Springsteen’s first two releases were commercial failures. Around this time, Rolling Stone journalist, Jon Landau saw Springsteen perform at Harvard Square Theatre, noting in the The Real Paper, “I saw rock and roll future, and its name is Bruce Springsteen. And on a night when I needed to feel young, he made me feel like I was hearing music for the very first time.” As a last-ditch effort to make Springsteen a commercially successful artist, Columbia gave him a massive budget to record the third album. These sessions would almost break Springsteen mentally, who struggled to convey the sounds he had in his head to the musicians in the studio.

‘Ready To Die’ is the debut record of The Notorious B.I.G., and the only one to be released within his lifetime. Biggie Smalls was signed by Sean “Puffy” Combs to Uptown Records after the latter heard his demo tape. Biggie would subsequently start recording the album in 1993 but when Combs was fired from the label, Biggie’s future was left in the balance. Combs would ultimately start Bad Boy Records, to which Biggie would be signed, but in the interim he made ends meet by selling drugs. By the time the recording was finish, Biggie was 22-years-old.

The original art rock record, ‘The Velvet Underground and Nico’ burst onto the scene to no acclaim. Funded by Andy Warhol, the album was experimental and controversial… and one of the most influential of all time. The record only sold 30,000 copies within its first 5 years but “everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!,” said Brian Eno in 1982. Amongst those 30,000 was a young musician named David Jones, later to be known as David Bowie.

All bets are off. The biggest drop of the list, not to be surpassed. The two-time #1 record on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time has been reduced to #24. I literally gasped when I saw this one. I suspected it might not retain the #1 spot the way things had been going, but did not expect this. Following their permanent retirement from touring and live performance, The Beatles focussed their energy on recording. Paul McCartney conceived of a record by a fictional Edwardian-era military band. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band was an outlet for the band to experiment with sounds that weren’t necessarily what The Beatles were known for.

Even if you’ve never heard of Carole King, you’ve *heard* Carole King. King started her career with her songwriting partner and husband, Gerry Goffin at the famous Brill Building in New York. The pair would write songs like ‘Chains,’ which landed up on The Beatles debut record, ‘The Loco-Motion,’ a #1 hit for Little Eva, and later the breakthrough single for Kylie Minogue, and a little ditty called ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ by Aretha Franklin.

Emerging from a two-month residency at the famed CBGB in New York, Patti Smith and her band caught the attention of Arista Records founder, Clive Davis (who would later sign Whitney Houston). Davis promptly signed Smith to the label and hired John Cale of The Velvet Underground to produce the record. Smith would later claim that ‘Horses’ was a conscious effort “to make a record that would make a certain type of person not feel alone. People who were like me, different ... I wasn't targeting the whole world. I wasn't trying to make a hit record.”

We’ve seen multiple entries from the various solo members of Wu-Tang Clan, we now have the group’s debut, making a major leap into the Top 30 from the bottom 300s. Drawing its title from the martial arts films, ‘Enter The Dragon’ and ‘The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin,’ this record served as the blueprint for much of the hardcore Hip Hop that would follow throughout the ‘90s. Artists like Nas, Jay-Z, The Notorious B.I.G. and Mobb Deep would look to this release as inspiration for their own work.

D’Angelo’s sophomore album came 5 years after ‘Brown Sugar’ (#183). Recorded at Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York, this album previously came up when I reviewed Erykah Badu’s ‘Mama’s Gun’ (#158), as the two were recorded almost back-to-back sharing a lot of the same musicians, a collective known as the Soulquarians. Along with that record, it’s a landmark album in Neo-Soul. It’s more loose than its predecessor, funkier with more groove, care of the one and only Questlove.

AKA ‘The White Album,’ the Top 10 is crumbling in on itself. The Beatles’ ninth record was largely written at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India. The course was led by the controversial Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was a way for the band to “get away from everything,” in Lennon’s own words. Following their album, ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ a landmark in production, ‘The White Album’ is a back to basics type record for the world’s biggest band, stripping back their huge production for this one. It was an incredibly prolific time for the band, but also a time of massive friction.

