Has there been an album that has literally changed your life?

It's cliche, but - outside The Wall, I didn't listen to much Pink Floyd as a kid. I first listened to Dark Side of the Moon as an adult - in my 20s. And, because of reviews, the reputation and just the way the album is arranged, I listened to it as a single album (albeit on CD), in a single, uninterrupted session.

It literally changed the way I thought about the album as an art form. It is really only comparable with Abbey Road, Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper and perhaps other Floyd albums.

Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast. Iconic. The twin power of the guitars and Dickinson's signature wail. Not to mention the rhythm of Steve Harris on bass and some of the most powerful drum work I have ever heard. Listen to the drums on The Prisoner. This album changed music in my life and it definitely stands the test of time.

Btw...flying out Wednesday to see Maiden in Denver. Can't wait!

Pretty Hate Machine.

I had been into 80s pop and hair bands for years. I had never heard anything like NIN before. Permanently altered my music tastes.

Not really an album, but a bootleg Grateful Dead tape from some random show a friend gave me around 89. At the time I was still into the 80's alternative stuff - The Smiths, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Talking Heads, etc. I didn't really like it, and still not a huge Dead fan, but it opened my eyes to another world of music I became pretty obsessed with in college a few years later. Went to HORDE to see Widespread Panic a few years later, then Phish a year or two after that, and I was pretty heavy into those scenes through college. A lot of my good friends today are friends I met through that genre of music.

I probably would have gotten into those bands eventually though. Widespread was pretty popular at Bama in the 90's.

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MCR

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punk

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slow down there

Well it was more "pop punk" if you want to be technical, but it still changed the landscape of pop music in the 2000s by combining glam rock, blues rock and punk.

Uncivilized Area. Because of that album I followed a band around the country.

Maybe Abbey Road....it got me away from metal and I shifted more into British rock/classic rock. Got me away from loud, angry music and focused on more smooth, grown up music.

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos (1970)

This album changed the way I listen to rock and roll, changed the way I play guitar also. The dueling, fiery leads of Duane Allman & Eric Clapton are transcendent. Due to real life personal circumstances surrounding members of the band, Clapton in particular, this album has a palpable electricity to it. Raw emotion in both the playing and the vocals, you can feel the emotions conveyed in each song. I fear I'll never hear another album that I'm taken aback by both the raw nature of it and the relatibility of the content sung about.

Absolutely, there have been several:
Sky Blue Sky - Wilco
Everything Went Numb - Streetlight Manifesto
Soul Vaccination - Tower of Power
Dust - Benjy Davis Project (sad but true)
Crash Kings - Crash Kings

The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, ect couldn't "change my life" because I heard them from such an early age that they literally formed my early perception of what music was. The first music I really heard was Bon Jovi, Tears for Fears (my oldest brother's 2 favorite bands), The Beatles, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Joe Cocker, The Eagles (my mom's favorite groups), Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, (what my dad listened to in his car), Nirvana, Blink 182, Sum 41, Greenday, Creed, Alter Bridge, Chevelle, Tool, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine (what my other brother listened to). I had to find the stuff that came afterwards myself.