Author: Pete Whelan

Patti Smith has called her 1975 debut record Horses “three-chord rock merged with the power of the word” – a merger that would ultimately allow Patti to distinguish herself from the burgeoning New York CBGB’s scene and reshape punk in her own image. Legend has it that Smith auditioned guitarist Lenny Kaye by asking him if he could play a car crash. He really can! The snarling, garage primitivism of his guitar is gilded perfectly by Smith’s fevered wail, unflinchingly inspired and sincere. Patti wears a lot of different hats on this record – poet, punk, revolutionary and high priestess – and the band wax and wane accordingly, building the songs into cathartic freakouts awash in straining guitars. John Cale’s (the Stooges, the Velvet Underground, Brian Eno) production lets the band breathe, never feeling intrusive but rather a steady hand pushing the band firmly over the abyss. Smith’s background as a performance poet allows her to breathe life into every word which, although surely carefully considered, feel spontaneous and heartfelt every time. Finally, Horses’ iconic cover is a stark photograph of a wry and androgynous Smith snapped by renowned photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (also the subject of her excellent memoir Just Kids). Her expression reads just like this record sounds – fearless, hopeful and ready.

In 2001 the Strokes found themselves in difficult position. After the release of a three track EP (The Modern Age) they had become the subject of a multi-million dollar record label bidding war and endlessly hyped by the British music press as the band that was to save good old fashioned rock n’ roll from the sea of hip hop and nu metal that had supplanted it on the pop charts. Miraculously, the Strokes overdelivered on the staggering hype that had beset the recording process of Is This It and delivered a record that crystallised their ultra hip New York City rock n’ roll lineage (Television and the Velvet Underground in particular) and laid the groundwork for a new kind of rock music that didn’t belong to grunge and didn’t consider pop to be a dirty word. After September 11 the world had transformed overnight into a different place and the Strokes, whether they liked it or not, were the soundtrack of the future. Vocalist Julian Casablancas plays the role of the Lou-Reed-esque sneering romantic perfectly while the glassy stabs of Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi’s duelling guitar laid the groundwork for the sound that was to become known as indie rock. Is This It entered the UK charts at no. 2 and breakout singles Hard to Explain and Last Nite electrified dance floors all over the world. The people had spoken: by all accounts, This Was It. The Strokes had arrived.

Pixies are a hard band to nail down and their 1988 debut Surfer Rosa exemplifies this. On one hand, this record could easily be described caterwauling, riff driven punk rock. Conversely however, it is also characterised by its offbeat sense of humour, nostalgia for Dick Dale-esque surf guitar and a thread of strange sweetness that runs through songs about incarceration, loneliness, insanity and obsession. The ability of songwriters Frank Black and Kim Deal to write songs containing these idiosyncrasies is one thing, but to perform them with such alternating vigorous energy and laid back California cool is a whole other trick. The Pixies emerged on their debut as a fully formed beast – loud/quiet/loud recipe fully loaded – and began to transform the alt rock landscape instantaneously. Like the Velvet Underground, they found mainstream success mostly after their initial implosion but the handful of people who were hip to them from the beginning all formed their own bands, including a young Kurt Cobain. Surfer Rosa doesn’t follow any blueprints – it is a new kind of rock n’ roll percolated in the fevered minds of Pixies. It is sometimes surreal and sometimes sweet, sometimes loud and sometimes quiet – but it is always brilliant.

If you tried to pinpoint the exact moment that Aretha Franklin ascended to her throne as the undisputed Queen of Soul, her 1967 LP “Never Loved A Man (The Way That I Love You” is ground zero. After a stifling run at Columbia Records, A 25 year old Franklin signed with Atlantic, teamed up with gifted producer Jerry Wexler (Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Dusty Springfield) and cut Never Loves a Man at the legendary Muscle Shoals recording studio in Alabama. The result was astonishing. At times, the record feels almost spiritual, (Do Right Woman, A Change Is Gonna Come) but at the same time it is packed with bonafide party starters like the title track, Good Times, Save Me and the anthemic Respect. Never Loved a Man is a landmark album in pop music, shuddering with equal parts agony and ecstasy. Long live the Queen!

The Sex Pistols’ debut and only full studio album, Never Mind The Bollocks was a game changer. Riding the rising tide of the punk explosion and the seemingly endless wave of negative publicity associated with the bands insurgent behaviour, Bollocks created a perfect storm of hype and anticipation and was rewarded with its debut atop the UK charts at #1. Amid the filth and fury surrounding Never Mind the Bollocks’ release, the Sex Pistols managed to transcend the hype surrounding the record by creating an iconoclastic masterpiece that redefined everything that a rock n’ roll album should be, similar to Nirvana’s Nevermind purging hair metal from the rock zeitgeist in 1991. Featuring a diss track about the Queen and odes to anarchy and abortion, Never Mind the Bollocks punched a hole through the Saturday Night Fever flavoured saccharine of 1977 and Johnny Rotten’s wicked snarl gave a voice to a new generation of disenfranchised youth.

