5 Songs That Changed Your Life

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

In reading the bit about Ron Thal's 5 songs that changed his life, http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=59088.0 , it got me thinking about the same thing.  Not necessarily talking about my 5 favorite songs of all time, but rather thinking about 5 songs that changed or broadened my musical journey, influenced me in some way, or perhaps songs that I can associate with a meaningful time in my life.  So thought I'd share and would be cool to hear other's top 5 lists as well!

1.  Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home:  Its 1985, I'm 8 years old, my family just got cable, and this was a staple of MTV.  Up to this point I had not really begun to discover much of my own music, but then this song and video changed everything and so began my fascination with long haired rock and rollers!  Finally got to see them live at my first proper concert ever on the Dr. Feelgood Tour in 1989.  Great show.

2.  Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine:  Its 1988, and Guns N' Roses is taking over.  Loved Welcome To The Jungle, but once I heard Sweet Child O' Mine I made my Mom immediately take me to Sam Goody to pick up Appetite For Distruction.  Of course, the rest is history, GN'R became and still are my favorite band of all time. 

3.  Soundgarden - Outshined:  Its 1991, and up to this point I've been mostly indulging myself in the Sunset Strip "hair metal" scene.  When I first heard this monster on MTV I was blown away.  As a 14 year old on the fringe of becomming filled with angst, this fit right in the pocket for me.  The musical landscape changed at the same time and I bought right into the grunge scene. 

4.  Bob Marley - No Woman, No Cry:  1995 and I'm off to college.  The majority of my taste in music to this point did not venture much into classic rock.  Now in away in college, living in a dorm, and smoking lots of KB with my roommate.  Bob Marley became a staple of my life.  I went on to buy all of his records and went a bit deeper into the reggae archives.  Other smoker influenced records from Pink Floyd, the Beatles, etc. were entering my life and I finally discovered how much great music was out in the 60s and 70s.  It also segued into my love of reggae influenced punk rockers like Sublime.  But here's where my discovery and enjoyment of new artists begins to stall.  I wasn't hearing new music that moved me like the classics.  Until...

5.  The White Stripes - Fell In Love With a Girl:  Its 2002, my college haze has now passed, and I'm not finding any new music that I can sink my teeth into.  One day I'm in an independent music store in Hoboken NJ where I was living and they've got this cd playing in the store.  Had never bought a record before from just listening to it for the first time in a record shop, but in this case decided to take a chance on their White Blood Cells after finding myself humming along to the soundtrack.  Instantly fell in love with the record.  Of course their success immediately followed.

[ppbebe]

good and interesting topic
timely as well when an 'yea, its nice n present but do you really think it's the sound of the year ' album is the album of the year 09  in every major music magazine but one.

[bluedevil2179]

1. Guns N' Roses - Welcome to the Jungle :  My dad played it for me on the way to a soccer game and it got me pumped. There is no song that gets my adrenaline going like this song. It was the first Guns song i had ever heard. Caused me to listen to the rest of the record and instantly Guns became favorite band of all time and still are.
2. Marilyn Manson - The Dope Show: I have no idea when I first heard this song but I have listened to it ever since. First introduced me to Marilyn Manson who I found to be extremely creative and an amazing artist.
3. Rush - 2112: My father also introduced  this song into my life and I immediately fell in love with all 20 minutes and 33 seconds of it. It was not the first Rush song I had ever heard but it caused a exponential increase in my interest for them. Saw them live later in my life and was amazed by their overall  performance. Rush truly is incredible.
4. Aerosmith - I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Just a beautiful song. And my favorite choice for karaoke  
5. The Catalinas - Summertime's Calling Me - A song that connects me to my sanctuary.. the beach.

[svdv22]

Actually I can't make it to number 5 but here goes:

1: Guns N' Roses: estranged - First song I heard, back in idk '98 or so? I was completely in love with the piano, the power of the song, the lyrics, the solo. It all just made sense.

2: Green Lizard: yesterdays - First song I heard live by any band, ever. And the reason why many more came later

There have been many, many great song but they didn't drastically change who I am or what I do.. Those two did. Oh maybe if I had to add a third I'd say

3: Guns N' Roses: I.R.S. (11 sec demo leak) - It was the first 'studio' recording of chinese democracy and even though the quality really sucked.. for some reason I just knew that 1) the album WILL be coming out, sooner or later and 2) it's going to blow me, and a lot of other people, away. And it did.

[D]

Bon Jovi Wanted Dead Or Alive  First time I saw the video as a kid.. knew I wanted to play music and write songs.


Prince Purple Rain  just mesemerized me


Guns N Roses "Madagascar" I was on life support literally when I heard this... kept me alive and full of hope

Guns N Roses Estranged" My go to song when life takes a shit on me


Red Hot Chili Peppers  Wet Sand  or Dosed two of the most beautiful songs ever written

[mrlee]

5 makes this list incredibly hard as ive so many defining songs and moments to go with him. Ill pick ones which i feel helped make way to a broader musical taste the most.


I was 10 years old. Limp Bizkit released My Generation along with the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack song. While im not so much into them now. At the time this stuff blew me away and i bought my first album, aswell as becoming interested in music properly.

When i was 13 i heard Skid Rows Slave To The Grind song. The rawness, speed, vocals. At the time id heard nothing like it, it kicked my ass and enabled me to broaden tastes from Nu-metal.

When i was 15, i was a guns n roses addict. They were almost all i listened to, n while thats great, id become a little closed minded. Then i heard, CRASHDIET - Riot in Everyone. Not only did this allow me to expand n check out ALL glam metal, it was the first song from a band of my generation in a long time i could relate to, and that i liked. Everything else at the time was Avenged Sevenfold and My Chemical Romance, neither artists or the scenes they were apart of did anything for me.

When i was 17. I was on a trip in london, eating at planet hollywood. Amusingly a camera guy zoomed in on my guns n roses t-shirt n played Jungle for the place. Then in the middle of flirting with girls, and eating damn good food. Prince-Purple Rain came on. Immediately everything took the back seat. I dont know why it got my attention, perhaps it was Princes unique image in the video. The song was, outstanding, n i remember a girl coming asking to have a photo with me n i told her to " shut up, the guitar solos kickin it", the solo was and still is one of the most emotional and moving guitar solos ive ever heard. From that moment on i became a Prince fan and i am a huge fan. Prince was very importent in my musical evolution, i broadened my tastes so wide i cant even begin to list.


I was 18 and enjoying my final year of having alot of friends and parties to a great summer. MGMT - Time to Pretend came on MTV2. Fresh sounds, blew my mind, loved it. Went n got the album right away, this album opened me up to alot of newer "new wave" aswell as going back n finding alot of older 80s post punk, new romantic, and new wave bands.

Slightly breaking the rules listing a 6th. But going back to when i was 15, at work experience...being so bored shitless n pissed off you cant imagine. There on the radio i was hit with the sweet sweet sounds, of the sweet soul sister by one of my now favorite bands....The Cult. The Cult paved way for me to listen to Janes Addiction and most gothic music, aswell as a huge range of psychedelic music.

[BlowUpYourVideo]

Maybe I'm just a cynical teenager (OK, I am ) but I can't really think of any songs that have a special meaning to me. Of course, there are songs that remind me of another time etc., but I wouldn't say there are any that influenced my life. I'd have to go for songs that influenced my music tastes the most.


Motorhead - Ace Of Spades: I first heard this song all the way through on a free CD that came with a paper (I think it was the Daily Mail of all papers ) and this was when I knew hardly any rock music. For a while, it was my favourite song and I still love it today.

GNR - November Rain: I got into GNR after a friend gave me a copy of the Greatest Hits. I remember NR standing out early on. It's just epic. I haven't listened to it in a while but I still think it's one of the best things they've ever done.

Ozzy Osbourne - Hellraiser: GTA Vice City and San Andreas were largely responsible for getting me into rock and I remember hearing this song on Radio X on GTA: SA and really liking it. I found out it was on the album No More Tears and listened to the samples of the other songs and Mama, I'm Coming Home also sounded really cool even though I could only listen to 30 seconds of it. Those two games have loads of rock classics on them but this one stands out in my mind....

The Killers - All These Things That I've Done: Maybe a strange choice and I'm not a huge fan of The Killers, but I really like the lyrics in this song and I feel I can relate to them more than the words to any other song. This song didn't change my life, but it does kinda sum it up.

The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored: It was only last year I first heard this song (having seen the tail-end of the video on TV and deciding to check out Ian Brown's odd dancing some more) but it was responsible for me getting into the Roses and completely changing my opinion of them. I'd always associated them with indie music, since they influenced a lot of those bands, but thankfully they are nothing like..... that. They're one of my favourite bands now and it's because of this song.


If I was to give an 'honourable mention' I'd probably go for AC/DC's Highway To Hell. I knew that song a while before I got into AC/DC and HTH was the first album of theirs that I bought myself.

[mrlee]

^ yeah man. The Stone Roses are bloody brilliant. A Psychedelic rock n roll band mixin it up with a bit of dance and 60s pop. Heard the second album? I actually prefer it!

[svdv22]

You triggered me to listen to them so I'll be downloading some stuff shortly I'm very curious..
And this the band slash wanted to be part of after guns? Or am I confused with another band?

[kaasupoltin]

1. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
- Well what can I say. This was the song that got me into GN'R and where it all started from. I think I owe it all to my brother who bought Appetite in the first place

2. Blind Melon - Soul One
- Very beautiful song and reminds me of the great times I once had and hopefully will have again.

3. Pearl Jam - Black
- This brings back the army time, Pearl Jam was pretty much the only band I listened to back then. And especially Black, it was a song I used to listen to at nights from my iPod. Good times!

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dosed
- I could put any song from BTW here, but this one stands out somehow. It was the early days of spring, I had just got my drivers license, I was in love and I had a fucking great time listening to this album

5. Hanoi Rocks - Tooting Bec Wreck
- Maybe the best song from Hanoi. I think it's just brilliant and gives me energy every time I listen to it, it's a shame this band had to go before their time.

[mrlee]

You triggered me to listen to them so I'll be downloading some stuff shortly I'm very curious..
And this the band slash wanted to be part of after guns? Or am I confused with another band?

he did indeed.

The music from the SR is brilliant, any guns fan could find something they dig in that pot of influences.

The only thing that may let it down for some, are the typical Manchester scene styled laid back vocals. It works with the music for me, but some dislike it.

[BlowUpYourVideo]

Wow, Slash wanted to join The Stone Roses? Don't think I've heard that before.

PS. Second Coming has a lot of good stuff on it (Love Spreads, Breaking Into Heaven, Your Star Will Shine), but I do prefer the first album. Turns Into Stone, the B-Sides album is probably my second favourite SR album right now.

[mrlee]

Wow, Slash wanted to join The Stone Roses? Don't think I've heard that before.

PS. Second Coming has a lot of good stuff on it (Love Spreads, Breaking Into Heaven, Your Star Will Shine), but I do prefer the first album. Turns Into Stone, the B-Sides album is probably my second favourite SR album right now.

yeah, he opted to replace squire, but the band turned him down because they said "at the time it was cool to hate big rockstars like Slash". Im sure i read somewhere they think taking him on would of been the best move they could of made but they couldnt see it at the time.

[D]

1. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
- Well what can I say. This was the song that got me into GN'R and where it all started from. I think I owe it all to my brother who bought Appetite in the first place

2. Blind Melon - Soul One
- Very beautiful song and reminds me of the great times I once had and hopefully will have again.

3. Pearl Jam - Black
- This brings back the army time, Pearl Jam was pretty much the only band I listened to back then. And especially Black, it was a song I used to listen to at nights from my iPod. Good times!

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dosed
- I could put any song from BTW here, but this one stands out somehow. It was the early days of spring, I had just got my drivers license, I was in love and I had a fucking great time listening to this album

5. Hanoi Rocks - Tooting Bec Wreck
- Maybe the best song from Hanoi. I think it's just brilliant and gives me energy every time I listen to it, it's a shame this band had to go before their time.

Absolutely agree on Dosed.. it should be in my top 5 as well. that song literally changed my life big time...

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

Interesting to hear all the love for RHCP. I love what they did btw. Californication and Stadium Arcadium.  Such a shame that John F. has left the band.  He was such a force behind their writing, his guitar playing very special and unique, and his vocal harmonies will be difficult to replicate.  Songs mentioned like Dosed and Wet Sand are amazing.  Other favorites of their more melodic songs from this era are Otherside, Zephyr, Road Trippin, Tear and Desecration Smile.