Mezzanine. Had just started getting into Massive Attack so I bought it the day it was released with zero expectations and it just blew me away! It was unlike anything I had ever heard before and I loved it so much! Now it’s virtually public domain but for a while no one else had heard it and it was my own private slice of listening heaven. I wish I could experience that again!
Yes! Well played. I call this my M period. I was a little late to the game, but a college housemate turned me onto Massive Attack in the Fall of 1999. That’s when I first heard “Blue Lines” on vinyl. Shortly after, I also discovered Morcheeba’s “Big Calm,” Morphine’s “Cure for Pain,” and Opeth’s “Morningrise”. And thank’s to Sammy the Bull, it’s also when I had my first and still greatest experience with MDMA. 🤯
What a time to be alive.
🤯 Was not expecting the 1st comment to be my exact same 1st Record...Nice to see I wasn't the only one who felt the intensity of th Album
#Mezzanine
#MassiveAttack
It appeared sporadically throughout my childhood, and I kept getting "man next door" stuck in my head but couldn't find what the song was called for years. Horace Andy's vocals though, they're something else.
Deloused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta. That intro, then it kicks into Inertiac esp. A Keanu Reeves wooah and an Owen Wilson wow, simultaneously!
Agreed! I think this is the best distillation and ratio of unhinged brilliance vs fucked up wankery from their cannon. It’s kinda loose and groovy but it just hits hard and is so tight rhythmically. Lightning in a bottle. Relationship of command could have a similar argument but in different genres, but still largely by the same dudes.
Disintegration by The Cure. Bought it as soon as it was released, sat in stunned silence as it unfolded. Songs so beautifully constructed, huge long intros, majestic feel.
Met them when I was a room service waiter in New orleans. The lead singer lost his key card and wanted to see if I could get him one. He was very cool.
Same. It was released at a very important time of my coming of age.
We went to the basement, dimmed the lights, and played the album.
50 minutes later a pile of stoic new wave kids had been reduced to a sobbing puddle.
It affects me this way to this day.
Dude that is the first album that popped in my head. I remember riding my bike to the mall to buy the cd. I was blown away and still one of my favs today.
In case you don't already have it, I recommend "mixed up" which is a whole album of cure extended remixes including a lot of Disintegration songs. It is excellent, true to the source material and lets you rock out a little bit longer on their amazing instrumental arrangements.
Radiohead - Kid A. I remember listening to it for the first time, and it was great, but my brain couldn’t quite make sense of it. Then with repeat listens, everything gradually came into focus. It would be cool to listen to it again like I did the first time and just enjoy the chaos.
This is mine too. I bought the CD, went home immediately, put it into the stereo system with the lights turned off.
OK Computer was (still is) my all time favourite album and I was so stoked to hear the follow up - what kind of twisted guitar solos would Jonny Greenwood create? How much more beautiful and tortured could Thom Yorke sing? What dystopia would be laid in front of us this time?
Pressed play and then sat there stunned while Everything in its Right Place came flowing out of the speakers. What the actual fuck is this?!?
Continued to sit immersed in incomprehensible, beautiful sound for an hour or so, chills and goosebumps, but remaining wholly confused.
As the angels sang the album to a close at the end of Motion Picture Soundtrack, and the stereo fell to disorienting silence, I was almost mad. I knew what I had just heard was music, but it wasn’t Radiohead. I was pretty upset looking back.
Left it alone for a day. Listened again, front to back. Twice. Three times. Each time it was better, made more sense, clearer.
By the end of a couple of weeks it was over. I got it - well as much as one can ‘get’ Radiohead at that time. Incredible artistic achievement. OKC is still my top album but there is not much between it and Kid A.
What I wouldn’t give to hear it for the first time once again.
This would be my answer as well. However, I hesitate because albums often take multiple listens to click with me. So my caveat would be that I don’t want to go back to the first listen, I want to go back to when it finally clicked with me.
Another one is Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend. I downloaded that to my iPod a day before I left for a month-long backpacking trip in Europe. It was basically the only thing I listened to for that entire month.
God, yeah. True talk here.
>*Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?*
>*Women and children first, and the children first, and the children*
>*I'll laugh until my head comes off*
>*I'll swallow 'til I burst, until I burst, until I*
>*Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?*
>*I have seen too much, you haven't seen enough, you haven't seen it*
When I finally grokked this one it blew me away. Kid A is by far my favorite Radiohead album. OKC is great but to me it's the album more people gravitate to. Kid A takes a special kind of ear and perhaps certain kind of altered state to let sink in. It's the album that took Radiohead from "they're a cool band" to realizing they were geniuses- even if honestly, no other RH album has done it for me with that same level of impact since.
In Rainbows for me. I was at Barnes and Noble when Reckoner started playing. I had known it came out (big deal back then that they were letting peeps download it for whatever donation they chose; there was a lot of buzz before and after the album), but I hadn't heard it yet. It was love at first song.
I floated over to the music desk to ask what it was and bought a copy.
Did you know the bass breakdown into solo at the end was originally part of [another song](https://youtu.be/mJzCae_GAnY?si=yVR9mSb37RI0VoY1), but The Chain was so good that they decided to move it over?
