An album as relevant in 2021 as it was almost 20 years ago in 1992, Rage Against The Machine’s debut record is one of the finest modern examples of politics in music. The band seamlessly fused rap with metal, in the least cheesy way possible (while that is the definition of Nu-Metal, it is far from it). The freestylings of political activist, Zac de la Rocha combined with the virtuosic guitar of Political Science Harvard graduate, Tom Morello, was the perfect pairing.

Madonna really is a musical chameleon. On this record, she collaborated with English super producer, William Orbit, known for his work in the electronic music world. You’d be wrong to think that he restricted her to electronic pop, though.

The opening chords on this record have got to be amongst the most famous ever played on record. Even the most casual music listener, no matter their age (almost) will be able to identify the song after about 1-2 seconds in. After having written and recorded some of the most recognisable music of the ‘60s (and what would become of all time), Lennon wrote an anthem for the Human Race.

To be absolutely honest, it was exactly what I expected; lots of fiddle, banjo, Dobro, handclaps and twang. The songs are commercial as hell. I don’t mean that in a bad way, just matter of fact. The type of music you’d expect to hear at a truck stop in Middle/Southern America.

This album was so far down the list last time that I hardly even remember it. I mean, I know I listened to it because I got excited when I went to Chicago for the first time in 2016 and saw the famous Marina City Complex in person. It begins with the epic 7-minute-long ‘I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,’ a track that would lend its title to the documentary about the tumultuous recording and release of this record.

The legend going around for years was that an announcer mistakenly announced Eric & The Dynamos as Derek and the Dominos. In reality, Clapton had just finished up with supergroups Cream and Blind Faith, and wanted to be a bit anonymous. At the time, the 25-year-old Clapton was a heavy heroin addict and was infatuated with his best mate, George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. How obsessed, you might ask? Enough to record a 14-track album about her.

“A-wop-bop-a-loo-mop-a-lop-bam-boom!.” Ten simple nonsensical words that changed the face of music forever. “The Innovator, The Originator, and The Architect of Rock and Roll,” a more perfect title couldn’t have been bestowed on Little Richard. Those words taken from Little Richard’s first hit single, ‘Tutti Frutti,’ which was released in 1955.

De La soul’s second record is a concept album of sorts. A teenager named Jeff finds a cassette of De La Soul music in the trash. The tape in itself is a parody of old children’s read-a-long stories. He’s beaten up and mugged by bullies who then proceed to criticize the songs on the record.

In her lifetime, Patsy Cline only released 3 albums spanning 5 years. That’s it. Cline passed away in a plane crash at the aged of 30 years old, yet in her short career she managed to amass a catalogue of songs that would be influential for years to come. Like other Country releases before it in this list, this is a Greatest Hits collection as opposed to a studio album as such.

Having never listened to a Rihanna album in full, I had my preconceptions. I know her singles well; oversaturated radio hits, so I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. As it turns out, on this, her eighth record, Rihanna made a departure from the dance/club music she was known for and explored Pop, Hip Hop, Soul and RnB, as well as Dance Hall. Following her tour at the end of 2013, Rihanna aimed to take a hiatus. That was short lived and within a week she was back in the studio. She hired a house in Malibu and wrote honest music representative of her evolving sound.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ third album was a real breakthrough for the band and quite possibly my favourite record by them. The album kicks off with ‘Refugee;’ a Stan Lynch drum fill, followed by the sound of Benmont Tench’s massive keyboards and Mike Campbell’s familiar guitar riff. Soft verse, huge chorus and angelic harmonies. This is the sound of The Heartbreakers and despite its frontman’s major presence, this band is so much bigger than Tom Petty.

Finally, another Jazz record! They’ve been few and far between so far. ‘Giant Steps’ is one of the most influential Jazz records of all time. Recorded just two weeks after the final recording session for Miles Davis’s ‘Kind Of Blue,’ on which Coltrane featured, this album is dripping in Coltrane’s signature “Sheets Of Sound.”

‘Little Earthquakes’ is the debut album by the incredibly unique, Tori Amos. Two things are immediately evident on this record; her superb voice and her phenomenal piano playing. Amos had initially presented ‘Little Earthquakes’ to Atlantic Records who outright rejected it. Amos felt that it was perhaps because she never presented it properly. She worked on a second version of the album with Eric Rosse, who was her boyfriend at the time. Driven to change the mind of the label, Amos presented an album who’s brilliant songwriting is matched by the solid production. In fact, other than the above two things that I mentioned, the production was something that really stood out for me. This album sounds massive in headphones.

The third record by Metal’s founding fathers starts off with a tape loop of Tony Iommi coughing from a joint he had been smoking with Ozzy. The song that immediately follows is ‘Sweet Leaf,’ the band’s love letter to marijuana. This album is sludgy and heavy. Considered as one of the first Stoner Rock albums, the album was poorly received at the time but has come to be considered one of the greatest Metal albums of all time.

For the casual listener, one who might be looking to dip a toe into metal but not jump in all the way, this would be the gateway album. On their fifth album, Metallica slowed things down a bit from their signature thrash metal sounds offering a record of Heavy Metal more subdued than the sound we had become accustomed to and a sound that was more commercial.

‘Discovery’ was their second album and the one on which they adopted their now iconic robot costumes. It was also the first time they’d used vocoders on their vocals, which would become a part of their signature sound. Their sound on this record was a shift to perhaps a more radio-friendly type sound. Where ‘Homework,’ their debut was a raw electronic album, the songs on ‘Discovery’ more structured.

Willie Nelson’s 18th studio album was his first for Columbia. When signing with the label, his manager managed to negotiate complete creative control for Nelson on his records. Inspired by Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith’s song, ‘Tales Of The Red Headed Stranger,’ Nelson decided to create a record that would describe the events preceding and following the story in that song.

A totally hypnotic piece of music, this album was the forerunner to Electronic Dance Music, Alternative Rock, Synth Pop, New Wave, Pop, Hip Hop and everything in-between. Following World War II, Germany was a broken country. Having been sheltered from pop culture due to the war, and then later Communism, German baby boomers were forced to create their own sound. Post-war, all Germans knew, music-wise, was German Folk Music. Kraftwerk looked to change that.

This was one of the first gangsta rap records. This album is influential for multiple reasons. It’s a bridging record between ’60s & ‘70s funk and ‘90s & 2000s Hip Hop and Pop. Boogie Down Productions, comprising KRS-One, Scott La Rock and D-Nice, sampled artists such as James Brown (previously mentioned, one of the most oft-sampled artists in early Hip Hop), AC/DC, Billy Joel, The Beatles, The Honey Drippers and so many others.

Considered too raw and gritty to release in 1963, the album was shelved for 22 years. RCA was trying to establish Cooke as an international pop star, and the artist portrayed on this record is anything but a polished popstar. It’s a loud, it’s raucous and dripping with sex appeal. But one more thing – the audience was almost exclusively black. RCA was trying to sell him to a white audience and they were scared that white audiences might be scared off by this fact if they heard this record.