Best debut album

+ 1 on the "usual suspects": Doors - Hendrix - Led Zep - King Crimson - Television - Dire Straits - Rickie Lee Jones - Pretenders - Elvis Costello - Joe Jackson & REM.

+ 1 on the "not so" usual suspects: Dada - Jellyfish - Spirit - Velvet Underground.

Here's a few more in the latter category:

JJ Cale - "Naturally"
Jim Carroll: "Catholic Boy"
Lloyd Cole & Commotions: "Rattlesnakes"
"Crack The Sky"
Mark Eitzel: "60 Watt Silver Lining"
Michael Franks: "The Art of Tea"
PJ Harvey: "Dry"
Martha and The Muffins: "Metro Music"

@bkeske
Thanks for the Mark Eitzel stories! His concert monologues are legendary. I can only imagine what he is like to talk to. I lived in Ohio for 3 years in the 80's, and my job frequently had me on High Street near the OSU campus. There was a great record store in that area that I think was called Singing Dog Records.

One of my favorite concert stories happened in Columbus. I went to the Agora Ballroom to see The Psychedelic Furs. Right before the show started someone walked up to me and asked "what I thought the first song would be?" This contest idea had never occurred to me, so I went with the first song that came to mind, which was "Into You Like a Train." Turns out I was right; and, the bewildered look that he gave me was priceless!

Richard Barone - "Cool Blue Halo"

It came out about a year before MTV Unplugged started, and it pretty much started the chamber pop movement.

I saw The Dolls open for Mott The Hoople in 1973 on the All The Young Dudes tour. It was probably the wildest show that I ever saw. Best described as "Halloween on acid."