The 10 Albums That Influenced My Life

[Jack the Stripper]

Day 10



SO I’m gonna go off broadway here for my last day just to highlight the fact I’m not just all about metal. I tossed up between 2 bands and 2 albums as to which would take the final day spot and ended up going with the one that still gets the most spins.

My earliest recollections of hearing/listening to music was the music emanating from my dads stereo in the 70’s. He’s always been a big music buff which I think I inherited from him and he was always playing music in the house when I was growing up. He had a semi big collection of vinyls he’d collected since his childhood and most of the music he played was current from the 70’s. The bands I remember him playing most were Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Elton John, Queen, Wings, ELO, Bee Gees, ABBA, that Frampton Comes Alive album(which I think every child from the 70’s parents owned) and some Aussie bands like Skyhooks and Cold Chisel.

The one band that stood out the most though was Pink Floyd and he would particularly play the Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were here albums incessantly and the songs always seemed to stick in my head long after he’d finished his listening session. I would often throw those albums on and sneak a listen when he was out. The album that grabbed me the most though was Wish You Were Here. It wasn’t an album that you could just put on for a song or two though, it needed to be listened all the way through. Quite often my dad would come home in the middle of me listening and I would have to rush to turn the music off, quickly pack the vinyl away and adjust the settings on his stereo back to what they were. He hated when anyone fucked with his stereo system and always seemed to know when someone had.
Pink Floyd’s music just always sounded epic but tranquil to me and Gilmour’s guitar playing was like from another planet. So very emotional and dreamy even when he tore it up a bit more. I loved his voice also. Very calming and soothing with a beautiful timbre to it.

Pink Floyd along with the Beatles are far and away my favourite non metal bands, Wish You Were Here and The White album are my favourite non metal albums and David Gilmour & John Lennon my favourite non metal musicians.

I saw Pink Floyd in 88 on The Momentary Lapse Of Reason tour  and have seen Roger Waters on a couple of occasions doing the The Wall album in it’s entirety and more recently the US+Them tour which I took my dad along to which was kinda special.

P.S. I have to say I’ve really enjoyed this thread, it’s been a cathartic experience to recollect these memories and actually get them down in writing in some detail and also read others recollections and their influential albums because I’m sure as time goes on the memories will fade away...So well done Kilo for starting this thread. Was thinking we could do something similar down the track on movies. The movies that have stayed with you or meant the most to you growing up.

Cheers!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Thanks Jack, I've really enjoyed this thread too, it has worked so much better than I had hoped.

And regarding your final choice, a great choice: but that is not the cover I'm familiar with for Wish You Were here, the person who nominated me on FB to do this also used that cover, the one I know is:

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Day 10

Those of you who know me will not be surprised that the final choice on my list is 1973s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by the pioneers of hard rock / heavy metal Black Sabbath:



A school friend sold me this album second hand in 1980, and it completely changed my life. To this day Black Sabbath are my favourite group and this album is my all time favourite album. It's heavy, varied, imaginative and intelligent music. Ozzy is on fine form and Geezer was obviously under the influence of something when he wrote the brilliant lyrics. Tony has some of his best ever riffs, and Rick Wakeman was in an adjacent studio during the recording and chips in with some keyboards.

This really did influence my life more than anything else I can think of in any way!

[Jack the Stripper]

Thanks Jack, I've really enjoyed this thread too, it has worked so much better than I had hoped.

And regarding your final choice, a great choice: but that is not the cover I'm familiar with for Wish You Were here, the person who nominated me on FB to do this also used that cover, the one I know is:

That was the original shrink wrap that concealed the real cover inside which was the two men handshaking. Was also on the the actual record labels.

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^Heres one in the original black shrink wrap with sticker

I think some later reissues in the 2000s used it that as the cover. Otherwise it’s always been the men handshaking.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
I've only ever had a CD which I'm sure I bought late 80s and which I think came out in 1985 (but there's no date on it!). It's a UK edition, and the hand shaking image is in the booklet with a couple of other images.


BTW, I'm going to do a Day 11 which will be 3 or 4 albums that didn't quite make the 10 but are worth a mention!

[Jack the Stripper]

Yeah there might have been some CD reissues in the 80’s I’m not sure. Come to think of it the later vinyl reissues might have been in a black slip case that encased the cardboard album cover of the men handshaking. But the  actual original vinyl cover that housed the records was the men handshaking and it came in a black Shrink wrap with a sticker which most of them were discarded on opening the vinyl. They are worth quite a bit of money now in the original shrink wrap.

[Vyn]

Punk aesthetic, loud, hard, heavy, and fast. Fucking brilliant.

