Albums / Music that changed my life
by Johnnyo 
I'm using a topic which goldminemag has used where they have asked musicians to pick the albums that have changed their lives.
This will be a slow builder for me but we'll see where it goes
- Chart updated: 10/16/2025 14:15
- (Created: 09/02/2025 07:24).
- Chart size: 14 albums.
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I was a 12 year old in 1970 living in, as Ozzy and the guys would see it, the wrong side of Birmingham. For those who are not aware, football is a religion in Birmingham and the city is split across the city centre and your either a villain (supporting Aston Villa), or if you come from the south of the city you’re a bluenose (supporting Birmingham City). I’m a proud bluenose and the band all support the villa. Never the Twain shall meet. Until……..
Birmingham is the quintessential blue collar city. Back then, The home of British Leyland and heavy industry. The city of a thousand trades. If you wanted it built, Birmingham could do it with highly skilled tradesmen. That was our identity and it was a rough place to grow up but we didn’t think of it that way as kid. It was just Birmingham.
What we didn’t have as teenagers was our own identity as far as music, not like Liverpool with The Beatles or London with The Stones. Then along came The Sabb.
The first time I heard the self titled album I wasn’t interested in Gezzer’s politics, although this became more important and relevant as I got older, no, it was the first time that I heard anything that sounded like the city that I loved. Industrial, visceral, something that actually had a physical effect on you.
We didn’t know that a whole new genre of music was being created in our city, me and my friends had simply found the music that felt like our city. Didn’t matter which side of the city you lived, there was no divide as far as the band were concerned.
Ozzy famously hated putting music into genre but I do feel proud that, more than 50 years later, and after many sub genre of heavy metal, my city is still the place where it was born.
Ozzy and the band mean a huge amount to me and although my musical palette has expanded hugely since my early teens I still love going back to Black Sabbath for a fix on a regular basis [First added to this chart: 09/02/2025]
Birmingham is the quintessential blue collar city. Back then, The home of British Leyland and heavy industry. The city of a thousand trades. If you wanted it built, Birmingham could do it with highly skilled tradesmen. That was our identity and it was a rough place to grow up but we didn’t think of it that way as kid. It was just Birmingham.
What we didn’t have as teenagers was our own identity as far as music, not like Liverpool with The Beatles or London with The Stones. Then along came The Sabb.
The first time I heard the self titled album I wasn’t interested in Gezzer’s politics, although this became more important and relevant as I got older, no, it was the first time that I heard anything that sounded like the city that I loved. Industrial, visceral, something that actually had a physical effect on you.
We didn’t know that a whole new genre of music was being created in our city, me and my friends had simply found the music that felt like our city. Didn’t matter which side of the city you lived, there was no divide as far as the band were concerned.
Ozzy famously hated putting music into genre but I do feel proud that, more than 50 years later, and after many sub genre of heavy metal, my city is still the place where it was born.
Ozzy and the band mean a huge amount to me and although my musical palette has expanded hugely since my early teens I still love going back to Black Sabbath for a fix on a regular basis [First added to this chart: 09/02/2025]
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,363
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
2. (=)
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So, for the next five years or so i was heavily into heavy rock / metal. Loved bands like Black Sabbath (see above), Led Zeppelin, Budgie, Uriah Heep and Atomic Rooster.
then, in around 1975, I discovered this album. Not sure how I got to meet these folks, probably through an x school friend, I was 17 by now, but I got to know what, at the time I called "The Hippy Lot". They introduced me to loads of great music and this was the first album I heard that this girl in the group owned.
We were sat in her parents living room (they must have been out or Away), after having been down the pub. I remember thinking that her parents must be rich because they had such a big house.
Anyway, she put this album on and it blew my mind. I was used to great heavy music but this was something totally different but equally great. Pretty much my world opened up to a whole new strand of music and I never looked back.
Over the next few months I discovered The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Steve Miller Band, Robin Trower and a whole lot more. At 17 I was a sponge, eager to learn more. [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
then, in around 1975, I discovered this album. Not sure how I got to meet these folks, probably through an x school friend, I was 17 by now, but I got to know what, at the time I called "The Hippy Lot". They introduced me to loads of great music and this was the first album I heard that this girl in the group owned.
We were sat in her parents living room (they must have been out or Away), after having been down the pub. I remember thinking that her parents must be rich because they had such a big house.
Anyway, she put this album on and it blew my mind. I was used to great heavy music but this was something totally different but equally great. Pretty much my world opened up to a whole new strand of music and I never looked back.
