Tuesday, March 10, 2009

25 Albums that influenced My Life

So, my nephew-in-law Frank put together a list of albums that had an affect on his life. Based on his upbringing and his locale (New Orleans), his may be a bit more eclectic than mine. I'm still not sure of the order of these albums, and there were others that were on the list and bumped off, then put back on. Mine are mostly late 60s and early 70s, but that was the decision making period of my life. It's a pity that the decisions made in your late teens have such a large impact on your later life.


The Rolling Stone put together a list of the top 500 albums of all time here: http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5938174/the_rs_500_greatest_albums_of_all_time

Vanilla Fudge – Vanilla Fudge
Chicago Transit Authority - CTA
Big Brother and the Holding Company – Cheap Thrills
Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced?
Rolling Stones – High Tide and Green Grass (there could be many more)
Beatles – Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (ditto)
Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Neil Young -After the Gold Rush
Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
Cream – Disraeli Gears
Sly and the Family Stone – Stand
Derek and the Dominoes – Layla and Other Love Songs
Donovan – Sunshine Superman
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy
Santana – Abraxas
John Mayall – Jazz Blues Fusion
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
Crosby, Stills and Nash – CSN
The Mothers of Invention – We’re Only in it for the Money
Jethro Tull – Aqualung
The Doors – The Doors
Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow
Jackson Browne – The Pretender
Tom Scott - Tom Scott and the L. A. Express
Maynard Ferguson - Conquistador

Blood, Sweat and Tears, The Who, Stevie Ray Vaughn (in my later years), The Eagles, Steely Dan, Joe Cocker, Bread (yes, Bread, great love songs) and so many others.

Twenty-five just isn't enough.

6 comments:

gerrycammy said...

Oh no... Bread?

Really?

But you do have Houses of the Holy, and CSN, which musically are among the best ablums of the century, so I'll give you some credit there.

Cool idea, I think we might have to steal it for a blog post in the future.

Anonymous said...

Bread, they were very good at balancing lyrics against melody.

While almost all of those albums bring back memories there are always new songs that have value. Some are actually new and others are a little older but new to the listener. Every once in a while you run into a song where the words are unrecognizable but the melody is well done (the video and song have nothing in common).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YViq5W90qds

Plus, even as late as mid 1980's the British were known for their excellent products
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6FQvm0YDvQ

Bob said...

I got the munchies just reading the list!

Scott said...

Gerry - send me a link to your blog.

Anon - It seems that the music that affected my life was from my late teen years - anti-war, free love, individual rights. I seldom listen to the old songs, but they had the largest affect on my life.

Bob - Totally.

gerrycammy said...

gerrycammy.blogspot.com

I tried to come up with a list last night, but it's just too tough, so what I did instead is I tried to develop a musical chronology of my life... bascially, listing the album that I remember listening to the most from each year.

When I was 3, I was a huge Dan Fogleberg fan, and growing up in the early 80's, all we listed to was Hank Williams Jr... yes, it is a 'family tradition'.

I dabbled in Van Halen, because my babysitter loved them... and in elementary school, Michael Jackson was awesome. Thriller is still in my opinion one of the greatest albums of all time. Then in 3rd grade, I discovered Wierd Al Yankovich... he still rocks.

But I just can't bring myself to admit that my most listened to album in 6th grade was the soundtrack to 'cats', or in 8th grade was "I'm too sexy" by Right Said Fred. Jr. High is a tough time for everyone I guess.

It wasn't until Nirvana in 1991 that I found my musical soul again and admitted I hated Vanilla Ice...

That lead to hair bands like Def Leppard, Metallica, Zeppelin, and newer 'alternative' like Stone Temple Pilots and Candlebox through most of high school. By my senior year, I was into the new punk, Green Day, Offspring, etc... Going away to college led to experimentation with disco. Oh the things we did in college...

Then a long period of rediscovering classic rock, Moody blues, CSN, the Who... which lasted until I discovered Jam bands, like the String Cheese Incident and Phish. Over the past few years, this has lead me to bluegrass, afrobeat, and now Reggae... and even a new found appreciation for electronica...

I always wonder where the musical journey will lead me next, and pray over and over again that it's won't leave me to liking country.

Cap'n Franko said...

Fascinating list. And yeah, it's impossibly difficult to make this list "correct" but what's there is what's there and that's a pretty good indicator.