Joyful Blue
Blue Mage
By influencial, I don't mean the best or your favourite; what albums have you listened to that have shaped your music taste in to what it is today (for better or worse), and why?
-----------------
NOW! Before we begin I’d like to point out that I know I have an awful taste in music, I’d also like to point out that I do like to think I know an ickle bit about music in general too. I choose to listen to the music I listen to for various reasons as does everybody and quite honestly I don’t care what people listen to as long as it’s for a good reason. Saying an album is “good” is bollocks to me as that is NOT a reason to like it. Music is the greatest art form in the world to me, music is my life, and by god if I had to go without it I’d become an hero. If you really want to bother bashing the albums in my list then do so, but at the end of the day does it matter? Music that is labelled generally as “good” is something the majority of people in the mainstream praise; is “good” music measured on sales? I’m sure there’s plenty of people out there who’d say they’re no fan of Westlife but hey, you can’t argue with their sales figures right? Shut up.
1. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
The first album I ever bought, and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t that impressed when I brought it back home and stuck it on. Four or five songs were great but the rest of them were either average or I really could not stand them in the slightest. I wasn’t really into music at this point so they weren’t really the first group to hook me but it was a pretty significant step into the music world for me. After all it was my first music purchase other than “Chocolate Salty Balls” that I inherited by accident.
2. Transplants - Transplants
Music TV was definitely something that helped me make my first real jumps into music and good old P-Rock and Scuzz were my best friends back in the day. Sadly P-Rock is now long since gone and Scuzz has gone downhill dramtically ever since the loss of Mullet Man. Thankfully though they were a round for a little while and it helped me really get into a music fanbase, believe it or not; Punk. Considering a lot of the stuff I listen to now it’s quite bizarre to think this but yes, ‘tis true. I know, I know, Transplants aren’t punk but they set me on the road that would be a big part of my life for a good three or so years.
The instant I heard “Diamonds & Guns” I was like “wow, a song I actually like”. Other than Gorillaz the last band I could remember hearing a song I liked from was the Prodigy with “Firestarter” and “Breathe”. Quite a gap eh? Well I knew that me liking a song was a rare occasion so I got myself down to HMV pretty sharpish and bought the album. I got a pretty similar outcome as was with the Gorillaz one though. Some songs were awesome, and still are, yet some were distinctly meh and others just make me wanted to kill myself, mainly D.R.E.A.M...a terrible, terrible song in my humble opinion that I can’t even find comedy in. Still, take nothing away from this album as it used to be my number one choice for an album if I was stuck on a desert island due to it’s versatility.
3. Rancid - Indestructible
This was were the party really began, this was the album that made me get a bright red mohawk, wear chains and for a very brief moment even contemplate tattoos. Yeah, I became what I now hate the most; someone who can be classified by their music soooo so easily. The one pride I can have in it is the fact that nobody else was doing it in my school or anyone that I knew of, I certainly was a scene kid like the kids who used to wear the black Slipknot or Linkin Park hoodies. I thought I was much better than them, I probably was too, but music wise, probably not. I went another five months before buying another album and in that time this was pretty much stuck on repeat, after that though the binge on the likes of The Clash and Sex Pistols began. Along with Indestructible, Tasnaplnts and one other album I’ve yet to mention I would not be where I am today with my music.
4. Operation Ivy - Energy
I feel a bit cheap putting this album in here as all it really did was introduce me to ska, something that’s all but phased out in my music taste now, still, it was another album I sued to listen to almost constantly. If I’d been around on last.fm a fair few years ago there’s little doubt in my mind these would be my top artist since they were on all day everyday and each song is around the 1-2 minute mark.
