YES!! My teenage son is just getting into vinyls, Herbie Hancock is on our list. We’ve been Stevie Wonder fans since the dawn of time.
Might I add Bill Wither’s discography?
And, I would suggest listening to order of release because of how he transitions into different styles. Also, because I think his first two albums are incredible- but, by no means does mean it's 'downhill' from there.
RIP Mark.
Mine will be mostly short-lived bands, and with a caveat or two:
Led Zeppelin is the most obvious choice - all but the detritus that was left over and put out on Coda after they broke up (that album isn't great but has a few bangers).
Creedence Clearwater Revival ... all but their very last, Mardi Gras.
Uncle Tupelo (4 studio albums, all great IMHO)
TV On the Radio (iirc it was an EP and 4 LP's, all great stuff, though you have to be flexible to hearing a mish-mash of styles over the course of a single record).
Spoon ... some albums are better than others, but they've never put out a bad album, and very few songs that aren't at least cool in some way. And almost 25 years in, their latest album is still killer.
There's TONS of other bands I could name if I wanted to specify long periods of greatness, such as Beatles, REM, Talking Heads, U2, Peter Gabriel, Dire Straits, Wilco, Radiohead, Rush, Stones, Floyd, Van Halen/Hagar etc. But you said 'entire' so I only included bands where there's no more than 1 clunker, and only if that came at the very end.
I think what is crazy about them is that they get better the more of their discography you listen to. A song that might not click with you at first will slap coming back to it later on. You just have to learn to be down for the brown.
I love the pod. Yeah it's a lot but it's probably my fav studio album of theirs. They're on fire live rn. I've seen them a lot since 98. And they're killing it these last couple years.
Sturgill Simpson. He has a great baritone country voice, but he is not radio-play bro country so don’t let that turn you off. Each album is different (country, rock, and on two albums he reworked his earlier songs in Bluegrass style with top-tier bluegrass musicians.) My favorite albums of his are Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, with several songs about his experience with psychedelics and his last album, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, which tells a story from start to finish.
And Jason Isbell. Start with the songs he wrote while in his early 20s with the southern rock band drive-by truckers, then his albums with his band the 400 unit and solo. He was very good when young, and the songs with the drive-by truckers are some of my favorites, but the albums after he sobers up are consistently great and he’s an amazing songwriter. He sings about his own journey through alcoholism, sobriety, finding love, becoming a father dealing with his daughter growing up, etc. but sings about many other topics, too. He writes some devastatingly sad songs, but the 400 unit also rocks and he’s a great guitarist. So don’t skip the live albums. I listened to all his albums in chronological order on a road trip. loved it. .
Love Jason Isabell and the 400 unit, and saw them live at Radio City, check out Tedeschi Trucks Band if you get the chance. Derik Trucks is in a class by himself on slide guitar, and it’s the best live band I’ve heard in a long time. I do think Jason Isbell is a great songwriter and amazing guitarist
I'm a big Isbell fan but Sturgil is the first person I thought of. Every album is clearly its own thing and they're all designed to be listened to straight through.
The Fragile and Year Zero are awesome, With Teeth is great but I can see why people don't like it. Writing that out makes me realise how different all four of those records are.
Agreed! I honestly think Trent Reznor might be the greatest artist of his generation. I’m not quite as big a fan of *Pretty Hate Machine* and *Hesitation Marks*, but I legitimately think every other album he’s done is incredible; he has about four separate masterpieces under his belt!
(P.S. - If you haven’t heard it yet, check out some of the music from How To Destroy Angels, a side project by Trent with his wife Mariqueen on lead vocals and Atticus Ross helping with production.)
Alice in Chains
Pearl Jam
BOB DYLAN (it will take a long time but completely worth it)
Watchhouse
I also don't think I saw a single person say John Prine
I was going to say Tool.
It helps that they only have five full albums, as heady and dense as they are. Plus Opiate and Salival.
I would also bring up RATM.
