The Ripple Effect: The Music Commentary Radio Show  

When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever hear Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphanies since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.

What have been your musical epiphany moments?

My first two LP’s were Van Halen I and Cheap Trick “Live at Budokan.” My first instrument as a kid was the French Horn, but, after my older neighborhood buddy turned me on to Led Zeppelin, I was inspired to take up the electric bass. My room was plastered with Zep posters during my junior high years—not such an uncommon thing really. I remember my father taking me (he fell asleep) to my first midnight showing of Song Remains The Same. I think that was an epiphany for me.

Skipping ahead to my college years, I really had an epiphany with Pink Floyd and not only them but a lot of other psychedelic stuff from that era. What was a little unusual about this was that these epiphanies occurred in specially arranged settings. I formed a tradition during that time of building tents inside any given room in the house out of sheets and futons—a perfect setting in which to absorb all the visceral music I was discovering for the first time. It really was a listening ritual, and we tried to avoid too much party rant.

more . . . http://ripplemusic.blogspot.com/2008/12/sunday-conversation-with-heavy-water.html