5. Horrorpops – Hell Yeah!
The only thing I can thank Kerrang! for. I only ever bought one issue of Kerrang! and I’m embarrassed to even admit to that. Hearing someone else’s opinions on music and taking it as fact is ridiculous so paying to read shit like that is awful. Still, I bought it for some posters that was in it and managed to spot a little article on Horrorpops. By little I mean it filled about 1/8 of a page and basically said there was a new band coming out soon. Their image was like nothing I’d seen before and I instantly went to their website to check them out. I liked what I heard and soon afterwards bought the album right here in Liverpool’s own HMV! Although it isn’t there anymore...
I think this was the first ( and still possibly the only) album that I have listened to and enjoyed every single track. Even my most loved albums in the world have a stinker or two on them or one that just doesn’t match the standard of the others, but not here, I thought every song was ace. In terms of progression in music tastes this album did very little for me really, I looked into Psychobilly and even Rockabilly a bit after hearing them but I only picked up three or four bands that I listened to regularly.
6. Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards - Viking
Punk is dead? Well while there may be nothing much left to fight for in the name of punk the music can still shout loud and proud thanks to albums like this. This album made me so happy to be myself as I could be proud of the fact I knew what “true” punk was. I suppose it’s kind of pathetic looking back at it but at the same time what I thought did make a lot of sense. I was sick of the hype Green Day were getting from “American Idiot” as it was not a punk album, in fact they hadn’t released a punk album since Ker-Plunk and even that was pop-punk at best. People who rate “Dookie” as one of the best punk albums of all time need to take a good look at themselves. If you like it, fine, but it’s not punk I’m afraid.
Okay, so I was already in my punk phase when I got this album but it needed to go in here as they were also the first band I saw live (in Barfly!) and to this day it is by a long long (long) way the best gig I have ever seen. Maybe the build up of it being my first helped make it so but I have no since encountered a band that plays their studio work so well live, it sounded exactly like the albums but...live. No, I know a lot of people like bands to do something a bit different live and this may seem like a bad thing but trust me, I’m of the same frame of mind but there are no words to describe how well they recreated their own sound. Plus, if you wanted something different try the fact that Lars decided to pay a UK Subs song halfway through the set thanks to audience chants while the band stood there perplexed; there was even an ex-UK Subs guitarist in the crowd that had a bit of banter with him and a guy from the audience passed Lars a note with a song he’d written on and Lars played it right there and then! Epic gig, even the support band “Mad Sin” need a big up as they are the greatest support band I’ve ever seen...as well as heard, like something straight out of a cartoon. Oh, the gig was also on the same night as Green Day one in Manchester....bleh.
7. Misfits – Famous Monsters
Okay, Misfits purists will ahte me for this since it isn’t from the Danzig era but this was the album that got me into them so...American Psycho is actually my favoured album of all of their material and the title tracks is probably my favourite punk song of all time. Some say the Misfits aren’t really punk though and in a way I can get what they’re saying, I suppose they are a bit glorified for punk and Jerry only (pun) seems to be in it for the money.
8. Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
The first album I ever heard and liked, but it would be another ten or so years before I actually bought it. My brother was recommended it in university by a tutor who said that if he liked Bob Dylan that he’d like Waits; I’m not crazy on Dylan myself but Waits is something I can get behind much easier. I think the ridiculousness of some of his songs helps but there are also some great songs in there too. Of all the artists in this list I’d say that Misfits and Tom Waits are the only two that are recognised and heralded as having a big influence on the music world.
9. Puffy - Nice
I’m quite happy that I’ve got this far before going into Japanese territory and looking back I feel that all the entries so far have been deserved rather than forced. I could have included a few more like: London Calling, Never Mind the Bollocks, Tiger Army III, Bring it On!, By the Way, Led Zeppelin, The number of the Beast and many more, but I stuck as rigidly as possible to those albums that truly influenced me.
