(Sorry for the misfire. An earlier version meant to be saved as a draft got published instead.)
The San Francisco Chronicle poses a fun question: given that some bands took a while to hit their stride, which are the bands that didn’t? What are some great debut albums?
I don’t know their answers, but I’d love to know yours: whose debut albums blew your mind?
For me:
Suzanne Vega. Every song is so good.
The Roches. Ditto.
GP, Gram Parsons. He’d done a lot of recording already, but this album is more exciting than anything he did with the Byrds or Flying Burrito Brothers, in my opinion.
Talking Heads: 77. It’s not even my favorite Talking Heads album–Remain in Light and Little Creatures are particular favorites of mine, probably because I listened to them constantly during high school–but it’s a hell of a debut.
Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, Bruce Springsteen. Again, immediately topped by The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle . . . but “Blinded by the Light”! “For You”! First album!
Horses, Patti Smith. Her utter confidence as a singer is even more amazing when you realize this was her first album and “Gloria” was her way of introducing herself to listeners. She just gets right out there and in your face.
Over to you. Remind me of the 20 great debut albums I’ve forgotten.
Sermons in Stones 
7 comments
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March 18, 2014 at 1:20 pm
Doug Story
Agree about The Roches. More recently Arcade Fire’s first shook my boots. Thanks, will check it out. –AZM
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March 18, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Andy Karlson
Hmmm… Recently Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago was a pretty huge debut. Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star was astonishingly good, even if it never really had a true follow-up. That symphony Mozart wrote when he was 3 was okay. Andrew WK’s I Get Wet blew my brains through my ears. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s self-titled debut is notable since they sold like 50,000 copies of it strictly through self-distribution. Tracy Chapman’s self-titled album was a barn-stormer. …Okay, I’ll stop and get back to work, but thanks for the prompt, Amy! Hahaha! I wondered who would bring up a composer’s Opus 1. I think I have to get For Emma, having been introduced to Bon Iver via Anais Mitchell’s Hadestown. -AZM
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March 18, 2014 at 4:02 pm
Kelley Thompson
The Cars. I was too young to appreciate it when it first came out, but later was impressed how many good songs were on it. I only got to know The Cars (the band) probably when a lot of other people did, with Shake It Up, which hit it pretty big at a stage when I listened to the radio a lot. So I know a few songs, but I don’t think I’ve ever listened to their first album. This is cool–I love all these recommendations. –AZM
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March 18, 2014 at 11:43 pm
Amy Zucker Morgenstern
I thought of two bands I love whose debut albums are famous. I could list Dire Straits, which went up to the top (or close to it) of charts in the US and UK and probably Swaziland, and had a number one single, but to me it can’t hold a candle to my favorite, Love Over Gold. For that matter, I prefer their second album, Communique, which didn’t get a very positive reception, as is often the fate of second releases. I guess their debut belongs on the list for the same reason Asbury Park does, but I kind of hold the overplayedness of “Sultans of Swing” against it.
And I really like The Band, and probably every greatest-rock-albums list ever includes Music from Big Pink, so why didn’t I list it? Because–forgive me–to the best of my recollection, I’ve never listened to it. I’ve heard The Basement Tapes a zillion times and love Planet Waves (I used to be married to a Dylan fanatic), I really like the album Jericho, and I know there was a time when I listened to “It Makes No Difference” over and over (would that have been on The Last Waltz? And was I depressed or something?), but there are some big gaps in my Bandology, and Big Pink is the biggest.
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March 19, 2014 at 12:24 am
Carol Bierach
There are not many times in my life that i have heard a little bit of a song and have been stricken …. riveted to my seat by the sound…. The first time i heard The Shins… Oh, Inverted World is the album…. mesmerized… The whole thing was like nothing I’de heard before…… .It happened again first time i heard My Morning Jacket … all that reverb! and then it may be obvious… but Led Zeppelin 1, this teenage girl’s first taste of the blues…. “I Cant Quit You Baby…. You Shook Me… Geez, how i loved that album!! Thanks, Carol! I haven’t even heard of The Shins! I only know My Morning Jacket from a cover they do of “You’re a Big Girl Now” on Chimes of Freedom, a four-CD set of Dylan by a gazillion different bands. I like their rendition a lot. –AZM
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March 19, 2014 at 12:15 pm
pallas
Soraya’s “on nights like this”
How many votes do we get? No limit. -AZM
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March 19, 2014 at 9:47 pm
Mila Zelkha
The Strokes “Is This It?” blew my mind then and now. Another one that’s totally new to me. This is great. Thanks, Mila! –AZM
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