My Six Most Influential Albums
…Simply because most lists are in Denominations of 5, 10, 50 and 100
“Love Gun” by Kiss
This was the first hard rock album that I ever owned – I actually bought it on 8-Track! I think this recording was an integral part of channelling my musical interests in Rock’n’Roll and I still, to this day, enjoy listening to it.
“Speak of the Devil” by Ozzy Osbourne
This live album began my three year stint of actually thinking I was the Oz-man, biting heads off rubber bats, etc. To this point, the only artists I really listened to was AC/DC and Kiss. I can remember listening to this record on my walkman in bed at night and imagining I was on stage singing.
“Everything Went Black” by Black Flag
This double LP was my first exposure to Punk Rock and, along with discovering the writings of Camus and Orwell, changed me from a theatrical head banging adolescent into an acting, conscious and aspiring intelligent individual. Black Flag was definitely a major cornerstone to my own band, Ick on Fish, as my vocal style was somewhat on the cusp of a Henry Rollins- Joey Shithead (of D.O.A.) sound.
“Zen Arcade” by Hüsker Dü
This album, still one of my favs, opened up a whole new gamut of punk rock sounds. I could hear acoustic stuff reminiscent of the folk music I grew up with, as well as some more experimental noises.
“Rum, Sodomy and the Lash” by The Pogues
Combining Celtic and Punk was a dream come true! I was a bass drummer in a Pipe and Drum Band growing up, and always loved the harsh-sweet harmonies of the bagpipes. The Pogues nailed this combo down perfectly, Shane McGowan is a musical genius, and they remain a favourite to this day.
“Shakespeare…My Butt” by Lowest of the Low
This Canadian band brought the maturity to the tunes I was listening to that resonated my punk rock ideologies, love of acoustic and Folk music, with a strong but mature Punk Rock undertone. The song writing on this recording is second to none, and I’d recommend folks who haven’t heard LOTL to definitely check them out!
posted by Ed Meers @ 1/18/2006 09:56:00 a.m.
3 Comments:
At 12:45 p.m. ,
Anonymous said...
daze auf wiener zen: the music is new to me, tho' i loved husker du 12 - 15 years ago, and pogues revived the dubliners for me, were not as adept, but drunker. music to influence peace when you are a peace officer might include utah philips and songs of wobblies, but i am an old guy in among old guise, so peace is farther away now. the noise does not disturb the peace. loud music can resonate with peace and new age can serve satan just by being imitative and boring and without soul. definition should be escaped; prison should be full of folk who preset their label guns to 'them-or-us'. my disguise as archie the cockroach is thin. nodorggout anon.
At 8:42 a.m. ,
Anonymous said...
Being a fan of metal (both the music and the shop), and a wide range of musical interests, I've never quite understood what classifies a music as 'punk'. Do you have a good one line or one paragraph that defines when you call something Punk Rock? (Other than what the concert fans do to each other...)
At 3:19 p.m. ,
Ed Meers said...
For me, Punk rock is organic and personal as opposed to polished-produced and ficticious. Punk rock is the kind of thing you make when you get a ew guys together, lay down a few tracks and more often than not, fly by the seat of your pants. Metal (and I LOVE old school metal) is much more o a production, image and more often than not about "other" things. Take one of my all time fav bands, Iron Maiden. They sang about Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade" and Coleridge's "Rhyme", witha large pyrotechnic show with Eddie looming in the background. In contrast, punk rock is usually cruder in form and about things like social and governmental politics, anger against the status quo, etc.
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