Top 10 albums that most impacted you

In no particular order:

1- Judas priest: painkiller

2- Iron maiden: powerslave

3- Accept: Balls to the wall

4- Metallica: Master of Puppets

5- Megadeth: Rust in Piece

6- Black Sabbath: headless cross

7- Riot: Thundersteel

8- Running Wild: Black Hand Inn

9- GNR: Appetite for Destruction

10- Whitesnake: Whitesnake

Def Leppard - Hysteria
Run DMC - Tougher Than Leather
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Queensryche - Empire
Therapy? - Nurse
Pantera - Vulgar Display Of Power
Life of Agony - River Runs Red
White Zombie - La Sexorcisto
Nudeswirl - Nudeswirl
Monster Magnet - Superjudge
Mucky Pup - Now
Strife - One Truth
Strapping Young Lad - Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing

That's up until 1995. I bought that SYL album in basic training while on town pass, back in October of 1995. And it's more that 10, but I could probably add a few more extremely influential albums if I thought about it.

I could probably list fifty more albums leading up until now as well.

the crucified - the crucified
atari teenage riot - delete yourself!
immortal souls - under the northern sky
venetian snares - rossz csillag alatt született
crimson moonlight - the covenant progress
eluveitie - spirit
ephemeral sun - broken door
suffering and the hideous thieves - real panic formed
sympathy - arcane path
the mars volta - de-loused in the comatorium

Stuff that impacted me personally and musically -

Ozzy - Diary Of A Madman & Krokus - One Vice At A Time (both were my first two albums)
Death - Spiritual Healing
Fates Warning - No Exit
The Doors - Morrison Hotel
Death Angel - Ultra-Violence
Kix - Blow My Fuse
Connells - Fun & Games
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Suicidal Tendencies - Join The Army
Bad Brains - s/t

and some that probably belong in the top ten
Warrior Soul - Last Decade Dead Century
Melvins - Houdini
Fugazi - Steady Diet Of Nothing
Replacements - Don't Tell A Soul
The Exploited - Live At The Whitehouse
Michael Monroe - Not Fakin It
Ride - Nowhere
Black Sabbath - Tyr (I know, I know. But it's a personal time/place type of album for me)

Judas Priest - Jugulator
Iced Earth - Something Wicked This Way Comes
Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle Earth
Helloween - Better than Raw
Stratovarius - Visions
Savatage - Wake of Magellan

All from the late 90's from when I started to get more into metal and these albums were brand new. Stratovarius kind of got me into power metal along with Helloween (with Keepers pt 2 that I heard earlier). Before that I was more into extreme (black metal) bands and random classic hard rock bands. I chose Better than Raw from Helloween because it was brand new and sounded great and I loved it. Still do.

To round out the ten, a pair of albums that I also got into maybe earlier, maybe later, but that had a big impact.

Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark
Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell

Fear of the Dark was one of the first three albums that I ever bought (with Metallica's Black Album and Megadeth's Youthanasia). That Sabbath album introduced me to Ronnie James Dio that I became a huge fan of. Greatest vocalist ever.

I'll add one more that I find significant because it got me even more into ridiculously melodic, poppier side of heavy metal where I've kind of been the last few years:

Axxis - Back to the Kingdom

DEF LEPPARD - Pyromania
W.A.S.P. - S/T
STORMWITCH - Tales of Terror
KING DIAMOND - Fatal Portrait
DESTRUCTION - Eternal Devastation
CANDLEMASS - Nightfall
S.D.I. - Satan's Defloration Inc.
RUNNING WILD - Port Royal
BLIND GUARDIAN - Somewhere Far Beyond
NIGHTWISH - Oceanborn

In more or less chronological order:

Aerosmith-Toys in the Attic
KISS-Destroyer
AC/DC-High Voltage
Ozzy-Blizzard of Oz
Van Halen-VH1

These introduced me to & nurtured my love of metal/hard rock

Metallica-Ride the Lightening

THRASH!

