Support NeoGAF

[pauljeremiah]

Over the past few weeks at work we’ve been debating which albums belong in a list we’re calling “The Essential Album Collection”

So we set up the following rules for it:

One album per band/singer/group
Only 3 greatest hits albums are allowed and count towards that band/singer/group entry

Only 3 soundtrack albums allowed, and this is by an artist, not a compilation album.

Only 3 live albums (same rule as greatest hits)

All genres allowed

Solo work by an artist from a group can count as a separate entry. For example, you can have Queen’s Greatest Hits 1 and a Freddie Mercury solo album.


So here’s the list we have so far:

A Tribe Called Quest - Midnight Marauders
ABBA - Gold
AC/DC - Back In Black
Aerosmith - Toys In The Attic
Air - Moon Safari
Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color
Alan Parsons Project - Eye In The Sky
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Avalanches, The - Since I Left You
Beach Boys, The - Pet Sounds
Beatles, The - Abbey Road
Bill Evans - Moonbeams
Billy Joel - An Innocent Man
Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Blur - Parklife
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Bon Jovi - Slipper When Wet
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Bryan Adams - Reckless
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Charles Mingus - Roots and Blues
Chic - Risqué
Clash, The - London Calling
Cream - wheels of fire
Daft Punk - Discovery
David Bowie - The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Dean Friedmarn - “Well, Well” Said The Rocking Chair
Deep Purple - Made in Japan
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Don Edwards - Goin Back To Texas
Doors, The - Strange Days
Eagles - Hotel California
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
Faithless - Reverence
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Flock Of Seagulls - Flock Of Seagulls
Foo Fighters - One By One
Frank Sinatra - Sings For Only The Lonely
Fugees, The - The Score
Future Sound of London - Accelerator
Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Hank Mobley - Soul Station
Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast
Janet Jackson - Velvet Rope
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
Jimi Hendrix - Are you Experienced?
Jimmy Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Joe Satriani - Surfing with the Alien
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
John Lennon - Imagine
Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around
Journey - Escape
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance
Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson
Kinks, The - Something Else
LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man
Lionel Richie - Can’t Slow Down
Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
Madonna - Like A Virgin
Mark Knopfler - Golden Heart
Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On?
Megadeth - Countdown To Extinction
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Mobb Deep - Hell on Earth
Moby - Play
Mogwai - Mr. Beast
Mos Def - Black on Both Sides
Muddy Waters - Hard Again
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Mylo - Destroy Rock and Roll
Neil Young - Harvest
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
New Order - Power, Corruption and Lies
Nine In Nails - The Downward Spiral
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and The Abstract Truth
Ozzy - Blizzard of Ozz
Pantera - Cowboys From hell
Paul Simon - Graceland
Peral Jam - Ten
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pixies - Doolittle
Police, The - Synchronicity
Pulp - Different Class
Queen - A Night At The Opera
Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
Radiohead - OK Computer
Raekwon - Only Builty 4 Cuban Linx
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Replacements, The - Let it Be or Tim
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe
Rodriguez- Searching For Sugar Man
Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
Rush - Moving Pictures
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dreams
Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union
Soundgarden - Superunknown
St Etienne - Foxbase Alpha
Steely Dan - Aja
Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July
Strokes, The - Is This It
Styx - The Grand Illusion
Suede - Coming Up
Supergrass - I Should Coco
Survivor - Eye of the tiger
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Tom Petty and Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
Tool - Aenima
Toto - Toto IV
U2 - Joshua Tree
UFO - Phenomenon
Weeknd, The - House Of Balloons
White Stripes - Elephant
Wu Tang - Enter the 36 Chambers
Yes - Fragile

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
The Black Keys - Brothers
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

I have so many problems with your list. White Blood Cells over Elephant, for sure. Kid A over OK Computer FOR SURE. Any other Kanye album than that one FOR SURE.
I could keep going but I gotta stop myself

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

 

[Soltype]

Too many to list, but here are some I still keep in rotation.I can listen to these start to finish no problem.

 

[Tenaciousmo]

Adding for now, will edit if i think of more in the next few minutes

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Beyoncé - Beyoncé
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Lana Del Rey - Honeymoon
Nas - Illmatic
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People / Murmur (I prefer Automatic but the general consensus seems to be murmur)
Slowdive - Souvlaki
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
The streets - A grand don't come for free

Would also like to argue about changing Ok computer to Kid A, but still an amazing choice

 

[LegendOfKage]

How many albums did you want people to list, anyhow? Only three greatest hits albums is a very different type of limitation if someone is posting a list of 10, and someone is posting a list of 100.

Personally, I wouldn't even count compilation albums in the first place, but to each their own.

 

[DiscoJer]

The Who - Quadrophenia
Messiah - 21st Century Jesus
Boston - Boston
Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations
Space - Magic Fly
The Moody Blues - To Our Children's Children's Children
Chicane - Far From the Maddening Crowds
BT - Ima
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Robert Plant - Now and Zen
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife
Ministry - The Land of Rape & Honey

 

[Bullet Club]

Duran Duran - Rio
Human League - Dare
ABC - The Lexicon Of Love

 

[pauljeremiah]

How many albums did you want people to list, anyhow? Only three greatest hits albums is a very different type of limitation if someone is posting a list of 10, and someone is posting a list of 100.

Personally, I wouldn't even count compilation albums in the first place, but to each their own.

The only reason we allowed a greatest hits album was so that we could include ABBA Gold, as it’s the one ABBA album that everyone on this side of the pond has.

 

[highrider]

Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life
Cat Stevens: Tea for Tillerman
Isaac Hayes: Shaft movie soundtrack

 

[TheHighFlyingBirds]

The stone roses - the stone roses
The verve - urban hymns
Sex pistols - never mind the bollocks
Massive attack - mezzanine
Florence and the machine - lungs

 

[drganon]

Weezer-pinkerton
Failure- fantastic planet
Hum- downward is heavenward

 

[SpiceRacz]

 

[C4lukin2]

Pearl Jam: No Code
Radiohead: The Bends
Liz Phair: Exile In Guyville
Nirvana: MTV Unplugged
David Bowie: Blackstar
The Beatles: Eponymous or better known as the White Album.
NIN: The Fragile
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
Neil Young: Harvest
Sleater Kinney: One Beat
And that is only if I could recommend 10 albums.. I have a few hundred on my mind that are just as worthy. Those ten came to me first.