If a record radically changes your life, you either: a)Were probably really messed up at the time b)have a pretty skewed and unclear set of values c)watched "High fidelity" too many times d)are a musician, in which case a, b and c above probably still apply. Aaaanyway. Records that changed my musical perspective: Kraftwerk - "Autobahn", when I was quite young, somewhere between 6 and 10 years old, no idea what it was of course or who the hell Kraftwerk were or what an Autobahn was. I just remember seeing this on RTE as filler when they screwed up the scheduling. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wIfFGJoTjI In a world where TV still didn't come on until 3 in the afternoon, this blew my tiny mind U2 - Achtung Baby Quite a brave album for such a mainstream band. Awoke an interest in music that was avant-garde yet still fun and tongue in cheek. Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust / Leftfield - Leftism "gateway drugs" into dance music. Solex - Solex Vs. The Hitmeister - At a time when I'd become a bit cynical and bored with music, when I felt I'd kind of heard it all before, I saw "Solex all Licketysplit" played on No Disco. It changed my attitude in an instant, I realised that underground music ran far deeper than the likes of Radiohead (no disrespect to Radiohead) and that I'd only barely scratched the surface of what was out there.

Kratwerk - Trans Europe Express I remember been given the tape and thinking this is the greatest most advanced sound ever. I also remember hearing MBV - Loveless and thinking this was something extraordinary. There are a few well dodgy ones also

Welcome to the board Iliketechno. Any particular flavour of techno that you prefer? I'm a bit of bpitchcontrol/Ellen Allien fan myself.

I'm terribly uncool. The first album to get me "involved" in music was either Something Happens (stuck together..) or the Housemartins. Made me realise there was more to life than pop :) ais

Thanks for the welcome. Yeah bpitch is a good label. To be honest I love all sorts of techno and electonic music. My favourite label at the moment is Border Community. I am still listening to Drowning In A Sea Of Love by Nathan Fake. I cant wait to see him at the EP. Should be class.

Thriller Nevermind Appetite for Destruction

this is difficult... i started buying my own music properly in about 86 and it was all u2 and simple minds... but really it was new order's substance in '87 that turned me indie... following that, i got obsessed with factory records and then it was a short hop to my next three big records: surfer rosa by pixies (88), bizarro by the wedding present (88) and retrospectively psychocandy by the jesus and mary chain (85)... then it all opened up

HMMH id have to agree with binocular ,But music that made me want to play guitar /write songs I listhened to dance music before i heard achtung baby and i wanted be a hotel manager untill i heard aeroplane over the sea by nmh .Loveless also changed what kind of music i realy wanted to listhen too especially the track Loomer wow

Cream 'Strange Brew' best of album At the age of 13 I would sit with a speaker wither side of my head with Sunshine of Your love thomping away - obviously the guitar in that song is spectacular but..... the drum playing in that song - mother of god! Developed a fascination with Cream - would do things like place their records in the recommended area in record shops. Bless..

'In Utero' by Nirvana. Got me obsessed.

i think Nrvana's In Utero a completely more realised album for Kurt. I really wanted to hear what this man had next ..... Top Choice.

Hail to the Thief. Got me into radiohead (late starter). Has since influenced me imeasurably. Roll on thursday night!!! Here I'm allowed everything all of the time.

I like Kid A better. That said, one of the best songs Yorke has made in a long long time is Harrowdown Hill. The only brilliant track on The Eraser.

Shall cause some controversy here. Each and every one of us has our own fav albums and fav bands and each and every one of us believes that certain albums are "the best ever duuuuuuuuuude", so here is my yo yo's worth. First album i remember listening to was Pink Floyd's The Wall and it did make me want to make music, howeverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...... once i had heard Suede's Epic "Dog Man Star" , that did it for me, it went in at Number 1 in my favourite albums of all time chart and has yet to be displaced. Radiohead, KENT, The Manics and Pink Floyd have all challenged but, for me, just fall short of that sense of awe i get when listening to it.. Have nice wknd's and keep sending me demo's.. i luv's demo's!

Mark Cagney playing 'When Love Breaks Down' pushed me to buy Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout and at 14-15 that was probably the first alternative-ish music I listened to, if you don't count Adam And The Ants . Couple years later a friend gave me a tape of the first 2 Big Star albums, that opened up a whole new world of music to me. They were probably the first new major album events in my life....

Hey thanks John Doe. Did you see them in the SFX? Thought my heart would explode one of those nights. Oh the joys of being 16. ais.