I'm trying to avoid anything released in the past few years, since I think it's too early to tell whether some of this stuff is actually classic (although i'd make a strong case for wilco's yhf). That being said here's my list of indie classics. Some of them aren't really indie, but if everyone else is putting Radiohead and the Flaming Lips on their lists, so can I. Here ya go:

Pixies: Doolittle (although Surfer Rosa is a close second)

Pavement: If I had to pick one, I'd say Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but they all have their charm

Replacements: Let it Be

Radiohead: OK Computer/Kid A (tie)

Modest Mouse: The Moon and Antarctica

Guided by Voices: Alien Lanes

Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes

The Cure: A Head on the Door

Talking Heads: Remain in Light

R.E.M.: Life's Rich Pagent

Tom Waits: Is Tom Waits considered indie? He's not mainstream. Anyway, I gotta put Rain Dogs on the list...or maybe Bone Machine

Velvet Underground: VU&Nico or Loaded

Beastie Boys: Check your Head

A few things...
1) I'd add Dinosaur Jr.'s Bug to the mix. I personally prefer it over YLAOM, although it's not as critically lauded.
2) I strongly second the Nada Surf nomination. Let Go may not be widely hailed, but it's millenial indie pop-rock at its best.
3) A friend recommended Wowee Zowee to me because of the guitar work, and all I can say is...what? Why? The album is fine, sure, but the guitars are nothing close to special from my point of view.
4) The hipsters hate me because I like neither The Velvet Underground nor The Pixies. Does that negate my previous comments?

quote:

Originally posted by ¡KevinHess!:
A few things...

3) A friend recommended Wowee Zowee to me because of the guitar work, and all I can say is...what? Why? The album is fine, sure, but the guitars are nothing close to special from my point of view.

I think Pavement has some really interesting guitar work on their albums. It may not be super flashy like Jimi Hendrix or anything, but it's refreshing to hear something that isn't your standard "one guy plays chords while the other guy plays leads" guitar interplay. I think "Brighten the Corners" would've been a better recommendation than "Wowee Zowee" from a guitar standpoint though.

Well, I didn't like Slanted and Enchanted.

I think all of us here are hated by the hipsters for *something*.

Doves - Lost Souls
Bluebottle Kiss - Patient
Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
Beulah - When your heartstrings break
Weezer - Pinkerton
Death Cab for Cutie - The photo album
Badly Drawn Boy - Hour of Bewilderbeast
...Trail of Dead - Source Tags and Codes
Eels - Blinking lights and other revelations (this year I know. A masterpeice nonetheless).
Hot Hot Heat - Make up the Breakdown

Let's not forget one of the most influential albums of all time:

"Marquee Moon" by Television

Also, Talking Heads have had an immeasurable impact on modern indie music. Believe it or not, the live collection "The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads" is probably the best introduction to their music.

Other than those, the essentials have pretty much already been stated, but what the heck:

1. Doolittle - Pixies
2. Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement
3. Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
4. Clouds Taste Metallic - The Flaming Lips
5. Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
6. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
7. I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One - Yo La Tengo
8. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian
9. Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
10. You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr.

Additions:
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
PJ Harvey - Dry
Low - Things WE Lost In THe Fire
Bettie Serveert - Dust Bunnies
joseph arthur - come to where I'm from
the cure - disintegration
dinosaur jr. - green mind
teenage fanclub - bandwagonesque
ride - going blank again

quote:

Originally posted by vlad:
4. Clouds Taste Metallic - The Flaming Lips

i'm glad someone mentioned this. i think it is great lost album. No one ever mentions it while talking about the lips but i tihnk it could be their best.

