50 Rock Albums To Start Your Collection

Everyone gets this question eventually, but writers of the genre get it more frequently: If you were starting a music collection what albums would you recommend? I’ve been giving that question a lot of thought lately as I go to the roots of my personal album collection and try to reconnect on a deeper level with the music I love. If I had to strip it down to 50 records, what would they be? If I was telling someone to start their own rock music collection, which 50 albums would I tell them to buy?

Below is my list of recommendations. It blends modern rock, classic rock, metal, punk, guitar rock, and all other versions of “rock music” smoothly. For the purpose of this recommendation, I included bands such as Wilco and The Eagles as rock music. Some may argue that they are alt country, or pop, but whatever. First, as most of you know, I am not a big fan of labels to begin with. Second, if it has a guitar solo, it is close enough for me to call it rock.

Knowing that growing a music collection can be painfully expensive, I have arranged the list by putting the must have albums first. In other words, if you could only afford 10 of the 50, those 10 are marked 1 through 10. Hence the numbers listed next to the album is not necessarily a ranking order, as this is not a best rock album list, but more of a priority order.

I also purposefully left out double albums, live albums, and greatest hits. The goal of this exercise was to make a list of 50 great rock albums to start a music collection with. Many factors go into making that decision, and one of the major factors was that it had to be an album in the purest sense of the word. Live albums and greatest hits records are compilations. As for double albums, I’ve always felt they are too gimmicky. Yes, you could make a strong argument that Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins should be on this list and I could not disagree. But for the purpose of this list, I wanted single albums only.

If you are just starting out your music collection, it can be an uncharted sea that is tough to navigate. The following albums are my map to the start of a great collection. I hope it helps those starting out and those who have been collecting for years.

1.       Appetite For Destruction – Guns N Roses

Any rock music collection must contain the self-titled debut from Guns N Roses, and it should be the first album in the collection. Appetite For Destruction was revolutionary and influenced countless bands. It is also a flawless record that can be consumed over and over and over again and never get old. There really is no other album to launch a rock music collection than this.

2.       Destroyer – Kiss

3.       IV – Led Zeppelin

It’s not even my favorite Led Zeppelin album, but every rock record collection needs to include “Stairway To Heaven.” It’s a must.

4.       Nevermind – Nirvana

5.       Back In Black – AC/DC

6.       Under The Table And Dreaming – Dave Matthews Band

7.       Born To Run – Bruce Springsteen

8.       Rumors – Fleetwood Mac

Rumors is one of the best selling albums of all time for good reason. This is an exceptional record that is high on the priority list because it is so darned good.

9.       Paranoid – Black Sabbath

10.   Bat Out Of Hell – Meatloaf

This is progressive rock and roll at its finest. Every song on Bat Out Of Hell is like a mini-opera. The record is perfect and meant to be savored.

11.   Dark Side Of The Moon – Pink Floyd

12.   Van Halen – Van Halen

13.   Vs. – Pearl Jam

There is a reason that this album sold over one million copies in one day---it’s exceptional!

14.   Night Moves – Bob Seger

15.   Hotel California – The Eagles

16.   Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan

17.   Revolver – The Beatles

18.   Metallica (The Black Album) – Metallica

19.   The Stranger – Billy Joel

20.   Dookie – Green Day

Punk pioneers that paved a path to the mainstream and kicked down the door for many acts to follow, Green Day were at their absolute best with their major label debut album, Dookie.

21.   Number Of The Beast – Iron Maiden

22.   Eat A Peach – The Allman Brothers

23.   Moving Pictures – Rush

24.   Cowboys From Hell – Pantera

25.   Up From Below – Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes

26.   Boston – Boston

27.   Tattoo You – The Rolling Stones

This is perhaps one of the greatest records The Rolling Stones ever recorded. Ever song is brilliant.

28.   White Blood Cells – The White Stripes

29.   Night Visions – Imagine Dragons

30.   Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi

31.   The Joshua Tree – U2

32.   The Lucky Ones – Doug Keith

33.   Heartbreaker – Ryan Adams

34.   MusicForTheMorningAfter – Pete Yorn

Ever since I first heard the opening notes of “Life On A Chain,” I have been in love with this record. It’s magnificent and an exceptional gateway into other genres of rock music.

35.   No Depression – Uncle Tupelo

36.   Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco

37.   Hi Infidelity – REO Speedwagon

38.   Sigh No More – Mumford and Sons

39.   Nothing’s Shocking – Jane’s Addiction

40.   Hozier – Hozier

Brilliant! Just freaking brilliant! One of the best albums I have heard in a long, long time.

41.   Whitesnake – Whitesnake

42.   Synchronicity – The Police

43.   Celebrity Skin – Hole

44.   British Steel – Judas Priest

45.   Hybrid Theory – Linkin Park

46.   War of Angels – Pop Evil

47.   Pretty Hate Machine – Nine Inch Nails

48.   News Of The World – Queen

49.   How Will I Laugh Tomorrow…When I Can’t Even Smile Today – Suicidal Tendencies

Thrash metal at its finest! This album opened so many doors for me and turned me on to the whole speed metal genre.

50.   Damn The Torpedoes – Tom Petty

Friday's Rockin' Roundup - Rush Live At The Garden Edition

This Sunday night, I am going to see Rush in concert for the third time in my life. I will be attending their concert at Madison Square Garden with my cousin and my uncle, who have attended each Rush concert I’ve ever seen with me. I am looking forward to seeing the band again. They are still on the Time Machine tour and they are still playing Moving Pictures in its entirety. It will be nice to hear that whole album live once again.

