Top 10 Most Influential Albums

Why albums?  Well, the idea of writing and recording an album is a dying art.  Growing up in a time when good albums actually meant something, I find it necessary to pay tribute to at least ten of them (opposed to a Top 10 of songs or artists),

Picking my favorite song or album is downright impossible for me.  Therefore, in order to make a top ten list of albums, I need to make it a most influential list.  By 'influential,' I mean the albums that have not only influenced my musical compositions but have also influenced my thoughts on various topics and have ultimately impacted my life (for better or for worse, you can be the judge of that).  Even under these parameters, it was rather difficult to narrow it down to only ten and to rank those ten.

But here it is:  my best attempt at ranking my most influential albums.  I narrowed it down to these ten from an original brainstorm of 67 albums!
(You can see that list here:  http://braceforinsanity.blogspot.com/2013/01/67-influential-albums.html)

Number 10:  The All-American Rejects - Move Along

Wait, what?

Yeah, that’s right.  The All-American Rejects (AAR) just slipped into the number ten spot.  I think a lot of people, even people that know me pretty well, don’t realize how much of a fan that I am of AAR.  I listened to a lot of AAR in middle school and, even now, I still throw them on every now and then.  Being the AAR fan that I am, I was really disappointed when they left their pop-punk roots and turned into this really bland pop group.  I listened to Beekeeper’s Daughter when it came out and it was so boring that I refused to buy the new album Kids in the Street (which is an album I was planning on buying).  I haven’t listened to anything on Kids in the Street or Beekeeper’s Daughter since and I don’t plan on listening to any of it in the future.

This album in particular makes this list because of the passion and the delivery of it is pure perfection.  AAR’s first self-titled album was pretty passionate too but it was more like you were getting hit by a shotgun.  It was too spread out.  Move Along has several very memorable moments that make tears come to your eyes.  The first one that comes to my mind is the beginning of the chorus right after the bridge in Straight Jacket feeling.  That one just gets me every time.   The passion in It Ends Tonight, Dance Inside, I’m Waiting, and Can’t Take It, has really inspired me in realizing that passion is an important tool in music.  There are so many times today when I hear a song and the passion is just missing.  It just doesn’t connect with the listener like it could.  The writing of AAR isn’t very complex, the guitar playing won’t knock your socks off like Satriani, but the music will always make you feel something.  Especially if you’re going through a bad breakup or something, AAR is a very relatable group. 

As far as my composing goes, you can hear the driving guitar and bass like AAR uses but it’s a general characteristic of 90s punk.  Where AAR really influences me are lyrical content and emotion.  I can’t say that I’ve ever wrote a piece that didn’t have anything to do with my emotion.  Even joke music I’ve written has had something to do with my emotions.  It is just more positive than a lot of my other music and will, hopefully, make you laugh. 

Number 9:  Pencey Prep - Heartbreak in Stereo

Pencey who?

Pencey Prep is a band that I have started listening to more recently.  A lot of bands that I have started listening to more recently have been left off of this list because of that.  Why?  Well, simply because a band or album that you started listening to more recently hasn’t had enough time to influence you yet. 

So why is Heartbreak in Stereo on here then?

Well, basically because this album has struck me harder than anything else in the past few years.  My present emotions and the style, mood, and lyrical content of the music clicked together instantly.  I think what really makes this group special for me is that every musician in the group is extremely passionate.  You can hear it in every note that they play. 

For those of you who don’t know who Pencey Prep was (which is just about everyone), Pencey Prep was a melodic emocore/punk band from New Jersey in the early 2000s.  What is most notable about Pencey Prep is that My Chemical Romance’s rhythm guitarist Frank Iero was in the band as the lead singer and co-guitarist. 

I think what this band has really impressed onto me is the way they use lead and rhythm guitar together.  I can’t quite put my finger on it, but the music I have written more recently resembles the way they use rhythm and lead guitar.  The lead guitar is almost like a co-melody but not really like a harmony or counter melody.  It’s odd to explain.  I guess it would be closest to being a counter melody than anything but I have noticed that I have started writing lead guitar parts in the same way as Pencey Prep did. 

Heartbreak in Stereo is their only album but it is one hell of an album.  When first listening to the album, my first impression was that the guitars sounded hollow and that it could have been mixed better.  I realized though that it was really part of the style and grew to really like that style of guitar.  I do prefer deeper sounding guitars still though so the shallow guitar mix stays out of most of my songs. 

Number 8:  Weezer – Blue

Weezer basically made shy and nerdy guys like me look cool!

I mean, look at them.  They rock da house with thick rimmed glasses and button up shirts.  Their 1994 blue colored self-titled album was one of the first albums that I bought and I listened to it all through middle school.  In fact, I used to be able to play the whole album straight through.  I would throw the album on, plug in my bass guitar, and proceed to play from My Name is Jonas through the last G flat on Only in Dreams.

