in 1995 to a 11 year old kid with no music taste. They opened the door to a world of guitar based music that I had never been a part of before. Suddenly I had Oasis and they were loud, they were arrogant, they were seemingly rebellious, they were basically made for a kid my age. And when I say I had them, Im serious. At least thats what it felt like. This is the album that would then open the door to The Jam, The Smiths, The Stone Roses and my first real love which was British indie.

The Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Oasis still pretty much dominated my musical tastes but a friend of mine was pushing The Manics onto me. I didn’t mind, I gave TIMT and Everything Must Go listen and the Manic Street Preachers started to push Oasis out of the picture a little more and further broaden my extremely narrow horizons. When I would start to delve further into the bands back catalogue I would broaden my horizons even further hearing the early punk influenced Manics and falling in love with such a dark, sleazy album in The Holy Bible. This made The Manics my new favourite band. I would listen to The Holy Bible while reading the inlay, completely caught up in what almost sounded like pure evil. This would then start a phase where I would want to be Richey Edwards without the serious mental and emotional issues and the anorexia, mainly the songwriting and poetry back in the days where I would still write. It lead to rather embarrassing results.

The Stereophonics – Word Gets Around
I had never heard of The Stereophonics before. A lad in my reg group at school told me all about them. I cant remember if I accepted his offer to bring this album into school to make him shut up or if I actually wanted to hear it but he brought it in, recorded onto a blank cassette. I played it so many times I’m sure it should have snapped. By the time I developed my Stereophonics phase I was a fully fledged indie kid, kind of thinking it would be cool to be a mod and anyone else who dared not share my taste in music just didn’t “get it”, especially if you liked all that heavy metal garbage. Fools.

Embrace – The Good Will Out
I wasn’t exactly what you would call a confident teenager. I wasn’t an outcast, I had a solid group of friends and a lot of them are still friends to this day but I was also probably reserved to some degree, relatively quiet unless I was around certain groups of people and far from confident. I would mask depression behind a smile infront of those I would interact with and behind closed doors I would struggle with ways to deal with it. Music was slowly becoming a ways and means to vent this. I liked being able to relate to the music I was listening to, usually the lyrics. They didn’t have to be the work of a genius but just anything at all I felt a relation to. Embrace were one of those bands at the time that could allow me to wallow in whatever it was I was feeling and make me feel SO bad that once I turned the corner I would feel good again. This is how I would deal with my problems from that point on and music doesn’t quite have that same effect on me anymore, as far as I’m concerned that’s proof it worked. The Smiths “Best…” albums worked great in same this way too.

Metallica – The Black Album
Three albums would start to push me in the direction of harder, heavier, dirtier music. Appetite for Destruction, a brief fling with Nevermind and Metallica’s self titled. A good friend of mine would try and try his best to tell me how good Metallica were but he was talking to the wrong person, or so I thought. Metal was awful, metal was for those who didn’t really have the ability or talent to form a REAL band to make their money by writing amateur sounding music composed from power chords and screaming. This friend had no interest in music for such a long time, I was always the one lending him my headphones and trying to get him to listen to something and he never gave a toss. When he did finally develop an interest we went very different routes, I liked my indie bands and he liked his metal, his long hair and his makeup. One day we exchanged music (minidisks no less) and The Black Album grabbed me. It was angry, it was heavy, it was full of solo’s but in a cohesive manner that impressed me and allowed me to edge into the genre. The slower moments probably helped with the transition too. I played it to my indie friends. They thought it was ****.

The Strokes – Is This It?
The transition to heavier music wasn’t instant but gradual. I still had a love of indie but was filtering some metal into it, a little more punk and generally just broadening my tastes. Then The Strokes hit with about every ****ing kid I would talk to in my first year of Sixth Form. Is This It sounded like a 70’s record, it was barely produced, it was stripped naked, it had a real punk vibe to it and given it was around this time I was starting to introduce myself to Sabbath, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and lots of music that wasn’t from the present day and so the retro feel probably just struck a chord. This wasn’t the 70’s or the 80’s, it was the present day and I don’t think I had heard anything like it before which sounds kinda stupid to say now. I got swept up in the garage rock revival thing going on around the time and the likes of BRMC, The White Stripes, The Vines, The Hives and The Datsuns. I took it to so many house parties over the following 6 months or so and demanded it be played but I usually didn’t have to twist anyones arm.

Jeff Buckley – Grace
It took a couple of listens but Grace was an album I found myself completely lost in. As far as I was concerned this was the most beautiful music I had ever heard. A lot of the music I was listening to was fairly straight forward rock and roll but the likes of Mojo Pin, Dream Brother and Buckley’s version of Hallelujah were examples of an atmosphere I had never really encountered before. Grace, JJ72 (yeah, I know), a little Radiohead and Muse’s Origin Of Symmetry started me round another corner and opened a few more doors musically. Grace is probably still my favourite album, its just that these days there are a hell of a lot more contenders.

