Songs that Rocked my World

All of us have probably had songs or bands that had a profound impact on us at one time or another--it is not just that you liked them or thought they were good but, somehow, they magically changed your inner landscape. Here are mine (in chronological order):

1) "Born to be Wild" -- Steppenwolf. I was just a little dude (around 11, I guess) when I first heard this. The Beatles and the Stones and then all the Psychedelic bands all hit when I was around 9 or 10 years old but the first group that really knocked me for a loop was Steppenwolf.

2) "Cold Turkey" --John Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band. I was probably around 13 or so when this and "Instant Karma" came out--just after the Beatles split, no more Beatles cartoons on Saturday morning, and this song also was like a lightning rod to me.

3) "Personality Crisis" -- New York Dolls. I was listening to Glam a lot, not knowing even what "Glam" was and certainly not knowing what it looked like--especially Slade and T. Rex but when I first heard this I, literally, walked around in a daze. THE biggest most intense reaction EVER to any one song was this one.

4) "Rock and Roll All Nite" -- Kiss. I was totally in to Kiss when they first showed up and saw them live early on. This song with its hooks totally floored me. I was still, on the surface, the Frat boy jock but my tastes were pointing me down a path away from that world and I remember constantly getting shit about listening to Kiss back in the early to mid '70's.

5) "God Save the Queen" -- The Sex Pistols. After the New York Dolls, the second cosmic shift came with punk. God how I HATED Disco and when I heard the Sex Pistols my world, once again, took a sharp turn to the left.

6) "Pump it Up" -- Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Early Elvis (just like early Elivis Presley, too) was fantastic and every song on every album was incredible. The only person back then who I bought their new album almost the day it came out. Later I became very disappointed with Elvis Costello but back then, in the '70's, he was incredible.

7) "People who Died" -- Jim Carroll Band. A poet turned rocker I listened to this album, "Catholic Boy", over and over and over again.

All these bands/songs came out by the time I was 24-25 and since then I have found many bands I like but none has impacted me in the same way. Maybe that is because I am older--maybe, maybe not. But these songs were big deals to me at the time.

The biggest though--based on what it did to me AT THE TIME--was The Dolls and "Personality Crisis", followed by the Sex Pistols.