Albums That Changed My Life
They used to know how to make album art
I would not be a rock critic without the Sex Pistols, I would not be alive without Elvis Costello. Some albums shake you to your foundations, they change you in some fundamental way the way a death in the family or a love affair gone wrong can change you. I don’t mean albums you love, or albums that you admire, I mean albums that were like a shock to the system. In chronological order:
Please Please Me – The Beatles – 1963 – I became aware of the rock group as a unit with the Beatles. They were less a cultural than a social phenomena and leaked through all ages and classes to such an extend they redefined my attitude towards music.
More Of The Monkees – The Monkees – 1967 – I was ten years old and this was the first album I bought with the conscious idea of collecting records.
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John – 1973 – The follow up to Don’t Shoot Me I Am Only The Piano Player, came not just with “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” preceding it but “Candle In The Wind” yet to come. Needless to say, arriving eight months after “Crocodile Rock” anticipation couldn’t have been higher. This started my obsession with buying albums the second they came out. Plus look at the picture, they don’t make em like that any more.
Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistol – The Sex Pistols – 1976 – I am cheating her, it was really “Anarchy In The UK” in 1976 which changed me from a music fan to a man who lived and breathed music 24/7. It quite literally changed my life.
Get Happy!! – Elvis Costello – 1980 At the very lowest moment of my life, this album stopped me from killing myself.
Fear Of A Black Planet – Public Enemy -1990 – This was the album in which rock and roll’s position in my pop world was assumed by rap.
Hello Dolly Live – Louise Armstrong – 1990- I was at a church sale when I picked up this poorly recorded low budget album. A year later I had gotten a handle on his entire career.
In Utero – 1993 – I had spent all the time I used to spend on rock listening to jazz from 1989 till 1993, when this album brought me back round again.
I’m Wide Awake, It’s Nowhere – Bright Eyes – 2005 – Although I didn’t realize it at the time, thinking about this album and finding nobody who was giving me insight was my first steps towards rock nyc
The END – Bright Eyed Peas – 2010 – The effects of this album on EDM, indeed on popular music is still being sorted out, but three years ago it felt like the fiture had finally arrived.
