5 Albums That Define Your Taste in Music

Erik Bates | August 13, 2015
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Erik Bates | August 13, 2015
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Samir Mehta | August 13, 2015
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Steve West | August 13, 2015
Damn, this is hard!
I settled for some compilation albums.

Beatles - The Red Album
Eagles - Greatest Hits Vol 2
The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Soul to Soul
The Best of Candy Dulfer

Lori Lancaster | August 14, 2015
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Scott Hardie | August 20, 2015
It's pretty much impossible here too. I'd have better luck burning five mix CDs of my own creation than choosing published albums. But if I was forced to pick five:

- Metallica, Death Magnetic. It's not their best album (which would be Ride the Lightning), and it's definitely the best album by a classic metal band (which would be Slayer's Reign in Blood), but it IS the best synthesis of Metallica's entire career in a single album, as if they tried to combine the best elements of every era of their career into one comprehensive sound. They were the first band that I loved as a young adult, and their music has meant a lot to me over the years even though I've long since outgrown taking it seriously.

- Joe Satriani, Crystal Planet. This album has a personal connection for me: It was the album that my brother turned me on to before he died, and from that gift I have developed a lifelong love of Satriani's guitar artistry; it's his best work in a career full of great music. This album is everything that rock music should be: Rousing, creative, playful, moving, and technically virtuosic. Satriani doesn't sound anything like the much more fluid, improvisational Jimi Hendrix, but Hendrix shares the same fine qualities that I just listed, and I consider him a favorite as well, so here's a passing nod to him.

- Vangelis, Chariots of Fire. My parents listened mostly to opera and classical, but they bought this Oscar-winning soundtrack on cassette, and I fell in love with it before I was in kindergarten. I cannot hear it and not feel three years old again, rewinding the tape deck over and over and straining to hear every nuance in my oversized headphones. Today I love movie soundtracks of all sorts, and I even still have a soft spot for Vangelis's weird, cosmic, cheesy, synthesized new age albums.

- Fiona Apple, the original Jon Brion version of Extraordinary Machine. The record label butchered the final release by pairing Apple with a hip-hop producer, but Brion's more clever original still survives online. I discovered Fiona Apple during my first week away at college and was quickly hooked, and she's been a favorite of mine ever since, as well as numerous women reminiscent of her. She has matured as I have: Each album is a quantum leap forward in songcraft and artistry. Thus, I'm tempted to choose her latest because it's her best, but I loved the weird, beautiful Machine most of all, and it got me through such difficult times that I remain grateful.

- Outkast, Speakerboxxx and The Love Below. Is it cheating to pick a double album? This work is so monumentally good that it transformed hip-hop, but I don't choose it for that reason. Instead, it's a stand-in for all of the eccentric artists that I've picked up over the years: I don't listen much to hip-hop, but I love Outkast. I don't listen much to post-punk, but I love The Cure. I don't listen much to Mexican pop-rock, but I love Kinky. I don't listen much to Chinese orchestral music, but I love Jia Peng Fang. I gather from other comments above that we all have certain outlying favorites that we can't fit into a narrow list of five, so here's one symbol to represent them all in spirit. Plus, Outkast are fun.

Thanks for the challenge, Erik!

Mike Eberhart | October 13, 2015
So, here's my list:

Metallica - ...And Justice for All
Muse - The 2nd Law
Die Toten Hosen - Ballast der Republik
Cro - Raop
Christina Aguilera - Lotus

Pretty diverse list, but that's what I like. I like great singers and great musicians. I wanted to put more Muse on this list, but I narrowed it down to one album. They just have an incredible sound with just three guys.

Scott Hardie | October 14, 2015
I neglected to say earlier that these are good choices, everybody. I find something that I already like in each of your lists, and more titles that I'd probably like just as much. I intend to listen to each of these, which gives me an idea.