The 5: Best First Albums

THIS WEEK ON THE 5: THE BEST FIRST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME

Some bands busted right out of the gate with the best work of their careers.  Other bands had to become a bit more ‘seasoned’ before the released truly great work.  We’re picking the five best albums that also happened to be a band’s debut album.

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• Led Zeppelin, by Led Zeppelin.   Led Zepplin debuted and became an instant touchstone for every hard rock and metal band that  followed them.  Jimmy Page paid for studio time out of his own pocket and the line is that this album was recorded in less than 40 hours in the studio.  With tracks like  Good Times Bad Times, Communication Breakdown, Dazed and Confused and Black Mountain Slide, it’s hard to find a lot of other bands who put together such greatness on their first try.
• The Doors, by  The Doors.     After the sunny sounds of the Beach Boys , Jan and Dean and the Mamas and the Papas, we finally got  to visit the underbelly of the L.A. scene with the self titled first album by The Doors.  This was the darkest album of the summer of love . From the opening track, Break on Through  all the way to  The End, The Doors forever changed the way America looked at the Sunset Strip.
• Pretenders, by The Pretenders.   The album kicks with off the song Precious and and three minutes and thirty six seconds later Chrissie Hynde was a bonafide Rock Star . Mixing punk, new wave and classic rock, the band sounded far too mature for a first effort. Within three years, half of the Pretenders would be dead and Chrissie Hynde would carry on with a restocked band of the same name.
• Appetite for Destruction, by Guns n’ Roses.   This album has sold over 30 million units world wide and they’re still counting.  Guns and Roses reminded the world of the New York Dolls and the Rolling Stones and forced every hair band in America to wipe the make off their glam metal faces. They managed to be edgy and mainstream at the same time.  The NFL loves Welcome to the Jungle and your mom loves Sweet Child O’ Mine. They peaked with their first album and went into a beautiful  decadent rock star public slide , losing one member at a time until now Guns n’ Roses ended up being Axl Rose plus some guys you don’t know.
• Ten, by Pearl Jam.   Even Flow, Alive , Black and Jeremy  are still FM radio staples today.  If the Pearl Jam plane crashed in 1992 this would still be one of the biggest bands in the world.