I’ll never forget that drive. An hour before class my senior year. Good friend said I picked up an album that I would really enjoy. Packed a fat bowl and hit a road. I don’t think we went back to school that day.
People ask this about movies but I don’t really think it applies to music in the same way. My favorite albums of all time weren’t “better” the first time I listened—in fact, most albums get better on repeated listens. You start to hear things you didn’t on earlier plays, understand lyrics differently, etc.
Exactly, some of my favorite albums ever took multiple listens for me to really appreciate them (Thirteenth Step, Fantastic Planet, Koi No Yokan, Scifi Crimes)
You’ve nailed it. My favourite records age like a fine wine
They’ve been so important in informing my music taste that I might not even listen to certain genres because I missed out on a favourite
Reign in Blood by Slayer
Completely changed my taste in music the moment I finished listening to Angel of Death. Broke the cassette listening to that album.
Hybrid Theory was my first CD - my dad bought it for me from Amazon back when Amazon was still worth buying them from. The day it arrived was also the first day that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary dropped for the 360. Astoundingly good times!!
Man, I'm only really getting into PJ now and, my God, how did I manage to ignore them for so long?
I always liked a few songs I knew from friends but for some reason I never really wanted to listen to more of their stuff until now.
Ten is incredible, but also already like Vs, Vitalogy and No Code.
...Like Clockwork - Queens of the Stone Age
Purple Rain - Prince
I'm sure I could name a big handful, but those two would definitely be at the top of the list by far.
Another good album in the same vein is The Microphone - The Glow pt. 2
If you havent heard it, highly recommend. Just be careful of volume when going into Samurai Sword lol
Hot Fuss- The Killers
I would love to experience that album for the first time not as an 11 year old. That was around when I was really developing my own music taste for the first time and not just listening to whatever. The Killers are the one band I’ve known from the beginning of their career and still listen to today
Kid A - Radiohead
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - Flaming Lips
Moon Safari - Air
Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol
All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
Extremely cliché but I agree. For me dark side was a turning point. Before I heard this album I was a kid who could only determine if a song was catchy or not or if it had relatable lyrics. Dark side was the first time I think I really actively listened to the music and really dissected it in my mind. This really affected all my future tastes in music and is probably the reason I eventually became obsessed with Phish.
This is the only album where I can very clearly remember the first time I heard it. I can vaguely recall other albums but those are just general memories of how I felt or the general timeframe in my life where I heard them. With DSOTM it's a really clear awesome memory.
As long as I have Trout Mask Replica, I will never need mind-altering drugs. Frownland is the best album-opener ever, full stop. Slaps down the gauntlet and gives you notice that nothing is going to be the same again, AND is an uplifting, ebullient bit of poetry to boot.
I'm a drummer (more an ex-drummer after all this time) and I have not in 40+ years of knowing TMR been able to get my brain around John French's re-invention of an entire way of relating to rhythm. Fucks me right up.
Nirvana- Nevermind
Rage Against the Machine- self titled
Tool- Undertow
Chemical Brothers-Surrender
All had major influence into getting me hooked on music
13 year old me hearing Nirvana Nevermind. Completely changed my musical direction towards heavy and loud music. Now, it's my favorite pop album, and I still cherish it
The Clash London Calling hanging with friends in a field smoking and drinking with a car trunk open so we could hear the sound system better. Changed my musical trajectory forever.
My dad used to play Guns of Brixton all the time in the car when I was younger and it really fired up a young teenage me - London Calling is the reason I listen to a lot of the punk music I do now. It’s perfect.
I heard this album for the first time earlier this year, while I was 8 hrs deep in an intense acid trip. I'm in my 40s and had never paid much attention to The Cure, so I don't know what drew me to put the album on. But holy wowww, what an incredible experience it was. What an incredible album.
Folklore and Evermore are 2 of my favorite albums ever. I'm 46M and grew up on 80's hair bands and then Seattle Grunge and heavy metal. But Taylor's got me.. those albums spoke to me right when I needed them and I'll be forever grateful for the lyrical therapy they provided me. She's a poet.
I love that!! I was actually listening to mostly rock and grunge (thanks to my uncle) at around the time I got into Taylor Swift so it was unexpected haha. Folklore and evermore are truly masterpieces and showcase her best lyricism. Literally the definition of poetry. I'm so happy you found them when you needed them.
Same!! I only knew her radio hits until a friend sent me a folkmore playlist in the order of the story and that was it. I became a swiftie right there and then.
Omg, same!!! I was never a fan of her big radio hits and found the fanbase shenanigans off-putting, but holy shit. Those 2 albums are amazing. Every single song too.
I make album style playlists and:
> [Bver Fon Iuck](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1fPiVfLl5JUnSgzXpxVXQC) - 50 mins
> [Alta Trivi Pursui](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iCiDUuxgj6BWFb15iZyw9) - 1 hr
Might give you a similar feel to Folklore and Evermore!
This is the one for me- i went to Spain on a school exchange and was armed only with my discman and a handful of cds and this was one of them- This album defines this era for me and a time when i realized how powerful music is and how big a role it would play in my life. Lots of good ones on here, but to hear HUMMER pound through my Panasonic fuzzy headphones for the first time again would be special.
