Albums That Changed Your Views on Music

Status
Not open for further replies.
WSjRT.jpg

Nujabes - Modal Soul

First heard about Nujabes from my friend following his death. Decided to check him out and was blown away. Related artists I discovered as a result include: Emancipator, Bonobo, Uyama Hiroto, Haruka Nakamura, Nomak to name a few.

frdbN.jpg

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Could not stand metal vocals until this album. I'm still not the biggest fan of growls apart from Mikael Akerfeldt, but Blackwater Park was highly influential on my tastes. I still don't listen to much metal apart from Opeth, Mastodon, Devin Townsend and Gojira though.

x12G8.jpg

GZA/Genius - Liquid Swords

Having spent my teen/musical development years in the early to mid 2000s, I wasn't really exposed to much in the way of good hip hop. As a result, I had a pretty negative view of the genre until I heard this album.

NUKln.jpg

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞

First heard the heavily edited version of East Hastings in 28 Days Later and it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. After a little bit of research, I discovered the post rock genre, which now makes up probably half of what I listen to. Other post rock favourites include: Red Sparowes, Mono, God is an Astronaut, Mogwai, Daturah, Jakob.
 
Trout Mask Replica - I was 13 or 14 when I heard this. I had all ready listened to Safe as Milk and that took a little adjusting to get used to. I could not believe Captain Beefheart went even deeper and made TMR. It seemed like it did everything to put off the listener and yet there were certainly things I liked about it that kept me listening. It absolutely expanded my horizon on what music could be. It is an album I return to often. Now it helps me to clear my head.
 
Pink Floyd - Meddle

pinkfloydmeddlemtwqd.jpg


Echoes was just extremely awesome and got me pumped beyond belief.

That and Dark Side of course.
 
i guess i could go further into this. here we go.

KRISS KROSS - Totally Krossed Out. i was in third grade when i got this tape for my birthday from one of my naughty friends. this is when i learned about beats and raps. this was the beginning.

EMINEM - The Slim Shady LP. many years later, this is what taught me that hiphop could be funny, twisted, sick, and cool at the same time. perfect anthem album for a tripped out, weirded out, shitty kid trying to find something. this was the "dookie" of rap and my generation.

SAGE FRANCIS - Personal Journals. i bought this disc at a festival after seeing sage for the first time (my first real rap show). dude was hilarious and cutting on stage, i had to go buy the album he was touring behind. it was the best written, deepest and craziest shit i had ever heard. it took my love of poetry and added a sad charisma to it. no one has written anything better than this. man himself included.
 
images

Nirvana's Nevermind

12 year old at the time (I think), it really awoke me to rock music and taught me that noise can be arranged to create amazing music. Of course they were not the most important band ever, but they were sure to me at that time.



Korn-Korn-Frontal.jpg

First Korn album

They might suck from the 2nd and 3rd album on, but I still think that their first album is an achievement in terms of sound and depressive ambiance. I think that, had korn released this album and then just disappeared or died in an accident, they would be VERY highly regarded today. That is not the case anymore, but this record I think should at least.

tool_aenima.jpg

Tool's Aenima

Well, this album was just so epic and misterious that at the time I thought it was like a revelation.


186290.jpg

Neurosis' Through Silver in Blood

This album came out and made me look back at all the other music I was previously listening to and think they were all sissies. There was nothing as dark as this before it and still today is just an incredible listening experience.


Many other records came afterwards also, but I think it was just this 4 that really changed the way I thought about music.
 
I really have too many to mention. If I'm going to pick one...

27073.jpg

Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters

This album really fucked with me.
 
For me it was Soul Cages by Sting:

Thesoulcages.jpg


I grew up listening mainly to hip-hop which was/is getting really stale. Soul Cages was such a refreshing change of pace that I decided to expand my tastes and explore other genres.
 
url


This album turned me on to electronica music. It made me realize that not all electronica music wasnt the stereotypical 200bpm shit that everyone thought it was and it could have a softer edge to it while being instrument driven.

This album alone turned me away from hip-hop was becoming seriously stale to me over the years which was nothing but how much money, women, and street cred a rapper thought he had.

Now i listen to electronica music and rarely any hip-hop.

Thank you Thievery Corporation.
 
Wu-Tang Enter the 36 Chambers will be the white man's goto response for getting them into hip hop, guaranteed.
Well, to be fair, I was already into hip hop (it was the only genre that I listened to), but 36 Chambers made me realize how good 90's east coast rap was, which I had largely ignored, except for Nas.

I also have to add in Howlin' Wolf's Chess collection for getting me into blues.
 
Just this year:

The Weeknd - House Of Balloons

A year ago, if you would've asked me if i was a fan of R&B i probably would've laughed at you. This dude singlehandedly got me into the genre and thereafter got me to check out other artists like How to Dress Well, Frank Ocean, Gayngs, James Blake, Cocaine 80's, etc. I dunno what is was about this mixtape but I think it was the production and the dense atmosphere that just clicked with me. The album was also pretty seminal in how my music tastes have shifted over this year. I've been a big post-hardcore/metal guy but this year I've just been on a huge electronic/chill phase and I think this album had a lot to do with it.

