Albums that Changed my Life

Watching BBC America this evening and there's a documentary on about Britpop. I'll never forget the first time I heard Oasis (on NPR, September of 1994) or what that sound meant at the time. Granted, their shit now, but then?

In any event, this got me thinking about albums (CDs, whatever) that I have heard that just changed everything. We all have them in our lives, I think, so here are a few thoughts on important albums in my life.

Paul Simon, Graceland, 1986: My uncle Bob gave me this CD before I ever had a CD player. I think I probably saw the You can Call Me Al video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5oA9kUoVJg) on MTV and the Diamonds on the Sould of Her Shoes performance on Saturday Night Live before I ever got around to hearing the album, but once I heard it there really wasn't any going back. Likely, my journey toward relative liberalism politically started with just the little consciousness of what was going on in South Africa with Apartheid that this record gave me. The drum lines and the vocals were more intricate than anything I'd been conscious of at 15 years old. It was just an incredible moment in my life and I listened to that album more while I was on my foreign exchange in Turkey than anything else.

The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses, 1989: Still, the band I never got a chance to see in concert that I most wish I'd gotten to see (if that makes sense). I can still listen to "This is the One" or "I am the Resurection" and be amazed. There were stories of people rioting in pubs in England if that record came on and wasn't played all the way through. I don't know that there's been a better album since.

Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville, 1993: Liz has gone a little too pop for my tastes, but this CD was an absolute revelation when I was in the lost years of my life. She was just so angry and nasty. I was probably looking for someone a bit like her...and of course I found a couple of them...in those days. Again, an album that just hasn't been surpassed for me in terms of first to last track listening.

Next time: my first Jimmy Buffett, Okuda Tamio, Bedhead, and Bruch's Scottish Fantasy.

Anyone else care to comment on the albums that changed their lives?