Your Personal Ten Most Influential Albums

I'll write some notes for each album, in roughly chronological order:

Queen - A Night At The Opera - The first album I ever heard in full, via my Dad's 8 Track tape. The music absolutely thrilled me, even scared me in spots. Up till then I listened to what my parents listened to, a lot of Bee Gees, Donna Summer and Barry Manilow. Freddie's singing was, of course, incredible. I learned that this is what an album was, this is what rock bands did. Later I would discover that in a way, this isn't a great starting place, for the bar was set incredibly high.

Run DMC - Run DMC - Bought this on cassette. Back then Rap was brand new, exciting, fun. I recall the cool black and white video for Rock Box. Seeing that once was enough to make me have to have this album. As I've gotten older, appreciated it more. Their positive, socially conscious, down to earth lyrics are witty as can be, and (thankfully) for sale.

Pink Floyd - The Wall - If I could only have one album in the list, this would be the one. The music is incredibly powerful, theatrical, but it was the lyrics that really grabbed me. They taught me about human emotions, especially the darker, more difficult ones. Roger's singing is harsh and in your face, while David's is warm and soothing. This one got me through high school.

R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant - Right around the time I started college, a friend was heavy into R.E.M.. He'd play their tapes whenever he was in my car, whether I wanted him to or not. When it came to R.E.M., though, I was a slow learner. It wasn't until a few years later that they would become my favorite band. This album was the first one of theirs that clicked for me. That high energy one two punch of the first few tracks, followed by the gorgeous Fall On Me. No, I didn't know what Michael was singing, but I sure felt it!

Morrissey - Viva Hate - Had another friend who loved The Smiths. I didn't know them at all, but was a member of Columbia House and found Viva Hate at the back of one of their catalogs on cassette for a few bucks. Ordered it and the day it arrived, I remember putting on my headphones and pressing play. I was sitting on my bed and didn't move the entire time. I was transfixed by Morrissey's voice, the incredibly open, and honest singing. This was music that spoke to a place deep inside of me.

Seal - Seal - I remember long drives in my car, in the sun, listening to this beautiful album. It's soulful, deep, yet often with fun, upbeat music. Dance music with a message, soul songs with gorgeous production. I've listened to this album more times that probably any other, yet everytime I hear it, I experience that joy that is usually only attributed to new discoveries.

Beastie Boys - Check Your Head - Always loved (and still love) these guys. Saw them for this tour. Whoever heard of a rap band playing their own instruments? Whoever heard of a rap band that also did instrumental songs, that also played hardcore, that also did psychedelic stuff - all on one album? This record is all over the place, yet it works perfectly. At the time (and still today) this one is a breath of fresh air.

Stone Temple Pilots - Core - To, their best album. Incredibly dark, strong, with powerful drums, killer guitar and Weiland's spectacular singing. I bought the cassette something like 10 times the year this came out. I kept moving during that time, losing it, lending it, but no matter what, I had to have a fresh copy on hand. The video for Plush got me started, I loved the cool mystique of the cinematography. Absolutely can't get enough of that song. And the epic that closes the album, Where The River Goes, is another favorite. Sadly, it is overlooked.

Tool - Aenima - Another album that caught me off guard and blew me away. I don't usually like stuff this hard, but for some reason, Tool became an instant favorite of mine. Listening to them got me to open my mind to other artists, bands like Rage Against The Machine, Korn and Filter. I also love Lateralus, where to me they really matured, but here on Aenima, I think they are at their best. Still super angry, darkly funny and, as always, consummate musicians.

pearl jam - Riot Act - Speaking of dark albums, this is probably pearl jam's darkest. Not that it is without it's bright spots. It features maybe their best ballad, Thumbing My Way, and for me, their most moving song, Love Boat Captain. Bushleager is a funny dig that would alienate them from some of their fans, though I was already on the side that pearl jam occupied. The album as a whole, came at a time when things were uncertain in the USA, and this record was incredibly grounding, like it grew out of the earth.

 

I went with "influential" as in they pointed the way to other things and changed how I viewed music. So "Meet the Beatles" and "Out of Our Heads," neither of which would make a favorites list for me but they blew my young mind ...

