Criteria: - These debut albums were chosen and ranked based upon their initial and lasting popularity and their impact and influence on rock 'n' roll and its related genres. Also considered is whether or not any songs on the album were previously available for some time as singles before the album was released. A debut album is defined as the artist's first release of five songs or more, or of equivalent length.

Rock albums did not become very significant until the mid to late 60s. Before that most rock albums consisted mainly of songs that were previously released as singles, and/or remakes or covers of popular songs by other artists. The list will reflect this, and will not include many albums from before 1966. Solo albums from artists who were already long time superstars with prior groups (Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Beatles) and also new groups led by long time superstars from past groups (Derek & the Dominos, Traveling Wilburys, etc...) will not be considered as debut albums for the purposes of this list.

1 Are You Experienced? (1967) - Jimi Hendrix Experience
2 Led Zeppelin (1969) – Led Zeppelin
3 The Doors (1967) – Doors
4 Ten (1991) – Pearl Jam
5 Elvis Presley (1956) – Elvis Presley
6 Run-D.M.C. (1984) – Run-D.M.C.
7 Licensed To Ill (1986) – Beastie Boys
8 Whitney Houston (1985) - Whitney Houston *****
9 The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) – Velvet Underground
10 Appetite For Destruction (1987) – Guns N' Roses
11 Van Halen (1978) – Van Halen
12 Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) – Byrds
13 Boston (1976) – Boston
14 Black Sabbath (1970) – Black Sabbath
15 My Aim Is True (1977) – Elvis Costello
16 Music From Big Pink (1968) – The Band
17 Please Please Me (1963) – The Beatles
18 Ramones (1976) – Ramones
19 Mariah Carey (1990) – Mariah Carey *****
20 Ready To Die (1994) – Notorious B.I.G.
21 If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (1966) – The Mamas & The Papas
22 The Fame (2008) – Lady Gaga *****
23 Fresh Cream (1966) – Cream
24 Chicago Transit Authority (1969) – Chicago
25 Kill 'Em All (1983) – Metallica
26 In The Court Of The Crimson King (1969) – King Crimson
27 Songs In A Minor (2001) – Alicia Keys *****
28 Kick Out The Jams (1969) – MC5
29 The College Dropout (2004) – Kanye West *****
30 What's The 411? (1992) – Mary J. Blige *****
31 Paid In Full (1987) – Eric B & Rakim *****
32 Vincebus Eruptum (1968) – Blue Cheer
33 Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols (1977) – Sex Pistols
34 Yourself Or Something Like You (1996) – Matchbox 20 *****
35 3 Feet High And Rising (1989) – De La Soul
36 Dire Straits (1978) – Dire Straits
37 The Stooges (1969) – Stooges
38 The Pretenders (1980) – The Pretenders
39 Piper At The Gates Of Dawn (1967) – Pink Floyd
40 Santana (1969) – Santana
41 The Cars (1978) – The Cars
42 Reasonable Doubt (1996) – Jay-Z *****
43 Freak Out (1966) – Mothers Of Invention
44 Illmatic (1994) – Nas
45 Unknown Pleasures (1979) – Joy Division
46 Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers (1993) – Wu-Tang Clan
47 Can't Buy A Thrill (1972) – Steely Dan
48 My Generation (1965) – The Who
49 Rolling Stones (1964) – Rolling Stones
50 The Stylistics (1971) – The Stylistics *****
51 Forever Your Girl (1988) – Paula Abdul *****
52 Boy (1980) – U2
53 The B-52s (1979) – The B-52s
54 Bluejean Bop (1956) – Gene Vincent & the Blue Caps
55 The Chirping Crickets (1957) – Buddy Holly & the Crickets
56 The Clash (1977) – The Clash
57 Texas Flood (1983) – Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
58 Horses (1975) – Patti Smith Group
59 Look Sharp! (1979) – Joe Jackson
60 Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968) – Creedence Clearwater Revival
61 The Monkees (1966) – The Monkees
62 Dreamboat Annie (1976) – Heart
63 Beauty And The Beat (1981) – The Go-Go's
64 New York Dolls (1973) – New York Dolls
65 Outlandos d'Amour (1978) – The Police
66 Supa Dupa Fly (1997) – Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliott *****
67 Shotgun (1965) – Jr. Walker & The All-Stars
68 The Smiths (1984) – The Smiths
69 Eagles (1972) – Eagles
70 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (1976) – Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
71 Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. (1973) – Bruce Springsteen
72 Steppenwolf (1968) – Steppenwolf
73 Procol Harum (1967) – Procol Harum
74 Aerosmith (1973) – Aerosmith
75 Rage Against The Machine (1992) – Rage Against The Machine
76 Foreigner (1977) – Foreigner
77 Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969) – Jackson 5
78 Radio (1985) – LL Cool J
79 The Animals (1964) – The Animals
80 Green Onions (1962) – Booker T. & the MG's
81 The Stone Roses (1989) – The Stone Roses
82 Marquee Moon (1977) – Television
83 Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987) – Public Enemy
84 Psychocandy (1985) – The Jesus & Mary Chain
85 The Meters (1969) – The Meters
86 Iron Maiden (1980) – Iron Maiden
87 Big Brother & The Holding Company (1967) – Big Brother & the Holding Company
88 Is This It (2001) – The Strokes *****
89 Tubular Bells (1973) – Mike Oldfield
90 In The Heat Of The Night (1979) – Pat Benatar
91 Get The Knack (1979) – The Knack
92 19 (2008) – Adele *****
93 Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd (1973) – Lynyrd Skynyrd
94 Pretty Hate Machine (1989) – Nine Inch Nails
95 Shake Your Money Maker (1990) – The Black Crowes
96 Long Live The Kane (1988) – Big Daddy Kane *****
97 Definitely Maybe (1994) – Oasis
98 Roxy Music (1972) – Roxy Music
99 Talking Heads: 77 (1977) – Talking Heads
100 The Young Rascals (1966) – The Young Rascals