Of all the albums in this list this takes the number on spot on influence by such a margin that I can’t even begin to put it into words. It was the first Japanese album I listened to, the first I ever heard fully and the first that I fell in love with. Without this album I would not be where I am today and I have so much to thank this band for. I didn’t find them thanks to the awful cartoon that was around a few years ago though, instead it was while I was trying to learn some more songs on guitar. At the same time I was growing bored of music in general, in a way this album was my saviour at that time. A lot of music I listened to was coming from very similar places and I was running out of artists I liked, until I decided to check overseas that was, and it all happened by accident.
I was learning a few silly songs from soundtracks of games and TV shows when I stumbled across the “Teen Titans Theme”, a song that to this day I lament Puffy ever releasing. Why? Because it’s the only song they’re known for and it’s their second worst one other than the ones sung in English. Yet whenever I mention this band to people if I’m not greeted with puzzled looks I get a “LOL! TEEN TITANS THEME! OMGZ!” response which just makes me what to stab them in the face until they learn. This bad is fucking epic, despite their recent hiccup with “Honey Creeper”. A casual listener may well see them as a cutesy Jpop band but it couldn’t be much further form the truth, the girls often play their own instruments which range from harmonicas to wurlitzers to theremins. I can not understate how much this album means to me.
10. Minimoni – Song Daikyakka Ikkan
Here, it is. The album that brainwashed me into the Hello! Project way of life. To say that this album as the sole cause would be a big fat lie as the videos of Utaban, Hello! Morning, Surprise English lessons, Heyx3 etc played just as big a part. This was the first H!P album I could stand to listen to for more than a single song though despite, or more likely because of how ridiculous it is.
11. Morning Musume – Second Morning
Before Song Daikyakke Ikkan, there was Second Morning. I’ve done things chronologically until now but this should really be number ten. I’d like to point out that I hate this album when I first heard it, I don’t mean that I didn’t like it, I mean that I HATED it. However, this was back in the days of the Minidisc player and me forgetting to swap discs became a common lament. I was stuck with this and the Koda Kumi album “Secret” in my ears for around six months. If there’s one thing I hate it’s walking, or travelling in general, the only way I can bare it is to have music on, even if that is music that I hate, it’s better than nothing. Other time I learned which songs I preferred to others and soon found that it included exactly zero Koda Kumi songs and about three Morning Musume songs.
I had heard two Morning Musume songs before, namely “Happy Summer Wedding” and “Go Girl! Koi no Victory”, and it confused me somewhat. HSW made me lol at it (not with it) whereas I hated Go Girl with a passion. But this stuff was....completely different. It was pop sure, but not the same sugar coated garbage I’d heard from them before, if anything it was surprisingly dull and very little seemed to happen, under-produced if anything. Still after constant listening it burrowed into my brain and got me curious enough to check out Minimoni when I had the chance.
12. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
Fuck continuity, I’m going in any order now. It’s thanks to this album that for many years of my life I couldn’t listen to the likes of Zeppelin and Deep Purple; hey it doesn’t say it had to influence your life in a good way does it? Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against this album, in fact I don’t really mind it now but I think that’s as far as it will ever go. Why? Because I used to hear it nonstop as a child and there was no way to get away from it. My parents and both my brothers listeend to Zeppelin all the time so wherever I went in the house it was on. Saying Led Zep IV put me off them is a bit harsh though, this place could have easily been taken by any of the Zep albums before “Houses of the Holy”, any Deep Purple album from the eighties or below or even a wide selection of Bob Dylan albums; simply because for many years they put me off music in general. If I liked a band as a child I was ridiculed by someone from my family and so I learnt just not to like music, sad isn’t it? Still, I’d liked to think that I’m a little more accepting than them now, and if any of them read this I hope they can see the damage they’ve done to my music tastes today! It’s all their fault!
13. Blink 182 – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Yes, I am the not so proud owner of this album and it was simply to see what all the fuss was about. Buying this did teach me one thing though: don’t listen to other people’s advise when it comes to music, at least not from the main populace of the world. I tried so hard to like this album, tried to force myself to, but no, it was just too bad for me.
