UKC

What single or albums can you think of that had an unquestionable influence on everything around it, possibly resonating for decades after its release?

An example could be Donna Summer's 'I feel Love'. You have to admit that it was a game changer, even with this cover version
youtube.com/watch?v=0iFBXjRbVl0&




Some youtube links would be nice.

In reply to The Lemming:

Metallica - Master of Puppets.

In reply to The Lemming:
Pink Floyd's Wish You Where Here.

In reply to The Lemming:

With producer Andrew Lloyd Webber, Timmy Mallett formed the band Bombalurina and released a cover of the single "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini". It reached no 1 in the UK charts in August 1990. The world was quite literally shaken and small parts of Pembroke fell into the sea. The legacy lives on, and on, and bloody on...

In reply to The Lemming:
The Velvet Underground & Nico

youtube.com/watch?v=MOmZimH00oo&

In reply to The Lemming:

Unfinished Sympathy - Massive Attack


What this single did not only for British dance but for dance music as a whole was to show it a new way. It was truly pioneering. To this point dance had evolved from the 1980s pop and into something hard, heavy and repeptive and acid based. Dance didn't know just what it had the potential to do outiside of trying to be as loud as possible and get as many BPM in as possible.

What Unfinished Sympathy did was show a new side to dance, something soulful, crafted, haunting, intelligent and yet still holding onto the core elements of dance. It brought together so many musical styles and allowed the end of the spiralling self-destruction path that dance was going on.

Most important dance song of the post 70s era.

That's my take anyway.

In reply to The Lemming:

Music that had seismic proportions?

Wasn't it Leftfield who cracked the ceiling of Brixton Academy with their bass?

In reply to The Lemming:

Guess Sergeant Pepper's lonely hearts Club Band ( youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2bmQ4P4cM& for anyone (?) who doesn't know it) was fairly influential, likewise several LPs by Dylan, maybe Highway 61 Revisited in particular

Has anything in recent years had such impact ?

In reply to Rampikino:



Great track and all that, but it's an oddity for a dance track, in that you can't really dance to it.

Anyway, Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog". Incendiary stuff for the time - changed everything.

And then, 20 years later, the Sex Pistols "Anarchy in the UK" More incendiary stuff.

In reply to The Lemming:

This lot beat 's them all

http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Disaster_Area

In reply to The Lemming:

Nirvana - smells like teen spirit.

Not only helped (or caused) catapult grunge into the mainstream but also provided the perfect anthem for the unhappy youth of the day.

In reply to Rampikino:

If we're going to get into electronic 'dance' music, then we must pay homage to at least the following tracks:


youtube.com/watch?v=WY-Z6wm6TMQ&

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=13&v=GxZuq57_bYM

In reply to The Lemming:

There's this

http://tinyurl.com/povyhso

Heard something on the radio about the artists/families getting a load of money from the hundreds/thousands of artists who've based an entire musical career on 6 seconds of drum solo.

In reply to SidharthaDongre:

Snap!

In reply to The Lemming:

Literally?

Einstürzende Neubauten pneumatic drilling the stage at the ICA in 1984.

Pale re-enactment here:

youtube.com/watch?v=R_BEqOzYEsw&

In reply to Jon Stewart:
The Power was good, but I wouldn't call it a game changer, unless using the word "cancer" in a dance song was revolutionary?



oops, the power didn't have the word cancer in it...my bad....rhythm is a dancer.

In reply to The Lemming:

Rappers Delight - Sugar Hill Gang

In reply to The Lemming:
Pretty much any of the early releases by the supremely talented Chuck Berry.

