20 album covers that shaped my musical preferences

My Dad had this record (this will be a theme) and there was a dial you could turn that would rotate the images within the album art. That was cool. More than that. though, what an opening track! Immigrant Song just launches the whole album. Rock is my default genre (with an inclination towards alternative and indie) and that has to start with listening to Led Zeppelin as a kid.

Definitely my newest musical influence and it isn’t entirely accurate to pin it to this specific album. The reason I chose it, among all the rest, is the live performance. Part of the appeal, for me, is the musicianship and intricate assembly that comes across in the live, solo performance. There’s a whole thread of music from Nils Frahm, through Max Richter, Floating Points, Olafur Arnalds, and Jon Hopkins that I’m really enjoying these days.

Grunge is high school and that’s when lasting musical impressions get made. Of all the great bands that came out of the grunge scene (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains), Pearl Jam is the one that has stuck with me, even up to 2024 with the great Dark Matter album. Quite the legacy.

My interest in Rush also starts from my Dad’s record collection. In this case, though, Roll the Bones is the first Rush album that I bought myself and, so, has special importance. I’ve consistently enjoyed their clever lyrics and impressive musicianship.

Surely on many people's lists. In addition to great music, this was when I started to see the potential for music as art, rather than just entertainment.

Hard for me to believe that only a year separates this from Pearl Jam’s Ten. I listened to this album a lot and it leads to a long enjoyment of industrial music.

I don’t have an origin story for Kate Bush, her music just always seemed to be there: quirky, innovative, and captivating.

A spiritual successor to Kate Bush? Definitely exciting, creative, and beguiling.

Peter Gabriel has been a consistent favourite and introduced me to many great artists through his Real World record label. For me, this is his definitive album.

Another one from my Dad’s record collection. How much more needs to be said about this album? An obvious classic that really emphasizes an album as a cohesive product, rather than a collection of songs.

First of all, a great album. Second, I was listening to this at the same time as some heavy industrial and metal bands. This confused many of my friends, but reinforced, for me, the joy of diverse musical interests.

Via Peter Gabriel, this was an exotic amalgamation of many musical styles and led me to an appreciation of what was then called “world music”. Although I think their third album is their best, this is more influential for me.

Iconic in Canada and helped me appreciate my nation’s history and stories. They followed up with three fantastic albums and then I mostly lost touch with their music until Gord Downie’s epic last tour.

Starting my angry teenager phase. I've stuck with NIN ever since, though I can't relate now to the teenager that I was.

Another one from my Dad’s collection. At the core, it is their musicianship that drew me in and influenced my musical tastes.

Perfectly captures the primal energy of punk rock.

This one started my ongoing affection for bleak, creepy, and paranoid music.

Classic shoegaze and indie that is a clear theme of my current tastes. Yo La Tengo was a big part of early grad school which has lots of nostalgia for me.

This sounded really fresh and exciting to me when it was released, especially when contrasted with the mostly industrial music I was listening to at the time.

This was late high school and I was ready for music as social commentary, especially packaged as fierce, disciplined rebellion.