My 10 Most Influential Albums

This started out as a Facebook post, I was asked to list my 10 most influential albums and to nominate others once done. So after a lot of thought I set to writing..... about an hour later i realised I had quite a lot more than a facebook update, and with my blog sitting here dusty it made sense to do it here instead. 

Thanks to Frank for nominating me, he was obviously unaware he would unleash this beast onto the world, but here we are mate, deal with it!

Choosing the albums that had the biggest influence on you is a lot harder than naming your BEST 10 albums, i took the word "influenced" very literally. So these albums may not be my favourite albums of all time (although some of them would probably make it) its just they are responsible for shaping me and my music taste over the years.

In no particular order....

Bad - Michael Jackson. I think Jacko is at the centre of my pop heart, and is why I crave a good hook in most things i listen to.

The Bends - Radiohead. Its one of the best rock albums of all time, how can it not influence you, its got riffs aplenty, its unique and there's no filler.

The Blues Brothers OST - Im putting a few compilations on here, cos its these that really spark interest in other genres that arent getting played on the radio at the time you're growing up that influenced my taste. At a very young age I saw the Blues Brothers film and it opened the door to explore blues, soul and funk.

Moseley Shoals - Ocean Colour Scene.  I KNOW im going to get stick for this, and deservedly so. But I would say this is the first album i can remember singing over and over and over again, the timbre of the singers voice seemed to match my own (albeit not as good) and it made me dream about being a singer. I used to go to the bathroom (better accoustics obv) and sing Its My Shadow into the mirror as loud as possible as soon as I had the house to myself. *watches any remaining street cred I had wash away down the gutter*

Norman Jay Good Times Vol.5 - Another compilation and a somewhat vain attempt at making up for my last confession - if you dont have any Norman Jay in your life, go get some, he has the best record collection in the world, if The Blues Brothers OST was my entry level into great Soul, Blues and Funk, this was the deep cuts mixed in with some incredible house music. A mixture of hidden gems and stone cold classics.

Kitsune Maison Vol.6 - I'd already dipped my toes into electro by this point through Digitalism and Goose and a couple of others. But when I found Kitsuné I fell deeply in love, so many bands I was unaware of producing amazing funky dance music. Ive bought pretty much every compilation since this one and they're still knocking it out the park.

Boxer - The National. Ive never listened to an album that has moved me so much on first listen, after spending a day with it I went back and bought their back catalogue, b-sides and everything i could get my hands on. Probably my favorite album of all time and how can it not be influencing me, I still listen to it constantly.

Bang Bang Rock and Roll - Art Brut. Im a big fan of humour in music and Art Brut are one of the best at it. Its a bit of a tightrope having funny lyrics though, im not a fan for instance of Weird Al or Lonely Island, its got to be the music first and the lyrics have to be smart and funny. If its a parody then no thanks. Art Brut balance it brilliantly and make hilarious punk pop, theyve never really bettered this debut album as a whole but still continue to make some killer songs and live they're something else.

1977 - Ash.  2nd "Britpop" album in the list, Britpop kicked off as i was starting to earn cash at 14 / 15 doing paper rounds and washing dishes. Pretty much all the money I earned went on these cassettes and cd's so they had a massive influence on my musical taste. This album was inspirational cos Tim Wheeler, Rick and Mark were just leaving school as it was released, a few years older than me, with Star Wars and Kung fu references it was effortlessly cool. They were also my first proper gig at the Sheffield Octogan on this tour, and started my love affair for live music, it was still one of the best gigs ive ever been to. I'd also say along with Oasis they made me want to pick up a guitar and learn to play.

Definitely Maybe - Oasis. *sigh* I don't feel comfortable with this choice for a number of reasons, 1) I was struggling for a 10th album, 2) its a bit obvious, 3) I had to ask myself was it really influential to me? I think the reason im even asking myself these questions is that Oasis pissed all over their legacy with their progressively mediocre music after their first 3-4 albums and their increasingly idiotic frontman. HOWEVER, enough time has passed now for me to push all that crap to the back of my mind and focus on this album, at the time of release it was incredibly influential. It wasn't just the fantastic tunes and the working class swagger that spoke to me, they wore their influences on their sleeves, sometimes a little too much admittedly.

Through Oasis everyone my age got (back) into The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, T-REX, David Bowie, the list goes on, they ripped them all off with astounding success. Without Oasis and Blur and the whole britpop scene my generation wouldn't have had that kind of exposure to some of Britains best music, I'm not saying we wouldn't have heard of The Beatles without Oasis, but would we have had as MUCH exposure to those older bands and formed the bond with them we did if they hadn't made them relevant and cool to us kids? I'm not sure they would have on that scale.