[Robert Anton Wilson]

Sgt Pepper: Good milestone: Legitimised the LP as an art form like never before. Legitimised "pop" music is quality art and no just as disposable entertainment. Gave pop/rock music its lettre de noblesse and allowed to sit beside classical music and jazz while holding its head high.

I guess some could argue that either The Clash or the Sex Pistols represent a milestone. To me that would represent a neutral milestone. Positive in that yes it is true that rock was starting to "corporatise" itself a little too much but negative in that the musical quality of the output was low taken into account the youth energy canalised herein, we ought to have gained more in my opinion. Punk was more of a social milestone than a music one for me as opposed to grunge in the 90's which did what punk intended to do musically but without truly changing society itself..

Thriller (Michael Jackson): Bad milestone: The rockers lost. Pop/rock music was in difficulty. The old dinosaurs couldn't make quality albums anymore and the new pop/rock artists were reinventing the wheel instead of going forward. Disco had made serious attacks on rock music but disco was not serious. It was disposable entertainment. Music that you put on to dance and have a good time but do not see as "art". Then Michael Jackson released Thriller and became the King of Pop. Rock was no longer the master, pop music was. Pop being defined as rock music that you can dance to ... oh! the horror! Of course teh treason was made worse by the fcat that the solo on Beat It was played by Eddie Van Halen. The typical argument against disco or dance music that it is crap music did not hold anymore because the album was very well produced and the music artfully played. This album broke the stranglehold of rock music (which was very weak by that time anyway) and opened the door to dance music, pop which eventually became rap, hip hop and ...... Oh! the Horror!

Smells Like Teen Spirit: Good milestone: The return of the guitar. The realisation of what punk had attempted to do. The advent of affordable electronic instruments and synthesisers had opened a door to non talented musicians to produce hit songs with just a catchy line or a minimal boom-tchiki-boom beat (equivalent to what auto-tune has produced more recently). Grunge and the Seattle bands explosion brought some musicianship and testosterone back onto the charts. I mean even today's crooner are better than the 80's one (e.g. compare Michael Bubble to Rick Astley).

OK Computer: Good milestone: Geeky, intellectual music can top the charts. I do not know exactly when the word "alternative" music was replaced by "indie" but the success of Radiohead and particularly the massive sales of OK Computer was instrumental to this. Before Radiohead, bands were either raw (Nirvana, Pearl Jam) or clean (U2, REM), Radiohead managed to keep the raw energy of grunge/rock bands and appeal to the guts while still providing musical food for thought and appeal to the brain also.

I do debate whether Arcade Fire's Funeral can be considered as a milestone album. Argument for: it marked the return of the more standard song form so typical of the early Beatles/Beach Boys and even early Stones era while not sacrificing too much of the musical complexity that had been introduced to the top of the charts by Radiohead. Argument against: was that standard song form really ever absent of the charts which would mean that while Funeral is significant in the intensity of its success it would however not be a very significant indication of change in the overall picture, just a particularly good album of the time.

All of these albums have one thing in common, while everybody expected a good album from these bands at that time (only in the case of Nirvana was it a debut album), no one expected that album and no one expected that level of success.

I am still waiting for my next milestone album. Of course, I do not mean that there has been no milestone album since 1999, but since rock, my favorite style as you must have guessed by now, is no longer leading the ball, many of the milestone albums I just do not care for and therefore cannot comment on. I know that in recent years there has been important new emerging style such as trance, dub, hip-hop, posts-whatever for which there has to be some milestones albums but for me, they are not significant.

Which albums represent significant milestones in the history of music according to YOU. According to you, not according to the critics.

[Guest]

I like the idea.


Here are some asian albums


Oidupaa Vladimir Oiun's "Divine Music From A Jail" (1999):

Of course there's the political prisoner story which I'm not too familiar with, I think Oiun spent about 30 years in work camps before recording this album. But the milestone is in the original yet simplistic idea. Central Asian throat singing (kargyraa style), an art form that goes who-knows how far back, combined with an accordion to make 18 incredibly well-crafted, legendary tunes.


Kazumoto Endo's "While You Were Out" (1999):

Japanese noise music (or "Japanoise") has been a growing scene since the 80s. Many artists are highly prolific (Merzbow, Hijokaidan, the Gerogerigegege) yet many albums felt more like a wall of sound or mere free-form bashing of instruments rather than something crafted. Kazumoto does something different. The noises continually change pattern and pace, uses various bizarre things as instruments (thought I heard a car-like engine at one point), and throws some pop-music samples into the mix. A memorable experience to sit through.


