Best Ever Albums

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

RoundTheBend — Sat, 2 Apr 2016 13:40:21 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 04/02/2016 17:40

dihansse wrote:

Quote:

#33 | Posted: 09/03/2013 23:30 | Post subject: Reply with quote Report Post
I was 9 years old in 1995 and I knew nothing about pop music. Until I saw the Hard day's night in the television and it totally blew my mind. I didn't know that band in the movie was real and it wasn't just a movie with actors! But then, I knew we had plenty of vinyls at home, and after I saw the movie, I found some Beatles vinyls amongst them as well...then I became a massive fan and I started to collect more vinyls, books etc. connected to the band, and then I learned more about the era too. So this is how it happenned. Smile

I had this with Help! The' movie. I saw it round my 15th at school and was immediately sold; The title song became my favorite for a long time and the album as well and of course I'm still fan of the Beatles.

Cool story... wish I saw Help! when I was kid!!!

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

dihansse — Sat, 2 Apr 2016 09:51:05 GMT

Author: dihansse

Posted: 04/02/2016 13:51

Quote:

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

LedZep — Sat, 2 Apr 2016 09:11:41 GMT

Author: LedZep

Posted: 04/02/2016 13:11

Well, my favourite bands of all time would be Pink Floyd, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Pearl Jam, Iron Maiden and David Bowie. I also have "current favourites", but I cannot think of a band as a "best ever" until I have listened to the majority of their discography and liked it. Also, the albums must be great no matter how much times I have listened to them. So, current favourites but not best ever (yet) would be Porcupine Tree, System of a Down, Radiohead, Tool, Biffy Clyro.

I am only 18 so I maybe don't have that long of a history of listening to music, but I have some interesting stories 😄

Chronological order:

Iron Maiden - after my GNR+ACDC+RHCP phase finally ended (7th grade or so), I was introduced to some new good music. Green Day, Bon Jovi and Iron Maiden. I know, strange combination but I liked them all. Today I think Maiden are far better than Green Day and Bon Jovi. The Number of the Beast was a song I've known since I was born probably, so when Maiden were hitting my town for a show, me and my dad decided to go. It was a few months before the concert that I started listening to Iron Maiden. And it was a whole new world… Hallowed Be Thy Name is still one of the best songs ever, and even though I was disappointed they didn't play it (Maiden England Tour), the show was so awesome that I am still listening to Maiden and going for a second show soon (which is strange considering I live in Croatia where big bands don't come so often). Since then I decided they really ARE one of my favourites. Now I'm hoping they'll play Hallowed Be Thy Name, Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Empire of the Clouds…

Led Zeppelin - it was at the end of primary school, and especially summer between 8th grade and 1st grade of the high school when I was crazy about Led Zep. Not that I am not today. Stairway to heaven just blow me away first time I heard it, and so my journey begun. Stairway, No Quarter and Rain Song are still my favourites, and I would rank Led Zeppelin IV as the best album ever written. Pure magic that record!

Pink Floyd - 2014 was my year of Pink Floyd. As with The Number of the Beast, Wish You Were Here and Final Cut were two songs that I've known since the beginning of time. When I started listening to Pink Floyd, at first I didn't like them too much. I have already given up on them when a friend suggested listening to a song called Echoes. It is not a song really, it's a f*cking masterpiece. Unlike all other bands, the moment I started liking them I knew they were my favourite. After Echoes, it was Dark Side of the Moon period, than Wish You Were Here, then Animals… Just when you think that they can't have YET ANOTHER mind-blowing album, they do. Meddle, The Final Cut, The Wall, The Division Bell, Atom Heart Mother…

Rush - 2015 was a year of Rush. Pink Floyd introduced me to different kind of music, prog rock. I liked it very much, and so I started discovering those great bands. First one was of course Rush. It was a different kind of prog rock, but I liked it as much as Pink Floyd. I needed more time to get used to their sound, so the first songs I liked were Closer to the Heart and Fly by Night. Tom Sawyer came after that, but it was Xanadu that started it all. It was another Stairway to Heaven. 2112, The Voyage and Hemispheres, Freewill, The Spirit of Radio, Subdivisions… If Pink Floyd have the most albums that are 10/10, than Rush has most 10/10 songs.

