Month: March 2009

Thanks to Rick for this idea. In alphabetical order, my list of the
Top 10 15 Albums of Rock & Roll:

• Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East – 1971 A live double record set. Almost every night of my junior year of high school I would fall asleep to to side three which consisted of “Hot ‘Lanta” (5:17) & “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (13:04)
• America – America – 1972 Three guys, three guitars, three voices. Awsome headphone music, a guitar and voice in each ear and one in the center of your brain.
• Beatles – Hard Days Night – 1964 Quintessential British invasion rock. Plus I’ll bet every scene from the movie of the same name has influence at least a dozen MTV era music videos.
• Blue Oyster Cult – On Your Feet or on Your Knees – 1975 Another live double record set. Included maybe their biggest hit “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper”, but my favorite track was “Then Came the Last Days of May”.
• The Cranberries – Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We – 1993 A perfect blend of dreamy Celtic music and rock and roll. Dolores O’Riordan singing Dreams did and always will raise goosebumps on my arms.
• Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – 4 Way Street – 1971 Four extremely gifted musicians with enormous egos to match came together to create lighting in a bottle and went their separate ways even before the album was released.
• Deep Purple – Made in Japan – 1973 Four words: “Smoke on the Water”
• Eagles – Hell Freezes Over – 1994 There were four new songs written for this album that were basically throwaways while the meat was a re imaging of 11 of the bands biggest hits in a mash up MTV unplugged style & an orchestra.
• Guns n’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction – 1987 If you say name the greatest hard rock album of all time I would say this is it. “Welcome to the Jungle” my friends.
• Nirvana – Unplugged in New York – 1994 Know for their grunge style music this acoustic album of mostly cover songs released after Curt Cobain’s suicide was one of the groups best selling discs.
• No Doubt – No Doubt – 1992 A Ska influenced sound and while there are several other good tunes on the album, Gwen Stefani in a simple blue polka dot dress signing “Don’t Speak” is what got this on the list.
• Pink Floyd – Dark Side Of The Moon – 1973 This one really doesn’t need any words, but what other rock album could be played in sync with the Wizard of Oz and actually enhance each other?
• R.E.M. – Automatic for the People – 1992 The kings of alternative music in the early 90s brought the mandolin to rock with the help of the string arrangements of Led Zeplin’s John Paul Jones.
• Stray Cats – Rock This Town – 1990 OK, so it is more Rockabilly than Rock & Rock, but this album started a whole trend of copycat bands and people dressing up in like Zoot Suits and stuff.
• U2 – Joshua Tree – 1987 They could have stopped after the first three songs and this album would still be on the list. “Where the Streets Have No Name”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “With or Without You”