The most "influential" rock albums

Johnny Winter And Live
Grand Funk Live Album
Goodbye Cream
They were the most influential in my taste of music, style of drumming and improvisation.
Not that there weren't many many more after that but these got me interested in playing and music in general.
 
The records Dylan recorded during his transition to electric. Highway 61, Bringing it all Back Home and Blonde on Blonde. Lyrics became important in rock.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
 
The Pixies "Surfer Rosa" should be there. When Kurt Cobain says he deliberately tried to rip them off, you know it's influential.
 
It's difficult to know how to interpret "influential." In what way? I'd say that Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" was influential, as was Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day."

If it's albums we're talking about then certainly the Beatles first album, whatever it was called, but also "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul." Those two, along with Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde," changed the way bands would sound forever. Bands still try to sound like that to this very day, that intimate acoustic/electric/in-the-studio sound.

Was "Sgt. Pepper" really all that influential? Not that I could ever tell. Maybe as far as album covers were concerned.

The first Jimi Hendrix album, "Are You Experienced," was hugely influential, in that it raised the bar for at least two generations of young musicians, and changed forever the way the electric guitar would be played. That was a true musical event, one that just doesn't come along very often.

I do think that, for better and/or worse, punk, by way of the Ramones first album, was a major influence on rock music. I remember it as being something like a breath of fresh air when I first heard it; it was wild and fun and very much like the bands that put out singles like "Louie Louie" back when I was a kid. But it lowered the bar so much that to this day you hear young people that can't play a damn thing getting up on stage and sounding like shit.

So these, the Beatles, Bob Dylan Jimi Hendrix, and the Ramones, are the four biggest influential entities I've seen emerge in rock music during my life, a life which, I'll be the first to admit, hasn't been entirely focused on rock music at all.

Yes J, the thread is about whole albums recorded by bands/artists.

And yes too for Dylan and Hendrix, they influenced many other musicians.

As for the Beatles, they're probably the most influential band in rock history, especially through the 1965 - 1969 period, the 1967 Sgt Peppers album is unique in terms of sound, the innovation within the process of making this album revolutionized music engineering, many a band have tried to reproduce that kind of vibe within their sounds, even in today's music, we still hear that particular sound's influence of this iconic album.

Now many of the entries listed in this thread have more or less influenced rock in a substantial manner, they all produce songs which became icons in rock music worldwide and they've been copied by those who came after them.
 
It's difficult to know how to interpret "influential." In what way? I'd say that Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" was influential, as was Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day."

If it's albums we're talking about then certainly the Beatles first album, whatever it was called, but also "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul." Those two, along with Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Blonde on Blonde," changed the way bands would sound forever. Bands still try to sound like that to this very day, that intimate acoustic/electric/in-the-studio sound.

Was "Sgt. Pepper" really all that influential? Not that I could ever tell. Maybe as far as album covers were concerned.

The first Jimi Hendrix album, "Are You Experienced," was hugely influential, in that it raised the bar for at least two generations of young musicians, and changed forever the way the electric guitar would be played. That was a true musical event, one that just doesn't come along very often.

I do think that, for better and/or worse, punk, by way of the Ramones first album, was a major influence on rock music. I remember it as being something like a breath of fresh air when I first heard it; it was wild and fun and very much like the bands that put out singles like "Louie Louie" back when I was a kid. But it lowered the bar so much that to this day you hear young people that can't play a damn thing getting up on stage and sounding like shit.

So these, the Beatles, Bob Dylan Jimi Hendrix, and the Ramones, are the four biggest influential entities I've seen emerge in rock music during my life, a life which, I'll be the first to admit, hasn't been entirely focused on rock music at all.

I think you are right on for sure J
 
Great call on Human Duo, that album really did a lot for progressive metal. Other great metal albums include:

Seven Churches, Scream Bloody Gore, Reign in Blood, Everything Metallica (pre Load anyway,) Focus, Damnation, and Alters of Madness.
 
ZZ Top - La Grange
Lynard Skynard - Pronounced
Jimi Hendrix - Experience
Eric Clapton - 461 Ocean Blvd
Moody Blues - Days of Future Past
Joe Walsh - the Smoker you Drink the Player you get
James Gang
Iron Butterfly - in a gadda da vida
Montrose - montrose
 
I'm out of my element so please be easy on me...

Foghat - Fool for the city

Kiss -Destroyer

REO - Live / Hi Infidelity

Styx Cornerstone & Pieces of 8

Whatever album Free Bird is on

Foreigner - Double Vision

Heart - Dog & Butterfly

Journey - Escape & Captured & Frontiers
Now you can poke fun at the suggestions....


Destroyer is huge, both Slayer and Death members cited the album as an influence. So essentially two of the biggest extreme groups pay respect to it.(if you consider Slayer "extreme," they're hugely influential with extreme metal acts though.)
 
Kraftwerk's Autobahn's influence is arguably the most wide ranging of all.

David, if your list is an example of the rock you have heard, no wonder you stick with jazz :)
 
Kraftwerk's Autobahn's influence is arguably the most wide ranging of all.

David, if your list is an example of the rock you have heard, no wonder you stick with jazz :)

This made me laugh more than you can imagine!!!!!

No it's not all I heard but just a tiny sample. I've actually heard most of those already mentioned. Just the same though, it's best I stick to jazz.
 
Anon La Ply; said:
Kraftwerk's Autobahn's influence is arguably the most wide ranging of all.

Wait a minute Kraftwerk is Rock???
 
Love me some Pink Floyd (Dark Side) and all things Led Zep but that Appetite for Destruction album is something. I think it could be an age thing though because I think for many it is just more "hair metal". What a kick in the guts it is though. Just bad ass from top to bottom. Nasty.
 
Hey, you aren't supposed to post the same thing twice!

Didn't you ever read the forum rules?

Ok, I really don't know if that's in there. :)

P.S. My body odor really isn't that bad.
 
Journey - Escape .

I almost put that one in my first post.
It certainly popularized the concept that every rock album should have a ballad, which was a long running theme through out the remainder of the 80's.

Love me some Pink Floyd (Dark Side) and all things Led Zep but that Appetite for Destruction album is something. I think it could be an age thing though because I think for many it is just more "hair metal". What a kick in the balls it is though. Just bad ass from top to bottom. Nasty.
Appetite for Destruction was certainly a major point in rock history.
In many ways, it was the antithesis of hair metal.
 
The list most certainly should begin at Buddy Holly and end at early Led Zeppelin (IV).

Absolutely nothing thereafter would be influential really. It may be fun to listen to but "influential"? The Smiths? Nice pop band but it had all been done decades before.
 
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