1) Rush - Moving Pictures
When I was in fourth grade, there was a student in my class named Brian. Even at nine years old, Brian was on his way to being a "metal head." While everyone else was listening to early 80's pop music, he was in to bands that I had, at the time, only heard of, bands like Van Halen, Black Sabbath, and Rush. So, when my mom took me to my local Sam Goody, I asked her to buy me a couple of albums, and Moving Pictures was one of them. From that moment on, I became a Rush junkie, and they were my favorite band pretty much until college. The album fascinated me and still continues to do so. The first side is flawless: "Tom Sawyer", "Red Barchetta", "YYZ", and "Limelight", and the second side, although less known, has great songs as well in "The Camera's Eye", "Witch Hunt", and "Vital Signs." The imagery of the lyrics and the musicality blew me away and opened me up to many other bands that made up most of my adolescence: Yes, Genesis/Peter Gabriel, and, of course, the entire Rush discography (which I still own on vinyl). Moving Pictures was the first album that was completely "mine."
2) R.E.M. - Document
In my early teen years, I was what you would call a "classic rock" kid. I listened to all of the FM radio staples: Billy Joel, Elton John, The Eagles, Boston, etc. Then I heard a song by a band I had never heard of. The first time I heard "It's the End of the World as we Know It" something clicked. This didn't sound like anything else I listened to - the jangly music, the weird lyrics, the singer - everything about it was new to me. So I ran out (again to Sam Goody) and got the cassette. It instantly became one of my favorites of the time. Since then I have delved into the band's entire catalog, and while Document isn't my favorite R.E.M. album (that would probably go to Life's Rich Pageant), there are songs that I still can't get enough of: "Finest Worksong", "Exhuming McCarthy", "King of Birds", and even the popular "The One I Love." What Document also did for me is open me up to the world of alternative rock, a world that I have lived in and continue to live in to this day.
3) The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
After Document, I began to explore music that did not fit in the classic rock mold. A girl I knew named Amy had an older sister who was in college, and she was aware of the popular college music of the time. Asking her for some suggestions, she handed my Louder Than Bombs. I had heard of The Smiths, but I had never heard The Smiths, and this was my introduction. It sounds cliche, but this album spoke to the sixteen year old me. A lot of the things that Morrissey expresses on the album are things that teenagers feel - angst, sadness, depression, and frustration, to name a few. So many of my feelings of the time were on this album: the longing of "Please, Please, Please", the hurt of "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", the regret of "Back to the Old House". And Johnny Marr's guitar playing...wow! I've since fallen in love with just about all of The Smiths' albums (I'm not a huge fan of Strangeways...), and my biggest concert miss will continue to be them.
4) De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
As a white kid from the suburbs in the 80's, all I really knew about rap was RUN DMC and The Beastie Boys. I had heard of Public Enemy and NWA, but at the time they seemed to be from a whole different, scary world. Then my friend David played me De La Soul. This was rap, but, for me and I'm sure countless others, it was accessible, relatable, and, honestly, safer. Right off the bat, hearing "The Magic Number" brought two thoughts to my head: "This sounds like a Schoolhouse Rock song," and, "Wait...is that 'The Crunge'?" 3 Feet High wasn't only the first rap album I owned; it also taught me that music could be funny, uplifting, and meaningful at the same time. It also opened a whole different world for me. I soon found myself blasting PE's It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back from my car and exploring releases from Ices Cube and T. Still a great album that I return to often.
5) Pixies - Bossanova
When I went to college in 1990, I had begun exploring the world of college rock. Besides the aforementioned bands, I regularly listened to artists such as Elvis Costello, Squeeze, The Cure, and Sinead O'Connor. I also began randomly buying music by artists that I heard were good but had never in fact listened to. I clearly remember buying Jane's Addiction's "Stop!" single, for example, and I also purchased Bossanova. Now, having never heard the Pixies before and going just by name alone, I was not prepared for what I heard. I imagined an upbeat, melodic band that played tuneful melodies, but that all changed with track #2 on the record: "Rock Music". On this song I was introduced to Black Francis' scream and power of the music that he, Kim, Joey, and David could create. I have to admit that my first thought was "What the hell did I buy?" but I quickly grew to love everything about the Pixies. And while Bossanova is actually my least favorite Pixies album (although I love them all and each album is essential), it will always hold a special place in my heart. Beyond introducing me to this band, it also introduced me to music that doesn't hold back. The Pixies were my gateway into countless other bands that were hard, fast, emotional, and loud, from Ministry to Nirvana to The Jesus Lizard to Fugazi. And since then I've never looked back.
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