I must admit that my musical tastes are warped, but here goes. My list of “classic” indie albums are…

Primrods: Kneecappin’
Camper Van Beethoven: Key Lime Pie
Texas is the Reason: Do You Know Who You Are?
Circus Lupus: Super Genius
Craw: Lost Nation Road
Kill Creek: St. Valentine’s Garage
Archers of Loaf: Icky Mettle
The Smalls: My Dear Little Angle
Tanner: Ill-Gotten Gains
Drive Like Jehu: Drive Like Jehu (self titled)
Shellac: At Action Park
Bittermen: Frequency
Seaweed: Spanaway
The Jesus Lizard: Shot
1000 Mona Lisas: New Disease

…those are the one’s that I’ve noticed throughout the years where the entire album was just that good.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Echolocating,

Olivia Tremor Control- Dusk at Cubist Castle
Wilco- Being There
Modest Mouse- Building Nothing Out of Something
Pixies- Doolittle
Violent Femmes- Violent Femmes
Sparklehorse- Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
Palace Brothers- There is No One What Will Take Care of You

all 5 white stripes albums
"s/t"
"De Stijl"
"White Blood Cells"
"Elephant"
"Get Behind Me Satan"

Beck "sea change"
"Odelay!"
"Mutuations"

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club "Howl"

Sufjan Stevens "Illinoise"

It's a little known fact that if you play Pixies' DOOLITTLE and Belle And Sebastian's IF YOU"RE FEELING SINISTER at the same time you get the first Velvet Underground album. I can't remember if I read that in the New England Journal of Medicine or Harper's Index.

Pavement, "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain" and "Slanted and Enchanted," all their albums are greatgreatgreat stuff.

i'll just put my favourites...even though say, TSB was released on a major label and isn't really 'indie rock', and other questionable albums...

Pavement-Wowee Zowee/CR, CR
Broken Social Scene-You Fogot it in People
Clinic-Internal Wrangler
Neutral Milk Hotel-In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Mercury Rev-Boces/Deserters Songs
The Flaming Lips-Clouds Taste Metallic/The Soft Bulletin
Beck-Odelay
Belle & Seb-Tigermilk (better than)/If You're Feeling Sinister
Ride-Nowhere
My Bloody Valentine-Loveless
Sonic Youth-Daydream Nation/Sister
Hood-Cold House/Outside Closer (not really indie rock, but...so what?)
Yo La Tengo-Painful/I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Spoon-Girls Can Tell/Kill The Moonlight
all the Pixies' albums
The Walkmen-Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone/Bows and Arrows
Elliott Smith-Either/Or
Red House Painters-s/t (the one with the Rollercoaster)
Low-Things We Lost In The Fire
Explosions in the Sky-How Strange, Innocence/Those Who Tell The Truth.../The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

etc, etc, plus more that may not be strictly indie rock or may not be considered classics.

About Modest Mouse (The Moon & Antarctica):
The Moon and Antarctica is a good album, a nice
introduction to Modest Mouse, but it is not a
classic and never will be. It is the next logical step for the casual "Float On" Modest Mouse listener to take. It hints at their intoxicating "dead seagull" sound, without scaring away those attracted to radio friendly "Float On."
As a Issaquah High alumni and a listener since their first album was released in 1996, I suggest Modest Mouse fans looking for more listen to the true "Classic" albums.
If you're Modest Mouse experience centers around The Moon & Antarctica or Good News for People Who Love Bad News, put those albums away. Chill out to This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, which include classics Dramimine, Mechinical Birds, and Make Everyone Happy (the last 3 minutes highlight exactly what a dead seagull sounds like) or ride the indie rock wave from the top of the ocean to the bottom of the sky through The Lonesome Crowded West, highlighted by Teeth Like God's Shoeshine, Cowboy Dan, and Doin the Cockroach. Those are classics, those are albums you should listen to.
Trust me, you won't be dissapointed.



, giving glimpses of their intoxicating sound without scaring the casual Indie listener away, except for Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes and A Different City, which are full of a beautiful dead seagull sound that took my college roommate more than a year to learn to tolerate. This is a Long Drive for Someone With Nothing to Think About is a Classic Album, full of songs featuring that dead seagull sound (Make Everyone Happy is a brilliant example, especially the last 3 minutes of the song). A must listen to is Lonesome Crowded West. Teeth Like God's Shoeshine and Doin the Cockroach show how talented Modest Mouse truly is. Isaac Brock is amazing.

