…as judged by Jeff Gold’s just-released coffee table tome, 101 Essential Rock Records. Anything missing?
1. The Beatles, Please Please Me
2. Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
3. The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones
4. Bob Dylan, Another Side of Bob Dylan
5. Davy Graham, Folk Blues & Beyond…
6. Them, Angry Young Them
7. The Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man
8. Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
9. The Who, My Generation
10. Simon & Garfunkel, Sounds of Silence
11. The Rolling Stones, Aftermath
12. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
13. Bob Dylan, Blonde On Blonde
14. The Mothers of Invention, Freak Out!
15. Yardbirds, Yardbirds
16. John Mayall with Eric Clapton, Blues Breakers
17. The Butterfield Blues Band, East West
18. The Beatles, Revolver
19. Jefferson Airplane, Takes Off
20. The Kinks, Face to Face
21. The 13th Floor Elevators, The Psychedelic Sounds Of
22. Laura Nyro, More Than A New Discovery
23. The Doors, The Doors
24. Jefferson Airplane, Surrealistic Pillow
25. The Velvet Underground & Nico, The Velvet Underground
26. Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead
27. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?
28. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
29. Moby Grape, Moby Grape
30. Tim Buckley, Goodbye and Hello
31. Pink Floyd, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn
32. Buffalo Springfield, Again
33. Love, Forever Changes
34. Cream, Disraeli Gears
35. Traffic, Mr. Fantasy
36. The Who, The Who Sell Out
37. Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen
38. The Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat
39. Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac
40. The Incredible String Band, The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
41. The Zombies, Odessey & Oracle
42. Small Faces, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
43. The Band, Music From The Big Pink
44. Grateful Dead, Anthem of the Sun
45. Jeff Beck, Truth
46. Big Brother & The Holding Company, Cheap Thrills
47. The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo
48. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Electric Ladyland
49. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
50. The Beatles, The Beatles (White Album)
51. The Pretty Things, S.F. Sorrow
52. The Pentangle, Sweet Child
53. The Soft Machine, The Soft Machine
54. Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bayou Country
55. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin
56. The Flying Burrito Bros., The Gilded Palace of Sin
57. MC5, Kick Out The Jams
58. Sly And The Family Stone, Stand!
59. Neil Young With Crazy Horse, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
60. Alexander Spence, Oar
61. The Who, Tommy
62. Crosby, Stills & Nash, Crosby, Stills & Nash
63. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band, Trout Mask Replica
64. Blind Faith, Blind Faith
65. Jethro Tull, Stand Up
66. The Stooges, The Stooges
67. Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left
68. King Crimson, In The Court of The Crimson King
69. Vashti Bunyan, Just Another Diamond Day
70. Fairport Convention, Liege & Leaf
71. The Move, Shazam
72. James Taylor, Sweet Baby James
73. Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath
74. Emerson Lake & Palmer, Emerson Lake & Palmer
75. David Bowie, The Man Who Sold The World
76. Cat Stevens, Tea For The Tillerman
77. Carole King, Tapestry
78. Can, Tago Mago
79. Yes, The Yes Album
80. Joni Mitchell, Blue
81. The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East
82. Genesis, Nursery Cryme
83. Faust, Faust
84. The Rolling Stones, Exile On Main St.
85. David Bowie, The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
86. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon
87. Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure
88. Iggy And The Stooges, Raw Power
89. New York Dolls, New York Dolls
90. Big Star, #1 Record
91. Kraftwerk, Autobahn
92. Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run
93. Patti Smith, Horses
94. Ramones, Ramones
95. The Modern Lovers, The Modern Lovers
96. AC/DC, Dirty Deeds Done Cheap
97. Fleetwood Mac, Rumors
98. The Damned, The Damned
99. The Clash, The Clash
100. Talking Heads, Talking Heads: 77
101. Sex Pistols, Never Mind The Bullocks Here’s The Sex Pistols
Paleontology
No Van Halen 1? Changed guitar forever. One of heavy rock’s great milestone albums. Everything that came after it was influenced one way or another. Defined the modern guitar hero for a decade or more.
yeah?!?!!!? No Van Halen ????????????????????? First album should be there without a doubt. sheeeesh!
Serious or no? Can’t tell if posted as joke.
Note that the subtitle of the book is “from The Beatles to The Sex Pistols.” So, basically, this is the author’s choice of the best 101 albums from ’63 to ’78.
Guess I must have slept on Vashti Bunyan. The others I know.
Where’s Nevermind, American Beauty, John Barleycorn, Remain in Light,…? Love that Soft Machine made the list. Love Them but #6? Who’s that Davy at #5? Pet Sounds should be #3. Dark Side of the Moon, Are You Experienced should rate much higher. I’m sure I forgot something.
