Dave's Music Hall of Fame: Album Inductees (November 2022)

The Top Classic Rock Albums Originally posted 11/22/2022. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the sixteenth group of album inductees. These are the top classic rock albums of all time, with the focus specifically on the 1960s and ‘70s. Previous inductees in this category which ranked in the top 20 of the aforementioned list include AC/DC’s Back in Black; the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; the Beatles’ Abbey Road; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu; Eagles’ Hotel California; Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours; the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Are You Experienced?; Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin IV; Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon; Pink Floyd’s Off the Wall; and the Who’s Who’s Next. See the full list of album inductees here.

Aerosmith Toys in the Attic (1975) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said Aerosmith “finally perfected their mix of Stonesy raunch and Zeppelin-esque riffing” on third album, Toys in the Attic. It vaulted them to a whole new level, selling nine million copies in the U.S. on the strength of now-classic-rock staples like “Sweet Emotion” (the band’s first top-40 hit) and “Walk This Way” (a top-10 hit). Read more.

The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

An argument could be made that the Beatles’ self-titled double album birthed classic rock. It isn’t an album chock-full of radio-for-pop-radio hits but contains a plethora of songs tailor-made for album rock radio, most notably “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “Birthday,” and “Helter Skelter.” This Grammy Hall of Fame inductee spent nine weeks atop the Billboard album chart and has sold over 21 million copies worldwide. Read more.

Boston Boston (1976) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

When it comes to debut albums by American rock bands, only Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction has sold more than this one. Tom Scholz worked on the album six years, doing most of the recording in his home studio. The result was an album where nearly every song (most notably “More Than a Feeling” and “Foreplay/Longtime”) have become classic rock staples. He created “arena rock” before the term existed. Read more.

The Doors The Doors (1967) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

The Doors’ self-titled debut has sold over 12 million copies worldwide, thanks to classic rock staples like ‘Break on Through” and “Light My Fire” (which Dave’s Music Database ranks as one of the top 100 songs of all time). The Library of Congress has added the album to its National Recording Registry and Dave’s Music Database ranks it as one of the top ten psychedelic albums of all time. Read more.

Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti (1975) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

While not as celebrated as Led Zeppelin IV or Led Zeppelin II, Physical Graffiti has become a classic, thanks to songs like “Kahsmir” and “Trampled Under Foot.” The album spent six weeks at #1 in the U.S. and sold over 18 million copies worldwide. The album offers a diverse listening experience because of its mix of archival songs recorded from 1970 to 1972 alongside the newly-written material. Read more.

Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here (1975) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

Here’s another album that seemingly plays second fiddle to the band’s more iconic works, in this case Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall, but this album has established itself as a must-have from a classic rock standpoint. It is only comprised four songs (“Shine on You Crazy Diamond,” “Have a Cigar,” “Welcome to the Machine,” the title cut) but all are familiar who anyone who has ever listened to classic rock radio. It was a #1 album that sold more than 21 million copies worldwide. Read more.

The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (1972) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

Exile on Main Street is, according to AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “regarded as the Rolling Stones’ finest album.” The double album reeks of decadence and hedonism while showing the weariness of a band celebrating its tenth anniversary. It capped what some have considered the greatest four-album-run in rock history. The Grammy Hall of Fame inductee hit #1 in the U.S. and UK and sold seven million copies around the world. Read more.

Bruce Springsteen Born to Run (1975) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

Bruce Springsteen’s first two albums barely hinted at the Boss’ potential, both failing to reach the top 50 on the Billboard album chart. Feeling like he had nothing to lose, Bruce poured himself into his third album, layering it with a Phil Spector-like Wall of Sound and creating the great American rock anthem with the title cut. The Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry inductee reached #3 and sold 10 million copies worldwide. Read more.

Van Halen Van Halen I (1978) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

AllMusic.com’s Greg Prato called this album “one of the all-time best debuts by a hard rock/heavy metal band.” The band had the perfect guitar/frontman tandem with virtuoso Eddie Van Halen and showman extraordinaire David Lee Roth. They swaggered their way through a blistering cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and their original “Runnin’ with the Devil” on their way to ten million in worldwide album sales. Read more.

The Who Tommy (1969) Inducted November 2022 as “Top Classic Rock Albums.”

The Who were one of the most celebrated bands of the British invasion in the latter half of the sixties, but upped their game to an historic level when they released Tommy, their ambitious rock opera about a deaf, dumb, and blind kid who becomes a “Pinball Wizard” (the album’s most iconic song) and messiah-like figure. It became the group’s first top-10, platinum-selling album in the United States and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Read more.