Name a few albums which helped determine your musical tastes
How about a short list of albums that shaped your listening from early on in your life?
Not just albums that became favorites (though they could be now). Let's call them historical turning points for you that shaped you as a listener, now.
Records that turned my head around and opened new worlds.
Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. Meet the Beatles. Peter, Paul & Mary, In the Wind. David Bowie, Aladdin Sane. Sex Pistols -- Never Mind the Bollocks. Kind of Blue. The Harder They Come soundtrack.
Rolling Stones, 1st and all till Goat's head soup Beatles Rubber Soul on (too simpy up till then) Moody Blues, original band, Mike Pinder, piano based blues, before Justin Hayword Animals, Awesome music and Eric Burdon's voice Kinks, great stuff Zombies, oh yeah Dylan, hated at first, finally listened, amazing songwriter Donovan, still terrific live Simon and Garfunkel. Mad for years when they broke up. Ian and Silvia, irresistable vocal talent Everly Bros, irresistable vocal talent and some great lyrics Doors, attitude Janis Joplin, attitude Jose Feliciano Van Morrison Fontella Bass, voice, songs, horns Otis The Mamas and the Papas
MC, you can do what you will with the question. By "shaped" or "pivot" I mean those albums which turned me on to music, and also to those bands. E.g. Beatles -- lead to a love of the Beatles, of course, but to rock more generally and to the less straight ahead (psychedelic-style of openness) which made my tastes in Pink Floyd, Fripp, Eno, etc. later on. Or, Joni, which opened me toward more female vocals; or Tull, Simon/Garfunkel which created a taste for folk. Etc.
Shaped me? Never cared for Porters until I tasted Winthrop's Bull's Tooth Porter. Something in it said, "THIS is what they're tying to do!" From then on I was able to appreciate porters, or at least some of them at any rate. In that sense I guess you could say Winthrop's Bull's Tooth Porter shaped me.
With music its hard to think of a single record that has done that for me. Nothing in Smells Like Teen Spirit turned me on to anything else on that album, let alone any of the other junk of that genre. Couldn't stand Kansas, which was a cheap knockoff of Foreigner. Or maybe it was the other way around. Same difference. They were all just trying to be the next Journey, or Boston, anyway.
In fact its almost exactly the opposite. There's any number of albums that I was luke warm to when they were new and then over time my appreciation has only grown. A standout in that category, Bellafonte at Carnegie Hall. Just a superb record, and recording, and performance, with all kinds of deeply human archetypal themes (that would be impossible to perform today!) and my appreciation has only grown over the years. But it hasn't shaped me. Hasn't made me want to buy more music like that. Not even more Bellafonte! The others I have just don't do it for me.
Good music is for me very much like a good book or a good movie. When its good like Fido I enjoy it. Doesn't shape me into chasing zombie movies. Once again it seems I stand alone. Oh well.
But if instead of shaped me you mean albums I really liked a whole lot, which seems to be the way people are taking it, well then we can talk.
Many things on your lists gets big hurrahs from me! Many I didn’t discover until college (e.g. Steely Dan, a favoriteband of mine to this day). BUT, if I stick to my early "pivotal" requirement, I have to +1 this:
Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends (and Wed. Morning 3 am)
My parents had ever Simon and Garfunkel album (not that many) and a relatively small range of other records (lots of Telemann and Bach). They got played over and over. My only other source of music was good FM radio from SUNY Stony Brook and WPKN Bridgeport.
Beatles - Meet the Beatles Led Zeppelin I Led Zeppelin II Led Zeppelin IV Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers Moody Blues - DOFP King Crimson - In the Court of.. The Who - Who's Next Linda Ronstadt - Heart Like A Wheel Buddy Rich - Various LP's
Gordon Lightfoot - Sundown Floyd - DSOTM CSNY - Deja Vu Peter, Paul and Mary - Self-Titled First LP Karla Bonoff - Self-Titled First LP Jackson Browne - For Everyman Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends Van Morrison - St. Dominic's Preview Beatles - SPLHCB Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus Skynyrd - One More From the Road Linda Ronstadt - Hasten Down the Wind Dead - Workingman's Dead
Beatles-Rubber Soul Cat Stevens-Tea for the Tillerman Jethro Tull-Stand Up Joni Mitchell-Court and Spark Gordon Lightfoot-Sit Down, Young Stranger Steely Dan-Aja Rolling Stones-Let It Bleed Doors-Strange Days James Taylor-Sweet Baby James
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