The 10 Records that shaped you as a musician

HarrySeven

In no particular order:

1. Snivelling Shits: "Terminal Stupid" 7" - I've always loved the ramshackle "just on the edge of falling apart" vibe.

2. Discharge: "Realities of War" 7" - for me, this was the single which ushered in the second wave of punk - the transition between old-school "first wave" bands whose initial frames of reference were '60's stuff (Who, Small Faces/Kinks, R'n'B) and Pub Rock, etc to a much more pared-down, feral approach.

3. Ultravox: "Ultravox!"/"Hahaha"/"Systems of Romance" - yes, I know that's 3 LP's! Stevie Shears and Robin Simon - two guitarists who I've always rated highly - respectively, the 7" version of "Hiroshima Mon Amour" (B-side of Rockwrok) and "Slow Motion" ("Systems of Romance" LP) are good examples of the way in which they deploy quite simple riffs/rhythmic stuff to good effect.

4. The Chameleons: "Script of the Bridge"/"What Does Anything Mean? Basically"/"Strange Times" - yes, another 3! The twin guitars of Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding - the perfect combination of ambient soundscapes and often jagged riffing. Stunning.

5. Motorhead: "No Sleep 'Till Hammersmith" LP (particularly "Bomber"). If this doesn't make you want to pick up a guitar and make a total fucking noise, you're probably dead. Or deaf.

6. The Smiths: "Hatful of Hollow" LP. "What Difference Does It Make?" and "How Soon Is Now?" were real touchstones for me at the time - Marr at his best.

7. Be Bop Deluxe: "Axe Victim"/"Sunburst Finis"h LP's - I've always felt that Bill Nelson was an underrated guitarist and these two LP's (the band's first and third) are great examples.

8. Neil Young: "Weld" - What a guitar sound! Like "No Sleep 'til Hammersmith", this is one of my all-time favourite live albums.

9. Joy Division: "Unknown Pleasures" - I never played the same again...

10. Talk Talk: "Spirit of Eden" - "I Believe In You" has some of the most understated guitar - love it!

There's easily 10 more, but that'll do for now...

HAL9000

Neil Young - Decade
Bob Dylan - John Wesley Harding
T Rex - Electric Warrior
Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton - Journeyman
Wilko Johnson - Solid Senders
Dr Feelgood - Stupidity
Stones - Exile on Main Street
The Clash - London Calling
The Byrds - Greatest Hits

mort

Bloody hell - another Snivelling Shits fan!

Discharge - Realities of War was a real game changer. Good choice.

HarrySeven

mort said:

Bloody hell - another Snivelling Shits fan!

Discharge - Realities of War was a real game changer. Good choice.

Two of my all-time favourite singles.

mort

Yep - same here!

It's reminded me that I should have remembered to put Heathen by The Pack in my list.

HarrySeven

Not King of Kings?

FretKing

UFO - Strangers In the Night

Van Halen - Van Halen

Toto - Isolation

Steve Lukather - Lukather

Michael Landau - Tales From The Bulge

Mr Mister - Go On

Jellyfish - Spilt Milk

Tears For Fears - Elemental

Giant - Last Of The Runaways

SRV - In Step

longi

In no particular order.
Def Leppard - High 'N' Dry
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Black Sabbath - Heaven And He'll
Black sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
Fluke - Six Wheels On My Wagon
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
Eat Static - Abduction
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
AC/DC - Back In Black
Scorpions - Blackout

So listen to them and I still love them. Records like Pyromania, Blackout and Heaven And He'll I've been listening to since they were first released. Good times.

Plus Tommy Vange although not really music introduced me to a whole world of Heavy Metal through the Friday Rock Show.

Grunfeld

UFO - Strangers in the Night
Blue Oyster Cult - "Then Came the last Days of May" (from On Your Feet or On Your Knees)
Hawkwind - Quark Strangeness and Charm
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
The Ramones - Live
Siouxsie & the Banshees -- Juju
Rho - Cedartree
The Durutti Column - LC
and anything Michael Schenker really

tone1

ACDC- If you want Blood
The Cult- Love
Stray Cats- Stray Cat Strut
Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs
Gary Moore- Still got the blues
Iron Maiden- Phantom of the Opera
Srv Texas Flood
ACDC Powerage
Nirvana Nevermind
Clapton From the Cradle

jdbwales

Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
The Police - Outlandos D'amour
Lindsey Buckingham - Out of the Cradle
Van Halen - Van Halen II
Weezer - Blue Album
Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
Gary Moore - Live At The Marquee
Thin Lizzy - Black Rose
Rush - Moving Pictures

Philly_Q

I can't claim any of these really shaped my playing - I still can't play for shit - but I think these are the albums that got me most interested/excited from a guitar perspective, and that still stand out for me after (in some cases) many years.  A few even inspired me to learn a few licks.  Most of these I still love, some I don't.  Can't believe there's no AC/DC, Black Sabbath or Scorpions, but maybe it's because no particular album sprang to mind.

