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Rock is a music genre often associated with mischief, leather jackets, long hair and mosh-pits. Not a far-off assumption if you think about it. Regardless of its reputation, rock had a major impact on society and culture during the 50s, 60s and 70s. The 60s and 70s was a time when some of the most influential rock albums of all time were produced. And, naturally, some carried more weight than others.
Rebellious and nonconformist at heart, rock bridged a cultural gap and helped the momentum of the civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s.
From progressive rock to psychedelic rock, let’s discover which albums made the biggest impact on fan engagement. The most influential rock albums of all time include – Led Zeppelin IV – Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, and – Nevermind by Nirvana.
Before you say – Hey, what about…? The Dark Side of the Moon, The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Revolver, A Night at the Opera, and Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band all made the list.
These albums from great rock bands, tackled subjects such as police aggression, anti-sexism, mental illness, and alienation giving a voice to outsiders. All the time creative musicians experimented and constantly pushed boundaries past the limit – not just for music, but for social issues of the times.
Identifying the Most Influential Rock Albums of All Time
Determining the most influential rock albums of all time is subjective and varies depending on personal taste and perspective. However, after many great listening hours, here are some factors we considered in compiling the list.
- Innovation and Originality
- Cultural Significance
- Commercial Success
- Artistic Excellence
- Longevity and Endurance
Led Zeppelin IV
Album cover art is a massive part of the success of an album release, and no band or artist dared to leave their name off the cover – until Led Zeppelin did. With an old photo of a painting in a battered frame hanging on a wall, and no words, Led Zeppelin made a statement echoing the rebellious nature of rock at the time.
Led Zeppelin IV, also known as Four Symbols or Zoso, established the band as the biggest in the world. With classics like Stairway to Heaven and Black Dog, Led Zeppelin IV was a revolutionary body of work showcasing their unmatched musicality. The band incorporated innovative production techniques, such as backward tape loops, folk, and world music influences. Their originality helped to expand the limits of rock music and inspired countless other musicians to experiment with different styles and techniques.
But it didn’t stop there. Everything about the album was unconventional. From the song titles to the sonic journey from sides 1 to 2, the greatest legacy on the album is Stairway to Heaven. And after John Bonham the band’s drummer died, Robert Plant vowed never to sing it again.
The iconic track has influenced generations of guitarists, composers, and musicians in the years since its debut. Jimi Page’s composition was designed to build to a crescendo and gather tension until the final release. The listener is confronted with a change in tempo that was the exact opposite of standard studio practice at the time.
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
This studio album single-handedly revitalised the Punk movement in 1977. The Sex Pistols’ debut album was their one and only. Yet it is one of the most influential rock albums of all time. God Save The Queen – their most popular song – had the punk band blacklisted on every independent radio station in the UK. Despite being surrounded by controversy, the band and the album became a critical and commercial success, reaching number one on the UK album charts.
Their interview on the Today Show, hosted by Bill Grundy, was the beginning of the band’s media onslaught and censorship. What followed were tabloid headlines for weeks, with the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, and Daily Telegraph running headlines like “The Filth and the Fury” resulting in many venues, towns and radio stations refusing to have them played.
What in retrospect looks like a publicity stunt, the Pistols went on the Anarchy Tour, where they only played seven out of twenty shows. The band caused havoc and challenged the status quo, but their music bridged the punk and the mainstream movement and therefore, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, four decades later, can still be regarded as one of the most influential rock albums of all time.
Nirvana – Nevermind
“Here we are now, entertain us, I feel stupid and contagious.” From living rooms to clubs, when these words hit the radio waves, teenagers and rebels alike lost their marbles altogether. This song and lyrics were a cultural touchstone of the 1990s – the soundtrack of the youth.
With more than 30 million copies sold globally, Nirvana’s Nevermind album had a wider reach than any rock album. And, it didn’t matter where you came from, the raw, heavy sound and introspective lyrics resonated with fans and followers across the world. It solidified a global Punk Rock youth culture.
Nirvana’s influence stretched beyond the sound and lyrics, but the album’s popularity goes hand-in-hand with the impact MTV had internationally in the 90s. The album, Nevermind, catapulted grunge and alternative rock into the mainstream, and a global teenage audience united behind the voice of Kurt Cobain.
His lyrics spoke of his alienation from mainstream society, with a male vulnerability that was both foreign and appealing to Rock audiences. The album gave voice to the frustration of the young, and became a banner to rally behind.
Nirvana opened avenues for bands like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains. They were able to build fanbases in Brazil, Poland, and other countries not normally associated with the music. Artists Grzegorz Kwiatkowski (Polish), Little Roy (Jamaican), Gaye Su Akyol (Turkish), and Caetano Veloso (Brazilian), credited the album as being one of their early influences.
Nevermind represented a cultural shift away from the excess and superficiality of the 1980s and towards a more introspective and authentic form of expression.
