Ten Most Important Albums in Rock History by watchmojo.com

[seti]

I'm not a huge rock fan but these are my 10 or so.

 

Link Wray And His Ray Men - Rumble (genius) Originally released 1958.

 

Buddy Holly

 

The Ventures - Walk Don't Run

 

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced

 

Sgt Peppers imho the beatles were technically more pop than rock but bad *** none the less

 

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica

 

The Mothers Of Invention

 

The Velvet Underground

 

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

 

King Krimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King

 

T.REX

Edited May 22, 2015 by seti

[Travis In Austin]

what qualifies as Important?

In general we are trying to apply criteria to identify innovative albums that potentially changed the "face" of rock & roll music and had a great influence on artists that followed similar to the video in the OP link describes and ruling out artists with singles and no focus on albums. Overall, I'm not sure that general platitudes of critical acclaim by questionable beat writers and internet polls capturing bands that are popular with a large fan base alone would get them on my list of groundbreaking and influential albums.

I would hope not, especially coming from you. I always look to you for the truth.

Thanks, I think? Seriously, I've always enjoyed your writing in how you examine all sides of an issue. In my current role, while I cannot go into much detail, I have to recognize my own bias (which is not always easy to do) and try to mitigate it and "test" my conclusions and often times those conclusions of our teams through challenging them from very different perspectives to see how "scalable" they are and how well they hold up to scrutiny as there always seems to be some type of attack on integrity and the amount of due diligence that went into the decision making process.

I meant that sincerely, especially in topics where you have posted on economics, accounting, finance, public filings, etc. It all jives with what I was taught, and long forgotten when I got my Business/Accounting degree. Edited May 22, 2015 by dwilawyer

[Jeff Matthews]

I just don't take the question as being all too difficult.  If (1) I was covering a period that I considered to be the "period of rock and roll," (2) I was told I was going to go to a new land where nobody knows what this "rock and roll" is, and (3) I could bring only 10 albums with me, the answer would be easy...

 

I'd bring not my 10 favorite albums, but 10 albums which, as a set of 10, would fulfill my rock desires the most.  That means, to me, variety counts.

 

1.  Supertramp Classics - even if it is greatest hits, it's all fair game, I suppose.  (the richness and symphonic fullness is matched by few)

2.  Led Zeppelin 1.  (White-man's hard-rockin' blues at its finest).

3.  Led Zeppelin III (this might as well have been done by an entirely different band, it is just so cool and unique).

4.  Santana "Moonflower" (double CD, lots of bang for the buck in there).

5.  Deep Purple "Machine Head" (just too cool in a British-sounding, sometimes slightly off-humoristic, way).

6.  Beatles "Sgt Peppers"  (this band finally matured into its ever-lasting greatness).

7.  Emerson, Lake and Palmer "Brain Salad Surgery" (this is the epitome of turning a symphony into head-banging rock in some songs, while in others (1) going to church and hearing a magnificent sermon untainted by an ulterior motive, and (2) crossing Picasso with music).

8. Yes "Album" (a sweeter version of prog-rock, and sweet prog-rock is just so good).

9.  Chicago Transit Authority (first album) (shows how versatile rock can be when fusing jazz with it).

10.  Genesis (the album called "Genesis") (a great variety of rock from a progressive band that brought it mainstream with this album)

 

I would be open to being shown something that would convince me to change my list, and I might.  But I would be very content displaying this set to a new audience, and if they didn't like it... too bad for them.  I love it.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Jeff Matthews

[Fjd]

 

 

Thanks, I think? Seriously, I've always enjoyed your writing in how you examine all sides of an issue. In my current role, while I cannot go into much detail, I have to recognize my own bias (which is not always easy to do) and try to mitigate it and "test" my conclusions and often times those conclusions of our teams through challenging them from very different perspectives to see how "scalable" they are and how well they hold up to scrutiny as there always seems to be some type of attack on integrity and the amount of due diligence that went into the decision making process.

I meant that sincerely, especially in topics where you have posted on economics, accounting, finance, public filings, etc. It all jives with what I was taught, and long forgotten when I got my Business/Accounting degree.

