Tell the Musicheads: Name the one record that significantly changed your life

Oh, definitely the Shins - Oh, Inverted World. It made me more free spirited, I quit my job, and I started dating a compulsive liar with a seizure problem.

I found Sloan's Twice Removed at a pawn shop in about 1996, and I bought it because Chris's looks reminded me of my husband's, and I'd heard a Sloan song on the K. Soon, I found "Sloan friends" online, and I've now visted Canada three times to see Sloan (and once to see Joel Plaskett Emergency for 6 nights in a row, and once to just go to a Tim Horton's and come back :P). A few years ago, some (non-Sloan) songs seemed to become somehow very relevant to me (hard to explain how) over a months-long period, and I suddenly found out one day that I had Canadian ancestry (through an ancestry.com search while bored, when I'd never before been interested in ancestry). It turned out that the first time I'd gone to Canada to see Sloan a few hours north of Toronto, in "the middle of nowhere," that place was just a few miles away due west from my great great grandmother's birthplace. (Um, I think she was haunting my ipod.) I then found a distant cousin online. She lives close to me in Minneapolis, and she was looking for an ancestry helper! So, yeah, I sorta credit Sloan for helping me discover the side of my family I had been told to ignore, probably due to all the "skeletons" hidden about. Now, ancestry research takes a lot of my time! (For good or bad.)

There are 2 records that changed my life... but you asked for one, the first was the soundtrack to a forgotten 80's film called Dudes. Now, before anyone gets funny, Dudes was about 3 punk rockers from NYC who head for LA, and along the way life gets in the way.... the soundtrack was made up of; punk, metal, and alt rock... what it did for me was show me that there was so much more out there in the music world than what was on the radio. I heard bands like Janes Addiction and WASP for the first time here, but I also heard Legal Weapon, The Leather Nun and the Vandals on the soundtrack. I big part of it's impact was the time and place that I heard it and saw the movie for that matter.

Ben Kweller album = early Wilco

Cornelius - Fantasma .. blew the lid off of what I thought I respected and appreciated about music. I was never the same after that album.

Repo Man (Original Soundtrack)

I was in 5th grade. My mom brought home Prince's 1999. It was all over. For the next decade while everyone else was into the hair bands I was fully commited to Prince. He opened up so many different musical avenues for me. I realized that music had local scenes and that MPLS had an amazing one - whick lead to SO MANY discoveries. I also learned about Sly and the Family Stone and the whole funk scene through him. And I discovered Joni Mitchell due to a reference in one of his songs.

Then there was the Violent Femmes first release. That hit me at exactly the right time. i was about 14. Oh the teen angst! I first heard it at an underage dance club called Widgets. On Friday and Saturday nights they would convert a Chuck E Cheese into the "club". The Femmes opened me up to the entire alternative music scene which lead to my Smiths obsession. Obviously that influence still drives my musical tastes. thanks to Widgets and the Femmes!!!

My older cousin gave me a copy of R.E.M.'s Fables of the Reconstruction when I was in 6th grade. I don't remember if she gave it to me as a gift, or if she gave it to me because she wasn't into it. It was, nonetheless, the first album to lead me down the path of non-Top-40 music, and I practically wore it grooveless.

I concur with REM. Document #5 was either life changing for me the soundtrack of my change in life. I realized I was and individual and need not conform. This was followed by Nirvana, Nevermind (I know this is cliche but I was in 9th grade, it was my world) and the whole scene that followed. Then 7 Seconds, then Babes in Toyland.... etc.

Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures (1980).

Growing up in a blue collar community in Northern Canada I was surrounded by Judas Priest, Saxon and ZZ Top as popular music and Joy Division's new sound opened my eyes to a whole new world of music. The dark lyrics reflected my isolation as an individual at a heavy metal high school but also provided the light to search out new music. This gave way to Buzzcocks, Tears for Fears, New Order, and OMD and my now well rounded music tastes. I am fortunate to not have become a metal head and stagnate in my home town.

Good answer Andrew P, LOVE the Repo Man soundtrack & film! Iggy, Burning Sensations, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks. Think that was my soundtrack for 1984!

REM, Joy Division & the Violent Femmes were all HUGE for me as well.

I gotta throw the Pixies, Surfer Rosa album in there. I think I wore out 2 vinyl copies of that one!

Madonna, Immaculate Collection. While I don't much care for Madonna's last 10 years of music, True Blue and other albums that followed and were included on this compilation really made me feel like a strong woman. I was around 12 years old when I started being obsessed with Madonna and her music. I was amazed by her strong feminine side and her powerful sexuality. She made me want to be free and powerful, while respected as a woman.

As a teen in the '80's, I was a hard rock/heavy metal only kinda guy. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. was the only kind of music for me. The farthest I ever strayed away would be the Doors. As my high school years were coming to a close, I was getting bored with the metal scene. Then I heard U2's Bullet the Blue Sky. Soon I realized that they were a good band and bought Joshua Tree. It opened up a whole world for me and I was willing to hear other genres. After high school, when I was in the Navy, I heard Jane's Addiction's Nothing's shocking! That blew me away and opened more doors to such things as NIN, the Cure, the Smiths, Lou Reed (because I heard Jane's cover of Rock and Roll-Lou's-not Zep). Twenty years later and I listen to almost any genre of music (barbershop quartet? not so much). Joshua Tree was where it started, and that is one album that is on the desert island list for me.

