Getting to Know You

[Nate The Great]

I figured since there seem to be more and more "new" people at RC, it's time to do another

TOP 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS IN YOUR LIFETIME THREAD.

The last time we did this was at the AA board I think. That was quite a while ago.

This way we can see what kind of people we have, based on the albums that made them who they are today.

Remember . . . this is the top 10 MOST INFLUENTIAL albums in YOUR lifetime. Not your favorite albums . . . not the most influential according to what the rest of the world thinks . . . just tell us what influenced you, your listening styles, etc. You can list metal and/or non-metal. A brief description of why each album influenced you would be cool as well.

Oh . . . give us a quick bio of yourself as well. I'll start:

BIO: I'm 27 years old. I started listening to music (almost exclusively metal) when I was 11. I've played guitar since I was 12. I believe most of my early musical influences were a direct result of playing guitar and being in a band.

1) Metallica - . . . And Justice For All
* The first metal album I ever owned. EASILY the album that swayed me to the dark side.

2) Metallica - Master of Puppets
* Keep in mind I didn't have a very big selection of albums where I grew up. It was only logical that I bought this album immediately after AJFA. This album was a HUGE influence on me as a child.

3) Megadeth - Rust In Peace
* This album made me want to play guitar. I learned every song on this album over time. It took FOREVER. I never did get all the solos, though.

4) Morbid Angel - Blessed Are The Sick
* My introduction to death metal. This album was the most evil thing on Earth to me at that time.

5) Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power
* HUGE, HUGE, HUGE influence on my guitar playing. Another album I learned in its entirety.

6) Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin At Dusk
* My introduction to black metal. I listened to this album constantly for a LONG time.

7) Converge - Jane Doe
* A younger album than the first 6 listed, this is the album that convinced me that originality in extreme music was coming from genres other than death metal and black metal.

8) Godflesh - Pure
* I suppose this album more than any other led me toward the noisey stuff that I have enjoyed so much ever since.

9) Faith No More - Angel Dust
* This album made take note of bands doing something other than thrashing and spewing pure evil all over the place. Definitely helped shape any sort of strangeness that exists in my musical preference.

10) Opeth - Still Life TIE Katatonia - Tonight's Decision
* Both these albums got me into other European bands that I'd never given a chance before hand. I have to give them both credit for that.

Keep in mind, I bought all these albums when they were first released (except Master of Puppets). The only "recent" album of note is the Converge album. These albums will probably change over time, but this is where I stand now.

God! I must be bored or something.

 

[Demilich]

I was in the middle of typing up a nice one with descriptions and shit, but now I'm gonna have to just put up the 10 albums, in the order that they influenced me:

(many of these aren't my favourite albums, in fact I don't listen to a lot of them anymore, but they were all steps in getting me further out of the mainstream and into much better music!)

1. Tool - Lateralus
2. Tool - Aenima
3. Metallica - Metallica
4. Metallica - Master of Puppets
5. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
6. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
7. Opeth - Blackwater Park
8. Opeth - all the other ones except Deliverance
9. Edge of Sanity - Crimson (i.e. the "Opeth wishes they could write a long song and keep it together this well!" album)
10. Bathory - Hammerheart

BIO: I'll be 20 years old on Saturday, I'm a university student (something I don't particularly want to be) and I spend way too much money on music!

 

[lurch70]

84 Maiden / Twisted Sister
85 Possessed
86 Reign In Blood

schooled half my metalhead friends in the death metal ways

89 goes to college to be sound engineer
90 college stops sound engineering program (and lurch realizes he does not give two shits about sound engineering anyway)
90 joins film program

90's nirvana, soundgarden, alice in chains
92-99 stops listneing to metal pretty much all together

00-01 back to metal listneing thanks to the net and i think Destruction

 

[NAD]

BIO: NAD, 26 year old male, born and bred in the desert, moved to the beach, now live somewhere between the desert and the city. Started listening to music around 4 years old when my mom's friend gave me a mix tape of Suicidal Tendencies, The Vandals, and The Jesus and Mary Chain. Got real serious around 12 the first time I heard Nirvana - Nevermind. Been playing bass since I was 13, other random instruments here and there before and since.