I was trying to narrow it down to 10, but had to give up on that pretty early in proceedings, sorry.  They're in roughly the order I got into them, from around 1979 to the present day...

Rainbow - Down to Earth

Rush - Permanent Waves

Michael Schenker Group - first album

Robin Trower - Live!

Rick Derringer - Face to Face

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

Mountain - Nantucket Sleighride

Y&T - Earthshaker

Roy Buchanan - Polydor compilation album

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood

Dokken - Under Lock and Key

Vinnie Moore - Mind's Eye

King's X - Out of the Silent Planet

Tesla - The Great Radio Controversy

Trouble - Manic Frustration

Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast

Megadeth - Youthanasia

Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley

Wishbone Ash - Just Testing

Clutch - Robot Hive/Exodus

Elder - Dead Roots Stirring

PolarityMan

Tool - Lateralus

Opeth - Ghost Reveries

Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X

Karnivool - Themata

Pulkas - Greed

Machinehead - Burn My Eyes

Cold - Cold

Rob Dougan - Furious angels

Bush - Razorblade Suitcase

Metallica - Load

wayneirie

i'll play

Otis redding-Best of

The Verve- A northern Soul

Bob Dylan-Highway 61

Spacemen 3- playing with fire

Spiritualized-ladies and gents

The Coral-the coral

Oasis-definitely Maybe

The Beatles-Rubber Soul

Public Enemy- It takes a Nation of millions

Rolling stones-london years its 3 cds from the start up to jumpin jack

Some compilation I got when i was super young was a mixture of 50s early 60s stuff elvis and everly brothers buddy holly etc

wayneirie

i'll play

Otis redding-Best of

The Verve- A northern Soul

Bob Dylan-Highway 61

Spacemen 3- playing with fire

Spiritualized-ladies and gents

The Coral-the coral

Oasis-definitely Maybe

The Beatles-Rubber Soul

Public Enemy- It takes a Nation of millions

Rolling stones-london years its 3 cds from the start up to jumpin jack

Some compilation I got when i was super young was a mixture of 50s early 60s stuff elvis and everly brothers buddy holly etc

stickyfiddle

The Beatles - Help!
John Denver - Greatest Hits and whatever else my mum had in the car

Oasis - What's the Story Morning Glory
Foo Fighters - There Is Nothing Left To Lose

U2 - Live in Boston, 2001 (DVD, but still)
Muse - Origin of Symmetry
Radiohead - OK computer

The Darkness - Permission To Land
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run

horse

@Pete24v - not sure i can accept your list without a satriani album?

Realised I missed any Queen, Van Halen, King's X, U2, Pornograffiti, pink floyd, queensryche, black crowes, dan reed network, faith no more, stones etc, so don't think 10 is a fair number? Snuff said...as well

One funny one i thought of was the first Little Angels album which I listened to a lot as a youngster, and definitely encouraged my playing. Played it a couple of years ago and thought how each track was fairly heavily influenced by different other bands and guitarists, so almost a mini study in rock guitar.

fretfinder

In no particular order:

Cream Disraeli Gears

Wishbone Ash Argus

Led Zep 1-4 (OK I cheated!)

Neil Young After the Goldrush

David Bowie Hunky Dory

David Bowie Ziggy Stardust

Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here

Bad Co Bad Co

Bad Co Straight Shooter

SRV Texas Flood

Neil

In no particular order:

Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland and Axis Bold as Love

John Mayall - Bluesbreakers

Neil Young - Weld

Beatles - Rubber Soul

Clash - The Clash

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II

MC5 - Kick Out The Jams

SRC - SRC

Quicksilver Messenger Service - Happy Trails

Deadman

1. The Jam - In the city
2. The Clash - Give em enough rope
3. The Smiths - self titled
4. RHCP - Mothers milk
5. Buzzcocks - Love bites
6. John Frusciante - Niandra Lades and usually just a t shirt
7. The Damned - Strawberries
8. AC/DC - Highway to hell
9. Pearl Jam - Ten
10. The Who - Quadrophenia
(....but I don't think of myself as a musician, ever. I'm an old punk and shit at playing guitar but still love it)