What album opened you up to music?

[Avilan the Grey]

(Saw this thread on TVtropes forums)

What album was the album that made you start looking for music on your own? There is a time, as a kid, when you take that one step, and start developing your own musical taste.

For me, if any, it was AC/DC's Back In Black. A fairly non-pretentious choice, but so is my musical taste still.
A friend's older brother had bought it on casette (not vinyl) and since this was still a few years before the first double-deck boom boxes, he (my friend) kept getting punched for stealing the tape.

I wondered what was so special about it, so he put it on, and had my 7 year old brain blown away.

[Feytalist]

A couple, probably.

The very first album I bought was Smashing Pumpkins Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, so the album that got me into music in general was probably Siamese Dream that a friend of mine got and played constantly. Or it might have been Radiohead's Pablo Honey, because I remember another friend of mine raving about it at the time.

The album that got me into metal was very definitely Iced Earth's Horror Show. I remember exactly where and when I heard it for the first time, and my first reaction was along the lines of "where has this been my whole life :O". Those riffs just sunk their hooks in and never let go. And it was mostly coincidence that I listened to it in the first place. No-one pointed me to it, I just picked it up at random (probably because of the cover, heh).

It's still one of my all-time favourite albums.

[Starwulf]

Metallica's "Metallica" Album, in 11th grade ^^

[RCgothic]

This is where I get embarrassed. The first album I bought was Spice World by the Spice Girls on cassette. :smalleek:

Before that I remember enjoying albums by Simon & Garfunkle and Bryan Adams that my parents owned. These days my tastes run more to Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Bowling for Soup, The Killers, Muse, Jack's Mannequin and similar.

[Avilan the Grey]

Metallica's "Metallica" Album, in 11th grade ^^

It is amazing. And half of their fans hate them for it, since us non-pure fans would love it, and not listen to any other of their albums.


This is where I get embarrassed. The first album I bought was Spice World by the Spice Girls on cassette. :smalleek:

Before that I remember enjoying albums by Simon & Garfunkle and Bryan Adams that my parents owned. These days my tastes run more to Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Bowling for Soup, The Killers, Muse, Jack's Mannequin and similar.

Oh don't be.

Also, we all have a large portion of our parent's musical taste; I love Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, Louis Armstrong and other things my mom listened to. Her father, in turn, turned me on to Elvis.

But I remember only thinking "Thats neat", probably because I wasn't old enough to actively search for music on my own.

[Finn Solomon]

Honestly, Disney. I used to have like three albums, the Gold, Silver and Bronze collections. I played them so often I memorised the words to Under the Sea, Be Our Guest, and all the other classic songs.

[Anarion]

Dvorak's New World Symphony.

Though if I'm being honest, playing in a pbp in which my character is a DJ has resulted in searching for more music than everything prior to that in my life to date.

[Kindablue]

The Wall, when I was 14. Found it in a closet. There was probably some irony in the effect listening to it constantly over the next year had on my emotional availability, but I never got the joke. I guess that's like reading The Basketball Diaries and going, "yeah! Drugs are so cool."

Kids are dumb.

[RCgothic]

Oh don't be.

Also, we all have a large portion of our parent's musical taste; I love Simon and Garfunkel, Beatles, Louis Armstrong and other things my mom listened to. Her father, in turn, turned me on to Elvis.

But I remember only thinking "Thats neat", probably because I wasn't old enough to actively search for music on my own.

It's not the Simon & Garfunkel or Bryan Adams that I'm embarrassed by. I still think they're awesome. But the very first choice I made on my own was the Spice Girls. Yeah. I also bought some Aqua not long after, but I actually still like them because they don't take themeslves seriously at all and revel in their ridiculousness. Their recent compilation album included some new stuff (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTIjA74vHU) which I thought was great.

But yeah, I'm much more into alternative rock these days.

[MLai]

As a kid, I would have told you I liked my parents' cassettes of oldie love songs like Puff The MG, and Simon&Garfunkel songs, and Richard Clayderman pianos... Basically stuff that my parents had that I thought sounded good.

