Last week I presented a list of 10 albums that are great for intruducing younger listeners to rock and roll, a sort of gateway to broader musical horizons. Now I present a list of the greatest albums that have shaped rock and roll over the last 60 or so years.
1. The Beatles
Please Please Me
(or in North America, Meet The Beatles)
This legitimized the form. When the band played on Ed Sulllivan, the whole of America paused. Suddenly rock and roll music was no longer something a few ruffians listened to as the soda shop. These were nice lads who looked good and had a sense of humor. The music was still “loud” and “obnoxious” but it went mainstream here.
2. The Beatles
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band
The Beatles changed the rules of pretty much everything. No longer contained to a 30 minute album, or even songs that had to be reproduced on stage the band was free to reinvent what rock and roll was. Music would never be the same after this album. Listen to Rubber Soul which came before The Beach Boys Pet Sounds which came before this and you understand this didn’t just happen overnight, but this was the album, the defining moment, for everything that came afterwards.
3. Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home
A landmark in folk and rock music. The folkie singer/songwriter plugs his guitar into an amplifier. This album would lead to his next two equally landmark albums (Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde) but this was the one that turned the folk “movement” on end. The resulting “controversy” then propelled not only Dylan but folk music as well into a whole other realm.
4. Isaac Hayes
Hot Buttered Soul
Just listen to it.
5. Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Heavy metal was born with this record. Led Zepplin were more “heavy blues” but this was something different. A new genre was introduced to the world and it didn’t get much critical support and wasn’t wildly successful, it did start something that by the time the follow-up album came out audiences and critics were ready to embrace the sound.
6. Carole King
Tapestry
She didn’t invent the singer/songwriter, but she paved the way for virtually every female who came after her. Don’t believe me? Ask any female singer/songwriter who their inspiration was. Then ask them who thier inspiration was. 9 out of 10 responses will lead back to here.
7. Kraftwerk
Autobahn
The first “electronic” band that anybody heard. I know, Wendy (formerly Walter) Carlos presented Switched On Back several years earlier, which featured classical compositions performed with an early version of the Moog synthisizer. It was successful, but was a novelty of classical music. What Kraftwerk did was take that idea and ran with it. By the time the group released this album, their 4th, they figured out their sound and had it polished ready for a larger audience and have been blazing thier own path ever since and inspiring electronic music in all sorts of ways.
8. Ramones
Ramones
Yet another genre is born.
9. Run DMC
Run DMC
Rap is born. Alright, so it isn’t the first record to feature rap, but can be seen as the first rap record. Stemming from hip hop which blended funk and “street” beats along with MCs (see Sugarhill Gang or Grandmaster Flash And The Furios Five) the genre had not gelled on record and was seen primarily as a live form of entertainment to augment the DJ. This album changed all of that.
10. Nirvana
Nevermind
Suddenly “alternative” music was popular. Punk rock was on the radio. bands were getting record contracts and local scenes were all the rage. In many ways this album helped turn the whole of the music industry upside down.