Quicklists CDXX: Top 5 Albums That Changed Your Life

[Smitty]

1. Real: The Tom T. Hall Project tribute album (opened me up to the world of alt-country)
2. DBT - Decoration Day (connected with me more than any other album ever, and I've always been a music fanatic)
3. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush (Gave me a new definition of what rock N roll can be)
4. Pearl Jam - Vitalogy (the go-to album for my teen years - kinda atypical, looking back)
5. DBT - ABBAC (literally saved my life)

[Zip City]

In chronological order:

Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction - My musical tastes up to this point (Junior High) were your typical 80's pop stuff. This record was my first introduction to the dark side of rock

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon - I was introduced to Floyd through MTV (of all things) and the "Learning to Fly" video. When I started digging into their catalog, DSOTM knocked me on my ass. I didn't know popular music could be like this.

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste - By 10th grade, I was listening to some metal (Metallica/Anthrax mostly), but when I heard Ministry at a party, it totally redefined what speed/anger/volume meant. This album made Metallica sound like Bon Jovi

Bad Examples - Cheap Beer Night - Freshman year of college at DePaul University (Chicago), and my roommate introduced me to this local bar band. The song writing was incredible, and since the band was from Chicago, they were accessible. I went to dozens of shows, and even had the lead singer/songwriter on my college radio show for an interview. It was my first introduction to a "local" music scene.

Drive-By Truckers - Southern Rock Opera - Bought this album in 2007, after the band came through the venue where I worked on TDU tour. I had never heard them before (though remembered reading the Rolling Stone review back in 2001 when it came out), and after hearing a 3 hour acoustic show, I was blown away by the "plugged in" sound. That album made me seek out a band message board, which lead me to 9B, which lead me to a whole new world of artists/albums/etc. that I might have never discovered before. The last 3 years of my music life are mostly defined by this board.

[dee dee]

1. Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera. Turned me on to my favorite band ever and into a full fledged music nerd.
2. The Smiths - Louder the Bombs. Opened me up to the world of alternative music.
3. Son Volt - Trace. First alt-country album I ever heard and changed the way I looked at music.
4. Grateful Dead - Skeletons From The Closet. It must have been about January of 1990 when I took that hit of acid, my buddy put this in and I was hooked (on the Dead that is).
5. Boston - Don't Look Back. My very cool Uncle got this for me for XMas when I was 7 and got me interested in R & R.

[RevMatt]

The Beatles A Hard Day's Night -- Got this one for Christmas when I was eight. The UK version. First album I ever owned.
The Jim Carroll Band Catholic Boy -- I covered this in my artist of the week article on Jim.
Echo and the Bunnymen Heaven Up Here -- This album was my biggest influence when I started writing songs and started my first band.
Tom Waits Rain Dogs -- After my band broke up I decided that my fate as a musician would never again be dictated by the whims of a "lead vocalist." If I was going to write my own songs, I was going to sing them. Problem was, I never had much of a voice. But this album showed me the way.
Drive By Truckers A Blessing and a Curse -- First album I heard by the band that literally saved my life. I've gone into this story too many times on here that I sound like a one trick pony. But it is great to be alive.

[lajakesdad]

Abbey Road - Beatles - my mom played this all through my early years
London Calling - The Clash - shared a room with my older brother and he got this when it came out. haven't stopped listening to it
Jealous Again e.p. - Black Flag - got this when I was 10 years old. never heard anything so angry, fast and loud.
Road to Ruin - Ramones - heard this in a car riding to the beach in jr. high. we played it loud and danced inside the car. got into a fender bender too. was my new favorite band
Decoration Day - DBT - opened up a whole new world to me.

[drtpants]

U2-War
Before this I thought what was on the radio was all the music there was. A total shot across the bow of my adolescent consciousness.

Fables of the Reconstruction- R.E.M.
Bono said R.E.M. was his favorite band. At the time, that was all I needed to know. Inspired my love affair with the Deep South and all of its lore and contradictions.

Double Nickels on the Dime- Minutemen
Taught me that you could be thoughtful and political without being overtly serious all of the time ala U2.

No Depression- Uncle Tupelo
Taught me that great music is part of a continuum. Led to me investigating music made prior to 1955. I've never been the same.

