Top 25 Most Influential Albums, At Age 27
I have so much music it really makes this impossible. But I am trying to generally list the 25 most important/influential albums in my life to this point. Who knows though. Next week it might be a totally different list. |
| 1 |  | Neil Young
Harvest
I don't know why, but something about the way this guy bums through great song after great song just really gets to me. |
| 2 | | Waterdeep
Sink or Swim
No album has challenged me more. No woman has influenced my music so deeply. |
| 3 |  | Cream
Disraeli Gears
Blues rock is in my bones thanks to these Clapton & Co. |
| 4 |  | The Shins
Chutes Too Narrow
The Shins helped me see what a concise, precise and pleasing thing a tightly-knit pop song could be. |
| 5 | | The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
What you dance around to in your pajamas as a child has a deep influence on what you dance around to in your pajamas as an adult. |
| 6 |  | The Doors
L. A. Woman
Listened to no album more often in my college dorm room. |
| 7 |  | Lauryn Hill
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
My first inkling that r&b can be truly amazing. |
| 8 |  | Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
This launched my love of Latin music, and Cuban culture. |
| 9 |  | Leonard Cohen
Songs of Love and Hate
I never knew songs could be so poignant. |
| 10 |  | Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Deja Vu
It's just one of the best pop/rock/country fusions ever recorded. |
| 11 |  | Yo La Tengo
And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
My introduction to indie, and to noise. |
| 12 |  | Modest Mouse
The Lonesome Crowded West
Being introduced to Isaac Brock was like being introduced to my weird twisted mind-twin. I am still struck by how articulately sarcastic he is, and this album was the first. |
| 13 | | Carlene Carter
Musical Shapes
Without this album I never would have been exposed to pub rock, or to Nick Lowe, or the Stranglers, or the Jam. And all of that would have been a shame. |
| 14 |  | Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV
It's hard to pick a Led Zeppelin album, but I think this is the most obvious choice. |
| 15 |  | Calexico
The Black Light
My first Calexico album made me feel like even in my whiteness I have a culture of my own. I'm a white California son who memorizes Coen brothers films, knows knows a little Spanish and calls everyone dude. This is my music. |
| 16 |  | Weezer
The Blue Album
Endless listening and fist-pumping. |
| 17 |  | Uncle Tupelo
Anodyne
I am a huge Jeff Tweedy fan, which led me to Wilco and other bands that mimic the Uncle Tupelo sound, including The Drive-By Truckers and Lucero. |
| 18 |  | Belle and Sebastian
Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant
This is what got me into sad bastard music. |
| 19 |  | Low
Things We Lost in the Fire
No reason. This album is just awesome. |
| 20 |  | Dinosaur Jr.
Green Mind
This reintroduced me to grunge as a forum for guitar rock. Or something. |
| 21 |  | Gorillaz
Gorillaz
My second taste of trip-hop. Unique because I pieced it together on (the then free) Napster long before it was released or anyone I knew knew anything about it. |
| 22 |  | Fleetwood Mac
Tusk
If it weren't for the Stevie songs, this would be the best album ever. |
| 23 | | Howe Gelb
'Sno Angel Like You
I can't get over how cool gospel choirs all-of-a-sudden become, spinning this disc. |
| 24 |  | John Coltrane
Blue Train
Introduction to Jazz. |
| 25 |  | Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
Reshaped (or maybe just birthed) the way I think about American folk and country music. |
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