Albums that made you say WTF when you first heard them

I love that Bobby Gillespie was still playing the drums with them during that interview! I was in my favorite local record shop when I saw the bright pink sleeve for the "Never Understand" 7-inch. I asked the clerk what it sounded like, and he chuckled and took it from my hands, and put it on the sound system. Needless to say, I bought it on the spot, and was there the day Psychocandy came in on import. @Dudley Morris, that footage confirms everything that I heard back in 1985. Love it!

 

I remember seeing Laurie Anderson performing "O Superman" on TV around late 1981 or early 1982. I didn't really understand what I was listening to (and watching), but I suddenly realized that music didn't have to sound the way I was used to hearing it. I ended up buying "Big Science" when I eventually found it in a record store some time later. It is still one of my favorite albums.

 

all the frank zappa albums i heard when a mate played me them.[this is when i was a teenager.]
yes i said WTF simply because i couldn't believe how ridiculous they were. comedic!

 

Street Hassle - I was 13, just starting to really get into rock music. Knew the first VU album and R&R Animal, then that thing came out. It was like falling through the rabbit hole.

 

Some WTF moments:

Residents - The Third Reich And Roll
I'm 14 In early 1979. I was just beginning to be obsessed with collecting 60s music I'd missed out on, and my dork friends and I were at Aron's Records in Hollywood. The counter guy put this on, and at first I was all indignant: "How dare these unmusical jerks play these songs in this way!". Halfway through side one, I Got It! I HAD to have it! I loved it! I bought it that day. The counter guy- probably a relative of the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons- was all impressed!

Lumpy Gravy - Zappa
I became a cut-n-paste editing aficionado after hearing this around the same time as above. I had to do that, too! It's become one of my favorite Zappa albums- in my top 3!

Velvet Underground & Nico
I listened to this, expecting something as life-changing as well. Right before it became a fixture of top LPs of all time lists. I just didn't like it. I still have my copy, and play it every few years to see if I like it. I just don't. (I'm in the minority here, and please don't flame me, OK?)

Perpetual Change (From Yessongs) - Yes
When they combine completely different time signatures, then it stays on a sustained note, then EXPLODES back into the refrain. When i first heard that, I almost fell to the floor! Incredible!

 

It's funny, it was the instrumental stuff that wowed me in my late teens. I'd heard a little of the songs before that and it made me stay away.

 

I'm curious how you heard Lumpy Gravy. I got into Zappa the same year. Joe's Garage was the first album I bought when it came out. All of the early long OOP and very expensive in used stores if you could find them. Did you have an older relative into Zappa?

 

The first time I dropped acid in 1970 <Purple Haze> I ended up at a friend's house whose parents were gone and we were listening to his older brother's records. Right about when I was "peaking" he put on the 7" single of Spirit In The Sky and it tore my mind open - I loved it! I must have had him play that record 20 times that night until we had to split because his parents were due home. Went home and listened to Led Zep, Grand Funk and Moody Blues, etc. albums on the headphones all night. The beautiful marriage of psychedelic drugs and music was born.....everything sounded so much.....better!
To this day I LOVE heavy fuzz riffs!!!

 

Yeah, my older friend had all the Verve label LPs as well as original Bizarre labels. He had acquired them over a couple of years prior to us becoming friends. I was lucky!

Sheik Yerbouti was my first contemporary Zappa purchase, BTW.

 

My WTF album would be Double Fantasy...I clearly remember thinking WTF when I first heard Yoko's voice. I only listened to the album once. Luckily I got the Lennon Box for all of the good songs.

As for a positive WTF, is when I heard Remain In Light by Talking Heads I never heard music like that before.

 

Introduce Yourself by Faith No More. Played a promo album when it first arrived because it was in Slash Records and produced by Steve Berlin. I was expecting something more retro sounding and ended up hearing probably the first rap/metal/punk album. I said something like, I'm either gonna hate or love this album. I ended in liking it.

 

Me too. At first. But I came to realize that it was brilliant. And a very, very brave thing to do.

 

The first time I heard Sparks was definitely a wtf moment (confusion, comedic amusement).
However, within minutes I released the sheer genius of the Mael brothers, and with a half-hour was a big fan.

 

Vanessa Daou's Zipless. Mainly because I wan't expecting it. At the time I was listening to a whole bunch of new music in the background on shuffle and I remember thinking, "wtf did she just say?"

 

Morrissey - Southpaw Grammar

 

don't know which lp it was but when a mate played me a frank zappa record. it was wtf, but in a bad way. i couldn't believe how silly it all sounded, and that is still the way i view zappa.

 

Anybody who says they didn't feel 'WTF' when hearing Trout Mask Replica for the first time, fanatics and haters alike, is lying.

There are times when I wish the WTF-ness didn't wear-off, because though I love the album very deeply, I wish I could still feel that raw disturbance again.

 

Soft Machine... their first three albums.
To be honest I'm still not sure if I like 1 & 2, but 3 is really nice.

 

Robert Wyatt "Rock Bottom". Sounded – and sounds – like nothing else.
Talk Talk "Spirit of Eden"
The Shaggs "Philosophy of the World" of course.

 

As a five-year old child, innocently playing Lego in the living room, hearing Arthur Brown shrieking "I am the God of Hell-fire and I bring you...!!!!" loudly from the parents' old Gerrard console. I didn't know the expression WTF at the time. But the feeling was the same.

 

"Pawn Hearts" by Van der Graaf Generator. With a bottle of O.V.D. dark rum (local hooch) inside me plus whatever else, that was a real WTF moment.

 

You gotta watch the whole video...

 

and then there's this:

 

Yup. This is the album that taught me the lesson "Give it time." (Even if I didn't always follow it.)

 

I have all the Congotronics CDs. My introduction was Konono No. 1