Pearl Jam - one of my dad's favourites. When I started listening to them I was discovering songs that I'd already heard before. Ten blew my mind… I liked Nirvana very much, but this was even better. Release and Black, two of the most beautiful songs ever. They have those non-commercial half-ballads, hit you hard with Alive and Go, they have great lyrics and singer, great guitars, great drums. Ten is probably the best album recorded in the last several decades. Pearl Jam is the reason why I started listening to grunge and love it now. I hope they just keep going and maybe even have a concert or two somewhere near me.

David Bowie - started listening to him several months before his death. So tragic. Blackstar is just pure art, and an art of a dying man. Albums from The Man Who Sold the World to Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) are all great. The longest winning streak in popular music. In that 10 years, he showed his many faces. from glam rock and some super catchy and interesting songs, to the epicness of the Berlin Trilogy. Blended so many genres, written great songs and never sold out (no, not even in the 80'). I want to be a musician like David Bowie when I grow up.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

manurock — Sat, 2 Apr 2016 06:43:48 GMT

Author: manurock

Posted: 04/02/2016 10:43

I am younger than many of you guys so my stories aren't that good but I'll share a few.

My first band in my top 100 I listened (and payed attention) to was Coldplay. When "A Rush of Blood..." went out I couldn't stop listening to them. Hadn't listened to anything similar at that time and it blew my mind. Now I still consider them a good band despite their reputation, though I don't like their last few albums.

As for Muse, I also started listening to them early, earlier than when they got so famous. I listened to "Plug-in baby" while I was playing Guitar Hero and started to dig up on them. I have to say that the first time I listened to "Origin of Symmetry" (which was the first album I listened from them) I didn't like it... now it's one of my all time favourites.

Then came Pink Floyd. My father had always played some CDs of bands I now love like Supertramp or Camel, but this time, I can't explain why, when he played the Wall CD2 and I listened to "Hey you" and "Comfortably numb" I loved it so much... it really was a turning point in my love for music. Since then I started paying much more attention, buying albums, an iPod... and enjoying so much as I do now. Truth is, I don't find the Wall their best album at all but it still has a soft spot on me.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

RoundTheBend — Fri, 1 Apr 2016 17:16:27 GMT

Author: RoundTheBend

Posted: 04/01/2016 21:16

Cool thread:

First, I remember making a decision when I was about 15 that if I really like a band, I'm going to get into their whole discography. I think this is when I very first understood/appreciated the point of a full album. I think there's still lots of people that ignore albums and really it's about the songs. Anyway, I remember the bands I sought after were my favorites at the time: U2, Beatles, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, R.E.M., Radiohead, and then later Beck, Muse, Paul Simon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam (the last 3 though I found I liked a majority of their discographies, but not all).

Around this time (1999?) I also kind of made up my mind that if an artist couldn't write a whole album worth listening to, they probably weren't worth me spending too much time with. It still kind of is a prejudice that I have... even if they have 5 AMAZING songs, they kind of aren't worth my time if they can't write a GREAT all songs are good record. For me, Queen fits the bill for a band that isn't really worth my time... I'll probably never get deeper than a best of hits album for them.

This has slightly changed since my evaluation of the 1950s and how I thought some of my music heroes like Roy Orbison, Elvis, Chuck Berry, etc. had some albums that were pretty terrible (some of them had one good album or so, but mostly it was all about the hits).

Well here goes (no particular order):

1) Beatles: probably because of my parents. I listened to Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper growing up a lot, but then when I was older and my dad died (he's really the one who listened to it), I started listening to the White Album and best of type stuff. During that phase I wanted to listen to everything Beatles. I even loved the super boy band type stuff. Since then I still really like them, but focus on their debut and then Rubber Soul onward.

2) U2: As a family we listened to Joshua Tree on EVERY road trip. It became a family favorite. I remember Kiss Me, Kill Me, Thrill Me... something something. I really liked that song when I saw it on MTV. Funny enough it was the Pop album that got me really to be a U2 fan (I think it had just come out and a friend listened to it a lot). I then listened to Pop, Zooropa, Achtung Baby and of course Joshua tree a lot. Then All That You Can't Leave Behind came out. Now I think the album is pretty average, but this was the first album I went to a release party for... I remember Bono said something this album is to show the boy bands what a man's band sounds like or something dumb like that... but I loved him saying that at a time when my musical choices were Insane Clown Posse or Backstreet Boys (what was popular in my high school at the time). From there I got into War... and then their entire discography. I feel they have turned into the Rolling Stones... they still make ok music and are a great live act, but musically aren't as interesting as they used to be.

