The 20 Most Influential Albums of My Life - JohnnyMac

1. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Worlds Apart

Key Track: "Would You Smile Again for Me"

This album warrants repeated listening in a major way.  I’ve always been a fan of albums that are written to work as one large piece of music, and this is one of the best in that category. Themes develop and recur throughout, and the way each song fits into the bigger arc of the record is masterful.

2. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV/ZOSO
Key track: "When the Levee Breaks"

I heard the first side of this album on vinyl repeatedly in my childhood, and the first time I heard the opening to Black Dog at the age of 5 or so, it was a life changing experience. However, when I finally wound up listening to the rest of the album in earnest years later, the epic nature of When the Levee Breaks and its bone quivering backbeat captured me entirely.

3. Clutch – Pure Rock Fury
Key track: "Red Horse Rainbow"

Clutch took a bit of openmindedness to get into, but once I did I was hooked, largely due to the incredible and unique style of drummer Jean-Paul Gaster. Playing along to and learning the songs on this album opened doors to me as a drummer that I never knew existed at the time.

4. Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich – Compact Jazz
Key track: "Duet"

This was the first CD I got after I started playing drumset, and its influences on me are immeasurable. Duet features Gene Krupa in one speaker and Buddy Rich in the other, and it’s absolutely incredible. These guys were the two main pioneers of modern drumming, and to hear them together is an experience like no other.

5. Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out
Key tracks: "Take Five"

This album taught me just about everything I ever needed to know about playing in odd time signatures, and totally enraptured me at first listen. Take Five has become somewhat of an iconic song over time, but with each listen it still brings me back to the first time I heard that silky smooth sax riff and those deliciously quirky drum fills.

6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced? 

Key track: "Are You Experienced?"

This album was a staple of my childhood, and Mitch Mitchell’s style had a serious formative impact on my own drumming over the years. The track Are You Experienced? was to me a sonic landscape that I often let myself get lost in, the first such song I had come across at that point in my life.

7. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
Key Track: All (but if i have to pick, The Great Gig in the Sky and Us and Them)

I cannot listen to any song off of this album without wanting to hear the whole thing start to finish.  This is the apex of album craftsmanship for me, and truly exists in my mind more as one complete piece than as a collection of songs.

8. Mutemath – Mutemath
Key Track: "Break the Same"

I once went on a trip and this was the only album I had to listen to. I hadn’t really listened to it all that closely before and figured I’d make it through once or maybe twice before I switched to the radio. I wound up listening to it the entire time, and left the CD in my car for weeks afterward. Once again, I was drawn in by the complexity of the drumming, but my attention was held by the richness of the atmospheric melodies and backgrounds.

9. Muse – Absolution
Key Track: "Stockholm Syndrome"

The first time I heard this album, it floored me completely. It’s yet another record that fits together beautifully, where each song sounds good on its own but reaches a whole new level when heard in context (the song Blackout is a prime example). If you’ve never heard pre-Black Holes and Revelations Muse, this album and Stockholm Syndrome in particular are required listening.

10. Third Eye Blind – Third Eye Blind
Key Track: "God of Wine"

More often than not, when I listen to music I tend to focus automatically on the instrumentals. Half the time I couldn’t even tell you what the lyrics are, even if the song is a favorite of mine. This album, however, is one of the exceptions to that rule, and I find that I can’t help but sing along to every fantastically biting, acidic, woeful, spiteful, sarcastic line every time I listen to it.

11. Rage Against the Machine – Evil Empire
Key Track: "Roll Right"

There’s a lot of bands that I need to be in a certain mood to enjoy, but this is not one of them. For whatever reason, I’m always ready to listen to a little Rage. I love the raw quality of this album in particular, at times it tends to feel almost as if Zack is about to come barreling right through your speakers.

12. Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
Key Track: "Song for the Dead"

The key to this album for me is the intoxicating mixture of extremely heavy instrumentals with vocals that range from the punishingly brutal to the shockingly melodic. These songs are full of intriguing twists and turns and are often surprisingly catchy.

13. Radiohead – In Rainbows (2CD version)
Key Tracks: "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi", "Reckoner"

This is my desert island record, placed at number 13 for my birthdate. I’ve listened to this countless times, and I can see myself continuing to listen to it indefinitely.  It’s filled with surprising, diverse, and downright beautiful melodies and rhythms, and is best heard while driving on the highway past brightly lit cities in the middle of a rainy night.

14. Jeff Buckley – Grace: Legacy Edition
Key Track: "Forget Her"

Much has been said and speculated about Jeff Buckley over the years, but for me the thing that puts this album head and shoulders above so many others is its incredible range. Few musical experiences in my life have been as stunning as hearing Corpus Christi Carol and Eternal Life back to back.

15. Pendulum – Hold Your Colour
Key Track: "Tarantula"

At times, I find myself in the mood for some good drum and bass club music. When I do, this is my go-to album. The songs all vary stylistically yet flow seamlessly into each other, and the drums are fantastic throughout.

16. At the Drive-In – Relationship of Command
Key Tracks: "One-Armed Scissor, Quarantined"

While those two songs stand out to me as favorites, this album falls into the same category as Absolution. The music follows a definite arc throughout the record, and each song is made even better by the material around it. The trifecta of Arcarsenal, Pattern Against User, and One-Armed Scissor is also one of my two favorite beginnings to an album.

17. The Mars Volta – De-Loused in the Comatorium
Key Track: all (but if I have to pick, Cicatriz Esp and Eriatarka)

This album has my other favorite beginning, again with a trio of incredible songs. However, I usually can't stop there and wind up feeling compelled to listen to the entire record. The individual pieces flow masterfully into one another, and the dynamic range and usage of space on this album is amazing. Incidentally, this is also my current favorite album to drum along to.

18. The Roots – Do You Want More?!!!??!
Key Tracks: "Mellow My Man", "Essaywhuman?!!!??!"

I bought this on cassette and played it till the tape started to wear out, and wound up eventually buying it on CD as well. As is the case with Rage Against the Machine, rap over live instrumentals just does it for me.

19. Ben Folds – Fear of Pop: Vol. 1
Key Track: "Avery M. Powers Memorial Beltway"

This album is downright strange, and I love every minute of it. Ben Folds departed from his usual pop sensibilities for this record and delivered something truly extraordinary. This is the kind of record I love to sit back and lose myself in.

20. William Shatner – Has Been
Key Track: "It Hasn’t Happened Yet"

Yes, William Shatner. I’m actually a big fan of the way in which the record was created. Shatner wrote a series of reminiscences, gave the texts to Ben Folds, and he wrote musical backdrops to complement each one. The result is a testament to Folds's talent as a composer, and many of the songs are strangely compelling soundscapes.