The Best Debut Albums... Ever?

March 26, 2023 8:34 AM

"The unspoken criterion for this list is that any album that came out when I was in high school will be ranked at least 25 spots higher than it probably deserves." A 100 album-strong list that's really less of a list and more of a long meditation on debuts, albums, and the author's life with music. (But number one is hard to argue with) (not that I don't expect you to try).

"[The] three most important criteria I applied while compiling this list:

1) I have to like the record. (This is 100 percent important.)

2) The record must be generally considered great or important by people who are not me. (This is 75 percent important in terms of getting on the list, and slightly more important in terms of where I ranked it. Though in the case of August And Everything After, it didn’t matter at all.)

3) Extra weight will be given to debuts that are clearly the best album in the artist’s discography. (This is also 100 percent important, as evidenced by the first two records on this list being one-and-done situations.)"

posted by Gin and Broadband (127 comments total)

My favourite album is on here, so I'm happy, and I like that he takes into context the band's wider story - as in the case of #100 and #99. Although it's not technically a debut, this is why the Gin Blossom's New Miserable Experience is a classic in my eyes, because of the tragedy around Doug Hopkins.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 8:39 AM on March 26, 2023

Am I just not seeing the first Smiths album?
posted by Clustercuss at 8:44 AM on March 26, 2023 [8 favorites]

It would be funny to make a sequel that is the least auspicious debuts in comparison with where the artists ended up. Pablo Honey could be #1.
posted by anhedonic at 8:45 AM on March 26, 2023 [9 favorites]

anhedonic - I'd love that, reminds me of one of my favourite Letterboxd lists, Debut Features To Console Aspiring Filmmakers . (Although I don't mind Pablo Honey)
posted by Gin and Broadband at 8:52 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Uncut Id is my new sockpuppet.
posted by chavenet at 8:52 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Fiona Apple is on it, so I'm good.

Also, I had completely forgotten the band Air ever existed.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 8:56 AM on March 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

The B-52s don't get enough credit for such a wild sound being so fully formed on their debut. In 1979 no less.
posted by whuppy at 9:04 AM on March 26, 2023 [31 favorites]

Those Slam Bamboo videos with Trent Reznor looking kind of sheepish in the background, probably dreaming of being an opening act for Skinny Puppy. 😬
posted by migurski at 9:21 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I like a list of music that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Do I agree with the choices on this list? Maybe about 50% of the time. Did I have fun reading it? Absolutely. Would I let the author choose the music on a road trip? Not a chance.
posted by jzb at 9:26 AM on March 26, 2023 [17 favorites]

The Cars' The Cars is the very definition of "debut album that doubles as greatest hits." A fully formed, unique sound. All bangers. Several all-time classics. A certain association with Phoebe Cates that remains indelible to an older demographic. Clearly the author needs to see Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Srsly tho I usually refrain from list carping but this would probably be my Number One.
posted by whuppy at 9:31 AM on March 26, 2023 [27 favorites]

My browser seems to be having trouble Ctrl-F'ing the words "Violent" and "Femmes"...
posted by credulous at 9:32 AM on March 26, 2023 [31 favorites]

My browser seems to be having trouble Ctrl-F'ing the words "Violent" and "Femmes"...

I thought the same - for an author who mentions his Midwest bias multiple times during the list, it's an odd omission. I can only guess that it's just not his cup of tea?
posted by LionIndex at 9:35 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is a really fun top 100 albums list, a pleasure to read. Even though he's way outside of my own favorite genres. One quibble, Nothing's Shocking is the second Jane's Addiction album, not their debut. It would be a trivial point if the debut wasn't far and away their best effort. I figured when I saw their name he'd talk about bands where their debut album was a live recording instead of a studio release but I guess not!
posted by lefty lucky cat at 9:36 AM on March 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

I think it was clever to include a list of albums he himself was upset about not including in his list. Not that it exactly helped, because as noted, no Violent Femmes, no The Smiths, etc.
posted by snofoam at 9:41 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I really enjoyed this list and Stephen Hyden's writing generally, but, jeez, someone who is a)not a big jazz person and b)younger than I am should maybe not be so worked up about 1967.
posted by box at 9:42 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

About halfway through the list the author pauses to sort-of apologize for 15 very worthy albums that weren't included. But I'd argue he'd have had a little more room if he'd disqualified acts who'd already had huge hits (e.g. Billboard U.S. Top 10) as members of other groups. So toss out Crosby, Stills and Nash (The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, respectively), Travelling Wilburys (Orbison, Lynne, Petty, Harrison and Dylan - where to begin) and John Lennon (some English band) and I really think it would be more reflective of best 'debut' recordings, i.e. unknowns who break out in a big way on their first release.
posted by hangashore at 9:42 AM on March 26, 2023 [11 favorites]

It gave the world “Fast Car,” the song that invented crying by yourself while shopping at CVS.