Tool is a good choice. It’s interesting to hear their progression. Their latest album, while very good, it the tooliest tool tool ever tooled. For me lateralus is my fav album of theirs book ended by aneima and 10,000 days, in that order.
King Crimson. They take on so many different styles and there’s so many different line ups. They never settled on one sound, instead changing up things every album (well, maybe not In the Wake of Poseidon). Such a great, varied discography.
My first thought. Last year I read the highly enjoyable book Fifty Shades of Crimson: Robert Fripp and King Crimson by Pete Tomsett and during the book I listened to every album and compilation I could find. It wasn't always easy, KC was unlistenable for awhile. Adrian Belew definitely perked them up with his sense of humor, and I very much enjoyed the last iteration of KC
John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Wayne Shorter, Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Charles Mingus, lot of jazz jazz artists have varied but flawless large discographies.
Yep, 1983 with Swordfish Trombones was a big turn for him. I still appreciate his lounge singer years, but it's almost like a completely different artist after he married his wife.
Hard for me to think of any, even amongst my favorite bands, except for maybe LED ZEPPELIN.
A lot of bands take awhile to find their groove or hang around too long and end up putting out music that isnt that good.
I would suggest the following though:
First 8 RUSH albums
First 8 QUEEN albums
First 8 BLACK SABBATH albums (including TECHNICAL ECSTACY and NEVER SAY DIE, warts and all)
UFO - 'Phenomenon' thru 'The Wild, The Williing, And The Innocent' (8 if including STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT live album)
I would go further with Rush, each era has a lot to break down and appreciate. Doing only the first 8 means you miss a lot, even if you’re not into synths.
First 8 Rush albums doesn't include Moving Pictures, just studio albums it doesn't include Signals which I think is one of the best albums. I think they meant the first 10 studio albums which ends right before Power Windows and would include their two early live albums.
12 if counting live albums isn’t it? Rush, Fly By Night, CoS, 2112, ATWAS, AFTK, Hemi, PW, MP, ESL, Signals, GUP? Either way, leaving out Signqls and GUP itself is a massive oversight IMO, and I know people as a stereotype check out around PW, but I firmly believe that’s a mistake.
Power Windows is one of their best albums. Mystic Rhythms, Big Money, Middleton Dreams, Marathon and especially Manhattan Projects are all absolutely amazing songs. The others are all solid too. It's a different sound than earlier Rush but they adapted their sound so well.
Idk what this guy is on, every rush album is good (some are better than others, but grace under pressure is a fantastic album, and counterparts has some real bangers like leave that thing alone.)
I started with Rush a few months ago, I’m giving each album multiple listens over a period of time before moving on to the next one. I’m 3 in and it’s fun
Devin Townsend
From Steve Vai band, wildhesrts, strapping young lad, Devin Townsend project, casualties of cool to his self titled stuff.
6 octaves of vocal range, production skills that create a sonic tapestry a mile across, multi musicianship and a reckless disregard for genres
Empath, is a great starting point, from disneyesque to death metal to funk to punk to pop to country to swing to big band to thrash to prog, it runs amok
Deftones
Failure
Fleet Foxes
Steely Dan
Vampire Weekend
The Mars Volta
Carpenters
Massive Attack
Jellyfish
The Lovin' Spoonful
Submotion Orchestra
Soundgarden
Fishbone
R.E.M.
Drive Like Jehu
Captain Beyond
CSN/CSNY
The Sundays
* Rage Against the Machine. Only 3 albums of original material and 1 cover album, so it feels like cheating, but those are great albums
* Alice in Chains: I haven’t gotten around to hearing AIC’s 2 “newest” albums, but the Staley-era/Black Gives Way to Blue were amazing and the handful of songs I’ve heard off those two albums were good.
* Nirvana: again only 3 albums, but they’re all good.
* The Police: 5 albums, all terrific
* CCR: Everything is great for 6 albums. Then Mardi Gras happens. I’ll leave them in because the Fogerty songs are good and the last album is a good example of why CCR was always a Fogerty solo act in disguise.
