The Top 13 Essential Rock Records

It's silly that there are still Metallica purists out there that want to downgrade the black album. The album has gone Platinum sixteen times, and scored the rare "Diamond" award, and all of this from a metal band. Those are facts, Sad But True (sorry I couldn't resist).

Yeah, this album could actually laugh at Metallica's sales figures. It went 22 times platinum.  So why did it land at #2?  Well this is "essential" rock albums and for my money, you could pick up "Dirty Deeds" or "Highway To Hell" and still be doing pretty dang good.

This album completely changed the face of rock in our lifetime. I don't care if you're a Poison fan and hate Nirvana for ruining their careers, there's still no denying the impact this album had and will have in the future. People in my business always say "We need another Nirvana", they never say, "we need another Metallica" or "we need another AC/DC". The reason for that is the change it represented and not necessarily even the popularity.

This was the last album to have a MAJOR impact on rock music. Yes, we've had tons of great rock records, but this was the last time in the last 20 years that something sounded truly new and delivered on a full albums worth of great songs.

Guns N' Roses did almost as much to kill hair bands as Nirvana. Yeah, they we're a little poofy when this first came out, but they started strippin' it down and keeping it real, real fast.  They recently sold 1 million tickets in less than 24 hours and you know the point where people will absolutely lose their minds is when the opening to "Welcome To The Jungle" is played.

Timeless. I think this album could have come out this morning and people would still recognize it's scope and it's greatness.  The album features one of the greatest anthems of all time in the form of "Another Brick In The Wall Pt II".  Now keep in mind, that is in the middle of telling a larger story.  I just don't know if anyone will ever recreate that type of magic.

Eddie and the boys got slapped around (almost as much as Stone Temple Pilots) when they got started. The band was viewed as sounding a little too "classic rock" and not really in tune with the grunge movement. Can you even imagine someone saying that now?  Still, keep in mind that "Alive", "Jeremy" and "Black" are on the same album. That's just insane.

Back in the day d.j.s had a bit more freedom. One of the rules that we were told, which was the lack of a rule, was that any song on any Led Zeppelin album was okay to play at any time. Well the boys are getting a little long in the tooth and some of the stuff is sounding a little dated. Strangely, Zeppelin's 2nd album sounds less dated that the ones that came after it. It's just a great mix of acoustic/electric back and forth.

I still remember hearing this the first time. I was ecstatic. I felt like this album was made for me. Before Dookie, no real punk rock made it on the radio. It's like this album was made for us fans of the Clash and the Sex Pistols who were being neglected. There's not a bad song on this album either.

Man this was tough.  Core, or Purple? It was a virtual dead heat and this is how I mentally settled on Purple-while Core had more songs played on the radio, Purple had bigger songs. Core was also firmly in the grunge scene, while Purple was the sound of the bands true self.

Van Halen took metal and hard rock into places it never had gone before. It doesn't matter what kind of metal you like now, Van Halen influenced it on some level.  Sabbath was a metal warning shot, Van Halen was an atomic bomb.

I had to put Ozzy on the list. He's just too important and essential to rock fans. Blizzard Of Oz featured "Crazy Train", "I Don't Know", "Mr. Crowley" and the very controversial (at the time) Suicide Solution.

There has always been a band that brings a bit of "wacky" into rock and The Offspring did a great job of that.  Smash was a punk rock album but without the signature "nothing but barre chords" formula. It was creative punk that really expanded boundries.

Like Ozzy, The Peps had to be on this list, but where? I made them a bonus selection just because a "Top 13 List" sounds cooler than a "Top 14 List". Now, onto the selection.

Yes, "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" was a more important album, but this list is about essential rock albums and Californication delivered hits like Mike Tyson in his prime. The Chili Peps are vital and essential, it's just hard to narrow their essence  down to one album