Synthwave is a genre that has taken a life of its own recently. Between movie soundtracks and mainstream pop stars adopting the genre more and more frequently, this current era will look back at the defining albums that have shaped this new movement. While some have contributed to popularizing the genre, others have solidified a new generation that is very much redefining its rules. When the pioneers pass down the torch, evolution happens, and the bodies of work that shaped the genre into what it is today are definitely a mix of classic and new. Here are the 10 greatest Synthwave albums of all time:

Top 10 Most Underrated Synthwave Songs Of All Time

10 “AKUMA II” (2019) by Tokyo Rose & ALEX

Tokyo Rose and ALEX are quite an impressive team. Having worked together on multiple projects (outside of their solo outings), including two full albums, the pair has more than once proven themselves to be two of the most accomplished artists in the Synthwave universe. That said, out of their entire body of work to date, it is their second team-up album “AKUMA II” (the follow-up to 2017’s “AKUMA”) that solidified them as all-time greats.

From its very first single “Affliction”, released with a stunning animated music video, “AKUMA II” immediately let people know that it was raising the bar to new heights, and fans were in total shock. The Darksynth album is strong, sinister and as bad-ass as you could expect a Tokyo Rose & ALEX album to be, and their impeccable production work made it one of the few Synthwave albums to ever chart on Billboard. “AKUMA II” is an absolute banger, and that undoubtedly deserves its place in the Synthwave hall of fame.

9 “Galactic Melt” (2011) by Com Truise

American producer Seth Haley (A.K.A Com Truise) is a true legend of Synthwave, and some would even argue that he is one of the essential pioneers of the genre’s current incarnation. He has been around for the better part of a decade now, but nothing has proven his ultimate OG status more than his groundbreaking 2011 debut album “Galactic Melt”.

The soft, dreamy and groovy style of this album is, in the eyes of many, a masterpiece that could entirely be credited for the rise of the popular sub-genre known as Chillwave. Com Truise delivered a unique album composed of incredibly clever and complex melodies, genius sound design, and an overall vibe that was unheard of at the time. His following albums have all been successes of their own, but nothing can beat the raw mastery of “Galactic Melt”.

8 “Night Drive” (2018) by Timecop1983

Any Synthwave enthusiast, old or new, has heard the name Timecop1983 before. And if they haven’t, they have at least heard his music before, without being aware that it was him. After all, the Dutch producer has given us some of the genre’s biggest go-to hits of ever made, most of which are tracks from his 2018 album “Night Drive”.

And it’s not like “Night Drive” was a breakout hit for Timecop1983 — he was already one of the biggest stars amongst the community, but it was definitely the album that made people understand that no one was going to take his throne anytime soon. His talent and his mind-blowing ability to capture the atmosphere and aesthetic of the 80’s through his incredible productions is unparalleled, and he definitely brings the “retro” in the term Retro Wave.

7 “Sleepwalking” (2018) by NINA

Nina Boldt, better known as NINA (or the Mother of Synthians), is definitely one of the top muses of the Synthwave world. A powerful presence with a vibrant creativity, she is not afraid to change things up, and she has done an amazing job at developing a sound with a very strong identity, which she showed off in quite an efficient way in “Sleepwalking”, her 2018 fan favorite debut.

The German singer-songwriter shocked everyone with a genuinely brilliant first album, full of now iconic hits like “Beyond Memory”, or the title track “Sleepwalking”, which was praised for its amazing vocal work and breathtaking music video. The neat production style found in “Sleepwalking” has definitely become a bit of a signature for NINA, and her music has largely proven to be some of the greatest and most beloved Synthwave out there.

6 “Neon West” (2019) by Wayfloe

As far as Synthwave goes, it is safe to affirm that Wayfloe, the mysterious duo from Canada, is slowly turning into royalty. Their unique artistic universe has a highly unpredictable nature, and a sound beyond anything the genre has ever known. In a few words, Wayfloe have developed their own style, and their debut album “Neon West” is an artistic triumph that nobody saw coming. From its very first notes, the album immediately confirmed the duo’s status in the community.

Wayfloe are one of the few entities that are versatile enough to incorporate a variety of music genres in their Synthwave based sounds. Whether it’s Hip-Hop, Rock, Electro or Pop, their ability to add their own spin on any genre is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. They are not afraid to experiment, and they make every single song something truly special. MixMag reported in 2020 that their second album (titled “Celestials”) is officially on the way, and needless to say, we are waiting for it with impatience.^[1]

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5 “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” (2011) by M83

Anthony Gonzalez, more commonly known as M83, is a true prodigy that has been around for quite a while. He has a style that differs from any other artist in the Synthwave world, and it has proven so successful that he was able to branch out into massive projects. Between making the official soundtrack of the 2013 Tom Cruise film “Oblivion”, and composing an entire score for the Cirque Du Soleil’s 2017 show “Volta”, it seems like there is nothing M83 cannot do. And his 2011 album “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” is probably the biggest example of Anthony’s endless imagination.

This album is a work of wonder that took the entire world by storm, mainly thanks to his timeless classic “Midnight City”, which has since become the single most famous Synthpop song of all time. The highly cinematic aspect of his music is what makes it stand out, as M83 manages to seamlessly blend a colossal variety of genres to create something that feels out of this world. “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” is not only one of the best Synthwave albums ever made. It is easily one of its most unique.

4 “Love Is Dead” (2018) by CHVRCHES

The endeering sub-genre known as Synthpop has had quite the reinvention in the past decade. And no one in this current era has mastered the “retro yet modern” art of Synthpop better than UK-based band CHVRCHES. Lauren Mayberry and her band mates have had such a monumental impact on the genre in the last few years, they have become the face of Synthpop in the eyes of the world. And it is all thanks to their third album “Love Is Dead”.

This fun, energetic and quirky album has met a level of success that has yet to be equaled in the Synthwave world. With some of its songs having been streamed over 100 million times on Spotify alone, “Love Is Dead” is actually the genre’s biggest album ever made in terms of pure numbers. It is a true work of art that will go down in History as a pillar of modern Synthpop.

3 “Endless Summer” (2016) by The Midnight

The Midnight is probably the most well-known Synthwave entity when it comes to mainstream audiences. The American/Danish duo has become king of the genre over the years, and few Synthwave artists have as much recognition as them. Many of their songs are undeniable classics, and a majority of them are from their 2016 album “Endless Summer”.

A highly respected body of work, “Endless Summer” is an essential of Synthwave culture that redefined the genre’s standards in terms of style and quality. With songs like “Sunset” and “The Comeback Kid”, the album is a real love letter to the 80’s and its very particular aesthetic. The Midnight is one of the few Synthwave entities to have charted on Billboard, and “Endless Summer” definitely paved the way for more artists to do so.

2 “Tron: Legacy” (2010) by Daft Punk

Synthwave is a music genre that is very cinematic by nature, so it is no surprise that one of the greatest Synthwave albums ever made is an actual movie soundtrack. It is also no surprise that Daft Punk is behind yet another one of the greatest albums of all time. Go figure.

Disney’s “Tron: Legacy”, the sequel to the 1982 cult classic “Tron”, was released in theaters in December 2010, along with its unbelievable soundtrack from the robots of Paris. The instrumental album is a cinematic and groovy trip in the futuristic world of Tron, and it greatly contributed to the popularization of the Synthwave genre with general audiences, especially with the now legendary banger “Derezzed”.