Hendrix’s debut release is the record that changed the way the world would think about the guitar forever. The year before its release, Hendrix was struggling to earn a living as a backing guitarist in R&B. He was introduced to The Animals ex-bassist, Chas Chandler, by Keith Richards’s girlfriend, Linda Keith, who brought him to London and would recruit Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell to play with him. The trio was rejected by Decca Records, the same label that had rejected The Beatles, but were signed to Track, a new label started by managers of The Who.

This is one of my all-time favourite records. This is album that I always recommend to people looking to dip their toe into Jazz. It’s widely regarded as the highest-selling Jazz release of all-time, and for good reason, it’s just so good. It’s intelligent, it’s easy to listen to and it’s timeless. At the same time, the music transports you to a smoky New York bar at the end of the ‘50s.

‘Lemonade’ is the sixth and most recent record by Beyoncé. It was Beyoncé’s response to the infidelities of her husband, Jay-Z, and she holds nothing back. Opening with ‘Pray You Catch Me’ and the lyrics “You can taste the dishonesty/It's all over your breath/As you pass it off so cavalier.” The first single to be released from the record was ‘Formation,’ a surprise release the day before its performance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show, which preceded the ‘Formation World Tour.’ The song is a female empowerment anthem specifically about black identity, heritage and culture.

This album documents an incredibly tumultuous time in the life of ill-fated singer, Amy Winehouse. The 10 years following her death (indeed, July is 10 years, believe it or not), the extent of her influence has become incredibly apparent. For a start, Amy Winehouse would have a major influence on and open doors for Adele.

Directly following on from his previous two releases, Stevie Wonder is the only artist to have albums chronologically featured (previously ‘Music Of My Mind’ at #350 and ‘Talking Book’ at #59), which goes to show that he was literally getting better with each release. ‘Innervisions,’ his 16th release, was very nearly his last.

The highest album to fall yet! The prospective Top 10 is shaping up to be very interesting. This album was mostly composed following the band’s return from their US tour. On that tour, they broke the attendance record for a concert when they played to over 55,000 people at Shea Stadium, they met Bob Dylan (who gave them their first taste of marijuana) and they would also meet one of their biggest influences, Elvis. The songs were influenced by the sounds they heard during their month-long stay in the US, drawing on the Soul music that they heard on the radio.

The fifth solo record by Michael Jackson, is often considered his real solo debut. It was his first solo record released through Epic Records, having already released three records through Epic with The Jacksons since their departure from Motown, it was his first solo record on which he contributed to the songwriting and production, and it was his first solo record to be released as an adult (the album came out three weeks before his 21st birthday). Also, it was the first of three records to be produced by Quincy Jones.

Following his acrimonious split from N.W.A. and its label, Ruthless Records, Dr. Dre released his debut album, ‘The Chronic.’ And with it, he pioneered a new subgenre within Gangsta Rap, G-Funk. Essentially it’s a sound that heavily samples George Clinton’s Parliament-Funkadelic; slow hypnotic grooves, heavy bass, melodic synths and female backing vox. It’s a sound that would come to dominate early to mid-‘90s Hip Hop.

And the first drop out of the Top 10. This incarnation of the list is a rollercoaster of emotions. Following Dylan’s infamous controversial gig at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival (the one where he controversially played electric guitar), Dylan was in the market for a new band. On the recommendation of John Hammond Jr, the son of Columbia Records executive who had signed him (and later Springsteen), Dylan hired Levon and The Hawks, a group of musicians soon to be known simply as The Band. ‘Blonde On Blonde’ was the third in a trilogy of Rock albums that Dylan had release, the first two being ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ (#181) and ‘Highway 61 Revisited’.

Quite a jump for Talking Heads’ fourth record and widely considered magnum opus, ‘Remain In Light.’ This was their final release to produced by Brian Eno and this album is as much his as it is the band’s. It just reeks of Eno! Following the tour supporting ‘Fear Of Music,’ the band took a bit of time off to regroup. Married couple and rhythm section of the band, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth had grown disillusioned with just being David Byrne’s backing band. Eno, too, was over working with the band. Eno’s mind changed when he heard the instrumental jams the band had demoed following their short break.

David Bowie’s magnum opus, his fifth studio album is also his fifth entry into the list. It’s a rock opera about the titular Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous, bisexual rock star who is sent to Earth as a saviour. Kinda sounds like Bowie himself, doesn’t it? Unlike its piano-driven predecessor, ‘Hunky Dory’ (#88), this record is very much guitar-driven.