# The most influential album of your youth



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Of course this would depend on how old you are but for me it was Rush and 2112. That album basically turned me from a listener to a player. I think I was 15 or 16 at the time.


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## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

When I was way young (around 13) it was VH1, but it was Lynyrd Skynyrd Street Survivors that really turned on the light (so to speak) and help me figure out what I really enjoyed playing.


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## Guest (Jan 25, 2013)

Pearl Jam - Ten

I don't even know if I can articulate all the ways that album is my #1 album.


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## Krelf (Jul 3, 2012)

Sgt Pepper. It literally exploded the stagnated bounds of conventional pop music, paving the way for an outbreak of what was once considered bizarre, unconventional and uncommercial music, and opened the door to unfettered successful musical experimentation.

Perhaps today the album may seem dated, but when it was released it both changed and expanded the way many young people appreciated music.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Def Leppard-pyromania.
one of the best examples I can think of, of a perfect album. All killer, no filler. Phenomenal production.

a close second might be Metallica-Kill 'em all. You could tell they were at the start of somethig big (thrash). And again, a near perfect album.

Dio's Last in Line and Ozzy Blizzard of Ozz were my first venture into learning to shred...and I've never looked back since, so that you could say that was pretty influential for me as well.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

My neighbour across the street's older brother taped me Houses of the Holy. Now, I lived in a house where all my mom played was country, and hey there were some great artists in the 70's. I listened to a little pop radio, and my very small record collection consisted of Elton John and more easy listening acts like that. Then I heard the sound of The Hammer Of The Gods (in particularly, Over the Hills and Far Away, and The Ocean). And I knew rock was for me.


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## zurn (Oct 21, 2009)

Nirvana - Nevermind is the first one that came to mind.


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## smorgdonkey (Jun 23, 2008)

Yep...and I could still put it on today and enjoy the straight ahead rock sound, great riffs and some pretty damn good songs. If you have never heard Hard Luck Woman then you really are mising out.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

I never started playing until I was almost 50 but the first album that popped into my head was the Beatles, Abbey Road album. After I think about it for a day or two, I'll likely come back and edit this post because there were definitely a few.


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## Guest (Jan 25, 2013)

sabbath. toni.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

Although my all-time favourite album is The Joshua Tree, it was nowhere near the most influential on my playing. Despite learning to play in the shredderiffic 80s, I managed to escape all the pointy pink guitar madness. It was a cassette copy from my classmate Dan Moore (R.I.P.) of Beano/Led Zep II that connected all the dots between Elvis & G'n'R.

See The Light by Jeff Healey (may he also R.I.P.) deserves an honourable mention. Notice how I very subtly doubled up on the CanCon? Combine a shout out to JH with proper spelling.


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## washburned (Oct 13, 2006)

Buffalo Springfield. All those guitars!


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I mostly listened to older stuff, but for me it would probably be Deep Purple's In Rock or Led Zep's Physical Graffiti


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## NGroeneveld (Jan 23, 2011)

Yes - Fragile


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## neldom (Apr 29, 2009)

I'm only 34 but I grew up listening to my parents cassettes on my headphones for hours on end.
Those albums included - Band on the Run, Rumours, Sgt. Pepper, Steve Miller Greatest Hits, Eagles Greatest Hits all of which are truly fantastic albums some of the best of all time if you ask me.
But my number one album that has stuck with me has got to be Who's Next. To me that seemed to have something in the production and writing that just blew me away. One of the greatest albums of all time to be sure.

Actually I'm going to listen to it right now, what better way to start a Friday morning?


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## torndownunit (May 14, 2006)

It was the Ramones All The Stuff Volume 1 and 2 that did it for me. I know they aren't albums but comps, but they still have more influence on me than anything else. The various Johnny Cash comps my Dad had around would be second, followed by the barrage of Classic rock my brother had. BUt what got me wanting to play music was the Ramones.

As for an album that actually came out in my youth though, maybe Kyuss Blues For The Red Sun. I listened to that tape until it fell apart.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

One album I dont know the name but was from around 1966 was The Who. My buddy had that album and we played it hundreds of times to learn Boris the Spider and I can see for Miles!!! Boy that brings back some good memories for me.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Almost anything by Gord Lightfoot and Simon and Garfunkel...and from many other folk/acoustic guitarists of the day.