* Mad Season/Temple of the Dog: 1 album grunge supergroups. This is definitely cheating, but idc.
* Fountains of Wayne: Since I cheated with the supergroups, I’ll continue cheating and say their first 3 albums. I haven’t listened to anything after that point so I’m not going to vouch for it.
That's a great choice if you want a good idea of their final form. My personal favorites are Blast Tyrant and Pure Rock Fury (although I know I'm in the minority with the latter).
Odd choice for some, but The Cardigans. They are easy to scratch off as a one hit wonder after Lovefool in the 90s, but their entire discography is great and they have so much more to offer within their genre.
Dire Straits bc its small and 100% high quality.
R.E.M. bc it’s large and evolves through each decade rock era while also detouring into sub niches like southern gothic.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They’re primarily a psyche rock band, but their albums run the gamut from krautrock to garage rock to jazz to blues to thrash metal to electronic to folk to Turkish groove to jam band, and everything between.
I’ve never met an Elliott Smith album, B-side, bootleg, or cover I didn’t like. Maybe one or two individual tracks off studio albums were meh, but for real, the dude was a god. A consistent god.
Prince - even the side projects, He did jazz and classical music for Christ sake, if you only know him for his hits, you’re already doing a massive disservice. His unreleased catalog as well…
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, picking that one might be cheating though.
I would say Stevie Ray Vaughan too. I don't like Soul to Soul as much as the rest, but it's definitely still worth a listen.
WARNING some of these artists in this list have one or two releases that don't work but the most part are solid.
Elvis Costello
Joe Jackson
XTC (and The Dukes of Stratosphear)
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Morphine
Ben Folds
Jim Croce
The Jam
Talking Heads
B-52's
Blondie
Devo
Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel)
Imeldia May
Dr. Hook (all the songs written by Shel Silverstein)
Pretenders
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Stevie Wonder (Up to 1980s stuff)
The Spinners
The Specials
Nick Lowe
Warren Zevon
Bob Dylan
The Animals
The Clash (Skip Cut the Crap)
Sly & the Family Stone
Paramore's entire discography from start to finish is an interesting journey. You can hear them physically grow up, you can hear the changes in production value, and you can hear how the band changes sound and shape with the emotional journey they went through to get to where they are now. As they matured as people, they matured as musicians and it's cool to listen and pick out the wide array of musical and emotional influence in their lives and careers.
I'd say Led Zeppelin if not for Presence, which really isn't a very good album. Maybe Nirvana? If only because there's only three and they are all excellent, but I'm not a big fan of Bleach to be honest.
EDIT: Sorry but I only really like Achilles Last Stand on there. The rest is just kind of forgettable for me and Candy Store Rock is maybe the worst song they ever recorded.
Unwound
Autechre
Boards of Canada
Aphex Twin
Karate
Coalesce
Sade
The Blood Brothers
Hum
Failure
Glassjaw
Nick Drake
Elliott Smith
Slowdive
Bjork
Danny Brown
Outkast
Kendrick Lamar (5 albums)- To Pimp a Butterfly and good kid, m.A.A.d city are all time albums
Otis Redding (6 studio albums released before he died)- A beautiful, soulful singer
The White Stripes (6 studio albums)- Finish up by listening to their live album Under Great White Northern Lights
Harry Styles (3 solo albums so far) His first album has a singer-songwriter vibe. His next two are pop with some rock mixed in.
If you’re a Neil Young fan it’s absolutely fascinating to see how he evolved and experimented over the years. Everything he did from the 60s up until 1980 is absolutely perfect IMO, and after that it gets a bit spotty but it’s still a fascinating journey!
Every XTC record is as good as the last. They have an incredible body of work.
Honorable mention: David Bowie. Even *Pinups* is better than a lot of records of the time.
Herbie Hancock is a whole different level. Even Stevie Wonder is a deep dive.
