Special Albums

[Soda Jerk]

Here's mine, in no order.

Any Trouble - Where are all the nice girls?

The first album I ever heard. My mum used to deliver sandwiches in the mornings before I went to nursery, so I'd always go along, and this was my first experience of music, and I always demanded it got put on. My mums car radio got stolen and this tape was inside it. I was gutted, but I re-bought it when I was old enough to earn pocket money. An extremely overlooked band, who hung out in the shadows casted by Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. This is better than any of the first 4 Costello records which are so highly regarded in this genre.

Green Day - Insomniac

I opted for it over Dookie because it was 2 quid cheaper, and I wanted to buy some sweets. My first real instance of alternative music. I was hooked after I spent about an hour and a half downloading Basket Case on 14.4k Internet. Worth it.

Fig 4.0 - Action Image Exchange

The Leeds scene was full of boring indie in the early 00's, and then Fig 4.0 came along, and blew me, and pretty much everyone else away. It made me want to start a band. So I did. We were shit. Wouldn't have happened without Fig 4.0. Cheers. Best UK hardcore band for me, bar none.

They Might Be Giants - S/T

The record that broadened my horizons and stopped me from solely listening to stupid pop punk by grown men wearing shorts. Before this, I just wanted to listening to fastest, nastiest shit, but it made me look at a lot of music differently, and I became a stickler for pop melodies.

Born Against - Battle Hymns For The Race War

They had a time and a place, and looking back, they often appear ridiculous and trite, but as a young 'un, it was easy to get absorbed into their overly idealistic way of thinking. Unlike the buttloads of thuggish, mindless NYHC that surrounded them, they actually had something to say, and are one of very very few hardcore bands that still mean anything to me.

Karate - Unsolved

It's difficult to pick just one. Each album is near flawless, but this is probably my favourite, as it came right after The Bed Is In The Ocean and is such a massive progression. The first three LP's began a surge of quiet, miserable indie rock bands, which Farina strived to separate himself from, and Unsolved nailed it. Farina is a sublime guitar player, with a voice so sincere, he could tell me the sky is green and he'd be right. If I could only listen to one band for the rest of my life, this would be it.

None More Black - File Under Black

I got this as soon as it was released because the first 7" was great, and because I loved Kid Dynamite, so I just had to. I actually don't think I've listened to any album in my life more than this one, and it only came out in 2003. Possibly my favourite punk rock album, ever.

Hum - You'd Prefer An Astronaut

It was difficult to pick this over Downward Is Heavenward, but it just tipped it, though I love both. Hum, despite the major label backing, didn't really make it. They fell a little bit late, when grunge was weeding out. I discovered them in the very late 90's when MTV2 was called M2, and Chino Moreno of the Deftones picked an hours worth of music videos, and Stars was one of them. He mentioned how they were constantly in Weezers shadow, and predicted them to be huge sinze Weezer went on hiatus. Hum split up not long after. Jinxed.

[paranoid]

I know it's a greatest hits album but I don't give a fuck.

[fatboy]

[The Kernel Loaf]

I don't get this thread. Is it just albums you think are brilliant, or is it an album by an artist that isn't their debut album which ended up redefining them musically, being so far out to what people had expected?

[Soda Jerk]

I thought it was just albums you like more than others. Favourite Albums, perhaps.

[Graham]

[KarmaTsunami]

[MattJimF]

Nothing like driving over the Cairngorms with this as a soundtrack:

[Old Gold]

[-matthEw-]

For me special albums are albums that either turned my tastes upside down or just made me re-think all my opinions on music. Ergo:

/

- My Dad had made a Beatles tape with each of these on either side. It started off as a tape for car journeys but eventually migrated up to my room and I swear to god I must've worn it out the amount of times I played it. I could've been anything from the age of 5 to 12 I'm really not sure when I first heard this, but it was certainly the first pieces of music to ever hold my attention.

- Remember renting this from the library after going in to look for Daisies of the Galaxy (on the strength of hearing Mr.E's Beautiful Blues (on the radio, in the car, on the way to Tesco with my mum)) but they only had this. The CD was scratched to fuck and only 3/4 of the songs played. But I'd still heard enough to be convinced I was onto something truly brilliant and if anything, this album has only grown in its special-ness.

[Old Gold]

Add Electro Shock Blues to my list too. Fantastic.

[Mr Owl PhD]

[girl anachronism]

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

and an awesome metal comp from '84

...edit, just checked the track list, only part awesome.

[Swingin' Ryan]

I can't edit my post and 2 of my album pictures seem to have not worked, they were...

I'd also like to add

[Pierre Von Mondragon]

I like this one, only a few more.

still missed some out.

[Surfer_Rosa]

[Larsen B]

[3CR816]

For me special albums are albums that either turned my tastes upside down or just made me re-think all my opinions on music.

Yeah, same here. This means that some of the albums I'm going to post are a little embarrassing now, but I can't deny their influence upon my musical taste and even my life in general.

DISCLAIMER:As such, these aren't my favourite albums, but they are special to me.