The Suburbs, Credit in Heaven, 1981. I was 16. They were maybe the most popular local band in the Twin cities by 1982. KQ92 even played their singles. For me that Record was key. I was thinking about all the records and all the bands. Ziggy Stardust (1972), David Bowie, was important to me in 1979. Rush, 2112 was important, in 1976. Music made a big change in about 1982. The Clash, The English Beat, Devo, Blondie, REM, The Replacement, Prince, Husker Du, New Order, The Cure. The whole 80's music phenomenon that made people like Madonna, and Cyndi Lauper household names..The Replacements released Stink in 1982. F my School was a favorite of mine as a single in 1982. "Let it be" was not until 1984. The Dead Kennedys, Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables(1980)..and Peter Tosh, Bush Doctor (1978) were all in my record collection in 1980-84. There are lots of other records, too many to list. Those high school years 1978-84 were important to me, and they seemed important to the music industry, or to people that like great music..The change from AC/DC to Duran Duran.

Probably the album most important in changing my life was 808 State - Utd. State 90

My best friend's brother brought it back from a summer in England and I just instantly connected with it. Up until then I had done the arc from hair metal to thrash to punk to guitar alternative llike the peppers and jane's, but this was completely different. because of the association with the madchester scene, it also lead me not only into all those bands (stone roses, charlatans, inspiral carpets), but also into the shoegaze scene as well because I needed to know what else was happening in England that I might be missing.

I think maybe the most important thing with the 808 state album though was that none of my other friends really like it that much but for the first time I didn't care. it made me more independent, more confident, and more open.

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Without a doubt this is the album that moved me far beyond the standard radio rock of the 70s (Zeppelin, AC/DC, Foreigner, etc.). After hearing Jocko Homo on WXRT Chicago, I saw Devo live at the Aragon Ballroom and started hanging out at O'Banion's Bar where I discovered many new bands like the B-52s, Blondie, Iggy Pop, etc. When I moved to MN in '81, First Ave. became my new hang out and many, many great new bands followed. Until the Current came along, the best music in my opinion, did not get much, if any, airplay. This Sat. I'll be back at First Ave. to see several new (for me) bands - the musical journey just gets better and better! Can't wait to see Idle Hands play Loaded - love that one!

Great DEVO story Joe J! That Suburbs, Credit in Heaven album is amazing & stands the test of time quite well. I still LOVE their song Girlfriend.

I also wanna mention one that was big for me...Elvis Costello & the Attractions, This Years Model!

Moby - Play

It's an awesome, complete, disc, but the reason it changed my life is not so much the music, but that it was the soundtrack of a day in that very much helped lay the foundation for my relationship with my girlfriend. It just so happened to be what she was listening to in her car when we met up and we listened to just about the whole thing while driving around that day.

Nobody else has mentioned them, so I better speak up. The first record that really changed my life and made me start taking music seriously was The Beatles "A Hard Days Night." While I had listened to music somewhat earlier in life and enjoyed it, the Beatles turned music into a passion for me. They were the perfect equivalent of a "gateway drug" for musical addiction. Everything I listen to today spawned from my first Beatles ear-opening experience.

A close second would be hearing the Replacements for the first time. Oddly enough I don't remember what album I heard first...probably because I went out and bought all of them in quick order once I "discovered" them.

Mark J, The Beatles were a "gateway drug" for me too! I remember being in JR High and hearing the 67-70 collection at a party. I still have fond memories of hearing, "Strawberry Fields Forever" for the first time.

Without a doubt Led Zeppelin IV....I played the heck out of my tape. OOO the days of running around in my 84 Honda Civic with a leaking sun roof!!!

Alcoholism destroyed the life of a friend of mine . I had to bear witness to the tragedy and the grief and sorrow was all consuming. Camper Van Beethovens album Key Lime Pie, Really helped me deal with that grief. Its an immensley beautiful as well as sorrowfull album. With deeply introspective songs, songs about confusion and events being out of your control. I felt like I could pull the music over me like it was a blanket and just get lost inside of it . Sometimes all you can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually things will get better.

Kudos to all the R.E.M. votes. I will add Eponymous to the list above. Also, The Magnetic Fields- Get Lost, Crooked Fingers- Dignity and Shame, Belle & Sebastian- If You're Feeling Sinister, and Fleetwood Mac- Rumours.

The record that first helped me discover a love of music was (embarrassingly enough) Fastball's "All the Pain That Money Can Buy". It taught me about enjoying music that isn't forced on me by other people, but which I love just for myself.

Then in high school a couple friends got me into indie rock by literally forcing me to buy Coheed and Cambria's "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" and Bright Eyes' "Lifted". And those records changed my life as well, though in a very different way.

