Music: Most influential albums or music

[Roo Returns]

I want to start by giving some love to De La Soul and producer Prince Paul for 3 Feet High and Rising. It upped the sampling game exponentially. Unfortunately the Turtles sued them for the sample on Transmitting Live From Mars and it delayed some hip hop albums for the next 12-24 months however it expanded the creativity and would lead to 9th Wonder, J. Dilla, etc. do some real cutting edge stuff.

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.

Legend by Bob Marley

Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles

Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Thriller by Michael Jackson (shoutout to Quincy Jones)

The Miseducation of Lauryn Jill by Lauryn Hill

London Calling by The Clash

Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

Zoso aka Led Zeppelin IV

Purple Rain by Prince

Violator by Depeche Mode

Nevermind by Nirvana

those are like some of the all-time albums (not necessarily in my top ten but most referenced etc.).

 

[Stylizer1]

I want to start by giving some love to De La Soul and producer Prince Paul for 3 Feet High and Rising. It upped the sampling game exponentially. Unfortunately the Turtles sued them for the sample on Transmitting Live From Mars and it delayed some hip hop albums for the next 12-24 months however it expanded the creativity and would lead to 9th Wonder, J. Dilla, etc. do some real cutting edge stuff.

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.

Legend by Bob Marley

Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles

Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Thriller by Michael Jackson (shoutout to Quincy Jones)

The Miseducation of Lauryn Jill by Lauryn Hill

London Calling by The Clash

Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

Zoso aka Led Zeppelin IV

Purple Rain by Prince

Violator by Depeche Mode

Nevermind by Nirvana

those are like some of the all-time albums (not necessarily in my top ten but most referenced etc.).

I personally believe J. Dilla killed A tribe Called Quest's sound. Q-tip was not invested in that last album and he was brought in to add something that was missing. I was disappointed with Beat,Rhymes, & Life. The Love movement was not good.

A tribe called quest is my favorite Rap group too. Soundtrack of my youth.

 

[kook10]

I want to start by giving some love to De La Soul and producer Prince Paul for 3 Feet High and Rising. It upped the sampling game exponentially. Unfortunately the Turtles sued them for the sample on Transmitting Live From Mars and it delayed some hip hop albums for the next 12-24 months however it expanded the creativity and would lead to 9th Wonder, J. Dilla, etc. do some real cutting edge stuff.

I think PE's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back blew the doors wide open on sampling a year previous. The Bomb Squad were playing chess with sampling while the rest were still on checkers. Example - in '87 both Down By Law (album) by MC Shan and PE's Rebel Without A Pause single came out. RWAP opened was one of (if not the) first song to really incorporate sampling that went beyond the typical beat+hook 2/3 sample song. To tie it back: Marley Marl's corny sample style (at that time) of just hitting the button over and over would later be made fun of by Prince Paul on De La Soul is Dead when he says "maaaaan this album is starting to sound just like MC Shan".

Also Jungle Brothers - Straight Out The Jungle in 88 is worth a mention. It opened the doors for De La, Prince Paul, and more melodic/comedic/positive/fun sampling.

 

[Hippasus]

at this moment off the top of my head:

run dmc first album
van halen 1
cher-believe
nirvana - nevermind

That Cher pick is a bit of a head-scratcher. Was it because of the use of autotune?

Run-DMC's first album was quite good, though, and I could see it being very influential for hip hop.

 

[Hippasus]

- Le Quatuor du Jazz Libre du Québec, under the name Le Quatuor du Nouveau Jazz Libre du Québec, had a first (self-titled) album in 1969. It launched what became the musique actuelle scene, which has been the center of most musical experimentation and creativity in the province. Conventum's À l'affût d'un complot (1977) is another very influential album of that scene.

- John Zorn had so much influence on the New York avant-garde during the 90s, it always felt like "Zorn and the boys", and it felt at some point like he owned the Knitting Factory (he now owns The Stone, and man I wish I lived in NY). As for picking an album, I think that Naked City might have been the most influential, that or The Big Gundown, but I've always thought the "ideas" of Cobra were the most talked about (the 2002 version gave a proper form to these ideas).

- I have to include something about Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry, who despite the work and notoriety of John Cage, must be the main influence on the musique concrète genre. Hard to point to an album, Symphonie pour un homme seul was recorded only later (1972), but it was already well known in the early 50s and the central influence of the genre.