Complete Works-Robert Johnson
Scared the shit out of me. In a good way. Upon first hearing it I literally listened to nothing else for months. The sound of a man who truly believed he was going to hell. I don't think I can take anyone seriously who doesn't at least appreciate the crucial greatness of Robert Johnson and Charley Patton. Give me those two guys, Bill Monroe and the Carters and I really don't need any other music, if it came to that.

Other than the last one and Double Nickels, I don't necessarily think that any of these are the best albums by the artists listed. They were just my entry into their music and other music that I subsequently sought out, which is the whole point of my list.

[Slipkid42]

Carole King - Tapestry - Sometimes I wonder if I'm ever gonna make it home again.That thought crossed my mind, too. This album deserved to be a kajillion seller.

Derek & the Dominoes - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs - This album prepared me for the blues (that I later would actually have). Every note on it is dripping w/emotion.

Rockpile - Seconds of Pleasure - A pure pop lifesaver in the musical death spiral that was the early '80s. It helped put a smile on my face again.

Nirvana - Nevermind - This album rolled down from the Northwest and helped spark a grunge wave that I feel revitalized music in general. It also helped to keep me from becoming my father (as I was starting to think that everything the kids listened to sounded like shit).

Drive-by Truckers - Southern Rock Opera - A magical time warp back to when music sounded good. I'd heard ABAAC and couldn't believe my fuckin' ears, but then I heard SRO and it was like somebody had turned on the light. There's been pep in my step ever since.

[Iowan]

In Chrono order:

1) Tom Petty "Full Moon Fever": I got in trouble in pre-school for singing "Free Falling" on Nursery Rhyme Day. I bought this on cassette when I was 8 with my first rock-picking paycheck.

2) Blink-182 "Dude Ranch": Go ahead, laugh your ass off and get it out of your system. First album I had ever bought without hearing it on the radio or from someone else (at the ripe old age of 14). I just took a stab on the idea that for some reason, I might like this band. Turns out I did, and it turned me onto this thing called "punk rock" which I had read about but nothing of. All of a sudden my, musical tastes exploded. I was searching for new stuff all the time, and left the world of buying albums because you heard it on the radio behind. In some ways, this probably changed my life more than any other album.

3) Rolling Stones "Sticky Fingers": Freshman year at Iowa State. Punk rock, especially pop punk seemed more childish and immature with each passing day. I'd always liked the Stones (my old man played "Let it Bleed" in the car all the time when I was growing up). Outside of that album, however, I'd only paid attention to the songs you hear on classic rock radio. Then I heard "Wild Horses". I was blown away. It moved me in a way that no album had ever moved me. This album is simultaneously responsible for my tastes moving away from punk and towards the mix of classic rock, alt country (hate the term, but what else am I going to call it?) and jam bands (see "alt country") I listen to today. Wild Horses is still my all time favorite song.

4) Pearl Jam "Self Titled": This album is big because it singlehandedly help broaden my tastes in immeasurable ways. Not so much in the genres I was listening to, but bringing me deeper into those genres, and their subgenres, and bringing me a whole universe of music I wasn't picking up. I heard it almost as soon as it came out in May 2006. Some of my good buddies were big Pearl Jam fans. I had felt that Pearl Jam was shit for years, and they had just always rubbed me the wrong way. When this album came out I said to myself "Ok, Al. Your'e going to really give this an open, honest listen". I was blown away. Within several months I was obsessed with the band. I started to explore some of their idols, like Neil Young, in more depth than I had before. I started hanging around their message board and seeing what other PJ fans were listening to. I kept hearing about this band called the Drive-By Truckers. Every time I read about DBT, I started to think, "hmm, I should check these guys out. Sounds pretty awesome". Which brings me to...

5) Drive-By Truckers, "A Blessing And A Curse": Summer 2007. Walking through the music selection of Best Buy in Rochester, MN, and I see this album sitting there with the sticker noting they had been called "the best rock and roll band in America" by Blender. Between that and all I'd heard about them on the PJ message board, I figured I'd check it out. It was time to "fall" for a new band. By the end of "Aftermath USA", I had. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sorry for the rambling.

[beantownbubba]

Woodstock - exposed me to so much music beyond the scope of the typical top 40 oriented 12/13 year old's experience, plus providing my first inkling of just how important music could be in one's life, plus providing excellent fuel for my budding adolescent rebellion. I clearly remember playing the "Fish Cheer" and Jimi's "Star Spangled Banner for my parents, thus drawing 2 of many lines that seemed incredibly important at the time.