I didn't start developing my own tastes until I was exposed to U2 and Enya in college. For a good long while it's just been U2 and Celtic music. Now I just listen to whatever sounds good to me. Usually rock, pop, new age.

[Avilan the Grey]

It's not the Simon & Garfunkel or Bryan Adams that I'm embarrassed by. I still think they're awesome. But the very first choice I made on my own was the Spice Girls. Yeah. I also bought some Aqua not long after, but I actually still like them because they don't take themeslves seriously at all and revel in their ridiculousness. Their recent compilation album included some new stuff (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mTIjA74vHU) which I thought was great.

But yeah, I'm much more into alternative rock these days.

And I said "don't be". I remember buying tons of dance compilations in the 90ies...

[MLai]

And I said "don't be". I remember buying tons of dance compilations in the 90ies...
My dad hated Madonna. I made fun of her along with him, and then I secretly bought the album Like A Prayer. :smallredface:

[Avilan the Grey]

My dad hated Madonna. I made fun of her along with him, and then I secretly bought the album Like A Prayer. :smallredface:

Like a Prayer was the only album of hers I liked.
I was never into her in the 80ies, and considered "like a virgin" to be an annoying interuption on MTV between songs I liked...

But then I tend to don't understand the hype, be it Daft Punk, U2, REM or anyting else.

[Feytalist]

It is amazing. And half of their fans hate them for it, since us non-pure fans would love it, and not listen to any other of their albums.

Eh, I like the black album, Load and Reload more than any other thing Metallica has done. Some of their most powerful songs on there, in my opinion.

[Thanqol]

I literally didn't know music existed before a friend on The Internet sent me Voltaire's When You're Evil.

[razorback]

Suicidal Tendencies Join the Army. I was just learning to ride my skateboard at the time when I heard 'Possessed to Skate'. It opened up punk and metal for me.

[Arkhosia]

creeping in my soul by Cryoshell via Bionicle commercials, followed by reccomendations by my best friend of I Will Not Bow by Breaking Ben, Awake by Skillet, Phenomenon by Thousand Foot Crutch, and Break by Three Days Grace introduced me to heavy rock.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Finisterra by Mägo de Oz when I was 12, still one of my favourite albums even after almost 10 years.

[Weezer]

I think the first album I enjoyed as an album would be Disraeli Gears by Cream. Great album and while before then I had listened to individual songs, it really opened me up to appreciating albums as a whole.

[Goosefeather]

Finisterra by Mägo de Oz when I was 12, still one of my favourite albums even after almost 10 years.

While not my general introduction to music (that'd be Blood Sugar Sex Magic, by the Chili Peppers), Mägo de Oz were definitely my introduction to Spanish music - from parties with Spanish friends, I discovered Fiesta Pagana; from Fiesta Pagana I discovered Finisterra; from Finisterra, Mägo de Oz; and from Mägo de Oz, Spanish music in general. Bloody fantastic. :smallbiggrin:

[dps]

Glass Houses by Billy Joel.

[Tengu_temp]

Queen - Greatest Hits I and II. I mostly listened to video game music before that.

[WoodStock_PV]

The Wall, when I was 14. Found it in a closet. There was probably some irony in the effect listening to it constantly over the next year had on my emotional availability, but I never got the joke. I guess that's like reading The Basketball Diaries and going, "yeah! Drugs are so cool."

Kids are dumb.

I myself started with the compilation "a collection of great dance songs" by Pink floyd and at the time i didn't got the joke on the cover and just tried to dance to the tunes in my own way ^^''' those were the days man. Then I found The Wall on a record store and begged my dad to buy that expensive double CD, it was at that point that my life changed.

[Avilan the Grey]

Hey, a separate question:

Since I signed up for Spotify the other day, I have been looking through old charts... And I found a black hole. I don't know what I did between 1995 and 1998, but I can't have been listening to radio... I remember maybe 2 songs per year on those charts!

I talked to a friend at work who is my exact same age, and he has the same hole in the same place... wth?

Two connected theories:
1. 1995 was basically when MTV Europe finally went the way of MTV America, aka music? What music? and "Let's forget everything that made us great".

