1. The Doors
This is the first album I ever received when I asked for a cassette player for my birthday. I had expressed an interest in Jim Morrison and the song Light My Fire. I fell in love with that album, Soul Kitchen, Alabama Song, Take It As It Comes, I Looked At You, and of course the stand out tracks, The Crystal Ship, Break On Through (To the Other Side) and The End. I became a life-long Doors fan, even wrote my senior paper in high school on Jim Morrison, the poet in Mr. Watkins' English class. Got an A+, and dropped the F-bomb multiple times.
2. Queen Greatest Hits
I was introduced to Queen via the single Another Bites the Dust off The Game album, and also when I saw the incredible Flash Gordon movie. HBO and MTV often played Queen videos. When my mom noticed my brother and I singing along to all the Queen songs she got us each a copy of Queen's Greatest Hits on cassette. Ironically, this lead me to my next artist, David Bowie.
3. David Bowie Low
I came to David Bowie through Queen via the Greatest Hits cassette that in our region contained the duet Under Pressure. I sought out further music by Mr. Bowie. The first album I happened upon was this bright orange deal, with the simple title Low. When the tape got to side two I was mesmerized. These ambient sounds were all new to me. I didn't know what to make of this. I was fascinated. Of course, at the time I didn't know the word "ambient." In later life I would attempt to collect all of Bowie's studio albums on vinyl.
4. Stevie Nicks Bella Donna
I arrived at Stevie Nicks via an HBO recording of her Bella Donna tour. I just happened to catch that one afternoon and was spellbound. This witchy woman had her hooks in me BAD! Her spell had been cast and I was hers for life. I grabbed up the HBO guide for the month and made note of each subsequent airing of the concert during the summer and made it a point not to miss a single viewing. I asked mom for the album, and received it, and learned of her band Fleetwood Mac and albums Rumors and the self-titled album. Yes indeed, Stevie had a fan for life.
5. Iron Maiden Piece of Mind
I was in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. when my friend Robbie Lyrle first blasted the opening wail of The Trooper over his boom box one Saturday morning while everyone was getting ready to go down and eat breakfast. 'What the hell is that?" I exclaimed, excited, thrilled, blown away, all at once. "That's Iron Maiden!" he coolly replied. He rewound the song and started it again. Wow! This was what I needed in my life! Heavy Metal!
6. Van Halen 1984
The second Heavy Metal band I was exposed to in earnest was Van Halen. The first time I heard the song I'll Wait, and it was I'll Wait, not Jump or Panama or Hot For Teacher, that I first heard over the radio, I was amazed by the combination of heavy metal guitar and synthesizer. I had never heard that before. Surely this was some new discovery I had made and nobody else was privy to this band yet. Nope! Been around since 1978. Still, even though I was late to the party, I was hole-hog on board the heavy metal train now. Until...
7. Prince Purple Rain
Everybody, even some of the die-hard heavy metal crowd, had to give Prince props. I mean that guitar in Let's Go Crazy was smoking hot. Purple Rain was the summer hit of 1984, both musically and theatrically, and I ate it up. Of course, when my step-mother caught wind of the lyrics to Darling Nikki I was so grounded. And my tape collection met with a cleansing when I was in North Carolina with my dad and her. Mom was more lax, thank god.
8. Cinderella Long Cold Winter
I had already bit down on the band Cinderella with the release of Night Songs, but when Long Cold Winter dropped and the band showed off its blues and southern rock roots, all bets were off. I had to see this band live in concert immediately, no matter who I had to kill. I saw the band live on that tour three times, once as an opener for AC/DC and twice as headliners with Winger and the Bulletboys. Still one of my all-time favorite live acts.
9. Extreme Pornograffitti
This album is aptly named. The four ballads on this record ensured that I got laid in 1990. That's really all I can say about this record. That, and if you don't like what you see here, get the funk out!
10. Motorhead 1916
I had first been exposed to Motorhead in the 80s when the song Killed By Death was released. I was a fan. But I had never actually spent money on the band. I heard Going to Brazil and purchased 1916. Then I heard the title track and wept like a baby. How moving? That has to be the most stirring song about WWI I've ever heard and it came from Lemmy. Motorhead would go on to become my favorite band until Lemmy's death in 2015.
11. Pantera Cowboys From Hell
I was driving home from work one afternoon when the DJ announced, "Here's the latest from Pantera, Cemetery Gates." And he played the long version, the album version of the song. Oh my god! I had to have that album post haste. I drove to my girlfriend's house, picked her up and we went immediately to the record store another hour's drive away just so I could purchase that album that night. I played the HELL out of that album, as well as the next one from Pantera. I wept like a little child with a burst balloon when Darrell was murdered.
12. Monster Magnet Dopes to Infinity
The final entry came purely by accident. I was in a tape store in Morristown browsing and bumbled across a cool looking album cover with an interesting sounding band name and title. Well, I judged a book by its cover and plunked down my $10 and went out to my car and popped in a stoner rock masterpiece. With Lemmy passed and Motorhead no more, Monster Magnet has assumed the mantle as my favorite band. I'm working diligently to collect every piece of vinyl they have ever released.
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