London Calling
Meet the Beatles
Roger the Engineer (as Over Under …)
Highway 61 Revisited
Under the Big Black Sun
A Love Supreme
Train a Comin’
In a Silent Way
Out of Our Heads
Blues Breakers

Honorable mention to "Are You Experienced," "A Wizard, a True Star," "Fleetwood Mac" (dog and dustbin), "Folk Singer," "Fresh Berry's" and "Wee Small Hours"

 

not in any particular order....
Sgt Peppers The Beatles
Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
Live At The Regal B.B King
In The Court Of The Crimson King King Crimson
Grievous Angel Gram Parsons
Mr. Tambourine Man The Byrds
Madonna’s first hit album..not a fan, so not sure what the title would be
Kind Of Blue Miles Davis
Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bullocks
Guitar Town Steve Earle

 

when I read these lists..it looks like a list of great albums.
That doesn’t make them influential.
Abbey Road ?? Amazing album..it was not a game breaker..what did it influence?
Physical Graffitti ???

 

The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
Charles Mingus - Cumbia and Jazz Fusion
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Charles Ives - Three Places in New England (BSO conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas)
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues I & II
The Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead
Cream - Disraeli Gears
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's

 

Not necessarily the best albums I've heard, but the ten that had the most impact on me (in no order):

The Beatles - Meet the Beatles!
The Who - My Generation
The Jam - All Mod Cons
R.E.M. - Murmur
The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
The Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
The Kinks - Something Else by the Kinks
Small Faces - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
The Crickets - The "Chirping" Crickets
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

 

Which 10 albums have been the most influential to you personally?

 

A little off-track but someone once told me that W. C. Handy was the most influential musician of the 20th century. His formalization of the blues led directly to jazz, rock and soul.

 

These are influential to ME. Albums that made a difference to MY life, as a person and a guitar player, in rough chronological order (that they affected me).

Eagles, Their Greatest Hits. Played on the school bus in elementary school as I rode, got me interested in rock. First album I bought for myself.

Beatles, Abbey Road. One of the first albums I bought, and totally great.

The Who, Quadrophenia. Hit me as a teenager, the alienation spoke to me totally. I got the sheet music and learned to play along. My dad cut the circuit breaker one time because I was playing so loud.

Pete Townshend, Empty Glass. great solo album, one where I had to be careful playing it in common spaces because of language. still think it is great, even though I am aware of all Pete Townshend’s flaws.

Tom Petty, Hard Promises. Got this as a Christmas gift, loved all the songs, transcribed some of them to play on guitar. Insider is awesome. Played this album a ton.

U2, Under a Blood Red Sky. All over MTV, played a couple of these songs with my high school cover band. Learned to play New Year’s Day on piano.

Richard Thompson, Across a Crowded Room. My gateway to my favorite guitarist, although I like other albums like “I Want to see the Bright Lights Tonight” more. I’ve transcribed both. The internet transcriptions were referred to, obliquely, in the Washington Post.

Bill Evans and Jim Hall, Undercurrent. Introduced me to Jim Hall, my favorite jazz guitarist. At one point I had a Japanese sheet music transcription of this album in my hand, and stupidly did not buy it. never saw it again. PLEASE contact me if you have a copy.

Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks. Got me through a serious breakup; great songs with alternate tunings. I think I’ve played everything on this album on guitar.

Pat Metheny, Bright Size Life. Like a bunch of his stuff, but this one was early and hit deep. Pat Metheny Group and Question and Answer are close behind.

Honorable mention: Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town. Maybe his best, learned to play a bunch of the songs on this album.

Honorable mention: Dire Straits, Alchemy. Not necessarily better than the studio albums, but brings a bunch of their best songs together in one place, played truely live. Remember playing this on a bus on a Walkman my freshman year heading to UVA to visit a friend.

Somehow left out Miles Davis, Kind of Blue. Beautiful modal playing. My son is named after him. How can anything be more influential? but not sure what I would delete.

