It was 44 years ago that...


Parlaphone released the Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'.
What other albums can be considered having as much impact, actually altering the direction of a music genre?
montejay
Sure DSOTM set all kinds of Billboard Top 200 longevity records and sounds great, but I wouldn't say it altered a genre in any way. It's a slick Sgt. Pepper's style theme album and PF's total sellout effort. But no denying its success. Meddle marks their last art rock album. PF early adopters know the difference between grits and gravy. So here's a vote for Pink Floyd's Saucerful of Secrets, welcome to extended cut space rock.
Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited". The first fully electric album. Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run". A break out record for the boss, that changed what rock and roll is, could be and is compared to for ever.
Bongo knows my take on the place of rap, hip-hop, or whatever they are currently calling lyric poetry set to someone else's music, but I whole-heartedly agree with Innervisions and What's Going On. Both are genre defining. Innervisions is just mind-blowing from an originality and artistic standpoint. It's one of those "Where The F___ did that come from" moments. The only thing that comes close to those, and it's for me, prob not for everyone, was Nirvana. I remember the first time I heard "Smell's Like Teen Spirit" in the car. I was driving down Shepard Dr in Houston, and I was about at W Alabama midway through the song. I pulled into Cactus Records and bought the CD. Cactus is still around, thank God, even though I'm moving to Oklahoma. Going to miss Houston.