Remain in Light is a crystallisation of elements that, at a glance, do not seem to add up to a rock masterpiece. The album is underpinned by the ebb and flow of afrobeat inspired rhythm, ornamented by the avant-garde, laser focused production of Brian Eno and punctuated with the urbane strangeness of David Byrne’s lyrics. Intriguing as these individual elements may be, on Remain in Light they combine, seemingly by pure alchemy, to create a record that is so much more than the sum of its parts. This record moves. Sometimes it moves smoothly and sinuously, sometimes with an awkward stutter but it is its state of perpetual motion which defines it. Talking Heads have one foot in dance and one foot in punk – the two dominant genres of the late 70’s New York scene that spawned them – yet they wilfully defy both in this bold meeting of head and heart that leaves the senses reeling.

Springsteen’s previous six albums were dominated by themes of working class struggle and tales of down-and-out underdogs. The lyrical content here is no different, but slick production values, the explosion of MTV and the looming shadow of Ronald Reagan created a perfect storm which allowed Born in the USA to spawn no less than seven top ten hits. In a much derided political misstep, Reagan tried to use Born in the USA – intended by Springsteen as an ode to downtrodden Vietnam veterans – as his campaign song. Springsteen had never been more relevant. Born in the USA perfectly encapsulated the temperament of mid 80’s America and the relatively new medium of MTV exposed Springsteen to a wider audience than ever – it is Springsteen’s most commercially successful record and one of the best selling of all time. Bruce’s writing is on point, as always – rich with the gut-wrenching sincerity that makes him so relatable. However it is the sizzle of the E Street band that offers a valuable counterpoint to the often dark, desperate lyrical content and helped give this album such a broad appeal. Born in the USA is deservedly a high point in the Boss’ oeuvre and the record that cemented him as a bonafide pop star.

While Johnny Cash was already a towering figure in country music, At Folsom Prison sees his metamorphosis into the notorious Man in Black. Recorded live at Folsom prison in front of a rowdy assemblage of California’s hardest inmates, the material Cash selects is very much in line with his working man reputation. From the amphetamine fulled Cocaine Blues and the rowdy Folsom Prison Blues to the melancholy of ballads like the Long Black Veil, At Folsom Prison underlines Johnny’s gift for storytelling. Sometimes bawdy, sometimes funny, sometimes tender, this is that rare live album where an artist truly bonds with an audience. As an interesting side note, Cash was arrested several times over the years but never actually served any hard time. The fact that a bunch of hardened prisoners so readily buy into his romantic outlaw myth-making is truly a testament to Cash’s easy charisma and his velvety drawl, cementing At Folsom Prison as milestone in Cash’s career, as well as one of the most moving live albums ever cut to wax.

Hendrix’s groundbreaking debut Are You Experienced shook pop music to its very core. In 1967 nobody had ever heard a rock n roll outfit sound so nasty and seductive. At this point, nothing even remotely as heavy had cracked the top ten but Are You Experienced rocketed all the way to number 2 in the UK charts upon its release, blocked from number 1 only by Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Jimi’s fusion of blues, feedback and distortion changed the game for everyone. Listening to its perfectly honed waves of fuzz and sonic experimentation, one easily forgets that this record dropped relatively early in the Hard Rock piece – during the Summer of Love – before Led Zeppelin had even formed. Are You Experienced duly wrote the blueprint for 70’s rock n’ roll and heavy metal and stands as perhaps the most robust debut in pop music history. The track list reads like a greatest hits, it’s scary that Jimi only continued to evolve after this. Best listened to at extremely high volume. Now, excuse me while I kiss the sky!

Of all the personas that Bowie inhabited throughout his career, none resonated in pop culture quite like Ziggy Stardust. Part alien and part rock god, Ziggy was Bowie’s androgynous charm made flesh, sparking the public imagination and moving records like nobody had since the Beatles. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars marks Bowie’s ascent to superstardom and has remained a rite of passage for rock n’ rollers the world over since its 1972 release. Bowie’s gift for melody and lyric is showcased here but the Spiders from Mars, particularly lead guitarist and serial Bowie collaborator Mick Ronson also shine brightly. Album highlights: all of it! From the apocalyptic opener Five Years to the hip shaking closer Suffragette City this album is all killer and no filler – a glam rock masterpiece. Wham bam thank you ma’am!