How about tracing your music listening habits through the years by picking out one album each decade that was most important to your personal music listening. Doesn’t matter if it was a biggie or not universally loved, but what was the biggest difference maker of the decade for you?

Something like this…

70s
Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bullocks – I was way too young when I bought this as my first ever personal purchase, non-gift album as a twelve year old. But, it was certainly the kick-start that sent me on my way as to what kinda stuff I’d end up listening to. This album led me to explore the English punk scene and got me into reggae after listening to the Clash. It got me into the US punk scene that had faded and sent me straight into the hardcore scene in the US that was emerging. And, it got me into post-punk stuff like PIL when I saw it was John’s new band.

80s
Run DMC: King of Rock – Hello rap music. OK…heard Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash, and Sugarhill Gang with singles and a few assorted others tossed in there. But, this was a full length that kicked ass from start to finish. It was familiar enough to be instantly appealing, while taking off in another direction.

90s
Massive Attack: Protection – Got me more interested in more laid back electronic stuff. Had heard bits and pieces of electronic based stuff that was good and liked what dub I had heard, but this one got me off my ass and really seeking things out. It didn’t hurt that the internet was making it easier and easier to find and hear different types of music.

00s
Not really sure yet. Not so sure anything’s really been all that new and different that I’ve come across. And, I’m going back in time with a lot of stuff by getting more and more interested in jazz. I guess I’m still waiting for the album that opens new things up for this decade.

What’s missing?
Tons of stuff. All the old rockabilly and r&b that I love. But that kinda stuff was always there for me at home, never had to seek anything like that out. Industrial music; I almost took the first Revolting Cocks album as my 80s pick, but as rap has had more staying power and opened up in way more directions than Industrial, I went with the Run DMC. Hearing Miles Davis in the late 80s and starting a slowly growing interest in jazz. Winning tickets to see some old man called John Lee Hooker and suddenly getting the blues. Hearing some serious funk at parties a buddy used to throw. All moments in time and all important. But, forcing myself to pick, I’m sticking with the albums above as the biggest in my life.

So…what made you the music fan you are today?

70's (in 2 parts)
•Man Of LaMancha (OST) -- Probably the first music I ever noticed. According to my parents, I knew every word to every song at the age of 2. Still have a thing for Sophia Loren as Dulcinea.
•The Beatles - Sgt. Peppers --- Bought for me by my dad at the age of 7 or so. First rock album I ever owned and the first to really blow me away.

1980's (also in 2 parts)
•Judas Priest - Point Of Entry -- Appropriately titled album that was the first record of what was to become MY music, separate from what my parents listened to. something they actually couldn't stand.Also inspired me to pick up a guitar for the first time.
•Meat Puppets - Up On the Sun -- Opened my eyes to the fact that there was great music out there that wasn't being played on the radio. Began my immersion into the underground.

1990's
•Guided By Voices - Alien Lanes -- The whole lo-fi thing kicked me in the ass. I didn't need to shell out the big bucks to record in a "real" studio, after all if I had songs that were good enough.

2000's
I think I'm pretty well-set now. Getting too old to really take too many more hard left turns. But, who really knows?

too much shit happened to me in the 90's....

80s - just singles, gangsta rap, and hip hop
i could go on and on all day about the 90s (i was all over the place)
00's - meh

i will say this - PT you are dead right about that GBV album...freakin uncle bob + sprout killed it on that album

<--- confused

Is decade by release date or when we were exposed to said life-changing albums?

His dad bought it for him at age 7, which was in the '70s.

I get that, but I didn't think that's what nobody was going for.

80s-they don't count as I was really into soundtracks and pop music.

90s-Sonic Youth-Daydream Nation (ok, this came out in the 80s, whatever) I borrowed this from the library and completely blew me away...my uncle heard me listening to this then turned me on to early who records and a smattering of neil young.

part 2) Radiohead-Ok Computer-it was all the sounds that were going on in my head, exactly the right record for me at that time of my life, something new to be obsessed with. It was when all the music on the radio was sounding super slick and I just couldn't relate.

00s-Broken Social Scene-You Forgot It In People-just when indie rock was beginning to bore me...