Over the next few months I discovered The Allman Brothers, Traffic, Steve Miller Band, Robin Trower and a whole lot more. At 17 I was a sponge, eager to learn more. [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,572
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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Shortly after the encounter with the "Hippie lot" I wanted to hear a greater selection of music from different genre of music.
Not being part of my group of heavy metal listeners, my mate Steve Hunt was into something rather different. He liked Prog and introduced me to this album. We can argue whether COTC is Prog or not, but he loved it and I have to admit, I fell in love with it as well from the first listen. Took me into yet another genre of music and bands.
As an aside, I hadn't listened to this album much from about 1982 to the early 2000's. I was dating this gorgeous blonde at the time (later became my wife and still is) and we were round at a friends house having a great music session, taking it in turn to pick albums. My wife picked COTC and I fell in love with the album again, and her a little more by the end of the evening. [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Not being part of my group of heavy metal listeners, my mate Steve Hunt was into something rather different. He liked Prog and introduced me to this album. We can argue whether COTC is Prog or not, but he loved it and I have to admit, I fell in love with it as well from the first listen. Took me into yet another genre of music and bands.
As an aside, I hadn't listened to this album much from about 1982 to the early 2000's. I was dating this gorgeous blonde at the time (later became my wife and still is) and we were round at a friends house having a great music session, taking it in turn to pick albums. My wife picked COTC and I fell in love with the album again, and her a little more by the end of the evening. [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,166
Rank in 1974:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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It’s not actually this album that changed my life but what it represents. Punk! (NB Some great tracks on this compilation)
1976 & 1977 were pivotal years in my musically development. I've always been a sponge as far as soaking up music, even to this day, but back then I was trying to listen to everything that I could get my hands on, or that my friends had discovered.
Punk was so out there and like nothing we had heard before although my mom compared it to when she first heard Elvis and Bill Haley which I think is a fair comparison. My dad hated punk and also glam before it. He didn't get Bowie at all
This was the first time that it felt like people like me were making music. Prog had been great in the early days but by 1976 it felt like you needed a masters in musicology to really appreciate what you were listening to and if you criticised it, you just weren't musically aware enough to understand it.
Three of my friends at the time were in three different punk bands. None of those bands lasted long or were actually much good but that didn't matter.
Barbarellas in Birmingham was the home of punk for a couple of years seeing bands like The Vibrators, The Clash and many others, also adjacent acts like The Solid Senders and The Runaways (I was in love with Joan Jett).
The music felt real and relevant to us in a city that was always on the brink of another strike and I guess the grimness of being in a city which felt a little chaotic at the time. This was also when I started getting into politics seriously so I appreciated the environment around punk more
There was also a change in the clothes that we were wearing so the whole thing felt like it really belonged to us and not those older than us. I was 18 / 19 at the time [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
1976 & 1977 were pivotal years in my musically development. I've always been a sponge as far as soaking up music, even to this day, but back then I was trying to listen to everything that I could get my hands on, or that my friends had discovered.
Punk was so out there and like nothing we had heard before although my mom compared it to when she first heard Elvis and Bill Haley which I think is a fair comparison. My dad hated punk and also glam before it. He didn't get Bowie at all
This was the first time that it felt like people like me were making music. Prog had been great in the early days but by 1976 it felt like you needed a masters in musicology to really appreciate what you were listening to and if you criticised it, you just weren't musically aware enough to understand it.
Three of my friends at the time were in three different punk bands. None of those bands lasted long or were actually much good but that didn't matter.
Barbarellas in Birmingham was the home of punk for a couple of years seeing bands like The Vibrators, The Clash and many others, also adjacent acts like The Solid Senders and The Runaways (I was in love with Joan Jett).
The music felt real and relevant to us in a city that was always on the brink of another strike and I guess the grimness of being in a city which felt a little chaotic at the time. This was also when I started getting into politics seriously so I appreciated the environment around punk more
There was also a change in the clothes that we were wearing so the whole thing felt like it really belonged to us and not those older than us. I was 18 / 19 at the time [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
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I moved down to London from Birmingham in 1982 and was fortunate enough to fall in with a great bunch of people, some of whom are still friends over 40 years later.
Amongst those folks was a guy called Terry who is a couple of years older than the rest of us and who, even back then, had an awesome record collection. At the time of the release of this album he was living in a bed sit in Notting Hill. This was before the eponymous film came out and made the place trendy and priced out the locals but don’t get me started on that.
Anyway, Terry’s flat was literally a bed, a record player, speakers and his record collection.
At the time Notting Hill had more record shops than you could shake a stick at, top of the list then, as it still is today, was Rough Trade West. Always a great place to visit, chat, meet people and buy the occasional album.