[Charger]

Day 7



After my mind was completely blown by the incredible Dehumanizer album I knew I needed more Black Sabbath. Not knowing much about the band (as there wasn't much in the way of internet yet back in those days nor google for that matter) I went to a record store and looked for Black Sabbath. There were few albums there (don't remember what they were though) and I went with the one with the coolest cover art (as that was the main reason I bought the Dehumanizer because of that incredible artwork)...I remember getting home and opening the album and putting it on while reading the credits and I was kind of shocked when the singer was NOT Ronnie James Dio but some guy called Ozzy Osbourne...anyways while I was reading that the rain and the church bell intro ran and then the first heavy bar from Iommi's guitar came in and I remember I just stopped reading and just sat there listening...it was clearly very different from what I thought it would be but it was really awesome anyways...well untill Ozzy started singing that is...I remember thinking "Oh god...they replaced that incredible Dio guy with this!?!?"

But honestly Ozzy's voice grew on me quite fast though....eventhough he didn't have the presense nor versatility of Ronnie...And ofcourse it didn't take too long to find out this was actually their first album. I do remember putting this on the back burner for a bit as it didn't quite match what I though I was in for. But soon I went back to it and I remember reading the lyrics (which aren't quite right on the Castle Remaster which I did note already back then eventhough my english wasn't all that good back then at the age of 15-16) and listening to the music and getting used to Ozzy's voice and soon this album fully opened the door to all things Black Sabbath...and finding out about Joe's site and mailing list and all those cool things of the late 90s. I think in a year or so I knew almost everything there was to know about Sabbath....and my eternal love affair with the band had been forged.

[Zzzptm]

Day 10

Since 1986 to 2020, my mom's done a radio show on community radio here in Dallas, 89.3 FM KNON. I helped her on and off through the years, but started to help her regularly with her show in 2012. The show is The Magic Time Warp Show and it plays every Saturday from 10-noon here in Dallas. We focused on music from 1945-1963, the roots of Rock and Roll. A few years ago, we opened things up for the younger audience and added Motown and Stax/Volt.

This year, my mom came to the conclusion that she couldn't be the main person on the fun side of the microphone and has handed things over to me. During the quarantine, she's only able to call in and listen to the show. That's a bit sad for me, because I always enjoyed spending those 2 hours/week with my mom, having fun, playing records, doing goofy radio stuff. Now that's fading. Not gone, but I know that day comes one day.

My choice for today isn't an album. It's a 45. I remember seeing it when I was barely done being a toddler, when my mom would play stacks of 45s as I ran around and around the pool table in our house. I remember the Fee Bee label and the great bass line for that voice in the group. It's always been a favorite of mine. When my mom chose it as the theme for the show, "Because it's the best Rock and Roll song ever made," I had no argument against it.

"Whispering Bells" is going to be a song that always has a deep meaning in my family because it's my mom's theme. I grew up with it, I play it every week, my kids hear it more than once or twice a year, it's in our family for sure. This one song has affected about 2 hours of my life every week for the last 8 years, and will continue to do so for years to come. Led Zeppelin's 4th album may have been the first record I ever bought, but I was raised up on the Del Vikings, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Hank Ballard, The Coasters, Fats Domino, and all the greats of the Golden Age of Rock.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Day 11 - Bonus Day

Just some albums which didn't make the final 10 but I think are worth a mention:

[Jack the Stripper]

Bonus Day

Going to finish off with 5 albums which I’ve included for various reasons.


Overkill was my introduction to Motörhead and probably my favourite album of theirs when it’s all said & done. Lemmy, Eddie & Phil were an unbeatable threesome.
 

Bought Blizzard & Diary the same day but Diary ended up just winning. The bookend songs are two of the best opening/closing songs on any album ever. Eternal RR fan after hearing these albums. 


The satanic imagery, the lyrics, the bestial voice of Cronos with the rawness of the music & production literally made this album feel like it was straight from Hell itself. There was a time when Venom’s Black Metal album genuinely scared me as a kid.


1984’s “The Dungeons Are Calling” was my gateway to Savatage but 87’s Hall Of The Mountain King turned me from just merely liking them to truly loving them. One of the great traditional metal albums of the 80’s.


Proud Megadeth fan from the beginning so I couldn’t do this without including an album. Purely putting it in because it’s not only Dave’s best work but Rust In Peace is one of the great metal albums of all time, and in my humble opinion the last truly great legendary thrash album. One of the most addictive listening experiences ever when it came out and I’ll never tire of it.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Damn, I should have put Rust In Peace in my bonus day! And probably Master of Puppets too!

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^
Damn, I should have put Rust In Peace in my bonus day! And probably Master of Puppets too!

In normal circumstances I would’ve included MOP but I’ve really tried to limit it to one album per band. I referred to Rust In Peace as being one of the most addictive albums when it came out well Master of Puppets literally was the most I’ve ever been addicted to an album. The anticipation knowing the follow up to RTL was coming and then to deliver what they did was just incredible at the time.

[Zzzptm]

Lol, I already had 2 bonus albums in my list!