Don't know how I missed making a thread for this when the new forum started, but if I did I can't find it now.

Anyway, the editors were talking about whether there are newer albums that belong here. I think we've found at least three:

Songs In A Minor (2001) - Alicia Keys
The Fame (2008) - Lady Gaga
Is This It (2001) - The Strokes

I see the first two as somewhere around 25-30 on the list and the Strokes further down.

Eminem, Coldplay, and Arcade Fire definitely had other releases before their breakthrough album. Kanye West had a couple of mixtapes before The College Dropout, and I'm thinking they are enough to disqualify the latter. Brian suggested the Gnarls Barkley debut, but I'm inclined to classify them more as a supergroup than a new artist.

Thoughts? Am I forgetting something important?

Is Never Mind the Bollocks so low because of all the singles that were released first?

Yes. We felt that that lessened the impact of the album in itself.

I guess the Stray Cats is gonna have to go. Not sure what else should leave though. Everything else near the bottom is pretty significant IMO.

I know the Big Star is a favorite for you, but it certainly was not significant when it was current. If I can let the Stray Cats go maybe you can let that one go :-)

Maybe the Black Crowes should be the third album to go. It doesn't seem to have retained much popularity or any influence over the last few years.

Also Brett, The Strokes would be difficult to get in this list for the same reason you disqualify Arcade Fire: there was an EP, The Modern Age, released before Is This It which was the source of their initial hype.



hmm... Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park? That record sold fantastically, continues to sell well, has some influence and some moderate critical acclaim. There were two EPs before it (one a piece under two different band names), but they sold poorly, were released on fly-by-night labels and are currently rare.

This has gotta be rare, a modern album with 12 songs that are all easily under 4 minutes long.

1 Papercut 3:09
2 One Step Closer 2:45
3 With You 3:38
4 Points of Authority 3:31
5 Crawling 3:33
6 Runaway 3:08
7 By Myself 3:17
8 In the End 3:40
9 A Place for My Head 3:09
10 Forgotten 3:18
11 Cure for the Itch 2:41
12 Pushing Me Away 3:11

not a bad list, is ten that good?

Yes.

ITCOTCK is way too low.

Yes, I think I had that higher when I had the list. Don't remember why Brett dropped it some when I gave it to him.

The Modern Age is only three songs and runs about 12 minutes. That's a single under our definitions.



Well, this is going to be an ongoing issue going forward--what constitutes a release of an album in this day and age where anyone can burn CDs on their computer? Still, the first Linkin Park EP seems to be a real if small-time release, and at almost 30 minutes it's as long as some of the albums on the list, so I think that has to be considered their first album. Not a bad thought, though.

Mostly because it's not all that big on the popularity front, and I didn't think it quite overcame that in other areas. I'm open to argument on that.

Something else I've been thinking about with this list. I never put Whitney Houston or Mariah Carey on there because I think of them more as pop than as rock, but I notice both of them are included on their respective decade albums lists. If these albums qualify as rock, they clearly should be here. In fact, I'm thinking Whitney would go in as number one. The popularity of that album was absolutely huge (13 million sales in the US, 25 million worldwide, three number one singles, 14 weeks at number one US), and its influence is also very big--but, again, much of that influence was on music that is arguably not rock, including Mariah along with Celine Dion, a lot of the American Idol crowd, and so on. I'm wondering what people think. And I know some people will be apoplectic at the idea of Whitney ahead of Jimi Hendrix, but if the list were called "Greatest Popular Music Debut Albums" it would be a no-brainer.

I think ITCOTCK beats Kick out the Jams in both popularity and influence, so I'd recommend the former being the higher of the two. However, that might be more a matter of MC5 being too high than of KC being too low.

Putting Whitney ahead of Jimi would be to weigh popularity very heavily, too heavily I think. If popularity is weighed that heavily, Elvis, Guns 'n' Roses, and Boston would also probably belong ahead of Jimi, and maybe even Pearl Jam would. And Guns 'n' Roses would definitely go ahead of VU&N, which might be a good move anyway.

I don't see Whitney ahead of Elvis regardless of how the criteria are weighed. Her small advantage in popularity would surely be overcome by his big advantage in everything else.

Everything else? What is there in this criteria besides popularity and influence?