The Top 25 Most Influential Albums of My Life - The Top 5

First...the list as it stands so far...

#25. "Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots

#24. "Dither" by moe.

#23. "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" by Dashboard Confessional

#22. "Ten" by Pearl Jam

#21. "Under the Table and Dreaming" by Dave Matthews Band

#20. "Greatest Hits" by Journey

#19. "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns N' Roses

#18. "Nevermind" by Nirvana

#17. "Unplugged" by Alice in Chains

#16. "Clumsy" by Our Lady Peace

#15. "Retrospective: Vol. 1" by Rush

#14. "Sublime" by Sublime

#13. "Collective Soul" by Collective Soul

#12. "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica

#11. "Live at Luther College" by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

#10. "2001" by Dr. Dre

#9. "On and On" by Jack Johnson

#8. "Z" by My Morning Jacket

#7. "The Conch" by moe.
#6. "Good ApolloI'm Burning Star IV Pt.1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" by Coheed and Cambria

So without any further delays...here is the Top 5!

#5

"Weezer (The Blue Album)" by Weezer – This album has followed me around since I first heard it in grade school. I STILL listen to this album once every couple months (currently on my IPod btw) because it is just that damned good it never gets old. The Deluxe Edition of this album is even cooler because it contains a ton of bonus tracks... including what for years I referred to as "that song from the end of Mallrats" (I finally found out the name of the track was indeed called "Suzanne"). We all remember the ground-breaking video for "Buddy Holly" where the band dressed up as Happy Days characters (Heyyyyyyyy!...whats cooler than Rivers Cuomo chillin with the Fonz?), we all love to play "Say It Ain’t So" on Rock Band, and we all have tried to remember the spoken part at the beginning of "Undone (The Sweater Song). However, what makes this album even better to me are two of my favorite"pump-up" songs of all time…"Surf Wax America" and my personal favorite, "My Name is Jonas". These songs are guaranteed to make your pacemaker explode! This album should definitely be listened to at a party in a dank basement while playing a grueling game of beer pong (i.e. my senior year apartment). Good times.

#4

"Are You Experienced?" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience – This was the first vinyl (yep those black frisbees with the hole in the middle) I ever owned. I found it in my mom’s old collection when I was like 13 (still have it today…still works) and I immediately popped it in the record player (still have one of those too). The first time I listened to this was like one of those moments in your life that could only be called a "wow" moment. I learned a new appreciation for electric guitar after hearing this album...especially in its original recording form with the sweet static-y background you only get from old records. When I listen to Jimi my mind gets lost trying to figure out in my head how he is playing these riffs. A friend of mine I work with idolizes Jimi and let me borrow some of his live DVD's over the summer and I finally got to see how it was done...it blew my friggin mind! This is how electric guitar was SUPPOSED to be played...the problem is is that no one can imitate the soul and passion that Jimi put into his riffs...the shit just came to him on the fly. The fact that Jimi died so young is a tragedy to music history. We’ll never know how much better he could have been. Best guitarist of all time...hands down. Nobody will ever have a better understanding of an axe than Jimi.

#3

"Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd – Ohhhhhhh man...I don’t think much needs to be said about this album, but I'll give it a try. This album was not my first taste of Pink Floyd. The first time I ever heard of PF was when I was in 5th grade and my class and I went on a tour of 3 Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh (this was around the time the Buccos were good...remember skinny Barry Bonds? HA!). We looked onto the field and it was completely littered with trash. My teacher asked why it was so trashed? The tour guide said that Pink Floyd played there the night before...no further questions needed to be asked. I never understood this until when I was 22 I finally saw Roger Waters play live at Post-Gazette Pavilion in Pittsburgh (they played two sets...first one was the entire Dark Side album!)...then I understood...completely. Although PF have many great albums...this is a total classic and in my eyes...a much better album than "The Wall" (musically speaking). The songs just flow with each other so well. It's like the entire album is just one 43-minute long song. One regret...I still haven’t tried synching it up with "The Wizard of Oz"…sigh…some day.

#2

"Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory" by Dream Theater – Anybody who knows me well knew that this album would be in the top 5. In fact...if it wasn't for the fact that this band is influenced by #1 album, it probably would be #1, but we must respect the rock lineage here. This band was originally introduced to me in high school by one of my best friends who picked it up on a total impulse buy. We listened to it in the car on the way back from the mall, and the rest is history. It spread like wildfire through my group of friends with everybody demanding a copy to burn (this is when it still took like an hour to rip a CD). If there is a band that knows how to play their instruments, it is Dream Theater. These guys are and have been students of music all of their lives. Their lead singer (James LaBrie) used to sing opera, can sing in at least 3 octaves, and has recovered from almost losing his vocal chords. Their strum man (John Petrucci) has been rated one of the best guitarists in the world multiple times by Guitar Magazine. Their drummer (Mike Portnoy) has for 12 consecutive years been named Modern Drummer magazines "Best Progressive Rock Drummer", is known as one of the top clinicians in the business, and is regularly considered one of the top 10 drummers of all time. So anyway...as far as the album is considered...by now you all know I love concept albums...well in my mind this is the best concept album of all time. It tells a great story (not gonna spoil it...listen to it...its awesome) that has many twists and turns throughout it...so it automatically gets replay value because you have to listen to it multiple times to get all of it. The songs reflect the moods of the characters and LaBrie sings parts for multiple characters (high voice for girls, normal voice for dudes) that are written out like they would be in a Broadway musical. They even set the mood for you by putting you into a trance in the first song (you'll hear what I mean). There are so many cool things about this album...just go listen to it. I'm done trying to explain how awesome it is.

#1

"IV (Four)" by Led Zeppelin – Possibly the greatest rock band of all time. Possibly the greatest rock album of all time, containing (possibly? nah...it is) the best rock song of all time ("What? No Stairway? Denied!"). Here it is...the album that forever shaped my musical tastes. Half of the bands on this list could name Zep as one of their major influences. This album came out at the peak of Zep’s career and showcased the talent of the entire band. From John Bonham’s insane beats on "Rock and Roll", to John Paul Jones' sweet bass lines on "Misty Mountain Hop", to Robert Plant's shrilling vocals on "Black Dog", to the always historic Jimmy Page solo on "Stairway", this album is legendary from beginning to end. I really can't describe this album in words so I'm just going to say that this list would look entirely different if it wasn't for this album. This album IS rock and roll. There is no other concert in the world I would rather see than Led Zeppelin. Seriously I would pay an obscene amount of money to go see them play again (and yes...I did put my name in the lottery for last year's reunion show at London's O2 Arena). If the reunion tour ever happened I would see them play as many times as I could. Seeing Robert Plant play at Bonnaroo last year with Allison Krauss did nothing for me. Not that they're not good...but it sucks that Plant's voice got so damaged over the years that he had to give up singing rock n roll and my first time seeing him I had to hear "adult contemporary" or even worse yet..."easy-listening" music. Please, please, PLEASE let there be a reunion tour (stop being so selfish...f'n rock stars).

So that's that. The list is complete. Now you know where I stand when I talk music. This list took a lot of time to compile, and was edited many many times, but I had a blast doing it. Hope you enjoyed reading it.