Groups that made you say WOW!!!

Stealing this topic from a friend. What music made you say WOW!!! the first time you heard it. Doesn't have be something you like or love, but something changed the way you listened to music and what you listened to.

For me, the first was:

Brian Eno. Got me hooked on trance/ambient sounds.

The Ramones. Insanely fast guitars got me into punk.

The Clash. Saw them on late night television while in high school. Some program played almost their entire London Calling LP. Still the greatest LP ever in my mind.

Television. Another punk band with some crazy sounds.

Kraftwerk. Got me into the funkier techno sounds.

I'm embarassed to say...but the 1st time I heard juke box hero by Foreigner...something in me changed...I was so much younger then...

Hmmm... for me, I would say Simon & Garfunkel's Greatest Hits when I was thirteen, Dylan's Blood on the Tracks when I was seventeen. In college, Boards of Canada, Air, Zero 7, Thievery Corp. Nowadays, I had that moment with Chopin a couple years ago when it just blew me away.

Clash, Television, those are my two favorite punk bands, good taste there. Television is more semi-classic rock, they were early. Critics will say that the production was terrible, and it was, but great music, love the harmonies. Favorite track is Guiding Light.

The Clash, aka "The only bands that matters", now were they overrated? Some will say no, but I felt that they had a few good tracks on London Calling and others were mediocre. People criticized "Rock the Casbah" for being too pop, but I like it.

Led Zeppelin and Public Enemy, because there's never been any other group in their genre of music that can compare. First heard Zeppelin as a kid because my folks played them all the time and became a lifelong worshipper. First heard Public Enemy in 1987 on 88.9 WERS Emerson College radio and was instantly hooked. Learned a lot about politics and the African-American experience from them, which at the time was a whole world I knew nothing about and they didn't teach in school..

Are you in Boston? Gotta admit that I don't listen to WERS much anymore, but that is more due to sirius than any lack of quality on the part of WERS and I ought to get back into them. They used to have electronica playing every night from 11-2 called "Revolutions" - I heard a lot of great stuff on there.

Bands that made me say Wow? Going to have to shorten this list:

The Sonics, Here Are the Sonics (1965). With songs like "Strychnine", "Boss Hoss" and "Shot Down" this Tacoma garage R&B distortion-fest blew up every 6 X 9 speaker in the PNW. Only released two albums before they hit self-destruct.

The 13th Floor Elevators, The Psychedelic Sound of.... (1966). Why a docu-drama about this band has not been made is a mystery. "You're Gonna Miss Me" is the greatest rock song featuring a jug ever.

Greg Sage & The Wipers, Over the Edge (1983). Reclusive left-handed axeman Greg Sage IS the Wipers. This second album from 1970's Portland punk is tough to get your hands on, but worth the effort.... kill if you must.

Radio Birdman, Radios Appear (1976). Surf-punk three guitar attack of this Australian six-piece blitzkrieg bop'd it's way through the MC5/Stooges catalog before laying down this album.

Too many others, but dig many of the others mentioned.

I used to Everquest and got to know Curt Schilling in game. Thought he was joking about who he was until he left me tix for a game. He turned me on to Zero 7. Great music.

I completely forgot about Boston's first album. I've never been a fan of big guitar music, but that album was something else.

Some other great early punk bands were MC5, Bad Brains. Loved those guys. I miss the days of living in SF and going to the Mabuhay Gardens. Best show ever was a line up of Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Husker Du and The Minutemen. Simply amazing.

What, no one liked 3rd Bass?

I was gonna mention Tiffany but I figured Ben would chime with her

Two more personal unforgettables:

Pink Floyd, Pipers at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Only album with Syd Barrett at lead vocal & guitar before his mental breakdown became the unfortunate commentary of every subsequent album by Pink Floyd. A Barrett biography Shine On Crazy Diamond is a sad, social exploitation of the mentally ill.

