Graham Nash’s favourite albums from the 1950s

(Credits: Alamy)

Mon 24 February 2025 17:00, UK

There’s no denying the seismic impact that rock music had on Graham Nash, not least because after growing up in the breakout era of its sonic evolution, he was quick to enter the fold in his own right, beginning in the 1960s with the Hollies before going on to even greater world acclaim as one-third of Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Yet it would be remiss, both from his own personal perspective and from that of a listener’s, to fail to acknowledge those who came before Nash in paving the way for a rock world takeover, and which inspired the nascent guitarist along with so many others to follow his dreams. Among his other all-time favourite albums, Nash made two seminal choices from the 1950s era in which he came of age, and as such, signalling the pivotal impact they played on the rest of his life.

Before getting into those important albums, however, Nash made time when previously speaking to Louder Sound to call out one of his favourite singles of the era, a tune that very much shaped his direction of musical travel despite their respective sounds being at completely polar ends of the spectrum. He said: “The first record I got was ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ by Gene Vincent“.

Recalling the way in which the 1956 hit changed his life, Nash continued: “The reason I joined Capitol Records was because of this record. I told them that I would join if they let me hear the original two-track recording of it. They let me hear it once… then I joined the company”.

But more than just significant singles, Nash’s two favourite albums from the 1950s speak volumes about the development of a pioneering guitarist who would shake up the rock world. Firstly, they arrived on the scene as one Chuck Berry and his debut record After School Session. Speaking to the increasing fever-pitch mania that rock and roll was increasingly taking grip of among the youth of society, singles from the album, including ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ and ‘School Day (Ring Ring Goes the Bell)’ raced into the top ten and took enraptured future stars like Nash himself into their super-charged world.

For a young Nash, the electrification of a revolution in the form of Berry was no doubt like an epiphany, but this was only cemented more by the rule book 101 for any aspiring guitar player, he picked out Buddy Holly’s eponymous debut album from 1958. The record was essentially the blueprint for burgeoning rock fans everywhere as well as the cornerstone legacy of Holly’s short but transcendental career, featuring his four hit singles ‘Words of Love’, ‘Peggy Sue’, ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’, and ‘Rave On!’.

For Nash’s own part, his own musical style developed out of a love for encompassing as much of life as possible between the seemingly limitless walls of sound and lyrics. It’s most likely why the rock revolution of the 1950s inspired him so much, as it was his first awakening into a world where he realised that any feeling or experience was possible. As a man for whom, to this very day, music still courses through his blood, it’s no surprise his first tastes of sonic legend were ones that would electrify his mind and soul forever.