10 Rock Albums That Were Ahead Of Their Time

After having control of the cultural zeitgeist for almost two decades now, rock and roll had started to get a little bit of a stick up its ass. Though there were still great rock acts lighting up the charts around the mid '70s like Bruce Springsteen, some of the more extravagant outfits like Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple seemed to be way too out of reach for the kid on the street hoping to make it one day. We needed a reminder of why we played rock in the first place, and that came from a couple of misfits from the deep boroughs of New York City.

As much as the Ramones' first album might sound more than a little bit rough around the edges, it was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the prog rock explosion going on with acts like Genesis and Yes. Whereas some bands wanted to play these long sweeping songs with solos lasting 5 minutes, here were a couple of guys just throwing together the most concise rock songs they could, with hardly any songs going past 3 minutes across its runtime.

There was also a certain aesthetic that came across in these songs, more in line with the street kid culture of New York City, from 53rd and 3rd talking about turning tricks on the street to the horror themed lyrics going on in Chain Saw. Some may have called it amateurish at the time, and it might seem fairly simple these days, but somewhere in between those mountains of power chords is the blueprint for what made rock and roll so endearing to begin with.