Iron Maiden-Powerslave/Live after Death

When people talk about '80s music, this album/tour/Live LP is the first thing that comes to mind. The soundtrack of my high school years.

GnR-Appetite for Destruction
King Diamond-Abigail
Metallica-...And Justice for All

Part of the reason I had multiple Freshman years in College.

impacted me in the 70's:

Aerosmith-Get Your Wings, Rocks
Montrose-s/t
Kiss-Destroyer, Alive
Nazareth-Hair Of The Dog
Ted Nugent-DL Gonzo
VH 1 & 2
Rush-first 4 albums

impacted me in the 80's:

Rush- AFTK-Signals
VH W&CF, FW, DD
Metallica-first 3 albums
70's and 80's Judas Priest
70's AC/DC
Iron maiden-s/t thru Powerslave
San Fran thrash scene
German thrash scene

impacted me in the 90's:

80's christian rock and metal
90's christian rock & metal

2000's

Shall we see:

Kiss - Destroyer / Unmasked (both got me hooked on metal)

Jerusalem - Volym I (made me realize that Christian music coud be cool too)

Stryper - Soldiers Under Command (made me realize that Christians could create my favorite music as good as any secular band)

Savatage - Gutter Ballet (opened my eyes to the greatest band, ever!)

Vengeance Rising - Human Sacrifice (Yup, Christians could even thrash with the best of 'em!)

Other significant releases for me:

Queensrÿche - The Warning
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast / Piece of Mind
Metallica - Ride The Lightning / Master of Puppets
Mortification - Post Momentary Affliction
Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys part 1 & 2

I find these list interesting, especially when someone lists 'Unmasked' an album I like but did not love, where Kmorg half way on the other side of the world, heard something in the album's grooves that made dig deeper into not only KISS but the entire genre of metal.

Just off the top of my head:

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Michael Jackson - Thriller (leave me alone)
Beastie Boys - License to Ill
Eazy E - Eazy Duz it
Iced Earth - Night of the Stormrider
Metallica - Metallica
Soundgarden - Bad Motor Finger
Enslaved - Below the Lights

Tad - Inhaler
4 NON Blondes
L7 - Bricks are Heavy
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Godfodder
Aerosmith - Get A Grip
Ritchie Sambora - Stranger In His Town
Kenny Rogers- The Gambler
STP - Core
Greenday - Kerplunk
REM - Out Of Time

These are albums I was really into at one point or another. Couldn't list just 10... (not in particular order)


Sepultura - Arise
Metallica - Master of Puppets
S.T. - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow
Pantera - Cowboys From Hell
The Crucified - Pillars of Humanity
Alice in Chains - Facelift / Dirt
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Coroner - Mental Vortex
Seventh Angel - Lament for the Weary
Tourniquet - Psychosurgery
Pro-Pain - Foul Taste of Freedom
Testament - Souls of Black
Flotsam and Jetsam - Drift
Anthrax - Persistence of Time
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
+
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party (the first album I truly loved as a kid)


(hopefully this is my final edit) I kept thinking of bands to add...

All of these albums have had a huge impact on me! Some of them saved me from murdering someone, one saved me from suicide, and the rest have been there through various other circumstances both good and bad!

Quiet Riot - Metal Health
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At the Moon
Black Sabbath - Master of Reality
Life of Agony - River Runs Red
Barren Cross - Atomic Arena
Slayer - South of Heaven
Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
Edge of Sanity - Unorthodox
Grave - Into the Grave
Morgion - Among Majestic Ruin
Suffocation - Effigy of the Forgotten
Sadus - Swallowed in Black
Vengeance Rising - Human Sacrifice

Trying to narrow down to 10 was tricky, given my rather eclectic tastes, but this seems to be a reasonable list (in no particular order, not entirely hard rock/heavy metal, and with a bit of cheating, but...):

