Horses - Patti Smith
Marquee Moon - Television
Never Mind The Bollocks - Sex Pistols
The New York Dolls - The New York Dolls
The Velvet Underground & Nico - The VU & Nico

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2000man
NME lists it as one of the worst...
The best and worst debut (1992))

Totally mental.

Jagged Little Pill - Alanis Morissette
Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon (I realize he released an album in 1969 but this was his first release on a major label.)
O - Damien Rice
The Doors - The Doors
Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix Experience

I forgot Pearl Jam's Ten. A seminal album.

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noughties
bliss wrote:
"Perhaps best debut album of 1964?"

Manfred Mann`s debut, "The Five Faces of Mann"; - more polished, better musicians.

I like Manfred Mann too, but they are just not in the same league as the Stones. Better musicians ? Mike Vickers a better guitar player than Keith ? Tom McGuiness better than Bill ? Paul Jones a better singer than Mick ? No way.

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tatters

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batcave
The Cars first album is loaded with songs that were played on the radio...

That's a good one. Even when it was brand new, it sounded like a greatest hits album.

Yep, I wore out an 8-track of that one.

"No Anchovies, Please"

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memphiscats

Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon (I realize he released an album in 1969 but this was his first release on a major label.)

No, his self-titled first album, produced by Jackson Browne, was on a major label. You are thinking of Wanted Dead or Alive on an indie label. The s/t debut had Mohammed's Radio, Hasten Down the Wind, Poor Pitiful Me, Carmelita, Desperadoes Under the Eaves, the French Inhaler, and I'll Sleep When I'm Dead. Packed with classics and a sure contender in this thread.

How about Steely Dan's debut Can't Buy A Thrill anyone? Surely one of the most musically mature first efforts up there.

Zeppelin 1
High Voltage
Van Halen 1
Appetite For Destruction

Ironically the debut album was their worst charting album here in the states and the only studio album that didn't chart in the top five. It peaked at #11 on the albums chart. Of course this isn't a reflection on the quality of the album but it points out the difference between their immediate impact in the UK and their gradual impact over here as the sixties went on.

"Lyin' awake in a cold, cold sweat. Am I overdrawn, am I going in debt?
It gets worse, the older that you get. No escape from the state of confusion I'm in.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2012-03-31 00:52 by FrankM.

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Green Lady

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tatters

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mitchflorida1
I think the best debut albums were by the Doors and Boston.

Boston's debut album "said" everything they had to say. That's true to a lesser degree with Hendrix and the Doors. It's really not true at all with the Stones.

I respectfully beg to disagree that "The mark of a truly great first album is that it's as good or better than anything else the artist would ever go on to do." If that's true, why would anyone ever make more than one? Maybe it needs to feel like everything's been said and done at the time of its release - a perfect statement of everything the band is at that time - but something that they will never ever be able to improve on? Definitely not.

Okay, how about this. A truly great first album is an album that is in and of itself a masterpiece, and with hindsight can also be seen as pointing the way towards even greater things to come. Led Zeppelin I, for example.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012-03-31 06:13 by tatters.

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tatters

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Green Lady

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tatters

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mitchflorida1
I think the best debut albums were by the Doors and Boston.

Boston's debut album "said" everything they had to say. That's true to a lesser degree with Hendrix and the Doors. It's really not true at all with the Stones.

I respectfully beg to disagree that "The mark of a truly great first album is that it's as good or better than anything else the artist would ever go on to do." If that's true, why would anyone ever make more than one? Maybe it needs to feel like everything's been said and done at the time of its release - a perfect statement of everything the band is at that time - but something that they will never ever be able to improve on? Definitely not.

Okay, how about this. A truly great first album is an album that is in and of itself a masterpiece, and with hindsight can also be seen as pointing the way towards even greater things to come. Led Zeppelin I, for example.

That's a great definition, tatters: although there are a surprisinly large number of bands that never did surpass their debut album, or even their debut single! Or maybe it's not such a surprise: like books, many people have one good one in them, but more than one is harder, and more than one that isn't just more of the same is harder still. The mark of a truly great band is that they can and do improve on their first efforts, whether those were masterpieces or not.

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Green Lady

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tatters

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Green Lady

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tatters

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mitchflorida1
I think the best debut albums were by the Doors and Boston.

Boston's debut album "said" everything they had to say. That's true to a lesser degree with Hendrix and the Doors. It's really not true at all with the Stones.

I respectfully beg to disagree that "The mark of a truly great first album is that it's as good or better than anything else the artist would ever go on to do." If that's true, why would anyone ever make more than one? Maybe it needs to feel like everything's been said and done at the time of its release - a perfect statement of everything the band is at that time - but something that they will never ever be able to improve on? Definitely not.

Okay, how about this. A truly great first album is an album that is in and of itself a masterpiece, and with hindsight can also be seen as pointing the way towards even greater things to come. Led Zeppelin I, for example.

That's a great definition, tatters: although there are a surprisinly large number of bands that never did surpass their debut album, or even their debut single! Or maybe it's not such a surprise: like books, many people have one good one in them, but more than one is harder, and more than one that isn't just more of the same is harder still. The mark of a truly great band is that they can and do improve on their first efforts, whether those were masterpieces or not.

As the saying goes, you have 20 years to write your first album, and six months to write the second one. Good subject for a new thread: Bands That Overcame The Sophomore Jinx; And Bands That Fell Victim To It

alot of older debuts on here, lets branch it out a little to the generation born underneath the 60s

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

Genius
Drummer defined a beat for a generation
style defined a generation
Music defined a generation
Mysterious and beautiful lyrics/melodies
one of the most influential debuts in the last 30 years

influenced by Love, Stones, Beatles
great set of influences

Re.:The 100 Greatest Debut Singles Of All Time

First impression looking thru this list, it misses one truly great debut single:

R. Ericson & BleibAlien(spelling as on record!) "Two Headed Dog"/"Starry Eyes" Mars Records "produced" by Doug Sahm;

and it seems Link Wray's "Rumble" is also not on the list, or did I overlook it?
While I'm at it, where's the Stanley Brother's first 78: "Mother No Longer awaits Me At Home"?

One debut album that really impressed me (besides the Stones!) was Big Star's "No.1 Record"