Ask me again tomorrow, and I'll give you a different answer, but I'm going

Nevermind - Nirvana. Because it's as awesome today as it was when I first heard it.
Different Class -Pulp - it is the definitive BritPop album, with the definitive BritPop song (Common People)
Appetite For Destruction - Guns'n'Roses.
The Defamation of Strickland Banks - Plan B - a concept album that works
Dummy - Portishead - flawless trip-hop

I've limited myself to stuff post 83 (that's the year I bought my first album, which was the 'Footloose' sondtrack - obviously I've got better taste since then)

The Beatles: Abbey Road
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Van Halen: 1984
The Eagles: Hotel California
Oingo Boingo: Dead Man's Party

I'm with Pete....ask me tomorrow and I'll give you a different answer...be these have always been in my Cassette Case/CD Rack/on MP3 player

Fucking hate The Eagles.

Oh, man. Watching the music video for Dead Man's Party. It's too fantastic.

+1 to Krellin for The Wall but it's no 1 in my list :P
Can't think of a second one :P

The wall is far from my favourite Floyd album. Animals, wish you were here, and dark side are all better imho. I'm not even sure if the wall would come next for me after that.

a yeah wish you were here is the second best album of all time :P

In no particular order (and like others, tomorrow I might give you an entirely different list--how do you leave off the Kinks, the Mamas & the Papas, the Platters, the Seekers, the Police, Dire Straits, the Pretenders, the Chieftains, etc etc etc... ):

The Beatles: The White Album
Elvis Costello: Armed Forces
The Who: Who's Next
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
Chicago Transit Authority: Chicago Transit Authority

It's amazing how many people know Danny Elfman today as a movie composer, but have no idea about his very successful career with Oingo Boingo. I got to see them for $6 + park admission at an amusement park amphitheater, awesome show.

1. U2 - War (1983)
2. Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses (1987)
3. No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (1995)
4. Eminem - The Eminem Show (2002)
5. Green Day - American Idiot (2004)

krellin im sensing an old stoner in you(:

Pretty diverse list but I have to ask you what you like about American idiot over, say, dookie or nimrod

Dookie and Nimrod are good albums too (I prefer Dookie). I chose American Idiot because I like it better as an album start to finish. Dookie has songs that I really like, and songs which I find more so-so. I think the entire American Idiot album is strong. The AI songs which are not my favorites are still very good. I also like the whole-album theme concept of American Idiot, and the multiple parts of Jesus of Suburbia.

My experience with American Idiot also is enhanced by seeing the musical in Berkeley before it went to Broadway. Between the CD of the musical and the CD of the original American Idiot album, I tend to listen to those songs more often than those from Dookie or Nimrod.

I just asked because I really liked the other two but couldn't stand ai

1. Stereolab - Margerine Eclipse
2. REM - New Adventures in Hi-Fi
3. Sonic Youth - Murray Street
4. The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
5. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St

that's a quick, come to mind, what are my tops lately as this was limited to 5, and ignoring the Beatles

Louder than Bombs, The Smiths
Velvet Underground and Nico, the banana Warhol
Pretty Hate Machine, Nine Inch Nails
The Sky's Gone Out, Bauhaus
Violent Femmes, original

and this was a nice exercise, I hardly ever listen to these nowadays...

kao....old stoner??? Meeeeee?????? lol
Why the Wall get high <lol> ranks...Freshman year in college, first week, some upper classman took a bunch of us to go see the midnight movie of The Wall. I had *zero* expectation of what to expect, and was blown away by the movie. Agree, though that Animals, Wish you Were Here are great. I *love* The Final cut...it's hard to choose the best...but again, the movie tie-in with The Wall makes it stick out for me.

Also would have to say - love Abbey Road...but the White Album, revolver, even Past Masters (vol 2), Sgt Peppers....they are *all* fantastic....how do you choose the best of awesomeness?

+1 Rancher for Louder Then Bombs!
+1 Hanged Man for U2
-1/2 Hanged Man For Tragic Kingdom....it has some of the *worst* production...music is good, she is talanted, but I can hardly stand to listen to the album (on CD...lol) because it is so muddled and out of balance in places. (Yeah...I'm being nit-picky...)

My top albums - (all Australian - no particular order)

Cold Chisel - Twentieth Century
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!
The Triffids - Wide Open Road
Midnight Oil - Diesel & Dust
Jimmy Barnes - For The Working Class Man

1. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell.
2. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells.
3. E.L.O. = Out of the Blue.
4. 10cc - Live and Let Live.
5. Toyah - Anthem.

Hmmmm. Since I've bought music.

U2- War has to be on there. It was the overplayed album of highschool SD.
Stabbing Westward - Wither, Blister, Burn, and Peel would be another one, this was late 90's me.
Black Crowes-Shake Your Moneymaker
REM-Automatic for the People
Nirvana-Nevermind

So many honorable mentions it's not even funny.

In the midst of life we are in death, et cetera.

Lowlife - New Order
Nevermind - Nirvana
Grand Prix - Teenage Fanclub
Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement
I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One - Yo La Tengo

@ Yonni - Did you choose Get Behind Me Satan over other White Stripes albums, or were you just not into them before they put that album out? I love the White Stripes and it's a good album but it really doesn't stand up when compared with White Blood Cells or Elephant (though it's certainly better than Icky Thump, which is pretty all over the place).
Anyway my 5, disgustingly hipster choices, in no particular order:
Ladytron - Witching Hour (2005)
Stars - The Five Ghosts - Stars (2010)
Hot Chip - Made in the Dark (2008)
Wye Oak - If Children (2007) - I've heard their latest album, Civilian is much better but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet.
Horehound - The Dead Weather (2009)

1. Radiohead - Amnesiac
2. White Stripes - White Stripes
3. Fleetfoxes - Fleetfoxes
4. Sleater Kinnery - Dig Me out
5. Manu Chao - Clandestino

Mama was queen of the mambo, papa was king of the Congo...

Ha, you mean you're not a fan of Mexican horns and bagpipes? I actually really like Icky Thump.

That's Kinney

I actually like the Scottish songs on Icky Thump, but I'm less enamoured of Conquest with the Mexican horns. I mean, it's not a bad album. The White Stripes are -- were ='( -- a really great band and even what I would consider their weakest effort, Icky Thump, is still pretty good as an album, but compared with their other stuff, I just don't like it as much. Icky Thump as a whole is just too inconsistent and really weird, but pointlessly so.