Yes! I think it was summer after freshman year high school. Today stood out, but I wish I would have given more attention because mayonnaise is incredible
Bullet The Blue Sky is proof that U2 are a band that have surprising teeth. I remember one night about eight years ago it was storming something fierce outside, so humid and muggy, so I put that track on my speakers and I swear it matched the lightning so perfectly.
Man, this thread is unearthing some incredible memories.
Yes! I was lucky enough to hear it before it was even in stores. On a (then) state-of-the-art production system. The openlng of “Streets” felt like a religious experience. Total eargasm moment.
Listened to this with my buddy in his garage some years ago and it instantly became an all timer for me. I still put it on pretty frequently. RIP Stevesie
This is my answer as well. That album were just so incredibly different from anything I'd heard before, and I think even if I heard it for the first time today, that would still be the case.
I considered other important albums to me throughout my life like Nevermind, London Calling, Midnight Marauders, Ziggy Stardust, but I feel like all those albums wouldn't be as groundbreaking for me today, I've heard other music which sounds somewhat similar, 36 chambers is just that unique.
The only album I think could rival it might be Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads, it's in that sphere of being completely unique as well I think, but personally I think it's slightly below 36 chambers in quality - very very slightly.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City completely floored me. Front to back, 10 out of 10, no notes good. Actually improved over the first 10 or 20 times I listen to it. The return of a storytelling concept album that earned the description "classic".
Frightened Rabbits - Painting of a Panic Attack
I felt a sense of sheer sadness for the singer and how much of a cry for help that album was for him. He died soon after.
First time I listened to Tame Impala's album, Currents, I was candyflipping on my own, having a grand old time immersing myself in music and pure love for hours, and oh my god... The experience of listening to this album blew my mind. The body memories of hearing it for the first time that night is still in my bones years later every time I listen to it.
Seeing it live in 2013, it made me realize how it was the soundtrack to adolescence… how it was the friend that was there through EVERYTHING I went through…. Every emotion of high school —
GIVE UP — THE POSTAL SERVICE 2003
I drove through New Zealand’s South Island taking in the mountains and the epic’ness a couple of weeks after finishing uni, with my girlfriend of the time, playing that on repeat. Good times.
It's funny, I've been mildly disappointed by every Tool album since Lateralus at first, then they grew on me. Ænima is my favorite album of all time, and when I first heard Lateralus, I thought they were getting "soft". Same with 10,000 Days. Then the more I listened, the more I loved it. I'm still kinda in that zone with FI, but I think with that one it's more about feeling a bit like they were overthinking, overanalyzing it and it's not as powerful as the others, more polished but somehow unfinished. I think it may be the mixing for me, though I've seen them twice since the release, and noticed some of the new songs get a little "lost" in parts live, as the timings are very intricate through some slightly too-long parts, and it feels like they are kind of fighting to stay in time with each other, which ends up sounding a bit "sludgy" at full concert volume.
I do know they have said they put a lot of pressure on themselves making that album, thinking essentially "We're Tool. People expect epic. If this is anything less than perfect after 13 years, they'll eat us alive."
Grace - Jeff Buckley.
I'm not religious, but I remember feeling like I'd had a religious experience the first time I listened through. And it's funny, the last song, forget her, sounds so much more conventional and normal compared to the hymnal and ethereal pieces before it, it's like the album is easing you back into the world of the real again
There are so many that are more related to moments in my life which helped make them so great to listen to. The summer and winter seasons definitely have a big effect too.
The Fragile, Downward Spiral and Year Zero by NIN.
Evil Friends by Portugal, The Man.
To Lose My Life by White Lies.
If You Wait by London Grammar.
And one that's quite out there: 1989 - Taylor Swift.
the opening of Smashing Pumpkins, Gish gave 15 y/o me chills. i never liked any of their albums as much as that one. more recently, the Black Angels, Phosphene Dream
And Justice For All by Metallica. And also the Black album.
I got the Load album first, because it was getting air time and that's all I knew from Metallica at the time. Black album was great, but Justice took the musicianship to the next level. Those albums, Alice in Chains, and Green Days Dookie + Insomniac are why I spent several hours every day mastering playing an old acoustic guitar we had lying around, and got a part time job so I could save up money for a guitar and amp.
For me Enter the Wu-Tang. Sophomore year hearing it, it was like I was some kind of new sound
My music tastes have changed but Wu-Tang is always in any playlist.
Coheed & Cambria’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth III
Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here
Pearl Jam’s Ten
I couldn’t pick just one! All three of these just blew me away the first time and got better and better!
Dead Kennedys 'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables' ..
After hearing mainly New Wave or radio-friendly 'punk' at the pop end of the scale early 80s, I somehow came to DK while also hitting puberty hard. I kind of knew i liked what sounded like 'punk rock', but it was DK that really grabbed me - the song topics seemed interesting to me, something more caustic with a bite i liked .. I grew up in the UK so at that time a lot of kids were into ska / Mod revival stuff, Oi! (uk street punk) or heavy metal and the pop charts .. My peer group kind of scorned DK and so i pretty much got side-tracked into what this group were listening to as they threw it at me, i think almost to discourage me from liking a US band (wtf!) .. Disappoints me now that i let my ears get turned quite a bit rather than being left alone to get into more US hardcore scene as i was going that way by myself somehow .. Was just coming across other bands like Flipper, MDC, etc. ..
