Black Sabbath Vol. 4 Yeh, I know. What about Paranoid? Master of Reality? Good albums, but Vol. 4 seems more powerful, more improvisational, like the Love Supreme of heavy metal. A bong, Dual turntable, a big wooden Pioneer receiver, old Advent speakers and this album made for a very pleasurable experience.

AC/DC Back in Black (1980) After Bon Scott died, AC/DC was forced to find a new singer and boy, did they. Brian Johnson was more than a substitute and this recording became one of the all time classic heavy metal recordings right next to classics such as Zeppelin II and Volume 4 by Black Sabbath. With "Mutt" Lange behind the board pre-Shania, songs like "You Shook Me" have come to define what can be done with a guitar, a stack of amps and a shredding voice.

Alice Cooper Love It to Death From Detroit, Alice was rooted in that urban, in your face, f u guitar rock style. While most focused on the band's theatrics, their songs were great. There are not many teenage anthems better than "I'm Eighteen". Alice and the band wrote great songs with killer hooks, except that the band played at a very high decibel level. I think this is the band's best album.

James Gang Rides Again Many forget that Joe Walsh made this great record with The James Gang. The tasteful playing and great blues rock songs on this recording are Walsh's legacy to those in the know. And I'll admit, the solo in "Hotel California" is great, but I can't listen to it one more time.

Aerosmith Rocks (1976) A truly ballsy recording, it all comes together for Aerosmith here. Combining the swagger of The NY Dolls, the bluesy riffing of Zeppelin and the song structures of The Beatles, this is one of the only recordings of that year that caught everyone's attention outside of everything Ramones and anything from the lower East Side of New York.

Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction 1. Axl was/is a jerk. 2. The band was overhyped. 3. They are responsible in part for hair metal. 4. It's unfair that they basically stole the whole Hanoi Rocks thing and made money off of it. But this is one *kick ass* recording.

Led Zeppelin I (Atlantic 1969) Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic 1970) Led Zeppelin III (Atlantic 1971) Led Zeppelin Zoso/IV (Atlantic 1973) Houses of the Holy (Atlantic 1975) Physical Graffiti (Atlantic 1976) The standard by which all other heavy metal bands are judged, and they were not heavy metal really. The reason they were great is that the band had a base in real British blues going back to the mid-'60s in England where bands like The Stones, Downliners Sect and Pretty Things really appreciated and lived classic blues. Zep always kept its roots there, but redefined it with their writing, guitar sounds and huge drum sounds. Everyone wanted to sound like Zeppelin but no one ever achieved that unique combination of power and mysticism. One of the most important bands of all time. A paragraph is not enough to describe their significance but it will have to do for now.

Deep Purple Made in Japan Just a great live recording, except it may have given birth to the 15 minute guitar solo, so it loses points.

Kiss: Alive! A recording full of anthems that still remains vibrant to this day. Everyone I knew thought that Kiss sucked when I was a kid until they really listened to this double album. Glammy, bluesy and brimming with hooks, this record is a highlight of '70s rock. Their best recording by far says a former card carrying member of the Kiss Army.