Building a Rock Collection From Scratch

An old high school friend who apparently doesn't listen to rock music at all contacted me a while back on Facebook and asked for "the 20 best rock albums of all-time" to start his collection.

Talk about a challenge.

Anyway, I thought it would be worth posting here, with annotations. There are actually 23 here, because some others came to mind after I started, and my friend actually already had a couple of these bases covered.

I mixed up the conventional choices with some of my own skewed tastes just to keep it interesting, and tried to spread things out over about four decades worth of music. And I avoided compilations and boxed sets, because that's cheating.

The White Album (The Beatles)
There's no way you can't start this kind of list without The Beatles. Could have easily gone with Sgt. Pepper, or Revolver if I wanted to be hipper about it, but I like this one best.

Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
Another essential artist for a rock collection, and just an immaculate-sounding album. Gives me goosebumps at the end every time I listen to it. Rock-crit elitists might lean towards Animals or Atom Heart Mother, but I'm not buying it. If you're only going to have one Floyd album, this has got to be it.

The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Genesis)
For my money, this is the best concept album ever, possibly the best prog rock album ever, and one of my all-time favorites. Brilliant.

Led Zeppelin IV (Led Zeppelin)
Okay, so I took the easy way out on Zeppelin, but I don't have the greatest sense of what's on what record other than this one. Plus, I like the slightly less huge tracks on this, particularly "Misty Mountain Hop."

Outlandos D'Amour (The Police)
One of my favorite bands of all time, and this album has a raw energy that later ones didn't. Plus, it's got "Be My Girl/Sally", which is a wonderfully twisted track.

Peter Gabriel/Melting Face (Peter Gabriel)
Yeah, so I identified a lot with "Not One Of Us" in high school, but it's still a great, weird record, owing lots to that Fripp/Eno "no cymbals" aesthetic of the late 70s and early 80s and those killer drums from Phil Collins on "Intruder".

Moving Pictures (Rush)
Come on, I can't not have Rush on this list. I'm a drummer, for Peart's sake! And while much-maligned, this is a great record. "Limelight" would be worth it all on it's own.

Discipline (King Crimson)
As a drummer, I have to have Bill Bruford on this list somewhere, and start to finish, this is a defining record. What it was defining, I'm not entirely sure, but it's a landmark prog album nonetheless. Also a great headphone record with all the interlocking guitar parts on "Frame By Frame" and the title track.

1984 (Van Halen)
Eddie Van Halen must be included here somewhere, and while you might lean towards some of the earlier, more guitar-heavy work, I think this record also reflects the era in which it was released in ways that the others don't. And yet it holds up over time for me. No, Sammy Hagar VH never even crossed my mind.

90125 (Yes)
Another mid-80s album that could not have existed at any other point in time, and yet, again, I still listen to regularly and enjoy immensely. I think I have a soft spot for bands trying new things (synths for Van Halen, pop tunes for Yes, concise arrangements for Crimson, no cymbals for Gabriel), particularly in this period.

The Joshua Tree (U2)
My friends were more into this than I was when it came out, but given the arc of U2's career, it's pretty universally seen as the start of something really big for the band.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory (Oasis)
Moving into the 90s, I was dismissive of Oasis when they first arrived, but have since come to realize how important this album is. There are just a ton of great, memorable tunes on it.

Superunknown (Soundgarden)
The "Seattle sound" representative. I like this one a lot more than the more obvious grunge/alternative candidates.

Aenima (Tool)
Another all-time favorite from the mid-90s. More intense than dark, packs a huge wallop, and has as much or more of a cathartic release by the end of "Third Eye" as Dark Side Of The Moon does with "Eclipse." For my money, Tool lost the thread a bit after this one, but they also changed bass players, which may have something to do with it.

OK Computer (Radiohead)
At the time, this was almost more of a phenomenon than an album -- a sort of landslide of buzz -- and perfectly captured the anxiety of the world into which it was released.

Colossal Head (Los Lobos)
Much more of a personal than a canonical choice, as I just think this is a fun, quirky album from an oft-overlooked band that's consistently one of the best in the business.

Earthling (David Bowie)
Bowie is tough to pin down for a list like this, seeing as how nearly every record has one or two seminal tracks, but they're all different. I was tempted to break my "no compilations" rule here, but instead went with one of his more recent (relatively) efforts, mostly on the strength of "Dead Man Walking" and "I'm Afraid of Americans".

Sluggo! (Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins)
I had to include one totally obscure album here, and to be honest, I had to include this particular obscure album, because it knocked me flat on my ass the moment I heard it. It's got buckets full of wit, memorable hooks and impossible musicianship -- probably the most accessible proggy/Zappa-esque album I've ever heard, but when you've toured with Zappa and worship at the altar of the Beatles and XTC, that's gonna happen.

Guero (Beck)
This album runs the gamut of Beck's different guises, and he's established himself as one of the more important and more durable modern acts out there.

Din of Ecstasy (Chris Whitley)
Another purely personal choice that I threw in to give it more exposure. Whitley takes his plaintive, rootsy quasi-folk sound electric, with stunning results.

Doolittle (The Pixies)
Loveless (My Bloody Valentine)
I figured that these two were historically relevant for being the harbingers of the grunge era. Plus, they're good record, particularly The Pixies.

Who's Next The Who
Another classic album from a classic band.

Looking over it now, I know I missed London Calling from The Clash, and would have liked to have included a Talking Heads album, but I don't know know which one. Those would make for a good bridge between the 70s classic rock and the mid-80s stuff.

Make your own arguments and suggestions in the comments, he says hopefully...