10. The Jimi Hendrix ExperienceAxis: Bold As Love
This is a record that has been with me so long because of the hippy environment that I grew up in. When I was 11 or 12, I remember the excitement of hearing this record for the first time. There are a couple of duds on there, and that threw me off a bit. But there are so many amazing songs that show the softer side of Jimi Hendrix – incredible songwriting and more mellow stuff, and these choruses that just explode in a really dramatic way. It also triggers a funny memory for me when I think about this record… My first girlfriend – in grade seven, when I was 12 or 13 – she was the daughter of one of the teachers at the school. She was really into Hendrix and was part of the reason why I got into him. But around the time I got hold of this record, she dropped acid in gym class. She was the first person I knew to drop acid. And then her mum came up to her when she was trying to open her locker – she was the teacher – and started talking to her. I know some people find ‘Little Wing’ a bit too saccharine, but all those Hendrix ballads make me so nostalgic for that time and all the people that I knew and where I grew up.
