There is one of those Facebook challenges that you identify the 10 albums that have most influenced my love of music. Because I already get enough ads for bootleg Kiss T-Shirts, I have accepted Matt’s challenge, but posted it here. This list takes me through to the age of about 21, which seem about right.
0 – Bohemian Rhapsody
Not an album, so not ‘officially’ on the list but it was the first song that I remember loving, and therefore the first key to my love of music. I remember listening to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 every Saturday? afternoon just hoping to hear it.
1 – Sherbet ‘Howzat’
The first album I owned. The second if you include a cassette of Abba’s ‘Abba’ but I don’t because cassettes were not cool. I also liked Sherbet much more. Listening back, I have no clue why. It could not be more middle of the road. But I was nine. What did I know. Harvey James was the first guitarist I loved. Eddie Van Halen he was not, but his were the first solos that I was into.
2 – Kiss ‘Dynasty’
I was 12, in Year 7. ‘Kiss and the Attack of the Phantoms’ was about to be released and like all 12 year olds in Adelaide in 1979 I drank a lot of Icees to collect the tokens I needed to go to the see the movie in the cinema for free. Their 1980 tour would have been my first concert except my parents were afraid of us being randomly injected with heroin. Obviously ‘Dynasty’ is the 7th best Kiss album, but it was the one that got me in.
3 – Cheap Trick ‘Heaven Tonight’
A friend at school had a brother who was a local musician (many years later he ended up founding The Superjesus) (the brother, not the friend). He was my musical guide during high school and had the logos for Kiss and Cheap Trick written on his schoolbag. I didn’t want him to think I was not cool, so rather than asking him about them, I borrowed ‘Heaven Tonight’ from the State Library. Matt hated this, which is why we listened to Head on the Door on repeat (see below).
4 – The Cure ‘The Head on the Door’
I may be wrong, but a flicker of a memory appears that we bought this cassette in a roadhouse on a volleyball (presumably Vasco) trip and listened to it for five hours on repeat on the way to some excuse to play volleyball and drink beer. I never expected to like it, but I did.
5 – Queen ‘Greatest Hits’
Another trip (or maybe the same one), another cassette (this one almost certainly bootlegged). Every single song is a classic.
6 – U2 ‘Under a Blood Red Sky’
I don’t remember who or why I started listening to this. Probably it was just being promoted a lot and I had no other reference points (see Kiss, above). ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ Tour was the first concert I went to, with Paul and Chris. The second concert was the very next night, Kids in the Kitchen.
7 – Midnight Oil ‘10,9,8…’ / V. Spy V. Spy
‘Six Fresh Lemons’
I do remember exactly where this comes from. That is 100% Kels. I include them together because the Spies supported the Oils when we all saw them on the ‘Red Sails…’ tour and they were almost interchangeable at Kels’ place. ‘Place Without a Postcard’ is the best Midnight Oil album, and ‘Harry’s Reasons’ is the best Spies, but we are talking entry level in this list. I also include them together because otherwise I have more than 10 on this list.
8 – The Angels ‘Face to Face’
I’m not sure of the origin of this. I remember Matt loving The Angels, and I remember loving ‘No Secrets’, I’m not sure which came first. ‘No Secrets’ was the entry. Face to Face is the best album.
9 – Guns N’ Roses ‘Appetite for Destruction’
Alexis was recommended this by a friend before they became big. I paid him out for listening to thrash, but begrudgingly quite liked ‘Sweet Child…’. It ended up being the album I have listened to the most in my life.
10 – The Dogs D’Amour ‘In the Dynamite Jet Saloon’
Living in London for a few months, I was attracted by the artwork on the single of ‘Satellite Kid’ that I saw in a record shop. So bought that, then this album. I loved this straight away. Dirty, sweaty, drunken rock and roll, with great stories in the lyrics. This led down the path to amazing early 80s rock music including Hanoi Rocks.
the wanderer 
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