Le Quatuor du Nouveau Jazz Libre du Quebec from 1969 sounds like free jazz like Ornette Coleman from the late 50s and early 60s as well as Charles Mingus, and even John Coltrane.

Symphonie pour un homme seul was a very interesting album from circa 1950. Musique concrete and found sounds perhaps led to ambient and sampling.

 

[Hippasus]

Frank Sinatra's "In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning" is really the first concept album in popular music history. All the songs are about heartbreak and the mood was melancholy, dark, gloomy, etc., and they were intentioned that way.

"Elvis' Golden Records" was the first greatest hits album and really the songs on that release set the template for rock and roll for the next 60 years.

R.E.M. "Murmur" probably spawned thousands of college alt-rock bands in that genre.

My Best-Carey

It seems like every song on that Elvis record was a massive hit. I think it was hugely influential for rock'n'roll.

I can't believe this was from 1948. It really sounds mid 50s or something.

 

[Hippasus]

I want to start by giving some love to De La Soul and producer Prince Paul for 3 Feet High and Rising. It upped the sampling game exponentially. Unfortunately the Turtles sued them for the sample on Transmitting Live From Mars and it delayed some hip hop albums for the next 12-24 months however it expanded the creativity and would lead to 9th Wonder, J. Dilla, etc. do some real cutting edge stuff.

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis.

Legend by Bob Marley

Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles

Are You Experienced? by the Jimi Hendrix Experience

Thriller by Michael Jackson (shoutout to Quincy Jones)

The Miseducation of Lauryn Jill by Lauryn Hill

London Calling by The Clash

Dark Side of The Moon by Pink Floyd.

Zoso aka Led Zeppelin IV

Purple Rain by Prince

Violator by Depeche Mode

Nevermind by Nirvana

those are like some of the all-time albums (not necessarily in my top ten but most referenced etc.).

I think sampling started earlier with Steve Reich in "Come Out" (1966) and industrial like Throbbing Gristle (late 70s), and Skinny Puppy and Ministry (early to mid 80s). Probably early rap and hip hop from around that time too.

 

[Xelebes]

You can also point to the late 50s in Belgium from that attempted pop record from using tape machines, made in Phillips studio. It wasn't until Delia Derbyshire came along and actually showed how to functionally put it together.

 

[kook10]

I think sampling started earlier with Steve Reich in "Come Out" (1966) and industrial like Throbbing Gristle (late 70s), and Skinny Puppy and Ministry (early to mid 80s). Probably early rap and hip hop from around that time too.

Pierre Schaffer and Edgard Varese used recorded fragments of sound for the Music Concrete, but as far as it pertains to hip hop it follows the evolution of computers and digital samplers as they didn't use tape loops. Early djs would rock the break beats with other people's records, and I am sure somewhere they started using Fairlight samplers, but things really took off with the E-Mu SP1200 and other samplers like the Akai s900/s1000, ensoniq eps16, and eventually the Akai MPC.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Le Quatuor du Nouveau Jazz Libre du Quebec from 1969 sounds like free jazz like Ornette Coleman from the late 50s and early 60s as well as Charles Mingus, and even John Coltrane.

Absolutely. And you can certainly relate Quebec's musique actuelle scene to these pioneers. It eventually opened way to some more abstract improv, with invented instruments or diverted usage of traditional ones, but it remained pretty close to free jazz for some time.

Symphonie pour un homme seul was a very interesting album from circa 1950. Musique concrete and found sounds perhaps led to ambient and sampling.

I don't think it was recorded circa 1950 (well, not that I know of), it was a pretty well known live piece.

 

[Hippasus]

Absolutely. And you can certainly relate Quebec's musique actuelle scene to these pioneers. It eventually opened way to some more abstract improv, with invented instruments or diverted usage of traditional ones, but it remained pretty close to free jazz for some time.



I don't think it was recorded circa 1950 (well, not that I know of), it was a pretty well known live piece.

Oh, I just glanced at the Wikipedia article. You're right. It was composed 1949-50 by Schaeffer and Henry. It sounds like excerpts of it were first publicly performed in 1952.

