sweet_nothing

I dont think I have 10 but here are the ones that come to mind.


Elliott Smith- Elliott Smith
My first album by Elliott and in instant case of love at first listen, this album is the reason I started playing guitar, hell one of the first songs I learned to play was needle in the hay. I got it last winter so when ever I put it on it reminds me of winter and walking through my school's frozen parking lot with this album playing on my ipod.
Radiohead- The Bends
I had always thought Radiohead was some overrated band, god was I wrong. Up until I got this album the only song I knew by them was Creep which I hated. But then I got more curious about the band because a friend of mine really like them so I got The Bends (I believe it was Ethan who recommend it to me). I thought the first track was pretty good but there was something about the title track that just made me fall in love with the band. And now about 4 months later I have all their albums and theyre my most listened to artist on last fm.
The Smiths- Hatful of Hollow
My first album by these charming men. I remember my cousin and his friend were talking about the Smiths, and going to Morrissey concert and how awesome it would be if he just played Smiths songs. I didnt think much of it at the time. But later that week I got this postcard type thing offering me a chance to win some tickets to go to a Moz concert, so I thought 'could this mean something?' Well I got curious and got on itunes but Hatful of Hollow was the only album they had so I got it. And the first time I heard it I was just so amazed at the lyrics and Morrissey's voice, and Johnny's guitar riff's. I listened to that album all through the summer, and that's why it's my most listened to album on last fm. I also perfer it actually to any studio album.
Gorillaz- Demon Days
This is my favourite album ever. I had bought the Gorillaz's first album when I was younger but had lost it or thrown it away. But all these years later I really gotten into Blur and imagine my shock when I found out it was Damon Albarn behind the Gorillaz, so I got Demons Days (which was recommend to me by Luke) and I was just completely amazed. It really wasnt like anything I had ever heard before. This is the album that completely turned me onto other genre's such as hip hop and electronica. Every time I give it a listen to it I'm reminded off driving through the city on a muggy day, and looking at all the big buildings and pat them lied the ocean. And that's why the album always has this grey feeling for me, and a sense of loneliness but in a great way.
Joy Division- Unknown Pleasures
I was bored one night and going through Itunes and I thought the album cover was really cool looking so I just bought the album. Then I heard Disorder and I thought it was the greatest song ever, it took me a couple of listens later to enjoy the album as a whole because I thought Ian was really boring sounding. But I looked past all that and saw what amazing lyrics he had, and really got into the band. They were my top artist on last fm for the longest time until recently. But even though I think Closer is a better album, Unknown Pleasures will always hold a special place in my heart because to anyone who hasnt heard it that's exactly what it is an unknown pleasure.
Sex Pistols- Nevermind the Bollocks
This was probably one of the first albums I had ever bought. I remember hearing Anarchy in the UK on Tony Hawk's ProSkater 4 when I was in probably the 4th grade, and I thought it was the greatest song ever so I bought the album and it just completely changed my mind about music and what music could sound like, because the only thing at the time I had really heard was whatever was on the radio at the time like the Backstreet Boys and whatever, and this was just the complete opposite and I loved that.
Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
This was another one of my first albums I bought. I was looking through the classic album sections at Target when the cover caught my eye. I showed it to my mom and her response was 'NO, that's music for people on drugs'. But I eventually I got it anyway. I remember hearing for the first time and that screaming at the beginning of the album and thinking 'my god what is this?' and then that steel guitar comes in I thought it was the most beautiful music I had ever heard.

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4ZZZ

Damned if I could think of 10 albums that are that important to me. In order of appearance though here are 3 that are.

Ziggy by Bowie. Love it to this day. It seemed so important to me back then.
(I'm) Stranded by The Saints. Ditto. I was told by my peers that it was rubbish blah blah blah! I knew different.
Beat by Chris Knox. An album with a personal resonance. He wrote songs about his fathers death as well as love and life and it all hit me to the core on release and still does now.

