10 Greatest Classic Rock Albums You Need To Hear Before You Die

Anyone who tries to play rock guitar has to pick up something from Jimi Hendrix sooner or later. Breaking in the London club scene in the mid-60's, Hendrix walked up on stage with his Fender Stratocaster and proceeded to put his stamp on rock history.

When Are You Experienced was finally released, it seemed to defy any type of genre labels that had come before it. This music was soulful but at the same time incredibly heavy, with songs like "Manic Depression" and "Purple Haze" setting a template for hard rock. There was also a druggy haze about the music that went on to become synonymous with the psychedelic scene of the Summer of Love.

Though the songs stand on their own, every moment on the record revolves around Jimi's guitar work, which was some of the most soulful performances of the time. The six-stringed beast really felt like an extension of Hendrix every time he strapped it on, with the sound veering from serene cleanliness to angry musical destruction. This is the instant where hard rock branched out from blues roots into something much more intriguing. While the 60's produced great albums left and right, Are You Experienced is probably the closest you can get to how the Love era actually sounded.