Being faced with one's aging is brutal...LOL

Cheers

Dave


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## hardasmum (Apr 23, 2008)

I had to really think about this one. There are so many albums that have influenced me as a music fan, player and songwriter. My first thoughts were a Beatles LP or maybe The Kinks, something classic.

But when I really thought about an LP that had the biggest influence on my youth I'd have to say it was The Wonder Stuff's 1988 debut "The Eight Legged Groove Machine". 

I'll wager many of you have never heard of The Wonder Stuff but during the late 80's / early 90's they enjoyed great success in the UK.

At the time they sounded quite different than anything on this side of the Atlantic and I loved the razor sharp wit in their lyrics,

"I didn't like you very much when I met you and now I like you even less." 

"It's not your heart it's your bank I wanna break it's just your money I'm after baby."


I learned to play all of their songs, dressed like them and even grew my hair like the lead singer Miles Hunt.


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

Disraeli Gears!

It was 1967 and I had been playing for almost two years. Another guitar player friend and I learned every song on the album and jammed on them over and over and over. We went ape-shit when Wheels of Fire came out a year later.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream made me pick up the guitar. That was the album that changed everything for me.


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

View attachment 2241
View attachment 2242


Too much, too soon...


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## Option1 (May 26, 2012)

Another vote for "Who's Next". It was the first album that I remember enjoying all the tracks and finding something different in each of them.

Neil


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## Cartcanuck (Oct 30, 2012)

Eagles - Hotel California
Queen - A Day at the Races


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

There were a lot that had influence on me since I had a slightly older brother (keyboard player) that kept my listening current, but the one that keeps rising to the top for me is the Doobie Brothers - The Captain and Me. Not for the overplayed "China Grove" and "Long Train Running" but for the not so popular songs like "South City Midnight Lady" and "Without Love" etc. Still listen to (and play songs from) this album and its been about 40 years. I never appreciated at the time what tremendous musicians (and writers) these guys were and at such a young age.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Big_Daddy said:


> Disraeli Gears!
> 
> It was 1967 and I had been playing for almost two years. Another guitar player friend and I learned every song on the album and jammed on them over and over and over. We went ape-shit when Wheels of Fire came out a year later.


Good grief, so many terrific albums from the 60's I had forgotten about this one. Another favorite as my buddy was trying to learn how to play bass listening to this album.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

If I had to pick only one, it might be Supertramp's Crime of the Century.

For me, it was such an upgrade from the typical two guitar bands of the day. Two keyboardists and an excellent woodwinds player?

What a glorious sound that was for me


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

_Disraeli Gears_, Paul Butterfield Blues Band _East-West_ and the first Hendrix Experience album, certainly. But probably a notch above that would have been Beatles _Revolver_ and the Mothers of Invention _Absolutely Free_. They shaped my sense of what music _could_ be.

The Who Sell Out and Supertramp's Crime of the Century were both terrific albums. Went to see the Who at the Ottawa Civic Center when they were touring behind that album, and went to see Supertramp in Kitchener when they were touring behind Crime. Both great shows, but the Supertramp show was simply the hottest concert I thin I've ever attended. Every square inch of my clothing was sopping wet. Anyone ever noticed how Kathleen Edwards' song "Change the Sheets" sounds a lot like Supertramp, with that "ee-ee-ee-ee-ee" Wurlitzer piano sound?


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

The Black Crowes - Southern Harmony and Musical Companion
Led Zeppelin 2


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Around 1966 when I was 13, I was crazy about all the new music from England. Then a guy moved into the basement suite next door. He was a draft dodger from San Francisco and he had all these albums from crazy looking and sounding bands - The Doors, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe and the Fish, - so much music like I'd never heard it before. Everything was brand new, open and experimental. I remember everything that I heard was like nothing anyone had done before.