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of The Moon
Listening to The Dark Side of The Moon is an emotional journey through sound, political themes and the band’s state of mind at the time. A cinematic masterpiece, Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon catapulted the band into instant stardom and spent 14 years on the Billboard charts. And with 45 million copies globally sold, there is no question about the magnitude of this Progressive Rock album.
But perhaps its most important influence is in its engineering and the band’s technical skills with electronic instruments and sound effects. Masterfully framing the themes of madness, angst, and alienation – a heartbeat opens and introduces the album, building to a crescendo with the ticking of a clock, muted voices, the sound of a motor, and finally manic laughter, as you step through the portal onto the Dark Side of the Moon.
What follows is a sonic exploration. Each song flows into the next, gains momentum, rises to a sharp peak, and then bottoms out as you breathe a sharp sigh of relief. Songs like Brain Damage represent the protagonist’s mounting anxiety and a struggle with mental illness.
You raise the blade, you make the change
You rearrange me ’til I’m sane
You lock the door and throw away the key
There’s someone in my head but it’s not me.”
No other album has had as profound an impact on the hearts and minds of Rock fans as Dark Side of The Moon. From Paul McCartney to Radiohead, generations of musicians have found inspiration in not just the metaphorical journey, but the technical aspects like the cash register loop that Pink Floyd used in this album.
David Bowie – The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars
Dedicated to performance and craft, David Bowie’s The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust is widely considered one of the most influential Art Rock albums of all time. Bowie’s fifth studio album centres around the character Ziggy Stardust, an extra-terrestrial lifeform who embodied the rock lifestyle of hard drugs, liquor and sex, but preached a message of love.
This experimental album established not just Bowie’s legacy, but an interesting combination of theatre and rock. From his intense vocal range to his gender-bending costumes, the Ziggy persona became forever intertwined with Bowie’s personality.
The album’s greatest achievement was in his ability to resonate with the outcasts and open the rock genre to fans who’d felt excluded by the regular hetero-male rock scene. With his theatrical arena performances, Bowie popularised what became the Glam Rock movement and popular music as performance art.
The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust left a lasting impact on the music industry. It has been included in numerous – best albums of all time – lists and is considered a classic album that has stood the test of time.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Featuring Hendrix’s unparalleled guitar playing, The Jimi Hendrix Experience was genre-bending and an album that inflenced many other musicians . From his use of stereophonic phrasing to his innovative playing style, Hendrix forever changed the music game and how his peers approached their creative process.
What made the Jimi Hendrix Experience so unique was his ability to embrace new technology in ways no other artists could. While the rest of the industry stuck to composing songs on the standard C major scale, Hendrix explored a range of chords. Pushing the boundaries with his first album, Jimi did not hesitate to add tools like an Octavian or wah-wah pedal for special effects.
Changing common riffs into elaborate sonic dreamscapes that set the stage for generations of artists from U2 to Jack White, his progressive approach and intuitive compositional sense contributed to popular culture. Hendrix inspired a new generation of music fans to embrace a more experimental and eclectic approach to music.
The Beatles – Revolver
At the peak of their creativity, the Beatles were a united front, with Harrison stepping up his song writing, and Lennon and McCartney exploring and experimenting with sound and technique. Revolver was before Sgt Pepper, but it wasn’t as well marketed and packaged. Yet it was viewed as the better album.
Thematically diverse, the album featured tracks like the comedic, Doctor Robert, sentimental, Here, There, and Everywhere, and the nihilistic I’m Only Sleeping. And the music followed through, with each song presenting a unique audio-visual experience that had fans hooked.
Revolver showcased The Beatles’ evolution as songwriters, with more sophisticated and complex lyrics, and unconventional song structures. It showed the band’s ability to move beyond the love song format and write songs that were experimental and cerebral.
Revolver was a commercial success and topped the charts in both the UK and the US. It demonstrated The Beatles’ continued popularity and influence on the music industry and helped to cement their status as one of the most important and influential bands in the history of music.
Queen – A Night At The Opera
It is safe to say Bohemian Rhapsody is the theme song of good times – from wedding celebrations to the brave attempting it in music competition television shows – it is a song that stood the test of time. No other rock album has received as much critical acclaim as Queen’s – A Night At The Opera.
The album’s innovative production techniques, such as multi-tracking and studio overdubbing, were ground-breaking and helped to set new standards in music production. It showed the band’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of recording studio possibilities.
The blockbuster title track Bohemian Rhapsody was recorded in parts, with each band member’s segment overlaid in post-production to create the perfect harmony. But Freddie Mercury wasn’t the only one putting in his best work. This album was produced at the height of Queen’s creativity, and its spot among the most influential rock albums of all time is well-deserved.
Final Thoughts
There are many factors to consider when deciding which albums will top the most influential rock albums of all-time list. The bands we have highlighted experimented with new recording techniques, like dubbing or using unconventional objects as instruments. And the albums that resulted from their pioneering, spent years on global charts with massive sales. They influenced fashion and made statements that will live in our hearts forever.