Ain't that the truth. Nothing like a song about the existential dread of hope. The hope that you will one day be able to break your terrible family legacy of addiction and despair, to earn enough money from your shitty retail job to get the hell out of this shithole town with your significant other and create a better life somewhere in a land of milk and honey. It'll never happen, but that fucking hope remains. Now excuse me, I need to pick up some stuff from CVS.
posted by NoMich at 9:48 AM on March 26, 2023 [24 favorites]

Nothing's Shocking wasn't Jane's Addiction's debut album. It was their major label debut, sure, but it's their second album.
posted by NoMich at 9:55 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

If this is considered a contrary Clash opinion, don’t get me started on the greatness of Give ‘Em Enough Rope.

preach it.
posted by j_curiouser at 9:56 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Possibly the weakest of the Ozzy-led albums

Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die enter the chat.

Ronnie James Dio saved Black Sabbath.
posted by NoMich at 10:00 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

This is Losing My Edge as a 100 albums list and as a music nerd entering my 40s I’m here for every album. (Except Springsteen cause I really detest that guy.)
posted by dame at 10:08 AM on March 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

good list. I love those first two criteria.

1) I have to like the record.

2) The record must be generally considered great or important by people who are not me.

The first guarantees passion from the writer. The second means they've got a sense of the difference between "favourite" and "best", which allows for a level of discussion that goes beyond, "well, that's just your opinion, man."
posted by philip-random at 10:09 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

100% onboard with Alvvays. I'm honestly surprised that Lauryn Hill isn't #1, that album is just absolutely perfect and timeless. I was working in a hip hop studio at the time and the word everyone used to describe it was "bananas" - and this was before Gwen Stefani started saying it.
posted by grumpybear69 at 10:11 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I would have found room for Please Please Me; even though it's eclipsed by what follows, still, you know, the fuckin' Beatles, man. Also, I was about to dismiss the list entirely because it didn't have this, but then I double-checked and this one came first, and if I found a Bowie album forgettable...
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:13 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

There are some good songs on Give 'Em Enough Rope, and I agree it's a better album than it gets credit for. Thing to bear in mind is that, when it was released, purity tests were still very much part of the punk ethic and (at least here in Britain) Rope was held to fail that test. An American producer? A polished sound instead the raw energy of their debut? They're trying to break America! Sell-outs! Traitors!

Seems strange to think of that from a 2023 perspective, I know, but back here in London in 1978, it did seem to matter. Music was very tribal then and any hint of careerism treated with great suspicion. Things were a bit more relaxed by 1979, when London Calling came out here, at which point the band's versatility and ambition became a subject of praise instead of condemnation.

[This has been a "Grandpa remembers his Youth" production.]
posted by Paul Slade at 10:18 AM on March 26, 2023 [13 favorites]

There's always stuff to argue with on a list like this, but the guy not only got Warren Zevon on there, he cheated to do it. We're good.
posted by mark k at 10:27 AM on March 26, 2023 [8 favorites]

I really like the intermission.
posted by kristi at 10:30 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

this is a pretty good list. I don't agree with everything on there but there are a lot of good calls. it didn't even piss me off!
posted by supermedusa at 10:32 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

A great read. Loved the intermission's knowing nod to exactly what we all do here on Mefi when there's a list thread ("many of you will simply CTRL-F this list to search for your favorites"). Loved his observation about Nick Drake:

It’s not just his first record that came and went upon release. The three studio albums he put out before taking his own life in 1974 sold a grand total of 4,000 copies during their initial run. Let me repeat: 4,000 copies combined of three masterful British folk records that have since enchanted millions of listeners. A rounding error for Harry Styles was Nick Drake’s whole career. If I feel super depressed pondering this, I can understand why it also took a toll on Nick.

And I can forgive the omission of Please Please Me, because his criteria would otherwise have required him to omit Plastic Ono Band, and that would have been worse.
posted by rory at 10:45 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Honestly, these are some of the best criteria for this kind of list I've seen. (I would've found a way to slip Outlandos d'Amour in there somewhere on the lower end, but that's because I have a soft spot for a "the very unevenness shows the promise" criteria.)
posted by praemunire at 10:47 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

No metal? Calculating Infinity is unprecedented. Nothing sounds like it and it remains massively influential. Nobody did it better. Ditto for Godspeed’s debut.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 10:48 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

it sorta won me over by slotting Cheap Trick's debut in at #17 -- an album I've only recently discovered as a whole, so this isn't nostalgia talking. It really is one hundred percent killer and it sounds like nothing else I can think of (including their subsequent albums), working territory that's as much full-on middle America raunch as it is punk as it is proto-grunge as it is Rolling Stones sleazy.