Boredoms' "Seadrum/House of Sun" (2004):

It appears most people would rather say the Boredom's album "Vision Creation Newsun". I disagree. IMO the song "Seadrum" alone kicks the ass of that entire album. With the mindset of milestones though, it's in the level of detail. "Seadrum" pushes rhythm and beats over the edge. "House of Sun" pushes psychedelia to something perhaps more mentally exhausting than the previous song.


Li Jianhong's "San Sheng Shi" (2008):

Li is an experimental figure of China I suppose, who owns an independent record label. This album/song is like the guitar solo to end all guitar solos. It's difficult to think of much more to say.

[Yourselfisntsteam]

Ignoring Jazz and genres and stuff I know absolutely nothing about (also I'd include some more accessible albums but I'm an asshole):
Ones I don't feel like writing about:
Popol Vuh- In Den garten Pharoas
Black Sabbath- Paranoid
Beefheart- Trout Mask Replica

Faust- Faust
-Look at us! Our weirdo mix of musique concrete and psychedelic jamming and dadism is going to be one of the first examples of industrial music and anticipate noise music! Oh and the way our still guitar based music focuses on atmosphere, effects and timbre (not to mention to building jams on missfortune) will also anticipate post-rock 20 years early! One more thing, this album is like a fucking great early example of music that seems to be made out of reconstructed fragmented cultural debris!!!!!!

Kraftwerk- Trans Europe Express
-SHIT, Kraftwerk are like, one of the first groups to put electronic music into a really really really really really really catchy minimal pop format!!!!! Oh and their wry sense of humour and vaguely conceptual approach to their albums will make our music even more memorable!!!!!!!!

Swans- Filth
-Lots of rock music has been about hatred, nihilism, evil and self loathing right? Well Swans have gone and taken that to its absolute fucking extreme! Music of nothing but cyclical robotic rhythms, incredibly dissonant guitar dirges and ambiguously hateful mantras shouted by a singer with one fucked up worldview! We'll influence all sorts of noise and avant music, and anticipate some elements of extreme metal (Godflesh, Neurosis)!!!!!! Oh and then on our album Children of God Swans will take this format and mix it with folk music and reinvent spiritual music for nihilists and manic depressives!!!!!!!

Autechre- Confield
-So like here is where Autechre take that oh so wonderful 90's idm sound they had been fooling around in for years and take it to its logical conclusion: completely fragmented rhythms and cold claustrophobic soundscapes. There is now nowhere left to go with our rhythmic/atmospheric electronic music (okay there is/was, but this makes it sound like there damn well isn't)! Who needs emotional expression in music when something so academic and cold sounding can be so damn awesome???????!!!!!!!

Boxhead Ensemble- Nocturnes, or Quartets, or Two Brothers
-Shit, these guys like take Folk music, pull it apart, and then totally rebuild it as abstract arty ambient drone chamber music something or other something something. "Post-post rock" as a review on rym put it! FUCK YEAH

[purple]

Based on my uberlimited musical knowledge, I would consider these milestone albums. I have no idea what I'm doing.

Robert Johnston - Complete Recordings: started rock 'n roll, maybe??? profit???

Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz To Come: forerunner of free jazz, bitchez

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue: kickstarted modal jazz, and Kenny G, and banging ladies based on soft instrumentals.

Beatles - Meet the Beatles: Beatlemania, ya'll... has lasted 40 years almost. Condenses the likes of Roy Orbison and Buddy Guy (TX ftw)

The Damned - Damned Damned Damned: the first punk album. Let the new world begin...

Suicide - Suicide: the first American electroalbum. Still blows most electro albums out of the water.

Gang of Four - Entertainment!: to my knowledge, the first post-punk album.

Black Flag - Damaged: to my knowledge, the first hardcore album.

Nirvana - Nevermind: Commercial change to grunge

Nas - Illmatic: gangsta rap becomes great

idk past 1996 or so... still so new...

[Norman Bates]

[Norman Bates]

[Norman Bates]

[Johnnyo]

If your talking about albums which changed the course of music then how about the 1st Black Sabbath album. So awesomely brilliant & the template for a million albums that followed in it's wake.

[CellarDoor]

[Robert Anton Wilson]