This, for example, which is also the epitome of cool:

youtube.com/watch?v=Ud8peXosPLg&

and covered here by Wipeout on the streets of Leeds, more than 50 years later

youtube.com/watch?v=hKd1OF6XwH0&

In reply to The Lemming:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Hindenburg_burning.jpg

In reply to The Lemming:

Tchaikovsky had actual cannons in his 1812 Overture:

youtube.com/watch?v=VbxgYlcNxE8&

Karlheinz Stockhausen influenced everything from Stravinsky, through Miles Davis, to Ben Frost! Here's one of my favourites:

youtube.com/watch?v=S5x90-YIGTE&

Much modern ambient has some relation to Biosphere's 'Substrata':

youtube.com/watch?v=xL3MBMim36E&

In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:

excellent. (snap, that is)

In reply to Hat Dude:

damn it I dont remember this at all, im going to have to re read it now


I would have suggested dark side of the moon as an album

In reply to The Lemming:

The Winstons, Amen Brother

youtube.com/watch?v=GxZuq57_bYM&

In reply to The Lemming:

rocket 88

In reply to Tom Last:



I once hosted Grooverider, Micky Finn and a few others and brought the ceiling down in a pub a few doors down setting the intruders alarms off.
Ah! The madness of the halycon days of my youth!

To the OP for me it'd be Wish You Were Here, DSOTM, Chronicles and Diesel And Dust as they remind me of a happy time of my life so far.

In reply to The Lemming:

The obvious answer is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitely_Maybe

youtube.com/watch?v=jKjtm3JzXeU&

Change the f*ckin world man like it's 1994 all over again.


what do you call a guy who looks after insane rodents?




























































































Mad Ferrit Man

In reply to The Lemming:

i think the shout for 'smells like teen spirit' is a good one

by the late eighties rock had lost its way, too much big hair and indifferent music

then teen spirit arrived like a smack in the face. the rawness and energy made previous bands sound instantly like they were from a previous generation

i guess 'anarchy in the uk' must have had a similar effect.

as a album, ? the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars- pretty influential on many subsequent bands, id have thought

In reply to John Simpson:

oasis certainly had a massive impact, overturning a decade of dance music being the biggest selling genre in the singles chart. was 'some might say' not the first rock no 1 since 'the final countdown', or something like that?

i'd say that 'whats the story morning glory' had a bigger impact though- third biggest selling non-compilation album of all time in the uk, and was pretty much everywhere, probably the key album in making 'britpop' an item on the national news rather than a headline in the music press.

shame they became so crap after that. 'magic pie' off of 'be here now', anybody? thought not.

<shudders>

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Yeah what's the Story was massive, so maybe the main impact, I know what you're saying, they just never developed out of that original formula. I remember when learning all Noels early work on my old Eko acoustic and thinking he was a genius for his turn of phrase and use of chord structure. These days I just think they just a were right place, right time, reap the whirlwind type of band. However their place in history is sealed.

In reply to The Lemming:

Eruption (Van Halen) changed guitaring forever. Nothing since Hendrix was as pioneering in the 6 string world, and nothing since (save for perhaps Yngwie Malmsteen).

In reply to John Simpson:

yes- i think definitely maybe has better songs- supersonic and live forever in particular, they never bettered those in any of the later albums.

takes me back to getting ready for nights out as a student in glasgow in the nineties... those lyrics really connected with people (even if some of them were pretty much nonsense...)

though whats the story is a better album as a whole i think, more expansive sound, with less weak tracks- and its the one that took over the world (well, the uk at least...). shame they used up all their good ideas, and took too much cocaine. 'where did it all go wrong' is a good track though- where indeed, Noel...?

In reply to The Lemming:

Would the war have been won without Glenn Miller?

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Yeah the 90's were mint

In reply to cuppatea:




Close, but no cigar.



I'm more interested in what you consider to be music that changed a generation or several generations rather than having a personal epiphany.

In reply to The Lemming:

coldplay did, sadly

In reply to The Lemming:

Nina Simone - sinnerman

youtube.com/watch?v=Bn5tiuZU4JI&

This has a timeless quality.

In reply to The Lemming:
>

yes- i dont particularly like Nirvana, but there can be no doubt the massive impact they had, which went beyond music and crossed over to become a news story on mass media. Their music, and 'teen spirit' in particular, came to define the era- much to Kurt Cobain's disgust, sadly

In reply to The Lemming:

Chuck Berry, Elvis and Bill Haley have to be up there with Rock and Roll as they surely revolutionised the world?