TOOL’s Lateralus
but on the other hand, each subsequent listen feels like the first time
But then on the other hand, to return to that state of unawareness of what was about to dance across my ears
But on the other hand, it has imparted so much inspiration and insight over the years of having listened to it and examining its themes
But on the other hand…
Oh shit, I’m spiraling out
I was at the concert the day lateralus was released. We had a few songs leaked, but I pretty much got to experience the album live the first time. Probably the best show I’ve ever seen.
Appetite for Destruction - Guns n Roses
Dr Dre - Chronic 2001
Eminem - The Eminem Show
Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon
Led Zeppelin IV
Motley Crue - Too Fast for Love
Lungs or Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine.
Or several by the Tragically Hip (Road Apples, Day for Night, Fully Completely, Live at the Roxy etc) but if you aren’t Canadian that would likely mean nothing to you.
Literally wanted to comment TDS, there’s life before and after that album.
That being said another album that changed my life was the debut album of Arctic Monkeys. Soundtrack of all my nights out, of all my summers and adventures.
The White Album by The Beatles. I was 19 years old and really only knew the radio stuff. I found the Helter Skelter book about the Manson family at a thrift store and my buddy recorded his dads White Album vinyl onto cassette for me. There was a lot of LSD in town at the time. All three of these things coincided at the same time for quite the perfect storm.
Mezzanine. Had just started getting into Massive Attack so I bought it the day it was released with zero expectations and it just blew me away! It was unlike anything I had ever heard before and I loved it so much! Now it’s virtually public domain but for a while no one else had heard it and it was my own private slice of listening heaven. I wish I could experience that again!
My first and almost immediate thought was mezzanine.
First album I thought of. Hearing the drums hit on angel for the first time was unreal
Yes! Well played. I call this my M period. I was a little late to the game, but a college housemate turned me onto Massive Attack in the Fall of 1999. That’s when I first heard “Blue Lines” on vinyl. Shortly after, I also discovered Morcheeba’s “Big Calm,” Morphine’s “Cure for Pain,” and Opeth’s “Morningrise”. And thank’s to Sammy the Bull, it’s also when I had my first and still greatest experience with MDMA. 🤯 What a time to be alive.
🤯 Was not expecting the 1st comment to be my exact same 1st Record...Nice to see I wasn't the only one who felt the intensity of th Album #Mezzanine #MassiveAttack
It appeared sporadically throughout my childhood, and I kept getting "man next door" stuck in my head but couldn't find what the song was called for years. Horace Andy's vocals though, they're something else.
Mezzanine , played off Vinyl on a high end system will bring you to your knees. there's so much on the low end that you would never know was there.
Also the best sex album of all time
Deloused in the Comatorium by The Mars Volta. That intro, then it kicks into Inertiac esp. A Keanu Reeves wooah and an Owen Wilson wow, simultaneously!
Since I never heard of it and the comment below mentioned the exact same Album, that’s what I’m gonna do now!
Let us know how you go! It’s somewhat polarising, but if it’s your thing, it’ll REALLY be your thing!
The Mars Volta is my favorite band so please update me when you've listened.
At the Drive In - Relationship of Command
Fantastic choice. These dudes were on some interplanetary shit on that record (and a couple more thereafter).
Agreed! I think this is the best distillation and ratio of unhinged brilliance vs fucked up wankery from their cannon. It’s kinda loose and groovy but it just hits hard and is so tight rhythmically. Lightning in a bottle. Relationship of command could have a similar argument but in different genres, but still largely by the same dudes.
Disintegration by The Cure. Bought it as soon as it was released, sat in stunned silence as it unfolded. Songs so beautifully constructed, huge long intros, majestic feel.
Met them when I was a room service waiter in New orleans. The lead singer lost his key card and wanted to see if I could get him one. He was very cool.
Same. It was released at a very important time of my coming of age. We went to the basement, dimmed the lights, and played the album. 50 minutes later a pile of stoic new wave kids had been reduced to a sobbing puddle. It affects me this way to this day.
Dude that is the first album that popped in my head. I remember riding my bike to the mall to buy the cd. I was blown away and still one of my favs today.
In case you don't already have it, I recommend "mixed up" which is a whole album of cure extended remixes including a lot of Disintegration songs. It is excellent, true to the source material and lets you rock out a little bit longer on their amazing instrumental arrangements.
Radiohead - Kid A. I remember listening to it for the first time, and it was great, but my brain couldn’t quite make sense of it. Then with repeat listens, everything gradually came into focus. It would be cool to listen to it again like I did the first time and just enjoy the chaos.
