Build Your Own Clone Message Board

As a carryover from the Nirvana thread and the flip-flop thread, how about specifically positive musical experiences?

I can name a few, in chronological order (not necessarily in order of release, but in order of when I found them):

1. Pink Floyd, The Wall. Blew my mind, but I was 5, so - yeah.
2. Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet. Yep, and not ashamed of it either. I had been too engrossed in my parents back catalog of vinyl for my own good. In the 5th grade my favorite song was "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas. Bon Jovi dragged me out of my cave forever.
3. Sisters Of Mercy, Floodland. Untaught me what Bon Jovi had taught me - that commercial rock was the best music.
4. Guns 'n Roses, Appetite For Destruction. Retaught me that commercial rock could rock.
5. Nine Inch Nails, Pretty Hate Machine. Started me in touch with my angry side.
6. Ministry, The Land of Rape and Honey. Really got me in touch with my anger.
7. Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power. Convinced me that my anger was correct. Also made me want to play the guitar - no guitar sound previous to this had made me want to pick one up myself ... Dimebag forever.
8. Chet Baker, Baby Breeze. Captivated me for about two weeks. Couldn't stop hearing it. Almost lost my job from spacing out on gin and tonics with this CD repeating endlessly ...
9. Buju Banton, Till Shiloh. Taught me that all of my anger was stupid, and I should stop it.
10. Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Soundtrack. Reminded me what The Wall had shown me so long ago, that music was great, but ALBUMS were greater.
11. Teddy Morgan and The Pistolas, Like a Bullet From A Gun. Convinced me that locally made and produced music was just as viable as anything else.
12. Maktub, Kronos. Showed me that the record companies were indeed useless.

... it gets a little thin after that. Not because things stopped being important musically to me, but because by this point (about 2003) I was so wide open musically that I was finding new favorites once or twice a week. I was pissing friends off by insisting that they listen to the flavor of the day at loud volumes at all times. I'm still that way - I don't care - come over and I'll break out the vinyl, leave if you want, but I'm keeping the record playing.

Nice thread idea!

Looks like we'll have some common music on our lists.

These aren't in any specific order, just typing them up as they come to mind.

Genesis - Invisible Touch: Probably my first album purchase that was really of my own choosing. I was too young to understand the complex emotional pain that Phil was in when he wrote the album, but I did get that it was emotional and I dug that. I find that it has stood the test of time for me.

Megadeth - Rust in Peace: I saw the Hangar 18 video premier on Handbanger's Ball. It blew my mind. Got the album shortly thereafter, and discovered that Hangar 18 was the weakest song on the album (the rest were even better). I got the tab book (no internet then) and learned most of the songs on the album. I recall sitting down with a metronome so that I could get the hang of the main rhythm riff at the beginning of Take No Prisoners. I can still rip out the main riff to Tornado of Souls.

Led Zeppelin - IV: Not sure what to say. It's just awesome. Best drumming in rock, period.

Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien: I was taking lessons when I first heard this. Another mind-blower. It's what got me into tapping technique and learning modes.

Steve Vai - Passion & Warfare: This was, for me, the next logical step from Satch. Kind of like old Joe, but with more emotion (and harmonizer action!). Blue Powder still does it for me, as does Sisters.

Pink Floyd - The Wall: Took me 15 years to come around on this one. I hated it the first time I heard it in high school. Then one night many years later while doing mushrooms, I threw it on for the heck of it (actually, my laptop telepathically suggested I play it). At the end of In the Flesh, I actually hit the deck to avoid being hit by the dive bombing airplane. I still listen to regularly; it just doesn't get old. Waters is a genius.

Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction: This is what made me want to be a rock star. The attitude is as important as the music. Both are raunchy and unapologetic. Ass-kicking rock n roll. I still chase tones off that album.

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky: Probably when I realized that I liked something that didn't feature overlapping distorted tones. Definitely changed the way I thought about my own playing.

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream: I could actually take or leave all the rest of their albums, but this one is pure gold. And it was the soundtrack to a very formative time in my youth.

The Crystal Method - Vegas: My first "electronic" love. I just really dig the way they put together sounds.

NWA - Straight Outta Compton: The best rap album of all time. Innovative, raw, original.

Green Day - American Idiot: This is their best work. The rest I could probably just leave, but this album is fantastic. Proof that the concept album isn't dead and doesn't have to be overcomplicated prog-rock in 6/8 time. And the broadway show was epic!

Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power: I think this album kicks more ass than any other single album by any artist at any time. The rhythm section is powerful and flawless, and Dime basically invented a new metal genre with his playing.

Rage Against the Machine: The self-titled album was really groundbreaking. Made me learn a whole new approach to playing. And good god the anger! Made me think about politics as well.

Faith No More - The Real Thing: Proof that keyboards are cool in rock bands. I don't think anybody else sounds like these guys, and The Real Thing was their best effort overall, I think.

''

I left these out due to dumb, but - yeah - these are on my list too. Faith No More, and Mr. Patton himself, are huge in what makes music what I think it should be, and I think Rage are underrated. NWA, and the early hip hop in general was giant for me. I actually did my first DIY (an antenna) to get a radio signal from Phoenix so I could hear it back in the day - nobody in Tucson played it!!!\

Rage - come on for lyrics - this is RADIO FRIENDLY music we're talking about:

Weapons no food not home not shoes not need
Just feed the war cannibal animal
I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a library
Line up at the mind cemetary now
What we don't know keeps the contracts alive and moving
They don't gotta burn the books - they just remove 'em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as the cells
Rally around the family with a pocket full of shells

The best.

And another I forgot to add, but Omar, and all of his projects:

OBRERO

I heard Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, and Queen at the grade school dances, but didn't own any of it. When I hit high school, it was time to start 'looking around' for something to blast in my car. The experiences didn't necessarily come in the following order:

Triumph - Allied Forces: who knew you could put classical/fingerstyle on a rock record?

Rush - Moving Pictures: when I heard the story in Red Barchetta, I was hooked. Then I heard Xanadu and La Villa Strangiato and couldn't get enough of the time signature changes.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Live at the El Mocambo: I had never thought to stand on my guitar when I played......

Dixie Dregs - Bring 'Em Back Alive: just listen to Kashmir (yes, Zep cover) and Cruise Control

Joe Satriani - Flying in a Blue Dream: just try to dance to Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing......

Eric Johnson - live Ah Via Musicom: (1990) went to a Satriani show and was BLOWN AWAY by the opener, EJ who swept the shred right off the stage.

Les Paul - Live show at the Iridium: he was a master entertainer, ingenious inventor, and a great guitar player

Chet Atkins - Live show at the Coach House: see Les Paul

Neal Morse - So Many Roads Live In Europe: more time changes than you can count......pun intended.

OK, first of all, no laughing at the old guy.

First album that made any impression on me was my older brother's McCartney & Wings "Band on the Run". 1973, so I was 10. I remember thinking 'This whole album is good, not just the two songs I like on the radio'.

Next huge impression was Rush 2112 - cool guitar songs and great lyrics. 1976.

First concert I saw was ELO, $8 ticket, $8 t-shirt: loud, orchestral, visual (lasers!).

I got into older Yes and Genesis - stuff from the early 70's while I was in college in the early 80's. Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Close to the Edge, that kind of stuff - orchestral, again.

So, for me, thanks Paul McCartney for showing me the wonder of albums (vs. just listening to the "hits" on the radio). Then, thanks to ELO for showing me "big" music, and Rush for showing me well thought out lyrics.

quick reply to maybe expand later:

Slippery When Wet - actually the reason I wanted to play guitar, I wanted to have teased hair and have groupies like I figured Sambora did, lol


if Sambora made me wanna play guitar, Passion and Warfare made me wanna be good.....still blows my mind

Cool reading so far......I will add mine later when I have more time.

Well I've listened to lots...hard to pick favorites, but here are my landmarks...and roughly when I heard them. One of the beautys of music is the way it will still pack a punch years after the fact.

1970+ I heard my Dad's record collection, Kenny Burrell, Art Pepper, Charlie Parker, Return to Forever, Simon and Garfunkle, Steely Dan and so much more...
Also my Dad's bands which played 3 or 4 nights a week in the nightclubs and pubs around Geelong where I was born.
I'd go along when he set up his gear and listen while they rehearsed a few tunes.
About 1978- Sgnt Peppers, I discovered the Beatles, and rapidly became obsessed with hearing every thing they did.
About 1979 I discovered AM Radio ands listened (secretly) with an ear piece in bed to everything it played...
1984- the first album I bought was 1984 by Van Halen, first single was by ZZ Top.
I had a part time job and bought what I wanted, like all the VH back catalogue, more ZZtop, ACDC, Albert Collins, Johnny Winter and Skyhooks.
Dates get hazy..
Dad always gave me great Lp's at X-mas, best of's by Jimi hendrix, Chuck Berry and SRV.
I started doing Radio programs both at high scool and on the (new) local radio station.