Disney has recently announced that a new Tron, film starring Jared Leto, is in development at Disney, and while there has been no official announcement about Daft Punk’s possible return for a brand new soundtrack, our fingers remain crossed, and fans are hopeful. After all, the Tron franchise has become synonymous with Daft Punk, and it is all thanks to the timeless piece of art they have given us with the “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack.^[2]

1 “OutRun” (2013) by Kavinsky

To be perfectly clear, no list addressing the best of the best in the Synthwave genre would ever be complete without Kavinsky making an appearance. He is the definitive god of Synthwave, and the vast majority of artists that are redefining the genre today were inspired by his work. And if you ever need an explanation as of why… the answer is “OutRun”.

A powerful and inventive body of work, “OutRun” is a masterpiece in every imaginable way. Every single song in the album is considered to be a classic of the genre, with the legendary “Nightcall” being widely regarded as the single greatest Synthwave track of all time. And if you have seen the 2011 movie “Drive” (starring Ryan Gosling), it is not difficult to see why.

To this day, “OutRun” is Kavinsky’s latest outing. But it seems like there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel, as the French producer officially confirmed via Instagram in 2020 that a new album is on the way, and that we should expect it this year. This return will mark the end of a 7 year long hiatus that has definitely left fans hungry for more music.^[3]

Top 10 Most Influential Synthwave Artists

Anyone over 40 knows how nostalgia can creep up on us. One minute you’re the single 20-something at the concert, the next you’re a parent hearing those same songs on classic rock radio.

Pop culture loves loving back two decades. The 2000s saw an 80s resurgence, while the 90s craze of the 2010s is just now subsiding. So we’re due for a fond look-back on… 2001?

God, I’m getting old. The following rings in 2021 with the best albums of 2001, in no particular order.

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10 Is This It (The Strokes)

The Strokes occupy an odd place in rock history. Detractors might say they were merely a decent band amid a barren post-grunge wasteland dominated by mediocre, derivative acts like The Foo Fighters and Third Eye Blind. Fans might counter that by asserting The Strokes were among a handful of bands who popularized a stripped-down, casually discordant genre loosely referred to as hipster rock.

Writing for The Village Voice – a now-defunct but once highly influential NYC weekly – Robert Christgau may have come closest to an apt description. He saw the Strokes as a “great groove band” whose “beats implode, clashing/resolving with punky brevity and gnarly faux simplicity.”

Released in July 2001, “Is This It” was the band’s debut studio album, and its most commercially successful. Propelled by front man Julian Casablancas, whose vocals alternate between low-key and grating, the albums trifecta of singles – “Hard To Explain,” “Last Nite” and “Someday” – saw significant airplay on rock stations across North America, the UK and Australia.

Notably, the album also had an impact on fashion. In the UK’s Observer, Gary Mulholland considered it a “world-changing moment” with “immediate and dramatic impact” on both music and attire, while BBC Radio 1’s Zane Lowe suggests the album moved popular opinion from DJs and pop music to “skinny jeans and guitars.”

9 So Addictive (Miss E. Elliott)

The date was February 1, 2015, and Katy Perry was midway through the worst Super Bowl halftime show in history. She was strutting around with a bunch of dancing beach balls and sharks, for God’s sake.

Then one of the most talented female performers ever swooped in to save the day. Emerging through smoke, the trademark Timbaland beat erupted over the sound system, and Miss E. Elliott began a vintage, flawless version of “Get Ur Freak On.”

The smash hit, nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Song category, was the first single off Elliott’s third studio album, “So Addictive.” Released in May 2001, the album debuted at number two on the charts, selling a quarter million copies its first week en route to a million by mid-summer. The radio couldn’t get enough hits from “So Addictive,” whose four additional singles included “Lick Shots,” “Take Away,” “4 My People” and “One Minute Man” featuring Ludacris and Trina.

Critically, not a dissenting voice could be found. “So Addictive” boasts an 89/100 on critic aggregator Metacritic, with 16 positive reviews and exactly no negative ones (in fact, there aren’t even any “mixed” reviews). Playlouder sums Miss E.’s genius up well: “It’s not so much her actual rapping skills but her keen ear for a devastatingly simple track structure that makes her stuff so satisfying.” Almost anyone, including Michelle Obama, would agree with that sentiment.

8 White Blood Cells (The White Stripes)

Along with The Strokes, Jack and Meg White, a.k.a. The White Stripes, were the best of the post-alternative hipster rock scene that emerged in the early 2000s. Released in July 2001, “White Blood Cells” was the third album from the prolific duo in as many years, and arguably its best; in 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it #497 on its list of the Top 500 Albums of All Time.

The group’s first substantial commercial success, “White Blood Cells” showcases the diversity and playfulness of the duo, ranging between traditional rock and folksy, almost country-sounding ditties. An example of the latter would be “Hotel Yorba,” which despite being the first song released from the album would draw wider notice only in hindsight.

Rather, it was the album’s second single, “Fell in Love with a Girl,” that put the White Stripes on the mainstream map. The track exemplifies several of the band’s calling cards, including Jack’s inventive guitar playing and high-pitched voice and Meg’s intentionally carefree drum banging – which former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl praises as standing apart from the tidier, more metronome-esque style that has taken root.

In the album’s third single, “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” the pair sway between soft crooning and hard guitar riffs. Its fourth, “We’re Going to Be Friends,” imagines two schoolchildren walking to class with a simple, quiet melody that could be enjoyed anywhere from a rock station to Sesame Street.

7 The Blueprint (Jay-Z)

In 2001, the era’s best rapper released his latest album on the worst day of the year: September 11. For countless commuters – myself included – walking purposefully north from downtown Manhattan’s financial district (the subway was promptly closed), an oddball memory is the huge cardboard cut-outs in front of record stores. Jigga was back.

“The Blueprint” is arguably the greatest album from a rapper undoubtedly on the short list of greatest ever. A departure from the straightforward hip-hop beats at which he’d already excelled, “The Blueprint” sees Jay-Z sampling funk classics and adapting his unsurpassed lyricism accordingly. In “Heart of the City,” which samples Bobby Bland’s 1974 hit “Ain’t No Love,” Jay-Z cleverly places himself above the day’s rap rivalries: “Look scrappa I got nephews to look afta / So I ain’t lookin’ at you dudes I’m lookin’ past ya.” In “The Takeover,” he treats a feud with Nas like the child’s play it truly is to someone of Jay-Z’s stature: “The Takeova, the race ova, homey / God MC, me, J-Hova.”

A gifted storyteller, Jay-Z looks back on his drug-dealing days in “Renegade,” featuring a then-upstart Eminem. “By the bodega, iron under my coat / Feelin’ braver, doo rag wrappin’ my waves up, pockets full of hope.”

The Blueprint went double platinum, received a rare Five Mics rating from The Source, and in 2020 Rolling Stone ranked it the 50th best album of all time. Jay-Z capped off the year by going acoustic with The Roots in one of the best MTV Unplugged performances to date.

6 Word of Mouf (Ludacris)

Released in late November 2001, the third studio album from Atlanta rapper Ludacris took him from an artist respected within his genre to an internationally known superstar.