3) Nirvana/Foo Fighters: I first really got into Nirvana of course when the rest of America did. They were huge on MTV back when MTV was an ok place to find music. My sister bought Nevermind and I listened to it a bit on tape. I remember watching them on MTV with come as you are and heart shaped box being on there a lot. That then faded, but then around the time I was trying to find real music (and not insane clown posse as mentioned before), I bought Nevermind on CD and for my teenage self that was enough. A few years later I got In Utero and Bleach.

When Nirvana broke up and that break when I stopped really listening to them, I started listening to the Foo Fighters. The self titled album and the colour and the shape were staples in my teenage years and I still treasure them today. My wife likes the Foo Fighters, so they are still a big part of my life (she's not as musically adventurous, so we basically can only agree on Foo Fighters, Muse, and Green Day in the realm of rock).

4) Rolling Stones: Honestly this site... I listened to Hot Rocks a lot growing up, but ANY Stones record I picked up I really only liked the hits on it... I guess I was just expecting something else. Anyway, people suggested to keep trying and what their favorites were, so I did, and now I genuinely love Exile on Main St. and Some Girls.

5) Led Zeppelin: Also this site. I learned how to play dazed and confused on bass when I was a kid (mostly because it is a simple yet rad bassline), but I didn't even know it was a Led Zeppelin song. I listened to a full album for the first time probably about 5 years ago or something. I really only like I-IV though. Hits off the other records, but not a huge fan of the entire album).

6) R.E.M.: I remember hearing their hits on MTV and kinda liking them, but then someone gave me the Eponymous collection and I got into that... then I got Automatic for the People, and then have really gotten into their entire discography. I love just about every album of theirs, except for a couple 80s records... just haven't gotten into them as much (so like 85% of their discography I truly like all of it).

7) Radiohead of course started out with the Creep single. I went bat shit crazy when that song came on as a kid. Somehow I totally missed OK Computer, and then a friend showed me Kid A... that blew my mind. In hind sight, why that album is so amazing is Radiohead took a generation of Radiohead/Alt Rock fans that had bumper stickers that said "drum machines have no soul" and turned them on to drum machines/electronic music. Anyway, after Kid A, I went back to OK Computer and then bought every release since.

😎 Red Hot Chili Peppers of course started with Under The Bridge on MTV, and then the coneheads song (soul to squeeze) My sister also had Blood Sugar Sex Magic on tape and listened to it a bit. I then got older and when Californiacation came out I became a big fan. I then bought one hot minute and liked that and my own copy of BSSM. Have bought all their records since Mother's Milk.

9) Smashing Pumpkins: the Today music video... and then Mellon Collie came out and I was hooked... I was like damn... these guys are real musicians.

Damn... I'm just realizing I grew up on MTV. I didn't really realize that before, but A LOT of my favorite bands I can blame MTV on for the early 1990s. Good thing my parents didn't care I was watching MTV at 8-10 years old.

That's probably enough of this for now.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

JOSweetHeart — Thu, 31 Mar 2016 19:41:02 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 03/31/2016 23:41

I couldn't be anymore ashamed to admit that my newest favorite had to go forward in order for me to realize who I was really missing out on all of this time. Ever since his going last October, the beautiful precious Billy Joe Royal is all that I have been listening to. 😢 😢 😢

God bless you and his family always!!!

Holly

P.S. Of course my knowing of him at all had to start somewhere and for me it all started with what I heard of his singing when I was just a little kid. Sadly I guess that the radio powers that be could only be so helpful considering how consistent their interest in him pretty much wasn't...may the beautiful precious haunt every last member.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

Space-Dementia — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 23:09:57 GMT

Author: Space-Dementia

Posted: 03/31/2016 03:09

I had always listened to just whatever came on the radio, until I was playing Guitar Hero III one day and I decided that Knights of Cydonia is a really cool song. It was so different than anything I'd ever heard before. So I looked it up on youtube and I really liked it so I spent the next like year just getting to know Muse until I knew like everything about them. I don't think I'll ever know a band as well as I know Muse just because of the amount of time I spent listening to virtually only them and other bands with songs on Guitar Hero or FIFA 11 (Smashing Pumpkins, MGMT, Black Keys, Sonic Youth, Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, The Killers, LCD Soundsystem). Then I stumbled upon this site one time as I was looking up rankings of every Muse album (yea that was what I did for my free time back then) and I started sorta making my way around this website and researching bands I found on here. This website was sorta how I discovered that all those bands I mentioned above actually existed and had good albums and everything instead of just three singles, and yea my music taste was basically hugely influenced by this website. Long answer, sorry.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

samistake2ice — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 09:41:14 GMT

Author: samistake2ice

Posted: 03/17/2015 13:41

Oh man, this could be a discussion that lasts forever, I have had so many "favorite" bands through out the years.