By this time I was playing in bands at school, and by the time I was 16, a residency with a hard rock covers band at a local bikers pub...yep, I'm not lying.
'
The next big thing for me was hearing Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way" and 'Jak JTheyohnson"- I realised jazz was hypnotic and could be like rock.
Discovered Led Zep- physical graphyty and Zep III are my faves
working in live music pubs, the Corner Hotel, the Prince of Wales and then the famous Esplanade Hotel (Espy) where I was for 5 years.
Of all the great bands I saw in those pubs, I heard a band called Diana Kiss who did tunes by Sly Stone (Fresh!- what an album) Dr John, Little Feat and other killer grove stuff. Made a bit impact.
Meanwhile I meet a virtuoso violinist & Berkley graduate, who turned me onto Django the Meters.

While at the Espy I got poached to manage a jazz pub in Fitzroy. I remember at the time I was very much into Funkadelic- especialy the eddie Hazel stuff.

Latter I lived in the garage of the country's best B3 hammond organ player, saw ACDC, Allan Holdsworth and Prince live and then moved north to be a guitar major at SCU


END Part One.

The Grateful Dead - American Beauty: When I first heard "Sugar Magnolia" on a stony drive to the beach one particularly beautiful summer day, my world of music (and my eardrums) was handed the holy grail on a silver, wonderful, and trippy platter. I wasn't just discovering a new favorite (read: I think I have terabytes of Dead media, can date the show by listening, etc, etc. ), I was entering a new realm of improvisational jams, unmatched talent, but most importantly - the wealth of other bands that do the same.

Woah - I think I rambled a bit there That's it for now since it's the most influential, but I'm sure I'll remember others

^^^ that's what I'm like for Phish, though I rarely listen to them anymore. But you can play me a random 30 seconds from deep in a live jam in 1997, and I'll pinpoint the song 9 times out of 10.

Don't get me started on Phish .... They are on the same tier as my Dead devotion
(P.S. seeing them in Long Beach this summer!)

Dude, you are in my wheelhouse. Thanks for posting. Other than you I don't know if anyone else loves jazz here.

Cool threads in the Open forum right now. This one is easy for me.

Freshman college. Became friends with a pot head buddy. His favorite bands? Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and Hendrix among many others. My favorite bands at the time Def Leppard, AC/DC(nothing wrong there IMO), Ratt, Judas Priest, Quiet Riot etc.. etc... Took me about a semester to come around but once I did I realized I had it all wrong, period. The difference in talent level and overal musicianship between what I was listening to and what he was listening to was night and day. Now, I had no thoughts of wanting to play guitar. I was just a fan if you will. One of my many regrets in life, but it just never dawned on me I could pick up the guitar. Too dumb really to think about it.

What that music did was open me up to blues and in turn jazz and I worked back like so many have. Dude also had Spyro Gyra, first album, and BB King's "Midnight Believer" I had never heard of Spyro and had never heard a BB song that I remembered. What I did know is I dug it. That was in 1982 or 3 maybe. Never looked back. Still listen to that music. Has nothing to do with nostalgia.

What was I listening to before Ratt? er.... punk rock. Abhor it now. Pearl Harbor and the Explosions was one of my favorite bands. Godawful lack of talented idiots they were but I sure loved that song they did "Shut up and Dance"

Frank Zappa - I think the first time I heard him was when I was real young, maybe 3 or 4. My dad would play Apostrophe, and Nanook Rubs It has just always stuck with me.

Captain Beefheart - First started listening to him my junior year in highschool, haven't stopped yet, probably never will. The choppy guitar, farty sounding bass stabs, and wild drums have become a mainstay in the music I make. And Don's voice, man, can't get enough of that raspy fella.

The Clash/Joe Strummer - They opened my mind up to so much music I would NEVER have listened to without them.

King Crimson - 'nuff said.

