By “important” I mean that it didn’t just become hugely popular, but it also changed a music genre or launched an entirely new one, or otherwise made a huge impact on music in general.
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My suggestions:
- Boston (self titled) pretty much transformed how music was produced, using the studio as an instrument.
- Jimi Hendrix - “Are you Experienced”. Because a guitar had never been played like that before.
- Nirvana - “Nevermind”. Arguably not the first grunge album, but it pretty much put the final nail in the coffin of 80’s music.
Honorable mention: Pantera - “Cowboys from Hell” finally moved metal beyond fluffy hair and leather pants that had saturated the genre for too long, and effectively ended the glam era.
Great suggestions, although personally I would have picked Electric Ladyland for Jimi, as that feels more as a well-rounded concept album showcasing his musical skills better. If only he hadn’t died so soon, Band of Gypsys gave him the freedom to really do what he wanted.
The first grunge album that I know of was Green River’s Rehab Doll in 1988.
Primus, I don’t know anyone else that sounds like them. Sailing the Seas of Cheese.
I’d say for the same reason I posted Hendrix earlier: Primus deserves to be on the list because nobody had played a bass like that before.
While nobody else has (to my knowledge) gone full Claypool, using the bass partly as a rythm instrument has left its mark on many other basists.
It’s honestly kinda cool the ouroboros-like influence between Les Claypool and Geddy Lee. Les has always credited Rush as a huge influence, but then Geddy’s playing has also gotten progressively slappy-er over the years just from hanging out with Primus
not sure I understand what you mean, the bass has always been a rhythm instrument, its traditional role is to mark tempo and provide the root for harmony. do you maybe mean using it as a percussive instrument, like Claypool often does with muted slapping?
Yeah, percussive is a better word. And not in a typical funk-style slap bass either.
Is unique the same as important?
All I remember from my brother listening to that album is the short track with the album title. “Come with us, we’ll sail the seas of cheese”
Nas - Illmatic
While I can guess why, I’m not experienced enough with rap, hip, hop, or any combination of the three to be an authority on this, so could explain what makes the album hugely important?
Oh man, that is tough to put in words, but let me try. First of all, the lyricism. The way Nas rhymed and structured his verses was practically unheard of. Rakim could do it, Big Daddy Kane could do it. Not many others. So just in terms of rhyming skill and storytelling, he was up there. It was also one of the first (cohesive) street albums, with Nas just acting as the observer, with vivid storytelling about what he saw around him. You can clearly hear his influence in Mobb Deep’s albums, for example.
Musically, it is quintessentially 90s East Coast rap, and it came out at a time where the focus was more on the West Coast (think NWA, Snoop Dogg). It has a cohesive sound despite having many different producers (Pete Rock, Premier, Large Professor, etc) on the album, something that wasn’t really done before that time.
Also, there’s not a single bad track on the album. 10 tracks, no filler.
100%.
I would also put 36 Chambers by Wu-Tang Clan and Operation Doomsday by MF DOOM in the same tier of essential 90s NY hip-hop.
Black Sabbath’s self titled 1970 debut.
Generations of metalheads the world over owe their lives, allegiance, and gratitude to Tony’s fucked up hand.
Tony*
Corrected. Thank you.
Agreed! As a doom metal and stoner rock fan, I’m hard-pressed not to name a band from those genres not influenced by the album or the band.
I’ll tell you two such bands: The Beatles and Iron Butterfly.
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
To me this marks a turning point in the Beatles’ output, from fun, rock ‘n’ roll/pop music, to serious artistry, more challenging themes and lyrics and more interesting instrumentation.Sample track: In My Life
Dubnobasswithmyheadman - Underworld
Hugely important in British dance music, a total departure from their first two albums and the start of a run of classic electronic music. It’s a shame they’re still best known for Born Slippy, because there’s so much more to Underworld than that, and it started here.Sample track: Dirty Epic
The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground
Famously known as an album that not many people bought, but all of those who did started a band. Hugely influential, full of great songs, some gentle and fragile, others cacophonic and dissonant. A masterpiece.Sample track: Venus in Furs
I wrote down Pet Sounds as a majorly influential album and Brian Wilson has said that that cohesion and individual song strength of Rubber Soul was the inspiration that drove him to make it.
So i guess your pick inspired my pick!
I almost picked Pet Sounds myself! Such an incredible album, so much invention and depth ❤️
Seconding Rubber Soul. In the same way Pantera managed to separate metal from the glam, Beatles separated pop/rock from the campiness of earlier and contemporary bands.
