# The Essential Music Library: Rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520 "2005-10-03T03:19:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/1 "2005-10-03T03:19:42Z")
The Essential Music Library project is an attempt to get the many musical minds of the SDMB to sit down and discuss what works are absolutely necessary for a well-stocked musical library. There will be roughly 20 threads detailing a variety of genres so that we can get the depth that would be missing from a single-threaded discussion and the breadth necessary to cover what’s out there. This thread’s topic is rock, ranging from Elvis up till 1980 or so. Talk to us about everything from the early days to the height of the Beatles’s popularity to the heyday of prog. Previous threads: [Project Planning](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=335665) | [Classical](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=336834) ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/2 "2005-10-03T05:48:09Z")
Beatles - Rubber Soul, White Album, Revolver Led Zeppelin - II, IV, Houses of the Holy Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced The Clash - London Calling Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot The Doors - self-titled Pearl Jam - Vs. Steely Dan - Aja Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime Billy Joel - The Stranger Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever, Amen At the Drive-In - In Casino Out Rush - A Farewell to Kings Santana - Abraxas The Who - Who’s Next Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American (this album was renamed “Jimmy Eat World” after 9/11) Pixies - Doolittle, Surfer Rosa Metallica - Master Of Puppets Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire, self-titled Queen - A Night at the Opera Sublime - 40 oz to Freedom I’ll probably think of more but that seems like a good start. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/3 "2005-10-03T05:49:41Z")
Sorry, in my excitement I missed the 1980s limit. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/4 "2005-10-03T08:33:10Z")
Elvis played the blues. It was just called rock because Elvis was white. Rock as we know it today sprouted from surfer music. Rock Styles through the days: Surfer (Dick Dale, Beach Boys, Link Ray, etc.) Pop (Beatles, etc.) Glam Rock (David Bowie, Queen, etc.) – Beginning Punk/Metal (Iggy Pop, Led Zeppelin, etc.) 80’s Punk (Talking Heads, The Ramones, etc.) Metal (Metallica, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/5 "2005-10-03T12:54:57Z")
Chuck Berry - Best of Buddy Holly- Best of Gene Vincent - Best of Eddie Cochran - Best of Jerry Lee Lewis - Best of Little Richard - Best of These are the true originators of rock. They each had several top hits and influenced the next wave - Vincent (Be Bop a Lula, Say Mama, Bluejean Bop, etc.) and Eddie Cochran (Summertime Blues, C’mon Everybody, 20 Fight Rock) were more famous in the UK than the US - MacCartney played 20 Flight Rock to audition for John Lennon to join the Quarrymen. Trying to pick a specific album makes no sense - these guys came from the singles era. Other folks - Richie Valens with La Bamba and Diana, and Carl Perkins, etc. - also great with great singles. Beach Boys - greatest hits, Pet Sounds Cream - Disraeli Gears Yardbirds - Over Under Sideways Down, Best of (for their singles like For Your Love and Heart Full of Soul) Jeff Beck Group - Truth, Beck-Ola T. Rex - Electric Warrior The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society - and whatever album has You Really Got me and All Day and All of the Night Beatles - Everything - let’s not kid ourselves. Stones - 12x5 (is that the one with Satisfaction on it?), Beggar’s Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main St, Some Girls, Tattoo You Hendrix - Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland Pink Floyd - Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Piper at the Gates of Dawn Phil Spector - best of (his girl group Wall of Sound work) Aerosmith - first 4 albums - Featuring Dream On, Get Your Wings, Toys in the Attic, Rocks Doobie Brothers - whatever had China Grove and Listen to the Music on it UFO - Strangers in the Night Ted Nugent - first album, Free for All Van Halen 1 and 2 The Who - so many it isn’t funny - most if not all of their stuff. There are so many more I feel like I haven’t come close to scratching the surface. Start with the early rock stuff and take it from there… ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/6 "2005-10-03T12:56:51Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > Elvis played the blues. It was just called rock because Elvis was white. Rock as we know it today sprouted from surfer music. This is wrong on so many levels it boggles the mind. But since it is off topic - defining the genre of Rock might’ve been better discussed in the original Project Planning thread - I will just say “ummm, no.” and leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/7 "2005-10-03T13:52:14Z")