Seriously, cue up Ballad of TV Violence and try to tell me that Kurt Cobain didn't have that on auto-repeat for a while in his formative years.
posted by philip-random at 10:51 AM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

All in all a great read and good list, but Boston should have been like 40 spots higher. He's 100% right about Appetite For Destruction though.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:54 AM on March 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

List is a mess, but all such things inevitably are ... but man does Hyden write like a dream. In a different (better?) universe he would have show-run a couple of brilliant HBO series.

Misses which he acknowledges: Gish, Bleach.

Some other misses not noted above he doesn't acknowledge: Sleater-Kinney (eponymous), Peter Gabriel (eponymous 1, aka Windshield).
posted by MattD at 10:55 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

My Boston compilation is basically Boston plus "Don't Look Back" from their second album.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:56 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Real quick while we're praising Cheap Trick: I had been acclimated to their 1997 re-recording of In Color with Steve Albini, which recently let me hear the original 1977 Tom Werman recording with fresh ears and it, too, totally rocks.
posted by whuppy at 11:02 AM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I really enjoyed this list! His top debut albums aren't my top debut albums, but I love seeing what other people think.

Right now, this is the part that gave me chills in a "I remember where I was when I heard" memory re: Jeff Buckley's Grace (which is def one of my fave albums of all time; it's very embedded in the fiber of my 1995) --

Why does this record sound like it was made by a man who knew he was going to die young in a strange and haunting manner?

Most folks of my generation cite Kurt Cobain's death as their main cultural touchstone,but for me, it was Jeff Buckley.
posted by Kitteh at 11:05 AM on March 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

“Moon Safari is like a Steely Dan record if Donald Fagen and Walter Becker were French and determined to write soundtracks to Stanley Kubrick films that do not exist.”

This is an incredible sentence.
posted by mhoye at 11:12 AM on March 26, 2023 [18 favorites]

The Beat, I Just Can't Stop It (1980)
Crowded House, Crowded House (1986)
Joe Jackson, Look Sharp! (1979)
The Knack, Get the Knack, (1979)
Portishead, Dummy (1994)
posted by kirkaracha at 11:14 AM on March 26, 2023 [13 favorites]

A fun read. Needs more Entertainment.
posted by donpardo at 11:16 AM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Came to make sure someone had mentioned The Cars, The Cars. Glad it was. Arguably a top ten all time debut and to not have it in a top 100 at all is an egregious omission.
posted by chris24 at 11:23 AM on March 26, 2023 [10 favorites]

A lot of people think of Joe Jackson as a low-rent Elvis Costello (who didn’t at all hit his stride until This Year’s Model, anyway) but that first album was very strong.

Personally, the Pretenders should be way higher, because GOOD LORD, but overall, it’s a good list.
posted by Devils Rancher at 11:25 AM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Damn fine list. Glad to see John Prine's "John Prine" because that's an album that still floors me after a couple hundred listens and the songs grooved into my skull.

And Moon Safari is the record that finally allowed me to "get" electronic music. I still hear Talisman in my head when something feels like a slow buildup to a peak.
posted by drewbage1847 at 11:34 AM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Unfortunately Morrissey has tainted my love for The Smiths.
posted by interogative mood at 11:51 AM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Thelonious Monk - Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1 (1951)
Ornette Coleman - Something Else! (1958)
Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio (1968)
Peter Brotzmann Octet - Machine Gun (1968)
The Congos - Heart of the Congos (1977)
X - Los Angeles (1980)
Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (1980)
Metallica - Kill 'Em All (1983)
Sade - Diamond Life (1984)
Operation Ivy - Energy (1989)
Mary J. Blige - What's the 411? (1992)
Bjork - Debut (1993)
D'Angelo - Brown Sugar (1995)
Erykah Badu - Baduizm (1997)
Black Star - Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star (1998)
MF DOOM - Operation: Doomsday (1999)
Blackalicious - Nia (2000)
M.I.A. - Arular (2005)
A Winged Victory for the Sullen - s/t (2011)
Weyes Blood - The Innocents (2014)
posted by box at 11:55 AM on March 26, 2023 [29 favorites]

There are clearly way more than 100 great debut records, so I won't complain about any omissions, but:

Mass Romantic is the sound of a band (and in particular one person who has assembled that band) that clearly expects this to be their only record. As a result, they stuck in everything they could think of - if it has a flaw, it's only that at times it is too much. Thankfully, it was a enough of a hit for the new Pornographers to keep going.
posted by YoungStencil at 12:00 PM on March 26, 2023 [9 favorites]

M.I.A. - Arular (2005)

