What album opened your mind to an entire new world of music?

[innerspaceboy]

I suspect many among our numbers have had this experience - usually an album we discovered in our teens, and for many of us, pre-internet and pre-algorithm. An album which forever changed what you listen to and how you engage music.

What album was that for you? How did it come to reach your ears? And what lasting impact did it have for you?

I'd love to hear your stories!

[innerspaceboy]

I'll go first since I started the topic.

I was born in '81, and as a teen I spent my evenings bicycling the canals of my fair city. Oftentimes I would retrieve discarded broken mixtape cassettes from the gutters, tossed from the windows of unknown cars after their tape deck had eaten the cassette. I would bring them home and carefully resurrect them into new plastic housings and re-spool the tape as best as I was able.

That was my primary method of musical discovery in the 80s pre-internet. And as these were the days before Google, it would be over a decade before I could identify what the songs were. I spent my summers pressing PLAY-STOP-REWIND again and again while I'd attempt to write the lyrics down in pencil and do detective work to find out who I was listening to. I fondly remember those tapes introducing me to a lot of dance b-sides like Moby's "Go (Rainforest Mix)," Depeche Mode's "Walking in My Shoes (Random Carpet Mix)," Abigail's "Smells Like Teen Spirit (Club Mix)," and lots of suburbanite metal like Iron Maiden and Pantera.

My other cassette-related influence was a local college radio FM station which played an indie comedy/novelty show every weekend. I stumbled upon them one day while scanning the dial and spent two summers recording every show I could. It was effectively my city's version of The Doctor Demento Show. Decades later, I tracked down the host of the programme and organized a project where he sent me direct-soundboard cassettes of several years of the show and I digitized them and uploaded the library to The Internet Archive with complete setlists of every broadcast. It was a wonderful way to give back to a DJ who kept me entertained all through high school.

But there were two albums specifically which really expanded my mind and opened me up to a whole new world of music and a new manner of listening.

The first is one I've spoken of many times. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a tremendous fan of the electronic duo Underworld. At age 15, their album Dubnobasswithmyheadman was my very first exposure to the world beyond Top 40 radio pop, and its award-winning typographical packaging created by the band's critically acclaimed Tomato design collective directly inspired my pursuit of a design degree and an 18-year career in the field.

The album was spun for me by my goth-chick-ballgown-wearing girlfriend at the time. She ravenously consumed everything industrial from Wax Trax Records and turned me onto their sound on fateful summer night.

My Underworld collection now comprises 77 physical releases and artifacts, memorabilia, subway posters, books, prints, magazine articles, DVDs, VHS tapes, etc, as well as over 600 digital albums, EPs, mixes, concerts, and other materials - over 8100 tracks including concert videos. With new material being released every week, they're showing no sign of slowing down, and they continue to expand my scope of musical appreciation with each new release.

The other watershed album for me was Brian Eno's Music For Airports. I wish I could recall just how it found its way to me but I just remember researching music magazine articles in the early days of the worldwide web in art school and I felt the urge to give the album a listen. "1-1" was the first ambient track I ever heard and absolutely captivated me. It was beatless and static - a complete about-face from the industrial rock and dance music I usually consumed. It helped slow my ever-racing thoughts and inspired a sense of calm and serenity I hadn't realized I needed. I recently posted about my Eno collection in celebration of his birthday this week - 412 albums of pioneering and inspiring sound.

[SGR]

Underworld are amazing. When I was in college was the first time I was exposed to them. Totallly fell in love. Second Toughest... is my favorite of their albums - just phenomenal stuff. Also, Boards of Canada and Leftfield. First time I think I ever heard any kind of house music though was with Primal Scream's Screamadelica, which was a complete watershed album for me.

[Lexi Darling]

I grew up as an alt-rock kid mostly. Between 1999 and 2002 I got heavily into nu-metal, pop punk and various other forms of mainstream alternative stuff. In 2002 I discovered Nine Inch Nails through a friend's CD collection. I had never paid synthesizers much attention before, I knew them as the sound of pop and Darude - Sandstorm esque electronic dance music. Somehow Trent Reznor's use of electronic sounds combined with guitar rock really spoke to me and showed me that the synth could be a rock instrument. That led to me buying my first synthesizer in 2005 and starting my first band. So I credit The Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine as being those albums that kickstarted my love of electronic sounds.

After Youtube came out and searching for older obscure music became more accessible, I discovered Detroit techno, Kraftwerk and early 80s synth funk, and from there I went further into the 70s and 80s era of electronic music. The album that made me fall in love with more ambient space music was Phaedra by Tangerine Dream, which I discovered in early 2009 during my first year of college. I was blown away by how advanced it was for its time, I had no idea people were onto such mind-blowing stuff in the 70s. My understanding at the time was that the 70s were more the era of funk and classic rock, so finding out that futuristic synthesized soundscapes were being made that far back was super enlightening.

So NIN led me to synths, synths led me to Tangerine Dream, and TD led me to basically the entire world of instrumental, space, new age, Berlin School and ambient music that I hold dear today.