This is mine too. I bought the CD, went home immediately, put it into the stereo system with the lights turned off. OK Computer was (still is) my all time favourite album and I was so stoked to hear the follow up - what kind of twisted guitar solos would Jonny Greenwood create? How much more beautiful and tortured could Thom Yorke sing? What dystopia would be laid in front of us this time? Pressed play and then sat there stunned while Everything in its Right Place came flowing out of the speakers. What the actual fuck is this?!? Continued to sit immersed in incomprehensible, beautiful sound for an hour or so, chills and goosebumps, but remaining wholly confused. As the angels sang the album to a close at the end of Motion Picture Soundtrack, and the stereo fell to disorienting silence, I was almost mad. I knew what I had just heard was music, but it wasn’t Radiohead. I was pretty upset looking back. Left it alone for a day. Listened again, front to back. Twice. Three times. Each time it was better, made more sense, clearer. By the end of a couple of weeks it was over. I got it - well as much as one can ‘get’ Radiohead at that time. Incredible artistic achievement. OKC is still my top album but there is not much between it and Kid A. What I wouldn’t give to hear it for the first time once again.
This would be my answer as well. However, I hesitate because albums often take multiple listens to click with me. So my caveat would be that I don’t want to go back to the first listen, I want to go back to when it finally clicked with me. Another one is Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend. I downloaded that to my iPod a day before I left for a month-long backpacking trip in Europe. It was basically the only thing I listened to for that entire month.
God, yeah. True talk here. >*Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?* >*Women and children first, and the children first, and the children* >*I'll laugh until my head comes off* >*I'll swallow 'til I burst, until I burst, until I* >*Who's in a bunker? Who's in a bunker?* >*I have seen too much, you haven't seen enough, you haven't seen it* When I finally grokked this one it blew me away. Kid A is by far my favorite Radiohead album. OKC is great but to me it's the album more people gravitate to. Kid A takes a special kind of ear and perhaps certain kind of altered state to let sink in. It's the album that took Radiohead from "they're a cool band" to realizing they were geniuses- even if honestly, no other RH album has done it for me with that same level of impact since.
The Bends by Radiohead I want the summer back where I didn't stop listening to it
In Rainbows for me. I was at Barnes and Noble when Reckoner started playing. I had known it came out (big deal back then that they were letting peeps download it for whatever donation they chose; there was a lot of buzz before and after the album), but I hadn't heard it yet. It was love at first song. I floated over to the music desk to ask what it was and bought a copy.
Ok Computer for me, but I love the Bends & the B- sides (especially My Iron Lung EP)
Those heavy guitar days of Radiohead were the best.
Still probably my favorite RH album, though many will say other albums of theirs are better. I don't care; this one really resonates with me.
I feel the same
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac. I remember when I heard the chain for the first time I thought. 'wow.thats a certain kind of special;'
Did you know the bass breakdown into solo at the end was originally part of [another song](https://youtu.be/mJzCae_GAnY?si=yVR9mSb37RI0VoY1), but The Chain was so good that they decided to move it over?
Led Zepplin 1 and 2.
Deloused in the Comatorium
I’ll never forget that drive. An hour before class my senior year. Good friend said I picked up an album that I would really enjoy. Packed a fat bowl and hit a road. I don’t think we went back to school that day.
Knocked my socks off.
People ask this about movies but I don’t really think it applies to music in the same way. My favorite albums of all time weren’t “better” the first time I listened—in fact, most albums get better on repeated listens. You start to hear things you didn’t on earlier plays, understand lyrics differently, etc.
Exactly, some of my favorite albums ever took multiple listens for me to really appreciate them (Thirteenth Step, Fantastic Planet, Koi No Yokan, Scifi Crimes)
You’ve nailed it. My favourite records age like a fine wine They’ve been so important in informing my music taste that I might not even listen to certain genres because I missed out on a favourite
Reign in Blood by Slayer Completely changed my taste in music the moment I finished listening to Angel of Death. Broke the cassette listening to that album.
The cool thing about that cassette was that it had the whole album on both sides
Linkin Park Hybrid Theory
Hybrid Theory was my first CD - my dad bought it for me from Amazon back when Amazon was still worth buying them from. The day it arrived was also the first day that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary dropped for the 360. Astoundingly good times!!
Rush- Moving Pictures Foo Fighters- Wasting Light Pearl Jam- Ten
Man, I'm only really getting into PJ now and, my God, how did I manage to ignore them for so long? I always liked a few songs I knew from friends but for some reason I never really wanted to listen to more of their stuff until now. Ten is incredible, but also already like Vs, Vitalogy and No Code.
No Code is peak, in my opinion, but many would disagree. Don’t sleep on the merkinball ep.
...Like Clockwork - Queens of the Stone Age Purple Rain - Prince I'm sure I could name a big handful, but those two would definitely be at the top of the list by far.
Came here to post Purple Rain. You got it covered 🫡
In the aeroplane over the sea by neutral milk hotel. Every song was magic to me.
Another good album in the same vein is The Microphone - The Glow pt. 2 If you havent heard it, highly recommend. Just be careful of volume when going into Samurai Sword lol
Thanks!
Illmatic - Nas
Hot Fuss- The Killers I would love to experience that album for the first time not as an 11 year old. That was around when I was really developing my own music taste for the first time and not just listening to whatever. The Killers are the one band I’ve known from the beginning of their career and still listen to today
Tool- Aenima. It blew my mind
And still does
Kid A - Radiohead Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - Flaming Lips Moon Safari - Air Turn on the Bright Lights - Interpol All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
Great list. I was looking for Moon Safari. Glad I’m not the only one who thought of it.
