Greatest Rock Album of All Time

[shokhead]

Fwiw

PF concert on pbs tonight at 8pm and again at 12 mid.

 

[Blundaar]

Funny you should mention Dark Side otm...I'm listening to it right now. There's just something other-wordly about it. Not very warm & fuzzy, almost alien in feel. Transcendent. Maybe that's its appeal, dunno. Whatever it is, it seeps deep into a level of the psyche that is rarely penetrated. That's the best I can explain it, even though it really doesn't, just more cosmic debris.

However, it DOES help to listen to it on multi-channel SACD. Loud. Very loud. But then I was blown away when I heard it for the first time back in 1972 on a cheesy turntable and bad speakers. So there's something more than visionary engineering going on when it's been on the charts longer than any recording in history.

That other-worldly quality was created by Allan Parsons as head sound engineer for the album. Although a lot of Parsons' future music was not "rock" per se, he was behind a lot of good music. I think a lot of his "Project" albums have the same feel.
By the way, I'm not getting sucked up into this trap, but I will add Zappas' Zoot Allures to the list of rock-like classics.

 

[maximoiglesias]

My choices

1- Dark Side of the Moon PF
2- Tales from Topographic Oceans Yes
3- ...and then there where three Genesis
4- Live at the Fillmore Allman Bros
5- All Things Must Pass George Harrison
6- Wish you Where here PF
7- Demons and Wizards Uriah Heep

 

[Plimtuna]

My most influential albums

Well, I have to agree there is not one. But I can tell you which ones Rocked my world and I still listen to them today. I am going chronological

Year I found it - Group - Album

1. 1973 - Emerson Lake Palmer - Brain Salad Surgery - I was barely 10, my brother played it while he was trying to do homework and I was trying to go to sleep. My first look at Albums as a whole. It was like nothing I had ever heard before - "Welcome back my friends to the show that ever ends..."

2. 1976 - Heart - Dreamboat Annie - Wow girls can rock too.! I miss album covers, liners sleeves etc. This one had pictures of the band etc. I was with Heart Wholeheartedly through Dog and Butterfly, then I was lost with the commercial 80's stuff.

3. 1979 - Cheap Trick - Live at Budakon - I only bought the album because a girl I liked told me to while we were browsing records at the store. I then played it all the time for months.

4. 1980 - The Police - Zendatta Mondatta - Wow, three guys make that sound. A new beat captured my attention.

5. 1981 - Pink Floyd - DSotM - I know, I know, it is years after it came out, but no one had hooked me up. Again, a girl I liked asked me to buy it for her for he birthday. OMG - what a sound, what an album. I think it is my all time favorite today.

6. 1984 - Supertramp - Crime of the Century - I know, 10 years after it came out. But I loved the tone and feel of the music and the lyrics. Come on when your in your last year's of college, depressed about the thoughts of your future, you have to love RUDY "Rudy's on a train to no where, half way down the line."

7. 1986 - Bruce Springsteen - Live/1975-85 I had been listening to Bruce for years. Once sat out all night in the rain trying to get tickets. Putting the collection together in one set like this reminded me of his value as a song writer. I guess when I was listening to Darkness and Born To Run and The River when they came out, they were so popular so ubiquitous, I overlooked their real value.

8. Last 10 years or so - various - Various Now I am in my 40s and really getting into Blues/Rock. Started with Stevie Ray Vaughn, back to Canned heat, Allman Bros, Early Zepplin, Clapton, Mahall, and the real stuff, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy etc. Btw - I live in Chicago so I think this makes sense.

Music has been such an important part of my life, though I never played an instrument. Until a year ago, I picked up the drums. My 11 year son plays electric guitar. We try to play together, though he is better than me. Though we are both working on Pink Floyd, "Comfortable numb" right now. Other tunes in our repertoire, "back in black", "Crazy Train", "Give a little bit" and "Livin', lovin' maid." Man am I having fun.

Plimtuna

 

[JVC]

Without a second thought..............
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Not because of the recording, because back then, they didn't have the technology, for outstanding recordings. But because of the ground breaking style, lyrics, and type of music. And also, for the fact that this music will be around, when most of the others mentioned, will be long gone and forgotten.

There are a couple other Beatles albums, that can be put up on that pedistal too. Rubber Soul and the White Album. The Beatles led the way, and set the standard, for everyone else to follow. Their music will live on, forever!

 

[JVC]

Greatest rock album??? Maybe the most popular...not the "greatest" (unless you were a 14 year old, bubble gum chewing, girly screamer). And, if we can agree on a small categorization...the Beatles were basically pop, not rock.

