My god, every single album that would have gone into my top list has been mentioned already.
Except for:
Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart
It’s a masterpiece. More than just “Ethnic music from a country we made up”, as band members once called their sound. Looking at some of the other lists, I’m amazed no one else has mentioned this one.
Hüsker Dü - Zen Arcade
Just because.
Only 10…This is going to be hard!!
Bjork - Homogenic… Say what you will about Bjork. The woman is an original. Every song on this album makes my cells sing!
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketsup… Great mood music. All their albums are fabu, but this one really hit me when I first heard it.
Ladytron - 604…The 80s reinvented. Fun, intelligent dance music! The newest album is great too.
Massive Attack - Mezzanine…Brilliant, wonderful, mind boggling.
Portishead - Dummy…This one blew me away.
Radiohead - OK Computer…I’ve become disenchanted with Radiohead lately, but I will always go back to this album again and again. It has staying power.
PJ Harvey - Dry…I love everything this woman has done, but this album is one of my favs.
Throwing Muses - In a Doghouse…Again, hard to pick a favorite album.
The Clash - Give 'em Enough Rope…I listened to this over and over and over when I was a teenager.
The Cure - The Top…Geesh, I think that’s what it’s called? lol…My brain is addled, but I think that’s it…
The Tragically Hip, “Road Apples” - Just the best pure rock and roll album ever recorded by anyone anywhere. Tightest band I’ve ever heard, and this was their best work.
The Beastie Boys, “Licensed To Ill” - “Fight For Your Right” is the one song EVERY guy will get up and dance to. Slam dance, granted.
Peter Gabriel, “So” - Wasn’t this his first solo album that wasn’t just called Peter Gabriel? Anyway, in retrospect some of these songs sound a little over the top now, but when I was 20 it was the coolest music I’d ever heard.
REM, “Automatic for the People” - Just so many awesome, innovative songs here.
Tom Petty, “Full Moon Fever” - Gosh, do you think I’m a child of the 80’s? A great, fun album, made by a guy who obviously just loves being a musician.
The Beatles, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” - Okay, I’m not entirely a child of the 80s. I had a copy on vinyl my parents had bought when it first came out. I wrecked it, I played it so much.
The Police, “Synchronicity” - New Wave in its ultimate evolution. This was the apex of the Police sound, when it was at its highest refinement but before Sting started to become lame-ass to the extreme. Also, “The Police” might well be the best band name ever, which counts for something.
The Tragically Hip, “Day for Night” - So I love 'em. I’m telling you, these guys could rock. Could being the operative word; they started to lose it after this album.
AC/DC, “Back in Black” - Another tip to the classics. Just pure, hard rock music.
Weird Al Yankovic, “In 3-D” - Well, you asked for favourite albums. This album is hysterical.
Actually, “Security” was the first Gabriel solo album that he didn’t just call “Peter Gabriel.”
“Security” was his 4th solo album. I remember him telling a radio interviewer that he wanted to call that one “Peter Gabriel” as well, but was pressured by the record label to give it a title. He finally agreed to call it “Security,” bu TRIED to arrange it so the title would only appear on a decal on the cellophane package! That way, as soon as the buyer removed the cellophane wrapping, the title would be gone, and only the name “Peter Gabriel” would remain on the CD or tape itself.
But that “plan” fell through.
Here’s my top ten, in no particular order:
I’m sure if you’d have asked me, the list would’ve been totally different last week.
In no particular order…i give you my top 10:
Kraftwerk-Radioactivity…amazing to think that a record made in the late 70’s has as much relevance to electronic music today as it did back than…
Front 242- Evil Off…although i own the entirety of their catalogue, this one seems to stand out…sometimes subtlety wins over brute force…
Einsturzende Neubauten-Haus Der Luge…again a band like this his numerous brilliant albums, but this one seemed to condense all the “goodness” of ever other album into on coherent piece. “haus der luge” is probably one of my favorite songs of all time.
Angels of Light- Everything is good here/Please Come Home
This is by far, the culmination of everything Michael Gira was working towards when he started and ended the Swans. Simply amazing record.
The Smiths- Queen is Dead…simply amazing record…i could listen to this over and over again. Moz maybe a whiner, but he’s a damn good one.
Depeche Mode- Violator… these guys were my first taste of electronic music and to this day this album blows me away.
** Sigur Ros-Agaetis Byrjun**…i bought this album because i liked the cover…boy was i surprised to find what the music was actually like…
Death in June- Discrimination…you know, i never imagined myself listening to a folk band that used noise, drones, and neo-pagan themes. But boy, i picked a good band to start with…
** VnV Nation- Empires**…amazing melodies and heart wrenching lyrics…“Rubicon” still makes me a bit weepy.
Skinny Puppy- Too Dark Park…you know, out of all their albums, this one stands out as the one with the highest freak out factor…and who doesn’t enjoy that?
