The Move – Shazam / Wizzard – Wizzard Brew (heard them both the same day, instant favorites)ħ. Sun Ra – Nothing Is (first of an endless collection of Sun Ra records/boots/live discs I have amassed)Ħ. DEVO – Are We Not Men (first and current favorite band of all time)ĥ.

SY’s 6+9 and sus chords + fuzz run deep in my blood)Ĥ. Sonic Youth – Dirty (wore my SY tshirt every day of jr high. Zappa runners up would be Uncle Meat, You Cant Do That On Stage Anymore #2, One Size Fits All. Frank Zappa – Make a Jazz Noise Here (if not only because it’s the first record of his that I bought. I listen to this any time I feel like I’ve gotten any good. Art Tatum – Solo Masterpieces (made me happy I didn’t start with piano. Tom Waits – Rain Dogs (made me want to play guitar.)Ģ. I realized after the fact that only about half my picks have audible guitar parts. For me, the brain-speck stuff usually is the best music.

I guess it depends on how much importance you place on music that leaves brain specks all over your walls. I’m not sure if there’s much difference between “music that altered my mind” and “best music” lists. (And feel free to use the “runners up” dodge - I certainly did.) Please post them to comments below, and add as much detail as you like. And that’s the moment you start second-guessing the whole thing.įor such a low-stakes effort, the pressure is high! And now I’m putting the pressure on you: I’d love to read your lists of mind-exploding music. At some point, you just surrender and hit SEND. First you can’t think of enough … and then too many … and then you worry you forgot an important one … and then you spend an hour reflecting on whether Joni Mitchell or Béla Bartók is more important … and then you read the whole thing through and realize how insufferably pretentious you sound. I don’t know why exercises like this can be so hard. And that made me want to hear your lists. Man, pontificating ain’t easy! KMI, who make the SoftStep controller I use almost every day, solicited a “Albums That Meant a Lot to You” list for their website, and I replied with “Ten Albums That Made My Head Explode,” which just went live on their site.

Michel camilo big band caribe dvd