Another vote for “Appetite for Destruction”. Easily the best debut rock album of all time.
Audioslave, “Cochise”. Now typically, when big names from different big bands team up to form a “supergroup”, the results are underwhelming at best. Not here. No oversized egos, no selfishness, just bad ass music.
Metallica, “Master of Puppets”. It’s metal, not rock but who cares. It still rocks. This was back when Metallica was an actual heavy metal band. Not the Nickelback infused with Godsmack travesty they’ve been for the past few decades.
My experience with The Wall suggests that it ought not be overlooked. Yes, there is some material that is less excellent than some of the other material, but the entire album flows smoothly as a narrative from beginning to end. I felt that setting the album to a movie was a disservice to it.
I agree with all of this. My choice today is Allman Brothers At Filmore East. I can’t stop listening to “Whipping Post”. The only thing wrong is that album is missing “Jessica”.
I got my hands on an original edition that had multiple pages (it folded out about 3" at the bottom) and was browsing through the St. Cleve Chronicle & Linwell Advertiser on the train when someone asked me if that was a Jethro Tull album.
It was a total art package. If you read the whole thing it actually had some damn fine writing and thought behind it that mirrored the general themes of the song. I don’t play much of my vinyl anymore and didn’t keep much ----- but that is one that will never leave this house while I’m alive.
^Yeah, I came in here to say that Rush’s “A Farewell to Kings” has always been among my favorites. Something about the mix (?) sounds just right to my ears: sort of a clean and spacious quality.
As a teenager in the late 70s, I never really gave a crap about the Rolling Stones. I warmed up to them much later, but skipped the earlier albums that were “just” blues covers. I recently took to buying a Stones album a month on iTunes, starting with the first four (which I loved) and then skipping to Sticky Fingers, which I submit as my favorite rock album.
I have to take issue with the “no clunkers” criterion for great albums. My favorite bands are the Smiths and R.E.M., and with about one exception (noted below), every one of their albums has a clunker or two. I just take them as the cost of doing business - many of their experiments failed (for me).
My selection: *Murmur *by R.E.M. Perfectly encapsulates the 80s alternative rock jangly guitar genre they (and the Smiths) led and perfected. It’ll be my go-to genre until the day I die.
Other contenders: Wish You Were Here, Born to Run, OK Computer, The Smiths, and *Blind *(by the Sundays).
That said, my #1 and #2 rock albums of all time have remained steady over the past twenty years. Fairly different, but what they have in common is the sonic space they create. They are fairly “typical” critical darlings, so no big surprises here, but I think they’re critical darlings for a good reason. So, it’s a toss-up between The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless.
Gosh, so many people here are mentioning important albums. I am not a serious listener to serious music. I came to mention Innocent Man and the collection of Beatle’s covers, One.
Paul, I think you meant “Beatles hits,” not covers, unless there’s another One I’m not aware of.
And if we’re doing Billy Joel, The Stranger is my favorite. Though I’d hesitate to call him a rock artist — as our WordMan once said (or was it pulykamell?), he’s more a Broadway musical composer trying to do the rock thing.
Yeah, I’d go with The Stranger as well for Joel. I’m hardly his biggest fan (and it was either me or WordMan who came up with that characterization. I know I’ve used it on these boards, but I’m not 100% sure if I came up with it.) I was in the car the other day listening to the 97.1 HD2 station here in Chicago, which is a “deep cut” classic rock station, and they played “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” and it reminded me of how good and musically fun a song that is.
I find it difficult to pick an ablum because some albums may have a bunch of excellent songs. But not all the songs are excellent. I would prefer to ask for “best tracks” or “favorite tracks”.
I never really appreciated Queen until that movie came out. But I found one song that I find to be one of the best ever. I would put it in a list of “Ten Best Songs of All Time”. It is, “It’s Late” by Roger May. If you have a sound system that will shake your windows when you turn it up loud, this track is great. It can be found on their album News of the World.
I never really appreciated Tom Petty until he died. But almost every album and every track he ever recorded is just superb. I found a new appreciation for his music after watching the film, “Running Down a Dream” that tells his history. A great film that helped me find a whole new appreciation of his music. I would have to include Tom Petty on a list of, “All Time Greatest Rock & Roll Musicians.”
Sorry I can’t choose specific albums. But I love most every track on The Cars debut album. Also true for The Doors.
Other artists have fabulous tracks. But I can’t really point a finger at one entire album. Some fabulous tracks include:
Pink Floyd - See Emily Play, Arnold Layne.
David Bowie - Five Years.
Oh! Here is one album: Elton - Goodby Yellow Brick Road.
And one more track: Elton - Amoreena - from Tumbleweed Connection
How about some love for Supertramp? Yeah, they got overplayed when “Breakfast In America” hit it big, but “Crime of the Century”, “Crisis? What Crisis?”, and “Even In The Quiestest Moments” are all solid albums.