 

 

 

Thanks again.  I’ve tried to not alienate and make those posts informative and understandable for people with a wide range of experience level with the topics and have a need to keep the posts more general in nature due to the specifics of my work (although some have claimed boring).  I’ve been living those topics in excruciating detail mostly in the financial services sector since the crash in 2008 and the specific work is covered by confidentiality. 

 

I didn’t go to college until I was 37 and my degree work is in accounting, information systems and industrial psychology.  College was not an option upon high school graduation; however, after being kicked around in so many corporate downsizings over the years, I decided to increase my education level for the “resume” by committing everything to getting the degrees.  It sure has opened some interesting doors.

 

To show how I look at the rock & roll album list I thought about as groundbreaking and influential in relation to a list that I may make if I had to quickly grab ten rock & roll albums from my collection and these ten rock & roll albums would be the only music I would have; I would try to select the rock & roll albums that I could listen to multiple times without being annoyed and that list could look something like the following;

 

1 Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East

2 Neil Young – Decade

3 The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street

4 The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

5 Deep Purple – Machine Head

6 Led Zeppelin IV or Physical Graffiti (probably Physical Graffiti but if time ran out and IV was on top, I’d grab it and run)

7 The Doors – Probably same as Zeppelin a flip between The Doors, Strange Days and L.A. Woman

8 Humble Pie - Performance Rockin' the Fillmore (not much original here but I loved the Humble Pie “sound” personified by Frampton’s guitar work with Steve Marriott's singing)

9 Golden Earring - Moontan

10 Pearl Jam – Ten, but I wouldn’t feel slighted if I could only grab Vitalogy or Vs

 

Of course as I write this list I now look over and see my Black Sabbath Paranoid album and starting to think, "do I bump Golden Earring" or "Humble Pie" or.....? Fun stuff.

 

To those traveling today or tomorrow for the Memorial Day weekend (I know I am shortly) have safe travels.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Fjd

[wvu80]

4. Santana "Moonflower" (double CD, lots of bang for the buck in there).

 

Cheating! 

+++

 

Pretty good list, would be hard to beat.  Nice call on the Chicago album, previously unmentioned, but one of my favorite groups.

 

In general and going by your criteria I think I would have some "Greatest Hits" compilations.  Other artists I would consider would be Beach Boys (just fun music) and Maybe some Elton John (good variety of music), but I'm not sure if he qualifies on our list of "rock and roll."  He has only been mentioned once or twice in our discussions.

[Travis In Austin]

So is it influential, or ground breaking, or influential and ground breaking? That is 3 different lists for me.

[wvu80]

So is it influential, or ground breaking, or influential and ground breaking? That is 3 different lists for me.

 

I would say, your choice. 

+++

 

And as for influential, influential to who?  As I pointed out with the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album, it was influential probably to record producers, and it was influential to the Beatles in terms of what they tried to accomplish by competing with the Beach Boys.

 

But for widespread audience appeal?  I don't know the numbers, but I doubt it was one of the all-time best selling albums.

[Travis In Austin]

So is it influential, or ground breaking, or influential and ground breaking? That is 3 different lists for me.

I would say, your choice.

+++

And as for influential, influential to who? As I pointed out with the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album, it was influential probably to record producers, and it was influential to the Beatles in terms of what they tried to accomplish by competing with the Beach Boys.

But for widespread audience appeal? I don't know the numbers, but I doubt it was one of the all-time best selling albums.

Id didn't sell at all when originally. . released.

[wvu80]

Id didn't sell at all when originally. . released.

 

Sent from my iPhone! 

 

It's either that or suddenly you can't spell two-letter words and you are stuttering while typing. 

[Travis In Austin]

Actually I must be stuttering while dictating, my grammar and spelling is atrocious throughout this entire thread. My thumbs are too fat to type on phone keyboard, so I use Dragon Naturally Speaking. My proof-reading has been sucking big time.

I miss my BlackBerry.

Travis

[Travis In Austin]

Id didn't sell at all when originally. . released.

Sent from my iPhone!

It's either that or suddenly you can't spell two-letter words and you are stuttering while typing.

