#40 . . . With a Bullet

A number of my friends and fellow bloggers (like Rick Stuckwisch and Chris Esget) have put together lists of their most influential music albums.  Thinking about the role which music has played in my life, I decided to put together my own list.  Obviously it won't be a comprehensive list--after all, I own over a thousand CDs, and all of them have influenced me in some way.  These are the ones that left the greatest impression, that reached me at a certain point in time and made an impact.

I doubt I could rank them from highest to lowest, looking back over the past 35 years.  Time magnifies some things and desensitizes others.  So what I've done is list them chronologically according to when the album as a whole made its initial impact on me.  That means some of the albums might be dated differently than the year they were originally released.  (Since some of these albums are from before I was born, that should be obvious.)  The chronology might be different if I went by when a certain song from the album influenced me, but that's not what I'm going for right now. 

By the way, you'll notice a few "Greatest Hits" collections on here.  That's because those albums are how I first encountered the artist's work as a collection.  (For example, I encountered "Rock N Soul Pt. 1" by Hall & Oates long before I ever bought a studio album of theirs.)

All that being said, here we go with . . .

My Top 40 Most Influential Albums

1. 1979 - Kiss: Destroyer
2. 1980 - Styx: Paradise Theater
3. 1982 - Toto IV
4. 1982 - John Mellencamp: American Fool (released as John Cougar)
5. 1982 - Asia: Asia
6. 1982 - Michael Jackson: Thriller
7. 1983-1984 - Billy Joel: An Innocent Man
8. 1984 - Hall & Oates: Rock N Soul Pt. 1
9. 1986 - OST: St. Elmo's Fire
10. 1986 - "Weird Al" Yankovic: Dare to Be Stupid
11. 1986-1987 - Boston: Third Stage
12. 1986-1987 - Bon Jovi: Slippery When Wet
13. 1987 - Bryan Adams: Reckless
14. 1988 - Dan Fogelberg: The Innocent Age (especially disc 1)
15. 1988 - Mannheim Steamroller: A Fresh Aire Christmas
16. 1989 - America: Greatest Hits
17. 1990 - Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
18. 1990 - The Eagles: Greatest Hits 1971-75
19. 1990 - Metallica: . . . And Justice For All
20. 1991 - Journey: Infinity
21. 1991 - Pink Floyd: The Wall
22. 1992 - Peter Gabriel: So
23. 1992 - Neil Diamond: 12 Hits Vol. 2
24. 1992 - Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell
25. 1992 - Joe Jackson: Night and Day
26. 1993 - Jackson Browne: Running on Empty
27. 1993 - Queen: A Kind of Magic (and Innuendo)
28. 1994 - Barenaked Ladies: Gordon
29. 1995 - Harry Chapin: Greatest Stories Live
30. 1995 - Crosby Stills & Nash: So Far
31. 1995 - Sarah McLachlan: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
32. 1996 - Cake: Fashion Nugget
33. 1996 - Alison Krauss: Now That I've Found You
34. 1998 - Praetorius: Mass for Christmas Morning (Paul McCreesh conducting the Gabrieli Consort and Players)
35: 1999 - Holly Cole: Temptation
36: 2000 - Gary Allan: Smoke Rings in the Dark
37. 2001 - Liz Phair: Whipsmart
38. 2002 - Damien Rice: O
39. 2003 - Evanescence: Fallen
40. 2009 - Breaking Benjamin: Dear Agony

Honorable Mention
1986 - Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1990 - REO Speedwagon: Hi Infidelity
1990 - Led Zeppelin: IV (ZOSO)
1991 - Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon / Wish You Were Here
1993 - Barry Manilow: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (and 2 and 3)
1998 - Ani Difranco: Living in Clip
1998 - Ecole Notre Dame: Messe du Jour de Noel (Marcel Pérès conducting Ensemble Organum)
2000 - David Bowie: Changesbowie