Hope Of The States – The Lost Riots
Chosen for opening my eyes and ears to ambience and post-rock which make up a huge amount of my current music tastes. I know that HOTS are actually neither but they carried with them influences in both. After picking The Lost Riots up I would eventually go on to enjoy the likes of Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, God Is An Astronaut and a whole load of similar bands. Had it not been for Hope Of The States I may not have started down that road.

Electric Wizard – Dopethrone
Metallica were my introduction to heavy metal and I would go on to betray my earlier musical stances and beliefs. Metal and generally just harder, heavier and more aggressive music. I am ashamed to say the likes of Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and other numetal bollocks would all play a part too but by using certain bands as stepping stones I would develop a love for the older Metallica material, Iron Maiden, Faith No More, Rage Against The Machine etc but my harder rock/heavy metal tastes were still exclusively on the commercial side. Dopethrone would start a love for more extreme metal and are accountable for most of the metal I enjoy today. Electric Wizard and Black Sabbath started a love for more down tuned, down tempo sludge and doom metal, stoner rock and psychedelic music.

Near misses
Ocean Colour Scene – Moseley Shoals - The first contender to the Oasis crown. Also the first gig I went to in 2001 at the age of 17.
Guns ‘n Roses – Appetite for Destruction - Blah blah blah. You’ve heard it all before.
Black Sabbath – Vol 4 - Vol 4 led me to the Wizard. The Wizard led me to doom and so much extreme metal.
The Cooper Temple Clause – See This Through and Leave - Any rock or indie music with electronic influences that I’m into I can probably trace back to the purchase of this record.
The Music – The Music - Maybe an earlier introduction to more hazy, psychedelic sounds.
Faith No More – The Real Thing - Simply a key album in my transition to metal.
Iron Maiden – Dance Of Death - Ditto

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Last.FM | Echoes and Dust

garbanzo

10. Tripping Daisy - I Am an Electric Firecracker
i was very sheltered and naive growing up, and my musical tastes basically amounted to whatever my big brother listened to. this was the first album i went out and bought on my own. i felt like such a rebel because it was so very different from everything else i listened to. i actually picked it out based on the cover! i really don't like it anymore though.

9. The Beautiful South - 0898
i just love it, plain and simple. i have all their albums, and this one definitely gets the most play. my first copy was a cassette my brother recorded for me when i was growing up.

8. Hooverphonic - Blue Wonder Power Milk
my first trip-hop album and my introduction to the style. after i bought this, it stayed in my rotation for two years at least. i still love it.

7. Batman and Robin Soundtrack
this (terrible) album introduced me to Soul Coughing, and by extension to Doughty's solo stuff. i'll never tire of his stuff, it's just fantastic.

6. Modest Mouse - Moon and Antarctica
my first modest mouse album. i saw them for the first time during this tour. didn't know them at all, but went with a friend on his recommendation. ended up being one of the best gigs i'd ever seen, and they're now one of my top 5 bands.

5. Solesides Greatest Bumps
first album from the Quannum crew. i got it because of my love for DJ Shadow, and it lead me into a world of hip hop i didn't know existed. very big influence on my current collection.

4. Pink Floyd - The Wall
first floyd album. start of a long, loyal frendship with some of the greatest music ever made.

3. Jawbreaker - Dear You
this is my #2 album. i remember back in college listening to this one over and over while reading the lyrics book. now i know it by heart, but this album really taught me how incredibly meaningful (and crypitic!) lyrics can be.

2. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing
first shadow album. also, this was playing the first time i partook of the ganja. it has been my #1 album for more than 10 years.

1. Stealing Beauty Soundtrack
strange choice for number one, but this album has had the biggest impact on my musical tastes. i watched the film for Liv Tyler. then i fell in love with the music. it introduced me to Portishead, Hooverphonic, Mazzy Star, and Cocteau Twins, and is the seed for my love of all things trip-hop and downtempo.

XbrokenX

Here are mine, although it is somewhat difficult to put them in an order of importance...

10. Disrupt - "Unrest" CD/LP
9. Dystopia - "The Aftermath" CD/LP
8. Naked Ape - "For the Sake of the Naked Ape" CD/LP
7. State of Fear - "The Tables Will Turn... And It's You Who's Going To Suffer" LP
6. Black Sabbath - "Master of Reality" CD/LP
5. Sneaker Pimps - "Bloodsport" CD/LP
4. The Cardigans - "Gran Turismo" CD/LP
3. Megadeth - "Rust In Peace" CD/LP
2. Bad Religion - "No Control" CD/LP
1. Depeche Mode - "Black Celebration" CD/LP