2. I think I just didn't like the sound of most songs either... Almost everything that wasn't R&B or Hip Hop was extremely... Whiny. No matter the genre, it always came down to a "whiny" tone (can't describe it any better).
I just didn't like it.

Anyway... Anyone else having a "black hole" somewhere in their history?

[Zevox]

What album was the album that made you start looking for music on your own? There is a time, as a kid, when you take that one step, and start developing your own musical taste.
I don't believe that I ever have done such a thing, actually. My "musical taste," if you were to judge by what little music I have on my MP3 player, amounts to a mish-mash of songs I heard on the internet, usually in a youtube video, and video game music, because I play entirely too many video games not to have a lot of exposure to that. I honestly can't say I can even identify a genre I consistently like, and on the few occasions that I've tried checking out other songs from an artist or band who did one of the random songs I like, I haven't liked them.

So, yeah, my taste in music is honestly a mystery even to me.

[JoshL]

It's been a long and awesome journey with some notable waystations:
1) Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here. When I was a kid, listening to this on my father's headphones was a special treat. Definitely shaped what was to come from an early age.
2) Michael Kamen - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves score. First album I bought with my own money. That opening theme alone is just fantastic and what adventure scores are always aspiring to be.
3) Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage. Got this in high school. After hearing "Watermelon In Easter Hay" I decided I HAD to play guitar.
4) Joy Division - Closer. Also grabbed that in high school. I won't get in to how deeply this album hit me, but some major life-changes are associated with it.
5) (Oingo) Boingo - Boingo (1994). Could I pick a favorite album ever? A band I liked putting out an album that far transcended what they had done before. Insanity, Spider, Lost Like This, Can't See (Useless), Change....it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew where the album was coming from because I was RIGHT THERE. The same could be said for the Erasure self titled around the same time.
6) Current 93 - Soft Black Stars. Again, hit me at exactly the right time. The journey of the album is what I felt when it came out. Took c93 from a band I liked to a band I LOVED.

Lots of albums inbetween that were amazing of course (The Cure were a huge part of my musical development, and The Church's "Priest=Aura" is easily in my all time top 10). And some bands that I've loved since first hearing them (Swans, In The Nursery, tindersticks, Tangerine Dream...the list goes on and on)

But all of that goes back to that Floyd record. My earliest experiences were with music that was a vast melancholy sonic field, and it's just expanded since then. To quote Zappa: Music is the best.

[Avilan the Grey]

Waystations huh:


Back In Black - AC/DC
Eliminator - ZZ Top
Appetite For Destruction - Guns'n Roses
Nevermind - Nirvana
Yourself Or Someone Like You - Matchbox Twenty
..And then the black hole happened.
Smash Mouth - Smash Mouth


I also tend to slide further and further back. Big Band Jazz, Johnny Cash, Pre-Rock'n Roll popular music...

[Feytalist]

I don't know what I did between 1995 and 1998, but I can't have been listening to radio... I remember maybe 2 songs per year on those charts!

Isn't that more or less the era of britpop? If yes, then "whiny" is sort of an accurate description. Heh.


The album that convinced me to play the guitar was actually a compilation of classical guitar music of my mum's; a bunch of pieces by Isaac Albeniz. I heard that, and decided I want to learn to play just like that.

Sadly, I'm not quite there yet.


My musical journey jumped around a lot. I started off in the alt rock / grunge mire, extracted myself, went back in time to gothic rock / new wave / darkwave, jumped around a bit with more "classic" rock, and then turned around and headed straight for metal at about mach 5. I haven't quite slowed down yet. Oh, but I managed to grab onto a sort of celtic folk / neofolk / world music mashup somewhere along the way.

[Avilan the Grey]

Isn't that more or less the era of britpop? If yes, then "whiny" is sort of an accurate description. Heh.

I think it was, but I prefered BritPop to grunge. Definitely.
Anyway, it was all over the place. It's like everybody (almost) that didn't do plastic dance music used the same palet. English, American, Swedish didn't matter. Not really genre, either.

