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The Heck with GQ's list!!!


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Yeah - the only one of the albums I listed that I still listen to with any regularity is Time (The Revelator). I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever get old. So far no dice.

 

Still, I do enjoy the others and listen to them on occasion. YHFT quite a bit, NGDB almost never.

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My father owned a radio station when I was growing up.

Music has always been an integral part of my life.

Some of these I played on the radio myself...some led me to other artists...some changed the way i listened to music

 

George Harrison --- All Things Must Pass

The Beatles --- Abbey Road, The White Album

Bruce Springsteen --- Born to Run, The Wild, The Innocent, the E Street Shuffle, Darkness on the Edge of Town

The Clash --- London Calling

Bob Dylan --- Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Blood on the Tracks

REM --- Murmur

U2 --- War, The Joshua Tree

Wilco --- AM, Summerteeth

Uncle Tupelo --- Anodyne

Led Zepplin --IV

Rolling Stones --- Beggars Banquet

Neil Young --- Harvest, On the Beach, Tonight's the Night

Robert Johnson --- King of the Delta Blues Singers

Cream --- Disreali Gears

Elvis Costello --- This Year's Model

The Who --- Whos Next

Rod Stewart --- Every Picture Tells a Story

Paul McCartney and Wings --- Band on the Run

John Lennon --- Imagine

Drive By Truckers --- Decoration Day

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The Beatles - Revolver

 

The Doors - The Doors

 

The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed

 

John Lennon - Walls & Bridges

 

DEVO - Are we not men?

 

New Order - Low-Life

 

The Smiths - The Smiths

 

Johnny Thunders - Que Sera, Sera

 

Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

 

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit (yep!)

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Billy Joel - Greatest Hits Vol. I and II

Sure, not a real "album", but I was 9 and I was en route to being a music lover.

 

Metallica - s/t

Discovered about the same time I started playing guitar, metal consumed my life for the next 9 years.

 

Morbid Angel - Covenant

My first death metal cd. I consider my ability to appreciate death metal an asset in appreciating just about anything out there.

 

Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily

Purchased at the end of my "metal" days, re-opened my eyes to beauty in music.

 

Ani DiFranco - Evolve

Broke down the doors of musical perception, taught me that just about any music is able to be enjoyed as long as you let yourself enjoy it.

 

Wilco - A ghost is born

Introduced me to what I thought was "wierd" rock music. In turn, discovered The Band, which led me to Curtis Mayfield and soul/r&b.

 

John Coltrane - Stardust

The first jazz album I "got." Enough said.

 

 

There's some in between those, Music From Big Pink and others, but that's just about my whole musical lineage.

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The Beatles/1962 - 1966 (The Red Album)

The first bit of recorded music I remember ever hearing. The first bit of recorded music I ever remember loving. "Girl" and "Yellow Submarine" were the songs that, for whatever reason, resonated most.

 

The Beatles/1967 - 1970 (The Blue Album)

Years after hearing 1962 - 1966, and after years of listening to all the crap I heard on the radio and MTV, I bought this cassette. This led to me buying all of the American Beatle albums and basically set me on the course of listening to good music.

 

A Tribe Called Quest/The Low End Theory

Broadened my horizons.

 

John Coltrane/The Gentle Side of John Coltrane

Miles Davis/Kind of Blue

Sonny Rollins/The Bridge

Bought these all on the same day. Digested it all at the same time. Again, broadened my horizons.

 

Wilco/Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

After years of listening to almost nothing but jazz, this brought me back to where I began with the Beatles - intelligent, honest and melodic rock. Unfortunately, this album also got me into reading Pitchfork and led to a phase of trying to chase every flavor of the month band/album down. I'd like to think I'm past that.

 

Bob Dylan/Blood on the Tracks

I'd listened to Bob before. I always respected Bob. This got me absolutely hooked on Bob. This album (and Bob in general) also led me back to listening to artists like Waits, Cohen, Young, Reed, etc., etc.

 

I'm leaving so many artists/records off that I love, but I really wanted to limit myself to the albums that sent me in new musical directions. If these albums are not, in fact, my favorites, they certainly enabled me to discover my favorites.

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ABBA - The Album

I probably still know all the words to the deep album cuts.

 

Blondie - Parallel Lines

This was the first record I bought with my own money, and I wore out the needle on my little red plastic record player.

 

Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

I would not shut up about this when I was in university.

 

Neil Young - Tonight's The Night

My friends used to laugh at me when I played this because they thought it was horrible. :stunned

Last year, when I visited LA for the very first time, I went looking for the former site of SIR where Neil recorded TTN. Now, it's a used car lot or something.

 

Sloan - Twice Removed

Suddenly, Canadian bands didn't suck anymore!

 

Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville

I used to play this when I wanted to pretend that I was finished with men. Now, I'm finished with Liz Phair.

 

Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue

My introduction to Wilco. Thank you, Woody Guthrie!

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Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Basically saved me from the clutches of terrible music.

 

the Beatles - A Hard Day's Night/Revolver/Rubber Soul

I used to be of the "Beatles are the best, but not my favorite" but fully listening to these albums definitely changed a lot for me.

 

Neil Young - Live in Massey Hall 1971

This opened me to writing legit songs...I only have the bootleg, not the Starbucks-let's-pay-20$ version.

 

the Clash - London Calling

I don't think there is a lot to say except that this album is brilliant.