It's whatever you want. I'd rather people share their ideas than get worried about following format...

I took it as when we were exposed to said albums.

1970's - 'Wuthering Heights' Kate Bush / 'The Wall' Pink Floyd

These are probably the first two songs I remember hearing at the time that they were released and therefore, I suppose, served as my introduction to popular music.

1980's - 'Caught In Time' Iron Maiden/ 'Super Fuzz, Big Muff' Mudhoney

I really wasn't interested in music as a kid. In those halycon days children were only allowed indoors if they were a) at school, b) having dinner or c) in bed. The rest of the time you were forced out at broom point into the street. There was also no such thing as pocket money to buy records. However the first band I really got into was Iron Maiden. I spotted the cover of 'Caught In Time' in the library. The cover appealled to me at the time (quick drawin' cowboy cyber zombie) and promptly got heavy metalized.

Things started to change towards the end of the eighties when I came across Mudhoney's 'Super Fuzz, Big Muff'. Assuming since it had a couple of maroons headbanging on the cover that it was a metal album I bought it and subsequently got interested in the punky end of things like Black Flag, The Melvins, Dead Kennedys, No Means No and I was in on Nirvana from the very start due to the Sub Pop connection with Mudhoney. Funnily enough it was mainly American music that I listened to then and only later did I start to take an interest in UK punk and alternative music. As daft as it seems it didn't even occur to me that local bands might be making similar types of music. In those days music seemed rather 'Hollywood' to me. It got made in strange exotic countries far, far away from Glaswegian tennement blocks.

1990's - 'Ostrich Church Yard' Orange Juice

Even into the 1990's I really didn't have any money so I had to scrounge around 2nd hand stores for all my records. One day in Missing Records on Great Western Road, strangely enough just a stones throw from the OJ's base at West Princes Street of Dreams, I came across the two recently issued Orange Juice CD's. Alan Horne had just reactivated the Postcard label and I suspect these discs (Ostrich Church Yard, the 'lost Postcard LP and 'This Heathers On Fire, Postcard singles and rarities) were promo copies (in fact my 'This Heathers On Fire' has a different cover art from the 'official' release as far as I can assertain). I didn't even really know who Orange Juice were at this time except that I remembered a lot of the Scottish bands who had broken through in the late 80's and early 90's (Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Pastels, Captain America et all) as having mentioning them in reverential tones but the albums had been out of print at that point. Thankfully I picked both of them up on a whim because Ostrich Churchyard remains my all time favourite album.

80's- Raffi, I was like 3 and all about that shit. Funnily enough my mom still listens to this in the car by herself sometimes

90's- Nirvana- Nevermind, oh how I loved the teenage angst when I was a teenager
Bis- The New Transitor Hero's, They were all about never growing up and hated the same thigs that I hated such as pop stars, super models, Business People, etc., Too bad after this cd they slowly started growing up

00's- Modest Mouse- The Lonesome Crowded West

80's - Beastie Boys - License to Ill, First tape I ever owned. Tricked my grandmother into buying it for me and defintely my most played.

90's - Dre Dre - The Chronic - Pretty much my soundtrack to growing up.

00's - Strokes - Room On Fire - Nothing really to add to this that hasn't been said already a thousand times on here.

Can I go half-decades?

'85-'89:
Sharon, Lois & Bram - Great Big Hits

'90-'94:
Aladdin Soundtrack

'95-'99:
Third Eye Blind - s/t

'00-'04:
Taking Back Sunday - Tell All Your Friends

'05-'07:
The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs


I'm going basically by my favorite album from each era and the one that most embodied the principle genre I listened to.

from an actual-time perspective rather than a when-exposed perspective:

1970's:


1980's:


1990's:


2000's:



I'd have to say that's pretty damn consistent lifelong, though I could insert a NewModelArmyTalking HeadsKateBushDavidSylvianR.E.M.PeterGabrielMinutemen kinda thing in there anywhere, I guess.

you listened to turd eye blind for 5 years??????

I can't do this. My tastes have always been all over the place.
Let me try and do it by bands that stood out in particular phases.

from when i was wee boy till now.
ramones
police
billy joel
ratt
beastie boys / run DMC
more hair metal
pearl jam / seattle
prodigy
afghan whigs
radiohead
GYBE! (and all side projects) and other instrumental post rock.
twilight singers

lately: funk / post rock.

