Wherein Slam tries to play catch-up after being under the weather for roughly 24 hours. 

Huh.  Well that's the damnedest thing I ever did hear.  


I used to have these two on CD (well my wife did) coming from my late brother-in-law's estate.  The second one got significantly more play as I much prefer later Beatles to early Beatles.  

I mean it could be worse.  It's not like it's The Eagles or The Doors.  

I'm pretty sure I had this one in high school.  I know I had Led Zepplin 4...who didn't?  That said, if I never heard them again it would be far too soon. 


Oops.  Yeah...I hate The Doors.  Not quite as much as The Eagles though.  So they have that going for them. 

I had a few Deep Purple albums in high school.  I don't think this was one of them.  I could do fine without hearing Deep Purple again as well.  

Huh.  I didn't hate that.  That was kind of interesting.  My Aunt also played the accordion as a child and was apparently good enough that she got to play on Lawrence Welk's show as a guest.  This was when his show was still a local southern California thing.  

I never "got" Adam and the Ants.  They were clearly not as big here in the States as they were in the U.K. but they had a following.  I know there were some girls to definitely listened to the group in junior high.  They weren't for me though.  

Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company- Cheap Thrills -Released Aug 1968

This would be the next chronological album to blow my socks off. The power, the soulfulness, the vulnerability in Janis' vocal delivery is iconic. And while this album had a bunch of her early classic hits like Ball and Chain and Piece Of My Heart, I might rank her final album, Pearl , even higher
But this album had some personal significance for me. I had made friends in 1969 with a couple who were into the biker lifestyle. The only music they played in their house would be this album and a few LPS from Steppenwolf. So I know who I borrowed the album from to make a copy for my tape recorder
I also remember this album being played when I finally lost my virginity
And that album cover by Robert Crumb, wow

I chose this live 1969 video of Janis singing Summertime from Cheap Thrills. I don't think I've ever seen this video clip before

And here is where it gets interesting! And hard. After raiding my dad's collection and getting a good start into the world of rock, I took it and ran with it and kept going. With the classic rock foundation from him, I started discovering other stuff on my own through media, my friends, etc.

It gets extremely difficult for me to narrow it down to five because of how fast this all went down in a few short years and how much I can microfocus on things I'm into, so there were quite a few. I'm not going to be able to feature all of the influential albums here, but I'll try and pick the highlights to represent key bands if not all relevant key albums, and to kind of paint a broad picture.

So all that said, let's get to it with my own picks!

5. Weird Al Yankovic: Off the Deep End (1992)



I could not begin to overstate the impact and air play Weird Al had on my life. He was the first musical artist I really got into. I remember seeing the music video for Fat on TV as a kid before I knew what MTV or music videos were. It was funny and the song was good. A friend I met in grade school also knew about him and had some albums, and we played them a lot.

I could pick any number of his albums here, but I picked this one because it was the first one I owned myself, and I WAS OBSESSED WITH IT. I played that cassette tape over and over and over and over. I played it so much I still know pretty much all of the words, tones and cadences he used. It was also important because it was one of the first times I remember hearing some pretty hard rocking tunes packaged in a completely kid-friendly way. The Nirvana parody obviously, but several of the others were just loud blaring rockers in the style fo the time. I also wouldn't realize this until later, but my first time hearing Metallica's music was in the polka medly on this album.

One of the songs, I Was Only Kidding, had blaring chugging almost punky guitars, ripping guitar solos, leads all over, wild singing. My friend's dad didn't like it because it was a "loud" song. I didn't understand what he meant. Why not just turn the volume down if it was too loud? At the time, I didn't really notice things like heavy music or rocking too hard or what have you. That's just what that song sounded like. I took it at face value.

Side note, there will be a few examples of this where I end up punching above my musical heaviness weight early on due to being exposed to it before I had a barometer for it, but some harsh stuff slipped in before we had the gate setup. It took me a long time to catch up to equivalent levels of heavy music organically, but I digress.

But there you have it. I credit Weird Al for introducing me to a wide array of musical genres and for being my earliest introduction into harder rock music, in his way.

My selection for this one is Trigger Happy. I picked it for two reasons: One, it's a pretty darn good Beach Boys spoof which I thought folks here might appreciate, and two, it still cracks me up every time I hear it.

OK, catching up with some comments I wanted to make on other people's picks...




You can't really go wrong with Led Zeppelin. My personal favourite of their albums is probably Led Zep III, but II and IV are also great. Nice choice.