1. Def Leppard - Pyromania: First album I bought for myself.
2. Scorpions - Love at First Sting: The incessant play Rock You Like a Hurricane got on MTV definitely had an effect on my tastes. Van Halen's 1984, Dio's Holy Diver, or Twisted Sister's Stay Hungry could easily go here instead for similar reasons.
3. Iron Maiden - Powerslave: My introduction to the band.
4. Metallica - Ride the Lightning/Megadeth - Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?: One of these was my introduction to thrash, although I can't remember which.
5. Queensrÿche - The Warning: My introduction to prog metal.
6. Dream Theater - Images and Words: Definitely helped cement my love of prog metal.
7. various artists - Supernatural Fairy Tales boxed set: My introduction to a lot of the prog groups from time of the style's biggest popularity.
8. Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend: Probably the key album in my branching out into areas outside of hard rock/heavy metal.
9. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions: If nothing else, led to me rethinking my opinions on a lot of well-regarded artists whose '80s material... isn't so well-regarded.
10. Shonen Knife - Let's Knife: One of the main albums that got me into some Japanese pop and rock groups. Shut up

Well, these aren't my top 10 now days, but definitely changed the way I listen to music. Pretty much in this order:

Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory: After looking at where most everyone started their musical taste I almost feel lame that mine started here, even though I still like this album. This is the first band I felt I could actually dig, since I liked every song they wrote, and not just a handful.

Disturbed - Down with the Sickness/ Slipknot - Iowa: It was about this time I really started to dig the whole nu-metal thing, and I trace it back to these two albums. Disturbed has remained a band I like out of the whole scene, and was a definite favorite of mine at the time.

Fear Factory - Archetype: I moved away from nu-metal beginning when I listened to this album. I listened to this band sooo much from when I first heard the song "Slave Labor" until I became obsessed with the next band.

Demon Hunter - Demon Hunter / Becoming the Archetype - Terminate Damnation: I got into the whole "core" thing starting with these bands. Being Christian, I finally was like, "YES something my parents won't tell me not to listen to!" They still didn't approve, but I managed to find time to listen to these bands.

Opeth - Blackwater Park: I remember reading in an interview somewhere of a guitarist in a band I listened to at the time (don't remember who) and they mentioned that they really liked Opeth. Then sometime afterwords I was on a forums and Opeth always popped up in conversations, so I thought I'd check out the band. I listened to the song "Bleak" and never looked back. They've been one of my favorite bands since.

Carcass - Heartwork / Death - Symbolic: I remember after getting into Opeth I decided to check out death metal, upon finding out Opeth wasn't really death metal like everyone labeled them to be. You guys picking up on the "I have to listen to the heaviest possible music I can find" trend? This is where it stopped, because after listening to these two bands I really started to like the melody over the madness. I did briefly get into Napalm Death though, but it didn't last very long.

Slayer - Reign in Blood: Funny thing is that I managed to become obsessed with Slayer AFTER listening to all the above bands. Oh man, after I heard this album I wasn't just out to listen to the heaviest stuff I could get my hands on, it had to be good. Reign in Blood was perfect.

Tool - Lateralus: So I had known about this band for a while at this point. I began to hang out with a friend whom I worked with who was totally obsessed with Tool. I never was really a fan, until I heard the song "Parabola." Something weird clicked after that song. I don't worry about why. I really noticed myself not listening to all the "hardcore" bands any more once I got into Tool. This is what set up for:

Lacrae - Rehab: For the longest time I've been totally anti-rap (and wasn't interested in anything not heavy for that matter), but Lacrae has changed me. I'm still not a fan of rap, but I feel moved when I listen to his stuff. This has been a very recent change for me, so if you wanna hate go for it. Lacrae rules.

I would also add stryper's soldiers under command

Time to give this a shot.....

