The 4 Best First Two-Album Runs in Rock History

Stellar rock and roll debuts are special moments in music history. But often, masterpiece first albums are never duplicated.

Guns N’ Roses peaked with Appetite for Destruction. Weezer hasn’t returned to the emo bliss of the Blue Album. The Killers’ Hot Fuss remains their best. And the Sex Pistols broke up after Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols.

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Selecting only four instances of this rare feat still proved to be difficult. The Smiths and The Strokes and The Velvet Underground could be on the list. Patti Smith, too, had a strong one-two punch. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Van Halen released excellent albums to begin their careers. What about The Police, AC/DC, or Black Sabbath?

However, after much subjective deliberation, the list below presents our picks for rock music’s finest two-album runs to begin a career.

Oasis: Definitely Maybe (1994), (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)

Definitely Maybe opens with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star,” a fitting start for Noel and Liam Gallagher, both of whom embodied the lifestyle in vivid tabloid-friendly detail. The album’s singles “Supersonic,” “Shakermaker,” “Live Forever,” and “Cigarettes & Alcohol” shifted ’90s youth culture in the UK. Oasis could have continued releasing singles from the album but Noel said a fifth single would have required him to buy a monkey, referencing Michael Jackson’s famous chimp Bubbles.

In 1995, “Wonderwall” broke Oasis in America. That song, with “Champagne Supernova” and “Don’t Look Back in Anger,” became both stadium and generational anthems.

The Doors: The Doors (1967), Strange Days (1968)

The Doors emerged with a band name borrowed from an Aldous Huxley book. Fueled by acid and blues, Jim Morrison, Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, and John Densmore wholly captured the era’s zeitgeist. Their debut begins with “Break on Through (To the Other Side).” The rest of the album features equally defining songs “Light My Fire” and album closer “The End,” a nearly 12-minute jam featuring Morrison’s drug-fueled spoken-word proclamations.

The same year, Morrison and his band followed their self-titled debut with Strange Days. “People Are Strange” is The Doors’ counterculture anthem. Meanwhile, “Love Me Two Times” fuses Krieger’s highway blues with Manzarek’s baroque harpsichord as Morrison pleads for love before going away.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Are You Experienced (1967), Axis: Bold as Love (1968)

Imagine being Eric Clapton in 1966. You’ve got it pretty good. You have a new supergroup called Cream after successful runs with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds. However, things changed with the arrival of Jimi Hendrix. The opening octave notes on “Purple Haze” announced a genius. The rest of the album dotted the I’s and crossed the T’s: “Manic Depression,” “Hey Joe,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” “Fire,” “Foxey Lady,” and “Red House.” The U.S. and UK editions feature different track listings, but whichever you choose, the result is still one of the greatest debuts in rock history.

Hendrix expanded his sound on Axis: Bold as Love, leaning into his rhythm and blues roots on “Little Wing.” Also, “Castles Made of Sand” and “Spanish Castle Magic” fused R&B with psychedelia as Hendrix had invented a new guitar style. The Experience only released three studio albums, but the first two were enough to floor legends like Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Pete Townshend.

Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin (1969), Led Zeppelin II (1969)

With the opening chords of “Good Times Bad Times,” Led Zeppelin turned up the volume on the American blues music that inspired British teenagers to dig through vinyl bins. Their heavy blues helped pioneer both album-oriented rock and heavy metal. Following stints as a session musician and with The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page and his new band took British blues revivalism to the stadium. On “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You,” “Dazed and Confused,” and “Communication Breakdown,” you can hear the 1960s transforming into the following decade.

But before the ’60s ended, Led Zeppelin II arrived and was even stronger than the first. Perhaps the greatest guitar riff—no, forget that—the greatest guitar riff begins Led Zeppelin’s follow-up album. “Whole Lotta Love” is a Willie Dixon-inspired epic. Robert Plant howls Dixon’s blues, John Bonham—in one song—established the benchmark for rock drumming, and John Paul Jones doubles Page’s droning riff with his thunderous Fender Jazz bass. Then there’s “Heartbreaker,” “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just a Woman),” and “Ramble On.” Remarkably, the two albums were released only 10 months apart.

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