The Ultimate Rock n Roll Collection.

[GwynnInTheHall]

OK so my daughters have expressed a big interest in learning about music from past generations. If you were to put together a 10-20 album collection that is the best of the best of music from the birth of Rock n roll to about 2000 what would your choices be?

Also in building this collection should I go with vinyl, or CDs or Digital? I am going to keep this in mind as I build a sound system for the new place.

Thanks!

[johnnya24]

What age is the indoctrinee?

Vinyl is back in a big way. Go vinyl.

[GwynnInTheHall]

What age is the indoctrinee?

Vinyl is back in a big way. Go vinyl.

14 and almost 17

[DMT]

Vinyl for sure.

Chuck Berry - Great Twenty-Eight
Bob Dylan - Blond on Blonde
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Beatles - Abbey Road (or Revolver or Sgt Peppers)
Led Zeppelin II
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (or Hunky Dory or Aladdin Sane)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (or Tribute to Jack Johnson)
Pink Floyd - DSOTM (or WYWH or Meddle or Animals)
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
The Clash - London Calling
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Pixies - Doolittle
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Nirvana - Nevermind
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Radiohead - OK Computer
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

[BuckyBuckner]

Definitely go vinyl over CDs. I can understand the appeal to digital; it's cheaper and easier to get. New vinyl records give you the ability to download mp3s so the digital part isn't an issue. I am a collector so I enjoy the hunt for albums and I try to avoid getting the reissues when possible.

Though here a cartoon about vinyl collection that is very funny cause it's true. Personally, I still think it's worth it.
CFZ1mn-VEAAIpza.jpg

[BuckyBuckner]

Vinyl for sure.

Chuck Berry - Great Twenty-Eight
Bob Dylan - Blond on Blonde
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Beatles - Abbey Road (or Revolver or Sgt Peppers)
Led Zeppelin II
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (or Hunky Dory or Aladdin Sane)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (or Tribute to Jack Johnson)
Pink Floyd - DSOTM (or WYWH or Meddle or Animals)
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
The Clash - London Calling
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Iron Maiden - Powerslave
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Pixies - Doolittle
Guns N Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Nirvana - Nevermind
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Radiohead - OK Computer
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Solid list. For Mith: What no RUSH!?!?

Personally I'd add:

Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
The Who - Who's Next
Cheap Trick - in Color

And take out Talking Heads, Guns N Roses and Smashing Pumpkins.

[DMT]

Alternates:

Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Doors - Self-titled
The Who - Tommy
George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks
The Ramones - Self-titled
U2 - War
REM - Murmur (or Automatic for the People)

[TranaGreg]

10-20 albums. 5.5 decades if we start with 1960. Roughly two albums per decade.

I'm reminded of a Mark Twain letter where he started "mom, I would have written a shorter letter but I didn't have the time".

Obviously to whittle a list down to that few, it's gonna be highly subjective. Here are a few ...

Beatles, Sergeant Pepper
Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King
AC/DC, Back in Black
Queen, Night at the Opera
Van Halen, Van Halen
Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage
Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic
Guns N Roses, Appetite for Destruction
Prince, Sign O the Times
Pearl Jam, Ten
Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
U2 The Joshua Tree
REM, Automatic for the People
Radiohead, OK Computer
Arcade Fire, Funeral

[DMT]

Personally I'd focus on good representations of musical genres --- Kind of Blue for jazz and Born Under a Bad Sign for blues and Catch a Fire for reggae and so forth. That combined with the good selections representative of the times (Beatles and Zep and Public Enemy and The Clash and Springsteen, etc.) should give a pretty well-rounded introduction to music of the times. Don't forget some funk for the '70s! Maybe Mothership Connection or One Nation Under a Groove....

This is a good point and those albums are indispensable but he said RNR so I mostly stuck to that. 20 albums is already stretching it really thin.

[BuckyBuckner]

Why vinyl? The shitty sound isn't more authentic, it's further from what the original sound actually was than digital reproduction..

I disagree but that's ok. I enjoy the sound of vinyl over the compressed digital mp3 sound. Plus you are forgetting about the expense and inconvenience.

[Controller Jacobs]

Being as the target audience is female, I might try to include a few more female rock singers, such as Patti Smith, The Pretenders, Janis Joplin.
And I'd include a Kinks album.

For me, The Beach Boys become essential if you include the stories of the band itself (the Wilsons' dad, Brian Wilson's one-man competition with the Beatles, the Manson incident - okay maybe too dark for kids, Kokamo, etc). For me, without the backdrop, it's hard to suffer through much other than 'Wouldn't it be nice', 'God only knows' and 'Hang onto your ego'.

[GwynnInTheHall]

I was going to start with RnR and 20 albums, but if you'd like to suggest more genres and titles....--I can add as cost permits.

[chancellor]

I'd go digital. Vinyl is overrated, and an absolute pain in the butt to move.

Foundational 12:

Beatles: White Album
Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
Michael Jackson: Thriller
Nirvana: Nevermind
Led Zeppelin: IV
Pink Floyd: DSOTM
The Clash: London Calling
Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland
Bob Marley: Catch a Fire
Metallica: Master of Puppets
Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove

Other Greats they might connect to:

NWA: Straight Outta Compton
Dr. Dre: The Chronic
Paranoid: Black Sabbath
Pearl Jam: Ten
R.E.M.: Murmur
The Smiths: The Queen is Dead
Radiohead: OK Computer

If you think they'll like a mellower sound, feel free to substitute:

Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Steely Dan: Aja
Van Morrison: Moondance
Eagles: Hotel California
Marvin Gaye: What's Going On
Paul Simon: Graceland
Patti Smith: Horses

[DMT]

Wow, not sure how I left off Exile and Moondance. Graceland used to be on that list too but Paul Simon is such a dick that it's been tainted for me.

And I didn't realize you were a hip-hop fan Chance but Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic are both indispensable as well.

[chancellor]

Wow, not sure how I left off Exile and Moondance. Graceland used to be on that list too but Paul Simon is such a dick that it's been tainted for me.

And I didn't realize you were a hip-hop fan Chance but Straight Outta Compton and The Chronic are both indispensable as well.

I hear you on Paul Simon; The Smiths are the same for me, but those are "give the devil his due" LPs for me. I'm not a huge hip hop fan; don't have a lot in my collection. But The Chronic is pretty amazing, and I love the funk influence on it. Plus, he's been incredibly influential in the genre and who doesn't know his headphones?