God, Only in Dreams is a great song!  Most people know Undone (The Sweater Song), Buddy Holly, and Say it Ain’t So but no one knows the eight minutes of awesome called Only in Dreams.  The lyrical content relates directly to weird outcasts like me who can’t talk to girls for the life of them because they’re too socially awkward and tend to scare girls away when trying to talk to them.  The instrumental section in the second half of the song is just beautiful.  Playing that song just breaks my heart every time because I can just relate to it so well.

Besides influencing my emotional connection with music, Weezer’s first bassist Matt Sharp was also an influence to me.  His style just really hit home with me.  When I play slower to mid-tempo music, I tend to do similar “bass fills,” I call them, to what he does.  It just makes everything sound so much more full and I can’t help but to put that creativity into music that I am playing. 

Number 7:  My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

Holy shit this album is awesome!

As far as My Chemical Romance (MCR) goes, I got into them a little bit late because when Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge came out, I wasn’t into any kind of punk yet.  In fact, I hated punk.  I thought it was shit and I kept listening to my hard rock albums from the seventies. 

When this album came out (2006), I remember I thought that Welcome to the Black Parade was really good.  However, I didn’t buy the album because I didn’t want to be shunned by my peers.  I went to a middle school and high school where emo music was frowned upon and you were called a fag and completely rejected for listening to it instead of the shallow and boring pop that was popular.  However, by 2009 (Sophomore year of high school), I had become a social outcast and reject anyways so by then I pretty much did what I wanted and didn’t care what people thought of me.  So I bought The Black Parade album and was instantly hooked.  The interesting lead-in of The End, the driving lines of Dead!, the dark feeling of This is How We Disappear, the dark and knife-stabbing feeling of The Sharpest Lives, The anthem feeling of Welcome to the Black Parade, the bittersweet feeling of I don’t love you, the asylum called House of Wolves, the shocking news of Cancer, Liza Minnelli’s eerie voice in Mama, tired and worndown in Sleep, telling those other kids to fuck off in Teenagers, the reflective feeling of Disenchanted, and, of course, using your last breath to utter your Famous Last Words. 

Yeah, that was basically a run-on sentence but this album is just great.  You may wonder why this album isn’t higher on my list.  Well, it’s because it hasn’t been in my life long enough to influence me like some of these other albums have.  This one has certainly influenced me though.  The guitar work of Frank Iero and Ray Toro is just phenomenal.  Frank’s punk influence and Ray’s metal influence just blends together for a near perfect combo.  I love the guitar work.  A lot of MCR fans really like Gerard Way.  Honestly, I think Gerard is okay.  He’s a great performer.  But his singing diminishes in a live show.  Anyone who knows me knows that Frank Iero is my favorite MCR member.  Why?  He is only the rhythm guitarist?  Frank Iero has influenced my performing style.  I used to just stand there and play.  Now I do a lot of crazy jumping and running around (when there’s room) and spinning around on the ground (also, when there is room).  Foot stomping, guitar twirling:  almost all the shit that I do while playing is directly influenced from Frank Iero.  Also, the way that I dress for live shows is a combined influence from Frank Iero and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. 

Also, MCR have influenced me when writing music.  Their deeply emotional lyrics really inspire me to write deep lyrics of my own.  The lyrics that I was always too embarrassed or ashamed to write before were now coming out because MCR basically taught me that someone else could be feeling the same way as you and that you can reach to them by putting your deepest feelings and emotional issues into your music.           

Number 6:  Jimmy Eat World – Futures

You know, this one definitely belongs on this list and I wouldn’t change its ranking.  But, it might actually be my least favorite Jimmy Eat World album.  Well, it could actually be a tossup between Futures and Chase this Light.

If Futures is one of my least favorite Jimmy Eat World albums, then why is it on this list then?  Well, because this album opened me up to Jimmy Eat World.  It was the first Jimmy Eat World album I bought.  The thing is, it’s still a pretty awesome album.  My least favorite Jimmy Eat World album still makes my top 40 favorite albums of all time, easily.  Futures opened me up to what would become one of my favorite bands and have some serious staying power with me.  At this point, Futures isn’t quite like anything I have heard before.  I bought Futures around the time it came out (2004) and it’s one of the first albums I ever bought.  Jimmy Eat World’s Futures album had two songs on two different video games that I was playing at the time.  Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 had the song Pain on it and Gran Turismo 4 had Nothingwrong.  The heavy riffs of Nothingwrong and the aggression of Pain had me intrigued and I had no other option but to buy Futures at the store. 