I guess, if i had to narrow it to 2 they would be Todd Snider and Tom Waits. However i suggest you check out my chart The Story of My Life as Told Through Albums. I select an album for each year of my life and give a description why.

Anyway, I discovered and fell in love with Todd Snider as a result of coming out of high school as an avid consumer of Texas Country and discovering Elliott Smith my freshman year of college. Snider was almost a perfect blend of both worlds. He maintained the southern folk/country mentality but incorporated clever and intelligent (sometimes very dour) lyrics. I started watching YouTube videos and I thought Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues was one of the funniest songs i had heard. I bought his live album Near Truths and Motel Rooms and subsequently every album since. That on top of now seeing him perform 3 times live. For me it just doesnt get much better

Tom Waits was a much slower burn for me. My roommate introduced me to the song "Big In Japan" back in '05-'06 and frankly i wasnt that big of a fan. I liked the song well enough i thought it was interesting but not enough for me to pursue other songs of his. The longer i lived with my roommate the more i appreciated his taste in music, and that song Big In Japan kept coming around. Then the movie Domino with Kiera Knightley came out. In that movie he has a small role as "the Wanderer" a prophetic drifter who offers clarity to the main character. For some reason that role moved me to do a little imdb research on Waits, and in the message board there was a thread of "Tom's Best Songs". I was so intrigued that i downloaded all of them. Once i heard 'Tom Trauberts Blues', that was game over for me. Hes been my favorite ever since.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

JOSweetHeart — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 15:57:21 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 03/16/2015 19:57

BurningBright wrote:

I can't think of a better explanation than they were right there at the right time.

I might have to second this. I guess that our favorites come into our lives when they are supposed to. 😄 😄 😄

God bless you always!!! 😄 😄 😄

Holly

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

Decurso — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 11:42:35 GMT

Author: Decurso

Posted: 03/16/2015 15:42

Led Zeppelin. I had been aware of Led Zeppelin for a long time, and I thought they were good. Not GREAT (at the time I was listening almost exclusively to metal). Then one day a friend gave me Houses of the Holy as a birthday present. I was completely blown away. Over the next month I bought their entire discography on cassette. That was 27 years ago...and I haven't looked back.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

zdwyatt — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 08:57:10 GMT

Author: zdwyatt

Posted: 03/16/2015 12:57

I had a housemate who was really big into Drive-By Truckers. When me moved in together, Southern Rock Opera had just come out. It's a two-disc epic that filled a hole in my heart I didn't know existed. It was stories about the American South, where I grew up, but it was rock music. I was familiar with southern rock, but (much like Patterson Hood explained on this album) I was not the kind of person who listened to that stuff in high school. I did come to appreciate bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers later, but at the time, the Truckers were exactly what I was looking for.

Shortly thereafter, they released Decoration Day, featuring this new kid Jason Isbell. He has since gone his own way and put out his own amazing records, but their first record together is one of the finest collections of songs ever assembled. It currently sits at number one on my overall chart.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

Anti — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 23:24:38 GMT

Author: Anti

Posted: 03/16/2015 03:24

I can't think of a better explanation than they were right there at the right time.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

JOSweetHeart — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 19:39:40 GMT

Author: JOSweetHeart

Posted: 03/15/2015 23:39

I don't know if this fits the description of what is being asked here but I do remember that one of my most favorite albums was released on April 8, 2008 which is like a year after when it was supposed to be released. I have no idea why its release was delayed for so long or why it was delayed at all, but because of it being delayed for that long, I got to be a part of its first day sales: James Otto's Sunset Man. 😄 😄 😄

God bless you and him always!!! 😄 😄 😄

Holly

P.S. My fall for James took place like a month before that album of his hit the stores. 😄 😄 😄

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

CA Dreamin — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 01:42:23 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 03/15/2015 05:42