14.Berryz Koubou - 4th Ai no Nanchara Shisuu
For a long time my H!P fandom only knew the boundaries that had been set by Morning Musume and it’s subgroups (such as Minimoni) and for the longest time I convinced myself that the younger bands and the lesser knowns simply weren’t worth dealing with. I mean, eleven years old and in a band? What the hell? Well, that’s how I used to think, now it seems kind of normal, which proves that I’ve been influenced by this album a lot. Despite never listening to them I collected pretty much all of H!P’s releases, the only songs I’d really heard more than once were by C-ute and they were two sugary even for my strange tastes. It was with the releases of 4th Ai no Nanchara Shisuu that I really took notice though, it made me realise that I didn’t need to take petty things like age into account for the music. If it sounds good then who cares? This remains one of my favourite albums of all time despite the average age fo the singers being no more than 14 or 15 years old.
15. ZONE – Z
The first and only Bandol band that I’ve ever heard. What’s a bandol band? Well it’ like an idol band that paly their own instruements. So what’s an idol band? Wiki is your friend. Seriously, these girls were tweleve years old when they started and they played their own fucking instruments like pros. Sound ridiculous? Then you are the ridiculous one. I remember my own mother insulting this band before she’d even heard them, she then heard them not knowing who they were and said they sounded “quite good”, that soon put her in her place. This album influenced as it was the first I heard and at the time I didn’t know who they were, when I did I was simply in awe at their talent.
16. Bran Flakes – Hey Won’t Somebody Come and Play?
Slightly unjust perhaps, these guys haven’t had a big effect on mytastes after all. They have introduced me to a multitude of artists though such as Fabio, Mrs. Miller and Shooby Taylor to name just a few. Perk your interest? Go to last.fm and try out some for their tracks, chances are you won’t like them. But you’ll bum “Good Times a Goo-Goo” just like every other fag out there who can’t see the broader picture.
17. Nobuo Uematsu – FFVII OST
Now did I just lose all credibility or did I just lose all credibility? Any of Nobuo’s work on the FF games could have gone in here but VII was the first I encountered so I’ve put that down here. This isn’t the kind of music I’d listen to every day but games wise his music simply has to be admired, without the scores he provides to those games I genuinely think they wouldn’t hook you in as much, a true legend of a composer, kudos to him.
18. Hamsaki Ayumi – I am...
Once my favourite album of all time and still a certainty to hit my top ten, I really can’t understand anyone who doesn’t like this album. Seriously, I went into this album with the most closed view of JPop ever and I still found it to be absolutely awesome. Although “Nice” was the album that introduced me to JPop this was the one that cemented it firmly in my heart and made me want to go out and discover more. It’s just a shame that her releases in recent years have slipped since her style simply isn’t appreciated by the Japanese anymore and her attempts at adapting have ended in failure imho. This album remains a classic in my eyes though and I don’t trust anyone as far as I can throw them if they don’t like this album (preconceptions aside).
19. Lee Jung Hyun – This is Hyony
The album that proved to me that you don’t have to be singing in English or Japanese to be any good; although I’ve no doubt just started on my musical journey this is the album that set the wheels of the next step of my journey in motion! I’m always looking for new music and I don’t care where it’s from or who sings it no matter how controversial or ridiculous it may seem to others. This was the first album that I heard that made me want to progress and try out other countries.
20. Morning Musume – Platinum 9 Disc
Which brings us bang up to date. Am I silly for putting in an album I heard for the first time less than a week ago? Of course I am, but I’m struggling to think of albums now and I think I did damn well to get this far and give proper reasons for all of them, I bet no-one else does! Right now the Momusu craze has hit me hard again though and the release of this album last week has certainly helped me.
And that’s it! There are a few more albums I could have mentioned but they didn’t influence me quite enough, that, and I wanted to put in albums that influenced me rather than ones that I necessarily liked, hopefully I did it right. If anyone reads all this...wow, you must have been as bored as I must have been to write it!
