Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer

Vincebus Eruptum, Blue Cheer's debut, came crashing out of San Francisco on Philips on January 16, 1968, and next to it most of the city's acid rock sounds positively polite. Abe Kesh produced, but there's not much to polish: just a trio of Dickie Peterson on bass and lead vocals, Leigh Stephens on guitar and Paul Whaley on drums, playing the blues at a volume that flattens everything in its path. Even the pseudo-Latin title sounds like a curse.

The album reached number 11 on the Billboard 200, and their stampeding cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" became a number 14 hit. Nobody had a word for this kind of thunder yet; later it would be called heavy metal, and the record is often counted among the very first. Spin placed it at number 22 among the 40 greatest metal albums, hearing the birth of grunge in it as well.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.