The debut LP that defines your college years leads to the “difficult” sophomore effort that speaks to your early-20s malaise, which continues to the “mature” third record that coincides with the most crucial romantic relationship of your adult life. If you get in with an artist or band on the ground floor, you hope that your investment of time (and possibly money - artists hope you buy stuff!) will result in life-long engagement in which each subsequent record marks a new milestone in your life. Optimism posits that a debut is the first step on a journey toward fame, fortune, and a credible critical reputation. If people like the record, the artist hopes to make other records that are also liked, hopefully more than this one.īut above all they hope that they don’t, in fact, suck. If the artist achieves this dream, the hope transfers to the possibility that people will actually like their debut. It starts with the hope of the artist who dreams about making a record one day.

The most important thing to understand about debut albums is that they are first and foremost about hope. Did I make room for the first Coldplay record but not the first Beatles album? I’m afraid so. Are there choices that might upset some people? Certainly. I utilized a variety of litmus tests to mitigate my own biases, which I am otherwise transparent about in this column.ĭoes this mean I was completely successful? Probably not. But generally speaking: My personal preference plays a role here, but I also tried to not be a complete authoritarian with my own taste. Now, in order to do this, I established specific criteria that I will share in a minute. That is why I have ranked the 100 best debut records. Here’s a truism about me: I have spent almost my whole life listening to debut albums, and I think I have a good idea about what makes them good.

A great debut can make you, and it can also create framework by which anything you do afterward is judged. And that is supposed to explain why the best debuts are so good - nothing that comes after will ever be prepared with as much thought or be accompanied by higher stakes. There’s a truism about debut albums that an artist or band has their whole life to write one.

Debut album for you