Yes, 100%. Her and Poor Righteous Teachers - Holy Intellect just changed things the whole year they came out. And still bang today.
posted by cashman at 12:05 PM on March 26, 2023

final Cheap Trick thought (from me) and rather the antithesis of what this list about, but holy something-or-other, their most recent album (released in 2021) sounds rather shockingly fresh (and loud and proud) for a bunch of (mostly) grandfathers.
posted by philip-random at 12:09 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

The first Santana album was better than at least 80 of the albums on here IMO. Gigantic overlook.
posted by jcworth at 12:20 PM on March 26, 2023 [4 favorites]

MeFi is doing a good job listing overlooked albums, and Beauty And The Beat is way way way too low.
posted by Beholder at 12:24 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

MC5/Kick Out the Jams, but that's just me
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band/Safe as Milk
posted by AJaffe at 12:37 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Violent Femmes is a glaring absence, like I got all the way through the list increasingly sure it was going to be #1, only to find it not there at all?! But maybe that's just my own artifact coming from when I was in high school. Thank goodness he got the B-52s and Talking Heads on there.
posted by Daily Alice at 12:44 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

While we're at it:

The Kick Inside. Not Kate Bush's best album by a distance, it labours at times under the very 1970s production. But for a debut album of material written and recorded by a 17-year-old, it's extraordinary.

Plus.... Tubular Bells. I don't care that you find it pretentious and boring. I love it, and it is a bold statement for a debut.
posted by YoungStencil at 12:48 PM on March 26, 2023 [8 favorites]

He's right about Vampire Weekend though. That album was fun.
posted by pipeski at 12:54 PM on March 26, 2023

No Sparks? “Kimono My House” deserves an inclusion.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 12:58 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

The B-52s don't get enough credit for such a wild sound being so fully formed on their debut. In 1979 no less.

This x 100. Their debut is fn brilliant. And it's at #65?? Please. I can assure you that people will be bopping to "52 Girls" when a flock of those above them on this list are answers to trivia questions.

Also, where tf is The Kick Inside? Hats off to Fiona Apple for recording Tidal when she was 18 certainly, but KB demo'd some of the songs on her debut when she was 13. And precociousness aside, it's a terrific set. But, yeah, Counting Crows' debut, sure.
posted by the sobsister at 1:10 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Laugh at the hairstyles all you want, but Flock of Seagulls' debut album was new wave perfection.
posted by Beholder at 1:15 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

And no Santana I, no Surrealistic Pillow, no Come Away with ESG, no Cut, no The Raincoats?
And how tf does one not include Björk's Debut???
posted by the sobsister at 1:16 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

How is Snoop's debut not on here? I mean it's the writer's list but wow!!
posted by kensington314 at 1:18 PM on March 26, 2023

How is Snoop's debut not on here?

#49
posted by LionIndex at 1:20 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Not being snarky, but I love the Airplane’s real debut more than Surrealistic Pillow. Pure folk-rock perfection.
posted by saintjoe at 1:32 PM on March 26, 2023

I greatly enjoyed the commentary on the list even as I frowned at some of its contents. Many thanks for posting it, Gin and Broadband. Others have already covered several albums that would be in my list that aren't in Hyden's. To kircaracha's choices of The Beat & Portishead, I would add The Specials and Tricky's Maxinquaye.

I'd also find room for Curtis & Scott (i.e. Messrs. Mayfield's & Walker's solo debuts) and for Roberta Flack's First Take. And Surfer Rosa too, though its been a while since I listened to it. Among more recent debuts, Sudan Archives' Athena is one that stands out.
posted by misteraitch at 1:33 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

This was a really fun read, and I love his rules, and any list that includes Jesus and Mary Chain is a winner with me.

This also reminds me of a similar music project I’ve had tumbling-about in my head for years now. It came to me one day when I was idly rummaging through both my vinyl and cds. I call the project “WTF did you buy that album?” wherein I play the one song that made me buy an otherwise mediocre album.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:34 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

No Sparks? “Kimono My House” deserves an inclusion.

not their debut, though it is a beaut.

And on reflection, a few somewhat glaring omissions:

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks *
Can - Monster Movie
The Orb - Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld
Queen - Queen 1
Gun Club - fire of love

* counts as his first to me as Blowin' Your Mind was released without his consent.
posted by philip-random at 1:36 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I have to assume a lot of the obvious misses fell prey to the “I personally like this record” criteria, which, fair enough. Especially with electronic or electronic-adjacent music the list is pretty barren, but I can’t really fault the sensibly idiosyncratic selection criteria.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:37 PM on March 26, 2023

A bit odd not to see The Police’s Outlandos d’Amour, considering that it contains their most famous song and any number of other highly regarded tracks.
posted by slkinsey at 1:42 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I like this article much better than a lot of music lists. Even granting the inclusion biases inherent in an effort like this, there were some surprising omissions like Portishead and The XX.
posted by Horselover Fat at 1:49 PM on March 26, 2023

I think the simplest explanation for the omission of The Smiths is that Hyden is American and he probably slept on the debut. I don't remember teenage me hearing them until "How Soon Is Now" (from the second album), and soon after that the earlier stuff was available on Louder Than Bombs, which is a compilation. Probably few Americans actually experienced the first album as an exciting debut, as opposed to maybe filling in the discography retrospectively.

