1. As I've mentioned in another thread, I was introduced to rock music, and the Beatles in particular, at an early age. But I didn't really understand the impact the Beatles had on me until I heard this one:
It opened with what is still, 7 years after first hearing it, my favourite ever song, Taxman, and continued with a heap of other cool tracks. As a nearly 12 yr old at the time, I was old enough to appreciate tracks like Love You To and Tomorrow Never Knows (well, I don't know many other 12 yr olds that get that kind of music, but I thought it was pretty cool by that age
) and I wasn't old enough to be turned off by Yellow Submarine as some so-called Beatles fans have claimed to have been.
So Revolver is the most influential as it sent me on the path to becoming a Beatlemaniac which kind of defines who I am now
2. As a kid, at about 7 or 8, my dad went through a phase (as he does often) of playing an album at least 3 times a week for about a month. Usually, he chooses something like Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald (and to this day I cannot sit and listen to either of those artists - I respect what they did, but I'm sick of them!). But this time, he picked an album that I really liked:
This album is influential for me because it convinced me to learn a musical instrument. Initially I wanted to learn the organ and replicate Ray Charles, but I quickly converted to the 6-stringed bliss of the guitar. I still play to this day, and I have the sheet music to "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" - the song I set myself a goal to learn as a kid.
3. Until about my 14th/15th birthday, I was just a casual music fan. I'd enjoyed the Beatles immensely, and I'd picked up the guitar and could play, but it was a hobby more than a passion.
Then, I heard an album that 5 prominent musicians on the music scene came together to create - and I was hooked.
This was the album in question:
This album branched me into the solo careers of the Beatles (for some reason, I'd assumed the Beatles faded into obscurity after Let It Be.. I was young and naive, obviously), the back catalog of Bob Dylan, and, believe it or not, introduced me to Tom Petty/Heartbreakers, ELO
and Roy Orbison! And music became a passion. Within a month, I'd learnt the entire album on guitar, and was looking everywhere (unsuccessfully until the re-release) for Vol. 3. The Wilburys had me hooked, and I owe a lot to this little album!
4. Bit more recently (about 15-16 yrs of age) I became interested in more than just rock. I became interested in the blues. A live concert by Eric Clapton started this trend (where he played blues songs like Crossroads and Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out) but it was one of E.C.'s albums that I bought later on that converted me.
Hoochie Coochie Man in particular struck a chord with me, and the rest followed, turning me into a blues fan
5. Bit of an outer-field one here, but I'll explain. This album, which I received from "Santa Claus" in 1999, was responsible for convincing me that not everything which hits the charts is worth listening to.
This horrible, tacky album alienated me a little bit from my classmates (who actually listened to this stuff) but the gap lessened over time as people accepted that I didn't like it. And to this day, it represents what I don't like about pop music today. And is probably responsible for me trying a lot of the older artists.