The Rock Album

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Year: 1968

The Zombies recorded "Odessey and Oracle" at Abbey Road Studios after the Beatles finished recording "Sgt. Pepper." Guitarist and vocalist Chris White said the band members only had a thousand pounds among them to make the album. Its single "Time of the Season," with its recognizable opening bass notes and breathy vocals, remains hugely popular.

#84. 'Pinkerton' by Weezer

- Best Ever Albums score: 16,474
Portishead embraced the sound that came to be called trip-hop with its debut album "Dummy." The influential album won Britain's prestigious 1995 Mercury Music Prize. Manchester, England's Joy Division introduced itself with "Unknown Pleasures." Standouts on the dark punk album are "She Lost Control" and "Interzone." The band's singer Ian Curtis took his life in the year after the album's release. Released not long after the death of singer Ian Curtis, the album "Closer" depicted a tomb on its cover. The album had already been in production, but many fans found the image tasteless and exploitative. Closer was the band's second, and last, album. Radiohead’s triumph here was to revive the multi-layered concept album, one that demanded you put on headphones, ponder all the musical surprises, and absorb its take on modern alienation. And wouldn’t you know it, this wilfully noncommercial album produced their biggest singles, at least in the UK, and remains a classic. 15: Prince & the Revolution – Purple Rain

Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again (the latter released in a chart-troubling single edit) stand strong on their own merits and, bookending the album, have come to define the band in their prime. Baba O’Riley’s trilling synth and organ-treated intro heralded another galvanising performance. Daltrey’s cries of ‘teenage wasteland’ seem like a genuine call to arms. Like many 70s punks, Blondie grew up on classic AM radio and loved everything about it. The third album was where they became a world-class pop band, finding room on their dial for punk, disco, Brill Building pop, and even a bit of prog (with Robert Fripp on “Fade Away & Radiate”). Three songs on Parallel Lines were hit singles, at least a half-dozen others could have been. 59: Joy Division – Closer One of the wonders of the 90s indie scene was that an album this good could appear out of nowhere. Liz Phair’s songs were disarmingly frank, with pop hooks all over the place, but she was always a step ahead of the listener – for starters, nobody’s ever figured out if she was entirely serious about modeling the album after the Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street. Either way, it remains one of the best albums of the 90s. 47: Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East Historically, the Go-Go’s debut ranks as the first No.1 album ever performed, and largely written, by an all-female band. It’s also a blast of pure fun, showing Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin, and Kathy Valentine as first-class songwriters who’d absorbed everything great about California pop. “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed” never get old. 62: The Strokes – Is This It? Year: 1972

"Harvest" was the first hit album for Canada's Neil Young, with help from Nashville session musicians, the London Symphony Orchestra, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and his former bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash. It features the huge hit "Heart of Gold," along with "Old Man" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." Young later wrote: "'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people there."

#86. 'Close to the Edge' by Yes

- Best Ever Albums score: 16,251


In Utero" was Nirvana's third and last studio album. A Rolling Stone reviewer called it "brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful." Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994. Year: 1986

"Master of Puppets" is considered one of metal's best albums. The band made the album in Denmark, working on it overnight for three months. Not long after its release, Metallica's bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a tour bus crash.

#95. 'Amnesiac' by Radiohead

- Best Ever Albums score: 15,720
Year: 1985

"Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" on "Hounds of Love" was the first U.S. hit for Britain's Kate Bush. The album took her two years to write, compose, and create, using piano, synthesizers, and traditional Irish instruments.

#69. 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' by The Smashing Pumpkins

- Best Ever Albums score: 19,773

Year: 1980

Released not long after the death of singer Ian Curtis, the album "Closer" depicted a tomb on its cover. The album had already been in production, but many fans found the image tasteless and exploitative. Closer was the band's second, and last, album.

#63. 'Weezer' (The Blue Album) by Weezer

- Best Ever Albums score: 21,951
Pink Floyd recorded "Wish You Were Here" at London's Abbey Road Studios. The release followed its hugely successful "Dark Side of the Moon.""Wish You Were Here" headed straight to the top of the charts in England and in America. Pet Sounds" is considered by many to be the Beach Boys' album masterpiece. It includes the timeless "Wouldn't It Be Nice,""God Only Knows," and "Sloop John B." Led Zeppelin made its second album during a grueling 1969 world tour, recording it in bits and pieces in studios in the United States and Europe. It includes the smash hit "Whole Lotta Love."What's the Story) Morning Glory?" was Oasis' follow-up album to "Definitely Maybe" and sold more copies than the debut. Unlike the first album, "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" was hugely popular in the United States, confirming the band's international hit status. R.E.M.'s "Automatic for the People" contains the unforgettable hits "Nightswimming,""Man on the Moon," and "Everybody Hurts." Lead singer Michael Stipe has said he has heard from untold numbers of fans that "Everybody Hurts" helped save their lives. The album was a darker, sadder sequel to the Athens, Georgia, band's hugely popular "Out of Time" featuring "Losing My Religion" and "Shiny Happy People."

Trends emerge. Plenty of bands broke up after making their masterpieces, often because the pressure of a decent follow-up album seemed to be too much. Many talented band members died, and a disturbing number of those were people who took their own lives. Nearly all the bands' members are male, though a handful have women as vocalists. Musicians of color are visibly absent as, well. Year: 1966

"Pet Sounds" is considered by many to be the Beach Boys' album masterpiece. It includes the timeless "Wouldn't It Be Nice,""God Only Knows," and "Sloop John B."

#12. 'Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV)' by Led Zeppelin

- Best Ever Albums score: 59,549
Let It Bleed" is teeming with the most popular songs the Rolling Stones ever recorded, starting with "Gimme Shelter" and guest vocals by gospel singer Merry Clayton, along with the bluesy epic "Midnight Rambler" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want," complemented by the London Bach Choir.