But what about The Beatles?
Sure they were successful and innovative but could they also be in the same league for the Pop World?

I'm also guessing that baroque music influenced quite a few over a century or two.

youtube.com/watch?v=Xu5TlSXEzzs&

In reply to The Lemming:

Anyone who tries or tried to deny the social and musical impact of this album has been living in lala land, not only did the ground shake but gangsta rap was introduced to the wider world

Straight Outta Compton
N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMZi25Pq3T8&list=PLcdAlXF2GZN7I3x0rG1MU...


warning contains adult themes.

In reply to The Lemming:

Stone Roses, first album.



Oasis; really?

In reply to alan moore:

Re oasis- yes of course

This isn't a thread about how innovative or good the music was (though I'd argue that the first two albums did have their moments, irrespective of whether Liam was an idiot)

It's about how influential they were- and the dominant popular genre shifted from dance to guitar based music after oasis' success.

The ground had been shifting for some time before that, but whats the story was the point that changed from being something melody maker talked about to being something the 6 o'clock news talked about.

Though this was not necessarily all good, see 'ocean colour scene'...

In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Also the band hype was in full effect by then and one of those London gigs was recorded as the loudest ever in terms of dB, the popular press reported it as the ground moving seismic shift type of thing.

In reply to groovejunkie:



Not just the unhappy ones. More importantly it killed much of the high camp rock that preceded it, at least in the mainstream.

In reply to The Lemming:

"I'm more interested in what you consider to be music that changed a generation or several generations rather than having a personal epiphany."

In the genre of rock and heavy metal I would say that Van Halen's first album Van Halen 1 from 1978 definitely changed the face of rock music. At that time it was mainly Led Zep/Deep Purple/The Who/Rush type rock, and Eddie Van Halen turned up with this new sound and amazing technique which set the tone for many new rock bands of the 80's. At a similar time was the new wave of British heavy metal bands of the late 1970s like Diamond Head which laid the path for future new sounds like thrash metal bands like Metallica. Also Black Sabbath in 1970...probably started the whole heavy metal scene and influence hundreds of future rock bands.

In reply to John Simpson:

How about The Smiths or Joy Division?

In reply to The Lemming:

Mary Had a Little Lamb - Thomas Edison
Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan
Pet Sounds - Beach Boys
Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield

In reply to cuppatea:


Excellent, "Junglists are you rea-ady...!!!"

In reply to The Lemming:

Bob Dylan, early work up to the 80's had a seismic effect lyrically on many different genres of music and still today.

In reply to The Lemming:

Public Enemy - ...Nation of Millions Hip-hop production was largely to that point, just a simple drum machine with a sampled loop and and a bit of scratching. Then Public Enemy came along and played/sampled/scratched everything all at the same time at maximum volume, it made ones ears bleed (in that good way!)

On a slightly more mellow note, Portishead's first album.

In reply to The Lemming:

Anything by Pinky and Perky.

In reply to The Lemming:

Beastie Boys were pretty revolutionary when they arrived on the scene - people started nicking VW badges, for one.

In reply to Clauso:

The Jackson five

youtube.com/watch?v=TGnrAtm3340&

In reply to The Lemming:

'Pet Sounds' by The Beach Boys for the innovative recording depth & complexity.

In reply to The Lemming:

Paul Simon - Graceland

Brought the sound of Africa rather than African America into the kitchens and Volvos of the Middle classes. Paved the way for popular world music and the lion king...

It happens to remind me of holidays as a kid, the first album I could sing every word to.

In reply to Ste Brom:

Best thing you've ever posted on these forums...

In reply to The Lemming:

Herbie Hancock's Headhunters.

In reply to The Lemming:

Sex Pistols NMTB
Dylan Highway 61
Springsteen Born to Run
Pink Floyd Dark Side
Oldfield Tubular Bells

JW

In reply to thomascarr:


Good call.

youtube.com/watch?v=3m3qOD-hhrQ&

In reply to SidharthaDongre:


Very Influential bands, for sure.