DJ Shadow - Preemptive Strike
Rage against the machine’s debut album & Evil Empire
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Rage Against the Machine’s first public show is on YouTube. It’s remarkable how they arrived almost fully formed.
The debut album was released 13 months after that performance, but tracks like Know Your Enemy sound almost identical to the recorded version.
- Velvet Underground and Nico
- Bringing It All Back Home (Bob Dylan)
- Kind of Blue (Miles Davis)
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
This basically started progressive rock. I also remember being in absolute awe when learning it is from 1969, it sounds soooo clean and somewhat modern (and very good, obviously).
This one of funny because when reading about it I hit the feeling that they had no idea or plan to what they were doing. They just wanted to sell albums and get laid.
Then they drop this completely weird af, beautiful and haunting album which everyone of course tries to deconstruct and find the real meaning behind etc.
Just fripp and pals goofing about in the halls of the crimson king.
From what I’ve heard, progressive rock threw away the influence of black musicians that was there in blues and rock’n’roll, and continued in the European and ‘academic’/art music tradition instead.
I’m not versed in music theory anywhere near enough to tell if this is really true, though.
Completely changed rock music
- Ramones - Ramones (1976)
- The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)
I’d add New York Dolls to that list too.
Rush - Fly by Night
Their second album is the first where they found their prog rock selves.
From wikipedia: The members of Rush have noted that people “either love Rush or hate Rush”,[170] resulting in strong detractors and an intensely loyal fan base. In 1979, The Rolling Stone Record Guide called them “the power boogie band for the 16 magazine graduating class”.[171] A July 2008 Rolling Stone article said, “Rush fans are the Trekkies/trekkers of rock”.[172] Rush have been cited as an influence by artists including Alice in Chains,[173] Anthrax,[174] the Cro-Mags,[175] Dream Theater,[176][177][178] Exciter,[179] Fates Warning,[180] Fishbone,[181] Foo Fighters,[182] Iron Maiden,[183] Jane’s Addiction,[184] Living Colour,[185] Manic Street Preachers,[186] Megadeth,[187][188][189] Meshuggah,[190][191] Metallica,[178][192] No Doubt,[193] Pearl Jam,[194] the Pixies,[195] Primus,[196] Queensrÿche,[197] Rage Against the Machine,[198] the Red Hot Chili Peppers,[199] Sepultura,[200] the Smashing Pumpkins,[196] Elliott Smith,[201] Soundgarden,[202] Stone Temple Pilots,[203] System of a Down,[204] Testament,[205][206] Tool,[207][208] and Steven Wilson.[209] Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails said in the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage that Rush is one of his favourite bands, and he has also cited the band’s early 1980s period in particular as a major influence on him in regard to incorporating keyboards and synthesizers into hard rock.[210]
I wanted to mention rush, but I couldn’t narrow it down to one album.
On a related note, I got tickets to see Rush next year, as I figured it’ll be my last chance.
I decided to treat myself:
That’s as close to the stage as I could justify with my paycheck. Closer is ridiculously priced, even by ticketmonster standards.
Nothing - Meshuggah
It wasn’t their first album by any means, but I think it was the most influential on metal music, it kind of spawned its own sub-genre (djent-core?). On this album they really honed in on the sound they made steps toward with Chaosphere, and it influenced the sound of metal moving forward into the late 00s and 2010s.
I haven’t really been into metal as much as I was back when this came out, but it was really interesting to see this swedish metal band I randomly heard about in an AOL chatroom take off and become hugely popular and influential.
I’d argue that you got the band and the reason right, but with the wrong album. Chaosphere. Not as djenty as their later albums, but the seeds and saplings are clearly there.
Plus every metal drummer I knew back then tried to learn New Millennium Cyanide Christ.
Yeah I was debating between saying Chaosphere or Nothing, I can definitely see your argument as well. Really cool band with incredible musicians all around.
being a tull fan Im going to say stand up, aqualung, songs from the wood, and thick as a brick. The bands early career sorta brought progressive rock front and center and there is definately a difference between rock before the band and after thick as a brick and I think it was very much their influence. Songs from the wood sorta did the same for folk rock.
Any specific era? I mean, I’m mostly into classical music and I would consider quite a few of those old pieces… hugely important, to say the least: much more meaningful than many of the more recent productions. But, even though I’ve a much more limited understanding of it, I also consider some more recent and even a few contemporary artists… hugely important ;)
Any era where music is released as part of albums, I guess.
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
Sepultura - Roots
IMHO, perfect albums that you can listen to from the beginning to the end without skipping anything:
- Guns n’ Roses, Use Your Illusion 1 & 2
- Radiohead, OK Computer
- Portishead, Portishead
- Bjork, Homogenic