Format: Band - Title (year first heard)

Nirvana - Nevermind (1992)
This got me on the right track. I had previously listened to Beastie Boys, Twisted Sister, and a handful of other stuff but this rocked my socks in a way not previously known to me. I think this album is responsible for my first boner, and at the same time assured I wouldn't get laid for a long time afterwards.

Faith No More - Angel Dust (1992)
Without this album, I probably wouldn't appreciate fucked up music. I never balk at weird shit, in fact weirdness alone is enough to get me off, I worry about the quality upon further listening.

Led Zeppelin - Houses of the Holy (1982)
I would probably not enjoy rock n' roll without the influence of my hippie parents and their hippie music, this is just the first album I remember listening to in the bathtub, on 8track of course.

Supertramp - Crime of the Century (1983)
I was absolutely obsessed OB. FUCKING. SESSED. with this album when I was a wee one, my mom has pictures of me wearing headphones holding the vinyl sleeve at 4 years old, probably because I listened to this every day for a long time. Certainly explains why I dig progressive music (the real stuff).

The Police - Synchronicity (1986)
Cousin dubbed me a copy of this and I listened to it pretty religiously. I'm not sure what this album explains in my life, other than the fact that it kicks a lot of ass and so do I. Eclectic taste perhaps.

Cat People - Soundtrack (1985)
It was mostly for the David Bowie song at the beginning back then, now I love the whole thing. I loved Bowie back then as I do now, this was just the most readily available song of his for me to hear.

Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993)
First death metal album I owned (first I heard was Napalm Death - Utopia Banished) and it set the stage for many years of scaring children and the elderly.

Alice in Chains - Dirt (1992)
Made me truly appreciate vocals and emotion in general with music. There are not many albums in existence that are this amazing, I still get stoked when I throw this on.

Life of Agony - River Runs Red (1994)
Made depressing music have the opposite effect on me, because nothing is a dank and dirty as this album, everything else pales in comparison. This album helped me get through tough times when younger, whenever I was feeling down (as teenagers have a tendency to do), I would give this a spin and know that life could be a lot worse so stop complaining.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1992)
Showed me that you didn't need a heavy guitar riff to rock out with your cock out. I got this album in my brief period of 100% metal and it made me realize (again) that there was a lot of other great music out there.

Tool - Undertow (1993)
First time I heard my favorite band.

Nine Inch Nails - Broken (1993)
ANGST ANGST ANGST. Get up and scream, let it out. Fuck emotional repression, this is like the musical equivalent to Ginsburg's Howl.

Danzig III - How The Gods Kill (1992)
I had no idea that dark and heavy music existed outside the realm of metal until I heard this.

 

[IOfTheStorm]

Im 23 years old, some of these are actually in my top 10 anyway. I studied journalism, and i live in Athens and im great.
1) Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
became the album i listened to the most and i listened only to this for months.
2) Metallica - And Justice For All
my introduction to metal
3) Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
for obvious reasons
4) Psychotic Waltz - Bleeding
I discovered a whole new way of appreciating music
5) Slayer - Reign In Blood
It was the first really violent album i listened to
6) Manowar - Hail To England
Opened the doors to epic metal in general
7) Spiritual Beggars - Mantra III
Really created my interest for 70s albums
8) Candlemass - Nightfall
Hello doom metal
9) Dream Theater - Images And Words
Left my with my mouth open for quite a long period, also a whole new sound was introduced with this one.
10) Amon Duul II - Phallus Dei
This one because it made me come closer to more minimalistic and psychedelic music.

 

[Demilich]

Undertow

Thats the first time I heard em too! Leastways, the first song I heard was Sober, and it fuckin floored me! Then I bought the albums in reverse chronological order, loving them all!

 

[NAD]

Thats the first time I heard em too! Leastways, the first song I heard was Sober, and it fuckin floored me! Then I bought the albums in reverse chronological order, loving them all!

First time I heard sober I didn't even like it, in fact it wasn't until about the 10th time that Headbanger's Ball (the real one) showed the video that I thought "hey, that's kinda cool" and stumbled upon the album at the local music store, with it's UNRULY cover. By the time ÆNIMA came out I was frothing at the mouth over all things Tool.