There must be more that are "important" to me but I am not too sure that they hit the spot likes these three.

MegaHassan

10. All Killer No Filler - Sum 41
The first rock album I actually enjoyed. From start to finish. Before this album, I was listening to rap and pop.

9. Infest - Papa Roach
This album was kind of cool when I first listened to it, now I don't think too highly of it. But, it was the next step "forward" for me.

8. St. Anger - Metallica
Haha, yeah I know. But this was the first "metal" album I heard so its important. I don't like this album, but its important to me.

7. Ten Thousands Fists - Disturbed
When I listened to this album, I thought this was the heaviest album ever. This was my gateway to harder and heavier music.

6. Hypnotize/Mezmerize - SOAD
Some of the songs here were the fastest I had ever heard until then. Just fueled my desire to listen to faster music.

5. A Matter of Life and Death - Iron Maiden
This was the first "real" metal album I got into, and this is the main reason why I became a "metalhead". I still love this album, holds so many fond memories

4. Rust In Peace - Megadeth
Now THIS peice of art took me by storm. I'm still addicted to this album, and I think its the best album ever made. Sorry, I'm a lunatic and a Megadeth fanboy.

3. Darkness Descends - Dark Angel
I thought Slayer was fast when I heard Reign In Blood, but this album makes Slayer seem like toilet fodder! Brilliant album, even though its kind of repetitive, but every song is pure gold.

2. None So Vile - Cryptopsy
My introduction to the world of Death Metal and what an introduction! I regard this to be the finest death metal album ever made.

1. Clandestine - Entombed
This album has it all. Brutality, technicality, great riffs, and headbangable music. Sort of a marriage of everything good I like. Its not my favorite album, but its a great blend of everything I like about metal.

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Roygbiv

10- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
I didn't believe my friend that I would love this album, and here I am today, loving every minute. It always wraps me up and assures me that growing up doesn't have to mean growing old, though for many it's inevitable. I love it to death. Now if I can just get it in LP...

9- David Bowie- Low
Anytime I have roughly half an hour in-between things, I pop the first side on my record player and let it spin. It's vibrant but not shallow, and powerful. Side Two is a completely different beast, but I love the record for all it is.

9- Jim Guthrie - Now, More than Ever
As the first independent album I bought and still own, Now, More than Ever defines a landmark in my life. It's songs are grooving with folk and strings and strange lyrics. Eventually it all explodes in the title track and you can't help but think that some fantastic music is happening at the time.

7- Sufjan Stevens - Come on Feel the Illinoise!
I've recently understood what this album does. It's 22 tracks and over an hour long, but there's something fantastic happening between the first and final tracks. If you pay attention and, eventually, when all the landmarks are second knowledge to you, the album will shoot by you everytime and you'll love the hell out of it.

6- Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Definitely an acquired taste. These are pop songs wrapped up and spun about in mad, psychedelic electronica. It will rattle your brain as you try to come to grips with the fact that you've never heard anything like it.

5- The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Though Pet Sounds did all of this forty years earlier, The Soft Bulletin still feels fresh and relevant. There are anthems here, some are party songs, and some are definite tear jerkers. No matter the mood, The Soft Bulletin will pick you right up and tell you it knows as your day brightens to the sound of "Race for the Prize."

4- Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
Oh. My. God. If you get it, if you develop the ear for it, Bee Thousand will thrill you in ways you never hoped. I rocked out, I know I teared up, and in the end I sat on my chair and thought, "holy ****!"

3- Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
A classic of our generation and we don't even feel it yet. The triumphant story of its birth is subject enough for a book biography, but behind the story is some of the most wonderful music around. This is the record we'll be telling our kids about when we are god knows how old and complaining that the music in those days just isn't the same, but somehow our kids will love it the way we love Paul Simon's Graceland with our parents. It's just that powerful.

