Albums that made you say WTF when you first heard them

absolutely. A friend played it for me. We stared at each other, hardly talking. What is this crazy music?? The guitars are killer, and that voice! Yipes. (I still hate My Fairy King) Walked out of his house, went to Listening Booth, bought the album, still hearing Liar, Liar in my head.

 

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo.

 

I had read about the calamities of the recording so I wasn't expecting very much. I think I took the needle off songs like that and went to the ones where Harry had a throat, like Mucho Mungo, and Don't Forget Me. Loop De Loop only worked for me cause it was such a stupid song to cover.

 

sgt. peppers lonely hearts club band

sometimes i still say WTF!

 

When I was a kid, I pulled out some of my folks comedy albums.
Redd Foxx, Lenny Bruce, Moms Mabley...WTF!!!

jerol

 

All positives:

U2: Achtung Baby(took a few listens to love this wtf change)
REM: Murmur(wow, now who is THAT on the radio and why can't I tell what he's saying? And why don't I care???)
Peter Gabriel: Games without Frontiers. My first exposure and I've been following ever since.
Queen: A Night at the Opera
Emmylou Harris: Covering Steve Earl's "Goodbye". My first exposure and I can't get enough of her work ever since.
Beatles: My first 45.....Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields

 

Bob Dylan - Christmas in the Heart (I love it).
Trout Mask - (I like it now, but it took years to get it).
Funkadelic - Free Your Mind (I bought this about 7 years ago, not having heard a note, got high, put it on, and yeah ... wtf!)

 

Reviving this thread just for fun...

Sextant- Herbie Hancock
We're Only In It For the Money- The Mothers
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady- Charles Mingus
Grace- Jeff Buckley
The Baby Huey Story- Baby Huey

 

Primus - Pork Soda. The first time I heard about them. I hated it at first. "What the hell is this s**t?"

 

The Beach Boys Smiley Smile/Wild Honey twofer. I picked this up when I was a in high school, so that would have been around 2002. I was already into the BBs at that point, owned the early albums up to Pet Sounds, so this CD was the next one to get I figured. I had read that Smiley was "different", but I distinctly remember sitting at my computer just watching Windows Media Player's eq bars as I listened to the disc, and when it was done sitting there for a minute and asking myself what the hell did I just listen to? These two albums weren't made by the Beach Boys I thought, but H&V and Good Vibrations were on the disc so it had to be. I just remember thinking what happened to my Beach Boys?

And Wild Honey really didn't sound like a BB album at the time either, it sounded like a solo album by Carl. But I read the liner notes and some web sites, and that was sorta my gateway into the world of SMiLE. 14 years later I adore both albums, SS is just trying to get something out, to try to keep the band's momentum, and in all that quirky, weird druggy music there are some great melodies and BB harmonies. And Wild Honey is was really a pretty ballsy album for the guys to put out, they could have went back to cars and the early style, but instead you get a blue eyed soul album. So it took some time but both albums are really good IMO.

Hell, Smiley Smile isn't even the weirdest album in their discography, when I first heard BB Love You that was a trip, Mike singing about Johnny Carson...

 

Miles Davis - "Black Beauty".

This was my second or third Miles Davis album. I remember liking Kind of Blue, buying this album after seeing it at a store, putting it on at a friend's house over their kitchen stereo while we were talking with his parents and we were all looking at each other like "???????????? (This is before the acronym WTF became popular ). I love the album now, but I had to work my way into it over time.

 

Neil Young - Tonight's The Night

 

Kate Bush - The Kick Inside - I had no idea somebody could be so shrill and child-like.
Joe Jackson - Night & Day - I hated this at first. I was ready to handle its insanity (and genius).
Madonna - MDNA - I hate this album. Madonna had never seemed so bland. I was shocked.
Miley Cyrus - Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Pets - ...what is this.

 

Glass Houses-Billy Joel-1980
Rock of the Westies-Elton John-1975

Both albums were preceded by polished,hugely successful albums. Both were surprisingly raw,and rocked harder than they ever would again. Love both albums now.

 

After fervently becoming enraptured in all things Devo from 1981 onwards, the end of 1984 saw them release Shout. Now THAT was a total WTF moment. How could a group get it so wrong?

On a more positive note, albums that really surprised me and I love to this day:

The Offspring: Smash
The Prodigy: Fat of the Land

 

Proyecto A from Spain. ..knocked me for a loop when I first heard it years ago.. It has just been reissued.

 

ISAM: Amon Tobin
Pylon: Killing Joke
4 Rooms: Jacob Kirkengaard

 

Peter Brotzmann - Machine Gun

 

This record is a trip.

 

Leon Russel - Carney

I heard "Tight Rope" on the radio, and thought, "...that's what I want. A whole album of that!" Nope.

 

Beefheart "Licks My Decals Of, Baby", at first I rejected "Trout Mask Replica" , with time I appreciate it more, but "Lick" was an instant amazement for me

The Mars Volta "Deloused In The Comatorium"

Radiohead "Kid A"

John Frusciante "To Record Only Water For 10 Days"

 

Tales Of Captain Black, No Wave and Odyssey by James Blood Ulmer

 

John Coltrane album Interstellar Space

Now I love it.