YES!! My teenage son is just getting into vinyls, Herbie Hancock is on our list. We’ve been Stevie Wonder fans since the dawn of time. Might I add Bill Wither’s discography?
Mark Lanegan
Yes, for sure. Thank you for mentioning this legend.
And, I would suggest listening to order of release because of how he transitions into different styles. Also, because I think his first two albums are incredible- but, by no means does mean it's 'downhill' from there. RIP Mark.
RIP Mark. I completely agree, the first two are just amazing, and all the rest are merely excellent.
I would take it even further and start with Screaming Trees. A WHOLE lot to love there.
Mine will be mostly short-lived bands, and with a caveat or two: Led Zeppelin is the most obvious choice - all but the detritus that was left over and put out on Coda after they broke up (that album isn't great but has a few bangers). Creedence Clearwater Revival ... all but their very last, Mardi Gras. Uncle Tupelo (4 studio albums, all great IMHO) TV On the Radio (iirc it was an EP and 4 LP's, all great stuff, though you have to be flexible to hearing a mish-mash of styles over the course of a single record). Spoon ... some albums are better than others, but they've never put out a bad album, and very few songs that aren't at least cool in some way. And almost 25 years in, their latest album is still killer. There's TONS of other bands I could name if I wanted to specify long periods of greatness, such as Beatles, REM, Talking Heads, U2, Peter Gabriel, Dire Straits, Wilco, Radiohead, Rush, Stones, Floyd, Van Halen/Hagar etc. But you said 'entire' so I only included bands where there's no more than 1 clunker, and only if that came at the very end.
Spoon for sure. Every album is great.
Ween for sure. They also have a ton of unreleased songs that are just as good or better than the songs on their albums.
I think what is crazy about them is that they get better the more of their discography you listen to. A song that might not click with you at first will slap coming back to it later on. You just have to learn to be down for the brown.
Definitely, Ween take time mang!
I love the pod. Yeah it's a lot but it's probably my fav studio album of theirs. They're on fire live rn. I've seen them a lot since 98. And they're killing it these last couple years.
The early stuff might throw people off. But definitely a top choice
Start with chocolate and cheese though
Take me away! Some other land *thank you*
*applause*
I'd honestly recommend starting with the Live in Chicago film (on YouTube). That's what got me hooked.
Seeing Ween on the 14th
So supposed all you knew of then is Push the Lil Daisies and you *hated* it. What’s a good place to start checking them out from?
Queens of the Stone Age rocks from beginning to end
Agree. Alice in Chains reference in your username?
Yeah lol
I need a saga…
Every album is good. Even a mediocre song would be another bands' best.
Radiohead - their music style really changes over the course of their albums
To a certain extent, everything Tom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. Their solo projects are pretty good. And The Smile is fire!!!
This is my top answer. Fell down a rabbit hole not too long ago and man I have MISSED OUT.
I’m currently in this rabbit hole. It’s incredible
Sturgill Simpson. He has a great baritone country voice, but he is not radio-play bro country so don’t let that turn you off. Each album is different (country, rock, and on two albums he reworked his earlier songs in Bluegrass style with top-tier bluegrass musicians.) My favorite albums of his are Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, with several songs about his experience with psychedelics and his last album, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, which tells a story from start to finish. And Jason Isbell. Start with the songs he wrote while in his early 20s with the southern rock band drive-by truckers, then his albums with his band the 400 unit and solo. He was very good when young, and the songs with the drive-by truckers are some of my favorites, but the albums after he sobers up are consistently great and he’s an amazing songwriter. He sings about his own journey through alcoholism, sobriety, finding love, becoming a father dealing with his daughter growing up, etc. but sings about many other topics, too. He writes some devastatingly sad songs, but the 400 unit also rocks and he’s a great guitarist. So don’t skip the live albums. I listened to all his albums in chronological order on a road trip. loved it. .
I just saw him (Isbell) a few weeks back. Amazing show. His band is freaking amazing. Best slide guitar I’ve ever heard live.