My year in music (more or less):
RFq0k.jpg
 
P00903.jpg

made me realize how boring rock music was back in the day

bDaVK.jpg

cultured me and got me hooked on something i never thought i would like

9BfRP.jpg

made me pretend to be a rapper by myself ALONE in my room in 1999

oSjrS.jpg

makes me miss boy bands

FqrwC.jpg

made me appreciate my grandpa's music collection

4vCiY.jpg

made me hate the 90s
 
John Mayer. I am still unsure of what genre he really is but he didn't register on my radar until a friend pointed out how well he played the guitar.
 
I will give you two from the same band.

metropolis-part-2.jpg


HOLY SHIT EVERYTHING COMPLEX IS AMAZING

systematic_chaos.jpg


OH MY GOD, EVERYTHING COMPLEX IS TEDIOUS AND BORING
 
I thought that Canadian Hip-Hop was just crappy low-budget attempts at emulating real "American" Hip-Hop.

then i listened to this album:

dLL48.jpg
 
I think It was a greatest hits I cant really remember but it was from Jimi Hendrix. The way he played guitar made me listen to music with a focused ear; to listen for certain things that would go unnoticed and see the complexity at which music could be.

This album got me into blues as well as other music of the era. Bands from Woodstock, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jethro Tull. Music became a bit of a history lesson and I kept going through the eras discovering new music that continue to define my taste.
 
ibuCF08QcSg6Wg.png

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

This, without a doubt.

It opened me up to the noise and shoegaze genres. Any time someone asks me how I'm able to enjoy this stuff I point them to this album. The beauty in the noise is more blatant while insanely refined, making it really accessible.
 
I didn't like music at all when I was a kid and it wasn't until I was around 13 or so that I did.

One day my friend was asking me what I thought of Marilyn Manson. Didn't have a clue. Some days or weeks later I was flipping channels and caught his Man That You Fear video and fell in love. Soon after I bought Portrait of an American Family and listened to just it for days. (I had to work up the nerve to buy Antichrist Superstar, thinking my parents would take offense, but they were cool with it.)

Now, thanks to stumbling upon Marilyn Manson, I love tons of music and can't believe I ever disliked it.
 
I will give you two from the same band.

metropolis-part-2.jpg


HOLY SHIT EVERYTHING COMPLEX IS AMAZING

systematic_chaos.jpg


OH MY GOD, EVERYTHING COMPLEX IS TEDIOUS AND BORING

I pretty much share the same opinion with you there, I really need to get around to listening to Dream Theater more. :D

What's your view on Awake? It's probably their favorite album for me, close second would be Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and then Black Clouds and Silver Linings. :)
 
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place made me realize music didn't need words to be amazing.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Yr Skinny Fists... made me realize the length of a song doesn't matter. (Specifically. Deciding to buy that or some other album "4 songs for $20 or 12 songs for $20..." I ended up with GY!BE and it made me realize length/# of songs does not matter)
Beastie Boys - License to Ill made me realize I can enjoy "silly" music.
Beastie Boys - Pauls Boutique made me realize there might be more to this whole hip-hop thing.
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) made me realize that more serious rap can be damned good too.
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited made me realize that there's more to music/art than raw talent. There's feeling and emotion. There are more talented vocalists, but very few match Bob.
 
Frank Zappa - Freak Out, made me realise that genre limitations and labelling is the devil. Made me pretty much quit my silly metal fetish.
 
AutechreTriRepetae.png

Autechre - Tri Repetae
introduced more to more complex electronic music. At the time, I hadn't heard anything like it, but the music, while sounding cold and mechanical, now sounds quite warm and accessible to me. Leterel
Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children deserves a mention too.

1062231.jpg

Set Fire to Flames - Sings Reign Rebuilder
I heard this before GY!BE's music. Sings Reign Rebuilder is much more ambient, and uses more field recordings. It introduced me to an album being an 'experience', and it's also one those albums that I find rather scary to listen to. Steal Compass/Drive North/Disappear...

Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage Animation - A stepping stone into more psychedelic music. Very accessible pop, which also encouraged me to listen more to the Beatles..
Nick Drake - Pink Moon - Hadn't really considered Folk until hearing this.
 
s5sCE.jpg


The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin: A beautiful, heart-breaking, tragic yet hopeful, symphonic masterpiece of humanity, life, death, and pain. An album that actually changed my life the first time I ever listened to it. I never saw the world the same way after my first listen. The fact that nearly all of the music was composed and performed by Steven Drozd, who was neck-deep in heroin addiction, makes every note resonate even deeper and amplifies both the tragedy and beauty of life.

The Gash (live) became my personal theme song as I went through cancer treatment this past year.

Race for the Prize
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom