The Doors – The Doors

The Doors debut album features very little overdubs; it is essentially a snapshot of one of their famously wild live performances at the Whisky a Go Go. Featuring some of their biggest hits including ‘Light My Fire’, ‘Break On Through (To The Other Side)’ and ‘The End’, this album introduced the world to Jim Morrison’s dark poetic lyrics and wild personality. The world hasn’t seen anything quite like it before or since.

Big Brother and the Holding Company – Cheap Thrills

Quick to capitalise on the success of their performance at Monterey Pop Festival, the band released their debut and Cheap Thrills shortly after. It would be the band’s last album with the incredible Janis Joplin as their lead singer. It spawned two of her biggest hits, ‘Piece of My Heart’ and ‘Ball and Chain’, and kickstarted her hugely influential, but sadly short-lived solo career.

Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow

One of the greatest albums of the “Summer of Love” and the first to include Grace Slick as front woman. Spawning the massive singles ‘White Rabbit’ and ‘Somebody to Love’ it propelled them to become international stars. Glace Slick became one of the pioneering women in rock music and inspired such people as Stevie Nicks, Patti Smith and Florence Welch.

Cream – Disraeli Gears

Considered one of the first and most successful supergroups of all time. Disraeli Gears saw them depart from the blues sound of their debut and venture into more psychedelic territory, such as on ‘Strange Brew’, ‘Tales of Brave Ulysses’ and the band’s signature song ‘Sunshine of Your Love’.  Although they were only together for a couple of years, they influenced a host of important bands including Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.