 

Public Image Ltd. Second Edition
Wire Chairs Missing
XTC Drums And Wires
Bob Dylan/The Band The Basement Tapes
Miles Davis On The Corner
The Beatles s/t WA
Pink Floyd Music From The Film More
Love Forever Changes
The Beach Boys Smile Sessions (3 LP boot from the 90s)
T. Rex T. Rex (1970)

 

I will choose the ten that formed and guided my music-listening for the next three to four decades of my life:
Rush - Fly By Night
U2 - Under a Blood Red Sky
Jethro Tull - Original Masters
Led Zeppelin I
GnR - Appetite
Juan Luis Guerra y 4.40 - Bachata rosa
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
Jerry Rivera - Cuenta conmigo
Foreigner - IV
The Cure - Staring at the Sea - The Singles
+2 Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party and R.E.M. - Murmur
These--and numerous random mix tapes gifted to me by friends--were what I listened to over and over again as I went through middle and high school, and then college. I'm enjoying sitting here staring at my list for a few minutes. These are among my oldest "friends." I see myself sitting in my bud's living room listening to Fly By Night. I can picture sitting in the high school library talking about Zeppelin and singing Dazed and Confused with my best friends. (Quietly: It was the library!) I can see my college dorm room again when I think of Murmur. You know, I'm not usually a big fan of lists in general, but I really love this one!

 

Jimi Hendrix - Axis Bold As Love
Beatles - Sergeant Pepper's Loney Heart's Club Band
Beatles - White Album
Mozart - Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550
Satie - Gymnopedies
Carole King - Really Rosie
Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing
Bach - Cello Suites
Bird: The Complete Charlie Parker on Verve
James Taylor - Mudslide Slim and the Blue Horizon

 

The Guess Who - Share The Land
The third Guess Who album I ever bought, clueless as to how the band had gone through such change right after the release of American Woman. Spent my jr. hi years listening to it as a moody young teen, in my sisters' room
Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
My first whole Nick Drake, my obsession driving across the country looking for info about him having discovered him on an Antilles label smpler at my first radio station gig
Delerium - Chimera
The album that convinced me what I should pattern my online radio station on: females produced by electroni-tweaking producers; the game plan for Ariel Stream
The Beatles - Help
The "sweet spot" for my maturity in my entry into pop/rock...also, saw the film (as well as You Only Live Twice) five separate times that year
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Child Is Father To The Man
How could my second album by this foray into pop/jazz become more significant to this young horn player than my first, the s/t "bigger one"...? Because it was just so much more ingenious
Michael Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Not just the first album playing in a record store that stopped me dead in my tracks to ask the owner for wisdom, but...god, what went into the execution of the artists' most important recording...and the label itself
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention - Over-Nite Sensation
A band I already knew (and "feared") through my brother's obsession, "Montana" playing on a leading AOR station, was the point where I was finally beguiled enough to come aboard myself...yippee-ky-yi-yi-yay!
Kitaro - Silk Road
and who really knows, which one was first, they all washed over me like a fever...there was really another world out there beckoning to me...years before the industry came up with "New Age"...there really was one...!
Andrew Kazdin & Matthew Shephard - Everything You Always Wanted To Hear On The Moog (but were afraid to ask for)
Walter Carlos was something, but...Charbrier's "Espana[/I] was something else entirely, and convinced me, the synth wasn't just the future, but, the future of realizing what music could be
Don Messick & Dawes Butler, as Quick-Draw McGraw and 'Friends" - The Treasure Of Sarah's Mattress
This was an early gift to a child, but also, a clue to what a difference I could make as a "producer" of radio in the 1980's, rather than just an "executor of" The Man's music radio format...so much more could be done, if only somebody just...did it...!

 

Hmmm. Thinking about what influential means in this context, I'll interpret it as the albums that really took me by surprise in some way, seeming to open a new musical doorway of some sort.

With that definition in mind, and going chronologically by when I first encountered them, here goes:

1. Joe Jackson, Night & Day: As an only child who didn't get exposed to or have much interest in rock/pop music until we got MTV in my early teens, the song (and video for) "Steppin' Out" was the very first pop song that really fascinated me, and started me on a lifelong journey of musical discovery. And while it took a while longer for me to buy the whole album, it turned out to be one of the most inventive and musically eclectic pop albums ever made (IMHO). As the chorus to the opening track appropriately goes, "I stepped into...into another world!" While this remains my favorite of Joe's albums, he has continued to produce consistently enjoyable and inventive albums right up to this day.

2. Asia, Alpha: OK, this one will possibly seem a bit out of place on this list, but it was actually the first LP I ever bought, after deciding that John Wetton's soaring vocals (and the hints of classical influence in "The Smile Has Left Your Eyes") were the bee's knees. I must have played that record hundreds of times, and it prompted me to look into the previous careers of each member. That, in turn, led me to discover the wild world of '70s progressive rock, which I soon started enjoying way more than most of the popular music of my own era.