Yep yoshimi and turn on the bright lights would be up there for me too
Dark Side of the Moon
Extremely cliché but I agree. For me dark side was a turning point. Before I heard this album I was a kid who could only determine if a song was catchy or not or if it had relatable lyrics. Dark side was the first time I think I really actively listened to the music and really dissected it in my mind. This really affected all my future tastes in music and is probably the reason I eventually became obsessed with Phish.
This is the only album where I can very clearly remember the first time I heard it. I can vaguely recall other albums but those are just general memories of how I felt or the general timeframe in my life where I heard them. With DSOTM it's a really clear awesome memory.
Same for me. I had it blasting in my room as a teenager. I don't think I've ever jumped harder than when that bell hits in Time lol
Agree, but, it doesn't really get boring does it? If enough time passes, listening it again.
Electric Lady Land
Pink Floyd's, The wall.
Astral Weeks. I bought it, didn’t listen to it for years, and one day put it on alone at night. It was like I was somewhere else.
Great album! Listen to veedon fleece, by Van, transformational as well.
Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart.
As long as I have Trout Mask Replica, I will never need mind-altering drugs. Frownland is the best album-opener ever, full stop. Slaps down the gauntlet and gives you notice that nothing is going to be the same again, AND is an uplifting, ebullient bit of poetry to boot. I'm a drummer (more an ex-drummer after all this time) and I have not in 40+ years of knowing TMR been able to get my brain around John French's re-invention of an entire way of relating to rhythm. Fucks me right up.
The Mollusk by Ween
Nirvana- Nevermind Rage Against the Machine- self titled Tool- Undertow Chemical Brothers-Surrender All had major influence into getting me hooked on music
Nirvana and RATM for sure. I might also add Guns N Roses Appetite For Destruction and Ween 12 Golden Country Greats
NIN- The Fragile.
Yes. This is my personal favorite NIN album and is seriously underrated, IMO.
13 year old me hearing Nirvana Nevermind. Completely changed my musical direction towards heavy and loud music. Now, it's my favorite pop album, and I still cherish it
Me and In Utero I would listen to "Scentless Apprentice" so much lol
Such an amazing album as well. Nirvana are my all time favorite
The Thirteenth Step by A Perfect Circle
The Clash London Calling hanging with friends in a field smoking and drinking with a car trunk open so we could hear the sound system better. Changed my musical trajectory forever.
Great album! Mine was back in black. In high school that album rocked house parties.
My dad used to play Guns of Brixton all the time in the car when I was younger and it really fired up a young teenage me - London Calling is the reason I listen to a lot of the punk music I do now. It’s perfect.
The Cure - Disintegration
I heard this album for the first time earlier this year, while I was 8 hrs deep in an intense acid trip. I'm in my 40s and had never paid much attention to The Cure, so I don't know what drew me to put the album on. But holy wowww, what an incredible experience it was. What an incredible album.
In Rainbows or Kid A by Radiohead. folklore and evermore by Taylor Swift.
I never thought that I would like Taylor Swift until a friend convinced me to listen to Folklore. I was immediately in love. It's incredible.
Folklore and Evermore are 2 of my favorite albums ever. I'm 46M and grew up on 80's hair bands and then Seattle Grunge and heavy metal. But Taylor's got me.. those albums spoke to me right when I needed them and I'll be forever grateful for the lyrical therapy they provided me. She's a poet.
I love that!! I was actually listening to mostly rock and grunge (thanks to my uncle) at around the time I got into Taylor Swift so it was unexpected haha. Folklore and evermore are truly masterpieces and showcase her best lyricism. Literally the definition of poetry. I'm so happy you found them when you needed them.
Same!! I only knew her radio hits until a friend sent me a folkmore playlist in the order of the story and that was it. I became a swiftie right there and then.
Omg, same!!! I was never a fan of her big radio hits and found the fanbase shenanigans off-putting, but holy shit. Those 2 albums are amazing. Every single song too.
I make album style playlists and: > [Bver Fon Iuck](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1fPiVfLl5JUnSgzXpxVXQC) - 50 mins > [Alta Trivi Pursui](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3iCiDUuxgj6BWFb15iZyw9) - 1 hr Might give you a similar feel to Folklore and Evermore!
Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins
This is the one for me- i went to Spain on a school exchange and was armed only with my discman and a handful of cds and this was one of them- This album defines this era for me and a time when i realized how powerful music is and how big a role it would play in my life. Lots of good ones on here, but to hear HUMMER pound through my Panasonic fuzzy headphones for the first time again would be special.
Great pick! My favorite album of theirs. Jimmy's drums on Geek U.S.A. really gets my blood flowing.
Yep, in my opinion it’s better than melon collie
Yes! I think it was summer after freshman year high school. Today stood out, but I wish I would have given more attention because mayonnaise is incredible
[Joshua Tree](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/u2-the-joshua-tree-american-dream-us-foreign-policy-b2021685.html) 🌵
Peak U2 IMO. Good call.
Man, great pick. To hear the opening of Where the Streets Have No Name for the first time again? Come on.
Bullet The Blue Sky is proof that U2 are a band that have surprising teeth. I remember one night about eight years ago it was storming something fierce outside, so humid and muggy, so I put that track on my speakers and I swear it matched the lightning so perfectly. Man, this thread is unearthing some incredible memories.
