# Best rock album ... your preference. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 4, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972 "2019-11-04T01:05:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/1 "2019-11-04T01:05:11Z")
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: \ Blood On The Tracks by Bob Dylan \ I think it’s perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/2 "2019-11-04T01:30:18Z")
There are so many that could qualify, but in the end it comes down to Fair Warning by Van Halen. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/3 "2019-11-04T01:30:44Z")
**Born To Run** Absolutely perfect - the narrative, the wall of sound…everything. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/4 "2019-11-04T01:35:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/5 "2019-11-04T01:39:20Z")
First thing I thought of was agreeing with Kyle: [disintegration is the best album ever - YouTube](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5G5YguuNSJg) 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](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/rolling-stone-readers-pick-the-10-best-albums-of-the-eighties-10715/1-u2-the-joshua-tree-17177/) Also no bad tracks, albeit Mothers…drags a little. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/6 "2019-11-04T01:42:41Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/7 "2019-11-04T01:47:01Z")
_London Calling_ by The Clash. Every song is at least good. Some are great. Plus, it’s a double album. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/8 "2019-11-04T01:50:53Z")
Yeah, that’s a good choice. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/9 "2019-11-04T01:51:08Z")
_The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus_ by Spirit \*Who’s Next Beggar’s Banquet Workingman’s Dead \* ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/10 "2019-11-04T01:53:26Z")
My answer to this question might change from day to day, but today I pick Quadrophenia. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/11 "2019-11-04T02:06:40Z")
The best I can do is a tie between Blonde On Blonde and Rain Dogs. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/12 "2019-11-04T02:07:09Z")
\*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, ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/13 "2019-11-04T02:22:48Z")
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). ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/14 "2019-11-04T02:23:33Z")
My personal taste is 80s metal. As far as albums go: _Appetite for Destruction_----Guns N Rose _Hysteria_---------Def Lepard ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/15 "2019-11-04T02:24:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/16 "2019-11-04T02:26:30Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Bradjam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Bradjam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bradjam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/17 "2019-11-04T02:28:15Z")
Gotta go with Appetite For Destruction. Honorable Mentions: Bon Jovi - New Jersey, Stone Temple Pilots - Core, Green Day - Dookie, Nirvana - Nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/18 "2019-11-04T03:05:00Z")
The best rock album ever is **Refused** ’s [_The Shape of Punk to Come_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1eC8de9QG0&list=PLcZMZxR9uxC893r1V4DaustnoHkYBth1Z) (playlist). The second best rock album ever is [_Combat Rock_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk1QnHpE88E&list=PLw8I74P--tlWCqPPE0R4TqBWNYFgYxw2F) by **The Clash** (also a playlist). ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/19 "2019-11-04T03:05:17Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > …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). 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. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-album-your-preference/842972/20 "2019-11-04T03:11:34Z")
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