SPECULATED 5/5's: Chuck Schuldiner
I sometimes wonder what would happen if some well-known musicians made a Sputnik account, and what their 5/5's would look like. Chuck Schuldiner died in 2001, long before Sputnikmusic's creation. But if he were around today, or if Sputnik were around when he was alive, what would his 5/5's look like if he made an account with us? I did some digging around a lot of websites and found a possible list of his all-time favorite albums. This list is entirely speculative.
Research was conducted using Empytwords.com, Eric Grief's blogs, Death fan websites (and the Death Fans facebook), interviews with various ex-Death band members, and even Chuck's own parents. |
| 1 |  | a-ha
Hunting High and Low
Despite being known for death metal, Chuck liked a decent amount of synth pop. Chuck's parents claim that "Take On Me" was one of Chuck's lifelong favorite songs, and he was even known to spin this record into the late 90's and jokingly sing the lyrics in the studio. |
| 2 |  | Agent Steel
Unstoppable Force |
| 3 |  | Billy Idol
Rebel Yell
One of Chuck's early inspirations for picking up the guitar as a teenager. |
| 4 |  | Carcass
Heartwork
Eric Grief said that Heartwork was "essential to 90's Death" and "shaped the sound of Symbolic and TSOP." |
| 5 |  | Carcass
Necroticism: Descanting the Insalubrious
Eric Grief on Carcass: "We always loved Carcass - their music, and the guys as dudes to tour or hang with. There are two Carcass CDs in Chuck's personal CD case. Carcass were so classically brutal...and that's why they were worshiped Chuck and I." |
| 6 |  | Coroner
Mental Vortex
Givememetal.com on Coroner: "They also featured a more aggressive vocal style closer to Chucks early growling style. Chuck mentioned them as an influence. He heard the style of Mental Vortex and decided that's what he wanted to start doing with his voice and guitar techniques. That was no secret." |
| 7 |  | Demolition Hammer
Epidemic of Violence
Allegedly Chuck's favorite gym album. He once called it "the heaviest album ever", according to Grief. |
| 8 |  | Exciter
Heavy Metal Maniac
Listed as "one of Chuck's top 5 favorite albums." |
| 9 |  | Fates Warning
Awaken the Guardian
Chuck was good friends with Fates Warning bassist Joey Vera and followed this project very closely. |
| 10 |  | Forte
Stranger Than Fiction
A more obscure progthrash band from Oklahoma City. The band said that Chuck personally phoned them out of the blue and asked them to join Death on tour in support of ITP. They later joined Death again on what would be their final tour in 1999. Chuck also regularly wore a Forte shirt both on stage and in person. |
| 11 |  | Hellhammer
Satanic Rites
Ex-Death bassist Terry Butler recalls this being one of Chuck's favorites, and it's how the two bonded. |
| 12 |  | Helstar
Burning Star
A lesser remember thrash band from Texas. Chuck apparently agreed to be on Combat records over other offers solely because they also signed Helstar, one of his favorite bands. |
| 13 |  | Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Listed by nearly everyone as one of Chuck's all-time favorites. |
| 14 |  | Jonas Hannson
No. 1
Cited as some of Chuck's all-time favorite lead guitar work. Chuck also took the name of his solo project from the 3rd track from this album, "Control Denied." |
| 15 |  | Judas Priest
Sad Wings of Destiny
Eric Grief said it was very possible that this was Chuck's #1 favorite album OAT based on how often he talked about it. Rob Halford was supposedly Chuck's favorite metal vocalist. |
| 16 |  | King Diamond
Abigail
Chuck was huge into anything King Diamond and Mercyful Fate. But, of everything between those two bands combined, Abigail was "by far" Chuck's favorite, according to Eric Grief. Chuck's own mother acknowledged his son's love for Abigail on his fansite. |
| 17 |  | KISS
Destroyer
The first album Chuck ever purchased. Within a few months, he could play every single song on this album on guitar, entirely self-taught. |
| 18 |  | Lush
Gala
Eric Grief on Lush: " LUSH. We discovered LUSH at the same time, when we were given an early compilation, Gala, whilst on the road in Britain. It was like a revelation to us (Paul Masvidal, too). The atmospheric, layered guitars and the breathy vocals of Miki Berenyi. You can hear this tune Breeze briefly in that vid I made of the making of the Lack of Comprehension video. Obviously, Chuck liked stuff outside of metal, and LUSH was at the forefront." |
| 19 |  | Mercyful Fate
Melissa
Listed several times as one of Chuck's favorite albums, especially in the 80's. |
| 20 |  | Metallica
Kill 'Em All
Chuck was a massive Metallica fanboy! In particular, both Givememetal.com and Chuck's fan facebook list Kill Em All as a top 10 personal favorite. |
| 21 |  | Metallica
Ride the Lightning
Eric Grief on Chuck & Metallica: "It may come to a surprise to some that Chuck dug Metallica his whole life. He was a big defender of The Black Album and the Load/Reload stuff, and loved a big chunk of the band's stuff. 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Fade To Black' were two of his favorite Metallica songs, maybe ever. He also loved Garage Inc and wanted to do his own Garage Inc, and wanted to open the album with a cover of "Ride The Lightning." |