 

[Demilich]

Difference for me was this all happened in 2000-2001 and was the beginning of my "escape" from nu-metal and Nickelback-kinda rock, as was the style at the time. Actually, I liked this rock band called the Refreshments, I still have some of their songs in my head... they did the intro music for King of the Hill (don't hold it against em!) and if i'd ever heard a full album by these guys I might have liked em but I only heard scattered songs.

 

[J.]

Life of Agony - River Runs Red (1994)
Made depressing music have the opposite effect on me, because nothing is a dank and dirty as this album, everything else pales in comparison. This album helped me get through tough times when younger, whenever I was feeling down (as teenagers have a tendency to do), I would give this a spin and know that life could be a lot worse so stop complaining.

Nice to see someone else thinks highly of this album. A lot of people just put it off as metalcore, but it is oh so much more. Hell, it could be called doomcore metal.

 

[Nate The Great]

Difference for me was this all happened in 2000-2001 and was the beginning of my "escape" from nu-metal and Nickelback-kinda rock, as was the style at the time. Actually, I liked this rock band called the Refreshments, I still have some of their songs in my head... they did the intro music for King of the Hill (don't hold it against em!) and if i'd ever heard a full album by these guys I might have liked em but I only heard scattered songs.

I'm glad I was around before the rise of nu-metal. That way I didn't have to fall into its dirty hole. I could smell it coming after the release of the second Korn album and the first Limp Bizkit. I'm a trend sniffing DAWG!

 

[Demilich]

It was fun at the time. If was going all the way back to the beginnings of my music-listening, I'd probably have to list Linkin Park, Creed and Nickelback in this list too but we just won't mention that, will we?

 

[Nate The Great]

Nice to see someone else thinks highly of this album. A lot of people just put it off as metalcore, but it is oh so much more. Hell, it could be called doomcore metal.

Decibel magazine just put it into their Hall of Fame. I think the other albums in the Hall of Fame are Reign In Blood, Sepultura 'Roots', At the Gates 'Slaughter of the Soul', and maybe one other. They have only done 6 issues, and I think they basically put albums in the Hall of Fame whenever they can get an in depth interview with the entire band.

 

[Nate The Great]

It was fun at the time. If was going all the way back to the beginnings of my music-listening, I'd probably have to list Linkin Park, Creed and Nickelback in this list too but we just won't mention that, will we?

Linkin Park!!!!

No! No! NO!!!

 

[lurch70]

Nice to see someone else thinks highly of this album. A lot of people just put it off as metalcore, but it is oh so much more. Hell, it could be called doomcore metal.

these guys were huuuuuge in the NYC scene. good stuff

 

[J.]

ya, I still remember when The Real Headbanger's Ball would play Through and Through all the time back in '93. That video is what made me check 'em out. Awesome stuff.

These guys did the self-pitying thing (for good reason if that shit is true ) before nu-metal caught on and turned it into a cliche.

Ugly rules, too.

 

[NAD]

Ugly I just recently started to appreciate, now I rub my manboobs with cocoabutter every time I play it. Through and Through remains one of my favorite videos EVAR, man I'd start jumping around the room when that shit came on.

Nu-metal started off fine, and within about a year crashed and burned extremely hard. Way too flooded way too fast, only a select few groups deserve to still have their names mentioned without preceeding them with "cocksucker."

Roots is way too underappreciated, what a marvelous album.

 

[NAD]

Jeez, I'm starting to realize how many albums I skipped over, if I had to make a proper list of truly influential stuff it'd probably be 100 albums long, if not more. White Zombie, Primus, Soundgarden, Carcass, Slayer, and many others were PIVOTAL to me becoming the NAD you see before you.

 

[Ayeka]

I shall follow NAD's format.