 

[Roo Returns]

I think PE's It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back blew the doors wide open on sampling a year previous. The Bomb Squad were playing chess with sampling while the rest were still on checkers. Example - in '87 both Down By Law (album) by MC Shan and PE's Rebel Without A Pause single came out. RWAP opened was one of (if not the) first song to really incorporate sampling that went beyond the typical beat+hook 2/3 sample song. To tie it back: Marley Marl's corny sample style (at that time) of just hitting the button over and over would later be made fun of by Prince Paul on De La Soul is Dead when he says "maaaaan this album is starting to sound just like MC Shan".

Also Jungle Brothers - Straight Out The Jungle in 88 is worth a mention. It opened the doors for De La, Prince Paul, and more melodic/comedic/positive/fun sampling.

I agree with you on a lot of these fronts. I was looking at it from a mainstream/reached as many people as possible point of view. I'd also throw Paul's Boutique into that category. De La Soul opened the doors for the D.A.I.S.Y. movement which was prominent from 1989-1991 and went until about 1995 coexisting with Gangsta Rap.

A similar example is I love the first Killing Joke album and think some of the playing especially Geordi Walker's guitar is so innovative for post punk, but the Metallica version of The Wait reached many more people.

I respect what Public Enemy did but I don't listen to them anymore. The guy's associated with that group have said some things I'm not cool with over the years. With keeping it clean on this site even the side project Confrontation Camp, they did what they did on purpose. Chuck D also trying to start a riot screaming how the Yankees got Flava Flav locked up. I'll pass.

 

[Roo Returns]

I personally believe J. Dilla killed A tribe Called Quest's sound. Q-tip was not invested in that last album and he was brought in to add something that was missing. I was disappointed with Beat,Rhymes, & Life. The Love movement was not good.

A tribe called quest is my favorite Rap group too. Soundtrack of my youth.

There was a lot going on in Tribe's camp then. Also the D.A.I.S.Y. era was over and the remaining groups tried to be darker post-Gangsta rap.

I'm sure you've seen the documentary Rappaport did on them. It goes over a lot of their later years of the original run.

 

[Stylizer1]

There was a lot going on in Tribe's camp then. Also the D.A.I.S.Y. era was over and the remaining groups tried to be darker post-Gangsta rap.

I'm sure you've seen the documentary Rappaport did on them. It goes over a lot of their later years of the original run.

Yes , I saw that doc and it made sense. When beats, rhymes, & Life came out it was noticeably different. There was no cohesion, like everyone wrote their own lyrics on their own time and just showed up at the studio to record them. That doc just reaffirmed what I lived through. I was at a Tribe, De La, & Souls of Mischief show on the Midnight Marauders tour summer of 94' and Q-tip and Phife didn't talk once back stage. They weren't even standing near each other for the hour and a half before they went on. Ali was going back and forth between them. Was that a precursor to them falling out, maybe, or it was just one of those days. I was working in college radio at the time and interviewed souls of mischief, and Phife for our show.

The DAISY era wasn't really an era, it was a mix of debut albums from the native tongues limited to 3 groups, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, And A Tribe Called Quest. Black Sheep had a dark first album, Queen Latifa had a conscious album but wasn't anything Daisy.

 

[Roo Returns]

Yes , I saw that doc and it made sense. When beats, rhymes, & Life came out it was noticeably different. There was no cohesion, like everyone wrote their own lyrics on their own time and just showed up at the studio to record them. That doc just reaffirmed what I lived through. I was at a Tribe, De La, & Souls of Mischief show on the Midnight Marauders tour summer of 94' and Q-tip and Phife didn't talk once back stage. They weren't even standing near each other for the hour and a half before they went on. Ali was going back and forth between them. Was that a precursor to them falling out, maybe, or it was just one of those days. I was working in college radio at the time and interviewed souls of mischief, and Phife for our show.

The DAISY era wasn't really an era, it was a mix of debut albums from the native tongues limited to 3 groups, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, And A Tribe Called Quest. Black Sheep had a dark first album, Queen Latifa had a conscious album but wasn't anything Daisy.

It was a movement and collective. A lot of those peeps hung out, guested on each other's albums, etc. It ran parallel to the alternative music era. I'd say from 1989-1991 was the peak but it went until about 1993.

 

[PANARIN BREAD FAN]

That Cher pick is a bit of a head-scratcher. Was it because of the use of autotune?

Run-DMC's first album was quite good, though, and I could see it being very influential for hip hop.

yep you nailed it - autotune. pop songs galore been using it for over 20 years. i hear it on about 65-75% of the songs everytime i'm at any strip club.

