My dad and brother had these tapes in their cars and it seems like everywhere we went one of these was playing. I know id heard music before this but these are the earliest song I can remember hearing. I can recite every line from every track on both of these releases. They started what was to become my lifelong obsession. In the case of Depeche mode, they remain one of my favorite acts of all time.
This was probably the first album I listened to that overwhelmed me. I think back over music that I was most passionate in my life and the one constant is that the majority of it scared me when I first heard it. That all started with this album. You can say what you want about the doors and sure this starts with two soft lovey dovey tracks, but as a kid hearing "Not to touch the earth" with its blazing organs and pulsating rhythm and morrison HOWLING like a fucking mad prophet...all blazing out of my fathers giant hifi terrified me and excited me in equal measures. I can look back to this as a singular event going down as one of my parents greatest fuckups.
Of course. I was like seven and I was devouring Moorcocks psychedelic anti hero Elric of Melnibone. I walked into the local music store at the mall (Omni music) and asked for "Something like the doors" and tried to describe their heavier stuff, though I hadn't heard the term heavy and couldn't relate it so I just told the guy "like the loud and scary stuff". As I said I was absolutely enamoured of Moorcocks writing and, as it turned out, I was carrying a copy of one of his books. The guy in the shop said "I have just the thing, I have an album with the author of that book on it" That was it. I had to have it. The guy said "when you get home, turn to the track "sonic attack", that's Michael Moorcock right there" As it turns out, he had smoked way too much weed because the version from SR is actually Robert calvert, but the ungodly noise of sonic attack and his mention of orgasms sent my mom into a rage, thusly cementing SR as the first (later followed by wu-tang forever, south of heaven by slayer, and the first Nashville pussy album) that my mom broke and threw away. But ill never forget that noise...and the two track that follow sent me on the path looking for heavier stuff.
This is my first heavy metal album. This is the first album that reeeally made me want to play guitar. My first guitar was a shitty epiphone SG copy because tony iommi played one and it looked evil as fuck. After this there was no looking back. I liked heavy metal and the more brutal and satanic and outrageous it was the better.
More to come later.