Eric Clapton - The Cream Of Eric Clapton (1997)
Prior to this I was a fan of assorted songs from across my dad's collection. Had been a big fan of The Beatles and 10cc when I was a wee munchkin, but other than that was more into songs than albums, let alone bands. This album probably marked the beginning of when I became aware of artists having discographies and histories. Having somewhat forgotten my roots, this marked a new era of music fandom. I gradually set about tracking every album with Clapton's name on it...now I think about it, I guess I've always been a kleptomaniac.
A lasting appreciation of blues-rock began here (I've never been more than a casual fan) and I guess the roots of a liking for Heavy Metal. My favourite Clapton songs were/are usually the heavier ones

Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks (early 1999)
Perfect listening for a pissed-off 14-year old gromit. Probably the heaviest thing I'd listened to at this point, and opened up a whole new world in terms of musical attitude, aggression and rebellion. Also inadvertently killed any potential liking I might've had for punk - everything else I listened to was feeble by comparison! I still think that all punk bands are gay to this day

Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss (mid-1999)
Funny story about this one, probably told it to you all before. I had a mate who was really big into Iron Maiden. He played me the s/t and we went over another mates' house to hear his dad's copy of Piece Of Mind. I heard 'em on a few seperate occasions and thought it was junk. About six or so months after my last encounter with them (I'm guessing) this guy leant me a tape with what he thought was Iron Maiden on it. I took it, listened to it, and for some reason it just clicked! I spent a good few months thinking it was Maiden, I later learnt it was the A-side to Seasons In The Abyss by Slayer.
This was back when I thought that Heavy Metal was supposed to be mindless, tuneless, incoherant noise for noises' sake. So Slayer was actually softer than my expectations, but pretty close! I eventually bought the album a year later.

Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast (late 1999)
'nuff said. The day I got this was the day Heavy Metal became The Law. After about a month it was clear to me that there was no doubts about it. This was what I loved.

In Conspiracy With Satan - A Tribute To Bathory (2000)
I don't think anyone would believe that my intro to Black Metal was through a tribute album. But it was and I loved it. This was my first taste of Black Metal music, and another level of depravity opened here.

AC/DC - Back In Black
Whitesnake - Come An' Get It
Rainbow - Rising (2001)
A summer sent at a friend's house (the one whose dad had Piece Of Mind) ploughing through his dad's record collection listening to these and assorted others me and my friends were getting into - Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Saxon, Dio, M.S.G. - confirmed my love for traditional Heavy Metal. It's the backbone I always find time for and never ceases to delight. Those three albums inparticular I gave particular attention to.

Phil Collins - But Seriously... (2002)
I don't think I've ever listened to this album in its entireity. I dug it out in the summer to reminisce on some songs I remembered from my dad, and in the autumn/winter it became my best friend as I sank into a horrifically miserable mood. So the consciouse idea of 'mood music' began here. Hotel California by The Eagles joined it a year later.

I think that's about it really.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

I started making a huge list, but then I decided that most of it was really just vulgar rock music and wasn't really all that influential to me so I cut it what is ESSENTIAL. There were only a few that actually CHANGED my life. Of those that actually did, are as follows, most of them recent developments seeing that my entire worldview has been turned upside down in a matter of two years and it's still rapidly changing, but these two albums were the catalyst(s).

Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar Oss
and to a lesser extent: Filosofem & Hliðskjálf

If I was allowed to hear only one more song before I die, it would be Det Som En Gang Var. No other album (although some others have impacted me profoundly) has come close to touching me on every level of experience. This album incited in me a revolution in my musical tastes, and over time, my ideology. It also touched me on a spiritual level that NO other album has done whatsoever. I would have to write an entire essay how this album both directly and indirectly influenced me. Any other of my personal "iinfluential albums" are chicken scratch compared to HLTO. Keep this statement healthily in mind when I say that my #4 influential album (after Filosofem, and Hliðskjálf) is

Nokturnal Mortum - NeChrist

Two things are important on this release to me: It was an introduction to the melding of black metal and folk music; secondly, it introduced me to extreme ideological metal which in turn prompted me to ask questions about society and why people would be driven to make such a protest. I won't go any further detail on this, but the subsequent investigation into National Socialist philosophy prompted me to change my outlook on life again and complemented the spiritual changes that Burzum started.

Recent albums that might make it to this level might be Waldteufel - Heimliches Deutschland album, but at this point I cannot make that call.

I know I'm going to get flamed for my choices, but I thought that I should speak truthfully. These albums changed my life.

 

[KILL TULLY]

Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
Blind Guaridian - Somwhere in Time
Burzum - Burzum/Aske
Emperor - Anthems to the Welkin Dusk
Bathory - Bathory
Rhapsody - i forget what it was called