The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
It took a lot of balls (and ovaries, lest we forget Maureen Tucker and Nico herself) to drop an album full of references to heroin use and death on the cusp of the Summer of Love. The Velvets' first album opened the door for all that is best in rock music, even as everyone else was about to sing about wearing flowers in their hair.
Elvis Presley (1956)
It wasn't just the inspiration for London Calling, it was the first rock album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts and unleashed the King upon an unsuspecting (and unready) land. America -- and American television -- would never be the same.