The other songs on Futures weren’t really quite like anything that I was listening to at that point.  My hard rock and developing punk mindset couldn’t comprehend these mellow and intricate tracks called songs on this album.  The second play through of the album, I started to understand.  It was sadness, but no anger???  What?  My twelve year old mind could not compute!  In middle school though, things started to change and more and more I started to think about the past and then I understood a bit better.  This album, single handedly, got me into emotional music.  This album led me to start listening to all of the emotional artists that I listen to today.  Also, it led me to explore some very awesome Jimmy Eat World albums that I would not have not even been aware of if it wasn’t for Futures.  Embarrassingly, I hadn’t even heard the song The Middle until I bought Bleed American.  I guess I was just really trapped in my 70s hard rock world a bit too much…

Number 5:  Rancid - …And Out Come the Wolves

Dial 999 if you really want the truth!!!

This is the most ass-kicking start to a punk album ever!  Maxwell Murder is a great song!  After this fast paced 1:25 introduction, you will probably already be all bruised up and have jizzed your pants from Matt Freeman’s bass solo.

Shit, Matt Freeman is the best punk bassist ever!  I have not heard a punk bassist quite as good as him.  He is truly the best.  Matt has the biggest influence on my bass playing.  After hearing Maxwell Murder for the first time, I couldn’t help but to be inspired to up my game on bass.  Of course, now I play Maxwell Murder myself on bass.  I only have Matt to thank for heading me in the right direction on punk bass playing.  It doesn’t have to be the same one note over and over again like what a lot of punk bassists do.  Yeah, at this point I wasn’t playing the same note over and over.  I had been listening to The Clash after all (foreshadow!).  But he really showed me what a punk bassist can do.  His style can make a fast-paced punk song just kick your ass that much harder.  Of course, Roots Radicals and Journey to the End of the East Bay really also really got me into Rancid and got me to expand and explore more of the 90s punk revival.  Now I listen to a bunch of 90s punk and am still exploring more and more. 

Number 4:  Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV

Hey Hey Mama, said the way you move.  Gonna make you sweat.  Gonna make you groove.

Every time I hear that first line, I get ready to start dancing my fucking ass off to one of the best guitar lines ever written.  There is no denying the influence of Led Zeppelin on my musical intuition.  Hell, this shit is embedded in my cells walls man!  Seriously, for as long as I can remember, my dad would fucking blast Led Zeppelin all the fucking time.  All of Zeppelin’s albums are great.  However, this album stands out to me for whatever reason.  I have memories of rocking on my rocking horse to this album as a kid.  I couldn’t keep up with Black Dog though because the song was too fast for the speed that my rocking horse could rock at.  But, I would try to keep up anyways.  But Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Misty Mountain Hop, and When the Levee Breaks are songs that I still know most of the words too from the times I heard them when I was still in diapers.

I know that I can’t really write a lot about this one like the other ones.  It’s hard for me to analyze an influence on me that was there when I was a little kid.  Ask anyone.  I really just don’t want to hear much Zeppelin anymore.  I remember in high school, for whatever reason, there was a short fad for listening to Led Zeppelin freshman year.  Kids would ask me if I listen to Led Zeppelin and I would say, “Well, not much.”  They would then ask me, “Don’t you need to get the Led out?”  Naturally, I would reply, “I’ve gotten the Led out enough my friend.”  

Number 3:  Deep Purple - Made in Japan

Deep Purple is a lot like Led Zeppelin for me.  My dad would play Deep Purple all the time on his old turntable.  Made in Japan is on this list as opposed to one of their studio albums mainly because my dad liked Deep Purple’s live albums better than their studio albums and, well, Made in Japan was his favorite.  I would have to agree.  Deep Purple’s live stuff is much more interesting than their studio albums.  Quite frankly, their studio albums are REALLY boring.  I highly recommend Deep Purple’s live recordings over their studio recordings.

So, it may seem that Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin have had similar influences on me.  They’re two bands that my dad really liked and I heard a lot when I was little.  However, Deep Purple was the one that stuck around with me later on.  I may have been tired of hearing Led Zeppelin but I did not get tired of listening to the sheer talent of Deep Purple.  Ian Gillan is an awesome hard rock singer and Ritchie Blackmore is one of the greatest rock guitarists, ever.  Ian Pace is a great drummer.  I think Ian Pace is someone who has really been forgotten in an era that had John Bonham and Neil Peart.  Jon Lord’s keyboard playing is fucking legendary.  I’m still waiting for a rock organist that is better than him.  Really, Keith Emerson is the only one I’ve ever heard that’s in the same ballpark as Jon Lord (or maybe Rick Wakeman…maybe…).  Roger Glover’s bass playing was often overshadowed in a genre that generally has very mediocre bass players.

Roger Glover is really the person that got me into bass playing.  For about four or five years, I didn’t even use a pick when playing bass (which is unusual for someone who is primarily a punk bassist) because of Roger Glover’s influence on me and the techniques I used.  So, Roger Glover is really the main reason why Deep Purple is number three on this list and Led Zeppelin is number four.    

