Albums that "changed the game"

[PowerSlave]

Inspired by the discussion in the Iron Maiden and Van Halen Roth era threads , I started to think about albums that were "game changers" in their genre. Albums that are generally respected most of the fans of a particular genre, and considered to be the album that either established a particular movement within, or a major shift within their genre. The album doesn't exactly need to be the best by that particular artist, or even the best in that particular genre. It doesn't even really need to be the first album in that particular style by that artist. But it should be highly regarded ect ect

With that being said, here are some of the albums that come to mind when I think about this. In no particular order of importance (except maybe the first entry).

1. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

The World's introduction to Heavy Metal. In mainstream rock circles, flower power was still all the rage when this album was given birth. If you put this album in context of when it was released, it might be the most brutal and heavy album ever produced. Almost 50 years later, this album's influence on the genre is still very clear and apparent.

2. Judas Priest - Stained Class

The band was already well on its way by the time that they made this album, but this is the one that cemented them as one of the greatest of all time. Saints in Hell and Beyond the Realms of Death are heavy metal staples.

3. Rainbow - Rising

Building on his ground breaking efforts in Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore took things a step further with Rainbow. This is the band's second album, but songs like Tarot Woman and Stargazer helped establish a sound that would be copied by neo-classical metal bands to come in the next decade and beyond.

4. Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell

Not only is this the band's second mention on my list, it's Ronnie James Dio's second mention as well. The band reinvented themselves with this record and heavily influenced everything that would come after it in the genre.

5. Fates Warning - Awaken the Guardian

Probably the least known album and band on this list, I think it's safe to say that this website might not exist without them. This band and album were a huge influence on every ProgMetal band to follow it. My personal favorites from this record is Guardian and Prelude to Ruin.

6. Yes - The Yes Album

The band's third record seen them find their footing and establish the direction that they would take in the decade to follow it. I'm a huge fan of every track except Adventure, but it's still a strong track that's surrounded by brilliance.

7. Genesis - Nursery Cryme

The band's third album, and first with their classic line-up. The Musical Box still has the power to move me a quarter of a century after I first discovered it.

8. Dream Theater - Images and Words

This being a DT fan site, everything that can or will be said has already been said about this album.

9. Queensryche - Rage for Order

The band's third studio effort, and second full length album. The band at this point would completely alter their sound for each effort, so in a way it's difficult to say that it was a game changer in that regard. However, this is the one that forced everyone else to thing outside the box. Combining synth-pop and heavy metal was probably on nobody else's radar before this album hit.

10. Metallica - Master of Puppets

Thrash in its most perfect form. There were arguably better album to come (Rust in Peace), but this is the blueprint without question.

11. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

This album took the "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" movement in the early 80's to new heights, and established a blueprint for the rest of the decade. To call this album hugely influential would be a gross understatement.

12. Van Halen - Van Halen

Guitar playing would never be the same. To say that about an album that is entrenched in a genre that is "guitars first" is a huge statement.

13. Journey - Infinity

I'm usually a bigger fan of their earlier work, but the influence on Power Pop that this album has can't be over-stated. Songs such as Lights and Wheel in the Sky have been staples on rock/classic rock stations since this album came out. Winds of March might be one of the most powerful and emotional ballads ever recorded.

I'm sure that some other albums might come to mind later, but in my opinion these albums are major pieces of works that deserve all of the praise that they can get. I'd also like to give bands like UFO(Lights Out), Dio(Holy Diver), Deep Purple(Machine Head) and Led Zeppelin(ZOSO) an honorable mention.

Thoughts?

[bl5150]

Good list.   I'm having a bit of a mental blank on making additions ..............the one that I do feel was a game changer for instrumental guitar rock when I was a teenager was Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien.    It was the first time in Australia at least that an album like that had charted and hit MTV.


Additions as I think of them..........


perhaps Def Leppard- Hysteria for the overwhelming studio craft involved (like it or not) courtesy of Mr Lange.


