OK so this site I go to interviews musicians on what albums changed their life and I thought it would be cool to do the same thing here. So give me 5 albums that changed your life and what impact they had. I'll start. 1. Linkin Park, Meteora- This album really gave me a sense belonging and a feeling of not being so alone when I was struggling with a lot of things. The writing really affected more than the music itself. Although it was my first real taste of music. The first time I felt a real connection with the music. Before its just whats fun or what sounds cool. This is the first album where it made a deep connection. It's like the first time your really aware of music's existence I guess. And for that this will forever be the album that had the greatest impact on me. 2. Slipknot, Iowa- This album takes dark and heavy to whole new level. And again it lyrically it covered a lot of what I was going through. It was so dark and thick. Its one of those albums that as your listening you breathe in the music. This is the first album where I just got lost in the music. Put on the headphones and the outside world no longer exists. 3. Jimi Hendrix, Experience Hendrix- This album really got me into Jimi's whole collection. It's so amazing just how good he is. He does more with one note than a lot of artists do with a whole song. This album also guided my foray into a lot of other underground acid rock. Just all these really rad hippie bands. (The number one track that totally changed my life is one of Jimi and Jim Morrison together in a club in new york. And Morrison is stoned out of his mind and the only thing you can understand from him is "FUCK HER IN THE ASS!". . . life changing). 4.Led Zeppelin, Mothership- Another album that just blew me away with talent. This is probably the most talented group to ever live. And again, it helped get me into everything that I'm into now. The mood of Zep's music really comes from the instruments which I'm always a big fan of. Musical mood makes a deeper connection with me than vocal emotion. 5. The soundtrack to the documentary American Hardcore- This collection of Punk really defines how I feel about life, society and government. I know its kind of a cop out to go with a collection of artists but once again (broken record, I know) it got me into so many other things. And Punk rock above all other genres really defines how I try to live. Its kind of my defining thing. It's the album that really made my personality. Anyway, now that I've babbled on for an hour lets hear yours
1. Brand New- The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me; Got me into new and better varieties of rock. 2. Nirvana- Nevermind; My first actual rock album, since my parents were into that kind of music and I had it available very early on. 3. Soundgarden- Superunknown; see above 4. The Offspring- Ixnay on the Hombre/Americana tie; both albums just kicked major amounts of ass when I was younger, and had a great variety of off the wall jackass songs and serious hard rock tunes. 5. Linkin Park- Hybrid Theory; For no reason other than I enjoyed it for a really long time. Never had the emotional attachment to the lyrics like a lot of people did, I just liked the way they sounded. Still, listened to it constantly for years on end.
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Eminem - Marshal Mathers LP Joe Budden - Escape Route Timati - Black Star Emancipator - Safe In The Steep Cliffs
The Downward Spiral made me take music seriously. Dark Side of The Moon made me work out smoking weed was good. Loveless (My Bloody Valentine) made me realise (pun intended) that not everything has to be grim and depressing. Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair (La Dispute) made me go to punx/diy shoowws. Untrue (Burial) is the soundtrack to every late night trip home.
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Linkin Park - Reanimation Dredg - Catch Without Arms God Is An Astronaut - All Is Violent, All Is Bright Papa Roach - Lovehatetragedy
Probably something like this: Nana - Self-titled The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land The Offspring - Americana Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Nine Inch Nails - With Teeth
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory Thrice - Alchemy Index Fort Minor - The Rising Tied Muse - Showbiz Papa Roach - The Paramour Sessions
These won't be your conventional picks, because they actually signaled a shift in how I saw and listened to music and formed my tastes for what I'd like years down the line. If it wasn't for Significant Other by Limp Bizkit, I probably wouldn't even like rock music. When that album came out, I didn't know who they were, I was seriously listening to the Spice Girls with my mom. I didn't know what music was or even where to start, I was a little kid. Two rap albums made me appreciate hip-hop and formed my love for the genre, that being Eminem's Slim Shady LP and The Source's Vol. 3 compilation. Like every kid in the 90s, I was rebellious and I loved Eminem because he was a "FUCK YOU" type of figure, throwing middle fingers everywhere and causing chaos. Probably why I like OFWGKTA so much, honestly. And the Source CD introduced me to artists like Three 6 Mafia (whom I still love to this day). Actually, that's the only artist/group I can remember being on the CD, besides the Eminem & Dr. Dre collab, "Guilty Conscience". I know I wore that CD down until it wouldn't play anymore, though. If Limp Bizkit got me into rock music (how sad), then somewhere in the 9th/10th grade, I started to appreciate and love rock music more as an art rock, when my girlfriend at the time bought me "The Fragile" by Nine Inch Nails. I still listen to that album, it's a classic, just like The Downward Spiral is. It's overlooked by a lot of people because it has so much content and it's hard to digest at once, but it's well worth it, in my opinion. This really started my love affair with NIN, but I think the first album by them that I owned was the DVD version of And All That Could Have Been. But The Fragile is what made me a huge fan and love that genre even more. The last album that changed my life, and pushed me into a whole 'nother direction of music was "Frances the Mute" by The Mars Volta. I don't even know what I was listening to at the time, but I know when the album came out, I wasn't really into music that much, I had a lot of stuff going on in my life, then I heard this album and I was blown away. I didn't know modern rock epics like this were still made, it sounded like some unreleased prog rock album from the 70s. It blends so many different styles of music together, and has the most engaging lyrics I've ever heard. The story is fantastic... I couldn't ask for more. Anything that I liked after this album came out, it's because of this band and album. If I hadn't of discovered this, who knows what I'd be listening to right now.