-----------------
NOW! Before we begin I’d like to point out that I know I have an awful taste in music, I’d also like to point out that I do like to think I know an ickle bit about music in general too. I choose to listen to the music I listen to for various reasons as does everybody and quite honestly I don’t care what people listen to as long as it’s for a good reason. Saying an album is “good” is bollocks to me as that is NOT a reason to like it. Music is the greatest art form in the world to me, music is my life, and by god if I had to go without it I’d become an hero. If you really want to bother bashing the albums in my list then do so, but at the end of the day does it matter? Music that is labelled generally as “good” is something the majority of people in the mainstream praise; is “good” music measured on sales? I’m sure there’s plenty of people out there who’d say they’re no fan of Westlife but hey, you can’t argue with their sales figures right? Shut up.
1. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
The first album I ever bought, and to be perfectly honest I wasn’t that impressed when I brought it back home and stuck it on. Four or five songs were great but the rest of them were either average or I really could not stand them in the slightest. I wasn’t really into music at this point so they weren’t really the first group to hook me but it was a pretty significant step into the music world for me. After all it was my first music purchase other than “Chocolate Salty Balls” that I inherited by accident.
2. Transplants - Transplants
Music TV was definitely something that helped me make my first real jumps into music and good old P-Rock and Scuzz were my best friends back in the day. Sadly P-Rock is now long since gone and Scuzz has gone downhill dramtically ever since the loss of Mullet Man. Thankfully though they were a round for a little while and it helped me really get into a music fanbase, believe it or not; Punk. Considering a lot of the stuff I listen to now it’s quite bizarre to think this but yes, ‘tis true. I know, I know, Transplants aren’t punk but they set me on the road that would be a big part of my life for a good three or so years.
The instant I heard “Diamonds & Guns” I was like “wow, a song I actually like”. Other than Gorillaz the last band I could remember hearing a song I liked from was the Prodigy with “Firestarter” and “Breathe”. Quite a gap eh? Well I knew that me liking a song was a rare occasion so I got myself down to HMV pretty sharpish and bought the album. I got a pretty similar outcome as was with the Gorillaz one though. Some songs were awesome, and still are, yet some were distinctly meh and others just make me wanted to kill myself, mainly D.R.E.A.M...a terrible, terrible song in my humble opinion that I can’t even find comedy in. Still, take nothing away from this album as it used to be my number one choice for an album if I was stuck on a desert island due to it’s versatility.
3. Rancid - Indestructible
This was were the party really began, this was the album that made me get a bright red mohawk, wear chains and for a very brief moment even contemplate tattoos. Yeah, I became what I now hate the most; someone who can be classified by their music soooo so easily. The one pride I can have in it is the fact that nobody else was doing it in my school or anyone that I knew of, I certainly was a scene kid like the kids who used to wear the black Slipknot or Linkin Park hoodies. I thought I was much better than them, I probably was too, but music wise, probably not. I went another five months before buying another album and in that time this was pretty much stuck on repeat, after that though the binge on the likes of The Clash and Sex Pistols began. Along with Indestructible, Tasnaplnts and one other album I’ve yet to mention I would not be where I am today with my music.
4. Operation Ivy - Energy
I feel a bit cheap putting this album in here as all it really did was introduce me to ska, something that’s all but phased out in my music taste now, still, it was another album I sued to listen to almost constantly. If I’d been around on last.fm a fair few years ago there’s little doubt in my mind these would be my top artist since they were on all day everyday and each song is around the 1-2 minute mark.
5. Horrorpops – Hell Yeah!
The only thing I can thank Kerrang! for. I only ever bought one issue of Kerrang! and I’m embarrassed to even admit to that. Hearing someone else’s opinions on music and taking it as fact is ridiculous so paying to read shit like that is awful. Still, I bought it for some posters that was in it and managed to spot a little article on Horrorpops. By little I mean it filled about 1/8 of a page and basically said there was a new band coming out soon. Their image was like nothing I’d seen before and I instantly went to their website to check them out. I liked what I heard and soon afterwards bought the album right here in Liverpool’s own HMV! Although it isn’t there anymore...