Terry was a frequent visitor and one afternoon we ended up at his flat and he said that he’d been recommended an album by a new US band. He put it on and wow, it was like nothing we had ever heard,
Incoherent vocals and a sound that grabbed you from the first listen. Little did we know that they would go on to become the biggest band in the world. They were our secret back then. Changed my music listening habits from that point on.
This album brought various artists into my world like, The Wipers, Dream Syndicate, Bob Mould (Sugar, Husker Du), Rain Parade and many others [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Amongst those folks was a guy called Terry who is a couple of years older than the rest of us and who, even back then, had an awesome record collection. At the time of the release of this album he was living in a bed sit in Notting Hill. This was before the eponymous film came out and made the place trendy and priced out the locals but don’t get me started on that.
Anyway, Terry’s flat was literally a bed, a record player, speakers and his record collection.
At the time Notting Hill had more record shops than you could shake a stick at, top of the list then, as it still is today, was Rough Trade West. Always a great place to visit, chat, meet people and buy the occasional album.
Terry was a frequent visitor and one afternoon we ended up at his flat and he said that he’d been recommended an album by a new US band. He put it on and wow, it was like nothing we had ever heard,
Incoherent vocals and a sound that grabbed you from the first listen. Little did we know that they would go on to become the biggest band in the world. They were our secret back then. Changed my music listening habits from that point on.
This album brought various artists into my world like, The Wipers, Dream Syndicate, Bob Mould (Sugar, Husker Du), Rain Parade and many others [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,039
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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This album followed on from my recent discovery of R.E.M.'s Murmur. Can't remember where I first heard it but it blew me away at the time and still does every time I hear it.
Dream Syndicate was a natural progression from R.E.M. (Steve Wynn and Peter Buck have worked extensively together over the years), and led me into bands like Rain Parade, 28th Day, Green On Red, Game Theory and The Bangles.
This album is sprawling and messy and I love that. This type of post punk Rock N Roll (as a critic once described it) has an endearing quality for me. Ever changing and evolving.
In a way, and i only thought of this just recently, it set me up for my return to Neil Young as the Paisley Underground bands drew influence from Big Star, Velvet Underground and an extensive nod to Neil Young & Crazy Horse. [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Dream Syndicate was a natural progression from R.E.M. (Steve Wynn and Peter Buck have worked extensively together over the years), and led me into bands like Rain Parade, 28th Day, Green On Red, Game Theory and The Bangles.
This album is sprawling and messy and I love that. This type of post punk Rock N Roll (as a critic once described it) has an endearing quality for me. Ever changing and evolving.
In a way, and i only thought of this just recently, it set me up for my return to Neil Young as the Paisley Underground bands drew influence from Big Star, Velvet Underground and an extensive nod to Neil Young & Crazy Horse. [First added to this chart: 09/03/2025]
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
900
Rank in 1982:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 09/19/2025]
Year of Release:
1986
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,753
Rank in 1986:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 09/24/2025]
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[First added to this chart: 09/04/2025]
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[First added to this chart: 09/06/2025]
Year of Release:
1989
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,131
Rank in 1989:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 14. Page 1 of 2
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Albums / Music that changed my life composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 1 | 7% | |
| 1970s | 5 | 36% | |
| 1980s | 4 | 29% | |
| 1990s | 4 | 29% | |
| 2000s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2010s | 0 | 0% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| Various Artists | 2 | 14% | |
| R.E.M. | 1 | 7% | |
| The Dream Syndicate | 1 | 7% | |
| Paul Simon | 1 | 7% | |
| Jimmy Page & Robert Plant | 1 | 7% | |
| Neil Young | 1 | 7% | |
| Massive Attack | 1 | 7% | |
| Show all | |||
Albums / Music that changed my life chart changes
There have been no changes to this chart.Albums / Music that changed my life similar charts
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| My wife’s top 100 | Johnnyo | Custom chart | 2025 | |
| Top 12 Greatest Music Albums | AlexZedd | Overall chart | 2025 |  |
| Top 14 Music Albums of 1970 |  VictorVale | 1970 year chart | 2021 |  |
| Top 13 Music Albums of 1986 |  Robert Anton Wilson | 1986 year chart | 2012 |  |
| Top 13 Music Albums of 1986 |  Goliath | 1986 year chart | 2024 | |
| Top 13 Music Albums of 1970 | sunnydhamm | 1970 year chart | 2024 | |
| Top 12 Greatest Music Albums | NHowell | Overall chart | 2010 | |
| Top 14 Music Albums of 1986 | brent13 | 1986 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 13 Music Albums of 1983 |  NowhereMan | 1983 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 12 Music Albums of 1963 | SD100852 | 1963 year chart | 2024 | |
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