How old were you when they were first out? Were you born yet?
They definately were not bubble gum music! So you want to put them in the same category as Tommy Roe and The Archies? You've lost your mind!
You could actually call them the first acid rock band, because of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Yellow Submarine", etc........ although some people call heavy metal music.......acid rock.

Do you, or any others here, remember the old 'Progressive Rock' FM stations? The ones that the DJ's had soft speaking voices, very few commercials, and all the BEST rock and roll music. Music by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ten Years After, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Super Sessions music by Mike Bllomfield, Steve Stlls, and Al Cooper, The Beatles, Donovan, The Doors, etc....... The radio stations didn't consider The Beatles to be bubble gum. You may be the first to ever call then a bubble gum band.

 

[Duffinator]

Music has been such an important part of my life, though I never played an instrument. Until a year ago, I picked up the drums. My 11 year son plays electric guitar. We try to play together, though he is better than me. Though we are both working on Pink Floyd, "Comfortable numb" right now. Other tunes in our repertoire, "back in black", "Crazy Train", "Give a little bit" and "Livin', lovin' maid." Man am I having fun.

Plimtuna

Plimtuna, great first post and some excellent suggestions. My bet is 10 to 20 years from your your favorite album memories will be the songs you are playing with your son. Priceless.

 

[shokhead]

How old were you when they were first out? Were you born yet?
They definately were not bubble gum music! So you want to put them in the same category as Tommy Roe and The Archies? You've lost your mind!
You could actually call them the first acid rock band, because of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Yellow Submarine", etc........ although some people call heavy metal music.......acid rock.

Do you, or any others here, remember the old 'Progressive Rock' FM stations? The ones that the DJ's had soft speaking voices, very few commercials, and all the BEST rock and roll music. Music by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ten Years After, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Super Sessions music by Mike Bllomfield, Steve Stlls, and Al Cooper, The Beatles, Donovan, The Doors, etc....... The radio stations didn't consider The Beatles to be bubble gum. You may be the first to ever call then a bubble gum band.

I've told younger people then me that have said the Beatles are soft or b gum that you had to be there when they started and you would never think that. Interesting thing about the Beatles were hardly no drum solo's or long guitar solo's yet but for Ringo,all were top musicians.

 

[Tomorrow]

How old were you when they were first out? Were you born yet?
They definately were not bubble gum music! So you want to put them in the same category as Tommy Roe and The Archies? You've lost your mind!
You could actually call them the first acid rock band, because of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds", "Yellow Submarine", etc........ although some people call heavy metal music.......acid rock.

Do you, or any others here, remember the old 'Progressive Rock' FM stations? The ones that the DJ's had soft speaking voices, very few commercials, and all the BEST rock and roll music. Music by Quicksilver Messenger Service, Ten Years After, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Super Sessions music by Mike Bllomfield, Steve Stlls, and Al Cooper, The Beatles, Donovan, The Doors, etc....... The radio stations didn't consider The Beatles to be bubble gum. You may be the first to ever call then a bubble gum band.

Easy there, buckaroo. LOL, yeppers. You bet I was there AND an adult. How about you? I was in college when the Beatles first did Ed Sullivan...watched the show on TV that night. (I'd guess you were a little younger...yes?) There is no doubt that this band left an indelible impression on (pop) music, but if YOU were there, you also know that they were first and foremost a marketing plan and were imaged to be well sold to teenage girls, primarily, and the teenage boys that chased the teenage girls around. They were an "event" more than a band.

That they were new, unique, and creatively talented there is no doubt. Nevertheless, without getting too deeply in defining the genres, some of the other groups you mentioned I would consider "rock" bands. Not the Beatles. For starters, how about bands like Beach Boys, Richie Valens, Chuck Berry, Ventures, Steppenwolf, Johnny Rivers. That's rock music IMHO. While the Beatles did play a couple of rock tunes, they were principly not a rock band nor ever did a strictly rock album. Not by my definition...although you are certainly welcome to yours. Yellow Submarine ... Judy In the Sky...etc... rock?! Nope, not any kind of rock.

Or then...maybe I have lost my mind. Old age, ya know?!

EDIT: Just a small correction for you. Those smooth-throated, sweet-piped FM DJ's played some great rock, as you say. But NOT the Beatles. The Beatles were pure AM stuff. As I said...for the bubblegum set. LOL. (Sorry, but I was there.) But, yeah, we loved those stations.