I think this was the first ( and still possibly the only) album that I have listened to and enjoyed every single track. Even my most loved albums in the world have a stinker or two on them or one that just doesn’t match the standard of the others, but not here, I thought every song was ace. In terms of progression in music tastes this album did very little for me really, I looked into Psychobilly and even Rockabilly a bit after hearing them but I only picked up three or four bands that I listened to regularly.
6. Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards - Viking
Punk is dead? Well while there may be nothing much left to fight for in the name of punk the music can still shout loud and proud thanks to albums like this. This album made me so happy to be myself as I could be proud of the fact I knew what “true” punk was. I suppose it’s kind of pathetic looking back at it but at the same time what I thought did make a lot of sense. I was sick of the hype Green Day were getting from “American Idiot” as it was not a punk album, in fact they hadn’t released a punk album since Ker-Plunk and even that was pop-punk at best. People who rate “Dookie” as one of the best punk albums of all time need to take a good look at themselves. If you like it, fine, but it’s not punk I’m afraid.
Okay, so I was already in my punk phase when I got this album but it needed to go in here as they were also the first band I saw live (in Barfly!) and to this day it is by a long long (long) way the best gig I have ever seen. Maybe the build up of it being my first helped make it so but I have no since encountered a band that plays their studio work so well live, it sounded exactly like the albums but...live. No, I know a lot of people like bands to do something a bit different live and this may seem like a bad thing but trust me, I’m of the same frame of mind but there are no words to describe how well they recreated their own sound. Plus, if you wanted something different try the fact that Lars decided to pay a UK Subs song halfway through the set thanks to audience chants while the band stood there perplexed; there was even an ex-UK Subs guitarist in the crowd that had a bit of banter with him and a guy from the audience passed Lars a note with a song he’d written on and Lars played it right there and then! Epic gig, even the support band “Mad Sin” need a big up as they are the greatest support band I’ve ever seen...as well as heard, like something straight out of a cartoon. Oh, the gig was also on the same night as Green Day one in Manchester....bleh.
7. Misfits – Famous Monsters
Okay, Misfits purists will ahte me for this since it isn’t from the Danzig era but this was the album that got me into them so...American Psycho is actually my favoured album of all of their material and the title tracks is probably my favourite punk song of all time. Some say the Misfits aren’t really punk though and in a way I can get what they’re saying, I suppose they are a bit glorified for punk and Jerry only (pun) seems to be in it for the money.
8. Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
The first album I ever heard and liked, but it would be another ten or so years before I actually bought it. My brother was recommended it in university by a tutor who said that if he liked Bob Dylan that he’d like Waits; I’m not crazy on Dylan myself but Waits is something I can get behind much easier. I think the ridiculousness of some of his songs helps but there are also some great songs in there too. Of all the artists in this list I’d say that Misfits and Tom Waits are the only two that are recognised and heralded as having a big influence on the music world.
9. Puffy - Nice
I’m quite happy that I’ve got this far before going into Japanese territory and looking back I feel that all the entries so far have been deserved rather than forced. I could have included a few more like: London Calling, Never Mind the Bollocks, Tiger Army III, Bring it On!, By the Way, Led Zeppelin, The number of the Beast and many more, but I stuck as rigidly as possible to those albums that truly influenced me.
Of all the albums in this list this takes the number on spot on influence by such a margin that I can’t even begin to put it into words. It was the first Japanese album I listened to, the first I ever heard fully and the first that I fell in love with. Without this album I would not be where I am today and I have so much to thank this band for. I didn’t find them thanks to the awful cartoon that was around a few years ago though, instead it was while I was trying to learn some more songs on guitar. At the same time I was growing bored of music in general, in a way this album was my saviour at that time. A lot of music I listened to was coming from very similar places and I was running out of artists I liked, until I decided to check overseas that was, and it all happened by accident.