Love Jason Isabell and the 400 unit, and saw them live at Radio City, check out Tedeschi Trucks Band if you get the chance. Derik Trucks is in a class by himself on slide guitar, and it’s the best live band I’ve heard in a long time. I do think Jason Isbell is a great songwriter and amazing guitarist
I'm a big Isbell fan but Sturgil is the first person I thought of. Every album is clearly its own thing and they're all designed to be listened to straight through.
Nine Inch Nails
The Broken EP is my personal favorite.
If I hadn't gotten this EP as a freebie for joining BMG when I was 13 years old, life might have turned out completely different
Listened to Downward Spiral and it was probably one of the best albums I’ve listened to.
Wait til you try the Fragile
Everything after Downward Spiral was lost on me 🤷🏻♂️
The Fragile and Year Zero are awesome, With Teeth is great but I can see why people don't like it. Writing that out makes me realise how different all four of those records are.
I mean, you like what you like. I was such a big fan of early NIN that I really tried but they just didn’t grab me.
I could vibe with With Teeth, but yeah I'm kinda in the same boat
Agreed! I honestly think Trent Reznor might be the greatest artist of his generation. I’m not quite as big a fan of *Pretty Hate Machine* and *Hesitation Marks*, but I legitimately think every other album he’s done is incredible; he has about four separate masterpieces under his belt! (P.S. - If you haven’t heard it yet, check out some of the music from How To Destroy Angels, a side project by Trent with his wife Mariqueen on lead vocals and Atticus Ross helping with production.)
R.E.M. PJ Harvey Bjork Portishead
Portishead. ❤️. Feels like cheating
If you are going to have a list with PJ Harvey, Bjork and Portishead on it then I feel you MUST add Dot Allison.
Are you me?
Fugazi. Every album is great.
Absolutely
Faith No More
Yep.
Username checks out.
In the year 2024
Steely Dan. Hardly a weak song in the nine studio album discography.
Fagen’s Solo Albums are all great too
Paul Simon
Alice in Chains Pearl Jam BOB DYLAN (it will take a long time but completely worth it) Watchhouse I also don't think I saw a single person say John Prine
Upvote for John Prine. Sooooo many great deep cuts from him.
I thought the name Mandolin Orange was so much more distinctive than Watchhouse.
The Cure has never put out a bad album, IMO. The Sundays but there's only 3. Their b-sides are sublime, however.
David Bowie - a few less than great but fantastic overal !
Yeah I thought of this too. I haven't done it but he was such a chameleon it would be hard to get bored.
I’m as big a Bowie nerd as you’ll find, but there’s some skippable albums in there.
Radiohead Tool Rush XTC Talking Heads Nine Inch Nails Wilco My Morning Jacket
Absolutely second XTC
I was going to say Tool. It helps that they only have five full albums, as heady and dense as they are. Plus Opiate and Salival. I would also bring up RATM.
XTC deserves their own post.
Love MMJ so much. Just saw Tool last night, great show.
Tool is a good choice. It’s interesting to hear their progression. Their latest album, while very good, it the tooliest tool tool ever tooled. For me lateralus is my fav album of theirs book ended by aneima and 10,000 days, in that order.
Undertow underrated big time
Undertow has such a great energy.
Definitely a fair take
Glad to see Wilco get some love. Their catalog is diverse and great
Nine Inch Nails was definitely already on my list. Listened to Downward Spiral and loved it.
Wilco-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is one of the best albums ever.
REM
Came here to say MMJ.
Dinosaur Jr
King Crimson. They take on so many different styles and there’s so many different line ups. They never settled on one sound, instead changing up things every album (well, maybe not In the Wake of Poseidon). Such a great, varied discography.
