Classic Rock Albums -- A list

Sometimes, we want to hear what we know. Like that song from Cheers where everybody knows your name, we want to listen to music we know all the words to and can sing along with if we so choose. We all have those record albums and bands that have a bookmarked page in our memories and our past. This is the music that plays in our comfort zone. (If you were born after 1985, where I wrote “record album,” insert “compact disc.”)

Below is a list of record albums, or CDs that, every once in a while, and I say at least once a year, you just gotta sit down and listen to them. This list is not necessarily in order, nor is it complete. I tried to keep it at 10…

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon – Sometimes, you just gotta do it. Put on this CD and kick back in the easy chair between a couple of awesome Bose 501’s, press the play button and listen to the whole album, almost, but not quite, loud enough to make the neighbors complain. You won’t believe how unbelievably cool this is until you’ve done it for yourself. (Oh, and headphones work, too.)

REO Speedwagon: High Infidelity – This album put REO Speedwagon over the top, where they discovered Top-40 music and made a ton of money. It ruined them as a band. For the next 30 years, these guys tried to reproduce the magic of High Infidelity and failed. I’ve actually written a more in-depth piece about this in my blog.

AC/DC: Back in Black – This is the gold standard of the hard rock genre. It’s a rocking good time, and a musical tribute to fallen AC/DC front man Bon Scott. It continues to be awesome three decades later, even though some of it was made specifically for radio. If you were a band in the ’80s or ‘90s and you weren’t trying to be like Aerosmith – then you were trying to be like AC/DC.

Rush: 2112 – This is the album that put Rush on the short list of bands who could come up with an album and give it to the record company saying something like, “Here’s our next album.” The alternative is having some well-meaning (read: money grubbing) but relatively moronic record company executive say, “Here’s what you need to put on your next album to fit our research on the current trending sales demographic. Try to make it sound cool.”

Cinderella: Long Cold Winter – Like AC/DC’s Back in Black, there’s not a bad track on this album. The beauty of Long Cold Winter, however, lies in the fact that it wasn’t made for radio. The music is hard-driving 80’s hair metal at its finest. The lead singing features Tom Keifer at the top of his game, just before he blew out his vocal chords.

Poison: Flesh and Blood – This is the album where Poison discovered they were a real band. Like several others in this series, there’s not a bad track on it. I wrote a more in-depth article about Poison in my blog.

Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime – As a concept album coming out when everyone else was doing, er…, well, concept albums, this is one of the best. It actually takes you, the listener, into the story and scares the hell out of you.It would make a great movie starring Tom Cruise. This band’s next effort, Empire, appeared to be a continuation of this story. It was almost, but not quite, as good as the first one.

Metallica: Metallica (The Black Album) – This album put Metallica in the mainstream. Upon release, it set the standard for heavy metal/thrash. Like other abums of its kind, the band took the advice of a top-40 producer and developed an offering of songs playable by mainstream radio stations. In short, they made money. And in the best tradition of other bands which finally hit the big time, it ruined them completely.

Warren Zevon: Warren Zevon (1976) – Often called his masterpiece, Zevon’s first actual solo effort takes the listener on an emotional roller-coaster ride through the streets, alleys and bars of Los Angeles (or any big city for that matter.) If you don’t already know this acerbic, sardonic, gritty singer and songwriter, then this is where you start, at the beginning.

Guns-n-Roses: Appetite for Destruction – Sitting at the forefront of the new energetic rock movement, gleefully giving the 80's new wave a boot to the head, this band and CD ushered in a new era, giving us hope for the future of rock. Unfortunately, they apparently only had the one good album in them. After Appetite, the band went into a downward spiral of drugs, egotism and moronic stupidity that eventually put them where they are today.

I’m sure as soon as I hit “Publish” I’ll remember a dozen more that need to be here.

Triumph: Allied Forces – I considered allowing a “best of” or “greatest hits” album in my list. In this case, Triumph: Classics. As it turns out, Classics is the Triumph album I actually listen to the most, according to my WinAmp and Zune (yeah, I have a Zune, what of it?) play tracking statistics. But, Allied Forces is the classic album that requires a full run through at least once a year.

Seether: Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces – This may be a fad addition. Then again, this is not a definitive list; It’s my list. I really like this band and this album.

Collective Soul: 7even Year Itch – Just didn’t quite make it into my Big Ten. This collection by this hard rocking 5-man band from Georgia is a must-have. So far, these guys have recorded seven number one rock songs.

Shinedown: The Sound of Madness – I really like this band. They are one of the best bands out there today where vocals and songwriting are concerned. If you don’t know them, give them a listen. Warning: If you’re stuck in the ‘60s, they might give you an apoplexy. (I finally got to use that word in a sentence!)