Blood on the Tracks - Kind of odd, actually. Despite being very much about the concerns of people much older than me, it was the first Dylan album that really felt like it was "mine," that i could immediately "get," as opposed to the older classics, which were already classic by the time I discovered that there was something beyond "Like A Rolling Stone."

Born to Run - just when i thought rock n roll had come and gone before i could fully jump into it, here came the album that said "hang on there, bud, we're just getting started, just believe!" I did, and i still do, kinda sorta.

Late for the Sky - The perfect album for the exact moment in my life when i needed it.

Decoration Day - just when i thought rock n roll had come and gone while I stood there watching, here came the album that said "hang on there, bud, we're just getting started, just believe!" I did, and i still do, kinda sorta.

[drtpants]

Ramble on, my friend. Ramble on...good stuff.

[drtpants]

Woodstock - exposed me to so much music beyond the scope of the typical top 40 oriented 12/13 year old's experience, plus providing my first inkling of just how important music could be in one's life, plus providing excellent fuel for my budding adolescent rebellion. I clearly remember playing the "Fish Cheer" and Jimi's "Star Spangled Banner for my parents, thus drawing 2 of many lines that seemed incredibly important at the time.

Blood on the Tracks - Kind of odd, actually. Despite being very much about the concerns of people much older than me, it was the first Dylan album that really felt like it was "mine," that i could immediately "get," as opposed to the older classics, which were already classic by the time I discovered that there was something beyond "Like A Rolling Stone."

Born to Run - just when i thought rock n roll had come and gone before i could fully jump into it, here came the album that said "hang on there, bud, we're just getting started, just believe!" I did, and i still do, kinda sorta.

Late for the Sky - The perfect album for the exact moment in my life when i needed it.

Decoration Day - just when i thought rock n roll had come and gone while I stood there watching, here came the album that said "hang on there, bud, we're just getting started, just believe!" I did, and i still do, kinda sorta.

Cool list. My middle name is Woodstock. Really. Can't say hearing it changed my life because that album was always around but I can totally understand how that could be an important record to a young person. Again, neat list.

[Clams]

Great thread. Love reading all the responses.

I'll go with...

1980 - Bruce's The River - opened up my 14 year old ears for the first time to real rock music from a real rock band.
1990 - The Beatles - Abbey Road - I finally got into the Beatles around 1990 while in my early 20's around the time that Mrs Clams and I fell in love. I couldn't believe just how good they really were.
1998 - Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels - Took me a long time to figure out what I was looking for in my music. This record was it.
2008 - Truckers - BTCD - the rest as they say is history

I'll have to get back to you with a fifth.

[Cubfan06]

1) Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (As a youngster made me realize that music could be dangerous)

2) Soundgarden- Badmotorfinger (My friends we're more into Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but for my early years of finding my own tastes, Soundgarden was my band. Pearl Jam had a lot more longevity and diversity. This album more so than any other album spawned me to spin off into a more exploratory phase of rock. Later I found the Screaming Trees, Afghan Whigs, etc)

3) Beastie Boys- Check Your Head (Proved that life and music had no boundaries. )

4) Radiohead- Ok Computer ( Spoke to me that it was okay to be a fucked up 18-19 year old kid. The music and Thom Yorke's voice say a lot more than his words ever could)

5) DBT-Decoration Day

[drtpants]

1) Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (As a youngster made me realize that music could be dangerous)

2) Soundgarden- Badmotorfinger (My friends we're more into Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but for my early years of finding my own tastes, Soundgarden was my band. Pearl Jam had a lot more longevity and diversity. This album more so than any other album spawned me to spin off into a more exploratory phase of rock. Later I found the Screaming Trees, Afghan Whigs, etc)

3) Beastie Boys- Check Your Head (Proved that life and music had no boundaries. )

4) Radiohead- Ok Computer ( Spoke to me that it was okay to be a fucked up 18-19 year old kid. The music and Thom Yorke's voice say a lot more than his words ever could)

5) DBT-Decoration Day

Love this list. Bought all of these records and dug them heavily. Only reason they weren't pivotal to me is probably because I was a little older when I heard them. Other than Nation of Millions, which could have easily made my list. An extremely important album, period. Still sounds fresh, urgent and dangerous even twenty-odd years later. Hip-hop has still not caught up with these guys, maybe it never will. A truly radical album. As a political artistic statement of purpose, it has never been matched.