Number 2:  The Clash - Combat Rock

This is a public service announcement!  But in time!!!

I remember this is one of the first albums I reached out to when I started expanding my musical horizons.  Why?  Well, because it was sitting around my house.  That’s right.  My dad actually has a small selection of CDs that he never listens to because he prefers vinyl.  Ironically, his selection of CDs is mixed in with my CD collection.  I wonder if he remembers that he has CDs?  Hm…

Anyways, so, I wanted something new to listen to so I put Combat Rock into my Dad’s Walkman (haha yeah, he also had a portable CD player that he never used.  How about that?) and, of course, the first song Know Your Rights came on.  This song was not something that I was used to listening to, that is for sure!  It was loud in a more aggressive way than anything that I had listened to pre-2004.  The more I write this, the more I realize how big of a year 2004 was for me in my musical development.  Hm.

I was instantly hooked on the idea of political protest in music and hooked on old school punk.  After checking out the Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys, etc., I had become a punk rocker.  My musical tastes have strayed away from old school punk since then but, at heart, I will always be a punk rocker.  I still throw on all the classics like the Ramones, The Sex Pistols, The Dead Kennedys, etc.  The Clash will always hold a special place in my punk rock heart.  Ironically, Combat Rock is my least favorite, Clash album but, it led the way into the old school punk universe and got me listening to albums like, London Calling, The Clash Self-titled, Give ‘em Enough Rope, Nevermind the Bollocks.   

Paul Simonon’s bass playing was certainly an influence to my bass playing.  This is especially so from the self-titled album and London Calling.  I can’t really put my finger on it but those two albums in particular I really liked the bass playing in.  Sandinista!  also had some intriguing bass as well but I didn’t start listening to that album until halfway through my sophomore year of high school.

Number 1:  Green Day - American Idiot

As hard as this list was to make, there was no doubt about my number one…

American Idiot is the most influential album for me for several reasons.  It was the first album I had ever bought and I listened to it constantly!  American Idiot is also my first exposure to alternative rock and inspired me to check out other alternative albums (like Futures).  It also got me to start looking into other artists.  It got me to start exploring the musical world a little more instead of listening to the same Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and other vinyl that my dad put on all the time.

Mike Dirnt’s bass playing was also a pretty big influence on my own bass playing since I wanted to learn quite a few Green Day songs.  I was interested in the texture of his bass playing and I did mess around with his style a bit.  Probably without realizing it, his bass sound is a part of my own sound that I have developed.

American Idiot is also my first exposure to angry music.  Green Day’s punk roots really shine in songs like American Idiot and St.  Jimmy and I was completely taken by how awesome it was to shout the words to these songs along with the recording.  My interest in punk probably roots back to this album.  I call American Idiot the “gateway drug” into Punk music.  It’s my own experience with American Idiot that lets me conclude that American Idiot is just that.  I wasn’t anywhere close to listening to punk before American Idiot.  I liked the hard rock sound of the guitar but slowly grew to like the content and punkish style of the album as well.  That’s how I was led into the world of punk.  And, I wouldn’t have it any other way.   

Honorable Mentions:

Green Day – Dookie

I listened to Dookie all the time in middle school.  Ironically, I started listening to it because my sister got it but found that she didn’t like it that much so she gave it to me.  Haha, she still regrets that decision since she loves the album now.  Dookie was pretty inspirational to me though because of the ongoing theme of the album of being an outcast and not fitting in.  At the end of middle school, I started feeling that way and this album was a great thing to relate to at that time.

She Wants Revenge - This is Forever

This one almost made the list.  If this was a top eleven list, it would have been number eleven.  This is Forever was a huge leap for me when it came to expanding my musical horizons.  I wouldn’t have even come close to listening to anything like this.  I heard Tear You Apart on the radio and I went out and bought this album (ironically, they didn’t have the album with Tear You Apart on it at the store but I still wanted to check out some more She Wants Revenge).  This album really got me to play around with the genre Dark Wave and some of my earliest compositions are heavily influenced by She Wants Revenge and the Dark Wave genre.  You can still hear hints of Dark Wave in my later compositions every now and then.

Styx - The Grand Illusion

I love this album.  Like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin, I heard a lot of Styx when I was a little kid.  This album in particular has always stuck out at me.  It has The Grand Illusion of course, Come Sail Away, Fooling Yourself, Miss American, and Castle Walls.  One of my earliest memories is of the song Come Sail Away.  I remember watching The Return to Paradise Theater concert Live in Chicago on TV and I remember how awesome it was when Styx played Come Sail Away.  I may not compose using a lot of synthesizer but, I know that Styx has definitely left its mark on my musical intuition.