10 Most Influential Hard Rock Albums

It was not exactly a good time to be a hard rock fan at the end of the '80s. Whereas the start of heavy rock and glam metal had made one hell of a bang at the start of the decade, the casual silliness and stupid lyrics caused the genre to collapse under its own weight, with Metallica being the only real heavyhitter to maintain themselves. Even though there were tons of glam metal bands dominating the charts, that all changed after one riot in a gym.

With the release of Smells Like Teen Spirit and the accompanying album Nevermind, Nirvana became one of the biggest bands on the planet, formally announcing the arrival of grunge upon the world. Having the same aggression as hard rock with an emphasis on more emotional subject matters, this was also the dawn of alternative music as well, as Kurt Cobain dealt with his own celebrity through his songs.

From start to finish, the album wears its identity proudly on its sleeve, rendering any other pretentious glam act virtually obsolete. While Kurt Cobain might have bad-mouthed his own work at the time, there's no way he could have foreseen the massive impact something like this would have on the entire world of music. To this day, people are still trying to find the next Nirvana, but this is not your average album. This is something that takes you on a ride, so you better be buckled in if you want to catch everything.