5 Classic Rock Albums That Changed the Course of Music History

Classic rock isn’t very easy to define. There’s no exact period of rock music that would be considered “classic”. If anything, classic rock is a genre that follows us as we age. Songs that came out in 2024 could easily be considered “classic rock” radio fodder in 20 years or so… if radio (or us) still exists. With that in mind, we think these five classic rock albums changed the course of music history in their respective time periods.

1. ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ by The Beatles

One could argue that any of The Beatles’ albums could have made it to our list of classic rock albums that changed history, but we decided to go with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from 1967. We picked this one because it’s an incredible case to be made for pop music as an art form, rather than just capitalist noise meant to pull in a ton of cash. Obviously, The Beatles got even richer with this album; but one can’t deny that it’s an incredibly artistic venture.

2. ‘The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars’ by David Bowie

David Bowie took glam pop and hard rock and smashed them together in an experimental and conceptual way. Through the alter ego of Ziggy Stardust, Bowie inspired a whole generation of listeners in 1972 to bleach their hair and get weird. This album inspired so many musicians in its wake, from Prince to Madonna to Boy George.

3. ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ by Pink Floyd

This wouldn’t be a list of classic rock records that changed history without mentioning this incredible 1973 feat from Pink Floyd. Anyone with functioning ears in the early 1970s was likely impressed with this unconventional album. We’d be bold enough to say that progressive rock wouldn’t have taken off as hard as it did if The Dark Side Of The Moon never came to be.

4. ‘Are You Experienced’ by The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Without Jimi Hendrix, what would rock music have looked like for the latter third of the 20th century? The 21st century, even? Hendrix influenced youngins to pick up a guitar and go to town on it. This particular 1967 album from the Jimi Hendrix Experience was also one of the first to weave together psychedelic sounds and blues rock. We wouldn’t have quite a long list of guitarists who inspire us today without this album to first inspire them.

5. ‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana

Grunge was coming up hot in the early 1990s, and this 1991 album from Nirvana is probably the most memorable of them all. But would it have changed the world if it never happened? That’s debatable for some. However, we probably wouldn’t have seen as huge of a musical renaissance in Seattle at the time without this particular work in the mix. The Britpop movement might have not happened either, considering how many frontmen from that whole era of music have cited Nevermind as one of their inspirations.

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