D Rick's All-Time Album Top 40+ (so far)

Not sure what inspired me to think of it, or whether this qualifies as anything inspired, anyway, but I've been reflecting on those music albums that have made a particular impact and lasting impression on my life over the past thirty years or so. In doing so, I've considered which albums marked significant turning points in my musical interests, not only with respect to what I was listening to at the time, but in the very way I listened to music at all.

The following 40+ albums are ones that captured my attention and had such a fundamental influence on my subsequent enjoyment of popular music. Many of these albums remain "old friends," never failing to move me and make me smile inside and out. Others are more like scrapbooks, marking milestones along the way, but no longer holding the same appeal they once did. Certain things have risen to the top over the years, whereas others have made their mark and then receded to a more modest measure of interest. In most cases, I can remember the moment when this or that album caught me and refused to relinquish its hold on me.

Music has had such an important place in my life, an aspect of my personality and a mode of relating with others that really both defines and expresses who I am. That is why I have recently become intent on learning to play the guitar; not only because I happen to love that particular instrument, but the more so because I want to know and understand music itself that much better, from the inside out, and I long to develop the ability to make music of my own.

For the time being, here's a list of creative efforts and output by artists whose God-given talents and abilities have brought joy and gladness to my life on earth. I've limited myself to a single album by any given artist (although I do include both Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, despite the notable overlap between them). It was tough to decide in some cases, and I should clarify that I didn't necessarily opt for my favorite album by each artist, but for that album that was the most influential and in some ways set the bar for all the others. I should also note that, in some of these cases, I didn't personally "discover" the album in question until many years after it was first released.

The list, as follows, is proximately in order of significance.


D Rick's All-time Album Top 40

1. Led Zeppelin - IV (ZoSo)

2. The Beatles - Revolver

3. Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet

4. Def Leppard - Pyromania

5. Quiet Riot - Metal Health

6. Black Sabbath - Paranoid

7. Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

8. John Cougar Mellencamp - American Fool

9. Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien

10. Ozzy Osbourne - Tribute (to Randy Rhoads)

11. Joshua Kadison - Painted Desert Serenade

12. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock 'n' Roll

13. Hootie & the Blowfish - Cracked Rear View

14. REO Speedwagon - Hi InFidelity

15. Asia - Asia

16. Queen - The Game

17. Styx - Paradise Theater

18. ABBA - Voulez-Vous

19. Billy Joel - Glass Houses

20. Big & Rich - Horse of a Different Color

21. Pat Benatar - Crimes of Passion

22. Foreigner - 4

23. Bryan Adams - Cuts Like a Knife

24. Rick Springfield - Working Class Dog

25. Black Stone Cherry - Folklore & Superstition

26. John Michael Montgomery - John Michael Montgomery

27. Prince - Purple Rain

28. AC/DC - Back in Black

29. Daughtry - Daughtry

30. Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season

31. Tim McGraw - Set This Circus Down

32. U2 - Rattle and Hum

33. City of Angels (Soundtrack)

34. Savage Garden - Savage Garden

35. Garth Brooks - The Hits

36. Howard Jones - Dream into Action

37. Supertramp - Breakfast in America

38. Van Zant - Get Right with the Man

39. J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame

40. Heart - Heart


Honorable Mention (since I turn 45 this year!)

41. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison

42. Aldo Nova - Aldo Nova

43. Metallica - And Justice for All

44. Petra - More Power to Ya

45. Flashdance (Soundtrack)