The music that changed my life
Joe Jackson got to me, Body and Soul
Joe Jackson’s seventh studio album opened up an understanding that the joy of music extends beyond mere melody, to arrangement, instrumentation and style, writes Jon Magidsohn
The Kinks' Waterloo Sunset was the key that opened London to a northerner
When all you’ve known is Sheffield, a move to London seems like a betrayal. But there’s a song that can show the capital’s human side, writes Eleanor Ross
The house from hell took me to musical heaven
A year in Newcastle – in the company of a questing housemate – showed that NME-approved music was just the tip of a huge and strange iceberg
A Christmas gift of Sutherland Brothers and Quiver began a musical odyssey
Paul Simon: What happens when you ask for Abba and get an album of soft rock instead? You discover the pleasures of the unknown, and a door is opened
Yo La Tengo are a sanctuary when the universe is shouting
When you’ve had to listen to Let It Go in 41 different languages, Return to Hot Chicken will return you to sanity
Oasis taught me (and my three year old daughter) how to swear
In the latest in our Music That Changed My Life series, the story of how Live Forever defined the transition from boy to man
Lewis Taylor’s Lucky expunged my embarrassment about funkiness
Funkiness had always been something to be embraced with a degree of embarrassment – until Lewis Taylor’s music cast the self-consciousness away
Dave Van Ronk’s inspirational blues eases a midlife crisis
The folk singer’s St James Infirmary revives the spirit of 1950s Greenwich Village on Stephen Moss’s trip to New York, despite the investment bankers and tourists
Pulp's His 'n' Hers was a thrill – but Different Class was terrifying
Discovering Pulp was like entering a new world for a nine-year-old. But new worlds can hold some scares
Being a rubbish indie DJ led me to discover the power of soul music
Stuart Goodwin: The intention was to dazzle the crowd – all six of them – with perfectly chosen indie. But when another DJ started playing classic soul, a revelation ensued
The Specials' Gangsters symbolised the fight against the fascists at my front door
For a kid who had the National Front marching past his house, only one group on Top of the Pops really presented themselves as an ally
I heard Serge Gainsbourg, and it was goodbye Bethnal Green, hello Paris
The king of raffishness proved to be the antidote to skinny kids in porkpie hats, and the spark that lit the flame of francophilia in Jeremy Allen
REM's Fall on Me gave me solace when I needed to retreat
Continuing our series The music that changed my life: how Georgia’s finest provided the solitude necessary for coping with the whirlwind of a new life
Duran Duran's Ordinary World made me dream of meeting them. Then I did
A song on the radio was a beacon of hope – and then the key that opened the door to a new and different life
Violent Femmes' Blister in the Sun introduced me to something dark, bitter and adult
Growing up in Australia was all New Kids and chart hits until a chance encounter at a summer camp disco
Wishing on a Star made my sad Christmas Eve sparkle
The latest in our new series in which writers muse on the music changed their lives: the story of how Rose Royce’s 1977 hit prompted a moment of near-perfect bliss amid snow, sludge and twentysomething stress
Phil Collins saved me from suicide: the music that changed my life
The second in our new series in which writers reflect on the music that changed their life: the story of how No Jacket Required proved life was worth living
Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run revived my love of music
To kick off our new series in which writers describe how music has changed their lives, here’s the story of how an odd choice of track to close a club night rekindled a love affair
