Kyuss

Although Welcome To Sky Valley was more psychedelic, this, Kyuss' second record, is the one that both kick started the stoner rock movement and laid the sonic blueprint for just about every single one of the band's followers, of which there were many. Jamming extended freakouts next to tight, riff-driven desert-metal gems, Kyuss foreshadowed Queens of the Stone Age's perfect prescription of pop/metal/Nirvana-ness. "Thumb," "The Thong Song" and "Writhe" are among the band's signature jams. Josh Homme's guitar (played through a bass amp) is worth the price of admission alone.