What discs should be in everyone's collection?

I can think of two -

Beatles Blue and Red Albums (ok, that's 4)

Carole King - Tapestry



Just trying to start a discussion!

gnr "appitite for distruction"
led zeppelin 4 aka zoso
the beatles sgt peppers
the who who's next

Aren't those "best of..." albums?

My vote: Pink Floyd's The Wall

Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Journey - Greatest Hits
Cat Stevens - The Very Best Of Cat Stevens

I could go driving cross country with those 3 CD's alone.

Neil Young - On the Beach
Shuggie Otis - Inspiration Information
Seam - The Problem With Me

Actually, there aren't any that belong in every collection - people have different tastes.

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

Radiohead - The Bends
Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
Digable Planets - Reaching

Paul Simon - Graceland
Van Morrison - Moondance & Astral Weeks
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

The following have that timeless quality:

What's a "disc?"

AC/DC: "Powerage"
AC/DC: "Back In Black"
AC/DC: "Highway To Hell"
KISS: "Alive"
Metallica: "Ride The Lightning"

Jim Croce: "Photographs and Memories"
Joni Mitchell: "Blue"
Joni Mitchell: "Court and Spark"
Steely Dan: "Aja"
The Beatles: "Rubber Soul"
The Kinks: Arthur

all classical and jazz...

Anything by Floyd
Anything by Radiohead (minus Pablo Honey)
Anything by Led Zep
The Stranger by Billy Joel

As far as discs which haven't been mentioned already (INPO)...

1.) Joni Mitchell- For The Roses
2.) Radiohead- O.K. Computer
3.) U2- The Joshua Tree
4.) Beach Boys- Pet Sounds
5.) Rolling Stones- Let It Bleed
6.) Fleetwood Mac- Rumours (if you delete the insufferable "Songbird")
7.) Bruce Springsteen- Born to Run
8.) Johnny Cash- Live at Folsom Prison
9.) Bob Dylan- Blood on the Tracks

I would also add to that:

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
Tom Waits - Blue Valentine
Grateful Dead - Reckoning (if i had to just pick a single one of theirs)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - The Final Studio Recordings

That's if i leave out all jazz. If i had to name jazz i would add.

Dexter Gordon - The Squirrel
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (even though i listen to Meditations and My Favorite Things more)
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
Ella Fitzgerald - Mack the Knife (i think that is what the album is called - it is a live concert that is awesome).

The Clash - London Calling

Stones - Let it Bleed

Janis Joplin - Pearl

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Fleetwood Mac - Rumors

All classics and have and will continue to stand the test of time!

This thread reminds me of the worst lyric in music history: "Only time will tell if we stand the test of time." - Van Halen, ""Why Can't This Be Love?"

Beatles: anything, especially SGT. PEPPER, THE WHITE ALBUM and ABBEY ROAD
U2: anything, especially WAR, THE JOSHUA TREE, ACHTUNG BABY and HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB
Prince: anything from the '80s and early '90s, especially PURPLE RAIN, SIGN 'O' THE TIMES and my dark horse pick, GRAFFITI BRIDGE
Radiohead: OK COMPUTER
Coldplay: A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD
Nine Inch Nails: THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL
Nirvana: NEVERMIND
Pearl Jam: TEN and VITALOGY
Public Enemy: APOCALYPSE '91...THE ENEMY STRIKES BLACK
John Williams: virtually anything, especially STAR WARS, EPISODE V: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Original Motion Picture Sountrack

Yeah i always cringe when i hear that line.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon
REM: Green (in my opinion)
Josh Joplin: Boxing Nostalgic
Adam Payne Band: Sorry, Please Try Again (if you've heard it, you'll understand why...)

I actually think people from the future will look back at Prince as a WTF were they thinking artist. I know I already do.

I daresay you greatly underestimate his talent--the man plays over 20 instruments, and many of his albums are cronstructed from the ground up by him and him alone in a studio. He has an eccentric personality, to be sure, but his talent is nothing short of genius. His only major flaw is voluminous output + being his own boss = no one to say "Prince, you're great, but this one track is just self-masturbatory crap", ergo the inconsistency of his oeuvre.