Great to see both of these hip-hop records on a list. Everybody says Fear of a Black Planet is the best PE and Paul's Botique is the best Beastie Boys but I have always thought Nation and Check Your Head were the far stronger albums. I'm always in the minority.

[John A Arkansawyer]

It hadn't quite sunk in till just now how much older I am than the rest of you, or at least how much older my musical tastes feel. Anyway:

Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited. I was up in the middle of the night listening to WKY or KOMA (I forget the details) and the dj played "Ballad of a Thin Man". The next day was the first time my parents were successful at getting me to mow the lawn for money. When I was done, I went to Gibson's and got this record.
Patti Smith, Radio Ethiopia. Yes, Horses is better, but I got this one first. It's spacey and weird where Horses is focused and driving. Either one would have done me in. I eventually picked up Horses and a Joan Baez love song two-LP reissue at the Ben Franks in Springdale.
John Lee Hooker and Canned Head, Hooker 'n' Heat. This is the album that broke through to me with the blues, especially the first disc with John Lee solo. As an unexpected bonus, "Burnin' Hell" is one of the most deeply spiritual songs I've ever heard.
Camper Van Beethoven, Telephone Free Landslide Victory. This one shaped my life for about two stress-filled and successful (on their own terms) years of insanity. This story is not yet ripe for the telling.
R.E.M., Life's Rich Pageant. In specific, "Begin the Begin". The first time I heard that song, I probably played it over twenty times and drank most of a six-pack while doing it. Eventually, I started a weekly newspaper and named it the Fayetteville Begin.

Special bonus award goes to the Jayhawks' Tomorrow the Green Grass, without which I probably wouldn't have gotten married and had a daughter.

We'll have to give Southern Rock Opera and Separation Sunday a little more time to see if they really work the lasting wonders the others did.

I'm surprised at these absences from my seventies: White Light/White Heat, We're Only In It For The Money, Sail Away, Blows Against the Empire, My Aim Is True.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Chronologically

1. Tommy- The Who

This was the first record I ever owned (I still have the badly worn copy). I was 9 and my mom let me pick out an album at this large music sale and I picked it. I played it on a portable record player in our garage over an over. I invited my friends over and we sang "we're not gonna take it" over and over without even knowing what it means. The damage was done. Rock & Roll had me.

2. Some Enchanted Evening- Blue Oyster Cult

I had just started my senior year in high school when my buddy Al Wiggs turned me on to this one. BoC immediately became my favorite band. I had been into music for years at that point but didn't really have a favorite band. After that I did. I got every record they had and saw them live. My first, but hardly last, rock and roll obsession.

3. London Calling- The Clash

This one was a game changer. Before this album I had been into hard rock but that all changed in February of 1978. My mind was blown. This was heavy, but in a different way. It was angry and reflective and nothing like I had ever heard. It led me to Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and others. I had a new path.

4. Hootenanny- The Replacements

This was the revelation that there was music that the radio didn't play. Treasure troves of wonder. Frankly this could be REM's Murmur or a few others as I was exposed to all of them within weeks of each other, but this one I remember. Marty Slouka with a stack of records. Spinning this one. Color Me Impressed. I was drawn into a new world, new friends and actually got kicked out of my band at the time who had yet to discover underground music. They though I was nuts. I was, but in a good way.

5. Decoration Day- DBT

It had been twenty years since I had last had a music milestone. I still loved music but looked for it in the wrong places. Jam band hell was comfortable, if unsatisfying, and I resisted attempts by friends to widen my horizons. I had been through some hard times. Musically I felt old and thought the magic was over. StevieRay had given me a copy of DD when it came out and I sort of dug Marry Me, but other than that I really didn't listen. Then, one day I listened, and the magic that the Who, BoC, The Clash and The Replacements had bathed me in miraculously came back. WOW. Then I saw them live. HOLY SHIT. It all came back. My love of music, my love of song, my love of being a musician. I was whole again. I was me. Then I got involved with this community and discovered that I was not alone. So many others had the same story. I was home. Better late than never.

[scotto]

5. Drive-By Truckers, Decoration Day. For obvious and multiple reasons as stated in previous posts.

4. Neil Young, After the Gold Rush. First Neil album I bought way back in junior high and it helped usher in a musical awareness and lifelong Neil fandom that saw me through awkward adolescence, high school, and beyond.

3. Patti Smith, Horses. Saw her on Saturday Night Live when I was 15 or so, saw her at Cain's Ballroom a few years later. Bought this album and began paying more attention to what was going on in the little nooks and crannies of the musical world far beyond what I was hearing on the radio and from friends' big brothers' record collections. As a result, I was prepped (even eager) for all the great music that would hit in the late '70s.

2. Bob Dylan, Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. I'd heard "Blowin' In the Wind" and "The Times They are A-Changin'" and "Mr. Tambourine Man" and even "Like a Rolling Stone" most of my life, but never paid much more attention until I joined the Columbia Record Club in junior high and got 11 records for 99 cents or something like that. Needing to use up some selections, I opted for this two-record set. I don't think these two discs left my turntable for months.

And I know I've told this story before, but this remains the one album that truly changed my life...



1. Count Basie Orchestra, E=MC2 (the Atomic album). Spring of 1994, I walk into The Music Exchange in Kansas City to do some record shopping and find a nice clean copy of Basie's "Atomic" album. When I take it to the counter, the cute record store girl engages me in idle chatter about the album and we have a nice conversation about music and records and interests. This June will be our 17th anniversary.

[beantownbubba]

And I know I've told this story before, but this remains the one album that truly changed my life...



1. Count Basie Orchestra, E=MC2 (the Atomic album). Spring of 1994, I walk into The Music Exchange in Kansas City to do some record shopping and find a nice clean copy of Basie's "Atomic" album. When I take it to the counter, the cute record store girl engages me in idle chatter about the album and we have a nice conversation about music and records and interests. This June will be our 17th anniversary.

Winner. Story never gets old, scotto. And as far as life changing goes, you've got the prize for literal response sewn up for sure.

[Clams]

2. Some Enchanted Evening- Blue Oyster Cult

I had just started my senior year in high school when my buddy Al Wiggs turned me on to this one. BoC immediately became my favorite band. I had been into music for years at that point but didn't really have a favorite band. After that I did. I got every record they had and saw them live. My first, but hardly last, rock and roll obsession.

There you go again!

[drtpants]

2. Some Enchanted Evening- Blue Oyster Cult

I had just started my senior year in high school when my buddy Al Wiggs turned me on to this one. BoC immediately became my favorite band. I had been into music for years at that point but didn't really have a favorite band. After that I did. I got every record they had and saw them live. My first, but hardly last, rock and roll obsession.

There you go again!

You owe us another record. Get on the stick, ya fuckin' slacker!

[cortez the killer]

1. Decade Neil Young - Got this on cassette my senior year in high school. I knew the "hits" via classic rock radio. I was blown away by stuff like "Down By the River," "The Needle and the Damage Done," and "Cortez the Killer." I know this is more a collection or a box set, but its impact cannot be understated.

2. IV Led Zeppelin - 8th grade Christmas Santa left this for me. I knew "Black Dog" and "Stairway." I wore the shit out of this on the old Sony Walkman. I went through a 24-month period where all I listened to was Led Zeppelin.

3. Live 1975-85 Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - Got this wonderful live box set for Christmas my sophomore year in high school. The first CDs I ever owned. Played it non-stop for months. Served as my introduction to many of the deeper cuts in the Boss' catalog.

4. Ten Pearl Jam - Freshman year in college I came across this. Represents my transition from classic rock to what was being called "Alternative" at the time. In hindsight it seems pretty funny that Pearl Jam was considered to be an alternative rock band. From there, I got caught up in the whole grunge scene (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, etc.). Then I moved toward stuff like Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and Afghan Whigs. I rarely, if ever, listen to this album anymore. However, it was a game-changer for me.

5. Decoration Day DBT - It's not the first Trucker album I had or heard (The Dirty South). But this was the one that gave me the bug, prompting me to dig deeper. Phenominal stuff. A great band at its creative zenith. I was obsessed with this for months on end.

[Clams]

You owe us another record. Get on the stick, ya fuckin' slacker!

I'll go with the bootleg of Bruce's 1978 Winterland radio simulcast. My brother and I bought it at the Record Cellar in northeast Philly in 1981. I think it cost us $25 and we split it 50-50. It was a three record set and I must've listened to all 6 sides a thousand times while in high school. The pic below is exactly what the album cover looked like. I'm including it here because it turned me on to the joy of listening to great live music, which I still do pretty much every day of my life.

