Listed: Mick Collins

Mick Collins, Dirtbombs front-man and 1/3 of the legendary garage punk combo The Gories, delivers a list of 10 records that had a pivotal role in shaping his band.

Here are some of my favorite moments:

6. The Cramps - Smell Of Female When I was in college, There was one, count it, ONE goth girl on the whole campus. She was a regular listener to my show on the campus radio station, and when her friends found out I was black, they thought it would be really funny if they got the two of us together (yay, smalltown America). Well, to their dismay no hijinks ensued, but we did hit it off platonically. I was a regular customer of Greenworld Distribution (later known as Engima Records) and she used to get records from God only knows where. Anyway, we used to hang out and play records all the time, and one day she pulled this out of a mailing envelope. I’d only heard a couple of Cramps singles at the time, but she hadn’t heard them at all, and only got the record because someone told her they sounded like Alien Sex Fiend. She was very angry after she put it on the turntable, but *I* had just heard one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll records of my young life. The one-two punch of "Thee Most Exalted Potentate Of Love" and "You Got Good Taste" left a mark on my soul that I’ve been trying to live up to ever since.

1. Mission Of Burma - Vs. and Forget You will forgive me for listing two LPs, but the absolute truth of the matter is that there wouldn’t BE a Dirtbombs without Mission Of Burma. The first time I heard "Trem Two" (on the radio, no less; Detroit was awesome like that in 1982), I knew I was hearing something great. Hearing the whole LP of Vs. for the first time was like reaching a mountaintop, and realizing there are other, higher mountains; a strange sensation of "Wow, *anything* is possible." Later, I can recall listening to "Hunt Again" on "Forget" and thinking "Goddamn, I wanna be in a band that sounds like THAT!!" While I can’t say Mission Of Burma is responsible for me picking up a guitar, I can unequivocally state they are responsible for the band that became the Dirtbombs. It is a sad irony of my life that I’ve never seen Mission Of Burma live: every time they’ve toured, I’ve also been on tour.

7. Black Flag - Damaged I should have to say something about this one? Really?

Read the full list at dustedmagazin.com and check out the archives that go all the way back to July 2002.