KISS - Destroyer - first album I ever bought!
Van Halen - I
Def Leppard - Pyromania
AC/DC - Highway To Hell
Iron Maiden - Piece Of Mind
Metallica - Ride The Lightning
Stryper - Soldiers Under Command
Barren Cross - Atomic Arena
Dream Theater - I&W
The Cure - Wish

IRON MAIDEN:LIVE AFTER DEATH
POISON:LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN
THOR:ONLY THE STRONG
RUNNING WILD:DEATH OR GLORY
HAMMERFALL:GLORY TO THE BRAVE
SEPULTURA:ARISE
BLIND GUARDIAN:TOKYO TALES
KISS:CREATURES OF THE NIGHT
WASP:WASP
OZZY:NO MORE TEARS

In no certain order:

Metallica: Ride The Lightning
Megadeth: Peace Sells
Motley Crue: Shout at the Devil
Def Leppard: Pyromania
Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith
KISS: Creatures of the Night
Night Ranger: Midnight Madness
Bryan Adams: Cuts Like A Knife
Journey: Escape
The 5th Dimension: Age of Aquarias


I grew up on my Father's 45's, so the amount of R&B/Doo-Wop stuff that I love/d seems never ending.

Hmmm... OK, I'll play

AC/DC - LET THERE BE ROCK (first album I ever owned, nuff said)

Judas Priest - POINT OF ENTRY (first Priest I ever heard)

Ramones - RAMONES MANIA (the compilation album that kicked off my 20+ year obsession)

Warrior Soul - SALUTATIONS FROM THE GHETTO NATION (yeah, I know, I'm a fanboy)

Def Leppard - HIGH N DRY (best...air guitar album... ever)

Motley Crue - SHOUT AT THE DEVIL (this was as heavy 'n' evil as it got for the 12 year old me)

Metallica - KILL'EM ALL (Game changer, suddenly Crue, Quiet Riot, etc. didn't cut it anymore)

Savatage - STREETS (metal and Broadway can co-exist. Who'da thunk?)

Crimson Glory - TRANSCENDENCE (one of the few non-thrash albums that truly knocked me on my ass during my late '80s all-thrash, all the time period)

Mentors - YOU AXED FOR IT (yeah, I admit it. I'm sick.)

I bought that Mentors album on tape, without ever hearing a note because Tipper Gore and her gaggle of bored Washington housewives, reading their lyrics during the Senate PMRC hearings 'Bend Over and smell my vapors/Your face is my toilet paper' nothing funnier then hearing stuffy housewives reading the Mentors lovely poetry.

manny wrote:

I find these list interesting, especially when someone lists 'Unmasked' an album I like but did not love, where Kmorg half way on the other side of the world, heard something in the album's grooves that made dig deeper into not only KISS but the entire genre of metal.

In 1985 in Virginia when I was 14, I had a cassette of Unmasked and it was a huge favorite of mine at the time. To this day, it and Asylum (also 1985) are my 2 favorite Kiss albums.

manny wrote:

I bought that Mentors album on tape, without ever hearing a note because Tipper Gore and her gaggle of bored Washington housewives, reading their lyrics during the Senate PMRC hearings 'Bend Over and smell my vapors/Your face is my toilet paper' nothing funnier then hearing stuffy housewives reading the Mentors lovely poetry.

I always thought it is the ultimate irony that a person with the name GORE would lead the crusade against use of graphic language in lyrics... it must have been a psychological issue for her...

stormspell wrote:

manny wrote:

I bought that Mentors album on tape, without ever hearing a note because Tipper Gore and her gaggle of bored Washington housewives, reading their lyrics during the Senate PMRC hearings 'Bend Over and smell my vapors/Your face is my toilet paper' nothing funnier then hearing stuffy housewives reading the Mentors lovely poetry.

I always thought it is the ultimate irony that a person with the name GORE would lead the crusade against use of graphic language in lyrics... it must have been a psychological issue for her...

Her maiden name was Chokesoncock, so Gore was a step up.