Top 10 British Debuts
Q) What do Pink Floyd, Radiohead, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones & The Darkness have in common?
A) None of them have made the top 10 greatest British debut records of all time. Getintothis reveals our top 10.
1. Stone Roses: Stone Roses
The resurrection of British music that's still the defining influence on today's best British rock and dance bands.
2. Massive Attack: Blue Lines
Hip-hop, soul, rock, you name it they were all mastered by Bristol's new kids on the block.
3. Oasis: Definitely Maybe
A rock & roll riot with every track an anthem in waiting.
4. Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left
A simple pastoral delight which was forgotten upon release but is championed worldwide today.
5. Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath
Forget Zeppelin - this created metal.
6. Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works 85-92.
Richard D. James' collection redefined what dance music was and how it was perceived as an art form.
7. Bark Psychosis: Hex
They invented post-rock, and an army of imitators and revolutionaries soon followed.
8. My Bloody Valentine: Isn't Anything
Their debut proper, and a psychedelic swirl of shoegaze beauty.
9. Mogwai: Young Team
Quite possibly the loudest, and most exciting record to ever come out of Scotland.
10. Oceansize: Effloresce
A modern spacerock epic that'll be revisited in many years to come.
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Peter Guy - is at the forefront of Liverpool's independent music scene reporting & reviewing on the latest sounds in Merseyside and beyond.
to be fair, the stones' debut was little more than a demo and didn't feature any of their early hits. keith richards has said more than once how much he hates it.
on the other hand, the who's debut was and is supberb - probably the most underrated album they ever released.
i could also mention the stereophonics, but i won't. they're sh*t.
I wouldn't put Definitely Maybe in the top 10 debut albums by bands from Manchester, let alone the whole of Britain.
The only ones I really agree with in that list are Stone Roses' debut and Blue Lines. Several of them just scream of personal music taste and are pretty insignificant.
a reasonable list, though oasis would certainly never make it into mine... possibly a little too 90's oriented too.
but seeing as you asked...
dizzee rascal - boy in da corner
crass - stations of the crass
throbbing gristle - 2nd annual report
soft cell - non-stop erotic cabaret
b12 - electro soma
the bug - pressure
techno animal - ghosts
depeche mode - speak & spell
the clash - the clash
... and i'll agree with you on black sabbath...
kate bush - the kick inside
Stations Of The Crass was the second Crass LP. Their debut was The Feeding Of The 5,000.
And a bloody sexy record it is, though Penis Envy and the free-punk onslaught of Yes Sir I Will get me hornier
how can anybody argue with definitely maybe being in there?
The fastest selling british debut album, there aren't many bands who spawn a genre or invent a whole culture that includes different age groups. Oasis were one of them bands, and definitely maybe was their best album!
The Maccabees
Libertines
Rae&Christian
The Blue Nile
Beta Band?
Ash
I can't think of anymore and the above are lies.
Gareth: I was going to include The Betas, I was this close - honest. I just felt with it being a compilation of sorts it was edged out the equation.
Other records which were also trippin me head out were Tiger Milk (Belle & Seb), Dummy (Portishead), Unknown Pleasures, Led Zep I, Piper At The Gates of Dawn, Elastica (the great Britpop lost LP), and very muchly The Las.
Surprised Astral Weeks hasn't been mentioned - again I didn't include as it's not his debut per se, with Van Morrison being released despite him not wanting it to be - thus him later declaring it invalid...
wouldn't agree with any of them except aphex twin. i'd probably just say roxy music's first album times 10
dizzee rascal should definitely be on there - genre creating, never mind genre defining. and he was what? 18 years old. ace
massive attack don't warrant a place on that list in my opinion, it's just as plain and simple as me not liking their music.
i'd put the la's in there too
and stone roses is bang on for the top spot
isn't van morrison irish anyway?
feeding of the 5000 is crass's first lp. my bad... i love 'em all though.
and the kick inside should definitely be up there...
A good list (Nick Drake aside), but where's the punk? Surely 'The Clash' by Strummer and co has got to be in there?
When it comes to great debut albums by Scottish bands, I'd go for The Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy any day over Mogwai.
And why hasn't anyone mentioned The Specials or Elvis Costello yet?
It's a great blog anyway... Keep up the good work, Pete!
5 more cracking debuts
the jam - in the city
the charlatans - some friendly
queen - queen
the bluetones - expecting to fly
jethro tull - this was
duck sar tea - i'm pretty sure crass's "feeding of the 5,000" was classed as an ep. (sorry).
and what about half man half biscuit's "back in the dhss"?
no. oh well, nevermind...
good call on the specials... that should've been on my list. the first queen album was a bit pooh though - queen II sh*ts all over it.
