10 Perfect Rock Albums For Pop Music Fans

10. #1 Record - Big Star

Part of the problem that comes with rock and roll is not having the hookiness that comes with traditional pop music. Since the music that we sing along to every time it comes on the radio has been replaced with distorted guitars and vocals, it's a bit of a hard sell trying to get the mainstream crowd into that overnight. Or you could just make a pop album in rock clothing and slip it under everybody's noses.

Despite the laughably pretentious album and band name, Big Star had a lot of unique quirks going for them in the early days, with a sound that felt like an Southern spin on what bands like the Raspberries were doing around the same time. Unlike Eric Carmen's piano on All By Myself though, the main attraction here is the guitar interplay, with Alex Chilton and Chris Bell bringing a jangly melodicism into the mix that hadn't been heard since the days of folk rock and the Byrds.

You can also really hear their influences from pop music, especially with a knock out chorus like the Ballad of El Goodo. Over the years, Big Star also feels like one of those bands where people know the song but not the group, as evidenced by Cheap Trick remaking their song In the Street and turning it into the theme song for That '70s Show. Outside of a few crunchy guitar songs here and there, this is one of the few rock albums that feels like a distant cousin of pop.