10 Rock Albums That Changed My Life

I was 10 yrs young and on a camping trip. One of the guys on the trip had a boom box and threw on this cassette and on comes ‘Black Dog,’ I was like ‘What is that??!!’ THAT, is Led Zeppelin. Welcome to rock & roll kid….

My cousin was always a huge Kiss fan and I only knew Kiss as being ‘the guys with the cool make up.’ One day I asked him what they sound like and he had me listen to this album. After that, I was officially inducted into the Kiss Army for life.

My first introduction to the Prince of Darkness…To this day I still believe Jake E. Lee never got the respect he deserved for his work as Ozzy’s guitarist… I guess it’s a tough act to follow when the guy you replace is named Randy Rhoads.

Much like Ozzy, this was the first album I listened to by The Priest and just hearing Rob Halford’s ear piercing screams, had me hooked on the British Metal Gods from day one.

While I was always into the 'Diamond Dave' years of Van Halen, from the moment I heard Sammy Hagar’s voice saying ‘Hellllloooooo Bayyyyyyby,’ mixed with Eddie Van Halen’s guitar riffs on the opening track ‘Good Enough,’ I couldn’t get enough! Still one of my top 5 favorite all time albums.

My initiation to world of thrash…I must admit, I was blown away…I remember seeing the band's first video for the song 'One' and couldn't get out to the record store fast enough to go buy the album. Metallica propelled me into a whole different side of metal.

One of the best concept albums you’ll ever listen to. There was great music coming out of Seattle WAY before the grunge movement ever showed up and their name was Queensryche.

I was always into Ronnie James Dio for the wizardry and sorcery and the cool videos he had but when it came down to it, Dio was a phenomenal talent and Holy Diver is nothing short of amazing.

When I was younger, I wanted to be a drummer and listening to Neil Peart was like listening to the gospel of rock drumming. Rush will always be one of my all time favorite bands and this being my favorite album. “The Camera Eye” is still one of their most underrated songs

Was always a big fan of the Bon Scott years and this is Scott’s last album with the band from down under. It can arguably be said that Highway to Hell was his absolute best album with the band as well.