The list is chronological. You didn’t notice that?
This coffee table book sucks!
Then again coffee table books suck in general and this list means nothing because nobody is going to read the entire list while waiting for the dentist!
How is Dark Side of the Moon not in the top 10?
Simon and Garfunkel behind The Who?
lmao
The list appears to be chronilogical and not by importance.
Required Listening!
Tienen tarea!
1 -10 should be the Beatles, period.
Beatles were great..but overrated. Many of their songs on Revolver – Abby Road where ripoffs of great mid-60’s American bands…..
For once, a list that isn’t nuts.
The Stooges – Funhouse
Is Purple Rain on there??
This is really quite amazing; Davy Graham’s album “Folk Blues and Beyond” is really that good but he was never that well known outside Soho in London, Buy it here on lovely limited edition vinyl:
http://www.daveygraham.moonfruit.com/#/folk-blues-and-beyond/4539661207
A list created by someone with an acquaintance with the British folk scene, no doubt; besides Davy Graham, the list includes Pentangle (52), Nick Drake (67), Vashti Bunyan (69) (mostly lost to history until her 2000’s rediscovery), and Fairport Convention (70)
Yeah, this is certainly in chronological order.
My list would probably include Dennis Wilson’s Pacific Ocean, T Rex’s Electric Warrior & the Slider (if rereleases are counted, I’d also include Tanx on the strength of 20th Century Boy alone), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ self-titled, Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection & Honky Chateau & Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the Band’s self-titled, the Faces’ A Nod is as Good as a Wink, Television’s Marquee Moon, John Mayall’s A Hard Road, Fleetwood Mac’s the Pious Bird of Good Omen, Leon Russell’s Leon & the Shelter People and Carney, Freddie King’s Getting Ready…, the Guess Who’s American Woman, & a bunch of other stuff.
It’s a great list, for sure, but mine would be considerably different.
Yeah, The Band simply has to be on the list, or perhaps Music from ig Pink since they are listed rather chronologically. Who could argue against this.
Also arguably the most influential artist worldwide has been Bob Marley, including in rock, reggae references showed up everywhere. Pick an album ofyour choice.
No Elton John is a mistake unless we are really limiting this to “rock”, not that he didn’t rock – also hugely influential was Mahavishnu Orchestra, pick their first album. I suppose fusion is out but still…
JW – Your list rocks. Just add a Chuck Berry record and ditch the folk music.
No Deep Purple – Machine Head?
Who paid for this list?
It’s “Never Mind The Bollocks…,” not “Bullocks.” Although I’m sure that’s a great album too.
As with most lists, it’s Bollocks. Nevermind…
Gratifying to see how many were recorded in London. Nearly half by our reckoning
102: Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destrution
Everyone: IT IS A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST. And, yea, it looks like “The Golden Age of Vinyl” and “To the Sex Pistols” means it cuts off at 1977.
I like that some lesser known albums and bands made the grade. Woot, Moby Grape.
That said, I highly disagree with it in so many ways.
1. The only Kinks album is “Face to Face”. For shame. A good album, but not of the caliber of “Village Green Preservation Society”, “Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)” and “Lola vs…” So, remove Face to Face (and two other albums of your choice) and throw up those other three!
2. No Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers” or “Let it Bleed”? No “Abbey Road”? Seems like he just wanted to avoid putting too many albums by popular bands on there, no matter how good.
3. Really? Black Sabbath and Led Zep’s best albums are their first albums? Most would say “Paranoid” or “Masters of Reality” for Sab, and Led Zep again, deserves at least 3 albums on there. So again, penalization for popularity, so he can shove more lesser know folk and blues albums on there.
4. Blind Faith is highly overrated. Remove it. Instead: Blue Oyster Cult: “Tyranny and Mutation”!
5. I know, I know, its all opinion, and this dude is the one who did the work to get a book printed. Good job dude! You know a lot about music, but clearly don’t like heavy metal very much. Oh well!
Non-snarky question: did the author give a reason for cutting off at 1977? In 1977, all the energy from punk etc. was triggering a second wave for rock, and I believe the golden age for vinyl LPs continues at least until 1985, when CD sales start to spread into the mainstream.
Snarky question: What would a list from the 15 years 1990-2005 look like, or 1995-2010? Would very many people care? 🙂
The Clash (S/T, not londcall) at #99!
Let me guess, this guy works for the psuedo music magazine “Rolling Stone”. This list is pretentious and pedantic, just like RS.
I would prefer that Axis: Bold as Love be part of this, and especially Genesis’ Selling England by the Pound, which I believe is their best (and Lamb Lies Down 2nd place). Jethro Tulls’ Thick as a Brick or their first album I would guess are more influential, too.