 

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True

At one point after Wilco saved me I used to think punk sucked, and then I listened to this guy. Well, most punk still sucks, but that's besides the point.

 

the Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Probably my number one favorite album. Maybe. The way the songs are delicately and finely arranged just turned me into a different person.

 

Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

Definitely was one of those albums that I heard and was like "whoa, this is genius." Also the kind of thing where Pet Sounds showed that not all rock has to be visceral, but this one showed that not all rock has to be electric to be, well, electrifying.

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Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville

I used to play this when I wanted to pretend that I was finished with men. Now, I'm finished with Liz Phair.

:lol :lol :lol

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Wilco - Summerteeth

Made me realise there was more to music than Brit-pop.

 

Oasis - Definitely Maybe

Music, it all it's forms, suddenly had a focus and this was it.

 

Radiohead - The Bends

It was loud, proud and girls seemed to like that fact that I listened to it :)

 

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

My entry into the weird and wonderful world of prog-rock, thanks to my dad.

 

Mogwai - Young Team

Post-rock... suddenly I'd fallen in love with an entirely new genre of music.

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This is sort of weird because I don't think I'm old enough to have records that change my life!

 

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Basically showed the endless possibilites of music.

 

The Beatles - Revolver Inspired me to play music.

 

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky My mom passed away three days after this was put out. It was the right album for the time and I am forever indebted to Jeff for making it.

 

Nick Drake - Pink Moon Essentially did the same thing Sky Blue Sky did.

 

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding If I had to pick a Dylan album that effected me the most it would be this one.

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Beatles- Red Album

U2- the Unforgettable Fire

Pixies - Surfer Rosa

Grateful Dead- Skeletons from the Closet

Widespread Panic- Everyday

Pavement- Crooked Rain

Wilco- Being There and Summerteeth

Jayhawks- Tomorow the green Grass

Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers

Elvis Costello- My Aim is true

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This is based on the order I bought the records:

 

 

The Beatles- Entire Catalogue: Do I have to go into this?

 

Nirvana- Nevermind- Still one of my favorite albums of all time. The album that inspired me to pick up a guitar and play. Most of grunge didn't resonate for me; as much as I tried I always found Pearl Jam stayed and tuneless, Soundgarden inconsistent, and Alice in Chains just plain bad. Nirvana had the tunes to back up their screaming, and despite the incomprehensible lyrics on half the songs, this album still rocks my world.

 

Bob Dylan- Blonde on Blonde: What a picture perfect album of epic proportions. The lyrics are fantastic, the thin wild mercury sound still bitch slaps me every time I turn it on.

 

Nick Drake- Pink Moon- After years of stepping on Big Muff PI's and Fuzz Faces, this album taught me the value of a stripped down acoustic guitar. This album is still my favorite relaxation album before bed (which I guess says something about what a dour person I am.)

 

Wilco- Summerteeth: I was going to go with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, but I don't think that one had nearly the effect on me in terms of how I write music...lyrically this has always been one of my favorites. It's so bruised, sometimes abusive and myisogynistic, yet hopeful.

 

Van Morrison- Astral Weeks: I bought this the day my uncle died (about an hour before I found out) and weeks after my ex had dumped me. This album has always been kind of symbolic to me "Lay me down, in silence easy to be born again."

 

Pavement- Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain: Probably the most fun album I own. I'm a sucker for the ringing guitar tone. Range Life gets me where it counts, and still makes me giggle. A fitting tribute to the rock n' roll of the 60s/70s from a band that you'd least expect it from.

 

The Microphones- The Glow Part 2: The sound of a volcano errupting on a quiet night as the crickets chirp along. One of my favorite records of the past ten years. Reminds me a lot of 2005, Hurricane Katrina, and the coping healing process in my life both mental and physical around that time.

 

Neil Young- On The Beach: Ambulance Blues alone defined a certain era of my life; that sort of dreary detachment, the semi-bitterness. That the rest of this album is almost as great as the closing epic made this a no brainer for me.

 

Also The Rolling Stones- Exile on Mainstreet, The Clash- London Calling, Radiohead- OK Computer, Bruce Springsteen- Born in the USA and a few others...but hey...I don't feel like doing write ups for all of them.

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Grateful Dead, Aoxomoxoa and Blues For Allah As corny as it may sound, these albums I first listened to in the late 70s opened a floodgate to a life-long passion for the band and the scene that I associate the very vast majority of my friends and even wife with.

The Sex Pistols, NMTB

The Clash, Give 'Em Enough Rope

The Rolling Stones, Some Girls

Frank Zappa, Apostrophe

Joni Mitchell, Miles of Aisles

Wilco, Being There

Taj Mahal, Take A Giant Step

De La Soul, Three Feet High and Rising

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This is sort of weird because I don't think I'm old enough to have records that change my life!

 

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Basically showed the endless possibilites of music.

 

The Beatles - Revolver Inspired me to play music.

 

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky My mom passed away three days after this was put out. It was the right album for the time and I am forever indebted to Jeff for making it.

 

Nick Drake - Pink Moon Essentially did the same thing Sky Blue Sky did.

 

Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding If I had to pick a Dylan album that effected me the most it would be this one.

 

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. Truly.

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Zappa/Mothers - One Size Fits All

Grateful Dead - Europe '72

Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates of Dawn

John Coltrane - Abstract Blue (live bootleg featuring Eric Dolphy)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark

Phil Ochs - Live In Vancouver

 

All still regularly make it into my top 10 favorite albums list.

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