3. King Crimson, Red: While I could list any number of amazing '70s progressive rock albums that blew my mind in the two years following my discovery of Asia (Yes's Fragile, UK's debut album, and Genesis's A Trick of the Tail were especially memorable first listens), none provoked quite the same tectonic shift in my musical firmament as this album, which to this day I probably still consider my all-time favorite rock album. It's deep, almost otherworldly power and atmosphere drew me in, and its avant-jazz and 20th-century classical influences opened my musical imagination to entire genres I didn't yet even know existed.

4. Kate Bush, The Hounds of Love: Though I came to love its successor, The Sensual World, even more, HOL was the album that let me know that even current artists could make albums just as cinematically adventurous as the '70s prog classics. With her stunningly unique voice, mastery of songwriting, and impressive skills as an instrumentalist and (especially) producer, she seems like one of those people for whom the term "genius" seems almost apt, even if I'm not sure I fully believe in the concept. Almost all of her albums are extraordinary.

5. Seal, Seal: I was delighted to see this one on George's list, as I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves. A bit like the previous album, this one proved that even contemporary pop with roots in dance and soul music could have that same sense of musical adventure I usually only found in much older prog and art rock albums. I found just about every note on this stunning debut to be exhilarating, and still believe he has one of the most unique male voices ever, though he unfortunately never reached anywhere near this level of creativity again in subsequent albums.

6. Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden: I didn't hear this until the mid-'90s, but when I did, I felt that same sense of the earth moving as when listening to the albums above. As with those, this managed to be both adventurous and breathtakingly beautiful, but in a different, and far more intimate way than my other favorites. I would also suggest that it has a remarkable timelessness about it: When I listen to new music these days, I'm pretty much never hoping or expecting it will remind me somehow of King Crimson's Red or other favorites, but I do often find myself hoping it just might have something reminiscent of late Talk Talk (and it sometimes does, in the case of an album like Field of Reeds by These New Puritans, or The Golden Archipelago by Shearwater). Mark Hollis's untimely death (occurring only weeks after that of my mother) touched me profoundly: his remarkable use of silence is something that is continuing to resonate with me in many different ways as I try to cope with mortality and loss.

7. Cecil Taylor, Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come: This was another opening into a completely new musical world. Believe it or not, I was prompted to buy this just from seeing that brief footage of Cecil in the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, and this was the only one they had for sale in the Cambridge (MA) record store I happened to go to. I'm not sure I would even call this live date with an out-of-tune piano one of my favorite albums by Cecil at this point, but I remember telling a friend that after listening to Cecil play, I needed to take a long break before listening to any other pianist, because they would inevitably sound like they were merely going through the motions in comparison to Cecil. Another figure for whom the term "genius" might just well apply.

8. The Dears, No Cities Left: While not necessarily as groundbreaking as some of the other albums on this list, I still had that now-familiar sense of some big shift happening to the ground beneath my feet while listening. I guess similarly to the experiences with Kate Bush and Seal, the excitement came from being completely swept up into music that was very much contemporary, this time with connections to the indie rock scene that had mainly passed me by all those years. (They may even have been the first musical act I ever got into who were right around my age or even a bit younger, rather than approximately 10-20 years older). For those not familiar with their music, they've been described as "orchestral pop noir," which is a pretty apt description for this album in particular. I think of them as combining aspects of the Smiths with late '60s Scott Walker, Roxy Music, and Forever Changes-era Love.

9. Mandelring Quartett, Shostakovich Complete String Quartets: While this relatively recent discovery (probably around 6-7 years ago) was not my first taste of classical music or the string quartet tradition, this was the first set of quartets that blew me away to an extent reminiscent of those previously mentioned albums. I just wanted to listen to almost every quartet over and over again. In some ways, this music carried some of the darkly, achingly beautiful, yet still anxious and restless spirit I felt with '70s King Crimson (I know Bartók's quartets were influences of Fripp, but I can't help but wonder whether he and/or David Cross were listening to Shostakovich quartets at the time as well). I was so taken with these that I ended up purchasing several other sets of Shostakovich complete string quartets, as well as those of several other roughly contemporary composers (my faves so far being Bartók, Weinberg, and Carter). But these quartets, and these performances in particular will continue to hold a special place in my heart.