“Word of Mouf” is intentionally grandiose, dripping with a club-friendly braggadocio; Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic aptly called it a “superstar affair that aims for mass appeal.” Ludacris’ sole goal is blowing up and, as a result, many of the gritty, personal effects showcased on previous efforts fade to the background. In the foreground, however, is undeniable hip-hop brilliance. The album is so good that its boastfulness seems warranted, leaving listeners too busy nodding their heads to shake them in dismissiveness.

Ludacris is unapologetically out to get money, get laid and get into brawls. The album’s first single, “Area Codes,” finds Big Luda cruising around the country in a G4 treating lucky ladies “with perpendicular, vehicular ho-micide.” “The next single, “Rollout,” is a chest-thumping look-at-me-now anthem. “Where’d you get that platinum chain with them diamonds in it?,” he raps mockingly, “Where’d you get that matching Benz with them windows tinted?”

“Word of Mouf” went triple platinum, and was so huge that its fourth single, “Move Bitch,” became a summer smash the FOLLOWING YEAR. It took 2002’s “The Eminem Show” to deny it a Grammy.

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5 Weezer (Weezer)

Also known as “The Green Album,” the self-titled release was Weezer’s third overall but the first following a five-year hiatus. After scoring big with hits like “Buddy Holly” and “Say It Ain’t So” on their 1994 debut album, Weezer hit a sophomore sales slump with the darker (though to many more mature) 1996 follow-up, “Pinkerton.”

“The Green Album” takes pages from both predecessors, blending alt-pop with punkish punch. In the latter category falls its first single, “Hash Pipe.” While the title hints at defiant teenage pot-smoking, the song is actually about a transvestite prostitute coping with the profession’s indignities. “You’ve got your problems,” Rivers Cuomo croons in his moany, made-for-rock voice, “I’ve got my eyes wide. You’ve got your big Gs / I’ve got my hash pipe.”

Showcasing a dichotomy that might seem schizophrenic were it not for each song’s standalone appeal, the album’s next single, “Island in the Sun,” is the exact opposite. The sing-songy, strum-guitar ditty could be the soundtrack for a Caribbean tourism commercial. Fittingly, “Photograph” deftly marries the two, starting pep rally then drowning the pop with heavy guitars.

In Rolling Stone, music critic Rob Sheffield called the album “a totally crunk geek-punk record, buzzing through ten excellent tunes in less than half an hour, with zero filler.” Despite its contrasting styles, the effort showed a depth and diversity to what some see as an under-appreciated band.

4 Songs in A Minor (Alicia Keys)

It isn’t often a 20-year-old dropping her first LP wins Grammys for Song of the Year and Album of the Year, but that’s exactly what Alicia Keys did. Anchored by lead single “Fallin’,” which reached number one in the US, UK, New Zealand and several Western European countries, “Songs in A Minor” is among the most well-received debuts in R&B history.

“Fallin’” is one of those songs that becomes so popular it drowns out an album’s ensuing singles, but Keys proved far from a one-hit wonder. “Songs in A Minor” generated three additional radio releases. One, “A Woman’s Worth,” also reached number one on the US R&B charts, while the subsequent “How Come You Don’t Call Me” and “Girlfriend” also saw reasonable amounts of airplay.

Critically, a major theme was Keys’ beyond-her-years musical maturity. Writing for USA Today, Steve Jones noted that “Keys already has a musical, artistic and thematic maturity that many more experienced artists never achieve,” while Uncut called the album “frequently stunning” and compared Keys to “a young Aretha Franklin.” High praise indeed.

Though her career since “Songs in A Minor” hasn’t quite measured up to the Queen of Soul, Keys has had a slew of successful efforts and another mega-hit, 2009’s “Empire State of Mind.” The homage to New York co-stars legendary rapper and current list-mate Jay-Z.

3 The Royal Tenenbaums Soundtrack (various artists)

One of Wes Anderson’s finest films was anchored by far and away the best soundtrack of any motion picture released in 2001. The album weaves in original scores by prominent composer Mark Mothersbaugh, along with a mood-appropriate mix of songs from contemporary and classic-rock artists. The latter category includes mainstream acts like Bob Dylan, the Clash and Velvet Underground.

Both the song selection and Anderson’s use of them are masterful. In one scene, singer Nico performs a stripped-down version of Jackson Browne’s “These Days” as Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) gets off a bus. In slow motion, she moves toward her brother Richie (Luke Wilson), who is secretly in love with his adopted sibling. Later, a private eye reveals Margot’s sexual exploits to her estranged husband as the Ramones’ “Judy is a Punk” blares.

The most disturbing and perfectly paired song is saved for Richie’s attempted suicide. At a mirror, he chops off his thick locks and shaves his equally thick beard before turning the razor to his wrists. All the while, “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith – a haunting song about the gifted songwriter’s lifelong struggle with drugs – strums as the scene switches from bathroom to emergency room. “You know what he did,” sings Smith, “but you idiot kid / you don’t have a clue.”

Elliott Smith, who died in 2003 at age 34, also is prominently featured (six songs) on the soundtrack to 1997’s Good Will Hunting. One track, “Miss Misery,” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

2 Gorillaz (The Gorillaz)

One of 2001’s top summer hits was, of all things, a hip-hop/funk song by a British band with no faces. “I ain’t happy, I’m feeling glad / I got sunshine in a bag,” it begins, deceptively childishly, “I’m useless, but not for long / the future is coming on.”

That song, “Clint Eastwood,” was the first single off the self-titled debut album from the Gorillaz, a UK virtual band. Also called cartoon bands, the term refers to a group whose members are not depicted as actual, physical musicians, but rather animated characters or avatars. Hence, the future coming on.

Oxymoronically, a band committed to having no human faces was fronted by the lead singer of a previously popular group – Damon Albarn of Blur, which rose to prominence in 1997 with the hit “Woo-Hoo.” Gimmicky or not, the Gorillaz were more than publicity-stunt anonymity. Displaying an impressive blend of new age, punk and hip-hop elements, the band followed up its summer smash with three additional singles: “19-2000,” Rock the House” and “Tomorrow Comes Today.”

Typically for so unique a project, the album received mixed reviews. Pitchfork called it a “conceptual failure,” while L.A. Weekly called it “hands down one of the best-produced albums of the year.” Regardless, the LP helped earn the Gorillaz an oddball distinction: the Guinness World Record for Most Successful Virtual Band.

1 Love and Theft (Bob Dylan)

The album on this list that received the least airplay was made by one of the most famous musicians of all time: Bob Dylan, whose 2001 LP “Love and Theft” ranks among his best. The Village Voice’s Robert Christgau compared “Love and Theft” to Dylan’s previous, less well-received effort: “If ‘Time Out of Mind’ was his death album… this is his immortality album.”

As with much of his catalogue, social justice is top of mind on “Love and Theft,” whose title was inspired by a 1993 book chronicling blackface minstrelsy in America. On “High Water,” Dylan dives into the American South’s deeply troubling racial history, and describes blues singing as a means of showcasing the biases ingrained in the region’s societal structure.

The final track, “Sugar Baby,” is a lengthy, classically-Dylan ballad, drenched in echoes and spattered with apocalyptic lyrics. “Just as sure as we’re living, just as sure as you’re born,” Dylan’s trademark nasally voice mocks, “Look up, seek your maker ‘fore Gabriel blows his horn.” Music critic Tim Riley praised the song as “built on a disarmingly simple riff that turns foreboding” – tragically ironic considering its release date: September 11, 2001.

“Love and Theft” won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 2012, Rolling Stone placed it #385 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, while Newsweek named it the second-best album of its decade.

