Meatpants

The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Nirvana - Nevermind
Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Exodus
U2 - The Joshua Tree
The Velvet Underground - Loaded
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
The Pixies - Doolittle
Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual

Your list?

palebluedot

I consider these albums essential for any collection.

Jazz: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Classical: Vivaldi - Four Seasons (with Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg on Violin)

Opera: Stravinski - The Rake's Progress

Rock: Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood

Blues: Freddie King - Just Pickin

Country: Willie Nelson - Stardust

Pop/R&B: Michael Jackson - Off The Wall

Rap: Digable Planets - Blowout Comb

Latin: Orquesta De La Luz - Sabor De La Luz

Alternative: Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog

BDB

Prince - Purple Rain
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Bjork - Debut
Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA


More to come...

sundog

Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage
Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Fear - The Record
Run DMC - Raising Hell
Rush - Moving Pictures
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Ween - Pure Guava
Captain Beefheart - Trout Mask Replica
Howlin' Wolf - (the rocking chair album)

note: these selections purely subjective

Meatpants

Sorry, any lists including Rush will be immediately invalidated.

JK

Yancey

Here are some more subjective choices:

Beatles -- Revolver
Rolling Stones -- Sticky Fingers
Byrds -- Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Sly & the Family Stone -- Riot Going On
Gang of Four -- Entertainment
Public Enemy -- Fear of a Black Planet
Otis Redding -- Otis Blue
Velvet Underground -- Velvet Underground
Sonic Youth -- Sister
James Brown -- Live at the Apollo

Illinois Enema Bandit

As opposed to that overrated ensemble known as Nirvana?

sundog

man...the haters on these boards...

ok, here's my new, improved, full-of-spite list:
Rush - Rush
Rush - 2112
Rush - All the World's a Stage
Rush - Hemispheres
Rush - Permanent Waves
Rush - Moving Pictures
Rush - Grace Under Pressure
Rush - Hold Your Fire
Rush - Presto
Rush - Counterparts
If you don't own these albums you are nothing but primordial slime.

Fielding Mellish

The Beatles – Abbey Road

Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique

James Brown – The "Startime" boxed set (a cheat, I admit. But hey, you can never have too much J.B.)

Dave Brubeck – The Real Ambassadors

The B-52’s – The B-52’s

The Clash – London Calling

Elvis Costello – Armed Forces

Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (seeing a pattern, here?)

Bob Marley – Exodus

Frank Sinatra – Live From The Sands

Meatpants

pexi

OK. Here's my heavily biased list....

1. Iron Maiden: Number of the Beast
2. Metallica: Ride the Lightning
3. Metallica: Master of Puppets
4. AC/DC: Back in Black
5. Slayer: South of Heaven
6. Black Sabbath: Paranoid
7. Dio: Holy Diver
8. Deep Purple: Machine Head
9. Whitesnake: Slide it In
10. Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime

Pillowhead

Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsies
Pearl Jam - No Code
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Failure - Fantastic Planet
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Tool - Lateralus
Radiohead - OK Computer
Nirvana - Nevermind
The Verve - Urban Hymns
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing

Heavily biased towards the 90's but hey. I Love these albums.

Meatpants

[hijack] No Code, really? PJ is my fave band of all time, but I don't think any one single album of theirs is something everyone of all tastes should own. [/hijack]

Jason

Rush - Moving Pictures (Hey, gotta have a Rush album in there, right Meatpants? )

Beatles - Abbey Road - Much better than Sgt. Pepper

The Who - Who's Next

The Doors - LA Woman

Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich - Krupa and Rich. Cool jazz and two drummers who rock like hell. Even non-jazz fans will stay awake through this one

Queen - A Night at the Opera

Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

Run DMC - Raising Hell

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Rush - Counterparts (Can't have too much of a good thing )

Tscott

Beatles - Abby Road
Beatles - Sgt. Pepper
Simon & Garfunkel - Sounds of Silence
Jimmy Buffet - Songs You Know By Heart
Eagles - Hell Freezes Over
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
U2 - Achung Baby
REM - Automatic for the People
Johnny Cash - Live At San Quentin

Frank TJ Mackey

RADIOHEAD ok computer
RUN-DMC raising hell
TRAVIS the man who
MARILYN MANSON mechanical animals
TOOL aemina
NIRVANA nevermind
U2 all that you can't leave behind
COLDPLAY parachutes
LIVE throwing copper
DR. DRE the chronic

Precious

Meatloaf - Bat out of Hell
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge over trobled water
Led Zepplin - Led Zepplin IV
Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon
Moody Blues - Days of future past
U2 - Joshuah Tree
Paul Simon - Greceland
Bruce Spingsteen - The River
Bob Dylan - Time out of Mind
REM - Automatic for the people

This was a very difficult thing for me to come up with as there are So so many great albums to choose from.