I was kind of lucky in a way, that I wasn't exposed to a bunch of different stuff and my friends were not music geeks when I was in high school. Back then I listened to hard rock and metal mostly (which I still like)

A few years afterward I started wondering if there was anything else and started buying cheap cassettes and used LPs for fun. The cool thing was when I picked up Abbey Road or Rumours it was new and fresh to me. So obviously discovering the Beatles and Led Zep catalogues were huge for me but here are a few of the big ones for me:

Jeff Buckley "Grace": Changed my life. Nothing has come close since.
Elvis Costello's "Brutal Youth" My first Costello album. Another life changer. (I must own 15 of his albums now)
David Bowie's "Space Oddity": Mick Ronson was just icing on the cake to Bowie's fantastic compositions
Ron Sexsmith "Whereabouts": Dude can take a deceptively simple song and turn it into a mournful, melodic masterpiece
Some current artists that have changed things:
System of a Down's "Hypnotize": not a big fan of "Mesmorize" but Hypno was an assault to my senses and in the best of ways
Neko Case "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood": I actually like her latest album even more but this one turned me into a huge fan. I will be buying whatever she releases for the rest of her career.

There are tones other.

Damn, I want in

First albums that changed everything...
Alice Cooper - Love it to Death & Black Sabbath - Master of Reality 1971 and my sister was allowed to have a party, I was 9. The next day while picking through the rubble, she discovered a small stack of albums that someone, who knows, had left behind. After a few days she and her friends split them up and these two were left behind. Being intrigued by the covers I snatched them up. For you older folks, you think AM radio, Top 40 Hits and that's what I was listening to. These two changed everything!
Pink Floyd - Animals When this came out I was 14. Once I got this I listened to it exclusively for 2 months straight. To this day, I still have it on my iPod. The best part, I enjoy it so much even the babe knows my fave parts (Dogs-approximately 6:20).

I'm thinking, I'm thinking, evolving, ouch, Ahhhhhhh
Great thread..

Floyd - Animals and Wish You Were Here then live Floyd. I listened to my first '77 boot in the late 80's while in HS and got hooked. After a good 15 years away I picked them up when I went back to school while studying and 6 years later I still listen to numerous Floyd boots on a weekly basis.

Zeppelin - IV and Physical Graffiti hold so many great memories of not inhaling and hanging out in HS. We had almost all of Zep IV on the jukebox in our high school cafeteria and the songs were playing constantly.

Black Sabbath - it started with Born Again which was my first concert then Their first album and everything in between.

Coil - Horse Rotovator - my first foray into experimental noise - still in heavy rotation

Satriani - after listening to his first two albums my jaw hit the floor when I saw him play most of surfing note for note live.

Trower, Beck, Hendrix, Santana, Ozzy with Rhoads, so much good guitar music.

Steve Tibbets - phenomal little known guitarist

More recently I am really digging Nostalgia 77 which I heard in a record store while out of town on business a few years ago

Merle Haggard - Hag Though released only a few days after my birthday in 1971, it was played by my dad constantly until I was 10 or so. I thought Merle was the coolest, except maybe for Waylon Jennings (Hey, Waylon was the Balladeer on a TV show with Daisy Dukes ass cheeks!)

David Bowie - Station to Station Wow, cool music wasn't just country & western. My older drug addicted sisters at least left something cool around the house. I sometimes wonder how I listened to this at like 7 years old.

Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick Rock N' Roll. Pop. Hard Rock. Glam. Powerpop. My intro to it all.

Black Flag - My War Punk Rock! Before this I was OK with my country, Bowie/Sabbath/Aerosmith from my sisters and the bit of new wave (Cure, P. Furs, Cars) and metal (Ratt, Crue, Accept) I was hearing. But when I saw the ad for this in my buddy's Circus magazine, I had to have it. WOW! No one I knew listened to this. It was either Top 40, Hair Metal or New Wave for 99.9% of my friends. This was outerworldly. I still don't know if I was ever so unprepared for an album.

Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking This had it all.......noise, groove, beauty, ugly, gay, straight, folk, shred, filth, texture. And most important, it got me laid on a regular basis. More appealing to chicks than playing Black Flag. It was sexy. Bowie was sensual, but I was 7 and didn't know it. This I knew. I was 17 and wanted to get f*cked up and bang chicks. The Replacements were the soundtrack to my late teens on nights there were no girls around and only beer (or other stuff). JA was the soundtrack to nights when girls were added.

Superchunk - Foolish - I had known before this that nerds could rock.....Greg Ginn, J Mascis, Calvin Johnson, The Descendents/All, Elvis Costello, but this was enlightening. Not sure why. I was already a Superchunk fan. It just kinda thrust me into music even more. At the time, I thought I needed to learn every note (and outside of few notes, I did learn it all). I had never felt that way before.

