This has been done before. It’s not a right or wrong thing. Totally your own taste and opinion. But still, if you’re being honest and think about the entire offering as a whole. No clunkers. Impact. Still a long list of contenders, but not quite as long. I’m 53 and have thought about this a long time. My personal taste is classic rock, and there a lot of albums (!) that are contenders. In the end, I am going with:
<spoiler> Blood On The Tracks by Bob Dylan </spoiler>
I think it’s perfect.
There are so many that could qualify, but in the end it comes down to Fair Warning by Van Halen.
Born To Run
Absolutely perfect - the narrative, the wall of sound…everything.
The number of classic rock albums that I would listen through without skipping a track or two is not that large.
Cheap Thrills, Janis Joplin/Big Brother & the Holding Company
is currently #1 on my whole-album playlist. No clunkers IMO.
First thing I thought of was agreeing with Kyle: disintegration is the best album ever - YouTube There isn’t a bad track on it.
My second thought was the album that tops this RS list of best 80s albums: Rolling Stone Readers Pick the 10 Best Albums of the Eighties – Rolling Stone Also no bad tracks, albeit Mothers…drags a little.
Blood on the Tracks is a pretty good pick, although there are some semi-clunkers on it.
I will go with the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society, although I admit it also has a couple of semi-clunkers.
The Beatles’ Revolver and the Stones’ Beggars’ Banquet are up there, too.
London Calling by The Clash. Every song is at least good. Some are great. Plus, it’s a double album.
Yeah, that’s a good choice.
The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit
*Who’s Next
Beggar’s Banquet
Workingman’s Dead
*
My answer to this question might change from day to day, but today I pick Quadrophenia.
The best I can do is a tie between Blonde On Blonde and Rain Dogs.
*Blood On The Tracks *is on my top ten list and one of the greatest albums of all time, just like London Calling, Who’s Next, Revolver and some others listed before, but for me the very best will always be Sticky Fingers. It’s the record where the Stones let it all hang out, make no single compromise and delve into almost all the directions American music had gone to at the times. Every track is exceptional in its own way, and all are very different, but definitely all killer, no filler. I’m in good company with this choice, it was Townes Van Zandt’s favorite album too,
All good choices so far (can’t go wrong with Revolver and Village Green.)
1971 was a good year for rock albums: Zep 4, Aqualung, Who’s Next, Sticky Fingers…
I’d add R.E.M.’s Lifes Rich Pageant for consideration, and Radiohead’s OK Computer.
The best for me is still the live Stones album Get Yer Ya-yas Out!, recorded fifty years ago this month (I’ll start a thread about it in a couple weeks).
My personal taste is 80s metal. As far as albums go:
Appetite for Destruction----Guns N Rose
Hysteria---------Def Lepard
Oh, man, this is hard.
The first album I fell in love with was the Kingston Trio, Live at the Hungry i … with classic audience banter.
But should I go with the LP that meant I could split with my parents and love music they hated? (Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night)…
Or the album that introduced me to real rock ‘n’ roll? (Led Zeppelin’s first)
The album that shook me out of my middle-school passivity? (Hendrix, Are You Experienced?)
The 8-track that was the soundtrack to cruising around in my best friend’s first muscle car? (Poco, Deliverin’… don’t laugh, high-energy live exuberance)
Or the CD that meant I could connect with, and even go to concerts with, my pre-teen punk kid? (Green Day, American Idiot…. most fun concert ever)
Or… I could go on forever. If I have to choose, it’s Zeppelin.
A couple of contenders that haven’t been mentioned yet:
My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars - David Bowie
Gotta go with Appetite For Destruction. Honorable Mentions: Bon Jovi - New Jersey, Stone Temple Pilots - Core, Green Day - Dookie, Nirvana - Nevermind.
The best rock album ever is Refused’s The Shape of Punk to Come (playlist).
The second best rock album ever is Combat Rock by The Clash (also a playlist).
It is fantastic. It would be my favorite Stones live album, were it not for Brussels Affair. (Which I’d thought was titled, A Belgian Affair, but w/e.)
Mick Taylor Stones is Best Stones.
Boston