10 Rock Music Albums That Were Way Ahead Of Their Time
8. Horses - Patti Smith
The great injustice regarding the musical career of Patti Smith is that she's best known for a song written by somebody else.
Because the Night, which was co-penned by Bruce Springsteen, might be her biggest hit, but there's so much more to Smith than just that one song.
Take her debut album Horses from 1975.
Releasing just a few months before the Ramones' first record, Horses is considered by many today to be the first punk album. Its combination of powerful music and well-crafted lyrics helped take the genre to new heights and was the guiding light for the punk explosion that was about to happen.
Horses would also go on to inspire new wave and alt rock acts for years to come. Siouxsie Sioux is a big fan of this record, as is R.E.M's Michael Stipe.
Had it come out 15 years later, we might be talking Horses as one of the best alternative albums of the 90s.
Though she's certainly done alright for herself, Patti Smith was most definitely born a decade or so too early. We'd happily sacrifice Because the Night to see what that world looks like.