Album that changed your life?

[Keith Richard]

Kiss Alive!

In the early 70s I started to develop an attraction towards "image conscious" artists and bands. Alice Cooper and David Bowie had me mesmerised. Also the harder side of Mud, Showaddywaddy, Cockney Rebel and even the Bay City Rollers had me buying 45s like no-ones business (remember 45s?). The Kiss section in the record shops always drew me in. Who the heck were these guys? No one I knew had ever heard of 'em let alone had any of their stuff. I came across Kiss Alive! in early 1976. The cover blew me away (and still does). Musically, it was a corner I turned and never looked back. The opening chords of "Deuce" had the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention. This was an aural orgasm....double orgasm for that matter. I wont say here what I think of Kiss these days, but those glory days pre 1979 are magnificent. Check out Kissology Vol 1 to see what I mean!

Rock n Roll All Nite and Party Every Day!!!!

[Damian]

It was totally Parklife by Blur that did it for me. I almost immediately stopped listening to ploddy proggy stuff and got into pop music in all its forms. I still regard The Wildhearts as a pop band. Shoot me!

[SteveP]

Iron Maiden- Live After Death

That's what gave me some actual direction in the music I listened to.

Before that, it was Adam & The Ants, Madness, Thompson Twins and Howard Jones that mainly got my attention, none of which can really be linked together in any genre.
From Maiden grew an ever expanding list of bands, which is still growing today

[fluffygrue]

Can I say Guns n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction?

It was the first metal-ish album I bought, when I was about 11. (Bon Jovi doesn't count..)

[Marc]

Can I say Guns n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction?

It was the first metal-ish album I bought, when I was about 11. (Bon Jovi doesn't count..)

Ditto. It was that and Alice Cooper - Trash that got me into real music, oh and NIrvanan - NEvermind.

[beerofthedark]

Quite hard to say really,

My brother got Bon Jovi's New Jersey and GnR's Appetite around the same time and I always used play them when he was out. They're the first records I remember making me sit up and go 'Wow!', never having heard rock music before.
But it was a couple of years later when I bought a secondhand vinyl Number of the Beast that my musical life changed. There was just so much energy and excitement in that record. That's the album that sent me out to rock clubs and gigs - without a doubt that one purchase changed my life.

[Ross]

Faith no More - Angel Dust
Made me realise that rock music didn't have to be just three chords and guitar solos and that it was alright to do loads of different styles and make them fit together.

And then later on

Hamell on Trial - Choochtown
Made me realise how storytelling and songwriting really work together, and that an acoustic guitar plus a voice can be heavier and more intense than a wall of distortion.

[pete]

After a huge breakup i discovered Iggy pops lust for life album that definitley changed my life around, music wise it would be Permanent Vacation Aerosmith GNR appetite and hearing Black Sabbath's first album.

[29xTheJames]

Comalies by Lacuna Coil. It bought me out of my 'only listen to heavy metal' phase of life and opened my ears to more than 'just grunts'.

Then it would have to be Ginger's Valor Del Corazon. The album is beautiful,it feels like you've been on an adventure after it ends. It reminds me of early last year when I just came out of depression and enjoying life - and falling in love.

An honour must go to Master of Puppets, the album that finally made me take the plunge and become a Metallica fan. Thrilling stuff.

[DangerousBeans]

Hmm...it would have to be either

A-Helloween Live in the UK as it was the first album i bought that actually made me go and buy other albums in the same genre.I hadn't really been into music much at all before that.After it i bought all the rock/metal i could afford and listened to nothing else.

or

B-Levellers-Zeitgeist.It was rock enough for me to buy it while i was still in my not listening to much else phase.However on further Levellers purchases i wandered down a much folkier route and also started listening to stuff like Happy Mondays/Black Grape which i would never have entertained a few years before.Listening to the Mondays etc also got me into other stuff like the Chemical Brothers etc

I could also say the Geordie in Wonderland(and a comment by Ginger on the Wildhearts website)drew me down the road of The Pogues and The Proclaimers.

[greggy]

Tthree albums at very different times.(I am rather old)

First was Hot Rats when I was about 13-14. Never heard anything like it and still haven't. So far ahead of its time its almost unreal. Some of the best guitar work ever. And I mean EVER. Think about what else was available at the time and you get some idea of how far out it really was.

Second was Live/Dead. I was 16 and smacked off my trolley. Thought I'd dreamt the whole thing. Garcia was a magician.

The third one was Earth vs The Wildhearts. Remember it so well. Had my sons (12 & 14) in the car going to their first Leeds Festival. Stuck in traffic for about an hour trying to get in and onto the multi-changer came one of my oldests cds. My life just hasn't been the same since.

Wow.

Its good to be old.

[kitescreech]

The cover of "Number of the Beast" got me into Metal when I was about 12-13 - my mate bought it to school and we spent a whole lunch time studying the sleeve. He then taped me. It made no sense to me (I listened to no music at the time and played the fuckin Organ ). After a few plays I got the tunes etc and never looked back.

Magnum's "On a Storytellers Night" holds a special place in my heart more because of the time of my life (though it is great album anyway)

[kriscoverdale]

Album that changed your life?

Earth vs The Wildhearts.

If the owner of the only CD shop in Whitby had told me beforehand:

That I would, skive off school to see the band at a nearby gig, obsessively collect the band's releases; travel to festivals just to see the band (even if they were unable to attend themselves (I'm thinking about you all of the '95 festivals)); spend most of the time I should be studying contributing to the WIldhearts mailing list; that I would pick up a guitar, join a band, fail miserably at covering Wildhearts songs (but play lots of other cool and original songs); they'd be the inspiration for every song I wrote; that I'd make a crapload of friends online (and then in real life) through a shared love of a band; See *way* too many Wildhearts gigs; go to New York just to see them play (oh and to see my friends who lived their that was the real reason, honest); to help run the WIldhearts website; to play Ginger's guitar ; to help pick the setlist for Ginger's 40th birthday gig; to still be listening to awesome new Wildhearts songs 15 years later.

I don't think I'd have asked for my ten pounds back.

Cheers
Kris

[blackdeathcrew]

Appetite for Destruction for me too. Was the first album i bought when i was 11 yers old back in 1987. Still one of my favourite listens now too

[pete]

i know i've already posted on this subject but i've had a re think back to when my dad used to play Dark side of the moon that really did change my thoughts on music totally mind blowing well up untill i heard I wanna go where the people go that is.