So I'd have to say all of that flood of talented British and American blood into the music business of the 60s produced a host of albums that changed the world - and me.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

When I was about 8 and before any idea of playing music had entered my brain, my older brother had left 2 records behind that I became infatuated with:

Genesis "selling England by the pound"

I listened to this all the time while reading the hobbit, lord of the rings, and Narnia books. The music seemed to bring those worlds into my
Living room and became the soundtrack to all those adventures

Pink Floyd " dark side of the moon" the other album he left behind. Need I say more...the sonic landscapes and ethereal synth sounds etched in my brain, I used to crank that old console stereo/record player until the house shook 

Although I may not have realized they were masterpieces at the time they definitely shaped my musical tastes.

What inspired me to play gtr was seeing old footage of Jim at Monterey many years later!!


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

Stupid phone !! Lol


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## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

This was the very first album I bought which was in 1967. Spent a whopping 99 cents on it, while I was making a princley sum of 60 cents an hour delivering perscriptions on my bike for a drug store. I spent hours and hours trying to learn some of the songs, especially "Nothin" and "Just in Case You Wondered" on my guitar without a great deal of success. Although I was only 13 at the time, it introduced me to the Toronto music scene, and not too much later the likes of The Mandala, The Paupers and the short lived Kensington Market.


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

I was just a budding guitar player when one Saturday my older brother came home with a new stereo system he had just bought. The store gave him a couple of free albums, mostly newly released promo stuff and one of them was Van Halen's first album. Neither of us had even heard of them before but it just blew me away and became a mainstay on the turnrable for years.


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## Hamstrung (Sep 21, 2007)

I've probably mentioned this in other threads but my first musical memory is being around 4 years old and listening to Alice Cooper's Love it to Death. The song Black Juju as well as The Ballad of Dwight Fry made a real mental image impression on me that I can vividly remember from that time!


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

There were a few.

KISS Originals, the first three albums were in that set.
Steve Millers Greatest hits was the first album that I bought on my own.
Judas Priest British Steel used to be my tuner, for years.
AC/DC Back in Black solidified my love for the band a made me investigate the back catalog.
Ramones were a big influence on me too.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Beatles said:


> This was the very first album I bought which was in 1967. Spent a whopping 99 cents on it, while I was making a princley sum of 60 cents an hour delivering perscriptions on my bike for a drug store. I spent hours and hours trying to learn some of the songs, especially "Nothin" and "Just in Case You Wondered" on my guitar without a great deal of success. Although I was only 13 at the time, it introduced me to the Toronto music scene, and not too much later the likes of The Mandala, The Paupers and the short lived Kensington Market.


I saw the Paupers at Expo 67 that summer. Great band, as were the Ugly Ducklings and Mandala. I have my scratched up 45 copy of Love-Itis.


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## Beatles (Feb 7, 2006)

mhammer said:


> I saw the Paupers at Expo 67 that summer. Great band, as were the Ugly Ducklings and Mandala. I have my scratched up 45 copy of Love-Itis.


I got so furstrated trying to learn and play a couple of tunes off the album that I took a can opener and carved my initials into the vinyl. What a dope.


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## mario (Feb 18, 2006)

So many albums at that time. Ran the gamut of rock, punk rock, blues, fusion.... But this one has always been special to me. I bought this when it was released in 75' when I was 15. Came wrapped in a black plastic bag. IMHO....perfect. The DVD about the making of this album is terrific.

View attachment 2245


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

A very close toss up for me. I wore both of them out.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

*Fond memories*

I remember hanging out all summer listening to albums with my buddies in our basements and ordering our top ten bands. Order would change every week and after someone found a new artist in the used record bin, that band would invariably work its way into the list.
Hard to narrow the list down but I'd have to pick Queen II. ( still love it...and no synths . Ogre Battle, March of the Black Queen, and listened to Father to Son at 3 am as I drove home from the hospital the night my own son was born.) 
Other pick would be Aqualung. Great tracks.


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## urko99 (Mar 30, 2009)

Need I Say More,


View attachment 2246


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

loudtubeamps said:


> A very close toss up for me. I wore both of them out.


and this one,








can't leave it out. 
Too many good ones to choose from that were all out around the time I was getting excited about the notes and the wonderful noise!!


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## Guest (Jan 26, 2013)

leftysg said:


> I'd have to pick Queen II.


