Game-changers

[famous beagle]

What are some game-changer songs for y'all --- songs with which you can clearly draw a "you before" and "you after" line?

I'll start off with a few:

"Here Comes the Sun" - Beatles
Not my favorite Beatles song by any means (though it's great, of course), but it's top on the list because I simply happened to hear it first I guess. I went through junior high and high school with the hair metal stuff, so the Beatles were pretty far from my world at the time. I'd heard songs here and there, but didn't know anything about them. My first year of college (1990), I put on my roommate's (vinyl) copy of Abbey Road one time when he had gone home for the weekend. When I heard "Here Comes the Sun," I said, "Oh ... now I get it!" I was never the same.

"I Dream a Highway" - Gillian Welch
Just absolutely hauntingly beautiful imagery and such a heartfelt performance. I first heard it in the car on the highway (go figure), and by the time it was over, I realized I had missed my exit about 7 miles ago (the song is 15 minutes long).

"Tambourine Man" - Bob Dylan
This was my gateway song into Dylan the way "Here Comes the Sun" was for the Beatles.

"New Slang" - The Shins
This is such a sad, but glorious song. It just tapped into a part of me that nothing else had before.

Anyone else?

[rayc]

Not so much songs as artists/albums:
There're a few local/Australian artists I won't list that were very important to me but on an international level...
1970 - Black Sabbath & led Zeppelin - debut albums in both instances - I was a little slow on the uptake.
1971 - Buddy Holly - Portrait
1972 - Slade Alive
1973 - Budgie debut album again & Queen I&II - a BIG year for my head
1974 - Leonard Cohen (Songs of Love & Hate) & Lou Reed (Berlin)
1975 - The Residents Bowie's Diamond Dogs
1976 - Stiff Fourplay Flexisingle Elvis Costello. Ian Dury & the Damned
1977 - Schoenberg - Pierrot Lunaire. The Ramones - It's Alive
1978 - The Boys Next Door/The Birthday Party/The Bad Seeds/Nick Cave. Television Marquee Moon
1989 - Brian Wilson - I Wasn't Made For These Times (I wouldn't listen to the BBoys until I was lane changed by that album)
1990's Matthew Sweet - any album with RobertQuine playing lead.
Each of these turned my head & made me listen to music in a different way.
I didn't "move on" from any of them though.
I listen to their stuff regularly.
I stopped buying Queen after DATRaces;
Budgie after Impeckable,;
I keep a look out for Buddy Holly stuff but I think I've about scarpped the barrel with bootlegs & official releases - I keep looking though;
Slade after Nobody's Fool;
Sabbath after Ozzie was sacked;
Led Zep after Presence;
The Residents left my basket when they moved to synths in the mid 80's as things were easier for them & the "found" element was gone;
Elvis Costello I was rabid about until the mojo left after his third marriage;
Schoenberg when I had all of his atonal stuff;
& slowed down on M Sweet after Lloyd moved on & Quine died;
Television broke up, reformed etc but I still look for archival stuff of theirs &
Cave I still buy new releases from without blinking.
Each of the above did change the way I hear, buy & appreciate music as well as altering the way I went about making it. the emboldened ones had a more obvious influence on my recordings.
Whoops - I can't believe it but I left out Joy Divison's 1st album- I even wrote a song in tribute/immitation. It took me 20 years to get around to recording it & it doesn't sound like them except for the Hook style bass in the chorus but my they made me do a 280 degree.

[gecko zzed]

It's more albums for me too.

Albums or works that have been fundamental influences were:

Superblues (Muddy Waters & Bo Diddley)
Beatles 4 Sale (Beatles)
Bringing it all back home (Bob Dylan)
Emerson Lake & Palmer (ELP)
Ziggy Stardust . . . (David Bowie)
Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky, Ravel arrnagement)
L'apres midi d'un faune (Debussy)
Transparent Music (BJ Cole)
Forget about it (Alison Krause)

[grimtraveller]

