Chula's Albums - The Early Years
 

Having been born in 1960 and with a sister 3 years older than me my younger years were spent with a steady diet of The Beatles, Beach Boys, Motown, and all of the other stuff that AM radio was playing throughout the mid 60s. I consider the very late 60s up through the first half of the 70s or so to be the formative years of my own musical growth. In this thread I'm going to re-visit the albums that had the biggest impact on me during those years.


Back when I was nine I would spend weekends with my dad and step-mom. There was a bowling alley and arcade place close to their house that was really popular with the local kids and I'd spend a lot of time hanging there with my sisters. They had a really big and loud jukebox which played the pop hits of the day non-stop. One night I'm hanging there and all of a sudden I hear DA-DA DA-DA DUM DA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM DA-DA-DUM!!!! First just a distorted guitar. And then a rumbling bass guitar joined in. Suddenly this banshee wild man started wailing on about what this woman needed way down inside. And finally those canon like snare hits signaled the entrance of the heaviest drums I'd ever heard.

I was gobsmacked and immediately ran to see who the band was and what the song was. Needless to say it got played a number more times that night while I sat there mesmorized by the power and absolute heaviness of it all. Nine years old and I think my head was mini-banging by the final play of the evening.

Within days I owned Led Zeppelin 1 and shortly after, Led Zeppelin 2, and played them non-stop, with my older sister constantly telling me to "turn it down!" And all while I was smiling, knowing that I'd finally found MY music.

Thus began a 45 year love affair with my favorite all time band.

Wait… you like Led Zeppelin?

I've subscribed and will be reading.

Excellent. This is what we want to read. Great idea for a journal, will definitely be following this.

Great start. Looking forward to some non Zep stuff, cause everyone knows they are great. :beer:

Going to be posting up other classics in here?

Congrats on making a journal. I like your Led Zeppelin reviews. I know your a big fan of them, so I think you should review all their albums. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on IV and Houses of the Holy. But well done anyway mate.

Snapshot: 1970

Something that's crucial to remember about back then was that there was only one way really to discover the new rock music that was coming out - word of mouth. There was no internet, no MTV, no advertising on television, nothing in mainstream newspapers or magazines, and underground FM radio was still very much in its infancy.

I found this album through a buddy at school. His older brother had bought it so we went over when he wasn't home and checked it out.


I don't give a crap what anyone else says, the early stuff these guys were doing was the real precursor to a lot of the stripped down punk that came along in the late 70s. Bare bones, aggressive, and driving rock and roll with tons of attitude - this stuff simply kicked ass. And they put the bass guitar even more up front than The Who did.

I have vivid memories of me and my friend bouncing off of the walls to this album.

Off to a rocking good start Chula mah man.

Hey, I'm just joining in on the "I'll be reading this" announcements. Cheers.

The first three albums that you've posted are some of the first that I reviewed in my journal and that Grand Funk Railroad album is pretty damn the business.