Yeah, me too. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/8 "2005-10-03T13:53:51Z")
> [@Qwertyasdfg](#): > > Beatles - Rubber Soul, White Album, Revolver I tend to agree with **WordMan** : Everything. At the very least, throw in _Abbey Road_ and _Sgt. Pepper’s_, and a representative of their earlier work. Also, from their solo years: Lennon’s _Imagine_ and/or the _Lennon Collection_; McCartney’s _Ram_ and _Band on the Run_; Harrison’s _All Things Must Pass_, and Starr’s _Ringo!_ or _Blast From Your Past_. > [@WordMan](#): > > The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society - and whatever album has You Really Got me and All Day and All of the Night The original albums with those songs have too much filler to be essential, but I’d definitely include a Greatest Hits collection with those songs (and many more) on it. I’d also include _Face to Face_, _Something Else_, _Arthur_, _Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround_, and _Celluloid Heroes_ (the Best Of the RCA years). Plus when we get up to the 80s we’ll have to throw in something from then, too. The Moody Blues: _Days of Future Passed_ and one or two of their other, more typical albums (_In Search of the Lost Chord_ or _To Our Children’s Children’s Children_ or _Seveth Sojourn_). David Bowie: _Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars_, and maybe some other stuff too. Simon & Garfunkel: _Greatest Hits_ or _Bridge Over Troubled Water_. Plus something from Paul Simon’s 70s output. Or are they more Pop or Folk? And what about Bob Dylan, and The Byrds, and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and some of the 70s singer-songwriters? Queen: I’ll second _A Night At the Opera_ and add at least one of the _Greatest Hits_ discs available. Fleetwood Mac: _Rumours_ The Eagles: _Hotel California_ ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/9 "2005-10-03T14:17:52Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > David Bowie: _Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars_, and maybe some other stuff too. > > Simon & Garfunkel: _Greatest Hits_ or _Bridge Over Troubled Water_. Plus something from Paul Simon’s 70s output. Or are they more Pop or Folk? And what about Bob Dylan, and The Byrds, and Crosby Stills Nash & Young, and some of the 70s singer-songwriters? > > Queen: I’ll second _A Night At the Opera_ and add at least one of the _Greatest Hits_ discs available. > > Fleetwood Mac: _Rumours_ I am just going to spend my time reading everyone else’s posts and :smack:'ing myself in the head. I can’t believe I didn’t mention Bowie or the other folks listed here - for Bowie - you’d have to add Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Diamond Dogs at least one of the Berlin Albums - I vote Heroes - and Young Americans. Or Free and Bad Company - lots of good stuff there. Argh. I gotta get back to work - I wish I had my CD collection close by… And **ultrafilter** - again, thanks. One idea: Re-list the full set of genres you are going to work on in the OP of each thread like this. I wanted to delve into the Ramones, Sex Pistols and Elvis Costello, until I went back and checked and reminded myself you had a “Punk/Post Punk” category…just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/10 "2005-10-03T14:36:06Z")
Chuck Berry: The Great 28. Remastered, very good. And if you’ve never heard Havana Moon… well, it’s reggae, decades early. Man was a genius. Ray Charles: There is a recent Rhino Greatest Hits that was surprisingly good. Rolling Stones: I’d vote for the Hot Rocks compliation, myself. Who: Live At The Isle of Wight. Most of their good stuff, including all of Tommy. Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years Box Set Speaking of Rhino, we should salt this with some of their yearly or genre compilations, because there’s a lot of… if not important, then weird and significant stuff that was one-hit-wondered. I wouldn’t want to listen to a Herman’s Hermits album, but we need some of that. Woodstock: 4 CD Box Set pretty much covers that era, though. If you want to limit it to the movie, fine. Need some Dylan, and maybe some Kingston Trio, for roots. This Is Spinal Tap. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/11 "2005-10-03T14:38:38Z")