(I remember it was similar with The Cure - all of a sudden MTV did a whole special on them and it was like OMG what is this, they already had four albums and the whole goth look worked out.)
posted by anhedonic at 1:54 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Cheap Trick: my first show.
posted by j_curiouser at 2:00 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I call the project “WTF did you buy that album?” wherein I play the one song that made me buy an otherwise mediocre album.

I like it.

I'd subscribe to a podcast or whatever that took this concept as a leaping off point. Lots of folks weighing in with their versions, sometimes being WRONG. Arguments would ensue.
posted by philip-random at 2:08 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I like his list and I like how he chose to build it and I like that openly admits that there are omissions and that ultimately it’s subjective. And that the albums are ones that he likes. This is probably one the best lists I’ve seen, actually.

I agree that the Cars fit here. And portishead. And Stone Roses is definitely a remarkable first album. But he chose to work in whole numbers and you can’t fit more than a hundred in a list of a hundred. And maybe he just doesn’t like those albums…
posted by ashbury at 2:10 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

I agreed with this list more than I thought I would, but it does leave out a lot of important music before 1965 or so. On the other hand, I loved this: “ I realized the best way to describe Dire Straits a few years ago when a millennial-aged co-worker brought them up on Slack, and said, ‘This is like if the Grateful Dead sounded more like Steely Dan.’” I’m a fan of all 3 bands, and this nails it!
posted by TedW at 2:11 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

I wish I got Joanna Newsom. I truly do. I've seen her live twice. I want to understand. But her whole vibe just does nothing for me. I've tried. But it doesn't click. Which is fine. Different people have different preferences. But I just don't get it. It doesn't work for me.
posted by downtohisturtles at 2:27 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I agree with people who posted The Cars, The Violent Femmes, and The MC5 here; egregious omissions.
Interesting to see The Doors next to Joy Division; I always heard the Doors' first album in their music, and years ago Peter Hook confirmed it in an interview.
posted by Phlegmco(tm) at 2:45 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ctrl-F no The Naked and Famous? No Janelle Monáe?
posted by zompist at 3:03 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

Not gonna lie, I was just delighted The La's made this list.

My own personal list would have included debuts from Oingo Boingo, Yaz(oo), Crowded House, Bauhaus and Sinead O'Connor, which pretty exactly pegs me as being 53 years old and having listened to KROQ growing up.
posted by jscalzi at 3:07 PM on March 26, 2023 [14 favorites]

Stone Roses was the one I expected to be in there that wasn't. Otherwise fun list and yeah Steven Hyde writes so well, if you haven't checked it, his twilight of the gods book is great.
posted by Carillon at 3:11 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

OH AND FEVER TO TELL FROM YEAH YEAH YEAHS OH JEEZ
posted by jscalzi at 3:19 PM on March 26, 2023 [8 favorites]

Oh, and Meet the Residents
posted by AJaffe at 3:32 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Fountains of Wayne, Fountains of Wayne (1996)
The Greenberry Woods, Rapple Dapple (1994)
Lone Justice Lone Justice (1985)
Lyle Lovett, Lyle Lovett (1986)
Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker (2000)
The Smithereens, Especially for You (1986)
Uncle Tupelo, No Depression (1990)
posted by kirkaracha at 3:35 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I will forgive him for not including Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky (1975) because nineteen people outside of Baltimore knew of it thanks to Lifesong Records' idiosyncratic distribution methods, even if one of them was Rolling Stone's Debut Album of the Year decider.
posted by delfin at 4:03 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

I’m going to put my irritation that he ranked Madonna waaaayyyy ahead of Tracy Chapman down to crankiness, as he included The Traveling Wilbury’s.

And my personal list would have included Chris Whitley’s Living with the Law.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:46 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

One of my personal favorites is INXS’s debut album. For me, easily their best in hindsight, so fun and unpretentious compared to the rest of their catalog, and chock full of catchy synth riffs.
posted by mubba at 4:48 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

This thread seems as good a place as any for my theory about PJ Harvey: Everyone's favorite PJ Harvey album is the one they heard first, and we otherwise agree it's been a slow and steady decline since that one fantastic album.
posted by Horselover Fat at 4:50 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

(Never Mind the Bollocks) has been disparaged by purists and revisionists for “not being punk enough.”