It's albums for me too.
I was just your average 10 year old in London having moved there from Birmingham with Nigerian parents and listening to the pop charts of the day in a kind of disposable way {as soon as a single left the charts and therefore TV and radio airplay, you forgot about it and moved onto the next load that everyone was singing} when in late '72, my cousin gave my sister an album by the Jackson 5 called "Maybe tomorrow". jackson_5_maybe_tomorrow.jpgWe tried to listen to it but we just couldn't get into it. I quite liked Michael Jackson's "Rockin' Robin" at the time and the cartoon show that they used to do but the album hit ground zero.
Until easter day '73. {Would you believe, Greg L was born this day !}.
I got up early that day and was getting ready to scoff my easter eggs when for some reason that has never been clear, I decided to put that record on and listen to it.
It utterly blew me away. I kept on playing that first side, over and over for hours. Then I watched the football and proceeded to play the second side for hours and hours. That was the day I first really concentrated on songs and became an albums person. Later that year my Dad took me on holiday to Nigeria where I hung for a few days with my Mum's nephew who was a cool 18 year old. He had time for me and he also had the J5's "Greatest hits" LP j5.jpgwhich we played incessantly. My Mum later bought me the LP and I existed on those two albums until......
May 13th 1976. I had been banned from my mate Robin's house {he was from Iran or Iraq but had grown up in Australia and was new to our school} but I had a really bad stomach ache so I had to use the loo at his house. While there, I spotted this cassette with the Beatles on it. That year, EMI had released all the Beatles' singles and I remember recording "Yesterday" and "Hey Jude" off the radio but I wasn't particularly interested in them. To be honest, I think the only reason I asked Robin if I could borrow the tape was because I had a cassette recorder. All these years later, I don't know why I would've asked for it, especially as it was his Dad's, who had probable cause to hate me ! I took it home and while doing my physics homework {we were doing 'leverage'} listened to it. It was called "67-70".67-70.jpg
*%^$££"^ heck !
I had never heard a song like "Strawberry fields forever" before. It was so weird to my pop and soul mind but I loved it. I recognized a few of the songs on the album and I was surprized that they were by the Beatles. I was totally amazed by "All you need is love", "I am the walrus" and "A day in the life". I spent the night listening to that album. And because I was sick, I was off school the next day and spent the whole day listening to it. In fact, that was all I listened to for months. Washing up and housework were no longer a chore but a joy with music. I played that tape until it broke. I remember that the cover said "Double play tape". That was the album that blew open the door to another level for me and I became interested in everything Beatle. And by extension, the Stones.

[grimtraveller]

At the start of '79, my uncle's girlfriend said to me that I couldn't spend the rest of my life just listening to the Beatles and that I needed to broaden my tastes and tried to turn me onto 60s soul. Right around the same time, an ex friend told me the Beatles were passé and that punk, the Jam and Kate Bush were where it was at. And a girl I was sweet on was waxing lyrical about the Police. Ironically, I still love and listen to the Beatles. And 60s soul, some punk, Kate Bush, some Jam and the Police ! But none of them were {Beatles excepted} game changers for me. I didn't really get into them until many years later. The real game changer for me were Pink Floyd.
I was at a friend's house one day, looking through his record collection and I came across a double album called "A nice pair". It was the artwork that really drew me to it. I was already into record covers and I liked the Stones' "Through the past, darkly" cover. But this was something else. It was so weird, all four sides. pink_floyd_a_nice_pair.JPGThat intrigued me and I asked if I could borrow the tape. It all belonged to my mate's older brother who had eyes for my older sister {funnilly enough, my mate ended up going out with my younger sister} and he used to record all his albums onto tape.
So that's where I got it from ?
When I listened to the albums, I discovered "A nice pair" was a repackaging of Floyd's first two albums, "The piper at the gates of dawn" and "A saucerful of secrets".
Not only had I not heard this kind of music before, not only were they game changers, they, more than anything I've heard before or since, totally changed my musical headspace. I've heard better albums, many that I may prefer, but if there was ever a point that divides "Me then" from "Me now", it was hearing those two albums. It was hard to know where one song ended and another began. Welcome to the world of multi part songs. I regarded the Floyd as 'heavy' music and was encouraged to explore the heavier side of life which led to Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Kiss, Blue Oyster cult, Status Quo, Styx, Grand Funk railroad, ZZ Top, Cheap trick, Kansas, Free, Ted Nugent, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Boston, Rush, Thin Lizzy, Hendrix, Cream and a whole host of others.
The Floyd were a portal to another dimension. Because of them, I really became open to so many important strands within music and so when a friend played me some jazz fusion, I was more than absorbent. The "Stanley Clarke" album stanley.jpgwas so crucial in that regard because all the flash and technical virtuosity were more than secondary to good songs and good songwriting. It all came together on that album and I've been disappointed with everything he subsequently did although his Return to forever stuff is groovy.
Gil Scott Heron, Brian Jackson and the Midnight band's "First minute of a brand new day" gil scott.jpgalso pointed me in that direction with some great funky jazzy excursions that combined great songs, improvisation and playing. Again these two albums were game changers for me because they broadened my palette and opened up my head to the 'improvised world as normal'. I explored that world and found it to be crammed with gems.

