Ten or Twenty Favourite Albums From Before 2000

[Fluffy Lothario]

Nothing released after Dec 31 1999.

I can imagine with a lot of people, that will result in quite a different list.

[DebraKadabra]

Wow, you're making this one tough - but I'll give it a go.

In no particular order...

Alice in Chains - Dirt
Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Pink Floyd - Animals
ELO - Face The Music
Styx - Pieces of Eight
NIN - The Fragile
Opeth - Still Life
DT - Images and Words
Yes - Close To The Edge
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Santana - Abraxes
Chicago - The Chicago Transit Authority
Frank Zappa - Roxy And Elsewhere, Tinseltown Rebellion, Overnite Sensation, Absolutely Free, Sheik Yerbouti, Zoot Allures

ETA:
Jethro Tull - Minstrel in the Gallery
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Texas Flood, Couldn't Stand The Weather
Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced?
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon!
Squirrel Nut Zippers - Perennial Favorites
Rush - Permanent Waves
King Crimson - Discipline
Iron Maiden - Powerslave

[black_biff_stadler]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Dream Theater - When Dream and Day Unite
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Opeth - Orchid
Rush - Hemispheres
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Death - Symbolic
Death - Human
Death - Individual Thought Patterns
Spiral Architect - A Sceptic's Universe
Cynic - Focus
Nirvana - Nevermind
Pearl Jam - Ten
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters
Days of the New - Days of the New

Ey Fluffy, if you prefer it ranked let us know since I've got mine in no specific order.

[DebraKadabra]

Um... not to split hairs or anything, but Wiki and opeth.com have BWP release year listed as 2001.

[black_biff_stadler]

Correct.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Mine would be something like this.

1 Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
2 Keith Jarrett – The Köln Concert
3 Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home
4 Shakti – Shakti with John McLaughlin
5 Yes - Close to the Edge
6 Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East
7 Grateful Dead – Live/Dead
8 Soundgarden – Superunknown
9 Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
10 Miles Davis – Kind of Blue

11 Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
12 Shakti – A Handful of Beauty
13 Charles Mingus – The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
14 Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
15 Nikhil Banerjee - Afternoon Ragas
16 Dave Matthews Band - Live Trax Vol. 1: 12/8/98
17 Led Zeppelin – IV
18 Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
19 Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
20 Grateful Dead – Dicks Picks Vol. 3: 5/22/77 (or insert obligatory GD live album, because one isn’t enough)


@Debra: The Fragile is on my shortlist of albums to hear. And despite being quite the big Santana fan, I still haven't gotten around to picking up Abraxas.

Ey Fluffy, if you prefer it ranked let us know since I've got mine in no specific order.

Meh, if you wanna rank, rank, but I'm not gonna rip my nightie if you don't.

[DebraKadabra]

I had the benefit of growing up around really good music - both my folks were Beatles fans and I remember Dad playing Abraxes, Tres Hombres and Lynyrd Skynyrd (to mention three of many) when I was but a wee Debbie.  Thinking back on it though... I forgot something, but I'll add to my original post.

[krands85]

Just ordering these as they come into my head

Dream Theater - Images and Words, Awake, Scenes
Metallica - Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning
Rage Against the Machine - Self Titled, The Battle of Los Angeles
Radiohead - OK Computer, The Bends
Pearl Jam - Ten, Vs.
Tool - Aenima
Deftones - Around the Fur
Symphony X - The Divine Wings of Tragedy
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Muse - Showbiz
Megadeth - Rust in Peace
Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Soundgarden - Superunknown
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞

[lonestar]

Just go read my top 50 and eliminate about 5 albums.

[King Postwhore]

Just go read my top 50 and eliminate about 5 albums.

Your so old.

It's crazy to me that Power Windows is 27 years old.  Where the hell did the time go?!

[robwebster]

Jesus!

With the proviso that I'm very much a 00s music fan - it's the era I became a teenager, it's the era I became an adult, it's my home - this list, to me, is... almost unrecognisable. Nothing like my top ten. If you asked me what linked all these albums, I'd shrug at you. But, of the 20th century stuff I've got, I think these are the albums that are indispensible.

• Angra - Holy Land
  
• Dream Theater - Images & Words
  
• David Bowie - Hunky Dory
  
• Faith No More - Angel Dust
  
• Muse - Showbiz
  
• Porcupine Tree - Signify
  
• Rush - Hemispheres
  
• Screaming Trees - Dust
  
• Therion - Theli
  
• Tool - Aenima

[Big Hath]

Just go read my top 50 and eliminate about 5 albums.

heh, I'm right there with ya.  I just looked at my preliminary top 20 and all but two of them are prior to 2000.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Just go read my top 50 and eliminate about 5 albums.

Mine's largely untouched. A few big albums went out though.