Winger needs to appear at some stage folks

[Kwyjibo]

Pretty good list and yeah, Satch's Surfing With The Alien would be a good addition.

Other than that I could name a few game changers for certain bands, for whole genres it's alot more difficult.

maybe

Slayer - Reign In Blood

Pantera - Cowboys From Hell

[PowerSlave]

Good list.   I'm having a bit of a mental blank on making additions ..............the one that I do feel was a game changer for instrumental guitar rock when I was a teenager was Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien.    It was the first time in Australia at least that an album like that had charted and hit MTV.


Additions as I think of them..........


perhaps Def Leppard- Hysteria for the overwhelming studio craft involved (like it or not) courtesy of Mr Lange.

Both of those are great additions. On a side note, I seen Joe live on tour supporting Flying in a Blue Dream. I was really into guitar centric instrumental music at the time, and had a great time at the show.

Another band that comes to mind:

Rush - 2112

This is another huge album in the history of Prog Rock/Metal. This is the album that saved the band from being some obscure side-note. Without that happening, who knows what music would be like today.

[bl5150]

. On a side note, I seen Joe live on tour supporting Flying in a Blue Dream.

As did I ........I literally wore that shirt until it fell off me (had the fluoro green guitar on the back)

[Kwyjibo]

Me too, one of my favorite concerts and one of my favorite tour shirts, but mine wasn't green on the back, I think it was the painted guitar from the album cover, if I remember correctly. Sadly that shirt is gone for a long time now.

[bl5150]

Me too, one of my favorite concerts and one of my favorite tour shirts, but mine wasn't green on the back, I think it was the painted guitar from the album cover, if I remember correctly. Sadly that shirt is gone for a long time now.

I think we're talking about the same shirt - album cover on front and this on back




Green was the colour etched into my memory but that's only in part.  I may still have mine I think but it's not wearable.

[Kwyjibo]

I'm not sure but I think that mine had the tour dates on the back under the guitar. The front was definitely the album cover.

[bundy]

Pretty good list Powerslave. Don't really disagree with any of those. A few I would add.

King Crimon - ItCoCK
David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Pink Floyd - DSotM
Moody Blues - Days of Future Passed
Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico
Ramones - Ramones
Motorhead - Ace of Spades
Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

[bl5150]

Yngwie should've been an obvious one for me - huge album for neoclassical shred and one of my earliest purchases. 

[Elite]

Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force

You can't really name Van Halen's s/t as a 'guitar playing would never be the same' and not mention this one as well. Nice addition.

[Dream Team]

Sgt Pepper

[Architeuthis]

Rush - Moving Pictures
 This album blended prog rock with radio friendly rock and launched Rush into arena status. Permanent Waves was kind of the same type of thing but didn't explode like MP.

[twosuitsluke]

Suffer - Bad Religion

This album changed the face of punk rock at the time and ushered in the wave of American skate punk in the early 90's 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Nirvana - Nevermind

[King Postwhore]

Frampton Comes Alive.  Though live albums were the norm in the 70's this set record on sales and was so hard to top.

[Stadler]

I don't know if it's where you live or what, but I would put British Steel instead of Stained Class (even though I consider SC one of Priest's top three records).

I would add Deep Purple In Rock.

I would add Blizzard of Ozz.

I would add Back In Black.

[bl5150]

A couple of others that come to mind .


Venom - Welcome To Hell .............not a style that interests me , but considered very influential


Savatage - Gutter Ballet ...........one of my faves.   The influence that these guys had on the development of symphonic/theatrical elements in metal is under appreciated.

[Art]

Helloween - Keepers I and II.

Faith No More - The Real Thing.

[bosk1]

9. Queensryche - Rage for Order

The band's third studio effort, and second full length album. The band at this point would completely alter their sound for each effort, so in a way it's difficult to say that it was a game changer in that regard. However, this is the one that forced everyone else to thing outside the box. Combining synth-pop and heavy metal was probably on nobody else's radar before this album hit.

I would actually list Mindcrime and Empire as Queensryche's co-"game changers."  And not just because those are their two biggest, most successful albums.  In the rearview mirror, we can say Rage was influential and a game-changer now.  But, IMO, that is only because people went back and discovered that album because of Mindcrime and Empire.  Unless I just missed it and was unaware, by and large, the album really wasn't noticed by many at the time it came out.

Mindcrime is influential and "changed the game" at the time it came out for obvious reasons.  Nobody in metal had done anything like it, both in terms of being such a groundbreaking, detailed, and meticulously-penned concept album, and in terms of the things that it did musically.  This album definitely changed the game. 

I list Empire s a "co-game changer" for a couple of reasons.  Independently, it was groundbreaking because it took more complex, intricate, moody, almost-prog metal and made it accessible to the masses.  This hadn't been done before, and, IMO wouldn't really be done on a huge scale until DT really defined prog metal as a genre with Images & Words.  But secondly, I link it inextricably with Mindcrime because Empire brought Mindcrime to the masses.  The band ingeniously used the success of Empire to make Mindcrime the co-focus of the Building Empires tour and was able to fully showcase Mindcrime as I am sure they wish they could have done on the Mindcrime tour, and THAT was truly genre-defining. 

So, there you have it.  I think Queensryche gets two "game changer" albums.

[Samsara]

9. Queensryche - Rage for Order

The band's third studio effort, and second full length album. The band at this point would completely alter their sound for each effort, so in a way it's difficult to say that it was a game changer in that regard. However, this is the one that forced everyone else to thing outside the box. Combining synth-pop and heavy metal was probably on nobody else's radar before this album hit.

I would actually list Mindcrime and Empire as Queensryche's co-"game changers."  And not just because those are their two biggest, most successful albums.  In the rearview mirror, we can say Rage was influential and a game-changer now.  But, IMO, that is only because people went back and discovered that album because of Mindcrime and Empire.  Unless I just missed it and was unaware, by and large, the album really wasn't noticed by many at the time it came out.

Mindcrime is influential and "changed the game" at the time it came out for obvious reasons.  Nobody in metal had done anything like it, both in terms of being such a groundbreaking, detailed, and meticulously-penned concept album, and in terms of the things that it did musically.  This album definitely changed the game. 

I list Empire s a "co-game changer" for a couple of reasons.  Independently, it was groundbreaking because it took more complex, intricate, moody, almost-prog metal and made it accessible to the masses.  This hadn't been done before, and, IMO wouldn't really be done on a huge scale until DT really defined prog metal as a genre with Images & Words.  But secondly, I link it inextricably with Mindcrime because Empire brought Mindcrime to the masses.  The band ingeniously used the success of Empire to make Mindcrime the co-focus of the Building Empires tour and was able to fully showcase Mindcrime as I am sure they wish they could have done on the Mindcrime tour, and THAT was truly genre-defining. 

So, there you have it.  I think Queensryche gets two "game changer" albums.

Hmm. I see both points of view. My musician friends all swear up and down how influential Rage for Order was. There was nothing like it, and it inspired a lot of goth musicians, as well as progressive bands. So I'd have to agree with the Rage for Order naming for sure.

That said, bosk1 also makes some good points. While there were certainly awesome concept albums before Operation: Mindcrime, it was (at the time) the first heavy metal (as the term was accepted back then) concept record, and the first to really gain a lot of notoriety in the rock scene overall in quite some time. It sort of bridged that gap between all the 1970s conceptual works, and made one for modern heavy metal. So I think it was a game-changer as well.