70s (few memories as a kid):

chicago's first greatest hits
soul train compilations
country albums by people like kenny rogers and crystal gayle

80s

prince - purple rain

90s

nirvana - nevermind
smashing pumpkins - mellon collie...
radiohead - ok computer

00s

ryan adams - heartbreaker
radiohead - kid amnesiac
modest mouse - moon & antarctica

Well, I've liked everything from Glen Campbell to NWA over 40 years, but there's bound to be a recurrent theme, gradual shift, awakening, retreat, reassessment or some such thing in everyone's listening curve.

mid 70's: listened to records my father had in his record collection, notably The Beatles Rubber Soul. Was given Revolver as a present when home sick for over a week. Played Kiss's Double Platinum on a 8-track player over and over again. Received birthday present albums that included The Village People and the John Williams score to Star Wars.

late 70's to early 80's: bought record albums purely based on the appeal of the cover art. Purchases included Kansas's Point Of Know Return, Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits, Kiss's Destroyer, Rush's Signals, and Asia.

80's: Was hit hard by the rise of pop-metal that began to get played on the radio beginning in '83: Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Quiet Riot, Dokken, Ozzy, and Ratt. Began to acquire tapes that were bought with my own money. Listened to a lot of top 40, so lots of new wave. Began making my own mix tape recordings from the radio. Loved the old-school rap that was beginning to take off the ground.

mid-late 80's: shit gets heavier. Focuses included the ubiquitous Guns n Roses, Metallica, then Slayer. Lots of concert-going. Briefly formed metal band over the course of one high school summer. Practiced furiously nearly every day, played one gig, then broke up.

late 80's-early 90's: The college wasted years. Radio DJ. Lots of alternative music exploration: Soundgarden, Jane's Addiction, NIN, Ministry, Bad Brains, Sex Pistols, Public Enemy. Da blues.

still early 90's: Fuck everything. Dropped out of college, began working at a record store for a few years. More exploration: Industrial, Rockabilly, Electro, Prog, Grunge, Soundtracks, Classical.

mid-90's: exile to Hawai'i. Lots of Hawaiian, then some Reggae, then nothing.

late 90's: rebirth and reawakening. The rise of teh internet. Downloading shit from Napster, like Brit-pop, trip-hop, post-rock, ambient, and electronica.

00's: engorgement of cd collection, continued interest in the ongoing development of indie music as well as old forms: jazz, funk, soul, drum and bass, jungle, electroclash, weird stuff.

my tastes too have been all over, but if I have to whittle it down to one or two per decade:

70s - well, to be perfectly honest, I listened to a ton of stuff... I have two older sisters (one remarkably cooler than the other) so I got exposed to a lot of what they were listening to. Through the cool sister, I got exposed to David Bowie's "Young Americans" and "Station to Station," Elton John's "Madman Across the Water" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and the B-52's s/t debut. I also was pretty excited about my Grease and Saturday Night Fever soundtracks, I recall. See, I was into the whole gay scene even then... disco music and show tunes and androgynes.

80s - lots of stuff really, but if I had to pick: R.E.M.'s "Reckoning," Duran Duran's s/t debut, Roxy Music's "Avalon," Sinead O'Connor's "The Lion and the Cobra," and the Cure's "Head on the Door." There were a ton of bands I loved and really shaped my tastes from this decade, so it's really hard to only pick a handful.

90s - well, I'd be lying if I said Nirvana's "Nevermind" didn't affect me, but I also have fond memories of Smashing Pumpkins' "Gish" and Peter Murphy's "Holy Smoke." (even though it's not one of his better albums imo). I freely admit, after graduating college, I fell into a "dark period" of not hearing a lot of new stuff, nor having the desire to check out new stuff.

Now - well, since joining you knobheads here, I've been exposed to a lot of cool new stuff which defies classification at the moment. I feel like lately, I've been digging older stuff, from the 70s/80s that I perhaps didn't have access to originally. But I'm also turned on by new stuff like Air, Drive-by Truckers, Goldfrapp, Iron and Wine, among many others.