Still some great choices within the 100, some of my personal favorites. Prefer Stage Fright to Big Pink (although Chest Fever is on my all-time great rock songs list).
No Devo, Really? Right up there with Kraftwerk!
What about Ike Turner and Chuck Berry?!
Hi Everyone, Jeff Gold here, author of the book. Just to clarify things, the book is titled 101 Essential Rock Records, The Golden Age of Vinyl From the Beatles to The Sex Pistols. The opening essay explains we’re covering the most seminal rock (not blues, not R&B, not straight-ahead folk) albums from the era where album sales dominated–from Beatlemania through the emergence of the Walkman and the dominance of the cassette. It’s arbitrary, but everything needs a beginning and end point and these are mine. Albums were chosen based on quality, originality and influence. As these criteria and what constitutes a rock album are completely subjective and I knew people would disagree, I’m just now finishing a website where people can argue with me and post their own lists. 101EssentialRecords.com will be ready next week.
An attempt at generating controversy or just sloppy headline writing?
Digital Music News changed ‘essential’ to ‘most influential’ and ADDED ‘In Rock ‘N Roll History’.
It gives the impression these albums were the most ‘influential’ in rock ‘history’ when the TITLE of the book CLEARLY says ‘essential’ (not ‘most influential’) and even limits it to vinyl from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols – not Rock ‘N Roll History.
Where was the copy editor?
This is a ridiculous list. Almost everybody’s white. Lame and pathetic goose vomit This is a book that somebody has spent $ to publish?
there was this early Rock and Roller named Elvis, tho i guess he wasn’t that influential… Rush didn’t have any influence either, nor Van Halen, Elton John, The Guess Who, Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine…. could go on and on and on here.
no buddy holly? c’mon guys …!
Who the heck are: #5 – Davy Brown #60 – Alexander Spence, #67 Nick Drake, #69 – Vashti Bunyan #78 – Can, #83 Faust #90 – Big Star. If I have to look these people/groups up on Wikipedia and still don’t know who they are, how influential on the music scene can they be?
As the the other artists that I do recognize the first Jimi Hendrix mention is listed at #27, Led Zeppelin at #55? Are there really so many other artists that are more influential these guys?
Kudo’s to getting the book published but to be honest, I have a better music selection on my playlists.
It’s really very simple. Something’s influence on you has absolutely zero to do with its overall influence on the world. That’s determined by its influence on those who matter.
man, no list sucks. there’s always music someone hasn’t heard of. and in reality, they’re always meant to be engaging not definitive. and i’m guessing the real problem with this list is that /paul misunderstood its purpose, and posted it too soon; or didn’t really bother to know exactly what it was.
either way, i’ve found some new stuff, thanks!
This is an interesting list. We’ve all got our favorites. Most people would perceive that “Revolver” was a whole lot more influential than “Please Please Me” for example. But then influence is a matter of perspective too. I’d suggest that Jimi Hendrix changed the tonality of music more than anyone since the Beatles, introducing effects and what not that are pretty standard these days. But perhaps that’s not being influential to you. Nevertheless, I really have to take issue with some of your selections–not because they’re not influential, but simply because it’s hard for me to think of James Taylor (and some others) as being in the “rock” genre. Definitely in the “Golden Age of Vinyl”, but rock? I do seem to recall that the song “Sweet Baby James” was initially written as a lullaby. Well, I guess one person’s rock is another person’s roll.
Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Ry Cooder, Elvis, BUddy Guy, and women – my god you would think that only 10% of the world of rock is women instead of well over 50%
Well over 50% of the world of rock is women? Where on earth does that figure come from?
I hate when my grandpa posts lists online…
not a bad list…
but without ziggy stardust we are leaving out a decade of “changes” thanks to david bowies brilliance.
Author of the book here, I appreciate everyone’s comments, but Ziggy Stardust IS included. Feel free to complain or post your own list athttp://101essentialrecords.com/comments/
at the forum I’ve set up for people’s
Sorry, that should be http://101essentialrecords.com/comments/
The Zombies album Odysee and Oracle was released efter the group had split up. Much more interesting is the album She`s not there. That one sets a mile stone.
And I have to say that all of Bob Dylans albums does not set a new standard.
As musicjournalist I can say this is a rediculous list. Of no importcance
Not a single Queen album?
what a list…
I think it’s a great list, very cool, non biased. Well done Jeff.
Jeff was born in 56, it’s clear this is the list of records that had the biggest impact on him. It’s very era specific…..misses such important bands like Kiss (yes, I’m serious), Van Halen, Nirvana, Prince…..I could go in. This list is really about the 60’s and early 70’s
Nirvana?