Throughout high school, I was a more traditional rocker, so the '70s and '90s were my jam. But during my first year of undergrad, I was driving home one night, and as most of you know, night time is when radio stations play more obscure songs. I was listening to a classic rock station and this song came on. It was unlike anything I'd heard before, but I liked it. The DJ didn't say what it was afterward, so I went home and yahoo searched the lyrics, and discovered the song I had heard was Blasphemous Rumours by Depeche Mode. In retrospect, I don't why how that song could be considered classic rock. But that moment wound up leading to me becoming a Depeche Mode fan, and an '80s alternative fan. Soon I was buying Depeche Mode, Cure, and Smiths CDs.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

Listmeister — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:55:52 GMT

Author: Listmeister

Posted: 11/20/2013 14:55

I always enjoyed reading about rock and roll. So one day I pick up this book called "Tell Me Why" by Tim Reilly. In it, he goes through the traditional Beatles Catalog and examines it song by song. Now, I thought he wrote great reviews of the songs that I knew, and made want to hear the songs I didn't know.

Coincidentally, this was just at the time in my life when I first had money to spend on music, so, I started buying up Beatles albums, just so I could hear the rest of those songs.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 06:46:12 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 11/20/2013 11:46

dmercado wrote:

One day I turned to VH1 and saw Bono singing to the people of New York City from the back of a moving truck. I was sold.

I honestly thought this was a very funny piss-take until I looked at your chart.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

HazeyTwilight — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 02:16:56 GMT

Author: HazeyTwilight

Posted: 11/20/2013 07:16

Radiohead (p.s. I'm using my comment because that was the best example I can find)

I used to really DISLIKE Radiohead. My younger self thought that they had some decent tracks in their catalogue, but found them boring and overrated.

Let's go back last summer, where I had my first proper listen to them, I wanted to like this band and so, I gave them a chance. My first proper listen to one of their albums was Kid A, and, let me just say; I was blown away by their creativity, ingenuity and versatility as a band and it instantly became one of my favourite albums.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

dmercado — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 01:59:42 GMT

Author: dmercado

Posted: 11/20/2013 06:59

One day I turned to VH1 and saw Bono singing to the people of New York City from the back of a moving truck. I was sold.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

SingingPeasant96 — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 23:11:32 GMT

Author: SingingPeasant96

Posted: 11/20/2013 04:11

Radiohead

When I first saw the cover of Pablo Honey(that baby flower one) I thought they are some kind of devil-worshipers for some reason(at that time that cover looked so creepy) So I didn't give them a single chance until I stumble to click 'Karma Police live at Glastonbury 2003' on Youtube. Damn, it saved my life.

Belle & Sebastian

The fact that I hate them at first still makes me laugh, but soon they quickly became my life, 'Get me about from here, I'm dying' was first song that I liked I remember

Dirty Three

When I first joined BEA, I started to listen every new albums on some 'cool' chart. I didn't expected much about them because many albums I found through the site didn't satisfied me. but well, when Sirena started...

Plus

Slowdive

I think I googled 'best shoegaze bands' or something like that and I saw them on so many articles and decided to listen them. I love them from very first and they growed on me. Now, they are one of my very favourite bands.

Re: How Your Favorite Bands/Albums Became Your Favorites

HoldenM — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:10:21 GMT

Author: HoldenM

Posted: 11/20/2013 03:10

I was very depressed as a fourteen year-old. One day, for whatever reason, I decided to listen to Plans by Death Cab for Cutie. Maybe I really wanted to listen to "Soul Meets Body" or "Crooked Teeth." Then, I listened to "Brothers on a Hotel Bed," and it was Jason McGerr's drumming, and Chris Walla's richly atmospheric production, even though I could barely even express it that way. That summer, I listened to nearly everything I could by them. My dad had some of their music, namely You Can Play These Songs with Chords and The Open Door EP. That fall, I would listen to The Forbidden Love EP, Narrow Stairs, and Plans over and over, particularly on the bus into Lansing, where I took boxing. At some point, I pirated a couple of Transatlanticism songs ("The New Year," "Title and Registration," and "Transatlanticism," the second of which was my favorite song for a long, long time.) In the winter, I discovered The Postal Service, which only made me appreciate Ben Gibbard and Chris Walla more. I eventually heard The Photo Album and Transatlanticism in the winter, and then We Have the Facts in the Spring. Something About Airplanes and their other EPs came in much later. What I found with Death Cab for Cutie was that I was drawn to their melodic sensibilities, Ben Gibbard's immensely intelligent lyrics, and how natural their sound was. I love and have loved everything they've done. They're the band that got me into music more than any other group. Even their worst work is nothing short of brilliant to me.

Death Cab forever.