[Cedar redaC]

My pre-2000 album collection is small, and relatively confined to Dream Theater and Rush, so this is really biased:

Rush- 2112, Moving Pictures, Caress of Steel, Power Windows
Dream Theater- Images and Words, Awake, A Change of Seasons
A-Ha- Hunting High and Low
Eiffel 65- Europop
Joe Satriani- Surfing with the Alien

[ColdFireYYZ]

No particular order:

1. Dream Theater - Scenes From A Memory
2. Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
3. Yes - Close To The Edge
4. Yes - Going For The One
5. King Crimson - Red
6. Camel - Moonmadness
7. Anglagard - Hybris
8. Rush - Signals
9. Rush - Permanent Waves
10. Caravan - In The Land of Grey and Pink
11. Peter Hammill - The Silent Corner and The Empty Stage
12. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
13. Genesis - Nursery Cryme
14. Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
15. Dream Theater - Images and Words
16. Spock's Beard - The Kindness of Strangers
17. Marillion - Seasons End
18. Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood
19. King Crimson - Lizard
20. ELP - Tarkus

Honorable Mentions:
1. Nektar - Remember The Future
2. Renaissance - Turn of the Cards
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra - Inner Mounting Flame
4. Robin Trower - Bridge of Sighs
5. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound

There are a bunch more that would make my list.

[rogerdil]

Half of my top 40 is pre-2000. (More or less in order.)

1. Deus Ex Machina - Equilibrismo da Insofferenza   
2. Flora Purim - Open Your Eyes You Can Fly   
3. Isildurs Bane - MIND Vol. 1   
4. Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy   
5. Gong - Flying Teapot   
6. Khan - Space Shanty   
7. Bruford - Feels Good to Me   
8. King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair   
9. Gong - Camembert Electrique
10. Wigwam - Being   
11. Yes - Close to the Edge
12. Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow
13. Hatfield and the North - Hatfield and the North   
14. Neil Sadler - Theory of Forms
15. Lisa Germano - Geek the Girl
16. The Soft Machine - Third
17. Stina Nordenstam - And She Closed Her Eyes
18. Steely Dan - The Royal Scam
19. Premiata Forneria Marconi - L'isola di Niente
20. Van der Graaf Generator - The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Van der Graaf Generator - Pawn Hearts
Pink Floyd - Animals
Pixies - Doolittle
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Portishead - Dummy
Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
Yes - Relayer

HA:
Harmonium - Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquieme Saison
Soft Machine - Third
Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso - Darwin!
Caravan - In the Land of Grey and Pink
Depeche Mode - Violator
The Cure - Disintegration
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead

[DebraKadabra]

18. Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood

Good album.

[Lowdz]

Hmm. I guess that would be a huge part of my top 50 so I won't join in

[Dark Castle]

1. Death - The Sound of Perseverance
2. The Beatles - Abbey Road
3. Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
4. Exodus - The Fabulous Disaster
5. Death - Human
6. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
7. Metallica - Master Of Puppets
8. Dream Theater - Images and Words
9. Boston - S/T
10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Completely forgot DT, and I don't want to move 9 or 10 down lol

[Lowdz]

1. Death - The Sound of Perseverance
2. The Beatles - Abbey Road
3. Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
4. Exodus - The Fabulous Disaster
5. Death - Human
6. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
7. Metallica - Master Of Puppets
8. Kiss - Creatures of the Night
9. Boston - S/T
10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Niiice

[Dark Castle]

1. Death - The Sound of Perseverance
2. The Beatles - Abbey Road
3. Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
4. Exodus - The Fabulous Disaster
5. Death - Human
6. Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
7. Metallica - Master Of Puppets
8. Kiss - Creatures of the Night
9. Boston - S/T
10. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Niiice

I can't remember if you're a Kiss fan, or if you're being sarcastic 

[Zantera]

Something like this: (only 1 album per artist)

1. The Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie
2. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F#A# Infinity
3. Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile
4. Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
5. Mr. Bungle - California
6. Tori Amos - From the Choirgirl Hotel
7. Faith No More - King For a Day, Fool For a Lifetime
8. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
9. Björk - Homogenic
10. Pain of Salvation - Entropia
11. Porcupine Tree - Signify
12. Anathema - Judgement
13. Opeth - Still Life
14. Tom Waits - Bone Machine
15. Agalloch - Pale Folklore
16. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85–92
17. Jeff Buckley - Grace
18. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
19. Sigur Rós - Agaetis Byrjun
20. Rush - Permanent Waves

[skydivingninja]

I'll do one per artist here.  In rough order:

1. Rush-Moving Pictures
2. Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run
3. Pink Floyd-Wish You Were Here
4. Dream Theater-Images & Words
5. Meat Loaf-Bat Out of Hell
6. Peter Gabriel-Us
7. Rush-A Farewell to Kings
8. Peter Gabriel-III
9. Rush-Power Windows
10. Pink Floyd-Dark Side of the Moon
11. Opeth-My Arms, Your Hearse
12. Yes-The Yes Album
13. Queen-A Day at the Races
14. Iron Maiden-Powerslave
15. Megadeth-Rust in Peace
16. Queen-A Night at the Opera
17. Queensryche-Operation: Mindcrime
18. Led Zeppelin-Houses of the Holy
19. Bruce Springsteen-Nebraska
20. Dream Theater-Scenes From a Memory

[The King in Crimson]

1. Opeth - Still Life
2. Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
3. Dream Theater - Awake
4. Rush - A Farewell To Kings
5. Queensryche - Operation: Mindcrime
6. Death - Human
7. Iron Maiden - Powerslave
8. Queen - A Night At The Opera
9. Porcupine Tree - Signify
10. Megadeth - Peace Sells...
11. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
12. Soundgarden - Badmotorfinger
13. King Crimson - Red
14. Devin Townsend - Ocean Machine
15. Sigur Ros - Ágætis Byrjun
16. Rush - Moving Pictures
17. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
18. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
19. Yes - Close To The Edge
20. Guns n Roses - Appetite For Destruction

[Jaq]

Let's go for expert mode!