As for Empire, I can't argue with bosk1's points, but I don't think mainstreaming that kind of metal sound was a game changer. Lots of bands mainstreamed their sound and still kept their integrity. And that is what Empire was, mostly. It took Queensryche's more heady music and lyrics, got a warmer tone, and made it a bit more accessible while still giving fans enough musicality to set itself apart (mostly) from the pop metal of the era. Songs like Jet City Woman and Another Rainy Night, and Hand on Heart, are all pop, but had JUST enough musicality to straddle the line and pass muster with most fans of their earlier work (it helped that tunes such as Empire and Anybody Listening were on there, which to me are two of the band's best songs).

But a game-changer? Hmm. Not sure I'd agree.

Rage and Mindcrime though? Certainly.

[Stadler]

9. Queensryche - Rage for Order

The band's third studio effort, and second full length album. The band at this point would completely alter their sound for each effort, so in a way it's difficult to say that it was a game changer in that regard. However, this is the one that forced everyone else to thing outside the box. Combining synth-pop and heavy metal was probably on nobody else's radar before this album hit.

I would actually list Mindcrime and Empire as Queensryche's co-"game changers."  And not just because those are their two biggest, most successful albums.  In the rearview mirror, we can say Rage was influential and a game-changer now.  But, IMO, that is only because people went back and discovered that album because of Mindcrime and Empire.  Unless I just missed it and was unaware, by and large, the album really wasn't noticed by many at the time it came out.

Mindcrime is influential and "changed the game" at the time it came out for obvious reasons.  Nobody in metal had done anything like it, both in terms of being such a groundbreaking, detailed, and meticulously-penned concept album, and in terms of the things that it did musically.  This album definitely changed the game. 

I list Empire s a "co-game changer" for a couple of reasons.  Independently, it was groundbreaking because it took more complex, intricate, moody, almost-prog metal and made it accessible to the masses.  This hadn't been done before, and, IMO wouldn't really be done on a huge scale until DT really defined prog metal as a genre with Images & Words.  But secondly, I link it inextricably with Mindcrime because Empire brought Mindcrime to the masses.  The band ingeniously used the success of Empire to make Mindcrime the co-focus of the Building Empires tour and was able to fully showcase Mindcrime as I am sure they wish they could have done on the Mindcrime tour, and THAT was truly genre-defining. 

So, there you have it.  I think Queensryche gets two "game changer" albums.

Hmm. I see both points of view. My musician friends all swear up and down how influential Rage for Order was. There was nothing like it, and it inspired a lot of goth musicians, as well as progressive bands. So I'd have to agree with the Rage for Order naming for sure.

That said, bosk1 also makes some good points. While there were certainly awesome concept albums before Operation: Mindcrime, it was (at the time) the first heavy metal (as the term was accepted back then) concept record, and the first to really gain a lot of notoriety in the rock scene overall in quite some time. It sort of bridged that gap between all the 1970s conceptual works, and made one for modern heavy metal. So I think it was a game-changer as well.

As for Empire, I can't argue with bosk1's points, but I don't think mainstreaming that kind of metal sound was a game changer. Lots of bands mainstreamed their sound and still kept their integrity. And that is what Empire was, mostly. It took Queensryche's more heady music and lyrics, got a warmer tone, and made it a bit more accessible while still giving fans enough musicality to set itself apart (mostly) from the pop metal of the era. Songs like Jet City Woman and Another Rainy Night, and Hand on Heart, are all pop, but had JUST enough musicality to straddle the line and pass muster with most fans of their earlier work (it helped that tunes such as Empire and Anybody Listening were on there, which to me are two of the band's best songs).

But a game-changer? Hmm. Not sure I'd agree.

Rage and Mindcrime though? Certainly.

I say this respectfully - as someone who saw the 'ryche as an opening act for Kiss in '84-ish, (The Warning tour), but if Rage is, then wouldn't Empire CERTAINLY be?   When they did "Silent Lucidity" with the orchestra, wasn't that one of the first resurgences of that gimmick (I think Aerosmith was actually before that, but they're different types of bands)?  It was more of a cross over, and was an album that sort of cemented their "prog" roots without being a clone of the album that came before it.  What actually was "game changing" about Rage (as great an album as it is)?   

