Top 10 Essential Classic Rock Albums

If you're just starting a classic rock collection, this is the place to begin.

These albums were chosen because they reflect the variety of musical styles that are found within the genre of classic rock.

Choices are based on the continued popularity of the music and the artists, and the degree to which they define the genre.

This list covers only a fraction of the best classic rock albums. It represents a recommended starting place for developing a full appreciation of the genre.

1. Sticky Fingers

Rolling Stones
More than six million copies have been sold since it was released in April 1971. This was the first album recorded on the group's own label, the first in which Mick Taylor played guitar on all the tracks, and only the fourth to be released worldwide. Because it contains tracks recorded at various times between 1969 and 1971, it serves as a showcase of the Stones' work at a time when the group was still honing its musical identity.

2. Who's Next

The Who
If you're a fan of the popular CSI TV shows, you're already familiar with two of the cuts from this groundbreaking album that serve as their theme songs, "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley". Released in 1971, this was one the most technically advanced albums of its day, featuring some of the first use of an electronic synthesizer, and an acoustic engineering technique that gave the music a deep, full quality, even on AM radio.

3. Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin
The group's fourth album actually has no title that can be pronounced or reproduced with alphanumeric characters, consisting instead of a series of hand drawn symbols. The group could go hard, as with "Rock and Roll", or soft, as with "Stairway To Heaven", the song believed to have received the most ever radio airplay. Because it represents the band's broad range of musical styles, this album (also sometimes known as "Zoso" or "The Rune Album") is an essential.

4. Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd
Although it has sold more than 13-million copies worldwide, this album wasn't as popular as The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon. It is significant because it is so indicative of the group's intensely complicated musical compositions and its elaborate studio production. The title song was a tribute to founding member, Syd Barrett, who, by the time this album was released in September 1975 had left the group due to erratic behavior brought on by mental illness.

5. Revolver

The Beatles
This was the 13th of the 20 Beatles albums released in the United States. It was released in August 1966, roughly in the middle of the Beatles' ten-year life. It is significant because it reflects both the style of the band's earlier work, and their first experiments with new stylistic elements that would become common in their later albums. Over the years, Revolver has repeatedly received critical acclaim as one of the best albums of the era.

6. After Bathing At Baxter's

Jefferson Airplane
The group's third album, released in 1967, is the quintessential psychedelic rock album. From its title, to its cover, which depicted a house as a whimsical flying machine, to quirky song titles like "The Ballad of You & Me and Pooneil" and "A Small Package of Value Will Come to You, Shortly" this album defined the psych rock genre.

7. Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton with Delaney & Bonnie
After the breakup of Cream in 1968, Clapton wanted to get out of the spotlight, and signed on as a sideman with Delaney and Bonnie. Delaney Bramlett's encouragement led to this, Clapton's first solo album, released in 1970. Bramlett also contributed his group as backup, and the song, "Bottle of Red Wine". The album is significant because it represents a turning point in Clapton's career, and set the stage for the 39 Clapton albums to follow.

8. Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix
This album was released in 1968, when Hendrix was in peak form. It was the legendary rock guitarist's only #1 album, and contains samples of his stylistic range, from blues to '50s rock to psychedelia. The album contains what many believe is the best version ever recorded of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower".

9. The Doors

The Doors
This group's debut album, it was released in 1967. It contains the song for which the band is best known, "Light My Fire". The album's largely dark themes, combined with lead vocalist Jim Morrison's legendary wild lifestyle, set the tone for the rock genre for the next several years.

10. Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan
This was the rock genre's first double album, first released in 1966, and subsequently reissued in at least ten other forms, with changes in the way the tracks were mixed. It was recorded in Nashville, which was somewhat unique at the time, as was the fact that it appealed equally to music critics and music fans.