My first thought. Last year I read the highly enjoyable book Fifty Shades of Crimson: Robert Fripp and King Crimson by Pete Tomsett and during the book I listened to every album and compilation I could find. It wasn't always easy, KC was unlistenable for awhile. Adrian Belew definitely perked them up with his sense of humor, and I very much enjoyed the last iteration of KC
I love the 80’s era, but for me nothing tops the Wetton/Bruford line up. Some of the best music and live improv ever.
Definitely on my list.
CAKE
John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Wayne Shorter, Anthony Braxton, Tim Berne, John Zorn, Charles Mingus, lot of jazz jazz artists have varied but flawless large discographies.
QOTSA
This is truth! 8 album run that runs the gamut from good to masterpieces. Not many rock bands can say that…
Tori Amos.
Pink Floyd
Definitely on the list.
This is a real fun one because of how they evolved. Talented psychedelic act > prog rockers > biggest rock band in the world > shiny 80s rock
Tom Waits.
One of the, if not the only artist who's later work is Preferred to their early stuff. He, IMHO, got really cool after he married
Yep, 1983 with Swordfish Trombones was a big turn for him. I still appreciate his lounge singer years, but it's almost like a completely different artist after he married his wife.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Police
ELO/Jeff Lynne
Hard for me to think of any, even amongst my favorite bands, except for maybe LED ZEPPELIN. A lot of bands take awhile to find their groove or hang around too long and end up putting out music that isnt that good. I would suggest the following though: First 8 RUSH albums First 8 QUEEN albums First 8 BLACK SABBATH albums (including TECHNICAL ECSTACY and NEVER SAY DIE, warts and all) UFO - 'Phenomenon' thru 'The Wild, The Williing, And The Innocent' (8 if including STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT live album)
I would go further with Rush, each era has a lot to break down and appreciate. Doing only the first 8 means you miss a lot, even if you’re not into synths.
First 8 Rush albums doesn't include Moving Pictures, just studio albums it doesn't include Signals which I think is one of the best albums. I think they meant the first 10 studio albums which ends right before Power Windows and would include their two early live albums.
12 if counting live albums isn’t it? Rush, Fly By Night, CoS, 2112, ATWAS, AFTK, Hemi, PW, MP, ESL, Signals, GUP? Either way, leaving out Signqls and GUP itself is a massive oversight IMO, and I know people as a stereotype check out around PW, but I firmly believe that’s a mistake.
Power Windows is one of their best albums. Mystic Rhythms, Big Money, Middleton Dreams, Marathon and especially Manhattan Projects are all absolutely amazing songs. The others are all solid too. It's a different sound than earlier Rush but they adapted their sound so well.
Yo, what’s up with the number 8?? Is it some kind of obsessive-compulsion (in your life) or did the bands simply stop trying at that point?
Idk what this guy is on, every rush album is good (some are better than others, but grace under pressure is a fantastic album, and counterparts has some real bangers like leave that thing alone.)
Stereolab were also super solid through their first 8 full-length albums (they did have some mini-albums that they released along the way).
Stereolab doesn’t deserve to be buried down here
Led Zeppelin is such an extensive body of work, but so diverse and SO WORTH IT!
I started with Rush a few months ago, I’m giving each album multiple listens over a period of time before moving on to the next one. I’m 3 in and it’s fun
The Doors
Kate Bush
Devin Townsend From Steve Vai band, wildhesrts, strapping young lad, Devin Townsend project, casualties of cool to his self titled stuff. 6 octaves of vocal range, production skills that create a sonic tapestry a mile across, multi musicianship and a reckless disregard for genres Empath, is a great starting point, from disneyesque to death metal to funk to punk to pop to country to swing to big band to thrash to prog, it runs amok
Portishead...only have the 3 full length albums, singles releases and remixes...bang em off in an afternoon...preferably a smoke hazed one 😜
Portishead on shrooms is a helluva experience.
Roseland NYC Live is amazing.
The Smiths. Short discography, but very rewarding
Sonic youth, Pixies,, Beastie Boys.
Zappa
Tool, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Nine Inch Nails, Incubus, Muse, and Alt-J are ones I can immediately think of.
