Name the 5 best debut albums of all time, in order (Please limit your list to 5)

Cafe Society
1

Here are mine:

[ol]
[li]The Beatles – Please Please Me[/li][li]Elvis Costello – My Aim is True[/li][li]Eminem – The Slim Shady LP[/li][li]Television – Marquee Moon[/li][li]The Band – Music from Big Pink[/li][/ol]

You?
mmm

2

These come to mind, but of course so do many others (and this is just post-1960 English-language rock-and-related-genres).

  1. R.E.M. - Murmur
  2. Beck - Mellow Gold*
  3. The Doors - The Doors
  4. Led Zeppelin -* I*
  5. Crosby, Stills, & Nash - Crosby, Stills, & Nash

*I know, Beck had a couple of independent sort-of albums come out before this one, but this is apparently considered his first “official” album

3
  1. King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King
  2. Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced?
  3. Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
  4. The Doors: The Doors
  5. Pink Floyd: Piper at the Gates of Dawn
4

I was just about to beg for someone to consider including the Jimi Hendrix Experience on their list – so, thank you Biffy!

5
  1. Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of the Worlds – not only great music, but one of the best – and certainly the most faithful – adaptations of the novel.
  2. Led Zeppelin I
  3. It’s a Beautiful Day – “White Bird” was an instant classic, and the rest of the album is amazing, too.
  4. Blood Sweat & Tears --* Child is the Father of the Man*. This is the Al Kooper version of the group, with some amazing blues and rock.
  5. Dave Mason – Alone Together
6

Hard to limit to just five, put since you requested we follow the rules:

  1. Led Zeppelin
  2. Appetite for Destruction
  3. Van Halen
  4. The Ramones
  5. Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.

Also, not necessarily “the best” just faves of mine.

7

Oh yeah, good one!

8
  1. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
  2. R.E.M. - Murmur
  3. Ramones - Ramones
  4. The Clash - The Clash
  5. Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville

Plenty more that could be on the list but these are the ones I picked at this moment.

9

This is pretty much a futile exercise. I agree with most of the entries so for, so I’l add two more and plagiarise:

  1. The Cars
  2. Boston
  3. The Doors
  4. Please Please Me
  5. Van Halen
10

[ol]
[li]Queen: Queen I[/li][li]Heart: Dreamboat Annie[/li][li]Crosby, Stills & Nash: CSN[/li][li]Grand Funk Railroad: On Time[/li][li]Chicago Transit Authority[/li][/ol]

11
  1. Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin)
  2. Appetite for Destruction (Guns n Roses)
  3. Costello Music (The Fratellis)
  4. Straight Outta Compton (N.W.A.)
  5. Ten (Pearl Jam)
12

Hardcore version
Hardcore '81 - DOA
Group Sex - Circle Jerks
In My Eyes - Minor Threat
Live at Raul’s Club - Dicks and the Big Boys (one side each)
Jodie Foster’s Army - Jody Foster’s Army

13

Can’t deny anything said yet, so I thought I’d bring some newer junx into the mix:

The XX - xx
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
The Strokes - Is This It?

6th-man Bonus: Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s - The Dust of Retreat

14

No… it’s just his first major-label record. Independent records (which included “Loser”) are real.

15

Dire Straits (self titled)
Chicago Transit Authority
Indigo Girls
James Taylor (self titled)
Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience

if I could have one more, it would probably be Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (self titled)

16

Truth - Jeff Beck Group
Meet The Beatles (hey, it was their first in the US of A)
Layla and Other Love Songs - Derek & The Dominos
Life & Times - Jim Croce
The Eagles

17

Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
The Band - Music From big Pink
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Wipers - Is This Real
Neil Young - Self Titled

18

Good call.

19

I was thinking of albums that, when I put them on for the first time, changed me.

Who knows, it happened to enough of us, it might have changed the culture. Especially true during the 60s… My kids have no idea what it was like to be so uptight as a product of the Eisenhower era that hearing a Beatles song was like opening a trap door in your brain.

My John Birch Society parents were scared of “protest music” and rock ‘n’ roll…
and rightly so, as things turned out.
Meet The Beatles*
Are You Experienced?
Bob Dylan
Led Zeppelin
The Doors
The Velvet Underground & Nico

(I’m not uptight anymore, so I did six!)
(Before these albums, I’d’ve followed the rules)
*well, first Beatles album my friends and I could get

20

Surprised Nevermind is yet to appear in the thread. I wonder when it will.