2- My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
There are four stages to loving Loveless:

#1: "Huh? It's just noise, **** it"
#2: "Alright, song 6 is pretty catchy. Still not for me, though"
#3: "That last track isn't bad. Guess I'll listen to the whole thing, then"

And then it hits you. The moment you know exactly what's happening is the moment you feel the most confused, the most head-over-heels, the most... everything. You will love AND hate the hell out of Loveless, until you can't hate it no more and you are wrapped in its blanket. It's another one of those "you'll get used to it" kind of albums, but I can safely say your life will change somewhat if you get it.

1-Neutral Milk Hotel- In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
All I can say is that this album changed my life: It changed the way I listen to music, watch movies, read books, write books, and overall the way I experience entertainment.

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jackhammer

Blasphemy. Dark Angel are good (although I much prefer Leave Scars as an album) they are nowhere near as tight or controlled as Slayer. Darkness Descends is a messy album and nearly falls into Speed Metal territory. Only my opinion though

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Double X

10. American Idiot - Green Day
Got me into music when I was a tv whore, so I saw a video of them on mtv and thinking 'wow this is awesome'...and then that got me into more music overall.

9. The Clash (US Version) - The Clash
After getting Green Day and some Killers albums and any sh*t that was on mtv, my uncle got this for me when I was 13 because he heard I was listening to music more and I thought I was 'punk' because I was listening to Green Day. The album also pushed me into my punk phase where I listened to well known stuff like DK, The Sex Pistols, The Clash. It's still my favorite punk album and will always have a spot in my memory, even if I don't listen to that much punk anymore.

8. Eh finish this later. Feeling kind of lazy.

Janszoon

10. Trans Am—"Trans Am"
This album is one of the only albums I've ever heard playing in a music store and just purchased right there and then. And it introduced me to the idea that vintage keyboards and cheesy-ish guitar solos could actually sound pretty awesome.

9. Tom Waits—"Bone Machine"
This was the first Tom Waits album I ever bought. It stimulated my imagination and opened my mind to what could be done with lyrics and percussion and dirt.

8. Latin Playboys—"Dose"
Not only is this an amazing, unique album, but it really redefined how I thought about music production. Definitely a huge influence on me.

7. Alien Sex Fiend—"Too Much Acid?"
I owned this album for at least five years before it clicked with me, but when it did it was a revelation. This is how you make amazing, fun, high-energy music with cheap synthesizers and a crappy drum machine. This album taught me how beautiful trash can be.

6. Jesus Jones—"Already"
Sometimes just the right album comes along at just the right time. I happened to get this one during a very rough time in my life and it really helped pull me up out of the depths. I'd imagine there's not a lot of Jesus Jones fans on this board but IMO they were actually a very good band and this album is among their best.

5. REM—"Document"
This was the first album I bought with my own money. I suppose that alone means it deserves a place on this list. But beyond that, the fact that REM continue to be a band that I come back to time after time and band that seem to always influence my own music in unexpected ways means that this was a very important album for me indeed.

4. Pigface—"Gub"
My introduction to this rotating "band" via this album was a huge springboard for my interest in all kinds of bands whose members had played with Pigface. Beyond that, this album introduced me to kinds of experimentalism that were unknown to me at the time. And beyond that it's just a fucking amazing album.

3. Ministry—"Land of Rape and Honey"
I first heard this album when I was about 13 and it absolutely blew my mind more so than any album I can think of before or since. I had never heard anything like it before and it was just so amazing to me. I feel like it kind of set the bar as far the impact I want an album to have on me.

2. Foetus—"Gash"
Foetus is probably my biggest musical influence and this was the first album I ever bought by him so it definitely holds a special place in my heart. This is guy who, through all of his albums, introduced me to using the studio as an instrument instead of trying to excel at any one thing or another. For me this was a huge step in creating my own music.

1. Pink Floyd—"The Wall"
What can I say? I know people on this forum love to knock this album but I listened to my brother's tape of it constantly as a kid. It was the first non-children's album that I started listening to on a regular basis and as a result I guess you could say it's the foundation of my entire taste in music.

jackhammer

'Document' is a great album and big up for the Alien Sex fiend album. Foetus is a new one on me though. Always nice to hear a brand new name thrown into the ring.

