Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan Murmer - R.E.M. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols - Sex Pistols Ramones - Ramones Sweetheart of the Rodeo - The Byrds Nevermind - Nirvana Fear of Music - Talking Heads Revolver - The Beatles Cosmo’s Factory - Creedence Clearwater Revival Let It Be - The Replacements
I would argue each of these albums represented a significant break with what came before and/or had a strong influence on the direction later musicians would take.
Of course, tomorrow I would probably come up with a totally different list. Limiting a list like this to 10 is always going to leave out a ton of albums that were equally influential.
And King Crimson’s Court of the Crimson King kicked it into overdrive. It was only after this album that we got album side-long suites by the likes of Yes and Genesis.
This would be my choice. They took a chance with this album–fusing a symphony orchestra with a rock band to tell a story over the space of an album. I’m not the first to suggest Days of Future Passed in this thread, but I’ll throw my vote behind it.
Out of curiosity, how old are you? It came out when I was a senior in high school. Between then and the end of college, I’d be willing to bet I listened to it over a thousand times. I don’t think over-hyped and overrated describe them at all.
I’m 30. I bought it when it first came out because I also had Pablo Honey and The Bends and I considered Radiohead to be a band I liked alot. Not one of my favorites, mind you, but a group I liked better than, say, Pulp or many others. Ok Computer was cool, but I just never got the whole “culture-shifting masterpiece” hype around it. Once all the praise went to Radiohead’s head and they started making turgid concept albums instead of straightforward rock songs I gave up on them. Call me simple-minded if you want, but I never saw the allure.
Tapestry, by Carole King. This was a giant female writing talent bursting onto the scene with songs that were poetic and complex. They still hold up today.
So we’re about the same age (I’m 29). OK Computer was one of those albums that I just ‘connected’ with. Looking back, a lot of it has to do with it being one of the albums in the sound track of my college years, so that may have a lot to do with it. Also, I should mention that I’m a Pre Kid-A guy. Kid-A and after never appealed to me at all.
Sorry. But I have to disagree. I have listened to this album many times and listened carefully. I saw the film and listened to what some of the band members had to say.
IMO, this album was mostly about “experimentalization”. It was a big experiment - some of which was interesting - some of which was not. Some of it was good - some of it was not.
The concept of a “rock opera” - to the best of my knowledge - was not repeated very often - if it was ever repeated at all.
The music was bloated - meaning there were 24 tracks. I believe the album would have been a lot better if half of those tracks were edited out.
Also IMO - the idea behind the album - a deaf dumb and blind kid playing pinball was just lame. Who gives a shit? What is the interesting appeal there? I couldn’t find any.
When you hear FM stations playing “compilations”, how many tracks do you ever hear from Tommy? I can’t remember ever hearing any.
I like a lot of different music. and lots of s folk etc but of all the “classic” albums so far i just can’t even get through Astral Weeks. I had to take it off after a couple of tracks.
What is the appeal of this album?
Not sure I agree about this one, mainly because of the delay in its release… by the time it came out, it was a bit behind the times. Still, just because of all the hype, it was probably “the first punk album” for a lot of people.
Yes, The Mascara Snake! However, I would consider this to be an example of the kind of thing I tried to rule out in the OP… it’s way out there but it sure didn’t change the course of music. In fact, except for the Edgar Broughton Band, I’m not sure I can come up with another artist about whom I would say, “Wow! You can really hear the major Beefheart influence there!”