[grimtraveller]

Although it doesn't form a vital part of the mainstream, yet still the whole christian rock pantheon is a fascinating chapter {and a largely untold and virtually unknown one} in the overall history of rock.
I won't bore with the details, but when I first became a christian, it was at a time when were these long debates about whether rock music and the pursuit of the spirit led life were at all compatible and the overwhelming bias was a resounding no. I didn't listen to any music for over a year and I did alot of thinking about this before I decided I would start listening again. I also wanted to see if there was any christian stuff that wasn't some of the awful country or gospel crap that a friend had tried to turn me onto. I remember getting some records from the library {these were the 80s !} among which {there was Stanley Clarke and Jean Luc Ponty in there which I still have } was one by this guy called Andrae Crouch and the disciples. I thought that was such a lame name but the title "Soulfully" was kind of intriguing and I thought it was funny, him sitting on train tracks on the cover. That cover is so lame. soulfully.jpgBut the songs were superb, soul~pop~rock circa 1972, just up my street ! On my next visit to the library, I picked up two albums, one by ex Fleur de Lys guitarist, Bryn Haworth called "The gap" bryn.jpgand one by ex Glass Harp guitarist Phil Keaggy called "Phl'ip side". phil.jpgBoth were important turning points for me because they were good rock albums with good songs and fantastic guitar playing. I remember thinking "Phew !". It was a real relief to know there was some decent stuff out there. Once I heard Larry Norman's "Upon this rock", I realized that christian artists could have something to say in ways that meant you concentrated on the great songs and not the lyrics. His album from 1969 was wacky, weird and off the wall Upon this rock.jpgbut I 'got it' immediately, especially when I heard the Cecil Taylor~esque mad piano on "The last supper". I used to share that album with anyone that would listen, something I'd never done before or since. It was an eye opener of the highest magnitude to discover this kind of music could be, well, psychedelic. Some of his subsequent albums are among the greatest pieces of music I know. I liked his view that "music should be art, not propaganda".
The last game changer I came across was Bruce Cockburn's "Circles in the stream". circles.jpgCockburn was one of those social conscience christians that you'd never have guessed was a christian and in many ways, his songwriting and brilliant songs opened up a whole stream {no pun intended} for me. Listening to his 11 albums {more than any other artist I have stuff by} gave me the initial impetus to just write whatever was within and worry about meanings later. But I remember hearing "Circles" for the first time. The songs were great and using a percussionist and double bassist rather than bass guitar and drums helped release me from traditional instrumental line ups and stretched the imagination to somewhat different areas.

What are some game-changer songs for y'all --- songs with which you can clearly draw a "you before" and "you after" line?

You did ask !

[grimtraveller]

Anyone else?

I should point out that game changers aren't always the best or even favourites. There are often tons of artists within a genre or that you checked out because of the game changer that knock out songs and albums that are more loved than that of the changer. For me, game changers will by necessity be few and far between and they play the important role of opening the door to somewhere else. But in that "somewhere else" may well be lots of influences that often will be greater influences.

[gecko zzed]

I should point out that game changers aren't always the best or even favourites.

Yep . . . true. The albums I picked weren't necessarily my favourites. What they did, though, was open new pathways for ideas.