I must also say: I need to learn how to post. Sorry bout that.

My classics, in a less orthodox way, are:

ARAB STRAP - Philophobia
BECK - ODELAY
BELLE & SEBASTIAN - The Boy With The Arab Strap
BETH ORTON - Trailer Park
BLACK BOX RECORDER - England Made Me
BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY - I See A Darkness
CHOKEBORE - Black Black
COCOROSIE - La Maison de Mon Reve
DINOSAUR JR. - Where You Been
FEHLFARBEN - Monarchie und Alltag
THE FLAMING STARS - Pathway
THE FLAMING STARS - A Walk On The Wired Side
GANG OF FOUR - Entertainment!
GOLDFRAPP - Felt Mountain
GRANDADDY - The Sophtware Slump
THE HANDSOME FAMILY - Milk And Scissors
HÜSKER DÜ - Zen Arcade
JOHNNY DOWD - Wrong Side Of Memphis
JOY DIVISION - Closer
JOY DIVISION - Unknown Pleasures
LAIKA - Sounds Of The Satellites
LAMBCHOP - Is A Woman
MAZZY STAR - Among My Swan
MODEST MOUSE - The Moon And Antarctica
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
NICK CAVE - No More Shall We Part
PJ HARVEY - To Bring You My Love
PERE UBU - The Modern Dance
PERE UBU - Terminal Tower
PORTISHEAD - Dummy
RADIOHEAD - Kid A
RED HOUSE PAINTERS - Ocean Beach
ROBERT WYATT - Rock Bottom
SIMON JOYNER - Hotel Lives
SLOWDIVE - Souvlaki
SMOG - The Doctor Came At Dawn
SONGS: OHIA - Didn’t It Rain
STINA NORDENSTAM - Dynamite
SUGAR - Copper Blue
TEAM DRESCH - Personal Best
THE FALL - Hex Enduction Hour
THE FALL - Perverted By Language
THE FALL - Grotesque (Under The Gramme)
THREE MILE PILOTS - Another Desert, Another Sea
TINDERSTICKS - Curtains & I & II
TOCOTRONIC - Tocotronic
TRICKY - Maxinquaye
WHISKEYTOWN - Strangers Almanac
WILCO - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
XIU XIU - Fabulous Muscles

Some good i-Pod classics there, but REAL classics are older, although I caught some late '70s on there. But no Television, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, Wire, Ramones, Clash, Steely Dan, Roxy Music, Byrds, CCR, Zep, Hendrix, Who, Kinks, Stones, Dylan, Beatles ?

This is the indie rock section of the board, isn't it? My idea of indie rock classic albums is very different from my idea of all-time classic albums.

Heres my view of the classic indie albums:

Neutral Milk Hotel's Aeroplane Over the Sea reigns over all in my eyes, but not necessarily a good album to buy first to get into indie rock (On Avery Island is also a good one to own)

I agree that all Pavement are must owns, along with the Flaming Lips and Radiohead (Viewed Alternative by many now however)

these are essential:
Lonesome Crowded West- Modest Mouse
Perfect From Now On/Theres Nothing Wrong with Love- Built to spill
Alien Lanes/Bee Thousand- Guided by Voices
Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
Surfer Rosa - Pixies
Murmur- R.E.M.
Let it Be - Replacements
Day Dream Nation - Sonic Youth
Violent Femmes
You're Living ALl over me- Dino Jr.

I"m a big fan of Weezer's Pinkerton and that, along with the Shins and Flaming Lips is what really got me into Indie Rock so i would consider it classic

Television and The Fall is all classic stuff and finally the Red Hot Chili Pepper's Freaky Styley is classick indie FUNK just because a band is big now doesn't mean their once "classic indie album" is now "unclassic"