What was the most influential rock album

Started by Walkerman, September 24, 2008, 12:35:58 PM

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for me personally, it was the White Album.  Historically, I'd say Sgt Peppers.  The concept of that album of being a body of work vs. a collection of songs, influenced the industry.
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Lots of albums around the same time did a lot for music.  I would go for Disraeli Gears by Cream for the new sound it began (although Sgt pepper did the same thing at the same time).  Apparently Tales of Brave Ulysses is the first ever recording using a wah wah pedal, although Hendrix may argue that one if he were still here!!!
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For me, it's got to be Highway 61 Revisited by Mr. Dylan. I still have a vivid memory of hearing Tombstone Blues for the first time some 40 years ago. I think I was about 12 or 13, and had never heard anything like it before. Dylan's music felt somehow dangerous to me at the time, but I was totally captivated. I think more than anything I was listening to at the time, that album sent me down the old counter-culture road. Very subversive music.

Quote from: stubby on September 24, 2008, 05:53:03 PM
For me, it's got to be Highway 61 Revisited by Mr. Dylan. I still have a vivid memory of hearing Tombstone Blues for the first time some 40 years ago. I think I was about 12 or 13, and had never heard anything like it before. Dylan's music felt somehow dangerous to me at the time, but I was totally captivated. I think more than anything I was listening to at the time, that album sent me down the old counter-culture road. Very subversive music.

Stubby...that's more what I was referring to.  Not albums that influenced music, per se, but albums that affected society.  That's why I chose Meet the Beatles.  The world was not the same after the Beatles hit the scene.  Of course, after the Beatles, everyone I knew wanted to play the guitar, so it did affect music also.

Quote from: mika on September 24, 2008, 01:15:15 PM
for me personally, it was the White Album.  Historically, I'd say Sgt Peppers.  The concept of that album of being a body of work vs. a collection of songs, influenced the industry.
:+1:

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Back in 1997 I read "With A Little Help From My Friends" by George Martin (I really wish I would have bought a copy cause it's hard to find these days) and it confirmed to me that Sgt Pepper is the most important rock album of all time.
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Sgt Pepper may well be the most important rock album of all time, but I think you had to be there to appreciate it. I wasn't and I envy those who were, I can only imagine how sensational it was.
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Quote from: bearsville0 on September 25, 2008, 10:01:53 PM
Sgt Pepper may well be the most important rock album of all time, but I think you had to be there to appreciate it. I wasn't and I envy those who were, I can only imagine how sensational it was.

While Sgt Pepper's is the most influential album ever, it is, IMHO, because it is by the Beatles rather than because the album itself was so special.  Don't get me wrong, the album is transcendant, but so were a LOT of albums during that year.  In many ways 1967 was THE year in rock.  Here are some of the ground breakers that came out in 1967:

Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed (another and more coherent concept album)
Cream: Disreali Gears
The Doors: The Doors
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
Traffic: Mr. Fantasy

All, hugely influential albums.  And that's just some of the stuff that came out.  !968 and 1969 just poured gasoline on the fire. 

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Quote from: wilblee on September 26, 2008, 07:39:45 AM
While Sgt Pepper's is the most influential album ever, it is, IMHO, because it is by the Beatles rather than because the album itself was so special.  Don't get me wrong, the album is transcendant, but so were a LOT of albums during that year.  In many ways 1967 was THE year in rock.  Here are some of the ground breakers that came out in 1967:

Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed (another and more coherent concept album)
Cream: Disreali Gears
The Doors: The Doors
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
Traffic: Mr. Fantasy

All, hugely influential albums.  And that's just some of the stuff that came out.  !968 and 1969 just poured gasoline on the fire. 

:+1:.  I just picked my favourite from that year, but agree that 1967 in general was influential for rock music.
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Quote from: wilblee on September 26, 2008, 07:39:45 AM
While Sgt Pepper's is the most influential album ever, it is, IMHO, because it is by the Beatles rather than because the album itself was so special.  Don't get me wrong, the album is transcendant, but so were a LOT of albums during that year.  In many ways 1967 was THE year in rock.  Here are some of the ground breakers that came out in 1967:

Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed (another and more coherent concept album)
Cream: Disreali Gears
The Doors: The Doors
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
Traffic: Mr. Fantasy










I graduated from HS in the spring of 67, and started college in the fall.  Could my timing have been any better?
 