Top 10 Musicians Who Were Ahead Of Their Time

With the recent release of Get Back, Peter Jackson’s thorough examination of the Beatles in a time of trouble, interest in the famed band has increased. More interesting than their work together was the music the quartet recorded individually in the 1970s. This list offers a tidy selection.

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10 McCartney (1970)

Although the breakup was painful for every member, it seems Paul McCartney took it the hardest and spent much of 1970 tending to his wounds by drinking—excessively. Indeed, it was only through the encouragement of his wife Linda that the bassist found the spontaneity needed to record his debut album: a lo-fi effort that saw the man record every instrument on his own. It’s neither polished nor focused, but that’s what adds to the charm of the effort, as he details the newfound happiness fatherhood has offered him. “The Lovely Linda” demonstrates the songwriter’s devotion to his wife, while acoustic offerings “Every Night” and “Junk” highlight the little nothings that made up for the loss of the band.

In between the instrumentals and the dreamlike elegies stands “Maybe I’m Amazed,” a piano ballad that seemingly continues the narrative of the Beatles’ epics “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be.” Channeling the disappointment of the breakup into something much grander and more adult, the song exhibits a man coming to grips with adulthood and all the trials that come with it. Since 1970, stalwarts Rod Stewart and Billy Joel have covered the number.^[1]

9 Beaucoup of Blues (1970)

Drummer Ringo Starr was widely considered the least likely of the four to succeed as a solo artist, and Sentimental Journey—purportedly recorded to please his mother—did little to dispel the rumors. More happily, Starr released another album that year, one that was geared specifically for his distinctive voice. Having carved a niche for himself as a country singer, Starr flew over to Nashville to soak up the influences, curating an album that’s reverent and truthful to the genre that had given him much pleasure as a child.

Under Pete Drake’s watchful eye, Starr completed a fourteen-track L.P., although two of the tracks remained unheard until the nineties. The title track remains the album’s most fondly remembered ditty. But there’s more to the record, not least the achingly romantic “I Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way,” while “Loser’s Lounge” demonstrates one of the drummer’s most nakedly vulnerable vocal performances. All in all, Starr proved himself an adept singer, proving the material suited his voice. And laced in the heart of the country genre, he found his voice, and then some.^[2]

8 All Things Must Pass (1970)

Underestimated by his bandmates and manager and producer George Martin, George Harrison had nevertheless harnessed a hefty catalog of tunes he knew the Beatles would never get around to recording. Fittingly, his debut album turned out to be a triple record, although the third vinyl—complete with punchy, albeit protracted, guitar instrumentals—might prove too much of a good thing for casual listeners.

And yet the first two discs showcase a poet yearning for solitude, solace, and sincerity in the world he inhabits. “Wah Wah,” written during the Get Back sessions, holds his most ferocious guitar arpeggio, which isn’t to say that the rest is pleasant. “Awaiting on You All” cautions listeners to the evils of the Pope, and “Hear Me Lord” demonstrates a sinner unworthy of his God’s absolution. And then there’s the superlative title track, showcasing a maturity he would never have penciled, but for the many personal journeys he made to India in the ’60s.

“I went to George’s Friar Park,” producer Phil Spector recalled, “and he said, ‘I have a few ditties for you to hear.’ It was endless! He had literally hundreds of songs, and each one was better than the rest. He had all this emotion built up when it was released to me.”^[3]

7 Plastic Ono Band (1970)

George Harrison wasn’t the only Beatle bursting with unfulfilled ambition. John Lennon, brimming with anger since his problematic childhood, finally managed to commit many of his feelings to tape, much of it delving into the death of his mother (“Mother”) or the failings of his education (“Well, Well, Well” and “Working Class Hero”). “I think it’s realistic and it’s true to me that has been developing over the years from ‘In My Life,’ ‘I’m a Loser,’ ‘Help!,’ ‘Strawberry Fields,’” Lennon informed Rolling Stone. “They’re all personal records.”

Aiding him on this quest was Yoko Ono, the avant-garde artist who felt the only way to make art meaningful was to make it truthful. As if recognizing the ambition, Lennon chose not to hire another guitarist and played all the solos himself. But behind him stood Ringo Starr, the one former Beatle he could still rely on for support.^[4]

6 Imagine (1971)

Having thrown much of his anger onto the previous listed record, Lennon followed it up with Imagine, his most popular album and the last he produced in England. Indeed, it’s a very “English” sounding record, and even Nashville rockers “Crippled Inside” and “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier” hold a parochial feel to them that could only have stemmed from watching the inclement weather fall outside his house.

There are highlights: “Oh Yoko!” exhibits his ecstasy at a triumphant marriage, and “Oh My Love” continues the metaphor. At the same time, “Jealous Guy” suggested that he was determined to finally make peace with his former songwriting partner. Paul McCartney recognized the symbolism, and the two gallantly agreed not to criticize each other as venomously as they had to that juncture.^[5]

5 Ringo (1973)

It seems strange now, but Ringo Starr enjoyed greater chart success than his bandmates. “It Don’t Come Easy” was a monster hit in 1973, as was “Back Off Boogaloo,” a drum-heavy rock number that may have been influenced by Paul McCartney. And when it came to his relations with the other members of the Beatles, Starr could proudly state that each of them held him in high esteem.

So it came to pass that he asked his three erstwhile bandmates to contribute tracks to his latest record. McCartney came up with “Six O’Clock,” a jaunty pop number that sounded like a Wings offshoot, while Lennon knocked off “I’m the Greatest,” a roaring number, embellished by Harrison’s fiery guitar. “I couldn’t sing it,” Lennon reflected, “but it was perfect for Ringo. He could say, I’m the greatest’ and people wouldn’t get upset. Whereas if I said ‘I’m the greatest,’ they’d all take it so seriously.”(Link 6)

Best of all, the album boasted a Harrison-Starr co-write, “Photograph,” fulfilling a long lost ambition that the pair had long discussed.^[6]

4 Band on the Run (1973)

From great tragedy came tremendous music, and like McCartney says in the Peter Jackson series, his best work came when his back was against the wall. Compensating for two band members (Henry McCullough quit Wings, followed by drummer Denny Seiwell), McCartney ended up recording many of the instruments that made up the mosaic of sound on Band on the Run. This situation wasn’t helped by the fact that he lost a tape of demos when he was mugged at knifepoint in Lagos, making the album that much harder to complete.

And yet the material was worth the hardship, culminating in a powerful selection of pop tracks. “Jet” remains a live favorite for the bassist, and he’s been known to switch to guitar whenever he performs “Let Me Roll It.” But for this writer, it’s the barreling “1985” that remains the true standout, unveiling a piano lick that eclipses that of “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

“It’s a collection of songs, and the basic idea about the band on the run is a kind of prison escape,” he surmised. “At the beginning of the album, the guy is stuck inside four walls and breaks out. There is a thread, but not a concept.”^[7]

3 Walls and Bridges (1974)

McCartney was enjoying a creative second wind, but Lennon was stalling. Recent efforts Sometime In New York City and Mind Games disappointed critics, while his separation from Yoko Ono suggested that his personal life was interrupting his writing process. But much like he did in 1970, he turned his personal misery into great art, and Walls and Bridges stands as the last of the essential John Lennon albums. He released a cover album and a collaboration with Ono before he was mercilessly shot down in 1980.