(As an aside, I think that record is one of the best SOUNDING albums I've ever heard).   

[MirrorMask]

Helloween - Keepers I and II.

The invention of power metal and of a style of drumming.

[Art]

Helloween - Keepers I and II.

The invention of power metal and of a style of drumming.

And a singer that is still the reference to thousands of power metal singers.

[Samsara]

I say this respectfully - as someone who saw the 'ryche as an opening act for Kiss in '84-ish, (The Warning tour), but if Rage is, then wouldn't Empire CERTAINLY be?   When they did "Silent Lucidity" with the orchestra, wasn't that one of the first resurgences of that gimmick (I think Aerosmith was actually before that, but they're different types of bands)?  It was more of a cross over, and was an album that sort of cemented their "prog" roots without being a clone of the album that came before it.  What actually was "game changing" about Rage (as great an album as it is)?   

(As an aside, I think that record is one of the best SOUNDING albums I've ever heard).   

Empire absolutely is one of the best sounding records I've ever heard -- I heard it was one of those records a lot of people used as a benchmark.

In regard to your comment, the reason why I personally wouldn't consider Empire a game-changer is because most of what the album was, was a dumbing down and warming up of their songs. And I say that with the highest respect, as bad as it reads. LOL. It was done to cross to the mainstream, and it worked, and still maintained their integrity. It was a brilliant move (note how Fates Warning did it right after that, as did many bands). In that regard, it could be a "game-changer," but I guess for me personally, I wouldn't view it as such. But I absolutely see the argument.

As for Lucidity -- they had used orchestration for years. Suite Sister Mary, Roads to Madness, etc. Nothing new there, honestly. It was just that the song was so simple, that the orchestra really lifted it.

About Rage -- as I explained above, its influence to musicians made it a game-changer. From prog to goth, so many musicians I know have noted that record as being way influential to those sub genres of rock. I tend to agree now, as my exposure to a lot of that music has increased over the years.

p.s. completely disagree about Kiske and Keepers I&II. I love both records, love him as a singer. But to me, neither he, nor those records were game changers. Kiske was almost a Tate close back then. I think Tate really was one that a lot of those guys followed (Alder after Kiske, for example). Keepers I and II are two of my favorite records, but nothing about them to me are game-changing. Standard power/proggy metal in the style that was popular at the time (twin guitars, operatic vocals) in the scene set by various bands.

Please don't get me wrong -- I LOVE Kiske's voice, and I love Helloween, in particular, those two records. To me, they are up there in my favorite albums. But I just personally don't view them as game-changing.

[SoundscapeMN]

Sgt Pepper

add Pet Sounds.

Also as much as I cannot stand the band (Yorke's voice mostly), Radiohead's OK Computer kind of did bring progressive/psych rock to the College Rock scene and has led to so many bands who did more of that.

[Art]

p.s. completely disagree about Kiske and Keepers I&II. I love both records, love him as a singer. But to me, neither he, nor those records were game changers. Kiske was almost a Tate close back then. I think Tate really was one that a lot of those guys followed (Alder after Kiske, for example). Keepers I and II are two of my favorite records, but nothing about them to me are game-changing. Standard power/proggy metal in the style that was popular at the time (twin guitars, operatic vocals) in the scene set by various bands.

Please don't get me wrong -- I LOVE Kiske's voice, and I love Helloween, in particular, those two records. To me, they are up there in my favorite albums. But I just personally don't view them as game-changing.

I respect your opinion and maybe i am completely wrong about this. But to me, Helloween build upon their previous "more-raw" sound of the Walls record (that speed-metal, almost thrashy approach), refining the sound. Still, they were more "metal" than Queensryche (IMHO).

The Keepers albums are responsible for a whole generation (or two, maybe) of bands. While it can be argued that maybe this was not a positive thing ( ), it's still truth, IMHO.