Another great debut - Wire's Pink Flag.
how can a commercially underground artist like dizee rascal equate to being 'genre defining?' or 'genre creating?' god i hate the word 'genre.'
another cracking debut - the crazy world of arthur brown.
Some good choices here but for me these have to be in it!!!
The Who - My Generation (one of the first by any band to contain 100% original material barring 1 James Brown cover)
The Clash - The Clash (kicks the pants off The Jam - In The City any day)
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks
Best punk debuts? Damned, Damned, Damned by..er, the Damned beats Never Mind The Bollocks but both excellent.
Also: Marquee Moon, Appetite For Destruction, Is This It? Classics.
Just realised I completely forgot my favourite album of all time... The La's - The La's.
THE greatest debut album of all time - full stop.
Lee Mavers is a genius
Hi Peter,
OK, here's my top 10. And I really didn't look at yours first ....
1. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
2. Roxy Music
3. Buzzcocks - Another Music
4. Wire - Pink Flag
5. Subway Sect (unreleased)
6. Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set
7. Aztec Camera - High Land Hard Rain
8. The Fall - Live at the Witch Trials
9. Momus - Circus Maximus
10. Josef K - Only Fun in Town
... and there's a couple bubbling under, like Remorse Code (The Desperate Bicycles), A Trip to Marineville (Swell Maps) and (my guilty pleasure!) the first Damned album.
Pete - I agree with Mike Martin's comment in that the latter half of your top 10 does reek of personal taste, rather than a more objective perspective. However, I don't think you can really argue with stones roses and definitely maybe being in there (i'm not personally a big fan of either but they're both monuments in british rock history i guess).
How about the greatest debut albums - non uk artists.
MY TOP 5:
1: Grace - JEFF BUCKLEY
2: Ten - PEARL JAM
3: The Doors - THE DOORS
4: Endtroducing - DJ SHADOW
5: Youth & young manhood - KINGS OF LEON
I'm sure someone will point out that Josh Davis had released other stuff prior to 1996, but Endtroducing was his first full length album i believe, so it should be included in every darned list going...
Dom: There's nothing objective about any of these lists, ever, period - they're all purely subjective and down to personal taste - hence why they result in so much discussion.
The latter half, like the first half, I've based on listening terms alone.
To say Definitely Maybe/Stone Roses should be included, on the basis that 'they're both monuments in British rock history' has nothing to do with your own listening preferences - which is surely the only thing which matters in compiling a list of your favourite records.
Hence why I didn't include the likes of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures or say, Wire's Pink Flag - which have obviously had more of an impact on music historically than say Oceansize - but I don't like either of them as much as Effloresce.
Mike Martin's comment - 'I wouldn't put Definitely Maybe in the top 10 debut albums by bands from Manchester, let alone the whole of Britain' - is a crock of poop. And well you know it.
US debuts... Pah, another time...
Jean Michel Jarre's 'Oxygene' should really be in there i feel. It still sounds amazingly fresh today, which is some achievement for an all-electronic album made in 1975. Very few albums can rival its legacy. In the world of electronic music, it is a monolith, and deservedly so!!!!
Surprised to see Depeche Mode's Speak & Spell being mentioned by somebody. I absolutely love that album, but i'd probably vote for Mute stablemates DAF with 'Alles Ist Gut', since Speak & Spell does contain a few duff songs.
On the rock front, it would be rude to ignore G n'R and The Doors.
And to sign off with an entirely selfish selection, The Cranberries debut LP gave me many many hours of listening pleasure. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but heavenly all the same.
For what it's worth, my not very considered list, in no order:
1. Ian Dury - New Boots and Panties!! (a technicality - his first album under his own name, preceded by 2 kilburn and the High Roads LPs)
2. Portishead - Dummy
3. The Specials
4. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
5. Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol 1
6. Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
7. Tricky- Maxinquaye
8. Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn
9. Roxy Music's First Album
10. Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies
Of course, most bands don't peak with their debuts - I prefer Darklands to Psychocandy, Ladies and Gentlemen... to Laser Guided Melodies etc.
for my list, a few non-Uk eg's slipped in - but you knew that was gonna happen with my list pete!! Also included one compilation LP. This list will probably be different every week you asked me, and is totally subjecive, but anyway here goes:
Pink Floyd: Piper at The Gates of Dawn (1967) - Prototype space-rock meets genius psychedelic english whimsy (plus a track by Roger Waters!!)
Ash Ra tempel: Ash Ra Tempel (1971) - space-rock's ur-text make no dount about it, an abstract rumble-athon of the highest order -
Bark Psychosis: Hex (1994) - one of the most underrated LPs and bands of the Nineties.