My Music shattering, eye opening albums, I know you said one but there were two for me. First Radioheads' Pablo Honey. I actually got this album from a friend for Christmas the year it came out. The album was completely different from anything I was listening to at the time including the single off the album. It opened the door to many UK bands for me. The second is Nine Inch Nails The Downward Spiral. It was really my introduction to hard electronic and metal. I was told that I wouldn't understand the music by a fellow classmate. Out of spite I purchased it and fell in love with the music that Rezner created. There are many other stories latter in my life but these are the first two major music changing events in my life and they happened within a year apart.

Without a doubt the one album that changed my life was Neutral Milk Hotel's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea." I was introduced to it my freshman year of college by a new friend. Until then I was listening to bad pop-punk and classic rock. I had no idea music could sound like that or make me feel that way. After that I began to listen to everything I thought I was missing out on. I started going to the local music store more often than I went to class. I discovered Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Mirah, Cat Power, The Mountain Goats, and The Decemberists (to name a few). I am now trying to "pay it forward" and introduce my friends to great music that I think they'll love and make them feel amazing. I'm hoping I can change someone's life like my friend changed mine.

Most definitely Led Zeppelin 4. My brother gave it to me for Christmas and won the war with my sister who was trying to turn me into a Deadhead! Once I had that album I was hooked and bought and wore out 1 through 4.

The Queen is Dead by The Smiths. I was interested in the 80s and had some music for sure, but this was definitely a paradigm shift and sparked interest in post-punk. I also got deeper into full albums.

I actually bought and downloaded it as I was waiting for Hatful of Hollow to arrive, and that was great as well. Honorables to Blind Melon and DMB.

The Beatles "67-70" shortly after John Lennons murder in 1980. I was 15 at the time and listening without interest to most of the sludge that was being played at the time. With the Lennon tragedy the airwaves were suddenly awash in Lennon/Beatle music and bio info. I kinda knew some of it, but had probably been too young to appreciate the music or artist. I immediately bought "Double Fantasy," but it was the Beatles that really changed everything. I discovered music, but so sad we all lost John Lennon.

Some Great Reward by Depeche Mode. I was probably 14, and my wild cousin had the tape (!)and played it full blast as we drove too fast into town. "Lie To Me" was the first DM song I ever heard and they were faithful friends well into my adulthood.

Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea.

I never listened to music the same after I became addicted to this album.. It feel like listening to music... more like an out-of-body experience.

Sublime 40oz. to Freedom.

That album introduced me to the world of HipHop-Punk-Reggae. I think this album got over blown by the popular pot head songs but the deep tracks have some real sol.

Doolittle by the Pixies. I'm not going to lie and say this album came out and changed my life immediately . . . no way. I listened to the singles on college radio for a year or two before I even bought the album. And even then, it wasn't until another couple years passed before I realized that my musical appetitite had been formed, almost submliminally, by the Pixies. Doolittle is my benchmark to all other music today.

Buck 65's "Man Overboard" blew my mind and opened me up to how well a hip hop album could be crafted and be put together like a seamless rock album. Buck and other Mush and Anticon guys really separated themselves from the boring, overused soul music samples and cheap drum machines, and really took the medium to places nobody thought it could ever go.

Growing up in rural WI in the eighties-- Billy Bragg's music made me feel less alone in the world. It also enhanced my belief in social justice. The simple and raw Back to Basics record was a daily listen.

I would say it was probably Siouxie and The Banshees "Tinderbox"

My mother bought a mixed box at a garage sale when I was in Jr. High and that tape was in there.

Changed my world.

MF Doom/King Geedorah's Take Me to Your Leader. I stumbled across this when searching through someone's itunes library. I was intrigued by the name. This was the first time I had ever heard a hip hop album that wasn't mainstream gangstas and ho's. I was thoroughly impressed and it led me down the road of discovering hip hop and all the things it can really do.

new order - low life. this band had the ability to speak to my soul and help me understand my emotions and thoughts i had going on at that time. i bought it at northern lights in 1985 and never turned back. when i hear most new order songs to this day they speak to me. i think there are some bands that try to mimic both the bass and guitar sounds that new order was known for. hoping for another tour someday to see them again

Billy Cobham's Crosswinds record was the first jazz fusion record I ever heard and was a real eye opener for me. Listen carefully and hear new things every time. Still wonderful after all these wears!

White Blood Cells-The White Stripes. I was like 16 at the time and it was my savior from the screamo, pop punk bands I was listening to at the time like Taking Back Sunday and The Used. It was the first time I had a real, visceral response to the music I was listening to.

Jessica meet Jack and Meg, Jack and Meg meet Jessica. Mind? Blown.

It was THE BLURRED CRUSADE by THE CHURCH. As a previous message stated regarding REM, the music scene was dominated by synth -pop at the time (early 80s) and as a guitarist/songwriter I saw no future for my type of music. Then a friend of mine lent me that wonderful slab of vinyl and it truly revived my musical soul to see that great jangly/psychedelic guitar based pop-rock was still being made and was so valid. If you like REM's early stuff, this is a must listen record (along with REMOTE LUXURY and HEYDAY)
Brilliant stuff. They finally got their due with Under the Milky Way.