In other news, there is a big announcement coming to The Rock And Roll Guru this Monday (April 11th). Be sure to check the home page on Monday morning. It will contain all the information you need to know about the future of The Rock And Roll Guru. I am excited about this announcement and I hope that you will be as well.

Here’s what rocked this week:

Our Fascination With Bad Music
Florind Metalla takes a closer look at why so many people love bad music. Personally I think all of the views are coming from teen hipsters who are trying to stay cool with the “it” songs of the moment. They certainly can’t be coming from anyone with musical taste.

A Touching Tribute To Kurt Cobain
It is so hard for me to believe that it has been 17 years since Kurt Cobain’s suicide. I was a big fan of Nirvana and I’ve often wondered where the band would have evolved to if Cobain were still alive. Over at Blogs N Roses, there is a touching tribute that speaks to the reality of Cobain’s suicide.

Rest In Peace Scott Columbus
There is some sad news from the Manowar camp. Former drummer, Scott Columbus, passed away on Monday. The Guru’s thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family during this tragic, difficult time.

Record Store Day Is Next Week
And finally, we end this edition of Friday’s Rockin’ Roundup with a reminder that Record Store Day is coming. Next Saturday, April 16th. Be sure to get out and support your independent dealers. They are becoming harder and harder to find. It’s a shame to think that one day we may not have a physical store to walk into and talk music with fellow passionate fans. That’s why Record Store Day is such a great day. To find a participating store near you, click on the link above.

For more news, reviews, concert updates, Record Store Day awareness, and other things that only music lovers can relate to, you should follow me on twitter. www.twitter.com/ryovie

My First Record Club

I started collecting albums when I was 8. The first record I ever owned was Destroyer by Kiss, which I purchased at a yard sale for 25 cents. I would love to say that I still have that record, but I’ve long since traded it away (for other albums, I believe). Of course, I do own the remastered CD, so it’s not like I don’t have Destroyer, I just don’t have my first copy of Destroyer.

When I turned 10, I got two cassette tapes for Christmas that I had been dying to own. The first was Knee Deep In The Hoopla by Starship. I was a huge fan of We Built This City, which sounds dated and cheesy to me now, but at the time, it was an incredible rock song. The second album was Stay Hungry by Twisted Sister. We’re Not Gonna Take It was a massive anthem that I had to hear on a repeat basis. I still own both of those cassettes and they both still work.

When I hit my teen years, I started requesting tapes for my birthday. The bands of the day that I heard on the radio needed to be added to my collection. I would borrow albums that friends had and copy them until I could afford the original myself. When I would get birthday or holiday money, it went to buying more albums to add to my collection. Then one day I saw an ad in the paper (or maybe it was in a music magazine) for Columbia House.

Buy 12 albums for a penny, the ad proclaimed. 12 albums for a penny? What was the catch? How was it possible to get 12 albums for such a low price? How could I sign up for this? After doing some research, I decided to give it a shot. I had saved some of my allowance and by then I was working (odd jobs and part time selling newspapers), so I knew that I could pay the bill when it arrived. I picked my 12 albums, bought the first one for the low price of $7.99 and then got three more for free. 16 albums all at one time was an amazing experience.

I remember sending away the coupon with my album selections and waiting for the mail to arrive. Every day, I would check the mailbox, hoping that my shipment would come. It took a while, but the day that package showed up was one of the finest days of my youthful life. Seeing the big brown box with my name on it was a jubilant experience. When I ripped that box open and saw the massive amount of cassette tapes that fell out, I was in Heaven.

I had never received that many albums at one time. I was overwhelmed! How was I going to listen to them all? And of course, I wanted to play every one of them right then and there. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough time to pull that off before bedtime. Compromising, I picked the one I wanted to hear the most and popped it into my little boom box. Then I tore open the packaging of all the other cassettes and read their linear notes. It was one of the greatest days of my life.

From that moment on, I was hooked. Record clubs became my best friend (and a huge drain on my bank account). As the booklets showed up every month, I would go through them, picking out albums that I didn’t own and ordering them for my collection. Every time a package appeared in my mailbox, I got that same giddy feeling that I did the day I received my first one. Getting new music brought me phenomenal joy.

From Columbia House, I would go on to join BMG music and order even more cassettes. Both companies are responsible for filling the majority of my record collection early on in life. They also were the recipients of a lot of my money, but it was worth it. I stayed a member of both record clubs until they finally dissolved in the mid 2000s. With the advent of ITunes and online record shops, Columbia House and BMG could no longer keep up, even though they tried as hard as they could. When they finally closed their doors, it was a sad feeling. It was as if part of my youth had been killed forever. No longer could I order 12 CDs at a time and wait for that package to arrive in the mail.

These days, it’s all instant gratification. We can now go onto ITunes and order any album that our heart desires. If we don’t want the whole record, we can order just the single, or select songs. And while that is really convenient, it takes away from the joy of discovering the entire album. It also takes away from building patience. Once an order was placed with a record company, it was days before that package arrived, which helped me to appreciate it more when it came. Now, with instant downloading, it’s one listen, maybe two, and then it’s off to the next great thing. Hey, what else can I buy online? It’s a shame and it takes away from the joy of the entire record.

When I look over my vast music collection, I still see a lot of cassette tapes that I got from either BMG or Columbia House. When I listen to them, it’s with a smile on my face. Remembering how I would get goosebumps while opening the package filled with multiple albums for me to enjoy. I don’t know if I will ever experience that feeling again, and that is a real shame. Columbia House and BMG Music, you are missed. Thanks for all the great memories.

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