If you’ve read my blog, you already know that I am a HUGE fan of Guns N’ Roses’ debut album Appetite for Destruction. So I won’t bore you more by gushing about “Welcome to the Jungle.” But in writing about that album three other times already, I got into a conversation with my buddy Eric about other bands’ first forays into the public eye. So here’s my take on the greatest first songs from first albums in rock history:
Continue reading →The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Before I was a fully formed individual with my 
own music tastes, I loved the Beatles. It seems less obvious now, because my taste in music has expanded in many different directions, and the Beatles are just about the oldest music I still listen to with any regularity. But I’m old, and when I was little, the Beatles were still almost current – they broke up when I was 1. My Mom was a huge Beatles fan, having even attended their famous show at Shea Stadium in 1965 just a few years before I was born. So The Beatles were always present in my life.
Before I knew that I could like my own music, I only had a pick of what was in the house or on the radio. And the Beatles were the music that I gravitated to the most. As mentioned in the previous post, there was also some Motown (on 45’s!), some Dylan, and on the radio in the car, the Adult Contemporary music that is now called “yacht rock.’ But always, especially early, it was the Beatles.
The early songs were so catchy, and the later songs were so different than anything else. Plus, we had a BetaMax player (the precursor to the VHS) as early as 1972, and the one video tape that I was aware that we owned was The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, recorded off the television (complete with a single ad that my Dad didn’t catch, for Toss Across, a beanbag Tic-Tac-Toe game). So I was a huge Beatles fan from the earliest memories I have.
Continue reading →Alice Cooper – Love It to Death
(Album ©1971, Warner Bros. Records)
Alice Cooper was a band out of Phoenix that 
evolved slowly through the mid to late-’60’s, finally settling on a name that they thought sounded innocent, a “sweet little old lady name” that would contrast with their music and stage show. They were initially signed on Frank Zappa’s Straight Records and released two largely forgettable albums in 1969 and ’70.
Then, in 1970, the band moved back to lead singer Vincent Furnier’s hometown, Detroit, Michigan, where the burgeoning hard rock scene was exploding, led by the Stooges and the MC5. They connected with up-and-coming producer Bob Ezrin, who had the band actually rehearse their new tunes to get them into shape. In fact, they recorded their best of the new songs, “I’m Eighteen,” and released it as a single to gauge the public’s interest in their improved sound. Apparently, there was interest, as the single hit #21 on the Top 40 chart, which got the third record green-lit by Straight/Warner Bros.
Continue reading →The Most Impressive Debut Albums
I’ve written about great Third Albums already, but in doing so, I glossed over acts that hit a home run right out of the gates. Given how hard it has been historically to get a record deal, and how different recording is from performing live, and how little money most new acts get to invest in their first record, it’s really amazing when an act releases their debut album and it is not just good but great. And to take it one step further, I am amazed to find acts that have already figured out who they are musically, introducing themselves to the world fully formed, such that their debut album stands the test of time not just as a good record, but as a calling card for who and what that act is for their career.
Even the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, and Dylan needed some time to get their feet under them in the studio. But not these bands. These bands knew who they were right away, even if they later spread their artistic wings in different directions. So on to the list!
Continue reading →The Most Influential Albums of My Life
In 2018, a “challenge” went around Facebook that I was able to get behind and participate in – the first (and only) one ever. No Ice Bucket Challenges for me, but the 10 Most Influential Albums in 10 Days challenge was appealing. My college friend Leigh forwarded me the challenge, which had been almost universally worded to include “no explanation whatsoever,” but that seemed annoying, as the most interesting thing about this exercise was wondering exactly why each person was listing the albums they were. What about those albums were so influential to those people? Therefore, I ignored the “no explanation” aspect of the challenge and dove in, writing personal essays for each.
Continue reading →Yes – The Yes Album
(Album ©1971, Atlantic Records)
Yes helped to define the prog rock genre in the 
early ’70’s, and that started with their third album, 1971’s The Yes Album. After making two rather forgettable albums of marginally interesting rock music, where the highlights were covers of the Beatles, the Byrds, Richie Havens, and Stephen Stills, they were floundering. Neither album sold much in the US, which put them at risk of being dropped by Atlantic Records.
Third Albums
I grew up finding bands and performers that I liked from the radio, and then in my teens, via MTV as well. Once I found a band I liked, I would work backwards through their records, really digging in to their music and the progression of their sound and songwriting from album to album. And what stood out to me again and again was that, in the Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) rock era, acts tended to need a while to find themselves, and were usually given that time by the record companies. It seemed that, in general, acts would get three records to find an audience, and so it makes sense that many of the big acts hit their stride with album three. Not exclusively, by any means, but it seemed to happen enough to justify looking into it further.
Continue reading →Guns-N-Roses – Appetite for Destruction
(Album ©1987, Geffen Records)
1987 was a weird year in popular music. 
The top selling album for the calendar year was Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet (released in ’86) and, while the mid-’80’s were split between the era of hair metal and mainstream mega-stars like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and Bruce Springsteen, by 1987, hair metal was already beginning it’s inevitable decline. Take for example the rest of the top 10 best-selling albums in 1987, which were almost anything but hard rock. Only Cinderella’s breakthrough record Night Songs was even in the top 10 – the rest were mostly mainstream rockers Paul Simon, U2, Genesis, Bruce Hornsby & the Range, and Huey Lewis & the News, along with easy listening (Anita Baker), dance/pop (Janet Jackson’s Control) and one of the first big crossover rap albums, the Beastie Boy’s debut album Licensed to Ill.
The Black Crowes – Amorica
(Album ©1994, American Recordings)
This album cover was such a turn-on when I first 
saw it. The not-so-subversive sexiness was off the charts. Only recently did I find out that this image was originally shot as the cover of Hustler Magazine’s July 1976 Bicentennial issue. Of course, WalMart and Kmart objected to stocking this album with this cover, so the record company reprinted the cover with just the triangular flag design on a field of black in order to placate the big chain stores.
Fishbone – Truth & Soul
(Album ©1988, Columbia Records)
As I have already written, after I had my 
senses rattled awake by Guns-N-Roses in college, I got my soul funked up when I found Fishbone! Their second LP was an amazing mix of rock, funk, punk, and soul, all of which were really good songs. “Bonin’ in the Boneyard” was my 1989 summer jam (before that was a saying). “Mighty Long Way” was a great upbeat song about overcoming obstacles, and “Change” was the most meaningful song I had heard in a quite a while.
The guys in Fishbone were so talented – great musicianship, great songwriting across multiple genres, and great energy. They all wrote songs, and three or four of them sang, so the album had lots of different sounds on it. Unfortunately it didn’t sell very well, which I find strange, because it seemed that everyone I knew either had this record or had heard it and liked it.
Continue reading →