Albums that changed your life the most? - Music

Puncture Repair

BrandonMeow wrote:

though I'm positive music can change your life in minor ways...it can change your outlook, your perspective, your goals/hopes, etc.

Maybe. 'Outlook' changing is much less significant than something changing your life - music might put you in a good mood after a bad day, but I refuse to believe anyone here has genuinely heard an album and had their entire perspective on life switched. Seems way too pseudosciencey.

I've been deeply affected by lyrics, especially when they're easier to bend in order to fit your own situation, but we're all in charge of our own change of outlook, I think think we attribute it to our favourite albums to give them more worth.

Guest

Puncture Repair wrote:

Maybe. 'Outlook' changing is much less significant than something changing your life - music might put you in a good mood after a bad day, but I refuse to believe anyone here has genuinely heard an album and had their entire perspective on life switched. Seems way too pseudosciencey.

I've been deeply affected by lyrics, especially when they're easier to bend in order to fit your own situation, but we're all in charge of our own change of outlook, I think think we attribute it to our favourite albums to give them more worth.

They can serve as catalysts. Perhaps they won't change who you are how you behave but they can change your thoughts or interests subtly. I think I'd be quite a bit different if I never got into music. I think music has made me more spiritual, for sure, and that is important to me. And it has definitely made me more openminded and has definitely made me more willing to try things and adventure.

And yes, we are in charge of our own outlook, but I don't think people can just say, "I want to change my outlook, bam, outlook changed." It just gradually changes based on what you take in and how you take it in, and for people who give a large portion of their time to music, yes, music can begin to alter their perspectives. Perhaps in subtle ways, and perhaps in ways that would've come about eventually anyways, but I still think it has an impact in the same way books do...books can change your outlook, or give you new interests or ways of looking at things, and music can certainly do the same.

If music merely made bad days better I wouldn't be nearly as into it as I am.

Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean it doesn't work for others.

Puncture Repair

BrandonMeow wrote:

They can serve as catalysts. Perhaps they won't change who you are how you behave but they can change your thoughts or interests subtly. I think I'd be quite a bit different if I never got into music. I think music has made me more spiritual, for sure, and that is important to me. And it has definitely made me more openminded and has definitely made me more willing to try things and adventure.

I think music as a whole has shaped all of us, no question - music listeners tend to be certain types of people. That's not how I read the thread though. Interesting thought, when we chose music to be our passion (or whatever you want to call it), is that a change in our lives, or are we just shaping it further?

BrandonMeow wrote:

And yes, we are in charge of our own outlook, but I don't think people can just say, "I want to change my outlook, bam, outlook changed."

I think people can - you just need an epiphany. I'm not sure epiphanies can be caused by something as abstract in message as music.

BrandonMeow wrote:

It just gradually changes based on what you take in and how you take it in, and for people who give a large portion of their time to music, yes, music can begin to alter their perspectives. Perhaps in subtle ways, and perhaps in ways that would've come about eventually anyways, but I still think it has an impact in the same way books do...books can change your outlook, or give you new interests or ways of looking at things, and music can certainly do the same.

Agreed, for sure. Can a single album do that?

BrandonMeow wrote:

If music merely made bad days better I wouldn't be nearly as into it as I am.

Heh, that's what I live for. Smile

BrandonMeow wrote:

Just because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean it doesn't work for others.

Sorry, I was generalizing for sure.

Guest

Puncture Repair wrote:

I think music as a whole has shaped all of us, no question - music listeners tend to be certain types of people. That's not how I read the thread though. Interesting thought, when we chose music to be our passion (or whatever you want to call it), is that a change in our lives, or are we just shaping it further?

I honestly don't know, will be thinking about that. I'm thinking we are shaping it further. I definitely agree with the idea that we are the significant shaping forces in our lives, but music can definitely give us ideas, or give us the drive to carry out the ideas, or give us new ideas before we're too entrenched in one idea. It may not be the most important tool, but I think it is a necessary one to get through life (well, for music lovers). I think we agree, actually. I don't think music is some big grand godly life changer, I think it is a friend to hold your hand as you go on your own mission and change your own life. I just think it being that friend, and being a part of your life, is enough to call it a life changer.

Puncture Repair wrote:

I think people can - you just need an epiphany. I'm not sure epiphanies can be caused by something as abstract in message as music.

Epiphanies are abstract things, though, it just seems silly to rule out the possibility that music could contribute significantly to one. Most of the time there is never one single thing that causes something.