Check out #6 on my list. 
All of mine I like for the same reason (with one exception): every single song on them is good. Oh, and I’m leaving out compilations, as I feel that’s cheating somehow.
#1 The Wall, Pink Floyd. In addition, it has the best music ever written, period.
#2.Nest, Odds.
#3.Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkins. Great synthesis of Modern Rock sensibility with Classic Rock fret-wanking.
#4.Paul’s Boutique, Beastie Boys. This is the rap equivalent of The Wall: It literally is classes above every other rap album I’ve heard, musically and lyrically.
#5.This Year’s Model, Elvis Costello. I was prepared to not like him but my friend insisted I buy this. Even in the beginning it hooked me, with “no action”. I was starting to get into “no action”, when he broke into the “New Wave” mode of singing with the voice shift in “…but I was disconnected in time.” That blew me away and I was an instant fan.
#6.What are you going to do with your life? - Echo and the Bunnymen. The songs still have the combination of the echoes(NPI) of youthful angst and consigned realism that I can relate to now. Not to mention the best voice in music outside of Bjork.
#7.Life’s too Good, the Sugarcubes. Okay, so besides the obvious song, I only like “Blue-eyed pop” on that offering, but considering Birthday is by far the best song ever, this has to be included.
#8.Led Zeppelin I. Pure power.
#9.Led Zeppelin IV. Some things are famous for a reason.
#10.Aja, Steely Dan. Next to Pink Floyd, the smartest band in rock. I’m not sure if many people “get” their first-person literary style, but it’s subtle genius disguised as often stupid narrators. (By the way, I’d include STP in that category. Even though the singer apparently lives out a BIT more of his songs than I previously thought :()
In no order:
R.E.M., Life’s Rich Pageant – When R.E.M. was fresh and you couldn’t understand the lyrics.
New Order, Low Life – Not a single bad song.
The Beatles, Rubber Soul – Because they’re the Beatles and its so hard to choose.
The Cure, Head on the Door – Not too dark for the Cure.
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead – Why, oh why, do the Smiths make me smile?
U2, October – Another one where the band was younger and a little more raw.
The Cranberries, Everyone’s Doing It… - I like every song.
Garth Brooks, No Fences – Sorry.
AC/DC, Back in Black – One should always include a little head banging.
Queen, A Night at the Opera – Queen has the complete package.
In order but subject to change without notice and arbitrary sentance structure:
Thick as a Brick- Jethro Tull- Perfect prog. There’s enough to keep anybody interested, but not so much as to lose lost anybody who didn’t go to Berklee. It does a great job of exploring related themes all the way through the album.
A Passion Play- Jethro Tull- Not quite as perfect as TaaB, but it appeals to the prog-snob in me.
Operation Mindcrime- Queensryche- Well crafted songs. Anarchy X and Suite Sister Mary are my favorites. Lots of great riffs and leads.
Fugazi- Marillion- I could listen to the last two songs on this one for days on end. Even Jigsaw, the weakest point in the album, it well crafted. This is one of my favorites to listen to while driving.
Scenes From a Memory- Dream Theater- Another favorite for driving. The contrast between delicate numbers like Through Her Eyes and Home works amazingly well. Home is the perfect centerpiece for this album.
Flower Power- Flower Kings- One great megasong plus another disk of shorter, simpeler songs. Another album with poppy bits to grab you in and intricate structures to keep you interested.
In the Court of the Crimson King- King Crimson- This one set a high bar for the future of prog rock. This one is solid with the exception of the second half of Moonchild.
Snow- Spock’s Beard- Of the albums on the list, this is probably the best at linking the music to the lyrics. Every solo, fill, and riff was exactly where it needed to be to move the story along.
The Final Cut- Pink Floyd- I really can’t explain why this is better than The Wall or Meddle, but it is.
Aenima- Tool- Great lyrics. Great riffs. They do an amazing job of establishing a riff then turning it inside out for the next five minutes.
Honorable mention:
OK Computer- Radiohead
In no particular order:
Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Tool - Aenima
Tool - Lateralus
Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction
The Crystal Method - Vegas
Pearl Jam - Ten
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Nine Inch Nails - Broken
Unfortunately, 10’s the limit. I could go on for quite a while.
In no order:
“The Unathorized Autobiography of Reinhold Messner” – Ben Folds Five: Such great melody and structure. Every song inspires a different mood and it also works as a whole.
“The Essential Leo Kottke”-- Leo Kottke: The best of the greatest acoustic guitar player of all time. Fantastic melody and construction and amazing slide.