[rayc]

As you can see the 70's were formative & crucial for me. From beginning high school, listening to other people's tastes, starting to play bass, leaving home, getting a job and then the beginnings of twice a week or more pub rock with the best & worst of local, national & international bands playing within an hour of home (and as close as 5 minutes away when Iggy Pop played at a local suburban pub) influences and concepts just stacked on top of each other.
As mentioned - I still play stuff by these people at least weekly though last night it was LPC, Pygmy Beat and Litmus after listening to Heroes, a quad recording of Joe Walsh's So What and Lennie's SOL&hate in the arvo.
I'm still waiting for the chance to play my Graham Parker & The Rumour Live DVD really LOUDLY. They didn't trun my head but they certainly had my feet moving the three or so times I saw them.

[SEDstar]

I wasnt really "into" music and buying cassettes as a 12-year old starting 7th grade, like all the other teenagers were... i was a kid that was into being a bookworm, and reading a lot, even for pleasure.

SO... the first album (cassette) that just "made" me save up a few bux and go out and BUY it?

ELO - the "TIME" album... and unlike most albums you get, just to get hit or two on the charts? I liked about every song on the thing... it made me start buying their albums, and searching out the old stuff of theirs. I think i liked EVERYthing they ever made, with the exception of "go now" which was really "odd" to me, about the only one i didnt like.

the 2nd one? I didnt get hooked on "Laura Branigan" from the song "gloria" like everyone else did... I first noticed the song "Solitaire", and had recorded it off of the radio Top 40 show on the radio station... I didnt know WHO she was, I just knew the hairs on the back of my NECK stood up and it gave me shivers near the end of the song when she did this weird "shift" in pitch of the vocals near the end... SOMEone gave me the mistaken impression she was "some black chick that could sing", and it was some time before I got her first album and saw what the heck she looked like, LMAO

I had never thought i would LIKE big female vocals like that, but, she just had this B-I-G amazing voice. Again, started buying all the albums, ended up liking practically every song.

When I was young, we went on a field trip to a big college in the city, and we were in "Heinz Chapel" which had this locally famous giant pipe organ in a big church that was supposed to have good acoustics. The tour guy asked if any of the high school students could PLAY the organ, and we all looked around. ONE junior said "yes", adn walked up and talked to the guy, and they selected some drawbars or whatever... talked about which keyboards to use...

... and the guy started playing, it was LOUD, it was a POWERFUL song and sound... and, the hairs on the back of my NECK stood up. (It was Tocatta and Fugue in D minor). Blew me away... I also found out i liked a few others... Beethovens 5th, and Hall of the Mountain king...

Alan Parsons Project really did something for me, too... iit wasnt until several years agoo (I'm 44...) I had always heard the term "Prog Rock" and "Prog musicians"... I thought it meant "Programmed" for some odd reason... someone finally told me I liked a bunch of "progressive" stuff when i listed various things i liked...

they explained "progressive" meant the artists were not just hummin and strummin, that they were SERIOUS musicians, they were usually classically trained, or, good enough it was the same thing...

Phantom of the Opera, go ahead and laugh... I know its a musical technically, but... the lead singers were so GOOD, it firmly cemented classical singing and music as something i liked too.

Queensryche was one of my favorite metal bands...

=======================================================================

it kinda SUCKS liking stuff like that, progressive music, and people with those incredible voices, LMAO... when you start trying to learn to make your OWN music? Well, I naturally would like to make stuff like I LIKE to listen to...

... and I cant just hum along and learn to strum a few chords to make what i like to hear... I would never find a singer to SING like Geoff tate or Laura Branigan, or Phantom voices ANYways... *shrugs*

I suppose thats why I am "drawn" to learning to make classical-type stuff on my computer, by myself... even the modern stuff i like, has elements of classical in it.

music isnt really a "big deal" to me, when the 17 year old kid down the street can learn to cover it passably well in a weekend, LMAO... I like the "high end stuff".

(lmao... dont even ask me why I like "slayer-south of heaven" and stuff like that, i cant explain it. LMAO. Just something about some "raw power" in it, I guess)