'I got my first real six-string / Bought it at the five and dime'… The opening lines of Summer Of '69 is one of the most memorable in rock, but now Bryan Adams, its co-writer and the man who made it globally famous, has revealed what his first real six-string actually was.
"I bought an imitation Les Paul at a '5 and dime' store in Ottawa, Canada in 1971," Adams tells Guitarist magazine (opens in new tab)'s David Mead in a feature for a future issue.
"Before that, I had an imitation Strat which I bought in Reading, England in 1970. It felt real at the time to have a Les Paul, even though I'm a massive Ritchie Blackmore fan - still am. I was heavily into Humble Pie's Rockin’ The Fillmore album at the time, and both Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott were on Les Pauls. It's rock guitar heaven, that album."
So what Adams considers to be his 'real' guitar was indeed purchased at a five and dime!
Bryan Adams' new album So Happy It Hurts is released on 11 March, and he tours the UK in May.
