The Beatles – ‘1967 – 1970 (The Blue Album)’ 
The Beatles remain one of the most influential bands of all time, and it seems that there is no artist who hasn’t been somewhat inspired by their music.
Joey Santiago, despite dabbling in styles that don’t sound a whole lot like the Fab Four, is happy to admit just how much the band inspired him. Rather than pick a specific album by them, he opted instead for a greatest hits compilation, and when you’ve got as many as the Beatles have, why not?
“This is the second half of their greatest hits, the first one was the Red Album 1962-1966. I had the Red Album before the Blue,” he said, “While I loved the Red, the Blue was just the better era. The recordings were more adventurous. ‘I Am The Walrus’ just blew me away. My brother gave this to me at Xmas when I was 10.”
The Rolling Stones – ‘Through the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol 2)’ 
When The Rolling Stones’ manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, saw the amount of success that The Beatles were enjoying, he opted to try and get in on it. He did this by creating a band who were the extreme version of the Fab Four, with longer hair, louder clothes, and more flamboyant music and performance styles.
Throughout the heights of Beatlemania, you had the Rolling Stones close behind, completely dominating the musical world. They put out so much that it’s hard, once again, to choose a specific album to focus on, so Santiago opted for another greatest hits.
“When you’re young, the greatest hits seemed like the biggest bang for your paper-route money,” he said, “The octagon-shaped cover drew me to the album. ‘2000 Light Years From Home’ was my favorite. I had a pair of headphones and pot from this point on. Backward sound effects, synthesizers and dreamy orchestrations. What more can you ask for?”
The Velvet Underground – ‘The Velvet Underground’ 
“I had no idea why I liked this album,” said Santiago when discussing the self-titled offering from The Velvet Underground. He’s not on his own with these feelings either. The band were famed for their versatile approach to music, which allowed them to embrace whatever direction they wanted creatively, and left fans in a strange musical limbo which was both wonderful and unpredictable.
By embracing this kind of varied approach to music, a lot of fans, who might have previously only dabbled in the same few genres, found themselves suddenly listening to sounds that they were unfamiliar with.
“It just felt like I was opening up to other forms of music,” said Santiago, “The whole album was opening my fragile eggshell mind.”
The Stooges – ‘Fun House’ 
The term punk was coined towards the back end of the ‘70s when bands such as the Sex Pistols started making a name for themselves. While this was officially when the movement began, there were bands championing the sound and attitude that the genre was built on long before John Lydon came along.
One band who were out-punking punk before the word had even been uttered was The Stooges. They have a sound which people still recognise as ahead of its time, and for a lot of young people when it was originally released, it was the only music that mattered. Just ask Santiago.
“Great guitars. Fuck it attitude. Oh, I been dirt and I don’t care,” he said, “That’s the way to live it at that time at a university we were planning on leaving.”
Wes Montgomery – ‘A Day in the Life’ 
The Beatles continue to live on in the hearts of fans wherever they go in their lives, and sometimes, that can lead to unexpected discoveries. This is what happened with Santiago and Wes Montgomery’s album A Day in the Life. He originally picked it up because it had the same title as the iconic Beatles track, but he continued listening to the album because he suddenly found himself obsessed with jazz.
“I grabbed this album because of The Beatles title. It was different,” he said, “An intro to jazz for a rock-and-roll fan. Later on, the octave guitar would find its way to my playing.”
Jimi Hendrix – ‘Are You Experienced’
Has there ever been a guitarist who has captured the hearts and minds of music lovers more than someone like Jimi Hendrix? The moment he flew over to London, crowds everywhere were left totally in awe of what he was able to achieve with a bit of bravado and a six-string. This quality carried over into his studio work, too, which birthed some truly exceptional records.
“The first track was the one that I clung to at the time, ‘Purple Haze’. What an intro. Very angular. I had to learn it,” said Santiago, “This was the time I had my first electric guitar. My father smashed my acoustic when I came home sh*t-faced. A hidden blessing.”
AC/DC – ‘Back In Black’ 
AC/DC are a band who are often misunderstood by music lovers, as people think that they’re overly simple. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as while the band may have been responsible for some riffs that only consist of a few chords, there is nothing simple about the rugged sound they manage to achieve. It takes a lot to create such consistent and unique music, and it’s a talent that Santiago was in awe of.
“The fuck it years. I saw them play when this album came out,” he said, “They embraced the suburban angst I had. It was a rebellion to what my friends were listening to, ’60s hippie music, the classic rock at the time. Liking this band was dangerous. LOL. I rode my bike to the hockey stadium they were playing. Got there too early. ‘Shoot To Thrill’ bridge guitar mimicked a synthesizer to my ears. Very cool.”
Neil Young – ‘Harvest’ 
While he might be a controversial figure at times, there is no escaping the fact that Neil Young is one of the best songwriters out there.
Every single aspect of the human psyche has been covered in some way, shape, or form within Young’s music. These songs resonated with Santiago from a young age, tapping into emotions that he couldn’t even assign a label to.
“Sometime in high school. A typical teenager who wanted to leave home,” said Santiago, “In retrospect, I started experiencing bouts of depression. ‘Out on the Weekend’ captured every feeling I had in four minutes. That pedal steel guitar was a strange sensation.”
Link Wray – ‘At His Best’ 
The albums that make an impact on you and that you can reference as influences aren’t always good. While there are plenty of Link Wray fans out there, Santiago doesn’t remember this album because of its musical gumption; rather, he recounts the record because it reminds him of the early days of working with Charles Thompson. Wasted nights spent getting high and playing with electronics might have seemed silly at the time, but that, combined with this LP, is all they needed to begin working on what would become an iconic band.
“Charles and I shared an apartment when we were taking summer courses at UMass,” recalled Santiago, “We did get high a lot and had a laugh listening to this album. We were taking apart an amp with a butter knife, thinking we could fix it. We put it back together and had left over parts. If you really think about it, that’s how we approached music. Take it apart and discard some parts whether it’s needed or not.”
Pixies – ‘Bossanova’ 
I sometimes grow frustrated at artists who put lists like these together and don’t include their own records. You might have been inspired by the bands you grew up listening to, but that’s not where your influences start and stop. You’re equally influenced by your own career and the work that you put out.
It’s a relief to see Santiago include a Pixies album on this list, although the choice might surprise a lot of people. “Yeah, it happened to us, too,” he said, “Another band that no longer gets along and yet manages to put out something good. The myth of bands getting along like The Monkees has been debunked.”