On a related note The Breeders first album, Pod, is also very good. (I was just lustening to The Breeders in the car.)
Joni Mitchell - Song to a Seagull
Karla Bonoff - Karla Bonoff
Laura Nryo - More Than a New Discovery
Jackson Browne - Saturate Before Using
Bonnie Raitt - Bonnie Raitt
Here’s one I’ll add for fun…Dukes of Stratosphear’s first album, Psonic Psunspot.
Dukes of Stratosphear was a fictional band that was the alter-ego/pseudonym of XTC. The songs they recorded as the Dukes were basically parodies/pastiches of 60’s psychedelic rock.
Band members: The Red Curtain, Lord Cornelius Plum, Sir John Johns, E.I.E.I. Owen.
Great pick!
Sidetrack: Akai produces a digital recording input/output (i/o) interface called the EIE I/O.
I went for albums where pretty much every song was a hit for me, and that I still love to this day. So, in no particular order other than the order in which they came to me:
- Placebo (self titled)
- Bush- 16 Stone
- Third Eye Blind (self titled)
- Blaqk Audio- Cex Cells (though if side projects are disqualified, then disregard)
- Panic! At the Disco- A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (sue me, it’s catchy)
*In case of disqualification of Blaqk Audio, I submit The Used (self titled) or Suicide Silence- The Cleansing as backups. Let’s go with The Used as I find I’m rarely in the mood for the violent noise of SS anymore, though it is still my go to when the mood strikes.
Beatles: Please Please Me
James Gang: Yer Album
Tiny Tim: God Bless Tiny Tim*
Captain Beyond: Captain Beyond
Leon Redbone: On the Track
and if a band’s only album can be considered a “debut” album, I’ll exceed the limit of five choices with:
Touch: Touch
- Yes, I’m dead serious. Tiny Tim was a genuine crackpot, but was also in fact a great singer, a walking encyclopedia of early 20th century pop music, and God Bless is a very well-produced album.
My personal favorite Pixies album, but calling it a debut is at least arguable :). Come On Pilgrim is short, but at eight songs I’d probably give it precedence.
I was wondering about that. The Wikipedia Pixies discography page lists it as an EP and the Come On Pilgrim page calls it a mini-LP. I guess you could go either way on that one.
An EP-length record of new/unreleased material is an album–a collection of songs, an artistic statement.
So you think an EP is an album for the OP? Tons of groups made an EP to start out before the first LP (REM, Fleet Foxes etc etc.) I’m not with you on that.
Fleet Foxes belong on the list.
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
Bruce Springsteen
Van Halen
Pretenders
Since most of the great answers have been taken, I’m going to break the rules and list five debut albums that are not necessarily better than the ones already listed, but which I think are good enough that they ought to at least be named in this thread:
Madness: One Step Beyond
They Might Be Giants: They Might Be Giants
Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw
Richard X. Heyman: Living Room!!
The Bangles: All Over the Place
hmmm just five?
(grumble grumble)
“Music From Big Pink” - The Band
“Black Sabbath” - BS
“Are You Experienced” - Hendrix
“The Cars” - even back then I wasn’t a huge fan but was so blown away by the quality of the recording - no album up to that point had such crystal-clear in-your-face-ness as that one had. It was the only record that I had to turn down the volume for.
“Tweez” - Slint
Like others have said, I don’t think we should count EPs, because that’s not how we’ve been doing it so far.
BUT if we decided that we DID count them, I’d have no problem at all substituting
- R.E.M. -* Murmur*
with
- R.E.M. - Chronic Town
They’re equally great, IMHO.
For the purposes of this thread (at least), EPs do not count. Album = LP.
mmm
I agree. EPs are a completely separate category for me. That said, I’m not sure where to put mini-LPs here (it’s actually a phrase I had not encountered before this thread.) To me, My Bloody Valentine’s first album was This is Your Bloody Valentine. I had not even considered them for this thread. I’m not sure I would change any of my list if Isn’t Anything was considered the debut, but it would certainly be in the running.
Lots of great answers in this thread–I can almost go with anybody’s list. Van Halen’s debut is another one that slipped my mind. Not my usual play continuously album, but definitely an iconic debut album that inspired many a would-be guitar hero in the late 70s/80s.
Another interesting question (if I may piggy back a bit) would be best track 1 on a debut album. For that, it’s “Good Times, Bad Times” by Led Zeppelin. That song, to me, is a great introduction to the world that sums up Led Zeppelin perfectly.
That might be an interesting subject, and I think this thread has enough posts for a diversion to be okay, BUT you’re going to get a lot of albums that are “great first hit single plus a bunch of filler.” Unless you phrase the question differently (not sure how), it’s not too different (for some cases) from asking “What bands came into the world with a fantastic hit single that summed up the style and impact of their whole career?”
That’s fine, but you might then want to specify exactly what qualifies, because the music industry has never settled on an objective line. Chronic Town meets one UK chart’s standard for albums (more than four distinct songs), and has a longer running time than the Minutemen’s The Punch Line (to name one notoriously short debut “LP”). Conversely, This is Your Bloody Valentine is listed as an EP some places, including the pre-digital RIAA standard (under 30 minutes).
Oooh! yes. Astronomy Domine off Piper at the Gates of Dawn is another one of those.