| 22 |  | Mundanus Imperium
The Spectral Spheres Coronation
A one-off Norwegian progressive black metal project, and another one of Chuck's favorites from his later life. Grief said, although he himself didn't like this album and called it "TOO proggy for me", it was one of Chuck's favorites, and it pushed him to write TSOP and Control Denied. I personally think you can hear alot of the TSOP songwriting style here. |
| 23 |  | My Bloody Valentine
Loveless
Eric Grief on My Bloody Valentine: "we were simultaneously influenced by 'shoegaze' in 1991, and Chuck liked LUSH & MY BLOODY VALENTINE, amongs others. Maybe because they were psychedelic & trippy - maybe because you could drift off in a stoned haze to the soundscapes. Whatever. I think you can hear some of the Loveless inspiration if you know what to listen for. This is from MBV's huge album Loveless." Grief also recalled that Chuck reached out to MBV about possibly playing a show together, but this fell through. |
| 24 |  | Nevermore
Dead Heart In A Dead World
Eric Grief said that Nevermore was the last big band Chuck was obsessed with before his death. "It was one of the newest albums Chuck dug before his relapse made it impossible to function…Nevermore was one of his favorite bands. He showed this album to everyone who was close to him. He also talked about a Control Denied / Nevermore tour if things got better for him." |
| 25 |  | Possessed
Seven Churches
It's no surprise that Chuck loved this one. He hated the so-called rivalry between Death and Possessed in the early days of the band because he definitely looked up to Possessed. |
| 26 |  | Queensryche
Operation: Mindcrime
This album was described as Chuck's "first real obsession into progressive metal" and that it was quite important to Death's later "epic" songwriting style. |
| 27 |  | Riot
Inishmore
Richard Christy recalled that Riot's Inishmore was "one of Chuck's essentials" and that they both listened to this album daily. |
| 28 |  | Rosie Vela
Zazu (25th Anniversary)
Eric Grief on Rosie Vela: "No shocker that Chuck dug Rosie Vela and owned her entire collection. I remember during the Leprosy era Chuck & I glued to the television watching a videotape we had of Rosie Vela - it was this very vid of her interesting, rather progressive/jazzy single Interlude. OK - we thought she was gorgeous, obviously, but also dug the interesting changes (assisted by the two Steely Dan cats who played on it). Considering Madonna, etc. was all over the radio at that time, Interlude was a very cool, meandering tune. And we thought she was hot. ;)" |
| 29 |  | Shadow Gallery
Carved In Stone
Multiple people recall Chuck listening to this album on repeat during the sessions for TSOP and early Control Denied, and it likely was a great influence to both album's sounds. |
| 30 |  | Silver Mountain
Roses & Champagne
A heavy metal band from Sweden that Chuck talked fondly of. |
| 31 |  | Slayer
Show No Mercy
Another of Chuck's early metal influences. Chuck was a huge Slayer fan in general. Even decades later though, Grief said that this was still "without a doubt" Chuck's favorite of all Slayer albums. |
| 32 |  | Slint
Spiderland
Chuck once listed Spiderland as his favorite album of 1991. |
| 33 |  | Sortilege
Larmes de héros
This lesser-known French metal outing was of Chuck's all time favorite albums. Every publishing I found always mentioned this one as one of Chuck's favorites and Grief suggested it may have been his all-time #1. He said that Sortilege were "his heroes, and all who knew him know this." Chuck was also a massive fan of a split done by Sortilege and Evil. |
| 34 |  | Venom
Black Metal
A well known Chuck favorite, especially in his early days. |
| 35 |  | Warlord
And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun... |
| 36 |  | Watchtower
Control and Resistance
Listed by Emptywords.com as "one of Chuck's favorite albums". |
| 37 |  | Whiplash
Power and Pain
Chuck and Eric saw Whiplash live in 1987 together and both agreed it was one of the best live shows they had ever seen. This was apparently one of Chuck's favorite thrash metal albums. |
| 38 |  | Yngwie Malmsteen
Rising Force
Listed by several sites as one of Chuck's absolute favorites. Chuck greatly admired Malmsteen as strived to be a lead guitarist of a similar caliber. |
| 39 |  | Cacophony
Speed Metal Symphony
I found this one later in my research, but this one was one of Chuck's all-time favorites too. Grief recalls Chuck listening to this album while playing along, trying to keep his chops up. |
| 40 |  | Dio
Holy Diver
I couldn't find anything specific, but Chuck was a huge Dio fan and had a dream of working with him on a side project. |
| 41 |  | Death
Human
Chuck Schuldiner |
| 42 |  | Control Denied
The Fragile Art of Existence
Chuck Schuldiner |
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