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Best "Rock/Pop" Debut Album?

I've been thinking about this for a while and recently rifled through my catalogue to look at some contenders. The criteria I used for selecting the best debut album is based on both impact to the genre and overall musical quality. For example some of the great Rock/Pop bands of the last 45 years didn't exactly come out of the gate swinging grand slams. For example, as great as the Beatles, Stones and even The Who were or are, they're first offering was largely based on covers of American blues and doesn't represent them hitting full stride. Same full stride scenario could also be said for great bands such as Zeppelin, Tull, Aerosmith, Talking Heads, Prince, CSN&Y etc.

Without further ado here is my list:

1. Yes - "Fragile" (Unbelievable debut album. Ushered in a classical sensibility to Rock music that hadn't been tapped into as deeply prior to their arrival on the scene. The muscianship and composition on Fragile is stunning. I put this album as number 1 on my list because of the incredible muscianship and maturity of this first offering)
2. Steely Dan - "Can't Buy A Thrill" (Damn near a flawless debut album. The Dan's influence was huge and made it difficult for critics to even figure how to categorize their style of music)
3. Chicago "Chicago Transit Authority" (Wham they came out of left field and combined horns, percussions and hot guitar licks the likes of which the music scene hadn't witnessed before. Right out of the gate their debut album sounded like it was a veteran work of art)
4. Nirvana - "Nirvana" (What can you say about this debut? It was a solid musical offering with a huge impact on music. Their debut was an invitation to the Grim Reaper for Old School and Hair Spray rock bands. It's influence is still being felt to this day)
5. The Doors - "The Doors" (Unbelievably good debut album. Light My Fire is one of the best Rock songs of all time IMHO. Right out of the gate The Doors brought a style and sound all their own)
dawgbyte

Showing 13 responses by zaikesman

zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I'd make a better hall monitor if my contributions weren't obsolete by the time I posted them...
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
BTW, "Empty Sky" wasn't released in the US until '75, a mitigating factor...
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
The Monkees rule. (Incidentally, ever listen closely to the lead break in "Saturday's Child"? Presages Page in late Yardbirds, "Dazed And Confused"-era early Zep. Not that anybody in The Monkees played it, but I'm not picky.)
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Arnold_layne: You would say that! ;-)
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
More corrections not yet noted by others:

Harrison's solo debut was "Wonderwall Music" on Apple in '68.

Morrison's solo debut was "Blowin' Your Mind" on Bang in '67.

As Ben came close to pointing out, Nirvana's debut was "Bleach" on SubPop in (can you believe it?!) '89.

(BTW, that "My Sharona" song really began a long and storied career for The Knack, didn't it?)

Audiofeil has kindly corrected a few others, now I'll return the favor:

"Pick Up The Pieces" was a single off of AWB's '74 Atlantic debut simply entitled Average White Band, but they had an earlier album on MCA, '73's "Show Your Hands".

"Centerfield" (WB '85) was John Fogerty's third solo album, after "John Fogerty & The Blue Ridge Rangers" (Fantasy '73 -- there was no band named The Blue Ridge Rangers, it was just Fogerty) and "John Fogerty" (Asylum '75)

Anyway, this list could obviously go on and on, but some other notable debuts I don't think were mentioned above are Elvis Presley, "Here's Little Richard", The Ramones, The Pretenders, The New York Dolls, Moby Grape, Gene Clark (solo debut after leaving the Byrds), The Dead Kennedys "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables", The Dictators "Go Girl Crazy", The Modern Lovers, NRBQ, The Monkees, The B-52s, Pink Floyd "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn", Television, Wire "Pink Flag", The Cars, The Mothers "Freak Out", The Stooges, Derek & The Dominoes...I'll stop before I list a hundred more...

FWIW, IMO "Are You Experienced?" is probably the most world-changing debut LP ever released, only 'cause The Beatles did it more with singles at the beginning (as did most artists prior to The Beatles).
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Ah yes, Hall Monitor vs. Rain Man, the best debut monster flick of all times, no stinkin' mitigating factors allowed...Doubtless RM will have his reply for the Fogerty faux pas along to us shortly...wait, I think I feel it beginning to sprinkle down now ;-)
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Yes, it came in an email which I didn't receive until after I'd posted. He stood right up and admitted it: "My bad". I would say "I was wrong" too, except I wasn't. I was merely mistaken. ;^)
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
"Boston"?...Awright, that's it folks! Apparently we have a winner, named 'the best' by critical consensus! (Never read these particular 'many critics', but OK.) Time to go home! Been nice rockin' ya, wouldn't wanna schlock ya...
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
I remember when "Boston" came out, I was in junior high school and everybody loved them. I once talked this girl I liked into leaving the school grounds during lunch and eating with me at my house instead. As we walked we talked about music, and she told me Boston was her favorite band. Of course, being the snobbish dweeb I was, I became nearly apoplectic that she could like them better than The Beatles, even though The Beatles had broken up before I was really old enough to be aware of them. Smooth dude, that. Anyway, I was proud that I could play the opening guitar figure from "More Than A Feeling" for my next door neighbor kid who spun that record to death, but I just never could cotton to bands like them and Foreigner. Chalk it up to precocious good taste. Then new wave started to happen (before it got co-opted by the labels), and I began to figure out why Boston sounded stupid even if impressive in their way. These days I have a more expansive attitude toward them, though I'll never own their records. Sad how even a band like Boston now makes 99% of current radio rock sound fake and without craft.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Perhaps not. Even though I was only in 6th grade at the time, I recall it being damned hard to find anything I wanted to hear on the radio in 1976. (Kind of like now, come to think of it.) Some other tunes that felt like an absolute plague then were "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" and "Silly Love Songs". Something I remember more fondly from the previous year was when "Walk This Way" debuted as a single, and I was taping it to cassette off the radio when the DJ got so overwhelmed with enthusiastic response from callers that he actually spun the song twice in a row back to back. For some reason that impressed the hell out of me at my age then, and I've never heard the same thing happen again before or since.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Well Slothie, sorry I reminded you of that :-)
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Here's a twist: How about best debut that's also a swan song? My kick-off nomination in the only-one-album-but-oh-what-an-album-it-is sweepstakes is The La's self-titled (and self-tortured) minor masterpiece from 1990 (hit that's endured: "There She Goes") -- not only the lone album they managed to release during some 10 years of nominal band activity, and to critical raves, but also over the objections and rejection of leader Lee Mavers and without full band participation 'til the end of production, which was left to Steve Lillywhite to pull together on his own.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
What a gas reading this again, I retained zero memory of its existence. Scary...
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