10 singles or LPs that truly changed your life...

Love - Forever Changes
Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
REM - Lifes Rich Pageant
Nirvana - Nevermind
Levellers - Levelling The Land
Radiohead - The Bends
REM - New Adventures In Hi Fi
Witness - Before The Calm
Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight

 

REVOLVER (Beatles) I got lucky and heard an import version first. Tomorrow Never Knows blew my mind and For No One ripped at my heart.

Cat's In The Cradle (Harry Chapin) it made me realize I didn't want to end up being like the dad in that song.

You Still Believe In Me (Beach Boys) helped me realize how lucky I am my wife stuck with me even when I was such a jerk when we were first going out.

Calico Skies (Paul McCartney) My son sang it to his wife on their wedding day

Wendell Gee (REM) each hearing brings back memories of those lost to suicide

Village Green Preservation Society (Kinks) helped me realize others prefer the simple things just as I do

ODESSEY AND ORACLE (Zombies) So many magical songs both musically and lyrically

MODERN LOVERS (Modern Lovers) Geeky guys can love great rock and create great rock

What's So Funny "Bout Peace, Love, And Understanding (Elvis Costello) the title says it all

Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party (Courtney Barnett) Rock and roll is not dead!!!!

 

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
Guy Clark - Old No. 1
Tom Waits - The Heart Of Saturday Night
George Jones - I Am What I Am
Tom T. Hall - In Search Of A Song
Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Robert Johnson - King Of The Delta Blues Singers
Ella Fitzgerald - Clap hands Here Comes Charlie
Elton John - Madman Across The Water

 

I don’t think there are 10 that changed my life.

I can think of 3

Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In- Fifth Dimension
First record I owned

Grand Funk- We’re An American Band - First album I bought with my own money and started me on an addiction that I have only recently kicked.

Miles Davis- Bitches Brew - As I’ve said many times before, changed what I look for in music.

 

Good question:

1. Beatles, Abbey Road - Became the soundtrack for my childhoood.
2. Doobie Brothers, Best of the Doobies - First rock LP ever purchased.
3. Who, Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy - Got me into collecting first pressings. I bought an MCA pressing in 1980 or so and then came across a Decca original that was so much cooler.
4. Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks - Set the standard for what I consider top-flight rock and roll.
5. Rolling Stones, England's Newest Hitmakers a "gateway" album that got me into collecting blues and early rock and roll from the 50's after stumbling across original pressings of . . .
6. . . . Jimmy Reed, I'm Jimmy Reed - My first blues album, and
7. . . . Chuck Berry, Chuck Berry Is on Top.
8. Beach Boys, Smile - First interactive album project that made me come up with my own album mix
9. Amy Winehouse, Back in Black - Made me realize vinyl was back. Resumed buying new vinyl by new artists after two decades of not doing so.
10. Time (Dark Side of the Moon) - Made me think about not wasting time idly.

 

Hey Jude/Revolution 45
Abbey Road
Woodstock
Tommy- The Who
Led Zeppelin- Zoso
Black Sabbath- Master of Reality
Queen- Debut
KISS- Alive
Van Halen- Debut
Mr.Tambourine Man- The Byrds The first 45 I bought as a young kid.

 

I'm not sure these 'changed my life', but they were milestones/landmarks along the way:

1. Amen Corner - If Paradise Is Half As Nice (1969 single) My first ever record. It all started from here.
2. Motown Chartbusters Volume 3 (1969 album) First album; set me off on a lifelong love of Motown (and soul in general).
3. Alice Cooper - Killer (1971 album) When I first came across Alice Cooper in a Sounds magazine interview, I knew I'd found what I'd been looking for........music for the marginalized.......... i.e. me! And thus I became a lifelong Cooper fan, with Killer remaining my all-time favourite album to this day.
4. Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power (1973 album) The 'yin' to Killer's 'yang'. Made me realise that the 'best' music didn't have to be technically proficient, or 'well produced'......and gave me another lifelong musical love.....of fuzz & scuzz!
5. Patti Smith - Horses (1975 album) Horses reinvigorated the interest I'd lost in the mid-70s moribund music scene.

6. Sex Pistols - Anarchy In The UK (1976 single) After Horses laid the foundations, and Ramones lit the fuse, Anarchy blew the lid off. I started buying loads of (punk) singles, for the first time since glam had dissipated, and began to identify with a more political, underground, cause.
7. The Smiths - Meat Is Murder (1985 album) Encouraged me to start my own local animal rights group.
8. Chumbawamba - Homophobia (1994 12" single) Aside from Riot Grrrl, there wasn't much I liked in the '90s, apart from Chumbawamba. I liked their politics with a capital P approach, plus all the critics despised them - which made me love 'em more. A song I personally identified with.
9. Johnny Dowd - No Regrets (2012 album) After spending a decade caring for my dad, where music buying was bottom of the list, this was the first thing I bought after he died. It kick-started a habit of buying new music by new(ish) artists that continues to this day.
10. Sons Of Kemet - Your Queen Is A Reptile (2018 album) Almost 50 years of buying music, and I'd zero interest in jazz. Until I heard this...... and it 'blew me away'. This encouraged me to delve further into the current 'scene'......and buy more. 'Avante-garde' jazz = the new punk, for me!