It barely got to 500,000 units a year after release, whereas their previous few releases were either No. 1 or 2 in the lp charts and would sell over a million units in a month or two. Big numbers for back then.

Travis

[tblake10]

 

 

I'm not an "Elvis" guy, but shouldn't the King of Rock n' Roll have an album somewhere that influenced the generation of rock which was to come?

I don’t know, maybe the "B" movie industry as I seem to think of Elvis more in the context of Viva Las Vegas; Blue Hawaii; Girls! Girls! Girls!; Paradise Hawaiian Style; The Trouble with Girls; G.I. Blues; among many other movies …….

His first LP, Elvis by RCA was all covers, like Carl Perkins' Blue Swede Shoes, Little Richard, etc. I don't know that his music influenced anyone musically. It obviously influenced his fans immensely.

 

To name a few:

John Lennon: "Before Elvis there was nothing"

Bob Dylan: "Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail"

Al Green: "Elvis had an influence on everybody with his musical approach. He broke the ice for all of us"

Keith Richards: "Before Elvis, everything was in black and white. Then came Elvis. Zoom, glorious Technicolor"

Brian Setzer: "I don't think there is a musician today that hasn't been affected by Elvis' music. His definitive years - 1954-57 - can only be described as Rock's cornerstone"

Isaac Hayes: "Elvis was a giant and influenced everyone on the business"

[DizRotus]

This is what's great about the Internet.  This thread prompted me to dig deeper regarding Pet Sounds.  Also, the thread: https://community.klipsch.com/index.php?/topic/157230-jeff-beck-i-dont-get-it-him/ where Coytee expressed skeptiicism regarding Jeff Beck, prompted me to revisit Jeff Beck.  The threads led me to download a Pono hi-res version of the Beach Boys'  Pet Sounds.  I had always intended to do so.  I also downloaded a hi-res version of Blow by Blow from HDTracks.

 

Apparently, Jeff Beck is a fan and friend of the Beach Boys, particularly Brian Wilson.  Beck and Brian Wilson toured together recently.  According to some on the Internet, Brian Wilson created Pet Sounds as a response to Rubber Soul.  Supposedly,Keith Moon played a pre-release copy of Pet Sounds for Lennon and McCartney.  As the story goes, they immediately asked him to play the enitre album again, and that it was the motivation for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  The manager of the Beatles suggests that Sgt Pepper's would not exist, but for Pet Sounds.

 

Listening to the hi-res versions of Pet Sounds and Blow by Blow through Klipsch S4s reveals sublties missed when played through car speakers back in the day.

 

I find the whole process fascinating. YMMV

[Travis In Austin]

Here is my list of most ground breaking in no particular order:

Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum (1968)

Grateful Dead - Live/Dead (1969)

Roy Orbison - Cyring (1962)

Santana - Abraxus (1970)

The Zombies - Odyssey and Oracle (1968)

Love - Forever Changes (1967)

The Rolling Stones - Their Santanic Majesties Request (1967)

King Crimson - Court of the Crimson King (1969)

Big Brother and The Holding Company - Cheep Thrills (1968)

The Who - Who's Next (1971)

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

The Doors - eponymous (1966)

Buddy Holly/The Crickets - Chirping Crickets (1957)

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)

Elvis Presley - eponymous (1956)

Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bullocks (1977)

Pink Floyd - Dark Side if the Moon (1973)

The Smiths - eponymous (1984)

The Clash - London Calling (1979)

The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)

Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde (1966)

I am trying to get this down to 10, cut the Beatles, Exile in Main Street, Hot Tuna, The Seeds, etc., etc.

[Ceptorman]

 

 

 

Thanks, I think? Seriously, I've always enjoyed your writing in how you examine all sides of an issue. In my current role, while I cannot go into much detail, I have to recognize my own bias (which is not always easy to do) and try to mitigate it and "test" my conclusions and often times those conclusions of our teams through challenging them from very different perspectives to see how "scalable" they are and how well they hold up to scrutiny as there always seems to be some type of attack on integrity and the amount of due diligence that went into the decision making process.

