10 '60s Hard Rock Albums You Need To Listen To

Lord knows what made the rock community suddenly want to get angry all of a sudden. Maybe it was the psychedelic effects brought up by drugs...maybe it just reacting to the horrific things that were happening in Vietnam at the time. Even though many artists were making music that seemed a bit off the wall, the arrival of Jimi Hendrix felt like we were listening a musical alien come to fruition.

Moving to the London blues scene before hitting it big, Hendrix blew away all of his competition on Are You Experienced, with a playing style that was as tasteful as it was off the rails. From the opening notes of the song Purple Haze alone, you can practically hear Hendrix breaking down the old guard of rock and roll to make way for the new era that was about to be birthed.

It almost feels weird classifying this in a genre at all, considering how much it borrows from everything from soul on The Wind Cries Mary to hard rock on Manic Depression to reaching all the way back to the blues on Hey Joe. Then again, there's no use in trying to sum up Jimi Hendrix in just a couple of sentences. For any rock fan who still hasn't heard who this guy is yet, you're going to need to seriously do your homework.