The time I burned my guitar it was like a sacrifice. You sacrifice the things you love. I love my guitar. -Jimi Hendrix

Once I picked up an electric guitar, I lost interest in piano, and I just wanted to rock. - Juliana Hatfield

There are a lot of legends and folklore in rock music:

• Ozzy threw puppies out to audience members and told them to kill them or there wouldn't be a show
  
• Marilyn Manson is the goofy-looking kid from "The Wonder Years"...or was it the kid from "Mr. Belvedere"?
• Elvis Presley - and 2Pac Shakur - are still alive

One of the most famous stories told is about guitarist Robert Johnson. According to legend, Johnson met up with the devil at the crossroads one night and sold his soul to learn to play the guitar. (This is referenced in the movie O Brother Where Art Thou and slightly tweaked for the Charlie Daniels hit "The Devil Went Down to Georgia.")

Whether it's true or not is not important. The simple fact that there is a man that may have actually sold his soul to learn to play guitar is fascinating. I think it speaks volumes about what kind of affect guitar rock has on all of us.

The band that made me want to be in a rock band was Def Leppard. (See the story here.) In fact, Def Leppard was the reason I started doing this "Why We Love Music" series in the first place. Their CD, Yeah!, which contains covers of all the different glam rockers of the 70's inspired me. In the liner notes - one of the many reasons why you should still buy CDs instead of just downloading MP3 - the boys in Def Lep tell the reasons behind each song they covered. As a self-described music geek, I ate this up and decided to see what songs have truly inspired regular people.

And guitar rock is one of those inspirations.

I remember, as a kid, watching old TV clips of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I remember seeing the girls scream and faint and cry. I thought then, "Why are they crying? Those girls are whacked!"

Years later I was at a Van Halen concert. When the lights went down to signal the concert was about to begin, the crowd went nuts. Lights flashed on the stage as Alex Van Halen sat at his drums and Michael Anthony - with his Jack Daniels-shaped bass guitar - took his place on stage.

Just then, a lone guitar wailed. Before I could catch my breath, Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar both came running out from opposite sides of the stage - both playing the guitar intro to Sammy's "Only One Way to Rock."

I screamed like a little girl and had to hold the tears back.

Thom wrote the following:

VH was my first big rock infatuation. The musicianship coupled with the showmanship totally blew my 14-year-old mind.

Brett wrote:

Isn’t it amazing how a familiar tune can change the whole perspective of a day? Just like smelling just the right combination of flowers and fresh air takes me back to playing in the fields behind my house as a kid, I can’t hear "Hot for Teacher" without deep-seated memories of high school returning in full detail. Memories that took years of counseling to remove in the first place, I might add.

Aleisha had this to say:

I remember watching the "Hot for Teacher" video on MTV. Maybe that is why I am teaching now.

But it's not all about Van Halen. Many of you have written to me and informed me that groups like AC/DC, Rush, Aerosmith and Styx have had some sort of influence on you. Also mentioned were guitar players like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Steve Stevens, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Randy Rhoads.

Randy Rhoads - for those that don't know - was Ozzy's guitar player after he left Black Sabbath. (NOTE: Randy also formed the group Quiet Riot.) The team of Ozzy & Randy was one of the best, arguably ranking up there with Page/Plant, Jagger/Richards, Tyler/Perry.

Alan wrote to me:

The first time I heard "Crazy Train", I felt like I had been hit in the stomach by something powerful.

Rob said this about Ozzy:

Ozzy carried me through the angry teen years with style. I got in plenty of trouble putting a lighted LED upside down cross into my jacket. I was also busted for carving out a math book to hide a walkman and speakers in and cranking "Shot in the Dark" in back of the bleachers.

Guitar has such an amazing effect on people. I mean, as far as I know, it's the only instrument that officially has an air equivalent.



Although, I do admit that I play a mean "dashboard piano" while I'm listening to Billy Joel's "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" in the car, but that's for another post.