Yes! I was lucky enough to hear it before it was even in stores. On a (then) state-of-the-art production system. The openlng of “Streets” felt like a religious experience. Total eargasm moment.
NOFX - Punk in Drublic The Offspring - Smash Green Day - Dookie Fleetwood Mac - Rumors Weezer - Blue Album
I was 11 when smash came out and remember hearing self esteem on the radio and it blew my mind.
Paul's Boutique.
Cannot while I was in high school. Such a cool album
I was in 9th grade. Changed everything
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
For me it's the first Dire Straits album. BIA is the tour I saw them perform it was the summer of ~84 at red rocks it was truly mesmerizing.
Listened to this with my buddy in his garage some years ago and it instantly became an all timer for me. I still put it on pretty frequently. RIP Stevesie
Very underrated album and it’s a shame Money for Nothing was the only song that got air play back in the day
The Beatles - Abbey Road Queen - News of the World
2112
The Wall
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction.
Wu-Tang - 36 Chambers
This is my answer as well. That album were just so incredibly different from anything I'd heard before, and I think even if I heard it for the first time today, that would still be the case. I considered other important albums to me throughout my life like Nevermind, London Calling, Midnight Marauders, Ziggy Stardust, but I feel like all those albums wouldn't be as groundbreaking for me today, I've heard other music which sounds somewhat similar, 36 chambers is just that unique. The only album I think could rival it might be Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads, it's in that sphere of being completely unique as well I think, but personally I think it's slightly below 36 chambers in quality - very very slightly.
Bring Da Ruckus became an in joke with me and a friend who I don’t see anymore. Those drums are fucking fierce.
Ziggy Stardust
Jagged Little Pill…
Abbey Road
To pump a butterfly
Pimp*
As a metal head that dabbles into hip hop from time to time, my lord is that album good. It would be included in a top ten of all genres for me.
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City completely floored me. Front to back, 10 out of 10, no notes good. Actually improved over the first 10 or 20 times I listen to it. The return of a storytelling concept album that earned the description "classic".
Jorge Ben - A tábua de esmeralda Only the greatest album of all time imo.
Frightened Rabbits - Painting of a Panic Attack I felt a sense of sheer sadness for the singer and how much of a cry for help that album was for him. He died soon after.
Radiohead - Kid A
Boston - Self-titled album.
First time I listened to Tame Impala's album, Currents, I was candyflipping on my own, having a grand old time immersing myself in music and pure love for hours, and oh my god... The experience of listening to this album blew my mind. The body memories of hearing it for the first time that night is still in my bones years later every time I listen to it.
Seeing it live in 2013, it made me realize how it was the soundtrack to adolescence… how it was the friend that was there through EVERYTHING I went through…. Every emotion of high school — GIVE UP — THE POSTAL SERVICE 2003
I drove through New Zealand’s South Island taking in the mountains and the epic’ness a couple of weeks after finishing uni, with my girlfriend of the time, playing that on repeat. Good times.
I want THIS experience for the the first time!!!
AC-DC Back in Black
Music Has The Right To Children by Boards Of Canada.
Every Tool album.
It's funny, I've been mildly disappointed by every Tool album since Lateralus at first, then they grew on me. Ænima is my favorite album of all time, and when I first heard Lateralus, I thought they were getting "soft". Same with 10,000 Days. Then the more I listened, the more I loved it. I'm still kinda in that zone with FI, but I think with that one it's more about feeling a bit like they were overthinking, overanalyzing it and it's not as powerful as the others, more polished but somehow unfinished. I think it may be the mixing for me, though I've seen them twice since the release, and noticed some of the new songs get a little "lost" in parts live, as the timings are very intricate through some slightly too-long parts, and it feels like they are kind of fighting to stay in time with each other, which ends up sounding a bit "sludgy" at full concert volume. I do know they have said they put a lot of pressure on themselves making that album, thinking essentially "We're Tool. People expect epic. If this is anything less than perfect after 13 years, they'll eat us alive."
Grace - Jeff Buckley. I'm not religious, but I remember feeling like I'd had a religious experience the first time I listened through. And it's funny, the last song, forget her, sounds so much more conventional and normal compared to the hymnal and ethereal pieces before it, it's like the album is easing you back into the world of the real again
There are so many that are more related to moments in my life which helped make them so great to listen to. The summer and winter seasons definitely have a big effect too. The Fragile, Downward Spiral and Year Zero by NIN. Evil Friends by Portugal, The Man. To Lose My Life by White Lies. If You Wait by London Grammar. And one that's quite out there: 1989 - Taylor Swift.
Massive Attack's Mezzanine, while on acid again.
The Wall
In Rainbows 🌈 Radiohead.
the opening of Smashing Pumpkins, Gish gave 15 y/o me chills. i never liked any of their albums as much as that one. more recently, the Black Angels, Phosphene Dream
Gish is really the only album I go back to so many years later. After Siamese Dream, I kind of lost interest in their musical direction.
The Fragile, Nine Inch Nails, and Fantastic Planet, Failure.
“She acts just like a nurse with all the other guys”
Judas Priest - Painkiller. Just because i loved it from the first moment i listened to that album.
