- It begins with a heartbeat. Released in 1973, The Dark Side of the Moon was Pink Floyd's eighth studio album. It would become one of the best-selling albums of all time, and its iconic cover image still hangs in college dormitories everywhere.
The record turned 40 this week. To mark the occasion, Weekend Edition asked All Songs Considered hosts Robin Hilton and Bob Boilen where they were when they heard Dark Side for the first time. Hear the full version of this story by clicking the audio link on this page.
I probably heard this album for the first time all the way through around its 20th birthday, when I was 10, or maybe a year or two later. Like many people, it was the first Floyd I was exposed to, and it changed my whole 10 or 12 year old image of what music can be. I don't remember the setting, but I remember having my mind absolutely blown by Time. Also, you gotta love the balls to put the most poppy song on the album in an odd meter.
This is probably its own thread, but what are the seminal albums from your youth that inspire the devotion present in this article? And for that matter, are there still albums with that sort of impact today? Did Is This It really change music like people claim it did -- does that it make it one of them?
Question for you: What was the last album that you waited on pins and needles for it to come out?
Seminal albums from my youth: Nevermind, Ten, Green, The Blue Album, Chutes Too Narrow, The Boy with the Arab Strap, Thriller, Born in the USA, The Joshua Tree, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Sea Change -This is just off the cuff, top of my head. I considered youth anything younger than 25. -You'll see that this number goes up as my age does. Is This It, definitely changed the landscape. All of a sudden everyone sounded like them and there were immediately a bunch of little Casablanca's running around imitating Julian.
Thing is, those are the seminal albums of my youth; just put on a decade's delay. I discovered Ten in about 2002, Weezer in '05, etc. Which makes me worried that there aren't any seminal albums any more. But to answer your question, American Slang by The Gaslight Anthem. Absolutely pins and needles, absolutely up to expectations. But that was quite some time ago. Seminal albums from my youth would be stuff like Illinoise, Hot Fuss, The Hold Steady's stuff ... I'm having trouble with this one.