When I was 7 I saw Michael Jackson touring for Thriller. Still a great album

So i guess that takes care of the 80s.

in 91 my best man's mom gave me the white album, and his older brother gave both of us tapes of frizzle fry, blood sugar sex magik, nevermind, gish, and a bunch of other stuff. All of them made me want to play bass, but the white album is what got under my skin in a good way.

Not much has altered my course in the 00s.

I was huge into alternative rock when I was in junior high. Third Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls, Everclear, Our Lady Peace, Matthew Good Band, etc.

The 3eb debut was one of my favorites at the time. Their first one came out in '97 and their second one in '99 so, yeah, I think that's about accurate.

1960s: The Monkees (first two albums)
My mom said of everything that came on the radio when I was an infant/toddler, this was the stuff that really made me rock out with my cock out.

1970s: ELO - Discovery
Most of my musical exposure over the first 3/4 of the 70s came courtesy of AM radio gold, so this was probably the first ALBUM I really embraced in its entirety, as opposed to focusing just on the hits. Me and a buddy of mine down the street wore out this 8-track like there was no tomorrow.

1980s: The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me
I made it through all of high school and most of college on a pretty steady diet of classic rock and hair bands, but after hearing "Alex Chilton" I realized there was much more out there to discover. This was my gateway into "Alternative" music.

1990s: Soundgarden - Superunknown
Like many twentysomething meatheads at the time, I was all about GRUNGE. I liked Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam more than Nirvana, but no single album of this era ever managed to eclipse this one. And none still hold up as well today.

2000s: Stephen Malkmus - Stephen Malkmus
It's not my single favorite album released this decade, but it's the most important, because it served as my gateway into "Indie" music. To this day, I'm still not sure what caused me to pick this up at Best Buy when it first came out, because I knew very little about Pavement and was basically just trying to find something, ANYTHING new and exciting. I grabbed this on a flyer, loved it, and soon thereafter went to a website called CMJ.com looking for similar music. They had a message board there...

1970s

I come from an era in which a child was expected to spend his day dancing on street corners for spare change or orally servicing his parents' bridge partners, subsequently I guess I'd have to say that Jesus Christ Superstar (Original Broadway Cast) is the album that really shaped this particular decade for me. I just loved the spectacle of the dance, plus the dramatic storyline of the singing star Jesus really offered a moral structure that I have used for every moment of my life since. Also, Murray Head (as Judas) was the real John Lennon, if only people would open their eyes.

1980s

In my memory this decade was dominated by my college years. Ah, the college years - that wondrous half decade in which a young man learns that his own shallow sadness is a signifier of intellectual depth. Nothing spoke louder to me in those years (and thusly this entire decade) than Ghost In The Machine by the Police. This was, finally, the sound of affluent white society plundering the music of every ethnic minority within reach - and how great it was! Sting's nutless yelp removed all the threat and soul from the originators, and guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Miles Copeland's nephew backed him up with the kind of polite, unobtrusive instrumentation that ensured your cocktail party went smooth. The Police really set the template for my life in suburbia.

1990s

In my eyes, there is no album that shaped this decade as much as The Bends by the Radiohead, definitely my favorite band of all time. I think you either get the Radiohead or you don't. There just isn't any inbetween. The Radiohead is an intellectual band, and so it makes sense that some people just won't understand what they're doing. Thankfully, because of my post-secondary education, I understood. The Radiohead proved to me that rock and roll doesn't have to be just dumb - it can also be self-pitying and tuneless. The Bends was the first album that clearly spoke to me about my reality - the reality of whimpering in the shower each morning before taking the bus to my job as an assistant administrator. And even now, 10 years later, the Radiohead are still as vital as ever!!!

2000s

It's hard to pick one album from this decade because my tastes are now so diverse and refined, and by that I mean I only listen to indie music. I suppose if I had to narrow it down to one band, it would have to be one that hasn't been discovered yet. They're from Toronto though - I know that - because that's where all good indie music comes from.

If I won the lottery, I would pay ayah $5,000,000 to sing "I Don't Know How To Love Him" at karaoke.