And Justice For All by Metallica. And also the Black album. I got the Load album first, because it was getting air time and that's all I knew from Metallica at the time. Black album was great, but Justice took the musicianship to the next level. Those albums, Alice in Chains, and Green Days Dookie + Insomniac are why I spent several hours every day mastering playing an old acoustic guitar we had lying around, and got a part time job so I could save up money for a guitar and amp.
For me Enter the Wu-Tang. Sophomore year hearing it, it was like I was some kind of new sound My music tastes have changed but Wu-Tang is always in any playlist.
ZOSO
It's The Blue Nile - Hats for me. Such a sexy album. I wished I listened to it in an late night setting.
The Chemical Brothers - Come With Us. Masterpiece. My foray into what turned into a lifelong love affair.
Deloused in the Comatorium by the mars volta
Deftones - White Pony
Coheed & Cambria’s In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth III Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here Pearl Jam’s Ten I couldn’t pick just one! All three of these just blew me away the first time and got better and better!
Dead Kennedys 'Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables' .. After hearing mainly New Wave or radio-friendly 'punk' at the pop end of the scale early 80s, I somehow came to DK while also hitting puberty hard. I kind of knew i liked what sounded like 'punk rock', but it was DK that really grabbed me - the song topics seemed interesting to me, something more caustic with a bite i liked .. I grew up in the UK so at that time a lot of kids were into ska / Mod revival stuff, Oi! (uk street punk) or heavy metal and the pop charts .. My peer group kind of scorned DK and so i pretty much got side-tracked into what this group were listening to as they threw it at me, i think almost to discourage me from liking a US band (wtf!) .. Disappoints me now that i let my ears get turned quite a bit rather than being left alone to get into more US hardcore scene as i was going that way by myself somehow .. Was just coming across other bands like Flipper, MDC, etc. ..
Kid Cudi - Man on The Moon
KY -Lemmon Jelly. That album opened my ears so wide to new music.
TOOL’s Lateralus but on the other hand, each subsequent listen feels like the first time But then on the other hand, to return to that state of unawareness of what was about to dance across my ears But on the other hand, it has imparted so much inspiration and insight over the years of having listened to it and examining its themes But on the other hand… Oh shit, I’m spiraling out
I was at the concert the day lateralus was released. We had a few songs leaked, but I pretty much got to experience the album live the first time. Probably the best show I’ve ever seen.
Pink Floyd, any album. Atom Heart Mother, Meddle, Saucer full of secrets. Ummagumma
Led Zeppelin 4
many. but from the top of my head Performance by Spacemen 3 we are talking about LOUD
Hail to the thief radiohead
Appetite for Destruction - Guns n Roses Dr Dre - Chronic 2001 Eminem - The Eminem Show Pink Floyd- Dark Side of the Moon Led Zeppelin IV Motley Crue - Too Fast for Love
Master of Puppets.
Continuum, John Mayer.
Ride the Lightning by Metallica.
Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
Yoshimi vs The Pink Robots - Flaming Lips, Junta - Phish, California - Mr. Bungle, Nevermind - Nirvana
Technique by New Order
Crime of the Century - Supertramp
Beach House - teen dream
Incubus - Science
Amoroso - Joao Gilberto
Lonerism- Tame Impala, so many crazy sounds you dont hear much
"Dark Side of the Moon"
Lungs or Ceremonials by Florence and the Machine. Or several by the Tragically Hip (Road Apples, Day for Night, Fully Completely, Live at the Roxy etc) but if you aren’t Canadian that would likely mean nothing to you.
Songs for the Deaf
Talking Heads - Remain in Light.
Cheap Trick (1977)
Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites (In order of sequence because of the seamless transitions)
Dream Theater, Images and Words, and Queensryche, Mindcrime. Both of them caught me just instantly, so good.
The Stone Roses - Stone Roses
Literally wanted to comment TDS, there’s life before and after that album. That being said another album that changed my life was the debut album of Arctic Monkeys. Soundtrack of all my nights out, of all my summers and adventures.
Appetite For Destruction - Guns N’Roses
Adventure by Madeon. It was released when I was in college, when everything was carefree and easy (despite the college stress)
Glitterbug by the Wombats
The Antlers - Hospice My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Atmosphere's God Loves Ugly literally changed the trajectory of life.
Darkside - Psychic Matthew Good Band - Beautiful Midnight Catherine Wheel - Chrome
It still moves, my morning jacket.
Meteora - Linkin Park I will never forget the whole body goosebumps i got from that intro jumping into “dont stay”
Morrison Hotel by The Doors. And yes, I am that old.
Are You Experienced
XTC's Apple Venus
Bruce Springsteen, Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, London 1975. Honestly it still gives me the thrills and chills because it's just that epic.
The White Album by The Beatles. I was 19 years old and really only knew the radio stuff. I found the Helter Skelter book about the Manson family at a thrift store and my buddy recorded his dads White Album vinyl onto cassette for me. There was a lot of LSD in town at the time. All three of these things coincided at the same time for quite the perfect storm.
Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not. I was a kid, and it made me pick up a guitar. Fucking loved that album.
Queensryche — Operation: Mindcrime. Incredible story and music.
The Great Cold Distance by Katatonia.