The Flaming Lips - Clouds Taste Metallic - Unlike the Superchunk record, I needed to know how to recreate every sound, not play every note. Never came close, but after hundreds of pedal bought and hundreds of pedals built, I thank Wayne Coyne, Steven Drozd, Micheal Ivins and especially guitarist Ronald Jones for inspiring me try.

There's more, but these are the landmark ones.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood - It made me wanna play guitar and play excellently.

Stryper - To Hell With The Devil - It made me give up playing metal.

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? - It made me realize perfect music didn't necessarily mean perfect playing.

Pink Floyd (specifically Gilmour) - Dark Side Of The Moon - It made me feel emotion is solos and how to play nice rhythms to sit in the mix, but not be boring.

Queen - A Night At The Opera - It made me realize there is never too much, yet at the same time, there can't be too little either.

AFI - Sing The Sorrow - It made me see it's possible to channel bad vibes just as well as good.

Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party: Pre-geekmacdaddy Boingo brought me out of my parents record collection when I was 14, and were my first show in '87 or so. They also opened the door for late 80's new wave and opened my mind to the fact that there existed such a thing as a current music scene.

Stevie Ray Vaghn - Pride and Joy: the local LA classic rock station (KLOS) started playing Pride and Joy a ton right after SRV died. It caught my ear for some reason or another, and lead my down a very long, windy path through blues music. It also brought me out of my hair metal phase. At the deepest part of it, I was buying crazy stuff on acetate and weird 78 rpm vinyl, and would find myself listening to a blind guy on acoustic guitar recorded in 30's. There is some really spooky stuff from that era! Boy, that sure reformed the way I thought about music.

Random band called Bucksworth at The Press in Claremont, CA, ca. '97. They taught me there there was a genre of music called Americana that I really enjoyed. My buddy who took me to the show explained to me that they sounded a lot like "Dead Flowers" by the Stones, and boy did they! It still cracks me up that in my head to this day, I feel like the defining song of the Americana genre was done by a British invasion band. Still listen to the CD I bought that day at the show.

Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!: got me into that late 70's/early 80's post-punk/sparse songwriter thing and lead me to Elvis Costello (this was ca. '99). I still dearly, dearly love that stuff.

Radiohead - Kid A: I liked the previous albums a lot, but Kid A blew my f-ing mind. Somehow, the glitchy noise of that album lead me to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco) when it came out 18 months later, which then lead me through Wilco's back catalog and finally to Alt-Country music (and a subscription to No Depression!), which is what the band I play in now is influenced by. So, Radiohead's most electronic album moved me into an 11-year and running fascination with Alt-Country music!

Lots of good stuff here! I'd second lots of obvious stuff, like Hendrix and The Beatles

Built to Spill- everything but particularly There's Nothing Wrong With Love, Perfect From Now On, and You In Reverse. Just good sounds, "organic" jams--whatever you chose that to mean. There's a few key songs where they opened my eyes to the magic of overdubbing and writing interesting parts: Stop The Show, Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, Conventional Wisdom. Some great slide stuff.

Jimmy Cliff- OST The Harder They Come Got me into reggae. He's the man, so soulful--powerful performances. It's all about the power of positive thinking and hope through struggles.

The Black Keys- The Big Come Up and Brothers Opposite ends of their career spectrum, but beautiful examples of soul, grit, and power

Sonic Youth- Murray Street More beautiful guitar orchestration. "Rain on Tin" is a masterpiece. They're all about, "so what if we quit trying to play really fast and come up with some cool sounds". Sugar Kane from another album has some great interlocking guitar stuff.

Michael Kiwanuka-Home Again I stumbled on him as Spotify was trying to push him to me on my home page. I've been telling everyone he's like a new Bill Withers. So good, he does right what The Black Keys do: sound "vintage" without appearing to try too hard. Just warm

Lots of jazz stuff. Charles Mingus-Ah Um is always refreshing.

Oh man - so good. Incredibly good. "Sitting Here In Limbo" - amazing. And the other contributors were just as strong as Cliff ... I mean Cliff only has 4 songs on the album right? My favorite is "Draw Your Brakes" and "Rivers of Babylon" is a close second. I used to study the lyrics on the album sleeve like they were some kind of gospel, and I guess they really were ... great stuff.

I need to check those out more. My favorites have been the title song and Pomp and Pride