10 Perfect Albums That Changed Rock History

Rock has certainly gone through its fair share of growing up throughout the years. The kind of rock and roll that got people excited make in the '50s is much different than what were listening to today, and we're a lot better for it. If there's one thing that can be considered timeless though, it's when you get to see the style of rock changing in real time.

During various points in rock's development, there have been those few albums that signal the moment when the tides start to change. Whether it be a new style of music or just people kicking the latest trends to the curb, these were the albums that made everyone wake up and change their way of thinking the moment they heard it. When you're talking about albums like these though, the power of the songs doesn't exactly show you the whole picture.

You also have to take into account the influence these songs had on future generations, making fans want to start bands of their own purely because of their love of these songs. If anything, it's a miracle that we even have records like these around today. Because if these albums never came into existence, rock and roll would definitely be in a much different place than where it ultimately ended up.

When you think of '80s music, you can pretty much paint a decent picture in your mind as to what it was like. Either you had the new wave rock on one side of the spectrum, and on the Sunset Strip there was the hair metal bands that were making an alpha male (and more than a little bit misogynistic) take on rock and roll. So out of that decade, how the hell did something like the Joshua Tree manage to shine above all the rest?

Looking at it these days, U2's masterpiece feels almost out of time, having none of the signature tropes that you would think of in the '80s. What it did have though was a ton of good ideas, with the Edge's guitar sound being copied for years on end, with some guitarists still trying to figure it out. As far as the lyrics go, this is also the moment where U2 became a band for the people, making songs that sound like they could be spiritual hymns depending on how you sing them.

The biggest strength though is for just how universal these songs are. Despite having some of the typical U2 tropes like the delayed guitar, this record is one of the few records that sound as modern today as it did back in 1987. It's not that we haven't come very far...it's just that these Irishmen were that forward-looking.