Hey Walkerman, interesting thread you've started here.  I, too graduated HS in '67.   
The Golden Age of music was getting up to speed without a doubt.   I could easily go along with many of the opinions already shared here.    The Beatles, Dylan and others certainly made their mark and in some ways revolutionized music as we knew it.   At the risk of ruffling the feathers of the Beatles fans'  especially those who consider Sgt. Peppers to be the most inluential, I would sumbit the following:    The Mothers Of Invention Freak Out album which came out in 1966 gets my vote for most inluential for several reasons.  #1.  Paul McCartney began working on the Sgt. Peppers album concept after hearing the M O I album and has acknowleged that it was a major inluence on him.  Wouldn't that make the Freak Out album more inluential ? worth considering, I think.  #2  The album was revolutionary in its instrumentation, time siganture changes running rampant and the doulbe album ran the gambut of styles;  all of them done with superb production values which still hold up today just like the Beatles best efforts.  #3 The album had many songs that contained social commentary and an awareness of the fast changing political climate which would make Dylan seem like a self-important hack by comparison. 
Ok, now that I've enraged both Beatles and Dylan fans, let me state for the record:  I love the Beatles.....I think Dylan was (maybe still is) one of the greatest songwriters to ever put down his thoughts on vinyl, tape or cd. I have most of his best works and listen to them often.   BUT....
the thread asks the question "What was the most influential rock album ?"  I think a good case could be made for the Mothers Freak Out album.......even if you don't care for their style or musical sensibilities you cannot deny they were influential.   There may not have even been a Sgt. Peppers without a Freak Out the year before.

Hope I haven't totally ruined my credibility here.   That's just my opinion.

Tuffythepug



Tuffy, I thought McCartney started working on Sgt. Peppers after he'd heard Pet Sounds byt the Beach Boys....and I thought I remembered hearing Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson's answer to Revolver (BTW, this is my vote for most influential rock album).  Revolver started the whole psychedelic thing didn't it?  She Said, She Said and Tomorrow Never Knows...were songs written after John's first LSD trips, no?

Quote from: tuffythepug on September 26, 2008, 10:45:27 AM
Hey Walkerman, interesting thread you've started here.  I, too graduated HS in '67.   
The Golden Age of music was getting up to speed without a doubt.   I could easily go along with many of the opinions already shared here.    The Beatles, Dylan and others certainly made their mark and in some ways revolutionized music as we knew it.   At the risk of ruffling the feathers of the Beatles fans'  especially those who consider Sgt. Peppers to be the most inluential, I would sumbit the following:    The Mothers Of Invention Freak Out album which came out in 1966 gets my vote for most inluential for several reasons.  #1.  Paul McCartney began working on the Sgt. Peppers album concept after hearing the M O I album and has acknowleged that it was a major inluence on him.  Wouldn't that make the Freak Out album more inluential ? worth considering, I think.  #2  The album was revolutionary in its instrumentation, time siganture changes running rampant and the doulbe album ran the gambut of styles;  all of them done with superb production values which still hold up today just like the Beatles best efforts.  #3 The album had many songs that contained social commentary and an awareness of the fast changing political climate which would make Dylan seem like a self-important hack by comparison. 
Ok, now that I've enraged both Beatles and Dylan fans, let me state for the record:  I love the Beatles.....I think Dylan was (maybe still is) one of the greatest songwriters to ever put down his thoughts on vinyl, tape or cd. I have most of his best works and listen to them often.   BUT....
the thread asks the question "What was the most influential rock album ?"  I think a good case could be made for the Mothers Freak Out album.......even if you don't care for their style or musical sensibilities you cannot deny they were influential.   There may not have even been a Sgt. Peppers without a Freak Out the year before.

Hope I haven't totally ruined my credibility here.   That's just my opinion.

Tuffy, How you could lose credibility picking guys like that is beyond me.  I'm a huge Beatles fan, but I have (and love) the albums you mentioned, too.  Another record that supposedly fueled McCartney in making SPLHCB, was the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, one of may undying faves.  It influenced a bunch of other people, too.  

BUT...

While SPLHCB is not my favorite album, I can't think of anything that had a broader and deeper influence on what came after, than it did.  You and I are old enough to remember what it did to the whole world when it came out.  What other album has had that kind if impact?  It not only influenced music, but fashion, art, etc. in such a pervasive way, that it's hard, now, to realize just how pervasive its influence has been.  I could make the case for any number of other albums that were big influences on the music industry.  DSOTM and London Calling leap to mind, as do some early disco and rap albums (God, help us).  But nothing on the scale of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

OK, I'll shut up now.

