Saturday, June 14, 2008

Saturday five

My query to you: name five bands that changed your life.

To be clear, I'm setting the bar pretty high with "changed your life." I want you to name bands that if you hadn't discovered them when you did, it's entirely conceivable that you would not be the person you are today. Here's mine (in order of discovery):
  1. the Beatles
  2. REM
  3. the Minutemen
  4. the Flaming Lips
  5. Phish
Leave yours in the comments.

15 comments:

dr said...

I spend a lot of time listening to music, but I don't relate to it in the way that the post suggests. How about '5 records that marked a change in focus of your listening attention'?

Here are 5 of those:

1. Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
2. John Coltrane - Ole Coltrane
3. Johnny Cash - Live at Folsom Prison
4. The Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
5. The Beatles - Abbey Road

lex dexter said...

slint "spiderland"

sonic youth "sister"

neil young and crazy horse "zuma"

come "eleven: eleven"

guided by voices "vampire on titus"

grifters "one sock missing"

big star "#1 record/radio city" and "Sister Lovers"

gram parsons "gp/grievous angel"

byrds "5D"

unwound "new plastic idea" and "the future of what"

lex dexter said...

jazz list

coltrane "live in seattle," "sun ship," "stellar regions"

miles "kind of blue," "miles smiles," "live evil," "big fun," "in a silent way"

andrew hill "point of departure"

cecil taylor "dark unto themselves"

braxton/holland/altschul "circle"

ash said...

(wobs, i think you asked about bands that changed your life, which is what i'm listing here. everyone else is listing records, so i might think about that, too...)

Probably not surprisingly, we have a few in common:

1. REM
2. Sonic Youth
3. Lou Barlow/Sebadoh
4. The Flaming Lips
5. Guided by Voices

I had to choose an arbitrary cut-off point, as it's hard to say what is in the process of "changing my life" right now. This was tough.

ash said...

(lex made me think: spiderland and sister lovers: two things stolen by an ex after a breakup. damn him...)

dave3544 said...

I hope Craig is happy...

Not sure if I can do this. I'm not a huge music guy and I hesitate to say that I wouldn't be who I am if I hadn't heard such and such band. Especially since I have so much to discover. But here are five bands that I have spent a lot of time listening to and I guess that if I don't think they necessarily defined me, others might think they do.

In chronological order

1. The Beatles
2. Public Enemy
3. RHCP/Jane's Addiction/Primus
4. NOFX
5. White Stripes

In retrospect, I wish #3 was more Seattle and less Los Angles and Bay Area, but my best friend at the time (1990-3) came from Phoenix and what he knew was the So Cal skate punk. By the time we knew about Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden, they were hitting it big, which, of course, meant they sucked.

wobblie said...

Dave - I would've figured the Descendants would have made your list.

Veering onto the track dr put us on, I'll go with:

1. The Beatles - Abbey Road
2. The Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
3. The Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
4. The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
5. Flaming Lips - In a Priest Driven Ambulance

I haven't thought about "One Sock Missing" in years - I had some good times with that album.

Anonymous said...

Following dr's format (in chronological order only):

1. Bruce Springsteen - The River
2. Big Black - Songs About Fucking
3. Bad Brains - I Against I
4. Pussy Galore - Sugarshit Sharp
5. The Jesus Lizard - Goat

Craig @ AFT said...

Dave--I appreciate that you think this post had anything to do with me! That said, I shall join in.

1. The Waterboys
2. Joe Jackson
3. The Beatles
4. The Clash
5. English Beat

And on the jazz front:

1. Dexter Gordon (live homecoming)
2. Keith Jarrett (live at Blue Note)
3. Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines
4. Django (anything)
5. Miles (Kind of Blue--I know, predictable, but really).

And thanks to Wobs who has been sharing: Wilco and Flaming Lips.

Ky'all McCaterbear said...

Jr. High Edition:

7th Grade: Misfits Walk Among Us
8th Grade: That Led Zeppelin 4-Disc Box Set
8th Grade: Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii VHS
9th Grade: Radiohead The Bends
9th Grade: MBV Loveless
9th Grade: Bowie Hunky Dory

Anonymous said...

These records define the way I personally approach playing and listening... they left such a 'Tablets on the Mount' imprint in my own thinking history. I can always be called out on poorly aping some nugget from within this cluster. I had to go 11 instead of 5 because I am entirely dependent on music for my personality, and this is still half the list.

grateful dead-live dead
coltrane- sun ship
AMM- the crypt
a handful of dust- musica humana
sir douglas quintet- mendocino
anthony braxton- five pieces 1975
sonic youth- daydream nation
sun city girls- torch of the mystics
neil young- on the beach
miles davis- miles smiles/live evil
sun ra- cosmic tones for mental therapy

brown beard said...

The Beatles
Grateful Dead
John Hartford's Aereoplane Band
Sir Douglas Quintet
Neil Young and Crazy Horse

kevin maier said...

1) Suicidal tendencies
2) Sir Mix-a-lot
3) Nirvana
4) Modest Mouse/Built to Spill
5) Unwound/Blonde Redhead

age 10ish, 13ish, 16, 19, and 22, respectively.

Anonymous said...

enya
boyz II men
hootie and the blowfish
green day
whitney houston

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