The first Queen I heard (a buddy's older brother). Bought it
within a coupla' days after that.


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## Guest (Jan 26, 2013)

So .. who else learned 'smoke on the water'
as one of their first tunes to learn?


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## J S Moore (Feb 18, 2006)

Dark Side of the Moon and Led Zep 4 are the two I remember from long ago. What got me playing was seeing The Song Remains The Same at the Broadway Theatre when I was 16.


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## snacker (Jun 26, 2008)

The snap - the jam
Sparkle in the rain - simple minds
Mind bomb - the the


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

laristotle said:


> So .. who else learned 'smoke on the water'
> as one of their first tunes to learn?


Hey Joe & Whole Lotta Love.


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## buzzy (May 28, 2011)

mario said:


> So many albums at that time. Ran the gamut of rock, punk rock, blues, fusion.... But this one has always been special to me. I bought this when it was released in 75' when I was 15. Came wrapped in a black plastic bag. IMHO....perfect. The DVD about the making of this album is terrific.
> 
> View attachment 2245


That was the album that made me say, "OK, that's it. I have to get a guitar." I was listening to the album one morning, and later that day I was at the music shop.

Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, and Jeff Healey's first two albums pushed me there as well. I used to know quite a few acoustic Tull parts. It would be nice to relearn those at some point. Some (most!) of them are quite challenging.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

loudtubeamps said:


> and this one,
> 
> 
> 
> ...


yup ....that was one


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

Jimmy Hendrix - Electric Ladyland

Joe Pass - Virtuoso


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## Waterloo (Dec 25, 2012)

Are You Experienced - Hendrix
Electric Ladyland - Hendrix
Band of Gypsys - Hendrix


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## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

Waiting For Columbus - Little Feat


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## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

First contact with music, became a listener and a guitar player with them:
Nirvana - Nevermind
Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
Metallica - Black Album
Pantera - Far Beyound Driven
Green Day - Dookie

Open my mind to other stuff:
Pink Floyd - Pulse
Jethro Tull - Thick as a brick
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gipsys


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## nonreverb (Sep 19, 2006)

Bought this album when I was 8 years old in '72....never looked back. There was lots of cool stuff that came after but this was the one that started it all for me..

View attachment 2248


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)




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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

shoretyus said:


>


I couldn't tell you what that says if my life depended on it, lol. Worst font ever!


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Diablo said:


> I couldn't tell you what that says if my life depended on it, lol. Worst font ever!


Not enuff acid ? american beauty The Dead


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

Some others would say it's easier to see "American Reality" - but again, maybe that's the weed smokers not the acid droppers.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

While their playing was top notch, what inspired me with this album and many of their others was their vocals and especially their harmony.


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## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

First Album that made me take notice of a guitar as a lead instrument:
Akimbo Alogo - Kim Mitchell. 
The tapping solo on "That's a Man" blew my young mind at the time. (I picked up the guitar at about 11)

Sports, Fore & Small World - Huey Lewis and the News
Chris Hayes is a very under-appreciated guitar player. He's super quick and very very accurate.
And I love the arrangements from HL&TN, and the unbridaled POWER of the horn section from "Tower of Power"

The 2 Albums that changed my life as a guitar player?
Surfin with the Alien
Texas Flood.

Joe for showing me how Shred-tastic a neon painted humbucker powered monster could be.
& SRV for showing me the difference between Fast & Good.

Other honourable mentions I listened to, learned to play most of the albums stuff:
60 mins with David Wilcox
Little Big band 1/2 - Colin James
ZZ TOP- Greatest Hits
Blues Brothers Band - Briefcase Full of Blues
Unplugged - Eric Clapton.


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## Guest (Jan 27, 2013)

Grateful Dead sticker. n'est-ce pas?


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

well i can narrow it down to one. 3 is as close as i can get. these are the ones that have had the most influence on me as a young man




























honorable mention to kiss' debut album, because of _cold gin_ and _black diamond_


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I came into this thread expecting to have an answer to contribute, and I don't.

