Best hard rock album of all time?

[darent]

young crowd here thinks hard rock started in the 80's or 90's, how about jerry lee lewis, live, great balls of fire tour!!

 

[ScottySkis]

Ozzie Osborne, the Who.

 

[HD333]

Metallica Black Album.

 

[deadheadskier]

Metallica Black Album.

I'm more of a Master of Puppets fan, but the Black Album is for certain fantastic.

 

[steamboat1]

Lot's of favorites but two that stick out in my head right now are Montrose (1st album) & Mountain (Climbing album).

 

[bdfreetuna]

"Ten" - Pearl Jam (I've always favored them over Nirvana)

That would probably be my #2 pick after Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Pearl Jam >>>>>>>>>>> Nirvana.

VS. would also rank highly although I doubt anyone would argue it's better than Ten.

 

[Edd]

U2 doesn't suck??? If someone stuck a gun to my head and said you need to listen to Barry Manilow or U2 for 24 hours straight, I'd have a really hard time picking. At least I could laugh at Manilow.

I'm not going to say U2 sucks but I will say The Joshua Tree is perhaps the most overrated album ever.

Um, that's Mr. Manilow to you, sir.

 

[kickstand]

That would probably be my #2 pick after Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

I'm partial to "Gish", but have to admit I have no listened to "Mellon Collie" in its entirety. I think I'm just sick of hearing "1979" a bazillion times over the years. Now, "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"....I could listen to that one over and over....

 

[bdfreetuna]

Gish is pretty raw. Great stuff but IMO the band (especially Billy, let's face it, he is 90% of the band) was just starting to come into their own.

Siamese Dream, the band really found their sound. This album is brilliant, but I give MCIS the edge because it's epic 2 disc 28-tracks of brilliance, and more diverse; being both heavier and more melodic with more styles displayed throughout the album. The band was so prolific in terms of songwriting at this point they went against the wishes of the record company and released a double disc album. This was right after the Siamese Dream B-sides "Pisces Iscariot" which is also full of great stuff (Starla is what this band calls a "B-side"??)

I enjoy all SP. In fact they are my favorite "studio band" (though they kick ass live too). Give MCIS a listen-through when you have a couple hours to spare

Smashing Pumpkins still put on a great show, I've seen them several times since 2007 when they returned with a changing lineup. Some of their best music is the stuff from the 2007 Fillmore show... The Rose March, Peace + Love, 99 Floors, Gossamer, etc.

 

[kickstand]

Gish is pretty raw. Great stuff but IMO the band (especially Billy, let's face it, he is 90% of the band) was just starting to come into their own.

Bands I like who have an extensive catalog, I usually prefer their earlier stuff because its so raw. Not a big fan of when bands start to get over-produced. If your a fan of them, the example I always use is Incubus. You could say the same about Metallica, depending on how you feel about the Black Album and the two Load discs. Godsmack is another one. The music landscape is littered with albums that could have been SOOOOO much better if the gloss was taken off. Maybe that's another thread in here......

 

[Geoff]

I'm not going to say U2 sucks but I will say The Joshua Tree is perhaps the most overrated album ever.

Um, that's Mr. Manilow to you, sir.

Joshua Tree isn't my favorite. I'm partial to Achtung Baby.

 

[Edd]

Joshua Tree isn't my favorite. I'm partial to Achtung Baby.

I remember being surprised at how much I liked that.

 

[bigbog]

That was the first thing that came to my mind as well, but after thinking about it I don't think Nirvana quite fits in the category of hard rock.

I've always been a fan of Led Zeppelin, even though I wouldn't necessarily call them "hard"

Agreed....they were never into the percussive-thing...where they broke their "axes/instruments" in half or bounced their guitar on the stage floor and achieved ~20' of air from it...or kicked the drumset over the edge of the stage..LOL. Gotta love the late 70s and 80s.....when "hard" really meant a hard hit, just trashing their instruments to bits....

 

[riverc0il]

Joshua Tree isn't my favorite. I'm partial to Achtung Baby.

Achtung was definitely their best by far. Everything after Pop has been pretty dull and boring. I bought their first album after Pop when they "returned to their original sound" or whatever. I think I listened to it once and I've tuned them out completely since then. They were better when they were experimenting with different sounds and synths, IMO.

 

[Geoff]

Achtung was definitely their best by far. Everything after Pop has been pretty dull and boring. I bought their first album after Pop when they "returned to their original sound" or whatever. I think I listened to it once and I've tuned them out completely since then. They were better when they were experimenting with different sounds and synths, IMO.

I like bits & pieces of their 3 newer albums. Elevation and remixes of Elevation (the Influx remix with the sitar, in particular) are good. Other than Beautiful Day, that's the only remarkable song on All That You Can't Leave Behind. Vertigo on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is an excellent (though overplayed) song and the album is pretty good. No Line on the Horizon is awful.

Of course, it's a stretch to call U2 hard rock though some of their stuff straddles the line.

Going back on-topic, I credit the Iron Man movies and The Avengers for an AC/DC revival. It's a perfect match for the Tony Stark character.

 

[Geoff]

Iron Maiden has a plane and their lead singer flies it during their tours. Take that Robert Plant. :lol:

I'd say Zep I-III are harder rocking than IV, but they're all very good.

Black Dog certainly rips. ...and Misty Mountain Hop

 

[kickstand]

I'm partial to Achtung Baby.

+1

Front to back, I think it's their best. There are singles on albums after Achtung that I like better than any single song on Achtung, but those albums as a whole just don't stack up to it.

 

[bdfreetuna]

U2 is definitely not "hard" rock it's just rock.

Partial to The Joshua Tree... Achtung Baby has some great songs but about 1/3 of the songs sound like Bono wanking his ego.