[robhr]

"Music Has the Right to Children" by Boards of Canada
"The Lonesome Crowded West" by Modest Mouse

[Rubber Soul]

Wow, so many artists have opened me up to different genres. I guess two stand out for me. I remember the first time I saw Devo on SNL. That was one of those Beatles in New York moments for me, they seemed so different at the time.

The other one I have to credit Psy-Fi for. When he was in the original album club, he recced an album called World Music by Goat. It turned out to be this wonderful psychedelic masterpiece of, well, world music. Haven't heard it in a while, but definitely thinking of playing it again soon.

[innerspaceboy]

I grew up as an alt-rock kid mostly. Between 1999 and 2002 I got heavily into nu-metal, pop punk and various other forms of mainstream alternative stuff. In 2002 I discovered Nine Inch Nails through a friend's CD collection. I had never paid synthesizers much attention before, I knew them as the sound of pop and Darude - Sandstorm esque electronic dance music. Somehow Trent Reznor's use of electronic sounds combined with guitar rock really spoke to me and showed me that the synth could be a rock instrument. That led to me buying my first synthesizer in 2005 and starting my first band. So I credit The Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine as being those albums that kickstarted my love of electronic sounds.

After Youtube came out and searching for older obscure music became more accessible, I discovered Detroit techno, Kraftwerk and early 80s synth funk, and from there I went further into the 70s and 80s era of electronic music. The album that made me fall in love with more ambient space music was Phaedra by Tangerine Dream, which I discovered in early 2009 during my first year of college. I was blown away by how advanced it was for its time, I had no idea people were onto such mind-blowing stuff in the 70s. My understanding at the time was that the 70s were more the era of funk and classic rock, so finding out that futuristic synthesized soundscapes were being made that far back was super enlightening.

So NIN led me to synths, synths led me to Tangerine Dream, and TD led me to basically the entire world of instrumental, space, new age, Berlin School and ambient music that I hold dear today.

That's an incredible journey! I followed a similar path from Wax Trax! industrial electronic to spacey krautrock via albums like:

Neu! - Neu!
Harmonia - Musik von Harmonia
Cluster's first two self-titled LPs followed by Cluster & Eno and After the Heat
Can's Future Days, Tago Mago, and Ege Bamyasi,
Manuel Göttsching's Inventions for Electric Guitar and E2-E4
Kraftwerk 1 & 2, Autobahn, Radio-Activity and Ralf und Florian.
Popol Vuh's Hosianna Mantra

and for Tangerine Dream I started off with their In the Beginning... vinyl set which comprises Electronic Meditation, Alpha Centauri, Zeit, Atem, and the previously unreleased Green Desert.

Once I'd completed my preliminary survey of the genre, I tracked down a scan of Julian Cope's Krautrocksampler and downloaded a 753-album library called, "The Progressive-Kraut-Psych-Avant garde Rock Collection (Vols I-VIII)" to explore it deeper. I watched all the major kosmische musik documentaries and books and picked up Harmonia's Complete Works vinyl set while cherrypicking the best original pressings from artists like Klaus Schulze and Göttsching whenever they turned up at local thrift stores and record shows. There's a record dealer in town who flies to Germany regularly and always stocks some choice pressings.

I've mentioned previously that I have a 298-album library of Tangerine Dream including the complete Bootmoon Series, all live albums, soundtracks, solo efforts, remasters, and the Tangerine Tree and Tangerine Leaves boots. But I've only really listened to their earliest works (and their hit, "Love on a Real Train" of course). I'd be curious to hear your recommendations for further listening. I tend to gravitate toward the more freeform organic material like Electronic Meditation, early motorik beat-driven longform tracks, Harmonia's work, and Cluster's collaborations with Eno, as well as anything in the world of ambient, but I'm open to anything.

Let me know if you feel like sharing!

[Lexi Darling]

This is very much my wheelhouse, so no problem! I have a lot to say on the subject, so maybe someone could open a new thread about German electronic music, I'd do it myself but my fiance is about to get up and I've gotta make breakfast. I will say that I love every single album you mentioned.

But as for Tangerine Dream recommendations, I think anything they put out while Peter Baumann was a member of the band is generally pure gold, Rubycon being my favorite. It's heavily sequencer based and mostly beatless, but it's breathtaking and definitely sounds more organic than a lot of their later stuff. For more rhythmic, quasi prog-rock stuff I'd recommend Stratosfear and the live albums Ricochet and Encore. But you really can't go wrong with anything from 1970 to 1977.

Also Edgar Froese's solo albums from that period (Aqua and Epsilon in Malaysian Pale in particular) are pretty great too, but make sure you seek out the original versions because there are more modern remixed versions out there that add a lot of then-in-vogue digital synth parts.

After Baumann's departure their style began to change, late 70s TD is generally really cool stuff but very much in the instrumental prog rock vein, a lot of it having real drumming like the Cyclone album which is pretty underrated. They started to change into a more structured, less freeform instrumental synthpop kind of sound starting with Exit from 1981. I think I'll post my post-70s TD recommendations in a "part 2" to this post later.

(And don't worry, I love getting the opportunity to nerd out about electronic music, haha.)