There was a place here in Ellensburg known as the Darigold Building. A concrete bunker with fifteen freezers/meat lockers from the former creamery converted into sound proof rehearsal spaces. Lots of local faves got starts there including the Screaming Trees, King Krab, Her Fault, On, Loghog, The Putters, countless others. Great music, all the time, no entry fee, total anarchy. The Darigold burned to the ground a few years ago and the music scene has not been the same since.

To this day...Boston's 1st album gives me chills...esp the beginning to more than a feeling!!! I guess later on in life...zeppelin...especially I...most beatles albums...more recently Damian Marley welcome to jamrock...good stuff!!!

Never understood the draw to Zepplin, The Stones and The Who. Their music does nothing for me. Then again, the main stuff is listen to is techno, punk and big band/swing music. Have to give props to Tchaikovsky on the classical front and Puccini for his operas.

There are so many groups that make me say wow, I don't have the will to type it all out. But a few early moments stand out (I was mostly into heavy music back then, still like it, but am way more diverse now).

The mighty Metallica dropped a metal bomb on a 13 year old Ben when my best bud Reza passed me his walkman with the Master of Puppets tape in it. The opening track "Battery" had a mind blowing effect.

A few years later I heard Zeppelin's Kashmir playing at a record store, and had another WOW moment. Bonham's drum fills on that track could have sunk a Viking ship. I was completely hooked.

I've got to agree with the gents who mentioned Led Zeppelin. People recognize their tunes when played even if they don't happen to know it is Led Zeppelin.

I've seen Rage and the Machine 3 times live and I can say there is no experience quite like it. I've went to quite a few shows in my college years, but I've never seen a crowd come alive like when they are on stage.

My older brother's copy of Led Zeppelin IV, which he first played for me when I was about five (1973 or so). I was obsessed with the cover and the artwork, and the music itself just blew my mind. Later on came Pink Floyd, and "Dark Star" by the Dead, and those 40-minute live jams by Miles Davis in the mid-70's (which I didn't hear until the 90's). My tastes have been delightfully warped ever since.

i was never a big album guy, i don't wanna sit down and listen to a whole record for an hour. having said that i enjoyed:

smashing pumpkins--siamese dream
hole--live through this
pearl jam--vs
radiohead--paranoid android

i also liked rage alot. some 90's songs really blew me away though.

In 1995 or '96, can't recall, I drove down to San Francisco to see the Free Tibet concert at Golden Gate Park. Everyone from Booker T. & the MG's to Beastie Boys & Smashing Pumpkins played that three day festival. My favorite part of the show was the low-octave chant tent where Buddhist monks sang in low register throughout the festival. That scene of peace and meditation was juxtaposed by Rage Against the Machine screaming "Like a bullet in the head!". The venue was really bizarre, anyone here been to Golden Gate Park? It's huge, sprawling and vacuous, sound was awful. A stones throw from Haight/Ashbury I couldn't tell the difference between concert-goers and homeless junkies who lived in the park. Haven't been back to San Fran since.

I lived in downtown SF right off Market St near the new US Mint. Loved living there. Just too damned expensive. Saw a concerts in GGP. The most notable being Neil Young. The Mabuhay Gardens was a mecca for punk bands. Best show ever was Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Huskur Du and The Minutemen. Also got see the impromptu U2 concert in the Embarcaderro Plaza that the police came and broke up. When Moved to Sacramento got to see Cake, Thin White Rope and Limp Bizkit. The guys in Cake were very cool until they had their first hit. Then they became too good for everyone.

pariah1107 wrote:In 1995 or '96, can't recall, I drove down to San Francisco to see the Free Tibet concert at Golden Gate Park. Everyone from Booker T. & the MG's to Beastie Boys & Smashing Pumpkins played that three day festival. My favorite part of the show was the low-octave chant tent where Buddhist monks sang in low register throughout the festival. That scene of peace and meditation was juxtaposed by Rage Against the Machine screaming "Like a bullet in the head!". The venue was really bizarre, anyone here been to Golden Gate Park? It's huge, sprawling and vacuous, sound was awful. A stones throw from Haight/Ashbury I couldn't tell the difference between concert-goers and homeless junkies who lived in the park. Haven't been back to San Fran since.

OMG ty, your golden gate park festival story totally made me flash back to my late 90's days where i was buying bootleg cds and looking/trading for dat/soundboard quality concerts. the ggp festival was a big one, i think pearl jam played 'long road' with nusrat fateh ali khan (those buddhist monks) and that's just one of the mellowest, most beautiful-sounding song evar!!!

never thought i'd utter nusrat fateh ali khan again...that was supposed to be left behind in the past

Quan...i totally agree re siamese dream, radiohead...i must have listened to live through this a thousand times!!!

1950's Elvis
1960's Beatles
1960's Psychedlia
13th floor elevators (saw them Live a few times when a teen in Houston)
Classic Rock era
#1 Led Zepplin
#2 Grand Funk
#3 Deep Purple

Seeing the Elevators live at their peak would be awesome! Saw former 13th Floor lead singer Roky Erickson & the Resurrectionists at South-by-Southwest in Austin quite a few years back (2003?). He was disheveled, barely coherent, and all of his "songs" were spoken word ramblings about zombies. Very sad. The highlight of the show was when former Seeds lead vocalist Sky Saxon joined him for a version of "Splash One".

Only noted albums prior to 1985, so I'll add more "recent" releases:
New Bomb Turks, Information Highway Revisited (1994), punk rawk was moribund when these Columbus, Ohio natives released Destroy-oh-Boy in '93 and followed it with this classic slab of naked aggression.
Screaming Trees, Sweet Oblivion (1992). 70's arena rock/60's garage psychedelia gets a shot in the arm from local degenerates. Solo projects from members of this band are also exceptional, especially lead singer Mark Lanegan's many blues influenced albums, such as Whiskey for the Holy Ghost.

pariah1107 wrote:Seeing the Elevators live at their peak would be awesome! Saw former 13th Floor lead singer Roky Erickson & the Resurrectionists at South-by-Southwest in Austin quite a few years back (2003?). He was disheveled, barely coherent, and all of his "songs" were spoken word ramblings about zombies. Very sad. The highlight of the show was when former Seeds lead vocalist Sky Saxon joined him for a version of "Splash One".

Yes, It was great seeing them live in 1966 right after their first album was released.
Glad I saw him before he went off the deep end.
Roky is a Texas Legend for sure. I like his song 2 headed Dog,.

In the mid-80s, I went with a girl who was into the Cure, and opening up a little, I said Wow!, this is pretty good music. Unforunately, that also involved listening to too much Monkees, and other stuff. Not that the Monkees are bad. For the most part, pretty mainstream compared to most of the work listed here, although the Cure were not yet the huge act they were about to come. More recently, 3-4 weeks back, I read in the Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg, or somewhere, about an act called Macklemore. So I get on You Tube, find Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, then five or so hours later & gone forever, I said Wow, they're working it & are making it. They are not so mainstream. I still get a kick every couple of days watching, And We Danced, which channels the early 80s to today. That video was high school then, without the bs that high school was, and still is.

From 1999-2009 I spent ten years on/off fishing boats in alaska listening to the same three classic rock albums. But, was really blown away when I got to the lower 48 in the fall of 2000 and 2005 to hear, respectively:

At the Drive-In's Relationship of Command . Math/core never sounded so good. Great band with a couple decent spin-offs Sparta and Mars Volta.
Queens of the Stone Age Lullabies to Paralize Josh Homme finally hit his stride with this halloween inspired ode-to-all-things that rock.

My time in Alaska really curbed my appetite for music, but I'm starting to get back into it. The Anunaki and Planet of the Apez have been on constant rotation in the CD player lately.