--bill
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Hey Denis and Bill
I'm gratified to see that the first two respones to my, admittedly heretical post, came from two gentelman of impeccable taste and manners.   I value your judgement and opinion as I do everyone else's here.   I kinda knew going in that this would probably generate many opposing views.   I'd never presume that my opinion was any better than the next guy's.   Let me say for the record that the Beach Boys and the Beatles both made music that was emminently listenable and memorable.   Their efforts will most assuredly stand the test of time.  As to who influenced who ? I guess we'll never know the answer because it's too subjective.  I based my opinion largely on the fact that Paul himself stated that the Freak Out album was a big influence and also his statement that the Sgt. Peppers album "was our Freak Out".  Take if for what it's worth.   I believe that you could certainly make the case for Pet Sounds being a major inluence as well..perhaps even more of an influence due to it's incredible melodies, harmonies and general listenablity.    Say what you will, the Mothers are an acquired taste that is definitely not mainsteam or radio-friendly.   I'd rather hear anything by the Beach Boys or Beatles than the stuff on the Mothers album but that's not wihere I was coming from when I voiced my opinion.  Our wonderful internet can be a source of information as well as dis-information as we all know.   Do a Google search of "Mothers Of Invention Freak Out and Beatles Sgt. Peppers" and you'll get over 65,000 hits.   There is lots of seemingly credible evidence for almost any position you care to take on the subject.  Lots of people credit the Freak Out album for influencing Sgt. Peppers....Lots of people credit Brian Wilson and the Pet Sounds album instead.   That leaves me with one point that I believe still holds up;   If you listen to the Freak Out album you will hear songs that are all over the map stylistically and some may not be your cup of tea, but many of the songs have something to say about the social and political climate of the times.  There are no gushy love songs with beautiful harmonies.  It's raw and aims for the heart in quite a different way.  It wouldn't make my list of top 1,000 albums, I admit.  But I still think it was influential.  I'll also freely admit I could be wrong as wrong can be as to the degree of influence.


Quote from: wilblee on September 26, 2008, 07:39:45 AM
While Sgt Pepper's is the most influential album ever, it is, IMHO, because it is by the Beatles rather than because the album itself was so special.  Don't get me wrong, the album is transcendant, but so were a LOT of albums during that year.  In many ways 1967 was THE year in rock.  Here are some of the ground breakers that came out in 1967:

Beatles: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Moody Blues: Days of Future Passed (another and more coherent concept album)
Cream: Disreali Gears
The Doors: The Doors
Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
Traffic: Mr. Fantasy

All, hugely influential albums.  And that's just some of the stuff that came out.  !968 and 1969 just poured gasoline on the fire. 



Wow, I didn't realize Nights in White Satin was that old a song.  I'm a LOT younger than you guys, graduated in 1974, and I remember Nights in White Satin as being a 70's song, maybe my sophomore year, which would be 72.  If that did come out in 67, then that truly was innovative, with the orchestra background and layered background harmonies.
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"......Wow, I didn't realize Nights in White Satin was that old a song...."

I just gotta tell you all this story.  A few years back, when my youngest son was in high school, he played on the football team.  A few of us parents took turns carpooling them to and from practice.  One evening, as I was driving an SUV full of teenage boys to their homes,I had a compliation CD in the player.  So, the song Layla, by Derik and the Dominoes comes on.  After a minute or so goes by, one of the kids in back asks..."Mr. Reich, does this guy have to pay Eric Clapton?"
Slightly confused by his question I responded "What do you mean?"
He shot back "I mean, does he have to pay Eric Clapton for using his song."
Now, I am really confused, so I told him "This IS Eric Clapton."
Then he told me "No, Eric Clapton does this song on an acoustic guitar."

So then it hits me...these kids have only ever heard Layla from Clapton unplugged.  Talk about making me feel old.... :?

Quote from: Walkerman on September 26, 2008, 01:16:23 PM
"......Wow, I didn't realize Nights in White Satin was that old a song...."

I just gotta tell you all this story.  A few years back, when my youngest son was in high school, he played on the football team.  A few of us parents took turns carpooling them to and from practice.  One evening, as I was driving an SUV full of teenage boys to their homes,I had a compliation CD in the player.  So, the song Layla, by Derik and the Dominoes comes on.  After a minute or so goes by, one of the kids in back asks..."Mr. Reich, does this guy have to pay Eric Clapton?"
Slightly confused by his question I responded "What do you mean?"
He shot back "I mean, does he have to pay Eric Clapton for using his song."
Now, I am really confused, so I told him "This IS Eric Clapton."
Then he told me "No, Eric Clapton does this song on an acoustic guitar."




So then it hits me...these kids have only ever heard Layla from Clapton unplugged.  Talk about making me feel old.... :?


:laughin:  like the two girls I overheard at the record store:   "Wasn't Paul Macarthey in some band before Wings ?

Graduated HS in 1985.

To me, the most influential rock album in my lifetime was 'October' by U2.

"Why?" you may ask.

Quite simple.  The opening track, 'Gloria', is the first song I ever learned to play on guitar; figuring it out myself in a couple of minutes (it is that simple).  I was hooked on guitars ever since.

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Quote from: rockstar_not on September 26, 2008, 02:52:01 PM
Graduated HS in 1985.

To me, the most influential rock album in my lifetime was 'October' by U2.

"Why?" you may ask.

Quite simple.  The opening track, 'Gloria', is the first song I ever learned to play on guitar; figuring it out myself in a couple of minutes (it is that simple).  I was hooked on guitars ever since.

-Scott

Was that the same Gloria done by Van and Them?

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