10. Frank Sinatra, Sings For Only the Lonely: Believe it or not, I only really "discovered" Sinatra a few short years ago. Obviously I'd heard many of his more well-known hits over the decades, but they left me completely cold. It was trying this album out on Spotify, just on a whim, that completely opened my eyes and let me finally understand why he was such a legend. The vocal mastery on display here is nothing short of astounding, yet it is used with remarkable restraint. I love the songs and arrangements, which often leave room for unexpectedly touching solos from instruments like a trombone of a French horn. The first side, especially, sweeps me up into its broodingly romantic world, and has opened me up to a whole era and genre of music I never expected to appreciate, let alone love.

 

The Beatles - Meet The Beatles
Faces - A Nod Is As Good As A Wink...
Yes - Close To The Edge
Mott The Hoople - All The Young Dudes
The Allman Bros. Band - Brothers And Sisters
Derek & the Dominos - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs
Johnny Winter...And - Live
Santana - Abraxas
Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour '74
The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me

I've got to add Dark Side of the Moon, too. ;o)

...and Roy Buchanan - Livestock

 

No real order
1. Nirvana Nevermind. Bought for my bro’s birthday in Nov91 just as it was really breaking, this is the album that made me a music nut. My grandma was falling in bad health and my mom & I used to drive up to her house every other weekend (5hr drive) and I had made a tape copy of my brothers cd and used to pretty much only listen to this for the entire drive there and back and overnight in my Sony Walkman and crappy stock headphones with the cheap foam padding

2. the Beatles Sgt Peppers (MMT was my first ever cd, The White album was the first Beatles I heard but it was buying Sgt Peppers maybe my 6th cd [Mag Mystery Tour, Inxs Kick, past Masters V1, Living Color Biscuits, The Best of the Doors being the other 5). Peppers turned me into a Beatles super fan. The only thing then to kill my Nevermind (tape love). I made a tape of this one too.

3. the Beatles: 20 GH tape. Another notch in my Beatles fandom. The Beatles were the musical gateway drug

4. Pink Floyd: Piper. I was a fresh in college when I bought this and was floored at that time kinks in my Beatles armor were showing (I was a huge Alice In Chains fan then) but piper blew my mind and I couldn’t get enough odd psych music thereafter. While Pepper was the gateway drug into rock, Piper was the gateway drug into psych head music which kept me interested for maybe a decade

5. rain dogs: Tom Waits. Initially thought this as the bad Disney characters on acid, now some 20 yrs plus after I bought it I still love it. My Tom Waits gateway drug that maybe didn’t inspire me much elsewhere but got me into Tom Waits and he’s absolutely one of the best ever.

6. Fisherman’s Blues by the Waterboys. Retroactively got me into Van Morrison pretty hard, brought me back into Dylan and Patti Smith and expanded my interests into Celtic rock, folk and the like (horslips are pretty great folks—that’s a plug for Celtic rock)

7. U2- the Joshua tree. I had a tape from my even older brothers tape that he got in 87. I was a little kid but while I wasn’t into music much this guy—along with my tape before I grabbed the cd some yrs later of INXS Kick were the 2 albums then that turned me into music when I got to high school [I still like Kick but it’s no Joshua Tree]. Say what you will about modern U2 but U2 were once great and Joshua Tree [or War] are prob their peak. I still listen to the Joshua tree every few months].

8. Lennon - plastic Ono Band. Got me through a lot. Lennon’s pain helped me cope. Lennon is the best there ever was.

9. Manassas - Manassas. Let’s see direct 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon like got me into from digging further Stephen stills, Neil young, David Crosby, Graham Nash, CSN/Y, Byrds, Love, country rock, Buffalo Springfield etc etc. Stills was only at his peak for 5-6 yrs but this was his absolute pinnacle and he was tough to beat. Country, folk, folk rock, bluegrass, Latin, it’s all here.