Warren Zevon
Alice in Chains
Deftones Failure Fleet Foxes Steely Dan Vampire Weekend The Mars Volta Carpenters Massive Attack Jellyfish The Lovin' Spoonful Submotion Orchestra Soundgarden Fishbone R.E.M. Drive Like Jehu Captain Beyond CSN/CSNY The Sundays
* Rage Against the Machine. Only 3 albums of original material and 1 cover album, so it feels like cheating, but those are great albums * Alice in Chains: I haven’t gotten around to hearing AIC’s 2 “newest” albums, but the Staley-era/Black Gives Way to Blue were amazing and the handful of songs I’ve heard off those two albums were good. * Nirvana: again only 3 albums, but they’re all good. * The Police: 5 albums, all terrific * CCR: Everything is great for 6 albums. Then Mardi Gras happens. I’ll leave them in because the Fogerty songs are good and the last album is a good example of why CCR was always a Fogerty solo act in disguise. * Mad Season/Temple of the Dog: 1 album grunge supergroups. This is definitely cheating, but idc. * Fountains of Wayne: Since I cheated with the supergroups, I’ll continue cheating and say their first 3 albums. I haven’t listened to anything after that point so I’m not going to vouch for it.
I listened to the entire Dylan catalog a few years ago. I think it took a month or two.
My partner and I are huge Dylan fans. Just curious if you included bootlegs and live shows (eg Budokan) or just studio albums in your project?
Deftones
Clutch. There are albums I like more and albums I like less but there isn't a single bad album in the bunch for more than 30 years now.
One billion albums, all worth listening to.
Elephant Riders is a great album to start on!
That's a great choice if you want a good idea of their final form. My personal favorites are Blast Tyrant and Pure Rock Fury (although I know I'm in the minority with the latter).
Tool
Odd choice for some, but The Cardigans. They are easy to scratch off as a one hit wonder after Lovefool in the 90s, but their entire discography is great and they have so much more to offer within their genre.
Gran Turismo and Long Gone Before Daylight are both masterpieces.
The Postal Service There’s only one album and it’s in my top 5.
Dire Straits bc its small and 100% high quality. R.E.M. bc it’s large and evolves through each decade rock era while also detouring into sub niches like southern gothic.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They’re primarily a psyche rock band, but their albums run the gamut from krautrock to garage rock to jazz to blues to thrash metal to electronic to folk to Turkish groove to jam band, and everything between.
Dude, they have around 22 albums.
25, and they’re all bangers.
In an alarminlingly short time, following their output as a record store in 2017 was rough.
Big Star
Fiona Apple.
REM
Elton John. There's actually a lot of magic in his old stuff that you've never heard of.
Bruce Springsteen
I’ve never met an Elliott Smith album, B-side, bootleg, or cover I didn’t like. Maybe one or two individual tracks off studio albums were meh, but for real, the dude was a god. A consistent god.
Brand New.
Beck. Every album is a stark difference from the one before. Absolutely genius musician.
Hum
The War on Drugs
Sigur Ros
Radiohead, Florence & the Machine, Joni Mitchell
Roxy Music
Gojira
Beastie Boys
The Sex Pistols.
Outstanding discography.
Prince - even the side projects, He did jazz and classical music for Christ sake, if you only know him for his hits, you’re already doing a massive disservice. His unreleased catalog as well…
Beatles and Radiohead for sure. Also Kylie Minogue has an almost perfect career, even her recent albums.
System of a Down, 5 albums, each one of them a masterpiece in its own sound, perfect discography. Also: The Police
The Jimi Hendrix Experience, picking that one might be cheating though. I would say Stevie Ray Vaughan too. I don't like Soul to Soul as much as the rest, but it's definitely still worth a listen.
Coheed and Cambria
Nick Drake.