Roxy Music: Roxy Music (1972) - more radical than a lot of people gave, or give, it credit for. Glad to see it popping up in the lists above.
Popol Vuh: Affenstunde 1971 ('ancient' electronic music - simply beautiful, small mention must go the the next LP 'In den Garten Pharos' as well, and in fact their whole career which took in many forms and influences.
Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance (1978) - Punk meets the 'art-fuck' spirit (as J. Cope calls it) a musical version of the absurdist non-logic of Jarry, and Antonin Artaud's Theater of Cruelty set to sensational ends - or, if you wanna save time "the punk-beefheart"
Artificial Intelligence (Warp label compilation, 1991) - For all ravers present and correxct on the 1st day of (old) school (1988) and drained by Christmas 91' - a beautiful mellow comedown soundtrack for the big retreat away from the cheesy hardcore crap and ever-present glow sticks!
Mars Volta: Deloused in the Comatorium (2003) - Quite literally created a mutual space for 'intelligent' or 'progressive' rock music and the bombast of US hardcore to exist in.
King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) - Nuff Said! After all my username is ProgDave!!
The Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Inner Mounting Flame (1972) - See Above comment!!
How about Are You Experienced? Does that count as British?
Nah, you can't have Are You Experienced? I know it's got Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchum but Jimi's the main man at work and after all it is his 'Experience'.
'The Jimi Hendrix Experience' are a british band because that's where they were founded/created. end of discussion...
anyway whilst I'm here I'll throw in my two shiny penneth - Bert Jansch's debut and Boards of Canada's Music Has the right to children.
Good Lord Oasis are overrated.
I'd have Roxy Music-Roxy Music and PJ Harvey- Dry in there.
Hey hey Pete...Ooooh I love lists!!
Here's mine...
1.Dummy - Portishead
2.Feed me weird things - Squarepusher
3.The 3 EPS - Beta Band (I'm counting this as an album because when you listen to it, it FEELS like a complete body of work...so there!)
4.How to operate with a blown mind - Lo-Fidelity Allstars
5.Music has the right to children - Boards of Canada
6.Adventures beyond the Ultraworld - Orb
7.Leftism - Leftfield
8.Orbital - Orbital
9.Maxinquaye - Tricky
10.Not for threes - Plaid
A lot 90s and a lot 'electronica'...but I LIKE the 90s and 'electronica'
Good shout on the Lo-Fi Allstars Paul, really dig that LP and totally forgot about it.
It's often slagged off cos of Wrecked Train's psychobabble but I really love its blend of punk, amazing samples, dance and indie.
There's actually two versions of that record doing the rounds, one the original - which they didn't get sample clearance on and the second one which is nowhere near as good without certain samples/lyrics and re-worked bits.
I seem to remember rushing out on the day of release and picking up the Lo-fis Cd after hearing them do a live set on Mary Anne Hobbs show (which I've still got on tape somewhere...), this set was MIND BLOWING and the album actually pales a lttle in comparison.
I presume I have the original version of the CD then? (although there seems to be no Breeders sample 'Cannonball' on Disco Machine Gun, unlike the single...hmm)
Wrecked Train was a bit of a gimp and spouted a lot of garbage...but did you ever hear them after he left? Very poor indeed.
Yeah I too have got the Mary Anne Hobbs set somewhere - think the rest of the tape has Freakpower in session on Mark Radcliffe, mad shizzle...
Check this: http://www.peterguy.merseyblogs.co.uk/2007/05/the_death_of_the_tape_1.html
I think you're right on the Cannonball front.
Gutted I missed the chance of seeing the Lo-Fi's play at Leicester Uni - it was during my freshers week and went and got hammered instead...
Haha...enough of the Lofi's already!
I never actually got to listen to 'Hex' by Bark Psychosis, tried to hunt it down a few years after the fact, but could only find a compilation called 'Game Over'...it's very good (it's got Blue, A street scene, Manman etc. on it)...but, perhaps a copy could find it's way to me?? (hint hint!)
Also, you may be interested in this book...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mix-Tape-Art-Cassette-Culture/dp/0789311992
...edited by Thurston Moore.
Not sure if it came out in the UK (a mate brought it back from Seattle for me). I shall pass it on via Rachel for your perusal.
Stone Roses are awful and I would go for the Strokes
I can't be bothered with anything lately. My mind is like a fog. I've just been hanging out not getting anything done. I've more or less been doing nothing.
Stone Roses n Oasis all the way
Tricky's debut is a masterpiece
Stone Roses should be number one.