In reply to The Lemming:

Are we talking influence on music or on society?

I think music influences society less than we'd all like to imagine. Punk came and went. Madchester came and went.

I guess Motown did impact black emancipation, although I'd argue it was far from the decisive influence.
Similarly, Woodstock and counter-culture probably impacted sexual liberalisation - although the pill did so far more.

I'm struggling to think of an album that really changed the world, other than of music.

To take a literary equivalent, there isn't a Bible or a Mein Kampf equivalent. Maybe "Jerusalem" as a protest song.

In reply to The Lemming:

I think there's a big difference between records that were crucially influential in themselves and ones that are landmark records but were basically symptomatic of a bigger thing that was going on anyway.

The latter group would probably include stuff like Rapper's Delight.

The former would include stuff like:
Oh Carolina (classic Prince Buster, first JA record to feature Nyabinghi drumming, pretty much single handedly responsible for the later development of ska, rocksteady and reggae):
youtube.com/watch?v=b4MPvjuU9Eg&
Under Me Sleng Teng (first all-digital dancehall tune):
youtube.com/watch?v=QRhM4aIjcDM&
Phuture - Acid Trax (er, yeah, acid / 303):
youtube.com/watch?v=JCUPc9zVfyo&
Alex Reece - Pulp Fiction (pretty much single-handedly killed off choppy breakbeaty stuff in a lot of drum and bass):
youtube.com/watch?v=ZNO7-OYLI9U&
at least within their scenes...

Anything by Primal Scream measures in at 10 on the richter scale (we're talking seismology right?). I don't know about "resonating for decades" but these guys get my rocks off!

In reply to The Lemming:

Someone like Kylie Minogue.
Clever PR and production and a soap star becomes a sensation.
Style over substance has become the norm and the likes of Simon Cowell are laughing all the way to the bank on the back of it.

In reply to groovejunkie:



A colleague of mine was the front man of a rock band in the 80s and early 90s. A band in the Def Leopard/Bon Jovi sort of style. Once he saw Nirvana playing Smells Like Teen Spirit on Top Of The Pops he went out the next day, cut all his hair off and got an office job. He knew in that moment that his style of music had suddenly been made to look out of date.

In reply to Alyson:

Another wannabe, you don't play music because you wannabe famous, you play music cos it moves you so much that the ground moves and you need to take a shit

Did you have a good National Ferrets day?

In reply to The Lemming:

Spice Girls Jump into combat, Wannabe (Live at Arnhem)

I'm not sure if the ground moved but lots of tents were erected which shook like a force 9 storm was going on!

youtube.com/watch?v=MzNwZ4TbKZA&

In reply to The Lemming:

As alluded to in another thread, how about Neurosis?

youtube.com/watch?v=TICmWym9DmU&

In reply to John Simpson:


To be fair, he'd played music because he loved it for 14 years. By this point he was married with a young daughter and wanted a solid income.


That one passed me by. No ferrets any more! Sniff!

In reply to Alyson:


Fair enough 14 years is a decent enough stint on the circuit to nowhere, I guess he needed to wash it all out of his hair and move on.


Aww.

In reply to FactorXXX:



I guess for that angle it'd have to be the first Stock Aitken Waterman hit, which google tells me was this:

youtube.com/watch?v=PGNiXGX2nLU&

Errr, yeah, thanks.

In reply to The Lemming:

The Monkees.

Iirc the first manufactured pop group. Giving rise to all sorts of Saturday night TV horror.

In reply to cuppatea:

This has kind of become a "who killed music" thread!

In reply to Jon Stewart:
nuff said

Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal (Michael Jackson's Vision)

youtube.com/watch?v=h_D3VFfhvs4&

plus cover
youtube.com/watch?v=CDl9ZMfj6aE&

In reply to The Lemming: Black Sabbath. Invented heavy metal. Changed the game.

Andy F

In reply to The Lemming:

Erik B and Rakim Paid In Full is pretty much the template for modern lyricism.