“Ah Via Musicom” – Eric Johnson: He plays so fast, but he hits all the right notes.
“Songs in the Attic” – Billy Joel: A childhood thing. I know every nook and cranny of this live set.
“Permanent Waves” – Rush: Power trio at the peak of its powers. The best of songwriting, melody, and pure skill.
“Angel Dust”-- Faith No More: Metal at its most original and intelligent.
“Boomer’s Story” – Ry Cooder: Master of the slide guitar and a great, rootsy album.
“OK Computer” – Radiohead: I know it’s redundant to list this but it’s just so lush, so seamless and achingly beautiful.
“Physical Graffiti” – Led Zeppelin: Shows all sides of the band, good and bad.
“Presto” – Rush: Their biggest departure. An interesting blend of sharp musicianship and pop craftsmanship. I find recent Rush tiring…this album is like a glorious cool breeze.
I love threads like this, cause almost everyone who bothers putting together a top ten albums list has great taste. As such, most of mine have been mentioned already, but here they are anyway.
The Clash - London Calling. All over the place, and brilliant. Nineteen tracks, each as good as the last. No, better than the last. No, as good.
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks. The definition of punk rock. You can’t listen to it quietly.
Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers. Amazing pop music. Jonathan Richman is my hero.
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation. Enough has been said about this already. Go listen to it.
Wilco - Being There. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot may end up being better, but this one already has the history. I’ve loved it since it came out, and it still puts a smile on my face when I put it in.
Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne. Jay Farrar when he was close to his peak as a writer. Jeff Tweedy as he started to realize he could write great songs.
Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique. Seems like every time I listen there’s a new rhyme I haven’t yet fully appreciated.
Radiohead - The Bends. My favorite Radiohead changes every day, but I’ll go with this one right now. Some of the best straight-up guitar rock ever.
Pixies - Surfer Rosa. What everyone else said.
Dr. Dre - The Chronic. Completely changed the way music is done in rap. Everything in rap today would be different if it weren’t for this CD.
Many of my Top Ten have already been mentioned…
(Aside to Sam Stone- couldn’t agree more about John Prine)
John Prine- John Prine - it’s always in my car, cause sometimes you just need to sing along with Paradise.
Nirvana- Nevermind. Nirvana changed music for me
Peter Gabriel- Us- if only for the duet with Sinead O’Connor on Blood of Eden
Sinead O’Connor- The Lion and the Cobra One word- Troy.
Public Enemy- Fear of a Black Planet/ It takes a nation of millions to hold us back. These two made me, an unhip white kid from the 'burbs, want to go fight the man.
Johnny Cash- any of the American records with Rick Rubin- his version of U2’s “One” surpasses the original.
Pixies Surfer Rosa- ditto to what others said.
Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band- the Mountain- bluegrass and Steve Earle.
The Pogues- Rum, Sodomy and the Lash- every track is a winner
Van Morrison- Astral Weeks.
I think of this as the “desert island list.” In no particular order:
Radiohead - OK Computer. (I can’t even explain the rush I get when that album starts)
Fleming & John - The Way We Are
Guster - Lost and Gone Forever
Ben Folds Five - Ben Folds Five
The Who - Tommy
Godspell - movie soundtrack
Folk Implosion - One Part Lullaby
Better Than Ezra - How Does Your Garden Grow?
Moxy Fruvous - Live Noise
Cake - Prolonging the Magic
This list of course could change if I thought about it more, but this is what comes to mind now.
The Beatles - Revolver
It’s got “Tomorrow Never Dies” on it. And just about every other song on there is one of my favorite Beatles songs, too. Even the horribly depressing “For No One” is a great melody.
Emergency Broadcast Network - Telecommunication Breakdown
This is the band that took live video feeds from sattelite and used them as samples; this album was remixed/engineered/whatever by “big-name” electronic artists like Meat Beat Manifesto. It would win just on the concept alone, but manages to be excellent music as well. One of those albums I have to listen to all the way through. (Plus the videos included on the disc are just brilliant.)
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God
One of the best bands ever, at their peak. Great songwriting from Shane MacGowan, and stunning musicianship from the rest of the band. I mentioned in another thread why this is my favorite; it’s the first one where they started to break out of just doing traditional Celtic style music and did whatever they felt like.
Pizzicato Five - Happy End of the World
Unless I’m mistaken, this was the first P5 album that was released in the US the same as it was in Japan, instead of being a compilaton of previous releases. If that’s not true, it certainly feels like it – it holds together as an album instead of just feeling like a bunch of songs. And it’s got “Trailer Music,” one of my favorites.