“Going Down On Love” held an aching middle coda (“Can somebody help me?”), and “Steel and Glass” offered moments of horrifying reflection. And then there was “Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down and Out), a folk ballad that holds up just as well for its animated vocal as it does for the pummelling brass. In happier news, “#9 Dream” holds the Beatle reflecting on the many glories of his life—even offering girlfriend May Pang a vocal harmony—and Elton John pops around to lay down a supporting vocal for the jaunty “Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.”^[8]

2 Venus and Mars (1975)

Wings finally struck gold with their fourth album, and founder Paul McCartney was finally happy to let his fellow band members involve themselves in the songwriting process. Guitarist Denny Laine sings “Spirits of Ancient Egypt,” and Jimmy McCulloch—the hotshot Scottish session player promoted to band member—contributes “Medicine Jar,” an explosive number that details his penchant for heavy drinking and debauchery.

Linda McCartney holds up as a singer, especially on the shimmering “Love In Song,” which holds one of her most intricate falsetto performances. And then there’s “Rock Show,” a pounding opener that pays tribute to Led Zeppelin, the band that had carried on the Beatles flame into the seventies. Other standouts are the blues tinted “Call Me Back Again” and 1920s doo-wop “You Gave Me The Answer.”

The album, nominally considered Wings’ best after Band On The Run, showed critics that McCartney could work with band members whose names weren’t Lennon, Harrison, or Starr. Not that there was any chance that the Beatles would get back together, as Lennon announced his intention to retire in 1976.^[9]

1 George Harrison (1979)

Following a traumatic tour in 1974, the Beatles lead guitarist spent much of the ’70s secluded in Friars Park, his Victorian mansion. But optimistic as ever, he battled through the difficult days to record the bouncy George Harrison album, netting him his most positive notes since 1970.

Having become a father for the first time in 1978, Harrison was enjoying the process of witnessing the world from another person’s perspective. The joy bursts through “Blow Away,” a kaleidoscopic pop tune that holds one of Harrison’s most impassioned guitar lines. Meanwhile, “Sweet Dark Lady” was written for Dhani’s mother, Olivia, calling attention to her heritage and talents as a wife. Meanwhile, “Faster” paid tribute to the Formula 1 drivers Harrison both admired and befriended. Signaling a change in sound, George Harrison proved the blueprint for his 1980’s output, a body of work where “Your Love Is Forever” and “Here Comes The Moon ” could sit happily between.

“I think what happened between this album and the last album is that everything has been happening nice for me,” he admitted. “My life is getting better all the time, and I’m happy, and I think that it’s reflected in the music.”^[10]

Posthumous albums are one of pop culture’s most enduring mysteries. With the artist gone but not forgotten, we’ll never know whether these packages are something that they would’ve approved, whether they’re something they planned, or whether they’re cynically cribbed together by faceless record execs. The mystery leaves these albums with a mixed legacy, but sometimes, it’s just nice to hear the voices of the departed one more time.

However, one thing is certain: there is always a demand for them.

Related: 10 Eerie Quotes From Musicians Who Died Before 30

10 Lioness: Hidden Treasures (2011)–Amy Winehouse

For fans, there’s a pain to seeing their favorite stars deteriorate. It wasn’t long after she became an international star with her mainstream breakthrough album Back to Black that Amy Winehouse’s struggles with addiction became tabloid fodder. Fans hoped that new material from her would turn her public image back toward that of a talented musician and away from being a public spectacle. But those hopes were dashed when producer Mark Ronson admitted in 2008 that she simply wasn’t in any state to record new music. Also, sessions for a theme song for the Bond film Quantum of Solace had been abandoned without Winehouse recording her vocals.

But when stars pass, fans seem to be able to remember the best version of them. The version of Winehouse, who heartbreakingly deteriorated before our eyes, was gone and replaced by a sad-eyed chanteuse with show-stopping talent. So, of course, an album followed. Happily, the album was compiled by producers who worked with her, Ronson and Salaam Remi, and her family. But sadly, due to her inability to record before she passed, the tracks mostly came from sessions that predated her debut, Frank, when she was still finding her feet as a musician. As an album, it lacked the flair of Back to Black, making that gem, sadly, her sole hit album.^[1]

9 Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk (1998)–Jeff Buckley

Listening to Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, one has to make peace with the fact that we know categorically that Jeff Buckley did not want these songs to see the light of day. The recording process for the album, intended as a follow-up to 1994’s cult hit Grace, was torturous, and Buckley discarded the recordings, planning to start over.

A handful of tracks was all he had produced when he died a death as beguiling and poetic as his songs. Buckley had decided to take a dip in Mississippi’s Wolf River, wearing Doc Martens, reportedly while singing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Unfortunately, he was caught in the wake of a passing river barge and disappeared.

His estate passed to his mother, who did what she could to preserve his wishes when she learned that Sony intended to release the songs from the initial recording sessions that Buckley had scrapped. The compromise she reached with the corporate giants was a second disc that included those demos from just before his passing. It wasn’t a great compromise, but I think the world is richer for having one more Jeff Buckley album in it. Even if it must be regarded more as a document of his creative processes than as an artistic statement. More diary than autobiography.^[2]

8 An American Prayer (1978)–The Doors

Believe it or not, The Doors released three albums after Jim Morisson passed away. But only one of them featured the late lead singer. The 1978 album An American Prayer was made up of recordings of Jim Morisson reading his poetry, set to music by the band.

Reviews were mixed, with many speculating on whether Morrison would’ve approved of the project. Longtime Doors producer Paul Rothschild called it the rape of Jim Morrison and likened it to “taking a Picasso and cutting it into postage-stamp-sized pieces and spreading it across a Supermarket wall.” While John Haeny, the engineer who made the original recordings with Morrison, said that “I want people to understand that this album was made by those people who were closest to Jim, both personally and artistically. Everyone had the best intentions.” He believed Morrison would be pleased and would have “understood our motivation and appreciated our dedication and heartfelt handling of his work.”^[3]

7 Made in Heaven (1995)–Queen

At least with Made in Heaven, we know that Freddy Mercury actively wanted a posthumous album to be made. Knowing that his demise was imminent, Freddy Mercury recorded as much as possible. Brian May said at the time that after discussing what was going to happen, they knew the band was on borrowed time. They recorded as often as Mercury felt well enough, adding, “We basically lived in the studio for a while, and when he would call and say, ‘I can come in for a few hours,’ our plan was to just make as much use of him as we could.” Mercury told the band he would sing whatever they gave him, finishing with “I will leave you as much as I possibly can.”

Producer David Richards noted that Mercury usually waited for songs to be completed before adding final vocals, but he knew he would not get that chance here. Unfortunately, the band still found that they had less than an album’s worth of material to work with, so they turned to old demos and vocals from Mercury’s solo albums. Made in Heaven came out something of a bittersweet patchwork of an album.^[4]

6 Michael (2010) and Xscape (2014)–Michael Jackson

Given Michael Jackson’s reclusiveness and retreat from the music scene before his death, a follow-up to his last album, 2001’s Invincible, seemed a distant possibility. However, almost immediately after his death, Jackson’s estate signed a $250 million deal with Epic Records to release ten “lost” Michael Jackson albums. Hence: 2010’s Michael. Michael was marred, however, by allegations from Jackson’s family, fans, and producer Will.i.am. that three of the songs did not involve Michael Jackson at all. Instead, claiming they featured the voice of impersonator Jason Malachi. Malachi even admitted as such on Facebook; but retracted that statement on Myspace, claiming that his Facebook page had been hacked.

