What is generally considered the most influential album for your favorite sub-genre of rock?

--'The Complete recordings of Robert Johnson' - Blues

Without this album, (which was released originally as two successive collections, one in the 60's and the other in the 70's) the british invasion would not have been what it was and Rock and Roll would not exist in it's current form at all...plain and simple.

--The Beach Boys - 'Pet Sounds' - 60's Pop Rock

Without a doubt, one of the greatest albums ever made and one of my favorites. This albums was the band's response to the Beatles' 'Rubber Soul' and it became the album the Beatles responded to specifically with 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. Brian Wilson's genius laid to track with Phil Spector's famous Wall of Sound made this album the harmonic masterpiece it is.

--Brian Eno - 'Here Come The Warm Jets' - Post Glam Rock

The exact nature of this album is hard to pin down. I like to think of it as being an 'in-between'. It's unique brilliance makes it too fluid and precious to label as any one thing and Post Glam Rock even seems like a misnomer. After his split with Roxy Music, Eno began a stunning solo career as both artist and producer with this album. He would go on to produce for many bands including, notably, The Talking Heads, Devo and Coldplay ('Viva La Vida'). It's one of my absolute favorites....trust me on this one.

--The New York Dolls - 'The New York Dolls' - Post Glam Pre Punk

This band crawled out of nowhere in the early 70's, predating the CBGB era of the late 70's, to produce as pure a punk album as you'll find. Any fan of Punk owes this band and this album everything. Without it, much of what the movement became would not have been at all.

--'Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era 1965 - 1968' - Garage Rock

Another reason for Punk fans to rejoice. Lenny Kaye, future Patti Smith Group guitarist put this beautiful compilation together in the early 70's and it's affect on the musical landscape is notable. Punk began, contrary to popular belief, long before CBGB's and bands like 'The Ramones', 'The Clash' or 'The Sex Pistols'. Punk is an attitude and an aesthetic more than anything else and the first detectable whiff of it's scent came in the mid-sixties as millions of American youth picked up instruments, had maybe a week's worth of lessons and hammered out one or two magnificent singles before sputtering into obscurity. Sure, there were a few exceptions that held tightly onto modest longevity like 'The Standells', 'The Chocolate Watchband', 'The Seeds', 'The Shadows of Knight' and so on, but for the most part, each had it's one shot at 15 minutes. And they had attitude. This music is dripping with it. The artists and musicians that made Punk what it became, worshiped the approach and simplicity of Garage. It's no wonder that this album was the only compilation to make it onto Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

--The Velvet Underground - 'The Velvet Underground & Nico', 'White Light/White Heat', 'The Velvet Underground', 'Loaded' - Nihilistic Rock & Roll

It has been said that anyone who purchased an album by The Velvet Underground in its time either started a band, played in one, produced an album or became involved in music in some way. The band's influence on the course of musical history cannot be understated...so I listed their entire official discography. I'll warn you ahead of time, 'White Light/White Heat' is their most experimental album and can be hard on the ears for many, but 'Sister Ray' is 17 plus minutes of beauty. You can't go wrong with the other three. 'Loaded' is one of my absolute favorite albums and 'Sweet Jane'...my favorite song of theirs, let alone one of my favorites, period.

--The Kills - 'No Wow' - Other than Progressive Indie, I have idea what to call this.

I bought this album on vinyl for a modest $12.00 at a record store in Orlando back in college upon recognizing it from an article on The Coachella Festival in 2005. When I got home, I turned on the tv to watch the Bears game....It was a Sunday. I turned off the sound on the tv, cranked my speakers and dropped the needle, ironically, on side two (apparently, I can't read), but none the less.....I didn't move for a minute or so. I was utterly stunned by what I heard and to this day, I have to listen to the album that same way, side 2 first. There's no telling what if any affect this album up from the muck and primordial sludge will have on music down the road, but it sure hit me like a kick to the teeth. Incidentally, Allison Mosshart of The Deadweather was prior the lead singer of The Kills.

BQ: Sorry, not a fan of those guys.

BQ2: Not in a position to comment

David Bowie's Glam Rock masterpiece: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. Who knows how many people that album influenced. Though of course, most people with any sense know that Bowie is a really influential chameleon of an artist.

BQ: You CAN'T force me to answer that, and besides I can't anyway, since I can only answer questions through Yahoo!Xtra Answers which is the New Zealand version.

BQ2: Chrome is pretty cool indeed. I'm glad that I finally got around to downloading it.

Edit: Glam Rock isn't my only favourite.

Progressive Rock : In The Court of The Crimson King - King Crimson or Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd or Fragile - Yes Alternative Rock : Probably Surfer Rosa by Pixies.

Wow that's a tough one.

Reel Big Fish's album *Monkey's For Nothin and The Chimps for Free* has had a pretty big influence on how a lot of up and coming light punk-ska bands write their songs I guess. I guess Green Day just all together but especially with Dookie and American Idiot change pop-punk.

Oh yeah, how could I forget.

Linkin Park's albums Meteora and Hybrid Theory definetly have had a huge impact on the Nu-Metal genre. Hollywood Undead styles their songs just like them, and so do alot of other bands it seems.

BQ: I like Neutral Milk Hotel but Im not a big fan of these guys.

BQ2: Yesiree. Although I'll admit that it could use FF's library of plug ins and extras.

Grunge

Nevermind - Nirvana is considered the most influential but I think that the actual most influential bands for grunge music are/were: The Pixies, Malfunkshun, Green RIver, Soundgarden, and Sonic Youth

Sgt. Pepper or Days of Future Passed was the most influential for prog. These were before prog really existed, but definitely paved the way with their compositional form and classical influence.

BQ: Or else what

BQ2: I might get it.

The Smiths-The Queen is Dead

No thanks

No because Internet Explorer and Firefox do the same thing.

antics by interpol for alternative

wild gift by x for punk

brigadoon by p:ano for indie pop

i'm going to have to disagree with your interpretation of 'in the aeroplane over the sea''s influence. to even say that people write "extremely cryptic lyics just because jeff mangum did" makes it all seem very fake. 'in the aeroplane over the sea' is influential because it was emotional, noisy, and thematically interesting. syd barrett wrote very abstracted lyrics long before that and there were many people before and in between them. today i was thinking 'the madcap laughs' is what every singer/songwriter is trying to write when they make music, but is possibly too scared to.

the madcap laughs by syd barrett for acoustic outsider junk emotive nonsense word blowing/music

Nevermind - Nirvana

But Superfuzz Bigmuff by Mudhoney is almost as influential as Nevermind, if not better.

BQ: F*ck that.

BQ2: Firefox is better.

"Nevermind" - Nirvana

Definitely the most influential in the grunge movement, disregarding influences that started it (Pixies, etc)