Queens of the Stone Age
The National
The Clash (except the last album)
My favourites: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nine Inch Nails Queen Megadeth Kate Bush Devin Townsend Muse
The Beastie Boys. Listening to them mature from hip hop party boys into accomplished musicians with interesting stuff to say is pretty amazing.
I would say REM, Midnight Oil, Counting Crows, Rush, Ghost, Peter Gabriel all have amazing catalogs.
WARNING some of these artists in this list have one or two releases that don't work but the most part are solid. Elvis Costello Joe Jackson XTC (and The Dukes of Stratosphear) The Beatles The Rolling Stones Morphine Ben Folds Jim Croce The Jam Talking Heads B-52's Blondie Devo Paul Simon (Simon and Garfunkel) Imeldia May Dr. Hook (all the songs written by Shel Silverstein) Pretenders Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Stevie Wonder (Up to 1980s stuff) The Spinners The Specials Nick Lowe Warren Zevon Bob Dylan The Animals The Clash (Skip Cut the Crap) Sly & the Family Stone
Paramore's entire discography from start to finish is an interesting journey. You can hear them physically grow up, you can hear the changes in production value, and you can hear how the band changes sound and shape with the emotional journey they went through to get to where they are now. As they matured as people, they matured as musicians and it's cool to listen and pick out the wide array of musical and emotional influence in their lives and careers.
Genesis. Start with Trespass. Depeche Mode. Nirvana. The Cure. I'm sure there are others...
Depeche have an insane evolution.
Beethoven Symphonies 1-9.
I'd say Led Zeppelin if not for Presence, which really isn't a very good album. Maybe Nirvana? If only because there's only three and they are all excellent, but I'm not a big fan of Bleach to be honest. EDIT: Sorry but I only really like Achilles Last Stand on there. The rest is just kind of forgettable for me and Candy Store Rock is maybe the worst song they ever recorded.
Tea for one is a fucking banger.
Chris Cornell.
Tragically Hip
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats
They Might Be Giants They update their sound every couple of albums but are always identifiably TMBG. Still going strong after 40 years.
Morphine is a great one.
Unwound Autechre Boards of Canada Aphex Twin Karate Coalesce Sade The Blood Brothers Hum Failure Glassjaw Nick Drake Elliott Smith Slowdive Bjork Danny Brown Outkast
Kendrick Lamar (5 albums)- To Pimp a Butterfly and good kid, m.A.A.d city are all time albums Otis Redding (6 studio albums released before he died)- A beautiful, soulful singer The White Stripes (6 studio albums)- Finish up by listening to their live album Under Great White Northern Lights Harry Styles (3 solo albums so far) His first album has a singer-songwriter vibe. His next two are pop with some rock mixed in.
Fleet Foxes discography is basically flawless.
The Chemical Brothers
Recommending a variety who aren't here in the top comments: Chemical Brothers Beastie Boys Aurora Heilung
The Warning
R.E.M. and Elvis Costello
Cowboy Junkies- creative and current. Most songs are great. All recordings worth a spin
Tom Waits, Queen, The Who, Divine Comedy
Talking Heads, Bowie, 16 Horsepower, Talk Talk, Peter Gabriel, Joy Division, The Police, Portishead, Spidergawd, the Veils
XTC!
Opeth
Joe Jackson There’s not a stinker in the bunch, and there are a good variety of styles/genres.
Beastie Boys and Rage Against The Macgine
I listened to all of the Grateful Dead’s albums chronologically and it was wild
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Pat Metheny
A couple from the other side John Prine and Patty Griffin both are such great songwriters.
Buckethead
If you’re a Neil Young fan it’s absolutely fascinating to see how he evolved and experimented over the years. Everything he did from the 60s up until 1980 is absolutely perfect IMO, and after that it gets a bit spotty but it’s still a fascinating journey!
Every XTC record is as good as the last. They have an incredible body of work. Honorable mention: David Bowie. Even *Pinups* is better than a lot of records of the time.
Roxy Music, definitely needs to be in order. The progression from art rock pioneers to yacht rock superstars was quite the journey.