Jesus Christ. That's like saying da Vinci wasn't Renaissance enough.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:55 PM on March 26, 2023 [6 favorites]

Uncle Tupelo, No Depression (1990)
YES
posted by j_curiouser at 5:00 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Van Halen, Van Halen (1978) - This is Weezer by Weezer for people who were born in 1962.

Ha ha, that's hilar ... oh.
posted by credulous at 5:03 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Re: Appetite For Destruction: "But as a thought experiment, imagine if the entire band went down in a plane crash in 1988. This would be a terrible tragedy, no question. I do not in any way wish that this happened. Buuuuuuuut, of the sake of conversation: No way Appetite isn’t No. 1 on this list in that scenario, no?"

This sentence is correct.
posted by mhoye at 5:13 PM on March 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

Oh hell yes, Mothers Of Invention, Freak Out; Dire Straits, Tracy Chapman! The Doors! Zep! Pearl Jam!
posted by Oyéah at 5:45 PM on March 26, 2023

No Depression was a really important album to me, but I had a hard time convincing anyone I knew that it had any importance at all. I didn't have any problems convincing my cohort about Son Volt's Trace. I know Hyden loves UT and what came after, but I understand why he left No Depression out.
posted by Quonab at 6:04 PM on March 26, 2023

I enjoy these listicles so long as they're an excuse for the writer to tell a long, subjective and rambling story about music and life, stretched out and punctuated by 100 numbers, so this one hit the spot :-)
posted by nickzoic at 6:06 PM on March 26, 2023 [8 favorites]

Kate & Anna McGarrigle's self-titled debut belongs on this list.
posted by oulipian at 7:06 PM on March 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

I will forgive him for not including Crack the Sky - Crack the Sky (1975) because nineteen people outside of Baltimore knew of it…

A good dozen of them were in Augusta, GA; including (I am told) one Steve Morse. Perfect example of an amazing band that never got the recognition they deserved. Live version of the first two tracks off that album.
posted by TedW at 7:34 PM on March 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

I like a lot of the things I recognize on this list but Steely Dan is too low and, no offense to those who love them, I question the taste of anyone who puts any Boston on any kind of greatest anything.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 7:34 PM on March 26, 2023 [2 favorites]

No metal? Calculating Infinity is unprecedented. Nothing sounds like it and it remains massively influential. Nobody did it better.

This is a great call out, just complete sui generis chaos. Also, Black Flag’s Damaged isn’t on the list, which is a crime.
posted by Special Agent Dale Cooper at 8:05 PM on March 26, 2023

Mansun's Attack Of The Grey Lantern.
posted by Cardinal Fang at 12:25 AM on March 27, 2023

Are there things I disagree with on this list? 100% Was it diverting, a great read and did it remind me of albums I have always loved? Also 100%.

Madonna is wrong though and no Violent Femmes is bonkers, as are the other omissions noted above. (Every now and then a Violent Femmes' song pops up in a playlist and each time it strikes me as damn good music.)
posted by From Bklyn at 2:34 AM on March 27, 2023

(Every now and then a Violent Femmes' song pops up in a playlist and each time it strikes me as damn good music.)

Because it is. We got to see them play and it was utterly delightful. It was outdoors and they performed in Hawaiian shirts and fedoras.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 3:54 AM on March 27, 2023

Maybe it's just aging, but I so much more enjoy content about what someone genuinely loves to the snarky "watch me rag on this easy target for X (words / minutes)" content that gets so many more clicks.

And, look, I love things like "Why This Song Sucks" (and even Pat Finnerty of WTSS seems to agree, as he shut down his podcast because it seemed needlessly cruel to him to have to make content just to keep a schedule), but reading / watching someone share why they love something is a rare delight and I'm glad to see it celebrated here, even if we don't all agree. And, frankly, this was a solid list.
posted by revmitcz at 4:01 AM on March 27, 2023 [3 favorites]

Maybe this was all a setup for the List of 100 Best Debut Albums That I Forgot to Include on the First List
posted by kokaku at 5:40 AM on March 27, 2023 [3 favorites]

As usual, your favorite band sucks.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:45 AM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Re: bands not on his list...One of his criteria is that he has to like the album, which implies he has to have listened to it. It may be that he never heard the Cars’ first album (which is a tragedy).
posted by Thorzdad at 6:57 AM on March 27, 2023

we haven't run an in-depth analysis yet but this music list appears to find MeFites in a much more tolerant and accommodating mood than ever before

algorithms have been adjusted accordingly
posted by elkevelvet at 7:52 AM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

One of my personal favorites is INXS’s debut album.
I'm not sure I'd say it's their best (I actually think Shabooh Shoobah was their best) but half the album is a modern treatise on urban planning, making arguments that sound completely relevant 40 years later. That counts for something.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:26 AM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I was very happy to see Horses in the top five. It’s my personal favorite.