The Antipodean

Hey, I've got everything on your list except the Dylan and Liz Phair (I'd include most of them in my top 10 although I don't think I'd rate Jane's and U2 quite as high - and would probably add some Bowie, Guided By Voices and REM to my list), and we've got the same sig! Were we separated at birth??

Coral

Not necessarily my Top 10, but a list that I didn't see mentioned that everyone should own:

John Coltrane: Blue Trane, Giant Steps
Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out
Bob Dylan: Blonde on Blonde
Roxy Music: Avalon
Willie Nelson: Stardust
Steely Dan: Aja
Donald Fagen: The Nightfly
Sarah McLachlan: Fubling Towards Extacy/Freedom Sessions
Queen: Sheer Heart Attack
Elton John: Greatest Hits Volume 1
Carole King: Tapestry
Van Morrison: Moondance
Dire Straits: Love over Gold

Red Lightning

This one goes to 11...

Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. (One of the greatest albums ever recorded, period)

The Clash: London Calling. (Ask John Cuscak)

The Beatles: Everything recorded after Help. (I can cheat here right? I mean, it's The Beatles for crying out loud)

King Crimson: Red. (Crimson rules, them's the facts)

Mr. Bungle: Disco Volante. (Brilliant, everything Patton and the boys do is gold, true innovators in today's era of nu metal jock rock and stale radio drivel)

Van Halen: Fair Warning. (Say what you will, but them boys rocked hard until Eddie went soft and Dave split)

Frank Zappa: Joe's Garage. (Next to Crimson, Frank is the man)

Slayer: Reign In Blood (real metal, none of that Metallicrap, the perfect crossover of hardcore punk and heavy metal).

Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland. (Not sure why, but it's my favorite of Jimi's)

Beastie Boys: Check Your Head. (It's got a funky beat and I can bug out to it)

Portishead: Dummy. (Great damn disc)

Beetlebum

The Beatles - The White Album
Cream - Disraeli Gears
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced?
The Who - Who's Next
Nirvana - Nevermind
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Led Zeppelin - I
The Doors - the Doors
Queen - Sheer Heart Attack
Oasis - Definitely Maybe

ToriAmos

Here my list of the 10 most important artists ever. Anything from them is a classic.

10. Menudo (1980's)
9. Right Said Fred
8. Tiffany
7. Carmen Electra
6. Debbie Gibson
5. Nsync
4. Backstreet Boys
3. Biz Markie
2. Vanilla Ice
1. New Kids on the Block

If you don't have albums from these artists, I suggest you wait until they release them in multi-channel, high resolution DVD-Audio and SACD formats.

milo bloom

I'm going to go out on a limb and post my personal favorites here, I'm sure the flames and questioning of my ancestry will commence shortly, but I'm brave:

REM: Out of Time
Prince: The Hits 1/2, B-sides
Ben Folds Five: Whatever and Ever Amen
Eric Clapton: Timepieces
Beach Boys: Pet Sounds
The B-52's: The B-52's
Star Wars trilogy soundtrack boxset

Fire away

redhenry

Here is everything you need

The Lexicon Of Love: ABC
Year Of The Cat: Al Stewart
The Wall: Pink Floyd
The Road To Hell: Chris Rea
The Beatles: The Beatles (The White album)
Rumours: Fleetwood Mac
Cowboy: Erasure
The Queen Is Dead: The Smiths
Your Arsenal: Morrissey
The Acoustic Motorbike: Luka Bloom

RaptorsFan

I dont know about the other 5 but for sure:

Michael Jackson - Thriller
Public Enemy - It takes a nation of millions to hold us back.
Guns n Roses - Use your Illusion I + II
LTJ Bukem - Logical Progressions
Jackson 5 - Greatest Hits