But then again, i got into them around 1994, so maybe my impression is wrong.

[King Postwhore]

Sgt Pepper

add Pet Sounds.

Pet Sounds pushed the Beatles to expand their musical horizons.  Great pick.

[Samsara]

I respect your opinion and maybe i am completely wrong about this. But to me, Helloween build upon their previous "more-raw" sound of the Walls record (that speed-metal, almost thrashy approach), refining the sound. Still, they were more "metal" than Queensryche (IMHO).

The Keepers albums are responsible for a whole generation (or two, maybe) of bands. While it can be argued that maybe this was not a positive thing ( ), it's still truth, IMHO.

But then again, i got into them around 1994, so maybe my impression is wrong.

You're not wrong at all (none of us really are, it's just our own thoughts). The way I took the topic, was that it was supposed to be albums that "changed the game," or as I read it, "made an impact on the music that significantly changed or influenced the music coming from other bands after it." While Keepers I and II certainly helped refine what Helloween itself was doing, the albums, at least to me, weren't responsible for a similar sound that came after. Helloween built on what was styled before them, and were revered for those two records, but nothing they did at that time (I became a fan listening to Keeper I when it came out) was much different than what I had heard before.

Funny story, so you can understand my perspective. Back in early 1988, winter time, I had been into Queensryche for about six months. My friends called me and told me to come over, as they got the new Queensryche album (this was before Mindcrime was released). Being a crazed new fan, I ran over, and they popped the cassette into my walkman (it was a copy). I listened for a bit, took it out, and said "that was good, but while it sounds like Queensryche, that's not them, is it." They then told me it was Helloween, and to keep listening.

It was a great record. But it sounded vocally, and to a degree, musically, very much like what another band already established would have done. What clued me in was the humor, and the fact that Kiske's voice, at times, went into a spot that enabled me to distinguish it.

So while no doubt some of my favorite records, I just didn't personally think Keeper I and II really were "game changers" as much as they were dynamite albums.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I gotta, at the very least, agree with VH1.  That album took everything every guitar player knew, turned it upside down, grabbed you by the fucking collar, and said "PAY ATTENTION TO ME".  It changed the guitar playing world permanently.

[bosk1]

I gotta, at the very least, agree with VH1.  That album took everything every guitar player knew, turned it upside down, grabbed you by the fucking collar, and said "PAY ATTENTION TO ME".  It changed the guitar playing world permanently.

I know I've told the story about the gig where Van Halen, at the time not yet signed to a label, was opening for Y&T, and Joey Alves brought Eddie back into the Y&T dressing room, and the guys pretty much described Eddie's playing along the lines of how you just described that album.  And to me, the fact that a player like Meniketti felt that way about Eddie's playing speaks volumes.  Yeah, Eddie's playing on that album should absolutely be considered a game changer for music.*

*I was going to say "game changer for guitar-driven rock," but then realized even before I typed it that Eddie's influence extended far past rock music, which even further makes the point about being a "game changer," IMO.

[Lowdz]

KISS -Alive. Too many musicians name if as the inspiration for it jot to be here.

Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet

Europe- The Final Countdown

Both these albums brought the metal bands into the top end of the charts.

Agree with VH and Yngwie changing guitar playing Satriani made instrumental playing popular. Not sure anyone had changed guitar playing in e same way since.

[jjrock88]

Van Halen 1 is the first album that comes to mind.

I'm not a huge fan of Too Fast for Love by Motley Crue, but that one could be considered kick starting the whole hair metal movement.

[Lowdz]

Van Halen 1 is the first album that comes to mind.

I'm not a huge fan of Too Fast for Love by Motley Crue, but that one could be considered kick starting the whole hair metal movement.

Appetite For Destruction also spawned a million wannabes

[jjrock88]

Yes, Appetite for Destruction needs to be mentioned for sure.