Puncture Repair wrote:

Agreed, for sure. Can a single album do that?

I'm certain that Just Another Diamond Day changed my life more than [insert album here] and it made me realize where I want to live and the kind of environment and surroundings I want to have. If I ever do live there, there is no way you could deny it didn't change my life....If it made me relocate, then that is certainly life-changing. And I consider it life-changing for just giving me the thought. Like 99% of my life takes place in my head, unfortunately. Well, technically all of it does, but you know what I mean.

Puncture Repair wrote:

Heh, that's what I live for.

Well, yeah, that was kind of an exaggeration, that is certainly an important aspect of music. Razz

benpaco
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BrandonMeow wrote:

I think your description is more apt and more common (soundtracking important moments), though I'm positive music can change your life in minor ways...it can change your outlook, your perspective, your goals/hopes, etc.

I mean, I have that too, but those albums are different. I think the albums I listed here, for me, much changed everything. Unknown Pleasures COMPLETELY reinvented who I am. For Emma Forever Ago dragged me out of a place I was never happy with, more than just my outlook or my hopes, but with how I was treating people. Rubber Soul's the only reason I listen to music, a change in my life I consider a major one. There's that line of "Huh, Atlas Genius' most recent album made a great background for one of my favorite moments" cuz it did, but its not the same as "Wow, I'm an entirely different person because of Unknown Pleasures. I treat myself differently, I treat others differently, and I approach situations differently."

So yeah, I agree with Brandon that it can be a more major change or that it can just soundtrack a moment, both are valid views. This thread was more dedicated to the "What's the albums that changed YOU", though this has given me an idea for something ...
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Puncture Repair wrote:

Maybe. 'Outlook' changing is much less significant than something changing your life - music might put you in a good mood after a bad day, but I refuse to believe anyone here has genuinely heard an album and had their entire perspective on life switched. Seems way too pseudosciencey.

I honestly feel that this album changed my outlook on life:

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In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

Puncture Repair

I guess I've yet to experience a life changing album.

Automatic for the People helped as I was growing up, ages 14-17 was filled with the usual awkward teenage-angst, and that album seemed to have a lot of answers. I certainly wouldn't be the same person I am now without it, but as I said above - it helped shape me as a person, it didn't change my life.

Eh, I've still (hopefully) got a lot of life left in me, who knows, maybe something will come by.

Necharsian
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Puncture Repair wrote:

I guess I've yet to experience a life changing album.

Yeah, me either. Music as a whole probably has, but I cant single out one specific album as drastically changing my whole life.

Kool Keith Sweat

I'd have to say Rage Against the Machine was a life-changing album for me in my early teens. I became politically educated, and read several books from conservatives to liberals in my early teens, especially Noam Chomsky, due to the band. However, now I'm largely economically conservative and just socially progressive.

During college/uni, I depended upon the cleverness of Pavement (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain), Built to Spill (Perfect From Now On; There's Nothing Wrong With Love), Modest Mouse (The Lonesome Crowded West), Dismemberment Plan (Emergency and I), Guided By Voices (Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes), and others to guide my humor and elitism and musical journey

The bands Red House Painters (esp. Down Colorful Hill) and Low (esp. I Could Live In Hope and Drums & Guns) both aided and encouraged my depression whilst in Illinois, and I continue to cherish them both; now outside of that situation I still do.

That doesn't even speak to Joanna Newsom, Oval, Dirty Three, et al. that have guided my music taste in some incalcuble way throughout the years

not to mention, the users CellarDoor and the harrisonfords have guided my tastes each year. Nowadays, I only look to Norman and lethal for recs... EDIT: and DLGGLD

Applerill
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Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos

When I first heard this album on April 29, 2009, my life really was changed forever. Up until that freshman year of high school, I was among the most ornery of conservatives evangelical, seeing everything as black and white, deleting any songs off my iPod with swearing, and saying the most terrible of politically offensive remarks without a shed of guilt. But with Little Earthquakes, I ran into a dilemma: This was the most beautiful music I've ever heard, and despite it's regular blasphemy throughout the album, it SPOKE to me. Much like Lester Burnham in American Beauty, I slowly started to realize that there was more to the world than hard facts, and that music is something that is worth obsessing over. And in the years since then, Tori has continued to be a life coach of mine, teaching me how to love myself for who I am and respect others who are different than me.