People often talk about second album syndrome, and the pressures that follow a great first record. Often it can overshadow conversation around the debut itself: “Brilliant album… shame about the second one.”
But while it’s true that many an artist has struggled to meet expectations after a triumphant beginning, it shouldn’t take away from the achievements made on those first records. They serve as statements of intent and have the power to change or reshape the industry, inspire fellow musicians, and drive essential conversation about our understanding of music.
Whether it’s the rock on The Strokes’ much-hyped 2001 album Is This It or the rap prowess of Notorious BIG on Ready to Die, introducing a genre to the rest of the world via Daft Punk’s Homework or creating a new one entirely with Black Sabbath – debut albums can take a previously unknown artist and lift them up to global adulation.
Here are 35 of the greatest debut albums of all time:
35) Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (2006)
A new wave of British guitar bands was already being pioneered by the likes of The Libertines, Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand when the Sheffield-formed Arctic Monkeys arrived on the scene. But their 2006 debut – the defiantly titled Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – is arguably the most generation-defining, by a band experiencing the kind of hype that hadn’t been seen since Oasis with Definitely Maybe. Alex Turner’s sardonic and keenly observational lyrics on songs like “Fake Tales of San Francisco” and “When the Sun Goes Down” had fans clamouring to get into their early shows. It was an early example of the power the internet would hold over the music industry – propelling them from an unknown indie band on MySpace to the top of the charts in the space of six months.
34) The Beatles – Please Please Me (1963)
Please Please Me has a rhythm to it like little else released by The Beatles. Songs like “Twist and Shout” and “I Saw Her Standing There” have an energy that reflects the youthful vim of the band themselves, who were raring to go following the number one single from which the album takes its name. Their harmonies are thrilling to hear, and this is arguably the best album for capturing the band’s raw power.
33) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever to Tell (2003)
In 2003, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs stuck a middle finger up to the naysayers who scoffed that they were little more than a bunch of posers. Their debut album Fever to Tell is a bristling record loaded with New York snark supplied by Karen O’s impressive vocal turns. Nick Zinner keeps the urgency going with roaring guitar licks while Brian Chase offers earth-shaking percussion on the likes of “Date With the Night” and “Y Control”. More than trendsetters – the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the brains behind the smartest album of that year.
32) Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand (2004)
Kanye West called it “white crunk music”. The band themselves called it “music for girls to dance to”. And songs such as “This Fire” certainly livened things up their irresistible hooks and disco energy, as frontman Alex Kapranos turned the male gaze on its head with lyrics like “I can feel your lips undress my eyes”. Fifteeen years later and “Take Me Out” still makes you swing your hips.
31) Oasis – Definitely Maybe (1994)
Blur versus Oasis is a battle music fans will be waging for decades to come, but when it comes to debut albums, Oasis emerge as top dogs. Definitely Maybe was exciting, aggressive and loaded with attitude: a 22-year-old Liam Gallagher spits and snarls over the reverb-soaked guitars of “Cigarettes & Alcohol”, and soars on that falsetto for “Live Forever”. Among the “too cool for school” alt-rockers who spurned the glitz and glamour of fame, Oasis asserted themselves as the definitive rock and roll stars.
30) Lady Gaga – The Fame (2008)
Stefani Germanotta’s debut album The Fame brought maximalist pop back to the forefront of the late-Noughties music scene, in an industry that was desperately lacking in pop divas. Lady Gaga already sounded famous and she acted famous – but that doesn’t mean her music couldn’t stand on its own. Songs like “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich” and “Just Dance” seemed to convey Gaga’s love of fame and hedonism while remaining supremely self-aware of its superficiality. To top it off, it was masterfully produced and resplendent with slick, catchy dancepop and Eurodisco influences.
29) Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d City (2012)
Kendrick Lamar subtitled his debut record “A Short Film by Kendrick Lamar”, and indeed it feels as though you’re watching the movie of his early life – such is the autobiographical nature of this record. He raps in low, furtive tones, interrupted by voicemails from his family (his mother asks him pleadingly to return her car) that reinforce the familial themes. It is family, and faith, that keep Lamar on the outskirts of a world of violence and sin. Even this early on his career you hear the virtuosity and acute understanding of rhythm – Good kid, m.A.A.d City now stands as a classic album from a rapper who chooses the power of storytelling over a cheap punchline.
28) Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (1969)
