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Influence

A friend asked me recently my top 5 influential LPs. It didn’t take long. It was just hard to widdle it down to five. Again this was influence, not necessarily the best. But when I really thought about it, I knew these 5 albums have always shaped how I thought about music.

5. Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen - I never appreciated Springsteen fully till college. But when I rediscovered him it was like an epiphany + Max Wienberg invigorated my want + need to play drums again. There was such simplicity in the songs that it just seemed obvious. Nebraska + his more modern hit LP The Rising would have me listening to Springsteen throughout college. But the “E Street” band was the ticket. They made me want to play in band. All the time. It was like family.

4. Pearl Jam - Ten - my first CD purchase + my introduction to “modern” rock. It was glorious. I can remember listening to Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots (I had to hide this CD from my parents + only listen to it on my headphones) + Weezer for months + months. But Ten never seemed to come out of my CD player. Release was the highlight track for me. Again, it was the sound. I’d never heard anything like it vocally.

3. Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind - my uncle gave me this LP with Highway 61 Revisted. + for some reason Time Out Of Mind stuck first. I wouldn’t really come to appreciate Highway 61 till college, but the dynamics of Time would just hold true. It was his voice + the guitar sounds. I had always wanted to play drums (+ had started at this time. I think I was 13), but this record made me want to play guitar. 

2. The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St. - another one my uncle gave me, but this time on vinyl from his old stash. I got it to play lightly on our then broken turntable. I remember I could barely hear it. But there was so much energy still coming through the speakers. I went out + bought it on CD the next day.

1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon - it was my first musical memory. I can remember being roughly the age of 5 or so + my dad sat me down by the kitchen table + put this record on. He would work at the table at night + the turntable sat underneath the TV on this credenza-like desk that was next to it. I remember just being entranced with the sounds. I’m sure like an impatient 5 year old boy does I was all over the floor, but it’s frozen in my memory. I don’t remember moving.