I would have included Cut by the Slits, as mentioned upthread.

Most importantly, I would have included Come On Pilgrim by the Pixies. It’s a perfect album that created a new sound (often imitated, never replicated) despite the label intentionally omitting some of the best songs.

(Shouldn’t the Modern Lovers exclude the Talking Heads due to the shared keyboardist? I assume the shared drummer excluded the Cars).
posted by Ptrin at 8:28 AM on March 27, 2023

This sentence is correct.

Nah. Even if it was overly long, Use Your Illusion had some great music on it. IMO on it GNR ripped off Queen to the extent that they became the new, better Queen.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:31 AM on March 27, 2023

Come On Pilgrim by the Pixies. It’s a perfect album that created a new sound (often imitated, never replicated)

I was of this opinion until someone reminded me of the Gun Club's first album (which I already noted above). Not saying the Pixies full-on ripped off their sound. Am hoping for a little more credit where it's due.
posted by philip-random at 9:30 AM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Speaking as a Midwest guy:

Steve Goodman by Steve Goodman (a greatest hits album);

Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams by the BoDeans (also a greatest hits album);

The Siegel–Schwall Band by the Siegel–Schwall Band (not their best, their best is a 1970 album with the same name); and

Poi Dog Pondering by Poi Dog Pondering (more of a Hawaii-Austin-Midwest band, but worth mentioning)

all should be included.

I had the great privilege of seeing the Violent Femmes the way they were meant to be seen - at some random Milwaukee street festival, set up uninvited in a doorway, playing and busking until they were kicked out. (My understanding is the reason they were primarily acoustic in their early years was because there was no guarantee they could find an electrical hookup.)
posted by rtimmel at 9:34 AM on March 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

For a particular kind of nerdy college student in the 90s (e.g. me), Gordon by Barenaked Ladies would be pretty high on this list.

Seconding Stephen Hyden's Twilight of the Gods, which I enjoyed even though I disagree with Hyden about what is and is not classic rock.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:47 AM on March 27, 2023

I was of this opinion until someone reminded me of the Gun Club's first album (which I already noted above).

Oh my God.
posted by Ptrin at 10:57 AM on March 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Got to #57, Son Volt: Trace. Stopped, checked my shelf of coffee mugs. Yep. Electric Fetus mug, commemorating the release of Trace in 1995. Featuring Windfall, Drown, and Route.

(Wish I was actually hip enough to have had that cup on release, but no, I found it during a clean-up and thought it was cool enough to keep. I wasn't listening to Son Volt in '95, alas...)
posted by caution live frogs at 11:24 AM on March 27, 2023

Fountains of Wayne, Fountains of Wayne (1996)

So much this.

I'll throw in Leftfield, Leftism and, somewhat puckishly, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Welcome to the Pleasuredome.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 11:29 AM on March 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

Personally I'd put Taylor Swift on this list.
posted by msiebler at 11:50 AM on March 27, 2023

Sundays - Reading Writing, and Arithmetic

Miaow - never even put together a full album, but every single was gold.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - GodFodder, and all the pre-singles (Sentence, Trust) were great.

Velocity Girl - Copacetic - IMO the best shoegaze album ever; though fair enough if it's discounted because it's a mix of shoegaze tracks and pop/rock tracks. Their pre-album tracks were gold too.

Also if you are going to include an album by seriously established artists (The Travelling Wilburys making the same music they always made individually), then The Loud Family - Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things gets to be included.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:55 PM on March 27, 2023

And The Ocean Blue - The Ocean Blue. The American version of The Smiths debut album is amazing.
posted by The_Vegetables at 2:03 PM on March 27, 2023

For me, the biggest miss in the list is Radio Birdman - Radios Appear. Australia's best rock n roll band
posted by NoMich at 2:40 PM on March 27, 2023

This thread seems as good a place as any for my theory about PJ Harvey: Everyone's favorite PJ Harvey album is the one they heard first, and we otherwise agree it's been a slow and steady decline since that one fantastic album.

*glares in Let England Shake*
posted by jokeefe at 7:47 PM on March 27, 2023

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend marks such a time in my immediate post-college life. (To the point that I had their first demo disc that they sold at shows on CD-R.) Saw them twice in… Fall 2007 I want to say, including a college dorm basement. Wild stuff, tons of fun.
posted by supercres at 12:44 AM on March 28, 2023

Good list and discussion (my main criteria for this sort of thing is if it makes me want to dig out albums I haven't heard before). I feel he's maaaybe leaning a bit too far in the classic rock/white/dude direction, but obviously it's going to reflect his taste.