20 favorite albums from 1970-1979!

1. Boston, Boston
2. Kiss, Destroyer
3. Thin Lizzy, Jailbreak
4. Genesis, Foxtrot
5. Kansas, Leftoverture
6. Yes, Close to the Edge
7. Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
8. Jethro Tull, Thick As A Brick
9. Pink Floyd, Animals
10. Genesis, And Then There Were Three
11. Foreigner, Foreigner
12. Foghat, Live
13. Blue Oyster Cult, Secret Treaties
14. Boston, Don't Look Back
15. Yes, The Yes Album
16. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery
17. Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon
18. Rush, 2112
19. Styx, The Grand Illusion
20. Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell.

For my next trick, the 80s! 

[Elite]

Okay:

The Beatles - Abbey Road
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, The Innocent & The E-Street Shuffle
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Dream Theater - Images & Words
Dream Theater - Awake
Jeff Buckley - Grace
King Crimson - Red
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Opeth - My Arms, Your Hearse
Opeth - Still Life
Pain of Salvation - One Hour By The Concrete Lake
Pink Floyd - Animals
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd - The Division Bell
Queensrÿche - Operation:Mindcrime
Shadow Gallery - Carved in Stone
Sublime - Sublime
Porcupine Tree - Signify
Wishbone Ash - Argus
Yes - Close to the Edge

- basically taken from my top 50. I haven't had time yet to throw some new discoveries in, so they're in alphabetic order

[Ruba]

1.Metallica - Master of Puppets
2.Ministry - Filth Pig
3.Nightwish - Angels Fall First

Not in order
Bruce Dickinson Skunkworks - Bruce Dickinson Skunkworks
Queensrÿche - Promised Land
Eppu Normaali - Rupisia riimejä, karmeita tarinoita
Eppu Normaali - Studio Etana
Nightwish - Oceanborn
Sepultura - Schizophrenia
Dream Theater - Awake

E:Aaagh, I forgot Nightwish!

[MondayMorningLunatic]

Rush- Rush
Rush- Fly By Night
Rush- Caress Of Steel
Rush- 2112
Rush- All The World's A Stage
Rush- Farewell To Kings
Rush- Hemispheres
Rush- Permanent Waves
Rush- Moving Pictures
Rush- Exit… Stage Left
Rush- Signals
Rush- Grace Under Pressure
Rush- Power Windows
Rush- Hold Your Fire
Rush- A Show Of Hands
Rush- Presto
Rush- Roll The Bones
Rush- Counterparts
Rush- Test For Echo
Rush- Different Stages

[black_biff_stadler]

^Take your time and think it out. No need to rush the thought process.

[Scorpion]

Rush- Rush
Rush- Fly By Night
Rush- Caress Of Steel
Rush- 2112
Rush- All The World's A Stage
Rush- Farewell To Kings
Rush- Hemispheres
Rush- Permanent Waves
Rush- Moving Pictures
Rush- Exit… Stage Left
Rush- Signals
Rush- Grace Under Pressure
Rush- Power Windows
Rush- Hold Your Fire
Rush- A Show Of Hands
Rush- Presto
Rush- Roll The Bones
Rush- Counterparts
Rush- Test For Echo
Rush- Different Stages

Musical diversity ftw!

[Cedar redaC]

^Take your time and think it out. No need to rush the thought process.

I see what you did there 

[TAC]

I'll be doing my Top 50 soon, and only 4 albums are post 2000.

[Heretic]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor -  F#A#∞
Dream Theater - Images And Words   
Sigur Ros - Ágætis Byrjun   
Counting Crows - August and Everything After
Porcupine Tree - Signify
Jeff Buckley - Grace   
Gustav Holst  - The Planets Suite
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Opeth - Still Life      
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
Boston - Boston      
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King      
The Beatles - Abbey Road   
The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream   
Anathema - Judgement
Alice in Chains - Dirt
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Rush - Moving Pictures
Air - Moon Safari

also Botch's We Are the Romans might make this list.

[Tomislav95]

1.Dream Theater - Awake
2.Dream Theater - Images and Words
3.Opeth - Still Life
4.Metallica - Ride the Lightning
5.Iron Maiden - Seventh Son of the Seventh Son
6.Tool - Aenima
7.Megadeth - Rust in Peace
8.Rush - Moving Pictures
9.Death - Symbolic
10.Rainbow - Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow