Music or bands that changed your life?

[Major Tom]

Hello everyone. I just wanted to make a post about music that was very provocative or life changing for you. Music plays a HUGE role in my life, I could write a whole book about the subject of how music has effected me. One song, and one band in particular changed my life forever. On Christmas of 1994 my parents bought me the Pink Floyd Wish you were Here CD. Listening to it changed me profoundly. The song in that hit me like a ton of bricks (in a good way) was Shine on you Crazy Diamond. Every time I hear it, I go deep into my own mind and relish the music, the lyrics, and how it somehow perfectly goes in rhythm with not only my life, but even in movements of daily life. (If you listen to the song and look around you everything seems to follow the beat), at least to my perception. I will post a link of an abridged live version below. If you've never heard it before, prepare for a possible life changing experience!

Please feel free to post music that has changed your lives below. I hope you enjoyed my song, I'd like to enjoy some of yours too!

 

[Progster]

Great album, great track! I also like Pink Floyd's earlier, more psychedelic stuff.

An album that I really loved as a kid, and the first prog rock album I owned, if Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds. I bought it after seeing it in the shop, I liked the cover and recognised the title as being a reference to H.G. Well's sci fi story, War of the Worlds. This is the album that started my interest in prog rock. Here is a track from the album:

 

[Beguiling Orbit]

I grew up in the 1970s listening to my mom's John Denver and Barry Manilow cassettes and my dad's Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass records. My parents belonged to a record-of-the-month club that would ship the album automatically unless you cancelled that month's shipment. When I was 11, I was bored one summer day, so I started thumbing through my parents' record collection. I came across one that I hadn't ever noticed.

The cover had a photo of some guys in (what I thought was) band uniforms in front of a blimp (or so I thought). I put it on the turntable and put the needle to the record, thinking I was going to listen to some old-time marching band music.

I heard a cough then the sounds from the opening guitar riff from "Whole Lotta Love" started swirling around in my brain. I was stunned. I'd never heard this kind of music before! By the time the drum solo kicked in, my 11-year-old mind was fully blown. I knew it was subversive, and probably too mature for me to be hearing. Still, I sat there, dumbfounded, and listened to side 1, then flipped the record over and listened to side 2. When it was over, I flipped it over again and listened to the entire album again. I had never even imagined that music this awesome existed in the universe. At that moment, rock music became my special interest for about 20 years.

I later asked my mother why she had that record but she had no idea what I was talking about. Then she remembered the album-of-the-month membership and said she had probably forgotten to cancel that month. I asked her if I could have it and she replied, "sure, why not?"

 

[Chance]

I couldn't imagine a life without music. As far as bands that have "influenced" my life... Wow, I would hate to even have to choose... I want to say I like all sorts of music, and too an extent I do,
I think?

I'm not super fond of rap, hip-hop, metal, or country (yet some songs are great in any genre) - so it nearly sounds like I don't like music when in fact I love it, but it has to have passion. It has to impact me. If its flat or just some thrown together junk to maybe make a buck... then no I wont like it.

I actually like some of the remakes that make an old song new and maybe even better. There are quite a few out there right now that are great.

If forced I would probably go with my Canadian Nickelback. Yet, I really like rock style music meshed with symphony, if done right... No words are fine. I like the music more then the voices it seems.

For the most part I seek music that is expansive. Sad music has its place but theres already enough sadness in the world. Sometimes just the simplest music can make you wonder - how on earth do they do that? Like this....

 

[rainfall]

I'm like Chance in that I couldn't see living life without music.

I like almost everything. Growing up my dad was rock and my mom was country. I listened to a bit of everything in between but most often I listened to different types of rock. Even though I loved the music I couldn't always connect to the lyrics. Different times and I was also too young to understand some of it.

As my life got worse I listened to rock with darker themes of some stuff I was dealing with but it made me feel worse instead of better, even though I could identify with it. I found a band one day, Thousand Foot Krutch (TFK) and that changed. I actually felt better instead of worse. I Climb is the first song I listened to and so, even though I've found a ton of new music since then, that was the song that helped me find music that I could listen to, identify with and not be affected negatively by it.

 

[Progster]

I've never been interested in fandom; if I like a band, I like the band for the music they create, and I'm not interested in the details of the musicians' private lives, I don't need to collect signed albums or T shirts or every single bootleg that ever existed, etc. I can't relate at all to, for example, Beatles fans in the 60s who screamed so loudly at concerts that they couldn't even hear the band playing. For me, this is nonsense - don't they care about the music at all? So if I like an album, or a song, I might listen to the same album over and over again, I collect all their albums, but I don't follow them on Twitter or Facebook or otherwise engage in all this fanboy stuff.

For me, music is all about the stimulation it provides. It's a stim! It calms me, or it excites me. This is basically the role music plays in my life. I couldn't do without music.

 

[Marcus]

I stumbled upon a band called "Amon Amarth" in 2008 and they have been my favorite band ever since.

I've bought all of their CD's, wall flags and things like that.

I remember the first time I saw them in concert, I went by myself and was blown away, I had never heard a band so heavy and brutal but at the same time.. melodic and calming.

Amon Amarth has helped me through some extremely rough times in the years that I've listened to them, and I have no plans on abandoning them.

 

[Mia]

One song, and one band in particular changed my life forever. On Christmas of 1994 my parents bought me the Pink Floyd Wish you were Here CD. Listening to it changed me profoundly. The song in that hit me like a ton of bricks (in a good way) was Shine on you Crazy Diamond.

My brother bought the LP, 'Wish you were here' for my birthday, he said he bought it randomly, as it was the most weirdly named band he'd ever found, and I was a 'weird' girl and so would like it.

It was life-changing for both of us, to hear Pink Floyd; 'Wish you were here' is my all time favourite by them, but it's hard to choose, most of their music is phenomenal. I'd say 'Comfortably Numb' comes a close second.

My spouse also idolizes Floyd, he owns every album they ever put out, and saw them early on in concert, and several times afterwards. He can play 'almost all' of their songs.

You have very good taste in music

 

[Spaghetti Musician]

When I was about 13, one of my friends got me to listen to a band called Panic! At The Disco (it's a popular pop-punk/rock band among teens and young adults in the US). I loved what I was hearing and the messages of nearly every song are important, but one song called "This Is Gospel" really stuck out to me - I interpreted that song's message as being that you need to escape other people controlling you for their happiness and take your life into your own hands and just be free. Another interpretation of it is that it's this guy who just wants to die because he has been suffering a horrible disease for a long time, but no one will let him go and he's trapped in his own body and just wants to be free from the pain. The lead singer, Brendan Urie, is INCREDIBLE. He's got one of the widest vocal ranges a person can have, and he can actually song and doesn't lip sync at live performances. P!ATD got me through the rough times in my younger teenage life.

Another band I really love is Queen because their music is also incredible and makes me feel good and have emotions inside. I listen to a few of their songs every day on the bus to school because it gets me pumped for the school day. I have an obsession with the band's and particularly Freddie Mercury's history.

Overall, I listen to all sorts of music with the exception of hip hop, rap, EDM, and country. I love classical and rock music very much.

 

[Progster]

This track was also very important because it was the first prog-related single I ever bought myself with my pocket money as a child - though I didn't understand the lyrics other than at a very literal level (I've since realised that there is a lot more going on). I think that @vangelis is also familiar with this.

 

[Mr Allen]

In December 1993, I bought Meat Loaf's "I would do anything for love (but I won't do that)" on tape, which is now my second favourite song ever, and Meat Loaf in general kind of got me into Karaoke singing, for instance I know the lyrics to the original Bat out of hell off by heart.

I know quite a few of Meat Loaf's older songs off by heart as well, as Karaoke's kind of my "thing", has been for a few years.

 

[vangelis]

Yes a very good song with a lot of different interpretations. From the album The Friends of Mr. Cairo, although it was added at the last minute at the request of the record company who said they needed a hit single. Vangelis had a tune in mind, phoned Jon who came over to the studio and basically made the lyrics up on the spot and hey presto a top 10 hit. If only there was more spontaneity in music making today.

 

[Metalhead]

One album I heard several years ago that completely reshaped my vision of American sociological issues is Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. Listening to those lyrics actually helped me to become a less angry person all the way around.

I also remember the first time I heard an Opeth album. It was Blackwater Park. Shortly after that, I purchased Still Life, and that introduced me to progressive rock elements that eventually led me away from most of the brutal death metal I used to listen to.

 

[Idahocalypse]

Owl City is one of my all-time favorite musicians. His lyrics, voice and melodies make for a wonderful sensory experience that often leaves me with goosebumps and occasionally moves me to tears. Even the mere thought of his music sends chills down my spine in the best of ways.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with his hit song "Fireflies", but I'd encourage anyone who enjoys that song to check out some of his other stuff.

I'd say that "The Technicolor Phase" is probably my favorite Owl City song of all time. Here's the lyrics for the chorus:​

"If you cut me I suppose I would bleed
The colors of the evening stars
You can go anywhere you wish
'Cause I'll be there wherever you are"
​

Pure lyrical perfection, in my opinion.

 

[Jorg]

This was a change point in my life, without Metallica I don't know what would my life be. I remember being like 9yo when I walked in front my brothers bedroom and he had a VHS of the show, playing this song. I spent the next 4-5 years forming a "music identity" and in a good day a high school partner shared a mp3 disc with Metallica's albums, that was the next step and since then my love for heavy metal, thrash meta, progressive, etc, has been a very big part of my life.

I really feel music has saved my life many times, Metallica, Lamb of God, Judas Priest, Joe Satriani, Dream Theater are just some musicians/bands that have helped me in really hard times.

 

[aramesia]

what's it with aspies and pink floyd, anyway...?

continuing from there, i think listening to wish you were here by pink floyd changed my life. i was super into it right away, and after i listened to the dark side of the moon, animals, the wall, etc, i was hooked. i love their sound and roger waters' lyrics inspired me as a writer hugely! (i also went to a concert of his back in october so that really solidified it for me)

 

[Gritches]

"Hip to be Square" helped me stay clean and sober. Banging that out my trunk instead of Gucci Mane or Gorilla Zoe just made me smile, and if anyone tried to pull me back into the life I'd start singing the song in their face. I kinda gave me an "I don't give a F" on the side of sobriety, whereas that phrase used to be a precursor to more negative things.

 

[Chance]

I stated above that music is just a huge part of my life and I wouldn't want to have to think of living without it. Nickelback is sort of my "go to" band... Its like they sing so many songs that deal deep in LIFE. When things are "going dark" this one is always the first to come to my mind... : )

 

[CDOCONNOR]

Weezer and Counting Crows are 2 bands that have had a profound effect on me. I can relate to shy, sad, and outcasted vibes in their music.

 

[Voltaic]

for highschool, in went to an arts school. cant say i loved it. we had a few pianos layed across the school that people could play. some where brillinat at it, others... not so much. one melody that people where playing was from pirates of the caribean. after lunch, i had to write an essay. i wanted to put on some calm music in the backround so i could actually for once get my schoolwork done, and that tune was stuck in my head. typed it up on youtube and put on the first song i saw. it was 17 minutes long, so it was perfect at the time. instead of doing my work, i just watched the whole seventeen minute video unblinking, and awestruck. i have listened to puano music before, but nothing ever like this. it kickstarted my love for the music, and through other songs. i was able to make sence of complicated emotions that i could relate to through melody.

as i said, the video is 17 minutes long, but the original video was taken down for some reasons.