

By Kepi Ghoulie
Hi! Here are 5 records that made a pretty big impact on my evolution:
Johnny Cash at San Quentin
I got this in like the 3rd grade for my birthday. I loved “A Boy Named Sue” but then fell in love with the whole thing, especially “Wreck of the Old ‘97.” It was punk (he played the same song twice in a row); it was funny; it was electric; it was everything!!!
Never Mind the Bollocks by The Sex Pistols
My brother came home with a stack of mostly rando promo records that he won at a school dance and this was in it!!! I put it on, and it totally blew my mind!!! I played it for my few friends, and along with DEVO, it totally changed my world!!!
Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits
This really showed me the power of great songwriting. It’s all brilliant, even up to his last album. The line “I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes, you’d know what a drag it is to see you” was incendiary! So sassy and punk, that song converted me for life, at least to his music.
End of the Century by The Ramones
The first of theirs that I ever owned; it combined everything I ever loved about music and kicked it up a notch. Probably my biggest overall influence, but there were many; I just went all in like a happy little cretin!
Hurt Me by Johnny Thunders
Along with Neil Young, This Johnny Thunders record showed that a punk could be just as absolutely brilliant/beautiful playing acoustic or electric… after Groovie Ghoulies broke up these two artists, and since, Tom Petty, have set the palette of my last 20 years, two the point that my first two solo records were one acoustic, one electric, released on the SAME DAY so no one could try to say what kind of genre it was. Thanks to anyone who ever listened to/liked any of my music! Grateful! Cheers!
Follow Kepi here to find out about all his 28-albums-in-28-days Phoenix residency and all upcoming shows and plans!
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