The 10 Albums That Influenced My Life

[Charger]

Day 8



After getting some more information about Ronnie James Dio and finding out he was in an other band before joining Sabbath (this must have been around 1998 or 1999...I had gotten Holy Diver and I think Strange Highways already at this point) I went out and bought the very first Rainbow album I could find...and it was this one. I knew nothing of the band part from the fact that Ronnie James Dio was without a doubt the best singer I had ever heard. So it was a very virgin experience putting this record on for the first time.

And I gotta say if you want your musical cherry popped properly...this album does the job. It simply just blew my mind. It was heavy, but not so heavy, it was fast, but not so fast but most importantly it was melodic, and full of brilliant playing. Right away the other thing that stood out was the guitar playing. Some incredible stuff...very different from what I'd learned to like from Sabbath or Maiden which were the two main bands for me at the time. It was much more "techincal"...Ritchie was just all over the place...it was unlike anything I had heard before. So naturally I had to find out more about him. Thankfully the proto version of Internet with it's altavista search engine came to the aid...and ofcourse then I learned about a band called Deep Purple, but that's another story.

This album quickly became one of my most played albums at the time. And it made me want more Rainbow so off I went to buy another one and came back with an album called Bent Out Of Shape and with great excitement I put it on...and was totally shocked at what I was hearing...how in the hell is this the same band!??! It can't be...this must be some east european knock off group....right?!? But no I read the name Ritchie Blackmore from the booklet..I was totally stunned...how could the man that played on a track like Stargazer (which probably at the time was one of THE greatest pieces of music I had ever heard...and shit...IT STILL IS!!!) could be involved in pop rock garbage like this...well that question still lingers in the back of my mind after all these years...

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^
Yeah, I think we all wonder "what could have been" with Richie, he's done very little of note in the last 20-30 years!!

[Charger]

^^^
Well some of the Blackmore's Night stuff is really really good though. And it showcases Ritche's immense talent quite well. I'd rather listen to any of the Blackmore's Night albums over those pop-Rainbow albums any day.

[Jack the Stripper]

It’s a shame Ritchie turned his back on heavy rock music for so many years and we ultimately never got that Rainbow reunion with Ronnie but his acoustic playing is sublime though.

[Zzzptm]

"The banjo player took a hike." - Ian Gillan



But, yes, that is one awesome album. Always one of my hard rock favorites.

[Charger]

Day 9



This was my first Deep Purple album...well my second actually after the Deepest Purple collection but the first ACTUAL album.

After learning more about Ritchie Blackmore I had to find out what that other band of his was like and bought the Deepest Purple collection and it just shook me up! What an amazing band it was so ofcourse I had to get more of their albums and learing the best songs from the collection came from Machine Head it kind of was the obvious choice...And it did not disappoint! No bad tracks on it and the remastered version was great sounding even if some of the remixes sounded bit odd.

The thing that really got me was how they could make such a simple song like Smoke On The Water sound so epic. And a complex song like Lazy sound so effortless. This was the album that solidified Deep Purple as one of my favourite bands!

[Zzzptm]

It's absolutely one of the best rock albums, ever. It's a true desert island disc, if ever there was one.

[Charger]

Day 10



And this is it! The definitive album...the one that has influenced my life more than any other as this was the album that opened the door to all things heavy metal and that made me a proper music fan.

I was at my local second hand record store and was checking out albums not really for buying just for the heck of it and came across this one...the cover art was probably the greatest thing I'd ever seen. Such an incredible piece of art and I knew nothing of the band or the music but something inside me just said "BUY THIS" so I did.
I remember getting home from school and putting this on and it was an instant WOW-factor. I'd never heard music like this before. The ultra heaviness of the guitar, the drums, the bass...and then the vocals...my god those vocals. I'd never heard anything like it. The sheer power behind that microphone was unmatched.

I remember listening to this every chance I got. And it didn't take long for me to get more things Sabbath and ofcourse more things heavy metal.

This was the album that started my journey into the world of heavy metal and it's journey I'm still on and will never stop.

Thank you Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Vinny Appice and Geoff Nicholls for opening my world.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

^^^

I love that album, it's my 3rd favourite Sabbath album and as such probably my 3rd favourite album of all time!

[Zzzptm]

I certainly won't say no to some Dehumanizer!

[Charger]

^^
Who would?

^^^
I love that album, it's my 3rd favourite Sabbath album and as such probably my 3rd favourite album of all time!

Probably mine too...

It's
Mob Rules
Master Of Reality
Dehumanizer

A very very tight group.

[Thelemech]

My day 6 - I know I am way behind 



I bought this around the end of my tenure in high school, Now I was a dedicated Metal Head but I would still listen to anything that had worth. I of course had heard the Beatles a ton from my parents but that was mostly the early years of their career.
This is still my favorite album by the fab four, a milestone in the history of Rock N Roll.
I became a rabid Beatle fan and soon had all of their studio albums.

[Zzzptm]

Revolver is when I start to like The Beatles' catalog... and where my mom starts to hate it.

[Thelemech]

This started a 25 year obsession with everything related to this band and it's strong willed leader Chuck Schuldiner.
Not their best album by any means but it was definitely the album from them that made me a fan. Also the most extreme thing I had heard up to that point, and made me seek out the realm of practitioners of Death Metal like Obituary, Vader and many others.