I really LOVE the Doors, but it took be a little time to get into them back in the early 90s, when I first heard their music. I was into a lot of other West Coast psychedelic bands before the Doors properly clicked with me. And it was this debut album in its entirety that finally won me over.

These days I have all of their albums, and I think they never really made a bad one while Jim Morrison was in the band (even The Soft Parade is pretty damn good really). When it comes to my favourite Doors LP though, it's always a battle between this and the follow-up, Strange Days, which is at least every bit as good as The Doors, even if it doesn't quite have that reputation, generally speaking.





You can't go wrong with Johnny Cash -- especially if it's the Sun Records era stuff. Great pick!





Deep Purple and their ilk really aren't my cup of tea at all, I'm afraid. It's all a bit too "metal" for my tastes. Really, Led Zeppelin is about as close as I can comfortably get to that kind of hard rock, but what makes Zep interesting are the folk and world music influences to be found amongst the testosterone-fuelled hard rock riffing. Obviously, I know "Smoke on the Water" from this album, but yeah...it doesn't do much for me at all. This just isn't my bag.





This is totally new to me. Never heard of Harry Hibbs. It's reasonably nice and I kinda like the Irish folky vibe of it. Not sure I could ever imagine listening to this at home, but I think I'd enjoy it in a bar with a few Guiness stouts inside me.





Trini Lopez is one of those names that I know, but I have no idea what kind of music it really is (except that it's vaguely easy listening or clean-cut pop, I guess). I don't think I've ever knowingly heard any of his music.

Listening to those two tracks you posted, his music actually swings a bit more than I was expecting it to. It's fine for what it is, but yeah...it's probably a little too clean-cut or adult MOR for my tastes, I'm afraid.





That's a great album; it carries the zeitgeist of the Haight-Ashbury ballroom scene every bit as well as Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxters and Quicksilver Messenger Service's first album. For my money, this is Janis Joplin's best album. I like Pearl a lot too, but I always felt Janis was best as part of Big Brother, rather than as a solo artist. I really like how her voice compliments guitarist Sam Andrew's singing on "Combination of the Two". Cool choice.





I only know a handful of Weird Al Yankovic's singles, such as "Eat It", "Like a Surgeon", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "The Saga Begins". I like those fine for what they are. But if I'm honest, I have a really, really low tolerance for comedy records. I'm glad Weird Al exists and is still out there doing his thing, but personally, I just kind of write him off under the banner of "joke act". I have exactly the same problem with Tenacious D: I just can't see the point of this kind of stuff beyond a couple of listens, I'm afraid.

I haven't listened to this album in eons, but Janis is one of only a handful of rock artists from that era that I'm not completely sick and tired of.  So good for here.  

I've never owned a Weird Al album, but I do appreciate his craft.  It may have something to do with having loved Homer & Jethro as a kid.  If you aren't familiar with them, they were country Weird Al in the 50s & 60s.  He's coming to Boise next year.  I'm considering getting tickets.  

My next most influential album was released in October 1969. Considered the first true Prog Rock album and I certainly agree. Still sounds as fresh and innovative as it did 55 years ago. I recall being in the Record Section in a department store when the album was new. A father showed his 5 year old son the album cover. The kid started screaming in fright , forcing the father to leave. The kid's brain was permanently damaged
Anyhoo, this was quite a landmark album which influenced so many musicians in the ensuing decades

King Crimson-In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969)



And just in case you never heard 21st Century Schizoid Man (Is there anyone here who never heard this song?), a YouTube clip

I like 3, as well. I didn't get into it as much until I got sick to death of the radio albums. This one kind of squeaked by under my radar, and I enjoy it from time to time. At a minimum, I am least sick of this one out of the ones I like.




You hate JOY and metal?!?! Kidding. But yeah, I think our tastes are going to diverge pretty rapidly for the balance of the contest LOL.

I know Weird Al isn't for everyone, but I do want to recognize the talent in the band. I've seen them live many times, and they put on a great show. The sheer breadth of genres and styles they can pull off well is impressive, and Al can sing, write and play music, and be consistently funny. That's not a super common combo. A lot of his original songs and pastiches that aren't direct parodies are actually quite good musically. Again, just to putting proper respect on his name.

As for Deep Purple, I was never much into them, either. They were mostly another stepping stone on my way to the heavy side, but definitely one I touched on.


Nice, sounds interesting! I'll check it out.