Misses for me: I gotta say the Chills given I took my username from one of their singles, but, really, the Chills - Brave Words. Looking at my other favourite bands, I don't think anyone misses out unjustly. Maybe a place for Mogwai's Young Team, or Eels' Electro-Shock Blues. Or Pixies.

Obvious misses that others mentioned being the Smiths, the Stone Roses (especially if you can cheat and get the US version in there), Leftfield.

I misread his rules and thought that Crowded House wouldn't qualify because Neil Finn had been in (the better) Split Enz, but that only kicks in if the other band was actually in the list, and no-one's out there claiming the first Split Enz album was one of their classics.
posted by Pink Frost at 1:41 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Eels' Electro-Shock Blues

If you like Eels, then the main guy had a previous album called "E - A Man Called E". It's also awesome. I've always felt E was kind of like the original Elliott Smith, like catchy songs about terrible depression.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:27 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

You children decrying a lack of metal on the list, Black Sabbath is on the list. I know some of you little monsters don't think Black Sabbath counts, because no cookie monster or some such bullshit, but you're wrong. I'll pay attention to your opinion if your pubes ever grow in. Maybe.
And as to the authors opinion that Never Mind the Bollocks isn't punk, once again wrong.
That album is punk as fuck, it sounds like hard rock? What the fuck do you think punk is?! Your whiny baby Green Days and Blink 182 are not punk, they're pablum for incels. Shut up, I'm right.
He had some good choices on here but almost every time it was backed up by a wrong headed opinion. Talking Heads '77 yes, followed by 3 classics, no. It was their best album, everything else they did was making money. If we count My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, they had 2 great albums.
You may disagree with me, but that just means you're wrong. You should be used to it by now.
Is it that late? Gotta go, there are kids on the lawn again.
posted by evilDoug at 8:31 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Because he's not Canadian, he left off Tragically Hip's "Up to Here" (ignoring their just-tragic earlier EP, and he ignored REM's first EP, so this is a legitimate grievance) and most likely was completely unaware of Harmonium and their self-titled debut.

And that's a good point about Jefferson Airplane, although their debut was the Grace-less "Jefferson Airplane Takes Off", still a great album, and one that essentially created the genre of psychedelic folk-rock.
posted by morspin at 10:16 AM on March 28, 2023

He's right about The Doors, wrong about The Velvet Underground (and all the rest of you are too!)
posted by Chitownfats at 9:19 AM on March 29, 2023

He's right about The Doors, wrong about The Velvet Underground (and all the rest of you are too!)

I think what he wrote about Guns N Roses more applies to The Doors. Sure, if they'd died in a plane crash after album one, we'd have lost a few great songs, but not really that many.

Also the write up for The Game's album ironically gives away the music critic's game: If there are 3-4 good popular singles, it's a good album, even if you can't even recall listening to the rest.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:57 AM on March 29, 2023

I misread his rules and thought that Crowded House wouldn't qualify because Neil Finn had been in (the better) Split Enz, but that only kicks in if the other band was actually in the list, and no-one's out there claiming the first Split Enz album was one of their classics.

The last Split Enz album, See Ya 'Round, was kind of a proto-Crowded House album. Tim Finn had left the band. Paul Hester joined the band for this album and went on to form Crowded House with Neil Finn. There's an an early version of "I Walk Away" that's pretty good. The rest is, umm, not as good.
posted by kirkaracha at 2:10 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

A few I haven't seen mentioned yet. Obviously reflects my more indie- and electronic-oriented tastes, but nothing obscure or uncelebrated.

modest mouse - this is a long drive for someone with nothing to think about
squarepusher - feed me weird things
amon tobin - bricolage
the breeders - pod
saint etienne - foxbase alpha
my bloody valentine - isn't anything
broadcast - the noise made by people
stereolab - peng!
tori amos - little earthquakes
cibo matto - viva! la woman
ride - nowhere
boards of canada - music has the right to children
sleigh bells - treats
sonic youth - confusion is sex
elliott smith - roman candle
fugazi - repeater
sunny day real estate - diary
gang of four - entertainment!
glenn branca - the ascension
the avalanches - since i left you
mogwai - young team
posted by naju at 2:38 PM on March 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

most likely was completely unaware of Harmonium and their self-titled debut.

Oh now there's a name I haven't heard for many a long year. I still have an album of theirs kicking around somewhere on the shelves, still. When they played Vancouver in 1978 (?) people were dancing in the streets afterwards. Ah memory.
posted by jokeefe at 11:21 PM on April 3, 2023