The matter came to a head with a class-action lawsuit against Sony Music. The record label argued that the first amendment gave them the right to attribute songs to an artist, even when that attribution was not accurate.

After that, it’s no wonder that only one other “lost” Michael Jackson album has surfaced. In 2014, Xscape played it safe, featuring only eight tracks, each of which had well-documented provenance, each having been recorded for a previous album but not making the cut.^[5]

5 Toy (2021)–David Bowie

The one possible silver lining to Bowie’s death in 2016 was seeing the global collective outpouring of grief. I am a massive Bowie fan, but I would’ve thought that his passing would’ve gone down as just another celebrity death in the media—simply forgotten in a day. But instead, the collective mourning was a mass expression of global unity.

The album he’d released two days before his death, Blackstar, had reached number one in 27 countries, so whoever was in charge of these things would’ve been tempted to go back to that well as soon as possible. EPs, box sets, and live albums came thick and fast, but a full-length unreleased album took five years. Toy was recorded in 2001 and had leaked onto the Internet in 2011, so fans were already intimately familiar with it. But still, it was nice to hear it sumptuously remastered and lovingly packaged by producer Tony Visconti and the other musicians who worked on it.

Though it remains a mystery why it wasn’t released back in 2001. Bowie blamed a record label stoush, but why it wasn’t released after that was resolved remains unanswered.^[6]

4 Tupac’s Numerous Posthumous Releases

Specifically, these include The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996), R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997), Still I Rise (1999), Until the End of Time (2001), Better Dayz (2002), Loyal to the Game (2004), and Pac’s Life (2006).

With a discography that features seven posthumous albums vs. five regular ones, Tupac Shakur must have some sort of record. The Don Killuminati was recorded a month before his death and released two months after, while Pac’s Life was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of his death. The decade in between saw so many new releases that they fueled conspiracy theories that Tupac was still alive.

The explanation was a little more mundane… Tupac was a workaholic. Anecdotes about his work ethic are famous. The Don Killuminati was Tupac’s second album of 1996, and he also acted in three films that year. Labelmate Snoop Dogg said that Pac was laying down tracks at a rate of one every twenty minutes or so, adding ominously, “To me, it was like, why is he working so fast and so hard and trying to finish these records up? He had to know [he would die soon].”^[7]

3 Milk and Honey (1984)–John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Completing Milk and Honey was a passion project by Yoko Ono. And unlike the other albums on this list, it did not intend to create the illusion that Lennon was still around making music. Designed as a follow-up to the pair’s previous album, 1980’s Double Fantasy, the project was shelved after Lennon’s death, and it wasn’t until 1983 that Yoko was able to resume working on it.

The album alternates between songs by Lennon and songs by Ono. Hers are polished, commercial, and contemporary, while Lennon’s are casual and a bit rough, preserved just as he left them. A testament to his absence.^[8]

2 Brainwashed (2002)–George Harrison

Brainwashed was in some stage of development for almost fifteen years. But when Harrison was stabbed by a mentally ill home intruder in 1999, parallels to bandmate John Lennon’s murder must have deeply shaken the former Beatle. Contemporary reports suggested that his attacker had an irrational obsession with the Beatles, much like John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman.

Having already survived an aggressive throat cancer, Harrison focused on completing the album and shared every detail with his son Dhani Harrison and producer Jeff Lynn. That information proved incredibly useful to the younger Harrison and Lynn when Harrison’s cancer returned in 2001. So much so that they were able to follow the exact timetable laid out by Harrison, completing Brainwashed using the same studio sessions that Harrison had already booked.^[9]

1 American V: A Hundred Highways (2006) and American VI: Ain’t No Grave (2010)–Johnny Cash

The partnership between Johnny Cash and hip hop producer and Def Jam founder Rick Rubin was such a lucrative one that there may have been more demand for a new collaboration than for a new Johnny Cash album. The American Recordings series, produced by Rubin, gave the world such beloved tracks as Cash’s covers of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage,” and Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.” They revitalized Cash’s career, exposing him to a new audience.

Rubin is known for his perfectionism. On earlier albums in the series, that trait provided a dynamic counterbalance to Cash’s rough and raw sound. But on American V and VI, Cash’s voice was too frequently a pained rasp that even Rubin’s production chops could not make up for. On American V, this made for an evocative portrait of weariness, but on American VI, it just made for a difficult listen. The Los Angeles Times called it Cash’s hospice record in a review that seemed to miss how sad that was.

Both Rick Rubin and Cash’s son John Carter Cash have said that more recordings were made during those sessions, promising more entries in the American Recordings series to come.^[10]

Rock music’s explosive and introspective nature has always provided a haven for outcasts, angsty teenagers, and broody types alike. But over the years, some musicians and songwriters have taken rock’s naturally emotive tendencies to new extremes. The results are records that daringly peer into the deepest depths of the human psyche, taking curious listeners along for the ride.

The records on this list explore feelings of anger, despair, and depression but also tackle dystopian futures, occult rituals, murder, death, and disease. In a sense, they are to music what horrors and thrillers are to movies. But the records here aren’t just gloomy either. Instead, these albums are also some of the best pieces of music from rock music history.

Related: 10 Rock Songs That Shook The World

10 Turn Loose the Swans by My Dying Bride

My Dying Bride was already an established force known for their slow and doomy metal sound when they released Turn Loose the Swans in 1993. However, the second album would be a considerable departure stylistically from their debut. For starters, lead vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe added clean vocals and spoken parts alongside his usual growl. Meanwhile, pianist/keyboardist/violinist Martin Powell found himself with a lot more room to work with.

The musical changes resulted in an album that carried a far more gothic vibe, with long atmospheric moments taking the place of the band’s previous brutal approach. But while the album may not be as aggressive as their earlier outings, it is undoubtedly one of the gloomiest and darkest albums ever made and a landmark metal release.^[1]

9 My War by Black Flag

1984 proved a landmark year for the legendary punk group Black Flag. The band would record no less than three albums (My War, Family Man, and Slip It In) and perform over 170 shows. It would be the first of these albums, My War, that ultimately proved to be the most memorable, though. Here, the band, known for their relentless pace, took influence from the likes of MC5, the Stooges, and Black Sabbath and opted for a slower, more experimental, but equally darker sound.

Adding to the “grungy” musicianship was the lead singer Henry Rollin’s almost schizophrenic and paranoid-sounding vocal performance, most notably evident on the title track that sees him screaming “You’re one of them!” at the listener. Of course, none of this would bother the charts all that much at the time, but its chaotic sound proved hugely influential and essentially paved the way for the Seattle grunge rock scene in its wake.^[2]

8 Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath

Released in 1970 on Valentine’s Day (of all days), Black Sabbath’s first album might sound tame by today’s standards, but it had to get a mention. Inspired by Aleister Crowley, Dennis Wheatley, H.P. Lovecraft, and J.R.R. Tolkien, Black Sabbath—four blokes from Birmingham, England—delved into subject matter that others had yet to dare, including depictions of the occult and Satan himself.