 

[JVC]

I was there too. I was a teenager, but not too young. Beatles were played on those FM stations. At least the ones I listened to. In Cincinnati, the station played a lot of Beatles stuff, especially in '68 and '69. Every morning, as the sun came up, they played Here Comes The Sun, to get the day started off right.

Beach Boys is rock? You must be from California? They are left coast "Beach Music". Talk about an AM Top 40 band! Chuck Berry and Steppenwolf, are the only ones you named, that I agree with.

I guess we just have different concepts of what rock music is, because I think the Beach Boys and Johnny Rivers, are a lot closer to being bubble gum music, than The Beatles.

 

[Tomorrow]

I was there too. I was a teenager, but not too young. Beatles were played on those FM stations. At least the ones I listened to. In Cincinnati, the station played a lot of Beatles stuff, especially in '68 and '69. Every morning, as the sun came up, they played Here Comes The Sun, to get the day started off right.

Beach Boys is rock? You must be from California? They are left coast "Beach Music". Talk about an AM Top 40 band! Chuck Berry and Steppenwolf, are the only ones you named, that I agree with.

I guess we just have different concepts of what rock music is, because I think the Beach Boys and Johnny Rivers, are a lot closer to being bubble gum music, than The Beatles.

By the late 60's, the Beatles had lost their main-stream-pop relevance, and might well have had some FM play, especially with their pseudo-psychedelic-phase music. Rock in the late 60's is a whole new era of rock...country rock (Outlaws, Skynyrd, etc.), folk rock (Creedence, CSN&Y, etc.) and a wide variety of sub-rock genres. (BTW, those are the reasons I chose Woodstock as the greatest rock album of all time. They had an amazing diversity of R&R talent in that show.)

I don't know why you are so reticent to believe that the Beatles made pop music. It was certainly popular, AM type play, soft electric music. And as for my bubblegummer comment...here's some homework for you. Find ANY video clip of the Beatles on the internet. In the audience you will see 90% teenage girls and 10% teenage boys. That's it.

I knew you were younger for the same, accurate reason that Shockhead stated.

One last comment to burst some bubbles...George was the only Beatle that had any musicianship talents. (And he'll never be confused with a Bonamassa, Clapton, Thomasson, or other Grade A ax-man.) The rest of the guys were average at their instruments, at best. Their instrumentations had NOTHING to do with their amazing success.

Good cheer.

 

[JVC]

Ok.............if you say so.

 

[maximoiglesias]

Beatles rock or pop!

My humble opinion ( I am 53) on this matter is that the beatles actually started as a pop group with songs meant for every listener, but later evolved into a very solid rock band that changed the history of rock music forever.
And they were (and some are still) great musicians including Ringo Starr even if he never did any drum solos, George was an excelent guitarrist better than John was, and Paul is still rocking on.
The real change with the Beatles started at the times of White Album, Sgt Pepers era.

 

[shokhead]

As the Beatles went on,the music got harder. I dont know where some of you grew up but they were on every station{AM&FM} and as FM came into there own{more music and more songs off the same almum}they owned FM. FM in the early 60's was an extra on your car radio.LOL

 

[JVC]

EDIT: Just a small correction for you. Those smooth-throated, sweet-piped FM DJ's played some great rock, as you say. But NOT the Beatles. The Beatles were pure AM stuff. As I said...for the bubblegum set. LOL. (Sorry, but I was there.) But, yeah, we loved those stations.

That's ok shokhead...........no one is gonna change anyone else's mind. Maybe FM there, was different from everywhere else.

And as for my bubblegummer comment...here's some homework for you. Find ANY video clip of the Beatles on the internet. In the audience you will see 90% teenage girls and 10% teenage boys. That's it.

Someone doesn't realize that you're a "teenager", from the day you turn 13, until the day you turn 20. By this definition of bubblegum, I guess that makes Led Zeppelin a bubblegum band, since their audience was mostly "teenagers".

One last comment to burst some bubbles...George was the only Beatle that had any musicianship talents. (And he'll never be confused with a Bonamassa, Clapton, Thomasson, or other Grade A ax-man.) The rest of the guys were average at their instruments, at best. Their instrumentations had NOTHING to do with their amazing success.

Just because someone doesn't take off with guitar leads like Eric Clapton, Joe Satriani, or Eric Johnson, doesn't mean that they don't do an outstanding job of playing their instruments. The guitar playing by George, in Here Comes The Sun, and by Paul, in Blackbird, can't be beat, by ANYONE!

