BY RYAN SAGADORE
A single album can change your life.
It can influence your musical tastes forever and can provide you with comfort and companionship when you really need it.
Blake Johnson, a huge AC/DC fan, has been following the band for years. When he’s listening to music in the car or at home chances are it’ll be AC/DC. However, it is the hard rockers’ latest release, Rock or Bust, that he has the biggest connection to.
“I love the riffs, and flow of the album,” said Johnson. “The album also came out the day of my longest and most heavily weighted paper for school.”
Johnson had pre-ordered the CD and was anticipating its arrival the whole day. When it arrived at 3 p.m., he had just finished editing his paper.
“It was a satisfying reward for all the time I put into the paper,” said Johnson. “For a long time after I mainly listened to just Rock or Bust, to the point the whole album is literally the first 11 songs on my ‘Top 50 most played’ (on iTunes), and still is.”
“I remember first hearing ‘Little Red Corvette’ on 680 CFTR and thinking it was an amazing song,” said Debbie Lynn, whose favourite album is 1999 by Prince. “It was so different than the traditional pop songs I was listening to at the time. Prince was unique. Very androgynous looking, sexy and so talented.”
Lynn’s parents bought the album for her as a Christmas present when she was in high school. “I remember playing it for hours,” she said. “I loved the funky sound, the lyrics, and the beat.”
Music enthusiast Keith Michaels found a copy of Jeff Beck’s Truth while shopping at the now defunct Sam the Record Man on Yonge Street when he was 14. After browsing the store for some time, the store clerk recommended that he listen to the album.
“I had never heard a guitar being played like that,” said Michaels. “That was the album to get me into playing guitar. It opened the door for me to discover all of what was going on in the ‘60s and ‘70s. From there I got into Zeppelin and the Yardbirds, bands that helped define my teenage years. I owe it all to that album. ”