But, of course, the music itself proved pretty revolutionary for the time too. Indeed, the combination of the hard blues-rock style of guitarist Tony Iommi and dark lyrical themes essentially set the blueprint for all heavy metal. Amazingly, their influence on metal—and music in general—began more than fifty years ago. In fact, Iommi once noted that “I didn’t hear us cited as an influence until bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Metallica, and some of the punk stuff, like the Stranglers, came along.”^[3]

7 Dummy by Portishead

While its trip-hop beats and vocal-centered sound made for what some considered a chill-out album, you’d have not to be paying attention to not realize Dummy is also one of the gloomiest albums ever made. Inspired by a 1970s TV drama of the same name about a deaf woman who becomes a prostitute, Portishead’s first album is a jarring and visceral album at its core. It carries with it undertones of political and social criticism lingering underneath songs of desperate longing and despair.

Even though it debuted in 1994, the album remains fresh, attracting new listeners to the sultry, folky vocal style of singer Beth Gibbons paired with Geoff Barrow’s unique sampling choices. Their distinctive sound helped them crossover from the club scene to an indie audience waiting to soak up their music.^[4]

6 In Utero by Nirvana

When Nirvana started work on their final 1993 studio release, they found a vast shadow lingering over them. Their previous record Nevermind had changed the alternative music scene forever, but its success proved problematic for a band rooted in a DIY, anti-establishment aesthetic. Lead vocalist Kurt Cobain would even go on record to call Nevermind “candy ass,” resenting its highly accessible sound and hoping to return to something more raw with In Utero.

While the debate will forever rage about which album was better, there’s little doubt that In Utero is an entirely different beast. Not only because of the buzzy, anti-approachable, and chaotic sound but also the lyrical content. Themes regarding sickness and disease are all over the record. But while the lyrics seem actively impersonal, fragments of Cobain’s struggle peer through. Such is notably the case on the album’s opener, “Serve the Servants,” where Cobain touches upon his success (“Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old”) and relationship with his father (“I tried hard to have a father but instead I had a dad”). Regardless of the tragic events that happened after, the album is a visceral and, at times, disturbing work.^[5]

5 Closer by Joy Division

Released two months after the band’s vocalist, Ian Curtis, committed suicide, Closer is another album where it is all too easy to judge against real-life events. Still, it’s hard not to hear Curtis on this record and hear a man struggling with his inner demons.

According to interviews, most of the band were in good spirits while recording Closer, bar Curtis, suffering from epilepsy and depression and having an affair—he was in a generally awful place. Such seems obvious in vocals such as “I’m ashamed of the things I’ve been put through/I’m ashamed of the person I am.” Unfortunately, however, his bandmates didn’t realize how bad things were. As Stephen Morris would put it in a 2018 interview: “I honestly thought Ian’s lyrics were really brilliant, but that he was writing about somebody else.” In any case, there’s little doubt that Closer is one of the darkest sounding pieces of music ever created.^[6]

4 Dirt by Alice in Chains

Dirt is one of those albums that feels contradictory. Its big riffs and belting choruses make it a fist-pump-worth slice of stadium-ready hard rock. Meanwhile, Jerry Cantrell and Layne Stacey’s harmonious and often haunting vocal tandem, moments of abrasive instrumentation, and dark lyrical themes reveal a darker beast beneath.

Indeed, themes of self-hate, depression, and unbridled anger run throughout the album, all underpinned by the relentless attack of guitars and drums. Elsewhere, lyricist Cantrell evokes a picture of the Vietnam war through his father’s eyes in “Rooster” and pays tribute to Mother Love Bone frontman Andy Wood in the evocative “Would?”^[7]

3 OK Computer by Radiohead

Radiohead built a reputation on angsty but radio-friendly hits with their first two albums, Pablo Honey and >em>The Bends. But with OK Computer, the group began to let their creative inhibitions lead them, thanks to their record company giving them the green light to do as they saw fit. The result would be an atmospheric but claustrophobic sound that conjures an Orwellian feel for the listener.

Lyrical themes on the album ranged from the rush of surviving a car crash (“Airbag”) to severe mental illness (“Climbing up the Walls”). But an underlining fear of digital-dystopia runs throughout, from the chilling declarations of a robotic voice on “Fitter Happier” (“Calm, fitter, healthier and more productive”) to Thom Yorke’s vocals that sound like desperate pleas (“No alarms and no surprises, please”). Thanks to technological advances, the album has only gotten creepier and more vital with age, and the band itself hasn’t looked back to its alt-days since.^[8]

2 The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails

When the most accessible track on a record is about heroin addiction and self-harm and crescendos to a suggestive gun-shot-like finale (and the apparent first single is titled “March of the Pigs”), you know you are listening to something a little messed up. Yet against seemingly all odds, The Downward Spiral proved to be a runaway success, reaching number 2 on the Billboard charts and cementing Trent Reznor as a significant force in the musical landscape.

The album was heavily influenced by Pink Floyd’s The Wall and David Bowie’s Low, taking the instrumental and synthesizer soundscapes of the latter and the overarching concept of a lone wounded figure of the former. But, of course, Reznor also brought his iconic industrial-rock sound to the proceedings. The result is a chaotic, abrasive, and destructive sound that refuses to relent. Plagued by drug problems and relationship issues, Reznor likened the experience of making The Downward Spiral to “climbing down a manhole and pulling the cover over.” When you listen to the album, it’s hard to imagine otherwise.^[9]

1 The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers

With lyrical themes covering such subjects as exploitation (“Yes” and “Faster”), concentration camps (“The Intense Humming of Evil”), and anorexia (“4st 7lb”), The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers is undoubtedly one of the most corrupted things ever put to tape. Even the samples on this album, which include excerpts from an adaption of Orwell’s 1984 (“I hate purity. Hate goodness. I don’t want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone corrupt”) and the heartbreaking documentary Caraline’s Story, feel despondent. That the music itself on the record feels almost “punk-pop” at times only results in a startling juxtaposition.

Unfortunately, all the gloominess was very real to rhythm guitarist Richey Edwards who took on the lion’s share of lyrics here. Suffering depression, alcohol abuse, self-harm, and anorexia, Edwards would disappear just five months after the album’s release, with his car found abandoned near the river Severn bridge. His disappearance in 1005 remains a mystery.^[10]

Now more than ever, an overwhelming amount of music is available to listen to and enjoy. From pop artists dropping albums at a moment’s notice to bedroom troubadours self-releasing their recordings on Soundcloud to the glut of mixtapes, soundtracks, and singles hitting Spotify every Friday, listeners aren’t short of material to make their way through.

Throughout the history of music, certain albums from musicians have gone missing, been shelved, or just plain irritated their creators so much that they were banished to a storage room or sock drawer somewhere, never to be heard by a living soul. Consigned to legendary status, they live on only as a rumor, hearsay, and fan speculation.

Often called “lost” albums, they offer a tantalizing view of what could have been. Some of these, such as Bruce Springsteen’s electric version of Nebraska or Dr. Dre’s Detox, had fans and critics debating their detail and quality for years, ultimately remaining unfulfilled by any concrete evidence of their existence. And therein lies the draw of these lost albums. Of course, we’ll never quite know how good or bad they are, but it’s certainly fun to theorize.

To that end, here are some of the most noteworthy albums that were never meant to be.

Related: Top 10 Bizarre Conspiracy Theories About Album Cover Art

10 Prince: Dream Factory

Dream Factory was created by Prince in 1986 and was notable for having studio input from his band, The Revolution, for the first time on a Prince recording. All signs pointed to this album perhaps being the masterpiece of his finest era until he became frustrated with The Revolution and went back out on his own again.