Music was always just kind of 'there' for me before this. In my school in the late nineties it seemed that pretty dull 'lads' indie ruled the roost (as it still seems to, really) and that stuff's never held any appeal for me. A girl I knew turned me on to this album and my mind was blown. Misanthropy! Cynicism! Wow! I hadn't really considered that there was a whole world of music out there waitig to be explored beyond the Top 40. It's embarrassing that Marilyn Manson was my gateway act, but I think my life would have been different had I never found a gateway act at all.

Having Marilyn Manson as my gateway act led me down a bit of an industrial/metal route. This had it's pros & cons. (Pros: Atari Teenage Riot, Cop Shoot Cop, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails; Cons: Godhead, Static-X, Spineshank, Powerman 5000). A friend of mine played me this album...

...and I HATED it. I was a fan of crunches and bleeps and bloops and glitches and it sounded kind of tinny to me. But it grew on me. I liked how Jello Biafra's lyrics were political, but funny without the didactism that turned me off of bands like RATM. From there I fell in love with surf influenced guitar and the sheer energy of album. This is the album that led me to The Clash, Black Flag, The Stooges, MC5, XTC, Gang of Four and countless other amazing bands. I still like this one today. ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Punk Fan (25G)

Until I heard this, I had a pretty similar antipathy towards electronic music that a lot of rock fans can have. This album's clear rejection of 'indie cool' just to make something so joyous and snobbery free really turned me on to blowing open my musical tastes. This one IS one of my favourite albums ever, even if it is beginning to sound a little bit dated now.

[3CR816]

If anyone's curious what my favoutite albums are (and lets face it, nobody is but I'm antsy to write about music some more), they are:

The Clash - London Calling

Predictable? Probably, but I remember listening to this one day and it just opened up and unlocked for me and made perfect sense. Another album that's a 'fuck you' to genre conventions from a band that had already received a lot of flak from the people who would have held them back.

2manydjs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax, Pt. 2

See above!

Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power

Noise and dirt and fuzz and sex and power and ffffffffffff

[KarmaTsunami]

Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power

Noise and dirt and fuzz and sex and power and ffffffffffff

Yes. Up until I heard this at...what...15/16 years old I thought punk was Green Day. I was a stupid 15/16 year old.

[3CR816]

Yes. Up until I heard this at...what...15/16 years old I thought punk was Green Day. I was a stupid 15/16 year old.

Don't feel bad, I was probably picking out a pair of jeans from Elementzzzzzzzzz at the time...

[Murrr]

[Lemonade]

If anyone's curious what my favoutite albums are (and lets face it, nobody is but I'm antsy to write about music some more), they are:

The Clash - London Calling

Predictable? Probably, but I remember listening to this one day and it just opened up and unlocked for me and made perfect sense. Another album that's a 'fuck you' to genre conventions from a band that had already received a lot of flak from the people who would have held them back.

2manydjs - As Heard on Radio Soulwax, Pt. 2

See above!

Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power

Noise and dirt and fuzz and sex and power and ffffffffffff

When I first heard London Calling I hated it. I was just getting into punk at the time, and I'd been listening to a lot of old punk stuff like the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, 999 and compilations with stuff like The Adverts and The Ruts and The Dead Kennedys. Then someone said to me "Oh you should listen to The Clash, they're probably the best punk band of all time". So having never heard the Clash I went and bought London Calling, expecting it to be like this snarling, sneering punk rock record, with wallpaper-paste spikes, and gob running off it. And it was all like "Lost In The Supermarket" and "Spanish Bombs" and "Rudie Can't Fail" I was like "This is shit!" and I put it on the shelf for 2 years and didn't listen to it again. Then, I put it on one day just on a whim with absolutely no expectations and realised it was an absolute classic record, just fantastic song after fantastic song. I'd just been expecting something different the first time.

Well there wasn't really much point to that post but there you go.

[3CR816]

When I first heard London Calling I hated it. I was just getting into punk at the time, and I'd been listening to a lot of old punk stuff like the Sex Pistols, The Ramones, 999 and compilations with stuff like The Adverts and The Ruts and The Dead Kennedys. Then someone said to me "Oh you should listen to The Clash, they're probably the best punk band of all time". So having never heard the Clash I went and bought London Calling, expecting it to be like this snarling, sneering punk rock record, with wallpaper-paste spikes, and gob running off it. And it was all like "Lost In The Supermarket" and "Spanish Bombs" and "Rudie Can't Fail" I was like "This is shit!" and I put it on the shelf for 2 years and didn't listen to it again. Then, I put it on one day just on a whim with absolutely no expectations and realised it was an absolute classic record, just fantastic song after fantastic song. I'd just been expecting something different the first time.

Well there wasn't really much point to that post but there you go.

That was kind of my experience of it too, actually. I didn't come in with the same expectations as you did as I'd heard it in bits and pieces over the years but the one time I put it on without wanting to skip to the tracks I found more instantly accessible like 'London Calling', 'Koka Kola' it just clicked. A lot of albums I really like now were growers while a lot of the albums I found instantly accessible can probably now be found downstairs in One-Up.