10 Albums That Changed The Face Of Rock Music

Since its conception, rock music has gone through a number of face lifts and body tucks. But everything, from the care free jaunt of rock n' roll, to the sludgy oppression of doom metal, shares a common ancestor: the blues. The evolution and divergence from this point of origin, has resulted in an ever expanding genome of musical wonderment.

Although there's a wealth of records that helped push innovation, there was one specific point in time that harboured the most influential sounds ever to be conceived. Rock music as we know it saw its creative explosion during the '60s. The counterculture movement of the '60s forever changed how music would be approached and created. Mind altering substances, political and social revolution and a yearning for alternative ways of living, all pushed the innovation. From that point onwards, the door of musical possibility was blown off its hinges with the help of high powered amplifiers.

These are the albums that changed everything. Whether you enjoy a frenzied mosh pit or just a damn fine sing along, these records are responsible for the cultural shift that made your every musical desire possible.

Black Sabbath's self-titled debut introduced a new form of rock music to the world. Tommy Iommi masked his blues-inspired licks with plenty of distortion and a down-tuned guitar. Metal was born, and along with it, a foreboding dread would forever have a place on the fretboard.

Although that record opened up new realms of musical hell, it paled in comparison to the group's follow up release. If Black Sabbath birthed metal, then Paranoid crafted it into the beast it would become. The ominous doom and gloom of Sabbath's debut set the tone, but the group's follow up proved that doom and gloom could be tuneful. Epics like War Pigs, Iron Man and Paranoid were as catchy as they were heavy. And then there's Planet Caravan. It was blues-infused psychedelia, augmented by a hint of latin music, thanks to a subtle application of a conga drum.

One moment you're floating through ambient bliss, the next you're wrestling with the metal beast, Iron Man. Metal heads, grunge fans and alternative rockers, have this album to thank for generations of musicians tuning down their strings and turning up their amps.