We have made our points of view. No more bickering. We don't agree with each other. You believe what you want and I'll believe, what I believe. Neither is gonna change the other.

 

[Tomorrow]

That's ok shokhead...........no one is gonna change anyone else's mind. Maybe FM there, was different from everywhere else.


Someone doesn't realize that you're a "teenager", from the day you turn 13, until the day you turn 20. By this definition of bubblegum, I guess that makes Led Zeppelin a bubblegum band, since their audience was mostly "teenagers".


Just because someone doesn't take off with guitar leads like Eric Clapton, Joe Satriani, or Eric Johnson, doesn't mean that they don't do an outstanding job of playing their instruments. The guitar playing by George, in Here Comes The Sun, and by Paul, in Blackbird, can't be beat, by ANYONE!

We have made our points of view. No more bickering. We don't agree with each other. You believe what you want and I'll believe, what I believe. Neither is gonna change the other.

When did this exchange of ideas become bickering in your mind?

 

[shokhead]

Who knows delayed all the good music would have been without them.

Who's bickering? I havent even called anybody an a$$ho$e yet. LOL
BTW,Beach Boys{mostly West Coast radio play for a while},Johnny Rivers,Ventures,not rock,sorry.

 

[Tomorrow]

Who's bickering? I havent even called anybody an a$$ho$e yet. LOL
BTW,Beach Boys{mostly West Coast radio play for a while},Johnny Rivers,Ventures,not rock,sorry.

Shockhead...how would you classify these groups and why? For example...Walk Don't Run album is not rock? What is it?

And JVC...there is a difference in having disagreement and being disagreeable. Learning that difference is an important feature of debate and/or discourse.

 

[Geno]

It's All Rock&Roll to me...

I've been reading this give & take about rock-pop/Beatles/Beach Boys, etc. with a possibly different viewpoint than many of you. I entered my teens about the same time Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino et al, were busy inventing Rock & Roll. They were creating a type of music that, mercifully, sent us into a different direction from Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Perry Como, Pat Boone, and all the other post-war "pop" performers of the day. When it all started, there were only a few "types" of popular music - Country/Western, Rock & Roll, Rhythm & Blues, and '50s mainstream "Pop". (I'm leaving out jazz, classical, and show tunes) It's only fairly recently that we've started compartmentalizing all the different styles of rock (Indie, Metal, Hard, Soft, Country, Folk, Alt...the list goes on). The last time I paid attention, there were about 8 different types of metal (thrash, death, speed...) I don't know why all the big arguements about which "group" a particular band plays in, but most of them seem to cross from one style to another depending on the drugs/rehab/religion/hairstyle they happen to be into at the moment. Relax & enjoy the noise
Of course, that's just my opinion...I could be wrong

 

[Tomorrow]

I've been reading this give & take about rock-pop/Beatles/Beach Boys, etc. with a possibly different viewpoint than many of you. I entered my teens about the same time Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino et al, were busy inventing Rock & Roll. They were creating a type of music that, mercifully, sent us into a different direction from Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Perry Como, Pat Boone, and all the other post-war "pop" performers of the day. When it all started, there were only a few "types" of popular music - Country/Western, Rock & Roll, Rhythm & Blues, and '50s mainstream "Pop". (I'm leaving out jazz, classical, and show tunes) It's only fairly recently that we've started compartmentalizing all the different styles of rock (Indie, Metal, Hard, Soft, Country, Folk, Alt...the list goes on). The last time I paid attention, there were about 8 different types of metal (thrash, death, speed...) I don't know why all the big arguements about which "group" a particular band plays in, but most of them seem to cross from one style to another depending on the drugs/rehab/religion/hairstyle they happen to be into at the moment. Relax & enjoy the noise
Of course, that's just my opinion...I could be wrong

Well said, Geno! I thoroughly agree...especially about being 'saved' from Peggy Lee, etc, lol.

I think what I said was that the Beatles played some rock music, but they were generally a 'pop' band, especially early on. There was indeed a crossover in genres by most bands of the era. And we could argue the definitions of the genres all day. I think that the word 'pop' might be a dirty word to some Beatle fans. (Once again, JVC,) I did not call them a bubblegum band. I said the fans were primarily (bubblegum chewing) teenage girls. Of that there is no doubt. But I think I hit some sensitive, young-male-fan (at the time) buttons with that comment, lol.

It's interesting how people can read and/or interpret things that weren't said. But I guess that's what makes internet forums entertaining.