[http://rhinorecords.com/store/cd\_store.lasso](http://rhinorecords.com/store/cd_store.lasso) Here, go look through this for a bit. Addition: The specific Beach Boys Greatest Hits needed is ‘Endless Summer’. Soundtrack: The Big Chill ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/12 "2005-10-03T14:51:53Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > And **ultrafilter** - again, thanks. One idea: Re-list the full set of genres you are going to work on in the OP of each thread like this. I wanted to delve into the Ramones, Sex Pistols and Elvis Costello, until I went back and checked and reminded myself you had a “Punk/Post Punk” category…just a thought. Eh, I don’t see any harm in the overlap. Anything we list from the late 70s here has a good chance of showing up in the punk or metal threads anyway, so what’s the point in trying to avoid it? I’ll throw in some picks a little later. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/13 "2005-10-03T14:58:01Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Beatles - Everything - let’s not kid ourselves. Maybe we should go through the Beatles album by album? Please Please Me - lots of catchy pop and proto-rock. Great album. Possibly essential. With The Beatles - Some good songs but not spectacular. Not essential. A Hard Days Night - same deal as With the Beatles. Not essential Beatles For Sale - A few good songs. Not essential. Help! - A few good songs (frankly I don’t like “Yesterday” and that leaves “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” as the only remarkable song on the album.) Not essential. Rubber Soul - “Norwegian Wood” “Drive My Car” “Michelle” “Girl” “You Won’t See Me” and the best Beatles song of them all (and one of the best rock songs ever) “In My Life”. Absolutely essential. Revolver - “Tax Man” “Eleanor Rigby” “And Your Bird Can Sing” “Love You Too” “Tomorrow Never Knows.” Definitely essential. Sgt. Pepper - The title track and “A Day in the Life” are two really great songs, but beyond that I don’t see what’s so great about this album. Good, but not essential. Magical Mystery Tour - Title track, “Penny Lane,” “All YOu need is love” “I am the Walrus” “Strawberry Fields” and some other good songs. Possibly essential. White Album - Lots of classic songs, along with a few duds, but probably the Beatles third best album overall. Essential. Abbey Road - A good album but not specatacular. Possibly essential if only for the last 4 songs. Let It Be - Get Back is about all it’s got going for it. (I really dislike the title track.) Not essential. Certainly the Beatles are one of, if not THE greatest rock band of all, but their entire catalog is not essential (unless we unfairly contort the definition of “essential” to cover all their material just because of their monumental importance to rock.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/14 "2005-10-03T15:13:46Z")
**Qwertyasdfg** , I’m going to insist on either _Abbey Road_ or _Sgt. Pepper’s_, to show what the Beatles could do on the album level. (The Beatles, after all, played a key role in turning the focus in rock from the single to the album.) _Abbey Road_ is the better album musically, with side 2 especially adding up to way more than the sum of its parts, but _Sgt. Pepper_ has greater cultural/historical significance. And I think there needs to be _some_ representative of their earlier stuff; _Please Please Me_ would do, or the “red album” or even Past Masters Vol. 1. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/15 "2005-10-03T15:14:28Z")
Sgt. Pepper is essential as an entire album. That’s how it broke people’s minds, as the first (?) concept album. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/16 "2005-10-03T15:17:06Z")
Oh, bloody hell. Nobody’s mentioned Is God. So… Cream of Clapton or Crossroads? Frampton Comes Alive, of course, too. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/17 "2005-10-03T15:22:01Z")
I hate replying to myself, but we need some Dead, and we need some more folk. Peter, Paul, and Mommy for the Folk? God, I hate that album, but… And what concert for the Dead? Clearly not any actual album. 70s Punk: Rhino Says [http://rhinorecords.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=73926](http://rhinorecords.com/store/ProductDetail.lasso?Number=73926) I agree, generally. Though it might need some Germs. I didn’t see any Germs [http://rhinorecords.com/store/BoxedSets.lasso](http://rhinorecords.com/store/BoxedSets.lasso) Here, boxed sets. Worth prodding through. I’m trying to figure out what’s needed from Do-Wop. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/18 "2005-10-03T15:38:02Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Sgt. Pepper is essential as an entire album. That’s how it broke people’s minds, as the first (?) concept album. I think this is at the heart of the debate over what makes an essential album (and I think we have to debate essentials at an album level, not an artist level, or a song level because those are just too hard.) Is it the historical significance (ie “the first concept album”, “first punk album,” etc) or strictly the musical value that makes an album essential. I think it’s clear that albums should be judged by quality not influence. After all, the influence and historical significance of an album are imposed on an album from the outside, and not controlled by the artist. At the end of the day, nobody throws on an album on for its historical signifcance. That said, Sgt. Pepper just doesn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/19 "2005-10-03T15:55:06Z")