10. Talking Heads - stop making sense. Got me into the heads, Brian Eno, television probably indirectly from them the Waterboys, parliament, anything post punk, etc)

Several acts I love (Radiohead, flaming Lips, genesis, Harry Nilsson, Mickey Newbury, Jefferson Airplane etc have albums I like more than several here as do others and I prefer some other albums even by these acts above these ones but those guys didn’t directly lead me towards checking out several other albums/artists/styles as much as those here)

 

The Beach Boys "Smile"
The Beatles "Revolver"
Michael Nesmith "The Prison"
Neil Young "After The Goldrush"
The Monkees "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd"
Bruce Cockburn "Further Adventures of"
Bob Lind "Don't Be Concerned"
Joni Mitchell "Hejira"
Ian Matthews "If You Saw Thro My Eyes"
Van Morrison "Beautiful Vision"

 

In the pursuit of discovering amazing music and bettering my skills and ear as a musician, here are mine.

• The Cure - Disintegration
• The Ramones - Rocket to Russia
• Metallica - Ride the Lightning
• American Nightmare - Background Music
• Boards of Canada - Geogaddi
• A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
• Tool - Ænima
• X Japan - Art of Life
• Kreator - Extreme Aggression
• Big Star - #1 Record

 

In chronological order (my life):

The Monkees - Greatest Hits
The Beatles - Beatles '65
The Association - Greatest Hits
Spanky and Our Gang - Spanky and Our Gang
Bread - The Best of Bread
Santana - Abraxas
Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975
Steely Dan - Can't Buy a Thrill
Paul Simon - The Paul Simon Songbook
Rotary Connection - Rotary Connection

 

Rocky Horror Picture Show Soundtrack
Bobbi Humphrey Dig This
Detroit Detroit
Lee Hazelwood Requiem For Almost a Lady
P J Harvey Dry
Kyuss Sky Valley
Buddy and Julie Miller Buddy and Julie Miller
Jody Stecker and Kate Breslin Our Town
Merle Haggard Dreaming My Dreams
Harry Belefonte Live at Carnegie Hall

 

I was thinking about this topic about a month ago. These were the first records I bought before I graduated college that really informed my music taste. (Like 17-23 years basically.) I don't know how a guy can start with Rush and end up at Captain Beefheart about a year and a half later... but (cough cough) influences come into your teenage life. Ahhh sweet memories.

1. Rush - Chronicles
2. Black Sabbath - Paranoid
3. Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures
4. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica
5. Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
6. Marc Bolan - The Slider/Electric Warrior
7. Alice in Chains - Dirt
8 Peter Green - Green and Guitar
9. Metallica - Black Album
10. Robert Johnson - King of The Delta Blues

 

Miles Davis - Sorcerer
Rolling Stones - Exile on Mainstreet
McCoy Tyner - The Real McCoy
Joni Mitchell - Hejira
John Coltrane - Impressions
Wynton Marsalis - Black Codes from the Underground
Beethoven - Late quartets
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
Geri Allen - Twylight
Thelonious Monkk - Brilliant Corners

 

Not necessarily my absolute favorites, but these ten were the most influential to me. In no particular order.

Ministry ~ Psalm 69
Björk ~ Debut
Aphex Twin ~ Classics
Beastie Boys ~ Check Your Head
Underworld ~ Second Toughest In The Infants
Frank Zappa ~ Joe’s Garage
A Tribe Called Quest ~ Midnight Marauders
Miles Davis ~ Kind Of Blue
U2 ~ Achtung Baby
Pink Floyd ~ Wish You Were Here

 

I get ya DM... but the thread creator said "personal" so I guess anything goes. Rather... "who's to say". It would be a deeper thread if the posters explained why their 10 were most influential to them... that might make for some interesting reading... possibly. Like maybe if a cat who's avatar was an image of Townes Van Zandt; on a particularly harrowing day, his handle was Desperate Dude and his list of 10 were:

Bobby McFerrin... Don't Worry Be Happy
Al Jolson... There's A Rainbow Round My Shoulder / I'm sit-in' On Top of the World
Sinatra's... Come Dance With Me
Katrina & The Waves... Wakin' On Sunshine
The Beach Boys... Good Vibrations
The Little Rascals... Happy Birthday
Stephen Foster... She'll Be Commin' Round the Mountain
The Soundtrack to Beach Blanket Bingo
Alan Sherman... There Is Nothing Like A Lox
Chubby Checker... The Peppermint Twist

What I also get is that it's 4:10AM and I've been up for 48 hours. Strange Days indeed!

 

Your precise explanations make your post an eminently thoughtful and meaningful and a 'Like'able inclusion. Right on!