Addicted To Vinyl Musical thoughts from the open road, with headphones on

16Feb/0910

15 Albums That Changed My Life – Super-Sized Edition

The following post is ripped straight from my Facebook page.....kind of. I've been amused recently by the people that are irritated by the rising amount of Top 5/10/15/25 "chain letter" posts on Facebook. "Don't turn Facebook into Myspace," is one of the pleas that I read from one person. I actually enjoy reading this kind of stuff - probably because most of the ones that have been coming my way, have been music-related.

As soon as I hit submit on this particular post on Facebook, I started thinking of albums that I had left out - including one of the first ones that had come to mind - August and Everything After by Counting Crows. My friend Cristi left me a FB comment asking me to "let her know when I finish the list."

With that in mind, I thought about adding 5 more, and then 10 more, and I settled for an additional 15 albums, which are tacked on below. It still doesn't cover 'em all, but I had fun putting this list together.

Original post follows - enjoy!

Wow, this is going to be fun. There's no way I can even begin to include all of the albums that have inspired me. I'd need a lot more than 15 slots. This list is in no particular order, although I like the running order on this one. It's tough, because Blue Rodeo could easily be at #1 on this list, same for Bruce Springsteen, etc. etc. etc.

Without a doubt, these are 15 albums that all made my life a little bit brighter at the time I got them. They continue to inspire me to this day, and when I hear them individually, they remind me of where I was the first time that I heard them, and the people I was with. Good times.

I'd like to thank Corey for tagging me in his note, and for having the courage to include T-Ride in his list of albums. Now that I've done that, I'm going to steal his entire setup paragraph:

Think of 15 albums, CDs, LPs (if you're over 40) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others, including moi. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill. Get the idea now? Good. Tag, you're it!

1. Del Amitri - Twisted
2. Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience
3. Weezer - Weezer (The Blue Album)
4. The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse
5. Bruce Springsteen - Live 1975-1985 (Honorable mention to Lucky Town)
6. The Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
7. Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
8. The Smithereens - 11
9. Blue Rodeo - Five Days in July
10. The Jayhawks - Hollywood Town Hall
11. Sting - The Soul Cages
12. INXS - Kick
13. Jackson Browne - I'm Alive
14. Dada - El Subliminoso
15. Tonic - Sugar

+15 MORE

Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

16. Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell
17. Alice in Chains - Dirt
18. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
19. Counting Crows - August and Everything After
20. Van Halen - 5150
21. Michael Penn - Free-for-All (Now We're Even is STILL one of my favorite tunes!)
22. Tom Petty - Wildflowers
23. Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
24. E - A Man Called E (honorable mention to Broken Toy Shop)
25. U2 - Achtung Baby
26. Tears For Fears - The Seeds of Love
27. Peter Gabriel - US
28. Yes - 90125
29. The B-52's - Cosmic Thing
30. Faith No More - Angel Dust
31. Def Leppard - Hysteria (okay, so I ended up with 16 more....)

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  • I actually don't mind the little posts that have been popping up on Facebook as long as they are about music and personal facts. MySpace was ruined by all the bulletins about what you ate for breakfast. Then again MySpace is juvenile in my opinion.

    You have some good albums up there sir. I can think of hundreds of albums that "wowed" me growing up as well as stuff that was released with in the past couple years.

    Thanks for sharing.
  • I'm glad I'm not the only one who loved the E albums! I've not seen them mentioned or reviewed anywhere else. I'd agree with about half of your list, but there are three with which I'm not familiar. Thanks for the inspiration to check them out!
  • Matt Wardlaw
    I'm curious to know which 3 albums - drop me an email....

    Our local radio station played "Hello Cruel World" off that first E album, which is what led me to pick it up. I played the HELL out of those two albums. That album, the Michael Penn disc, and Peter Gabriel's US probably got the most spin between 1990-1993....they were in the car (portable CD player, ha.) or in my stereo at home all of the time...

    Brian - so many albums....a friend emailed me and noted that I left off Jagged Little Pill by Alanis - definitely one that would have been on my list. Although it's an album that I didn't REALLY listen to until a few years ago....I was too sick of hearing the hits that got pounded on the radio at the time it was out. As a result, I never listened to the full about until about 5 years ago...
  • Matt Wardlaw
    Meant to mention....I just about tackled our local Geffen representative when he pulled out the debut CD from a "new band," The Eels. He was completely shocked to find out that I had heard of them.
  • I think I would have a hard time keeping the list to 15. Some albums that I have loved are so specific to a particular time and place that it's hard for me to hear them again - takes me right back.

    It's like I live a Carpenters song!
  • Matt Wardlaw
    Stephanie...I think that was part of the fun of this list. 15 albums wasn't enough. 30 still wasn't enough.

    Luckily, I don't have any albums that I can't listen to....I know what you're talking about, and a couple of years back, I was sure that half my music collection would be annihilated from future listening, but that wasn't the case.

    I'm weird, I guess. You live a Carpenters song...haha...awesome!
  • I ended up posting mine on my blog as well because this was one of the best FB lists.
  • Great list(s). Most of these albums are from the late 80s and early 90s. Let me guess, you were in college then?

    I've created a Pandora station seeded with the 15 artists that made my list. Enjoy!

    http://tinyurl.com/15artists
  • kp
    i love now we're even too
  • this list is horrible!
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