[Psy-Fi]

I can think of four albums which introduced me to four music genres...

'Time Out' by the Dave Brubeck Quartet. My parents had the LP when I was a child and that album was my introduction to jazz.

'Déjà Vu' by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. An older sister of a friend of mine had the LP and she played it on her stereo one day while I was visiting. That was my introduction to folk rock.

'Quark, Strangeness and Charm' by Hawkwind. I heard the song "Hassan I Sahba" on a radio station and bought the LP a couple of days later. That was my introduction to space rock.

'Ramones' by the Ramones. I was browsing in a record store shortly after the album was released and saw the album cover, looked at the song titles on the back, and figured it was probably some kick-ass rock and roll. I had never heard of the band but I bought the LP based on the cover and the song titles. Took it home, put it on my turntable and the music turned out to be every bit as good as I'd hoped. That was my introduction to punk rock.

There may be more than those four examples but those four stand out in my mind.

[Gandalf]

Geogaddi by Boards of Canada - made me more aware that electronic music wasn't all house music and synthpop. It helped me discover different styles such as IDM, ambient, ambient techno, glitch and others.

2112 by Rush - it's not their best album but it was the first album of theirs I listened to. It broke me away from regular conventions of rock music, and opened me up more to unconventional song-structures and odd time-signatures. I got more into prog and different forms of psychedelic music.

[Psy-Fi]

Another one I just remembered is 'Fragile' by Yes. I'd heard various prog rock songs played on radio before I bought the LP but that was the first prog rock album I listened to in its entirety.

[Toy Revolver]

Elliott Carter - Beveridge Webster, Bernard Greenhouse, Anthony Makas – Sonata For Piano/Sonata For Violoncello And Piano

i recorded this off the radio along with an interview with Carter when I think I was ninth grade and listened to it a lot - then i ordered it from a record shop using their huge yellow catalog they used back then - i received the version with the album cover above

it was my introduction to 20th C Contemporary Classical music and is still a favorite

it wasn't so much records that i bought or heard that opened me up to different worlds of music but the non-commercial radio stations we had in atlanta

there was a classical station that played avant garde composers and two college radio stations

i had all their numbers memorized and called them all the time "what are you playing right now? what was the last song? question question question ..."

they'd be like i need to cue up the next record "that's ok i'll wait"

[Toy Revolver]

Another one I just remembered is 'Fragile' by Yes. I'd heard various prog rock songs played on radio before I bought the LP but that was the first prog rock album I listened to in its entirety.

i'm almost positive that fragile was my first yes record as well

we have heaven and mood for a day both were big players in my musical listening development

[Toy Revolver]

pink floyd's the wall

i distinctly remember hearing the track young lust on the radio that included the the long distance phone call bit at the end and i thought it was so cool

i actually just wanted the single but they didn't have it so i bought the album and it turned out to be incredibly influential for me and it wasn't long before i had acquired their entire discography (a lot of it on cassette- recording other people's records)

[innerspaceboy]

All classic albums, Toy; and I love the accompanying stories. Thanks!

In my early days of record collecting in the 90s, back when you could score rare mint vinyl discarded for pennies at your local thrift store, I constructed a decent arsenal of early Floyd vinyl.

Fast-forward to 2009, I happened upon a streetside yard sale and notice a small cardboard box of LPs by the curb. It was mostly classic rock, and nothing I really needed, but one LP caught my eye. The cover, if memory serves, featured a man with a goatee smiling and sipping tea in a small alley or something to that effect. I was curious so I opened the jacket.

Inside was what turned out to be a soundboard bootleg of Pink Floyd performing The Wall live at Earl's Court London on Aug 06, 1980. Tucked into the sleeve was a monochrome marching hammers insert and a handwritten tracklist (the center labels are plain white with no description.)

I compiled info from the Pink Floyd RolO Database, backtrax-records.co.uk, and various other Pink Floyd archive sites. (A special "thank you" to Mr. Pinky, Historian of the Pink Floyd Vinyls throughout the world.) Mr. Pinky confirmed my research and provided additional information about the album. Here is what I came to learn about the album.

Title:        Pink Floyd: The Wall Performed Live
Format:    LP
Catalog:    E.M.K.A. PROD  (EMKA = MCA = Universal)
Matrix:      (P-DA/PDF-B) ß Portable Digital Audio Tape
Source:    1980 London Earl's Court, London 1980 August 6th
Sound Quality: Excellent Stereo

Comments: Italian bootleg with plain cover and paper insert with orange print. Pressed from the same plates as the e.m.k.a release on black and lilac vinyl with plain white labels. Later re-issued again with black & white xeroxed insert on black, green and lilac vinyl. A further pressing from these plates had yet another different insert and Avion record labels.

Rarity rating: **** (all issues)

Band: Roger Waters, Rick Wright, Nick Mason, David Gilmour

Pink Floyd never toured for The Wall, but only played between five and eight dates each at Los Angeles, New York, London, Dortmund, and again London during 1980 and 1981.

NOTE: Several live performances of The Wall are mis-labeled as this performance.

It was a real fun mint find for 50 cents!