I was learning a few silly songs from soundtracks of games and TV shows when I stumbled across the “Teen Titans Theme”, a song that to this day I lament Puffy ever releasing. Why? Because it’s the only song they’re known for and it’s their second worst one other than the ones sung in English. Yet whenever I mention this band to people if I’m not greeted with puzzled looks I get a “LOL! TEEN TITANS THEME! OMGZ!” response which just makes me what to stab them in the face until they learn. This bad is fucking epic, despite their recent hiccup with “Honey Creeper”. A casual listener may well see them as a cutesy Jpop band but it couldn’t be much further form the truth, the girls often play their own instruments which range from harmonicas to wurlitzers to theremins. I can not understate how much this album means to me.
10. Minimoni – Song Daikyakka Ikkan
Here, it is. The album that brainwashed me into the Hello! Project way of life. To say that this album as the sole cause would be a big fat lie as the videos of Utaban, Hello! Morning, Surprise English lessons, Heyx3 etc played just as big a part. This was the first H!P album I could stand to listen to for more than a single song though despite, or more likely because of how ridiculous it is.
11. Morning Musume – Second Morning
Before Song Daikyakke Ikkan, there was Second Morning. I’ve done things chronologically until now but this should really be number ten. I’d like to point out that I hate this album when I first heard it, I don’t mean that I didn’t like it, I mean that I HATED it. However, this was back in the days of the Minidisc player and me forgetting to swap discs became a common lament. I was stuck with this and the Koda Kumi album “Secret” in my ears for around six months. If there’s one thing I hate it’s walking, or travelling in general, the only way I can bare it is to have music on, even if that is music that I hate, it’s better than nothing. Other time I learned which songs I preferred to others and soon found that it included exactly zero Koda Kumi songs and about three Morning Musume songs.
I had heard two Morning Musume songs before, namely “Happy Summer Wedding” and “Go Girl! Koi no Victory”, and it confused me somewhat. HSW made me lol at it (not with it) whereas I hated Go Girl with a passion. But this stuff was....completely different. It was pop sure, but not the same sugar coated garbage I’d heard from them before, if anything it was surprisingly dull and very little seemed to happen, under-produced if anything. Still after constant listening it burrowed into my brain and got me curious enough to check out Minimoni when I had the chance.
12. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV
Fuck continuity, I’m going in any order now. It’s thanks to this album that for many years of my life I couldn’t listen to the likes of Zeppelin and Deep Purple; hey it doesn’t say it had to influence your life in a good way does it? Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against this album, in fact I don’t really mind it now but I think that’s as far as it will ever go. Why? Because I used to hear it nonstop as a child and there was no way to get away from it. My parents and both my brothers listeend to Zeppelin all the time so wherever I went in the house it was on. Saying Led Zep IV put me off them is a bit harsh though, this place could have easily been taken by any of the Zep albums before “Houses of the Holy”, any Deep Purple album from the eighties or below or even a wide selection of Bob Dylan albums; simply because for many years they put me off music in general. If I liked a band as a child I was ridiculed by someone from my family and so I learnt just not to like music, sad isn’t it? Still, I’d liked to think that I’m a little more accepting than them now, and if any of them read this I hope they can see the damage they’ve done to my music tastes today! It’s all their fault!
13. Blink 182 – Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Yes, I am the not so proud owner of this album and it was simply to see what all the fuss was about. Buying this did teach me one thing though: don’t listen to other people’s advise when it comes to music, at least not from the main populace of the world. I tried so hard to like this album, tried to force myself to, but no, it was just too bad for me.
