Forerunners of hard rock and metal. Deep Purple mixed classical influences, along with blues, and came up with a sound that is distinctly their own. Part of hard rock's Holy Trinity, along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath. Rock hard, rock fast, rock loudly!

Parties, girls, guitars. Isn't that what rock n roll's all about? Few guitarists have turned the electric guitar on its head like Eddie Van Halen. For better and for worse, since Van Halen came on the scene in the late 70s, every young punk can fingertap. But of course, none have Eddie's incredible sense of melody. Here's lookin' at the David Lee Roth years of Van Halen!

That Lil' Ol' Band from Texas has been around for over 40 years. In fact, they're the longest running rock band without a personel change. ZZ Top have managed to adapt to the times without sacrificing their Texas roots, and enjoyed tremendous success along the way - especially with Eliminator. This show however spotlights ZZ Top in the 70's. A decade where they filled stadiums with their dirty boogie when disco and hard rock were all the rage. These guys just ooze cool. Only ZZ Top could sing the recipe for apple pie and make it sound smutty. Ya gotta love that. Haw haw haw.

Formed in 1969 Dublin, Thin Lizzy wasn't really Phil Lynott's band. At least not at first. The band was formed and christened by original guitarist Eric Bell. He was big on Eric Clapton. On the cover of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (pretty cool album, i must say), Slowhand is seen reading Beano, an English comic book. One of the characters in Beano was named Tin Lizzy. Now, if you've heard the Irish speak, you know the sound of the letter H is virtually non-existant. So Thin Lizzy (or Tin Lizzy if you're Irish) is a pun off a comic book character. By the mid 70s Bell had left, and Lynott's charisma had taken center stage in this great band. Although he generally wrote the lyrics, more often than not, the music was a band effort. And it would be that way until that awful Christmas Day in 1985 when Lynott was rushed to the hospital, years of abuse taking their toll. Why this band never got its due credit, i don't know. But i don't mind spreading the Thin Lizzy gospel to anyone who might be listening. They're that good.

Before they became a cliche of their first couple of albums, Jimmy Page took a left turn and hit the road untravelled. Lots of great heavy riffs here and big fat drums, but also Zep unplugs and touches on folky acoustic stuff. This ain't no Peter, Paul & Mary though. Even the acoustic stuff comes across heavy and edgy. And that's why we love Led Zeppelin, right?

In the landscape of rock music, this is the monolith that towers above all. Every hard rock band since has had to measure up to Physical Graffiti. Most fail.