Those of you that read my first choice in this series may remember that it was Iron Maiden, through their Number Of The Beast album, who set me on the road to my love of rock music. You may also recall that I mentioned that I was the only male in my school with long hair, primarily as I was virtually the only person who liked rock and metal. This presented a bit of a problem when it came to broadening my rock knowledge and exposure, as I simply didn’t have any mates or older siblings that were into the music and as such, was left to my own devices when it came to “discovering” bands.
 
At the time, I, like most other rock fans, used to buy Kerrang! Magazine religiously…it really was the rock bible at that time, which is why it is such a shame to see what it has now become, in my opinion. I used to get it delivered each Wednesday morning and would have read it cover to cover by the time school registration was over.
 
From the magazine, I became more and more aware of rock bands that I had to check out, but a lack of money meant that I could not possibly buy anywhere near all the things I saw recommended. What I needed was some help to find my way deeper into the rock scene.
 
In 1985, Kerrang! decided to put out their very first album, the Kerrang! Kompilation, which opened both my eyes and my ears to a whole load of bands whose names I had become familiar with, but whose sound I had not yet had the chance to hear. That album was to become the source of getting me into some bands which have remained personal favourites since that day, as well as leading me to investigate all sorts of other bands it would have taken me ages to find by myself.
 
For example, this was the first time I had heard Whitesnake, Scorpions, KISS, WASP, Bon Jovi and Marillion for example and you can see from that list of legendary names that I was in for one hell of a ride once the floodgates had been opened. Having bought that initial compilation, it led me to buying 20 of the full albums from which the 24 individual tracks were taken. This in turn led me to invest in the back catalogues of the vast majority of those acts involved, before finally arousing my curiosity to look further at individuals in those acts and pick up albums they had been involved with in other bands.
 
This whole snowballing effect meant that I had opened up the glam rock genre via KISS and Madam X, increased my true metal love with Manowar and Warrior, heard my first blues rock through Whitesnake, my first prog rock in Marillion and more great melodic hard rock in the shape of Scorpions, Stone Fury, Tobruk and Bon Jovi.
 
This album became like a learning mentor for me, my own personal Yoda introducing me to “the force” of rock music. I would probably have discovered all of these bands in time, but the importance of that particular compilation at that exact time in my life cannot be underestimated for the effect it had on my life.

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