14.Berryz Koubou - 4th Ai no Nanchara Shisuu
For a long time my H!P fandom only knew the boundaries that had been set by Morning Musume and it’s subgroups (such as Minimoni) and for the longest time I convinced myself that the younger bands and the lesser knowns simply weren’t worth dealing with. I mean, eleven years old and in a band? What the hell? Well, that’s how I used to think, now it seems kind of normal, which proves that I’ve been influenced by this album a lot. Despite never listening to them I collected pretty much all of H!P’s releases, the only songs I’d really heard more than once were by C-ute and they were two sugary even for my strange tastes. It was with the releases of 4th Ai no Nanchara Shisuu that I really took notice though, it made me realise that I didn’t need to take petty things like age into account for the music. If it sounds good then who cares? This remains one of my favourite albums of all time despite the average age fo the singers being no more than 14 or 15 years old.
15. ZONE – Z
The first and only Bandol band that I’ve ever heard. What’s a bandol band? Well it’ like an idol band that paly their own instruements. So what’s an idol band? Wiki is your friend. Seriously, these girls were tweleve years old when they started and they played their own fucking instruments like pros. Sound ridiculous? Then you are the ridiculous one. I remember my own mother insulting this band before she’d even heard them, she then heard them not knowing who they were and said they sounded “quite good”, that soon put her in her place. This album influenced as it was the first I heard and at the time I didn’t know who they were, when I did I was simply in awe at their talent.
16. Bran Flakes – Hey Won’t Somebody Come and Play?
Slightly unjust perhaps, these guys haven’t had a big effect on mytastes after all. They have introduced me to a multitude of artists though such as Fabio, Mrs. Miller and Shooby Taylor to name just a few. Perk your interest? Go to last.fm and try out some for their tracks, chances are you won’t like them. But you’ll bum “Good Times a Goo-Goo” just like every other fag out there who can’t see the broader picture.
17. Nobuo Uematsu – FFVII OST
Now did I just lose all credibility or did I just lose all credibility? Any of Nobuo’s work on the FF games could have gone in here but VII was the first I encountered so I’ve put that down here. This isn’t the kind of music I’d listen to every day but games wise his music simply has to be admired, without the scores he provides to those games I genuinely think they wouldn’t hook you in as much, a true legend of a composer, kudos to him.
18. Hamsaki Ayumi – I am...
Once my favourite album of all time and still a certainty to hit my top ten, I really can’t understand anyone who doesn’t like this album. Seriously, I went into this album with the most closed view of JPop ever and I still found it to be absolutely awesome. Although “Nice” was the album that introduced me to JPop this was the one that cemented it firmly in my heart and made me want to go out and discover more. It’s just a shame that her releases in recent years have slipped since her style simply isn’t appreciated by the Japanese anymore and her attempts at adapting have ended in failure imho. This album remains a classic in my eyes though and I don’t trust anyone as far as I can throw them if they don’t like this album (preconceptions aside).
19. Lee Jung Hyun – This is Hyony
The album that proved to me that you don’t have to be singing in English or Japanese to be any good; although I’ve no doubt just started on my musical journey this is the album that set the wheels of the next step of my journey in motion! I’m always looking for new music and I don’t care where it’s from or who sings it no matter how controversial or ridiculous it may seem to others. This was the first album that I heard that made me want to progress and try out other countries.
20. Morning Musume – Platinum 9 Disc
Which brings us bang up to date. Am I silly for putting in an album I heard for the first time less than a week ago? Of course I am, but I’m struggling to think of albums now and I think I did damn well to get this far and give proper reasons for all of them, I bet no-one else does! Right now the Momusu craze has hit me hard again though and the release of this album last week has certainly helped me.
And that’s it! There are a few more albums I could have mentioned but they didn’t influence me quite enough, that, and I wanted to put in albums that influenced me rather than ones that I necessarily liked, hopefully I did it right. If anyone reads all this...wow, you must have been as bored as I must have been to write it!