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory. This album has actually saved my life. Besides that, it showed me how cool music can sound and saved me from the mindset of "if it's not metal, it's crap." Really opened up "Pandora's Box" for me in the form of everything related to Linkin Park. Linkin Park - A Thousand Suns. This album made me realize that I shouldn't give a fuck about what other people and the popular media think. It made me realize that music is art. Also, it had me mature my musical taste by letting me like what I like, not because it's cool to like it, but because I like it. Taproot - Welcome. I listened to this album when I was going to college in the weight room. It still motivates me to do things. Three Day's Grace - One-X. This album I downloaded out of curiosity and it was one of those well written albums that has helped pick me up time and time again. Linkin Park - Meteora This album along with Hybrid Theory helped saved my life. It pulled me out of some dark times I was going through and no matter what other people's view of the album might be, it still holds a special place for me. Linkin Park - Minutes To Midnight transformed my view that a band has to sound the same in everything they do in order to be successful. Without this album, I don't think A Thousand Suns would have been as effective with what Linkin Park were doing as a band. I know that's six albums, but whatever.
I would have added this to my list, but I was too lazy to type out an actual response. NIN (The Fragile first) made me see music in a different light. It made me see that not all music is the same and that some people are out of this world talented. And Frances the Mute gave me that same feeling. No other artists have made me feel anything like those two. Listening to Frances the Mute from front to back takes you on a crazy fucking ride.
First of all, I still don't buy that "Nu Metal" is metal. Metal, to me, is bands like Machine Head, Pantera, (older) Metallica, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wilde, Megadeth, Bullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Lamb Of God, Evergreen Terrace, Devil Driver, Bleeding Through, Still Remains, Chimaira, Slipknot, Trivium, Silent Civilian, Mudvayne, Unearth, Etc... Linkin Park is not nor have they ever been a "metal" band in my opinion. The fact that they were even "branded" as Nu Metal, isn't exactly a correct genre for them. Linkin Park has songs that have elements from several different genres in them. There are so many elements in the music they write that it isn't really fair to their music to put a genre label on them. Linkin Park is simply a band who transcends musical genre. You really can't say they are anything except for Linkin Park. Just my opinion.
I feel pretty much the same way. At that point, I was just bored with music and nothing was really taking me by the balls and saying, "LISTEN TO THIS, IT'S MIND BLOWING". I heard The Widow, didn't think much of it, then downloaded the album on a whim and was blown away. They've always been a band where the songs taken out of context of the album aren't that great, but when you play it all the way through, beginning to end, it's fucking amazing. I'm kind of sad they've changed their formula up and are making more...."straight forward" songs, but still in that Volta way where it's still a mindfuck. So much going on in one song, it's unbelievable. If nothing else, it showed me that despite what one might think, there's always talented artists and bands out there that aren't getting the promotion they deserve, and you must seek them out if you're bored or unsatisfied with what you're being force-fed through the radio and other media outlets. It's always going to be that way, probably, until the masses can wrap their heads around 30 minute epics and whatnot.
Hybrid Theory was a gateway into alternative and harder rock music. Dookie got me into punk. Watch Out! got me into hardcore. The Devil and God blah blah was an album I listened to pretty much non stop for about two or three years. Neon Bible was the point where I started the transition into listening to most of what I listen to now.