Best Debut Album

[OmerV]

What album is the best debut album for an artist or group. There are some groups that had releases before their debut album as that group such as Fleetwood Mac which was a huge album once the band as we know it now debuted.

I had a tough time deciding between two albums that the first time I sat down and listened was absolutely blown away at the maturity of their sound and depth of tracks on the album.

The Boston Album was huge when it came out. We played it non stop in the baseball locker room in high school.

In the same general time frame (high school for me), Van Halen and Bat out of Hell were both huge debut albums too. I would go with Boston being the best of those.

 

[Runwildboys]

The Boston Album was huge when it came out. We played it non stop in the baseball locker room in high school.

In the same general time frame (high school for me), Van Halen and Bat out of Hell were both huge debut albums too. I would go with Boston being the best of those.

I always thought the Boston songs all pretty much sound the same. Of the three you mentioned, I think I'd put them last. That's not to say I don't like them, or that I wasn't jammin' 'em when the album dropped, but VH was an immediate infusion of guitar greatness, and Meat Loaf was a great mixture of hard rock and deep lyrics....with a fat guy singing, which was unusual at the time.

 

[Trouty]

Boston will forever be mesmerized/memorialized by its fans because of the lack of content they released as a full band. And their debut is sickeningly amazing. Bands aren't supposed to come out the gate that great

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

The obvious choice is Zeppelins first album, but I think ill go with Van Halens debut.
Allow me to elaborate...…..

When the album was released in early 78 you had the "dinosaur" bands aka supergroups that were still around or would be defunct within a couple years{Zep, P.F., Who, Stones} then you had what I call the 2nd tier bands which were Styx, Foreigner, Journey etc. On the other side of the spectrum you had the beginnings of punk/new waves as well as disco.
Van Halen sailed right up the middle of this channel and at the time were truly unique and sounded like no one.

 

[YosemiteSam]

G&R
Godsmack
Van Halen

Blizzard of Oz
Rainbow in the Dark
Appetite for Destruction
Led Zeppelin
Kill them all
Boston
The Doors
Van Halen
Are you Experienced

Love your list, but I don't consider Dio and Ozzy as debut albums. They we're established prior to their solo albums.

That said, great list!

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Boston will forever be mesmerized/memorialized by its fans because of the lack of content they released as a full band. And their debut is sickeningly amazing. Bands aren't supposed to come out the gate that great

Well it was amazing at the time but in all honesty Boston was nothing more than a studio creation of Tom{ I am Gods gift} Scholz. I remember his live solo in the late 70s which was a blatant ripoff of Ace Frehley{smoking guitar}, Page{violin} and EVH{tapping which in Toms case was pretty generic}. This as well as his general attitude towards other musicians as well as only 6 albums in 40 years gets a thumbs down from me.

 

[Melonfeud]

'METRIC'

 

[Trouty]

Well it was amazing at the time but in all honesty Boston was nothing more than a studio creation of Tom{ I am Gods gift} Scholz. I remember his live solo in the late 70s which was a blatant ripoff of Ace Frehley{smoking guitar}, Page{violin} and EVH{tapping which in Toms case was pretty generic}. This as well as his general attitude towards other musicians as well as only 6 albums in 40 years gets a thumbs down from me.

Well, I'm not saying their Zep, my man

 

[CouchCoach]

Boston will forever be mesmerized/memorialized by its fans because of the lack of content they released as a full band. And their debut is sickeningly amazing. Bands aren't supposed to come out the gate that great

Yep, that was what amazed me. One song? OK but that entire album was worthy of a great bands 3rd album. Foreigner was the same to me and the production quality was as good as I'd heard on any album.

The one I put 3rd, Bad Company, was my favorite album of that time but those guys were salty and had been around a while in other bands. And Free was one of my favorite all time bands. "Alright Now" is a top 3 oldie for me.

Ya know, the band that blew me away with how they changed their entire approach to music was Tommy James and the Shondells. I can remember where I was when I first heard "Crimson and Clover", it had that kind of effect on me.

 

[CouchCoach]

Well it was amazing at the time but in all honesty Boston was nothing more than a studio creation of Tom{ I am Gods gift} Scholz. I remember his live solo in the late 70s which was a blatant ripoff of Ace Frehley{smoking guitar}, Page{violin} and EVH{tapping which in Toms case was pretty generic}. This as well as his general attitude towards other musicians as well as only 6 albums in 40 years gets a thumbs down from me.

But when that first album came out, no one knew anything about him or them. I am just talking about the album. If we start adding the awesome person factor into it, gonna have to reconsider.

 

[CouchCoach]

I always thought the Boston songs all pretty much sound the same. Of the three you mentioned, I think I'd put them last. That's not to say I don't like them, or that I wasn't jammin' 'em when the album dropped, but VH was an immediate infusion of guitar greatness, and Meat Loaf was a great mixture of hard rock and deep lyrics....with a fat guy singing, which was unusual at the time.

I agree, they did have a sound that was unmistakable, even if you heard the song for the first time. But when they first emerged, I liked that sound but grew tired of it. I felt the same about ELO.

 

[Runwildboys]

I agree, they did have a sound that was unmistakable, even if you heard the song for the first time. But when they first emerged, I liked that sound but grew tired of it. I felt the same about ELO.

ELO does have a few that could just merge together, but there's a lot of variety for the most part, I think. Also, you can distinguish the individual instruments, where as Boston just has a sound.

 

[CouchCoach]

ELO does have a few that could just merge together, but there's a lot of variety for the most part, I think. Also, you can distinguish the individual instruments, where as Boston just has a sound.

Agree and that's why I grew tired of them. But that first album did rock me.

When I was younger, and still do this a little now, I was into the discovery of new artists and turning others onto them and then when they'd get popular, I'd move on. But I did not call them sell outs when they became popular. I just felt my job is done here, need to move on to other artists.

 

[CouchCoach]

I should have had this as my favorite because I bought the first copy sold in the US. I was a frequent shopper at Discount Records in Metairie, LA and the guy working that day accidentally opened the box not ready for release and sold me one. I was in the store that weekend and the manager came over and told me his employee had screwed up and not only did I get it a week early he had found out they were on advance ship for some reason and this was the first one purchased in the US.


I fell in love with this band from the get go and it was my first inoculation into what musicians do when they break away. They backed Burton Cummings in Guess Who and American Woman was their springboard for their sound.

 

[StarMan2112]

 

[aria]

Pretty Hate Machine

Black Sabbath

The Doors

Straight Outta Compton

Facelift

The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

 

[blindzebra]

Murmur REM
Boy U2
Eagles Eagles
Outlandos d'Amour The Police

 

[lukin2006]

Pearl Jam - Ten

 

[DoctorChicken]

Is This It - The Strokes (2001)



Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)



Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division (1979)



The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground (1967)



I’ll stop there for now. Beastie Boys, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Kanye West, Jimi Hendrix and Arctic Monkeys are all deserving too. Plus many more. These are just my favorites.

 

[Runwildboys]

Almost went with this too.