[JoshL]

Right there with you on the Cash and Big Band (I'd add Patsy Cline to that too). Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman were astounding. But can't quite follow you on the rest (Nirvana had moments on Nevermind, but it wasn't until the last album where they really pushed above what every one else was doing at the time).

And Feytalist, I'm also on the "not quite there yet" with my inspirations/ambitions, but with the celtic/neofolk/mashup stuff? Right there with you, man! I was even on the C93 tribute cd! (which steered a lot of neofolk labels towards me...it's hard picking out the irony from the actual racists!)

Oh, and the 4ad/college rock scene at the time...Pixies, Throwing Muses, Breeders and in particular Belly were top notch

[Avilan the Grey]

Heh I prefer Nevermind, but then I am not really a grunge person.

Sidenote again...
Don't you hate it when something ruins otherwise good music...

I would love to love the Donnas, but although I LOVE their music, I can't stand the singing. So I keep trying to listen to it and with very very few exceptions (Take It Off) I find their voices too grating.

[Killer Angel]

The Wall, Pink Floyd.
It had just been published, I was 11 and I went to the shop for the single, but they only had the whole album. It was a lucky day. :smallsmile:

[Feytalist]

And Feytalist, I'm also on the "not quite there yet" with my inspirations/ambitions, but with the celtic/neofolk/mashup stuff? Right there with you, man! I was even on the C93 tribute cd! (which steered a lot of neofolk labels towards me...it's hard picking out the irony from the actual racists!)

Word.

I've never really bothered with socio/political aspects in music, but guess if you're involved in the scene it becomes more immediate.

I'm still slowly exploring the folky stuff, because I'm not exactly sure what I like yet and what not. It's been a cool ride so far, though.

[Ebon_Drake]

A slightly pretentious answer here, but Kid A by Radiohead was a real eye-opener (ear-opener?) for me and had a huge impact on my taste and attitude towards music. I'd heard lots of mixed opinions about it and so went in expecting to dislike it, but was absolutely stunned. The sheer beauty, diversity and creativity of it broadened my horizons away from just guitar bands to being willing to appreciate anything from jazz to electronica. I think I'll listen to it right now...

[Weezer]

My black hole in terms of music is the mid-80s. I listen to some of the more punk-ey post-punk and new wave bands that extended their careers into the 80s, and a few bands that started in the late 80s but have most of their work in the 90s, but there's a big hole where bands who can properly be described as 80s bands should be.

[Avilan the Grey]

My black hole in terms of music is the mid-80s. I listen to some of the more punk-ey post-punk and new wave bands that extended their careers into the 80s, and a few bands that started in the late 80s but have most of their work in the 90s, but there's a big hole where bands who can properly be described as 80s bands should be.

Depending on age, I guess. I was 7 1980, and 14 1989. Basically I ate it all up, as you do.

[Alabenson]

Sidenote again...
Don't you hate it when something ruins otherwise good music...

I would love to love the Donnas, but although I LOVE their music, I can't stand the singing. So I keep trying to listen to it and with very very few exceptions (Take It Off) I find their voices too grating.

Honestly, this is precisely the reason why I strongly dislike a great deal of heavy metal, particularly Black/Death metal; I simply can't stand the screaming/growling vocals.

As for my personal taste in music, it's been a very long, strange ride, but there are a few definite milestones;
1) Beach Boys Endless Summer; The first album I ever really listened to, back when I was about 4 years old.
2) Barenaked Ladies Maroon; The album that helped expand my tastes to music made after the 1970's.
3) Bon Jovi Crush, a-ha Lifelines, Bee Gees Bee Gees 1st, Genesis Invisible Touch; I encountered these albums around the time my musical tastes started not only expanding, but also becoming noticeably different from the rest of my family.
4) DragonForce Sonic Firestorm; This album probably did more to develop my interest in heavy metal than any other.

[thorgrim29]

Probably The Wall whe I was like 10. After that I mostly listened to my dad's old music for a while (Led Zep, Styx, Queen, and Supertramp off the top of my head). My gateway to metal was probably Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park when I was maybe 14 or so (I still maintain that Hybrid Theory and Meteora are good), Metallica opened me up to "classic" metal, and Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence got me into more proggy stuff.