 

[zombie kopitar]

A few random ones I haven't seen mentioned

Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel for folk rock and singer/singwriter

Kill Em All & Ride the Lightning shaped heavy metal in the 80s the way Black Sabbath & Paranoid did in the 70s

Massive Attack-Mezzanine

Sublime was about to take over the radio but Bradley died and No Doubt and a bunch of other bands got it instead

FutureSex/LoveSounds was so far ahead in the way pop music was going to sound, it's honestly pretty mind blowing

Hamilton has changed Broadway

 

[Hippasus]

I think I'll throw in David Bowie for his singing ability and theatrical performing. I think this was an influence on glam rock, Roxy Music, and in turn, punk (via New York Dolls perhaps).

Even though he wasn’t that early, we could probably say Robert Johnson for blues.

I'd give a little honorable mention to Claude Debussy and his influence on the 20th Century composers. I know he didn't like the term impressionism as a description of his music, but it was something new and original for sure.

Debussy with his impressionistic style is like an antithesis to Wagner even though I think they are both romantic.

 

[Hippasus]

yep you nailed it - autotune. pop songs galore been using it for over 20 years. i hear it on about 65-75% of the songs everytime i'm at any strip club.

Influence for the worse. Haha.

 

[Mikeaveli]

In 1969 the Beach Boys invented Dream Pop/Shoegaze 20 years before it would become popular.



Interestingly enough the groundbreaking production on this track was from Carl Wilson, not Brian.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Original Black Sabbath album
Appetite for Destruction Guns n Roses
Nevermind Nirvana

Here is the thing about GNR

IF Back in Black does not go supernova---would record companies have looked more at the hard rock scene in LA? VH had put out a few good selling albums but when Back in Black went supernova---within 6 months every label in LA were signing LA bar bands

 

[93gilmour93]

Here is the thing about GNR

IF Back in Black does not go supernova---would record companies have looked more at the hard rock scene in LA? VH had put out a few good selling albums but when Back in Black went supernova---within 6 months every label in LA were signing LA bar bands

I would say GnR got signed years after the hair metal scene started. Motley Crue came out about 6 years before appetite for destruction but Guns took elements of that and added their unique twist with a mix of Punk and Rock music that separated them from the other bands

 

[Stylizer1]

It was a movement and collective. A lot of those peeps hung out, guested on each other's albums, etc. It ran parallel to the alternative music era. I'd say from 1989-1991 was the peak but it went until about 1993.

I would say the alternative music era peaked around 95. By then the Hieroglyphics, the Pharcyde, Digable planets, Kool Keith, Jurrasic 5, Organized Konfusion, Freestyle fellowship, Blackalicious etc were alternatives to the main stream going gangster. Unfortunately that sub genre never held up to what the big corporations wanted to promote.

 

[NyQuil]

I would say the alternative music era peaked around 95. By then the Hieroglyphics, the Pharcyde, Digable planets, Kool Keith, Jurrasic 5, Organized Konfusion, Freestyle fellowship, Blackalicious etc were alternatives to the main stream going gangster. Unfortunately that sub genre never held up to what the big corporations wanted to promote.

Some great stuff around that time, Eric B. and Rakim in 1992, Guru in 1993, Roots in 1994.

 

[Stylizer1]

Some great stuff around that time, Eric B. and Rakim in 1992, Guru in 1993, Roots in 1994.

Absolutely, but what I was referring to in that post was a sub genre in rap that was more creative and risky. These groups didn't take the conventional east coast boom bap, west coast gangster route. I was thinking of adding The Roots to that list but being from Philly their sound no doubt unique was still traditionally influenced within the genre at the time. This is what made Canadian rap music unique because a lot of it although influenced by American rap never really mirrored what was down south. Maestro Fresh who is considered Canada's first Rap pioneer made NY 80's style rap but in the early 90's you had the Dream Warriors, The Rascals, Kaos, Dubmatique, Frek sho, and a bunch of other groups who had at least a single or even a video on rap city/much music.

During the golden era of rap which I consider was 1986-1996 Eric B. & Rakim, Gangstarr, and The Roots were mainstream within the Rap Community and all had heavy rotation on KISS fm and HOT 97 commercial radio. The place where the "alternative" rappers got their break was on the The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show which was a University station (Columbia) and was probably responsible for breaking most of the famous rappers from 1990 on.