I meant that sincerely, especially in topics where you have posted on economics, accounting, finance, public filings, etc. It all jives with what I was taught, and long forgotten when I got my Business/Accounting degree.

 

 

 

Thanks again.  I’ve tried to not alienate and make those posts informative and understandable for people with a wide range of experience level with the topics and have a need to keep the posts more general in nature due to the specifics of my work (although some have claimed boring).  I’ve been living those topics in excruciating detail mostly in the financial services sector since the crash in 2008 and the specific work is covered by confidentiality. 

 

I didn’t go to college until I was 37 and my degree work is in accounting, information systems and industrial psychology.  College was not an option upon high school graduation; however, after being kicked around in so many corporate downsizings over the years, I decided to increase my education level for the “resume” by committing everything to getting the degrees.  It sure has opened some interesting doors.

 

To show how I look at the rock & roll album list I thought about as groundbreaking and influential in relation to a list that I may make if I had to quickly grab ten rock & roll albums from my collection and these ten rock & roll albums would be the only music I would have; I would try to select the rock & roll albums that I could listen to multiple times without being annoyed and that list could look something like the following;

 

1 Allman Brothers Live at the Fillmore East

2 Neil Young – Decade

3 The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street

4 The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

5 Deep Purple – Machine Head

6 Led Zeppelin IV or Physical Graffiti (probably Physical Graffiti but if time ran out and IV was on top, I’d grab it and run)

7 The Doors – Probably same as Zeppelin a flip between The Doors, Strange Days and L.A. Woman

8 Humble Pie - Performance Rockin' the Fillmore (not much original here but I loved the Humble Pie “sound” personified by Frampton’s guitar work with Steve Marriott's singing)

9 Golden Earring - Moontan

10 Pearl Jam – Ten, but I wouldn’t feel slighted if I could only grab Vitalogy or Vs

 

Of course as I write this list I now look over and see my Black Sabbath Paranoid album and starting to think, "do I bump Golden Earring" or "Humble Pie" or.....? Fun stuff.

 

To those traveling today or tomorrow for the Memorial Day weekend (I know I am shortly) have safe travels.

 

Now that's a list of great rock music. I love the Humble Pie reference. 30 Days in the Hole was one of the best rock songs ever….IMO

[Gilbert]

Should have started a Best 10 LPS from the 60's, 70's, 80's, etc. etc......

[oldtimer]

I'm listening to It's A Beautiful Day right now and it's a masterpiece.  You probably won't find it too high on many lists though.

 

The band was almost invited to play at Woodstock. When Michael Lang was negotiating with Bill Graham to get the Grateful Dead to appear, Graham insisted Lang put one of two acts that he managed on the bill. Lang then listened to a tape of both It's a Beautiful Day and the other band and liked them so much that he couldn't decide so he flipped a coin and It's a Beautiful Day lost. The band that won was Santana, who became stars overnight.

Edited May 26, 2015 by oldtimer

[Travis In Austin]

White Bird

Saw them in San Fransisco, have both LPs and It's A neautiful Day on prerorded R2R.

One of my all time favorites. A true tragedy with their management, I think they would have been bigger than Fleetwood Mac.

[JAKEETON]

I think the importance of Elvis on our culture is sometimes lost after so many years. His first lp and single started an entire cultural shift. Elvis truly did change the world. London Calling made the list. Google the cover and see who they are paying homage to. That first Elvis lp cover is iconic to say the least. I will say during his time most artists relied on singles. Elvis left behind an amazing body of work. So many amazing recordings but admittedly he only recorded a handful of great lp's. That first lp basically shot Elvis out of a cannon and should be on any best of list.

[wvu80]

Listening to the hi-res versions of Pet Sounds and Blow by Blow through Klipsch S4s reveals sublties missed when played through car speakers back in the day. I find the whole process fascinating. YMMV

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

Most of the Beach Boys music I listened to was played over AM radio with those crappy speakers in noisy cars.  Even if we got the occasional album, we played it on a thing called a "record player."  No nice audio gear in my house in the 60's.

 

I love listening to the old stuff, especially on Youtube, through nice gear.