Albums you bought on a whim and wound up loving

Tonedeaf

Tonedeaf

Fractal Fanatic
Ever bought an album when you were not familiar with the artist, just. a gut reaction and were glad you did? Showing my age age with this first one, but I bought the first Led Zeppelin album because I like airships and I liked their name. That's hard to beat. A couple more: Toy Matinee, James Gang Rides Again, Feedback by Spirit ( I've heard of Spirit, but noticed this was a new lineup). I sure there are others but my memory ain't so good anymore, and then there were some I bought and never played again.
 
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Most of my early music discoveries came about from hearing a song on the radio, or from friends' recommendations. There was the odd one tho, that came from an album cover that resonated somehow while browsing records in a store. The most significant of these for me, was, as I've told in other music related threads, America's 1st album below which I bought from a Beamish store after completing my paper route on a cold, dark, snowy, Canadian dead-of-winter late afternoon in the early 70s. Had no clue about the band, was just the cover and the on-sale price that prompted the discovery which has been in my subsequent music listening rotation for 50+ years:
 
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Similarly, and as also told in another thread here, this one: - my 1st genuine album (that was not a k-tel hits type LP), bought for me by my grandmother after a lengthy perusal of what Woolworths had in stock. Never heard of The Guess Who to that point. Native American/Canadian themes/references, even more subtle ones, in album cover graphics mustv been resonating with me for some reason back then. As with America above, The Guess Who, and later the BTO spinoff from TGW, became staples of my music listening, and are still today:
 
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Good thread idea!

Johnny Truant - in the library of horrific events

They were on a label with a bunch of bands I really liked, so I bought it in store when I saw it. Loved that album a lot and caught their shows when they played locally (overseas for them).

It’s wild that members of that band now do the tour posters for Blink 182 and Pearl Jam tours, manage artists and work for Lana Del Rey.
 
The first album from W.A.S.P.!

I walked into the local guitar/record store and saw the album cover, and my 16 year old metalhead brain said, "I don't know what this is, but if they sound as good as this looks I'm in!".

I walked out with less money and promptly became a big fan.
 
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy

I had read about and heard of Symphony X through word of mouth and picked up the CD while visiting family in Mexico on a whim. This was in 98' as I remember also watching the World Cup finals while I was there.

I was and still am floored by this album. Definitely inspired and changed my guitar trajectory for the better.
 
When I was a young teenager, I loved the "Turrican" video games on my Amiga. One day after school I went CD shopping and browsed around, and then I saw...
ManowarTurrican.jpg
I thought "If the devs listen to it, it's gotta be worth checking out." I wasn't a metalhead by any means, my mainstays were still the Beatles and AC/DC. That was even before my KISS superfandom phase (I'm also known as "KISS Chris"), so I didn't recognize Ken Kelly's cover art style.

The first track (Wheels of Fire) was unlike anything I'd ever heard, in a bad way. After the second track (Kings of Metal), however, all was forgiven and the rest of the album made me a firm fan, despite the immediate realization that I'd better not tell anyone by whom I wanted to be taken seriously... 😉 I even started loving Wheels...

I wound up quickly buying all their albums, and when - finally - the new, long-awaited "Triumph of Steel" was released - I dropped them like a hot potato. While I still enjoy the classics from time to time and have very fond memories of when this "Mystical Metal" would help me escape the dreariness of my rather strange youth, Ross was indeed the Boss and without him and Scott Columbus's thunderous presence, I was down and out.

Joey's megalomania didn't help keep me in the fanbase, either.

But it was indeed them that started me on my modest metal excursions which led to me picking up another totally obscure album by a rather non-influential and underground band that I never heard of before... Just because the cover was so well drawn and I have a thing for skeletons and skulls...

PeaceSells.jpg
Though it was an even harder pill to swallow, I was determined to acquire the taste of metal, instantly realizing what this "true metal" that Manowar had been singing about actually was.
 
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Tonedeaf said:
Ever bought an album when you were not familiar with the artist, just. a gut reaction and were glad you did? Showing my age age with this first one, but I bought the first Led Zeppelin album because I like airships and I liked their name. That's hard to beat. A couple more: Toy Matinee, James Gang Rides Again, Feedback by Spirit ( I've heard of Spirit, but noticed this was a new lineup). I sure there are others but my memory ain't so good anymore, and then there were some I bought and never played again.
Click to expand...
A dream came true for me when years later when the owner of the company I worked for was invited for a flight aboard the Goodyear blimp since we were customers of them. He couldn't make it and had me go instead. I took my then 6 year old son with me. It was a great time. The pilot said it's more like sailing a boat the flying a plane.
 
On a whim, a group of stoner frat guys (their house band was a cross between Allman & the Doobie Bros) popped a copy of Frank Zappa's Apostrophe onto their turntable. Having never heard this style of guitartistry before, I was immediately fascinated and subsequently went out the next time our dorm group took the PATH into NYC WTC. Although I forget the same of the record shop where they had all sorts of obscure LPs (A Decca first print of Live at Leeds, as well as its more affordable reprint in the US), it was a popular spot for album collectors as well as audio gear. Yes, it was about 1977 and I brought back to school with me both Apostrophe, One Size Fits All and The Who's Live at Leeds..

Granted, the proficiency and skill level I'd never aspire to, just a quiet fascination with Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention...
 
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Paris Texas- Like You Like an Arsonist
I read the back of the CD and the song titles were not run of the mill. Listening to it, I was really blown away by the song writing and musicianship. I was very disappointed when I heard they broke up. Their previous efforts that I listened to later weren't as coherent and I think this album could have been a start of a great career.
 
Weirdo that I am, I can't recall buying an album without any idea what it sounded like.

No, I take that back, I bought Atomic Rooster's "Headline News" because it had a "featuring David Gilmour of Pink Floyd" on it. I liked, didn't love it.
 
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