I know the first good album I bought was Goo Goo Dolls - dizzy up the girl (the one with "Iris" and "Slide") on tape. Yes, I had tapes and I made my parents spin those suckers over Raffi and Sharon Lois & Brahm every chance I got! Oldest of 4, I was outnumbered haha.

I'm not sure what artists or bands made me want to get into the guitar, really. Or who had the most influence. I originally wanted to play drums but was denied. I watched a lot of Much Music (Back when it was Mr. T, and they HAD music!). Most influential album of my youth?

I'm probably going to say Master Of Puppets. Iron maiden's "the trooper" made me want to play fast and melodic. MoP made me want to play faster and crazier. It's been getting heavier since, though I may have plateaued. Failing that, I'm really not sure. My entire childhood and teen years are kind of foggy, I just remember some of the emotions and random events tied to them.


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## rollingdam (May 11, 2006)

Disraeli Gears-Cream
Freak Out-Frank Zappa
The Best of Blind Willie Johnson


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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

Over Under Sideways Down........The Yardbirds ('The Nazz Are Blue' still does it for me)


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Probably Get Yer Ya-Yas Out by The Rolling Stones. Loved that whole Stones period.

Then Livestock by Roy Buchanan. And the first two records.

Oscar Peterson & Stephane Grappelli Quartet. Those two defined accompaniment and soloing.

Heroic Music for Organ Brass and Percussion, E. Power Biggs. 

In no particular order and lots of omissions...

Led Zeppelin.

Jethro Tull.

Emerson, Lake, & Palmer.

Frank Zappa.

Mainline.

Crowbar.

Pink Floyd.

Jeff Beck.

Deep Purple.

Peace, Mooh.


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## Chubba (Aug 23, 2009)

album that changed my life (well, a lot of things anyway) - Nevermind - Nirvana. I was 16 when it came out...I knew I wanted to listen to somewhat heavy music, and most of what was out at the time just didn't do it, what with the frizzed hair, and makeup, etc...I'm pretty sure the first time I heard 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' was on MuchMusic (yep, back when there was 'music' on it), and it was like 'yes, this is for me!' 

Seeing Pearl Jam's 'Alive' on some random late night thing, when it was still fairly new had a similar, instant impact - I remember rushing out to get 'ten' almost immediately, and being at school telling people how good this band was, to no impact, until the single for 'Jeremy' (I think was released), and then they really exploded...

Last note - I think what really got me wanting to be involved as a musical kind of person (not so much specifically as a guitar player) was Run-DMC - Raising Hell - had I not been a white kid at the edge of the suburbs in the late 80s-early 90s, i might have pursued that more (performed with a DJ a few times - it's funny how the bewildered faces of the 'cool' kids is what sticks with you (especially when 5 years later, they were all wearing backwards hats and listening to limp bizkit...ick), rather than the one dude who came to see me after to tell me it was tight, and be encouraging)...


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

The first album I ever bought was The Best of B.T.O. and it was also probably one of the most influential on my playing. 

A few others that come to mind:

Jackson Browne - Running On Empty
Led Zeppelin - II
Joe Walsh's post-Eagles solo albums (and then his pre-Eagles solo & James Gang albums)
David Lindley's early solo albums


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## Silent Otto (Sep 2, 2012)

this be a great thread
i can't really knock having ten thousand digital songs at your fingertips,
but i really do miss flipping over the record
even today some complete albums don't seem right without a little pause in the middle of the record.
anyway,
crucial first LP's were
Eric Clapton - History of
Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage
Paul Butterfield Blues Band (we wore that one out!)

later, a love for heavy music with
ACDC - Back in Black
Judas Priest - British Steel
and a wicked sabbath mixed tape (we wore that one out too)

later still,*
the first SRV record*kksjur


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## doriangrey (Mar 29, 2011)

vadsy said:


> Led Zeppelin 2


Another vote here for Zep II

AC/DC and Randy Rhoads albums also made me want to play...I don't think it was any one album but probably a combination of those guys... Bonham was long gone before I started listening to music but Jimmy Page was #1 in my books when I was kid.


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## eric_b (Dec 6, 2008)

Two "most influential of my youth", Led Zeppelin 1 in '69, then Pink Floyd DSOTM in '73. I have never recovered.


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