**Sage Rat** wrote: > [@](#): > > Elvis played the blues. It was just called rock because Elvis was white. Rock as we know it today sprouted from surfer music. Interesting assertions. I can’t say much about the influence of surf music, though this sounds contentious, but I can speak to the categorization of Elvis. I assume you would agree that it would be a mistake to start the ‘essential’ Rock ‘n’ Roll library with Elvis. It would be, in fact, about as silly as starting the dictionary with the letter ‘E.’ There is a controversy over what exactly the first Rock record is, and of course the question is really about the essence of Rock ‘n’ Roll itself. Here are some prevailing notions: [ul] [li] Rock ‘n’ Roll is whatever Alan Freed called Rock ‘n’ Roll (it was he who started the whole thing, after all, using the term as a euphemism for what was once called ‘race records’)[/li][li] Rock ‘n’ Roll is music of the kind that Alan Freed called “Rock ‘n’ Roll” (he recognized a lot more than just race records by the time he died, so the definition could extend forward into new forms, or backwards since the stuff he was talking about had been around a good while)[/li][li] Rock ‘n’ Roll is the kind of stuff that was being called Rock ‘n’ Roll when the music became mainstream (this would include Pat Boone)[/li][li] Rock ‘n’ Roll is a blend of R&B and Country and Western (this was a later development in the genre, but people place a lot of importance on it). Part of the difficulty of this theory is that the mutual influence between hillbilly and race records goes pretty far back – just look at Leadbelly. [/li][li] Rock ‘n’ Roll is just another name for R&B (consistent with the Alan Freed theory, at least for the early fifties, though white acts like Bill Haley & The Comets got into it pretty quickly). I saw an interview with Fats Domino that was done sometime in the mid-fifties. The guy asked him, “How long have you been playing Rock ‘n’ Roll?” Fats said, “I don’t know about Rock ‘n’ Roll. I play R&B, and I’ve been doing it for twelve years.” Indeed, the sounds that Alan Freed labeled Rock ‘n’ Roll had been going on for at least a decade. Admittedly, not all of it had recieved the R&B label. Labels can be tricky. Much of it was sold as Jazz or Blues. And especially with the advent of Doo Wop, you got a sound which was very like the music of The Mills Brothers and The Ink Spots from the 1930’s – and both of those groups had roots in the Barbershop Quartet scene. [/li][li] Rock ‘n’ Roll is music made with the electric guitar (this theory seems to be what people are thinking when they suggest Les Paul and Mary Ford’s _How High the Moon_ as the first Rock record.)[/li][/ul] As to Elvis specifically, yes he was often singing R&B or Blues tunes, but if you compare his versions to the ones he was covering, you’ll find that he was generally delivering a much more ‘country’ or ‘white’ sound. Just some examples for comparison: [ul] [li] _Crying in the Chapel_ - Sonny Til and the Orioles[/li][li] _One Night of Sin_ - Smiley Lewis (The usual version you hear from Elvis renders it as _One Night with You_, but he also did it with the original lyrics)[/li][li] _Such a Night_ - The Drifters (Clyde McPhatter)[/li] _A Fool Such as I_ - The Robins[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520/20 "2005-10-03T15:58:58Z")
Well… I do, actually. Throw certain albums on for their historical significance. Or at least, that’s why I listen to them the first time. What I was saying, though, is that Pepper isn’t important because of the songs on the album, but as the complete album. Certain songs are not as good as others, but between Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper, I’d have to choose Sgt. Pepper as the better _album_, even with weaker songs. And, of course, it was incredibly influential. It’s even better when you listen to it after Pet Sounds, too. You get the real sense of competition between the two bands. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-essential-music-library-rock/324520.md?page=2)