Pre-Sophomore Slump

...or, Best Debut Albums.

Okay, this is just off the top of my head. I refuse to do research until/unless I'm being paid at least $1/word for my output. Therefore, I'm sure I'll be forgetting/omitting obvious candidates. Also, these have to be true debuts, and thus Green Day's Dookie, Tripping Daisy's Bill, Nirvana's Nevermind, etc, don't count since they weren't first releases, even though they were first major releases. Also, I don't count EPs as first releases, and thus even though the Chronic Town EP preceded it, I still will count REM's Murmur, since it was the first full length release.

In no particular order:

• The Cars - The Cars. What can I say? Catchy song after catchy song, and all in a genre that was basically their own.
• The Pretenders - The Pretenders. Very good stuff. Ballads to pseudo punk and everything in between. Any album that has songs such as Brass In Pocket and Tattooed Love Boys on the same release, let alone a debut, has to rank right up there.
• Boston - Boston. Okay, not many songs, and they sound a bit dated now, but still.... an extremely strong debut. Who knew they'd only average an album every decade or so?
• Foo Fighters - Foo Fighters. Who knew that this oeuvre of work was lying dormant behind the drum kit during the Nirvana years? Sort of like Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, with the major difference being that Grohl doesn't suck.
• REM - Murmur. Oh my god. What an album. I loved it when they seemed to be my own little secret during the IRS label days. Then came the singles The One I Love and Losing My Religion and everyone was in on it. Oh well, one shouldn't be selfish.
  
• Pearl Jam - 10. Before they got a bit too self-important, they were a very good band with strong tunes. Then they got a bit self-important. Maybe they can eventually follow the complete U2 model.
• Timbuk 3 - Greetings From Timbuk 3. It's a shame that most just know The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades from this album, as really and truly that is probably the weakest song on the disk. This was the last vinyl I bought, and I bought it at the now-defunct Sound Exchange on The Drag in Austin after seeing the duo perform a couple of blocks down the street at The Hole In The Wall. I love this album, but especially like Friction.
• New Bohemians - Shooting Rubberbands At The Stars. (Or maybe you know them as "Edie Brickell And...."). Lovelovelove these songs. This was a great live band back in the day in Deep Ellum (Dallas, TX). They could jam à la Phish and The Dead, yet they never got quite as monotonous as those bands. Plus they had Edie, who was a great story teller. You could sit for hours hearing her tell about this squirrel in her neighborhood while the band kept a nice little beat going. While the album doesn't capture this energy/free spiritness (I know, that's not a word), it does capture the sonic and lyrical quality of their music. Circle, The Wheel, and of course What I Am are standouts in an album full of stand outs, really.
• Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True. A pop virtuoso is born. 'Nuf said.
• Led Zeppelin - I. Blues meets heavy metal whose DNA recombines with Druid mysticism to give birth do The Golden Gods. It would only get better from here (well, if we forget about Presence).
• Stone Temple Pilots - Core. These guys always got a bad rap about being Pearl Jam clones. I, for one, actually enjoyed STP more than PJ. Slightly better pop sensibilities in their songs without sell0ut or self importance. PJ became a parody of themselves, whereas STP moved forward. Who knows what would have happened if Scott Weiland didn't have such an addictive personality.
• The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground With Nico. Hell, this is where you find Heroin and Venus In Furs. What more do you want? Okay, how about Femme Fatale, I'm Waiting For The Man, There She Goes, and I'll Be Your Mirror? Okay. Stop questioning me on this stuff.
  

Well, that's ten (this is a test), so I'll stop. Yeah, I know the list is skewed towards older stuff, but what can I say? I just haven't bought a CD from a new band that's blown me away in quite the same manner that the above debut albums blew me away (and keep blowing to this day).

Feel free to make your own suggestions and maybe I'll post an updated list (Hahahahaha).