[drtpants]

Thank you...

[cortez the killer]

1) Public Enemy- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (As a youngster made me realize that music could be dangerous)

2) Soundgarden- Badmotorfinger (My friends we're more into Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but for my early years of finding my own tastes, Soundgarden was my band. Pearl Jam had a lot more longevity and diversity. This album more so than any other album spawned me to spin off into a more exploratory phase of rock. Later I found the Screaming Trees, Afghan Whigs, etc)

3) Beastie Boys- Check Your Head (Proved that life and music had no boundaries. )

Damn! Some good ones there. I almost went with Badmotorfinger. Monster album. I went with the album that served as the gateway to that instead - Pearl Jam's Ten. Nation of Millions was a big part of my high school listening experience. That, Straight Outta Compton, and Paul's Boutique received an insane amount of airplay for me. I specifically remember taking the train into Boston my the spring of my sophomore year in high school with Bob McDonough. We hit the Tower Records on the corner of Newbury St. & Massachusetts Ave. The place was something like four stories high. Picked up Nations and Boutique on cassette. I was blown away by the beats on both. Completely different messages on both records, but cherished parts of my musical development.

[sactochris]

1) The Velvet Underground & Nico

I spent a few extra bucks and bought a Japanese import copy that had the peelable banana. I remember being really unimpressed at the time with "Sunday Morning" the album's opening track. It was appropriate that at the time I was kneeling in front of the stereo because when the dirty, scuzzy, glorious piano & guitar intro from "Waiting For The Man" kicked in It was like a religious experience. By the time Lou started singing, I was a goner.


2) X More Fun In The New World

The record that got me through High School. We all have one of those don't we?


3) Jim Carroll Band Catholic Boy


I played this album so much you could almost hear both sides playing at the same time it was so well worn.


4) Tim The Replacements


This album really spoke to me on a deep emotional level. It still does. I think that's a real testament to Westerberg's genius as a song writer. I'm certainly not the same person at 42 that I was at 18, yet songs like Bastards Of Young and Little Mascara still resonate.


5) Being There Wilco


I was 28 years old. I had just settled down with the woman that I would eventually marry and have children with. I was, as F Scott Fitzevon sang, Too old too die young and too young too die now. I was facing the fact that I wasn't a kid anymore. I was slouching towards manhood. It sounds like a cliche to say that this album helped make a man out of me, but It really did.

[drtpants]

This thread utterly kicks ass.

[Clams]

This thread utterly kicks ass.

agreed

[rlipps]

DBT--SRO
Guns n Roses--Appetite For Destruction
Stones--Sticky Fingers
Aerosmith--Rocks
Petty--Full Moon Fever

[PeterJ]

Guns 'N' Roses - Use Your Illusion II - The first cassette I bought on my own, and really got me into "hard rock" which in turn led to...

Metallica - Metallica (Black Album) - Radio friendly metal that urged me to dig deeper and become very particular about the metal that I listen too. Can't listen to much new stuff at all, can only think of is The Sword as a "newer" metal band that I have purchased their albums.

DBT - SRO - Had downloaded a bunch of DBT songs, but no idea what album any of them were from. Told my sister I wanted SRO for xmas one year, (I wanted SRO becuase it was a 2 disc, and I would get more DBT) and played the shit out of it until I got everything else as quickly as my meager budget at the time would allow. Here I am today buying deluxe DBT packages and going to how many shows a year.

Alice In Chains - Unplugged - The first album of my "metal phase" that made me realize how great an acoustic guitar is, and that everything doesn't have to be turned up to 11 to sound great (not that it hurts ).

Stones - Sticky Fingers - I always liked the stones, but never really got into anything beyond the "hits" from the radio. I didn't start listening to albums so much until I started coming to 9 bullets. I heard Dead Flowers on outlaw country, or xcountry, whatever it was at the time, and I just had to have that song. I got sticky fingers, and listened all the way through, and couldn't believe what the radio wasn't playing. I now own 3 copies of this on vinyl, because even though they looked great, the sound wasn't perfect on the first two. Probably still not perfect, but between the three albums, I have a perfect whole album. I now own a shit-ton of the stones on vinyl, and can't believe what I was missing, but this is the album that started it all for me.

[PeterJ]

For the record, Appetite is a much better album than Use Your Illusion I or II, but URI II was what got me there.