@ sweet nothing-your best post so far. Well written.

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MegaHassan

I agree with the speed metal part. The riffs weren't so thrashy in Darkness Descends, they were more 84-85ish.

But it was the uncontrolled aggression, and the uncontrolled speed that made me love Darkness Descends. Before listening Darkness Descends, I was reluctant to check out faster music. I thought Reign In Blood was the fastest and most brutal album I would ever like, but after hearing Darkness Descends, I wanted to listen to the fastest, most brutal, most insane album ever made.

And then I found None So Vile

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lucifer_sam

10. Nina Nastasia - Dogs (2000)
This album was such an astonishing accomplishment to hear for me. It grew on me over the last few months as a work so sonically beautiful. Her gorgeous voice draws out the layered feel of the haunting album.

9. Dog Fashion Disco - The Embryo's In Bloom (2000)
Friends of mine from Baltimore introduced me to this band a few years ago. Despite having since broken up, their material was always so fresh and they commanded an enormous presence onstage. They never really completed an apocalyptic album, but this one just has all of my favorites and none of the filler. They represent to me an enormous contribution to metal.

8. Dälek - Absence (2004)
Other than Liquid Swords, this was my first "great" rap album, and unlike others, this one drew me to listen to the fantastic emceeing skills. It remains one of my favorite hip-hop albums and a great listen.

7. Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain (1963)
Do you remember the first album of a different genre that you really enjoyed? This was it for me -- Sketches of Spain was Miles Davis' Kid A, and was far beyond the realm of cool jazz. Though most of my collection of jazz is free jazz, this will always stand out as one of my favorites, despite how pedestrian its structure may be.

6. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
One of the few good albums I discovered through Metacritic, it helped me through a hard time last year. It is simple and yet epic; the few instruments which Vernon used were performed admirably. A stunning album, for sure.

5. Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove (1977)
Others might prefer an era when George Clinton wasn't as motivated by money, but to me, this album was his finest. At the height of their popularity, Funkadelic came out and made an impressive album, and really showed how versatile their skills were.

4. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R (2000)
"C-C-C-COCAINE!"
In an era when all I ever listened to on the radio was alternative rock, this remains one of the gems that I discovered and love to this day. Ironically, the track which drove me to love QOTSA ("In the Fade") sounds nothing like the rest of the album. There are so many favorites of mine from this album that it's hard for me to put it down: Feel Good Hit, Auto Pilot, Better Living Through Chemistry, I Think I Lost My Headache...

3. Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery - Jimmy and Wes: The Dynamic Duo (1960)
This may not be my favorite jazz album, but it sure opened me up to the sonic appeal of jazz collaborations. While Jimmy wails away on the keys, Wes just drives home an eclectic accompanient on his guitar. Jazz is hard to get right, and nearly impossible for more than one soloist to pull off, but when it's done well, it sounds fantastic, and that's just what the album represents to me.

2. Yu Miyake et al. - Katamari Fortissimo Damacy (2004)
I laughed my ass off when I first saw the video game Katamari Damacy, which was probably a good thing. So when I discovered the soundtrack, I had get it, thinking I could make my roommate laugh or something. I never realized how fantastic the soundtrack really was: an amalgamtion of J-Pop, jazz, electronic and about fifty other genres, and all done very well. Yu Miyake really shows off his compositional abilities on this thing.

1. Pink Floyd - Meddle (1971)
People may disagree with me, but I think this is hands-down the BEST Pink Floyd record ever. It opens with apocalyptic growls from Nick Mason and grows strongly. A handful of memorable licks from Dave Gilmour and some acoustic and folk elements integrated with superb keyboard lines by Rick Wright really show how beatiful Pink Floyd's music could be. Not to mention this is one of the only albums which showcased all their talents effectively, and concludes with a great progressive opus:
Faaaaantastic.

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