Indigo Girls - Shaming of the Sun
It was a toss-up between this and their self-titled album. I chose this one mostly for the song “Leeds,” which is just amazingly powerful, and “Shame on You” which is just amazingly catchy. This one strikes the right balance between the spare two-acoustic-guitars of their first couple of albums, and the over-production of their subsequent ones.
Yoko Kanno/Seatbelts - Cowboy Bebop, Vol. 1
I thought at first that soundtracks were immediately disqualified from best-of lists, but then I wondered why. This is just a brilliant collection of music that happens to have been used in a television series. Yoko Kanno’s my hero; she can do any kind of music possible.
Art of Noise - In No Sense? Nonsense!
This is about the only “concept album” that’s ever worked for me. Apart from the opening version of “Dragnet,” which was done for the movie, everything else is about speed and motion.
The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
For the reasons everyone else mentioned. Plus it’s the Pixies album with the most Kim Deal.
Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
I listened to this one so many times when it was released that it now plays on a constant loop in my subconscious. “Get Up On It Like This” is one of the best tracks on any album ever.
Led Zeppelin - IV
It got me through high school.
NOFX-Punk in Drublic - A very complete “punk” album full of creamy goodness and nugget.
Pink Floyd-Animals - Underated by most quasi-Floyd fans that don’t know any better(which is where I was 2 years ago)
Led Zeppelin II - A lot of my favorite Zep songs are on this album
Aerosmith Toys in the Attic - At their peak before the drugs really got to them (you could argue that its Rocks, and I would understand)
Soundgarden- BadMotorFinger - Best “grunge” album, here is where punk meets hard rock
Nirvana-Bleach- Pure Nirvana
NOFX -Pump up the Vailium- Solid album showed me they still had “it”
Led Zeppelin-Houses of the Holy-Most of the rest of my favorite Zep songs can be found here
The Who-Tommy-I needed a Who album and I had typed out “Who’s Next”, but that has some weak cuts on it, of course Tommy does to, but its got a lot of really strong songs on it.
Yeah I know its only 9, to many others could go here Back in Black, ZOSO, Dark Side of the Moon, Meddle, Wish you were here, Physical Graphiti, Rocks, Get Your Wings, Nevermind, and about 20 more I could make a good argument with myself about.
The Tragically Hip - Day for Night. The band hit a serious groove with this one; Gord Downie’s eclectic vocals were at their peak, and meshed so very well with the music.
The Tea Party - Transmission. A Zepplin-esque band experimenting with eastern instruments and melodies decides to add electronica to the mix: the result was magnificent. Songs like Gyroscope, Babylon and the title track kick major ass.
Radiohead - OK Computer. Everyone else’s favorite as well, I see. Not that that’s a bad thing.
Faith No More - Angel Dust. “Would anybody tell me/ If I was getting…stupider?” These guys were so ahead of the music game, their stuff still sounds fresh.
Tool - Aenima. Hooker with a Penis. Best. Song. Title. Ever. Gotta love a band which can pull off screaming F*** YOU, BUDDY! at their fans.
Tom Waits - The Bone Machine. Tom Waits is a god.
Weezer - The Blue Album. Still the best work this band ever did.
The New Pornographers - Electric Version. The only bad thing I can say about this album is that it needs more Neko Case. The world needs more Neko Case.
Tom Waits - swordfishtrombone. The start of Tom’s “weird” period (which never actually ended).
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral. It’s too bad Trent’s style has been co-opted, watered down and homogenized by the media and chumps like Marylin Manson. Hearing Trent scream out “I wanna f*** you like an animal!” sounded great 10 years ago before we all became so damn jaded.
Alphabetical by artist:
The Beatles (White Album) – The Beatles
The scariest album of all time: all that “Paul is Dead” stuff, and what was up with Manson?
Cheap Thrills – Big Brother and the Holding Company
Joplin at her raw, electric best.
Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions – Shannon Curfman
The best album of the last ten years. How could she have only been thirteen when she recorded this?
Bitches Brew – Miles Davis
Is it jazz? Is it rock? Who cares!
Meat Puppets II – The Meat Puppets
My favorite album in my favorite genre (alternative/punk/new wave).
Road to Ruin – The Ramones
On which the Ramones learn to rock gracefully without losing a speck of passion.
Metal Machine Music – Lou Reed
Lou Reed is God. This album is why.
Murmer – R.E.M.
Simply one of the most achingly beautiful albums ever recorded.
The Stooges – The Stooges
Lyrics I still relate to even though I’m 44, and the greatest wah-wah pedal album ever.
White Light / White Heat – The Velvet Underground
Sister Ray is the soundtrack of my life.
For an expanded list, see my Web site: