How old were you when you discovered your favorite album(s)?

Good idea.

My 3:

Exile on Main St, discovered at 15
London Calling, discovered at 16
Slanted and Enchanted, released when I was 20

Average: 17

Got mailed my consignment of Cardiacs CD-80s (courtesy of ilxor 'everything') aged 19, so uh that

I dunno, bruh, I just started a proper deep dive into various strains of '70s jazz within the past year or so, and what I've heard so far suggests that I might be stumbling upon new favorite albums well into my 40s.

But up to now I'd say '26-30' (a span of time when I discovered the classic albums that blew my mind the most and which ended with me no longer making much of an attempt to keep up with contemporary music).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DLLFuiyWRY

oops wrong thread

there's a glut of old favourites I discovered 18-21ish

Surprisingly hard to think of favourites, sure I actually like lots of other albums more than these but anyway, these were important at the time -

Pulp - Intro (discovered aged 15)
The Yummy Fur - Nightclub (bought aged 16)
Soft Machine - The Soft Machine (discovered aged 19)
Soft Machine - Third (discovered aged 20)
Miss Kittin - Electroclash (mix CD from magazine bought aged 22)

So 18.4 on average. But I don't actually listen to any of these that much, just not that into albums at all for the last 10 years, so don't know if this really answers the question. FWIW the time when I was 18-19 is when I felt most dispirited about the contemporary music scene, it was all fucking 'New Acoustic Movement' and even dance music seemed wanky and up itself.

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back - 13
Very - 16
Every Picture Tells a Story - 16
The Nightfly - 17
Sulk - 25

So yeah, 16-20.

my favorite album is whatever i'm listening to right now. as i read this thread, it's the klaus mittfoch s/t. i discovered it yesterday, and i'm 40 now... so, 40.

I can't really pick a top five (I'm fine with making lists that are in some way curtailed by criteria, but general favourites are tougher), so instead just picking five albums that I feel represent me in some kind of rounded way:

Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup: 16
La Düsseldorf - La Düsseldorf: 17
Slapp Happy - Acnalbasac Noom: 24
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan - UZU: 32
Angel Haze - Back to the Woods: 34

Comes to an average of 24.6.

(Also yes I'm old, OK?)

Can't remember the exact age for all of these, except for the ones I got as soon as they came out, so most of these are estimates:

Herbie Hancock - Sextant, 20
The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation, 15
Air Liquide - Nephology, 20
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis, 22
Alice Coltrane - Universal Consciousness, 25
Meshell Ndegeocello - The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams, 29
Benjamin Britten - Serenade/Les Illuminations/Nocturne, 32
Yhdentekevää - Yhdentekemää, 33
Sheila Chandra - The Zen Kiss, 35
Meg Bowles - The Shimmering Land, 36

Average age would then be 27.

12 - 17

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon, 15
Keith Jarrett - Sun Bear Concerts, 16
Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left, 17
Joni Mitchell, Hejira, 22
The Smiths, The World Won't Listen, 24
Neil Young, After the Goldrush, 25
Swell, 41, 31
Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures, 32
Radiohead, Amnesiac, 38
Talk Talk, Laughing Stock, 42

Average age is 25.

Uncle Meat @ 15
Double Nickels on the Dime @ 22
Crone Music @ 43

Avg. 26.67

Expanded to top 8:

Uncle Meat @ 15
In a Silent Way @ 17
Double Nickels on the Dime @ 22
Macro Dub Infection @ 30
OK Computer @ 42
Soft Machine Vol. 2 @ 42
Crone Music @ 43
Insignificance @ 49

Avg. 32.5

Top three without much thinking:

The Lexicon of Love - 29
Cupid & Psyche 85 - 32
Off the Wall - 37

All albums that had been on my radar for a long time before I eventually got around to listening to them.

Average 32.7

Damn, I accidentally set this poll to end on Dec 26, 2017 (1 year + 1 week, rather than a week).
Oh well, lotsa time to get your responses in now...

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Prodigy - Jilted Generation (15)
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five (17)
Pavement - Brighten The Corners (17)
Metalheadz - Platinum Breakz (17)

Have discovered + loved many albums over the years but these ones have suvived multiple culls of the cd collection / hard drive / spotify playlists

*survived

voted 21 to 25

hey now

two of mine were when i was 17 so then

Here's my top five, and the age I first heard the album in question:

1.) The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream (2014) - 37.9
2.) Radiohead - OK Computer (1999 - I few years late) 20
3.) Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA (1985) 6
4.) Radiohead - Kid A (2000) 21
5.) Fennesz - Endless Summer (2002) 23.7

Average age: 21.72 years old

Got really into David Axelrod, the Cure, Radiohead, and Bill Evans all during my time at Tower Records, which was 2004-2006. So, 23-25.

Boring answer, sorry.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm still discovering albums that are becoming one of my favourite ten of all time.

me too! didn't happen for a few years but this year was a good one

I'm also still discovering favourites to this day thankfully but the real cornerstones of my taste were all first heard from the ages of 17-20 I think. Oceanic, Choirs of the Eye, Sing to God, Lift Your Skinny Fists...

11-15

tears for fears elemental
pink floyd the wall
talking heads - fear of music

for the majority of ppl here who were in their teens or early 20s when they discovered their favorite album(s), do you they would still be your favourite album(s) if you heard them for the first time at the age you are now?

no, not at all

no way, impossible to predict how a piece of music will hit you at different points in your life. my favorite records are mostly ones that felt like an emotional bullseye when i first heard them, because that sensitivity was linked to specific things going on in my life at the time, and i doubt i'd have the same attachment i do to some of my favorite records as i still do now. i think i always would've thought song cycle was the best though

Possibly.

I've reconnected with some of the albums I liked as a teenager that don't register on 'best' lists.

"Young and rich" by The Tubes I think is great. But would I if I'd not owned it before, rather than in the CD box set with their other albums? Objectively would I rate higher one of the others? Mmmmmmm.. No.

Someone has just crunched the numbers on this, based on Spotify listening data.

For women, the most played songs were released when they were 13, for men it's songs released when they were 14
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd3e964cc-567c-47c2-9644-28938cfedc53_1224x814.png

Other interesting findings:

• people have the most varied listening habits, on average, at age 24
• by 33, most people's musical tastes have calcified (although they measure that by how much your personal tastes have strayed from the mainstream, which seems somewhat counterintuitive... straying from the mainstream could also indicate greater exploration)
• "parents stray from the mainstream at an accelerated rate compared to empty nesters—a sort of 'parent tax' on one's cultural relevancy."