The LP then mutated into Crystal Ball, a three-disc, 19-track solo LP that his record label, Warner Bros., was not prepared to release at the time. The Crystal Ball tracks were then adjusted to form the basis of his classic Sign o’ the Times. Despite this evolution, it would have been truly monumental to see what a full Prince and The Revolution record would have sounded like—free of label interference, of course.^[1]

9 Green Day: Cigarettes and Valentines

Coming off the back of their record Warning in 2000, Green Day wrote and recorded an album, Cigarettes and Valentines, that was a return to the faster punkier material of Insomniac. The trouble was, as the record was in the final stages of completion, the master tapes were stolen from the studio.

In hindsight, the band viewed the theft as being rather fortuitous as they instead went ahead and recorded a little album by the name of American Idiot. This one went on to launch them into the second phase of their career and to arguably more commercial success than their ’90s heyday.

The band has played the title track from the album live sparingly, as it was released as part of a live album DVD. But other than that, these tracks will remain mysteries to Green Day fans.^[2]

8 Beastie Boys: Hot Sauce Committee Part 1

The legendary hip-hop group was recording what was to be Part 1 of the two-part album Hot Sauce Committee when the tragic news broke of MCA’s cancer diagnosis. After this bombshell, they scrapped plans to release two albums, the first being a more experimental and weirder release, with the second boasting a more standard Beasties hip-hop feel.

As detailed in their bestseller The Beastie Boys Book, the rappers originally planned for Part 1 to be an elaborate practical joke on record collectors where every song would be made of fake samples. Instead, they went to insane lengths to create believable “fake samples,” and the general belief was they scrapped the idea after the sobering news of their friend’s health.

Not strictly true. Ad-Rock described within their book how they left the hard drive for part one on a boxcar outside Missoula, Montana, and never managed to retrieve it.^[3]

7 Grimes: The Non-Album Between Visions & Art Angels

Grimes isn’t one for staying still artistically or mincing her words. Her opinion of the album she created after her breakthrough record, the glorious Visions, was that it “sucked.” Nevertheless, she put out two songs that likely suggested the direction of the discarded recording: “REALiTi,” a demo that she posted online despite her complaints that it wasn’t mixed or mastered, and “Go,” a poppy headrush of a song that divided her fanbase upon release.

Even though both songs sounded great and were melodically and structurally miles ahead of her previous work, she commented that the album was “depressing” and that she didn’t want to tour to support it. Instead, she shelved the larger body of work and went on to create Art Angels, which proved to be her best-reviewed record to date.^[4]

6 Soundgarden’s Final Album

For another record overshadowed by tragedy, the reformed Soundgarden was in the middle of recording an album when frontman Chris Cornell tragically took his own life.

The band had written, demoed, and tracked vocals for the album when Chris’s suicide occurred, and since then, things only got more difficult and painful for the group to try and complete and release it. Guitarist Kim Thayil said that it was in a state ready to be finished and prepared for release. But the audio files were not in the band’s possession, and Cornell’s widow was suing the band over seven unreleased recordings made before his untimely end. This resulted in legal proceedings from Soundgarden’s side, and the two sides have been at war ever since.

It’s unlikely we will hear this record now, and if we do, it will not be the swansong it could have been for their iconic frontman.^[5]

5 Lana Del Rey / Lizzie Grant / May Jailer: Sirens

Lana Del Rey has been making music since she was 18 years old and has many pseudonyms, but her first full-length album was recorded under the name May Jailer.

The demos of this album have leaked online, and it’s an interesting snapshot of her life at the time and where she would eventually go from a musical standpoint. The record is mainly acoustic guitar, and Del Rey gives a more gentle, somber performance than her later persona would. There’s also a distinct lack of Americana, a defining characteristic of her iconography in the future.

The big request fans had with this record was to hear the full version, as it’s quite clearly bare-bones demos that, with a fuller band backing, mixing, and mastering, would have been a compelling look at a future star.^[6]

4 Noel Gallagher / Amorphous Androgynous collaboration

Ever since Oasis called it quits, the nature of Noel Gallagher’s solo project was the hottest topic among fans of the band. It’s clear the songwriter wanted to deviate from what the public expected of him, and to that end, he linked up with production duo Amorphous Androgynous to create a solo album with them.

Reports in the press suggested this was a psychedelic krautrock record, influenced by some of the groups Gallagher would talk up in interviews like Captain Beefheart and Pink Floyd. In reality, the partnership was frayed from the outset, and in the end, the sessions were beset by a fundamental misunderstanding from both sides. AA wanted Noel to experiment and explore; Noel wanted to do less than five vocal takes and knock it out like the old days.

In the end, only a couple of tracks appeared on his solo debut with his band, The High Flying Birds, which proved to be the album’s critical darlings. In interviews, the producers claimed that the full shelved album is the best thing he has ever done, and they were saddened by Noel’s disregard of it. Hopefully, we will hear it in full one day.^[7]

3 Kanye West: Yandhi

I could fill a full top ten article with unreleased Kanye West albums, but for this selection, I thought I would choose his most fully formed. Yandhi was the mooted follow-up to 2018’s relatively disappointing ye. Based on the leaked demos, it would have been a poppier and more gospel-influenced record that would have marked a huge return to quality for the much-maligned icon.

As always with West, elements of the songs have been repurposed for subsequent albums, particularly the 2019 album Jesus Is King. Yet one of the most interesting facets of Kanye’s obsessive online fanbase is their commitment to ensuring the leaked records are captured for posterity; so keen listeners can track his creative process throughout the years.

What you can hear from this album is that it had what would have featured some of his biggest songs in years, particularly “Alien,” featuring Young Thug and Kid Cudi, “Last Name,” and “Law of Attraction.” They all featured thought-out and considered production and guest features, both of which aren’t always the case with recent Kanye records.^[8]

2 Misfits: 12 Hits from Hell

Even if you haven’t heard of the Misfits, chances are you’ll be familiar with their iconic logo, the white skull on a black background taken from the film The Crimson Ghost. And if you play any Spotify Halloween playlist, wait long enough, and they’ll make an appearance. The band is the classic spooky punk band, a veritable Evil Ramones.

After recording their debut record, the magnificent Static Age, only to see it passed on by every record label they could put it in front of, the band attempted another record, the appropriately named 12 Hits from Hell. They knocked out all twelve songs in a single take each, apart from “London Dungeon,” which was done in two. It contained almost entirely stone-cold punk rock classics, like “Astro Zombies,” “Halloween,” and “Skulls.”

Within the studio, bassist Jerry Only’s brother Doyle was secretly re-recording guitarist Steele’s parts for unknown reasons. Upon discovery of this treachery, naturally, tensions were high within the band. They decided to cancel the record, despite it being completed, releasing elements of it in future EPs and singles and re-recording other parts just to confuse fans to no end.^[9]

1 Jimi Hendrix: Black Gold

Perhaps the reigning champion of lost albums, Black Gold was a project that genuinely would have added to the legendary guitarist’s mystique. Lauded as an autobiographical fantasy album containing a suite of “movements” rather than individual songs, it was to have an accompanying animated film about the difficulties of life on the road for a black rock star in the ’60s.

Essentially this could have been Hendrix’s Sgt. Peppers moment, but his untimely death in 1970 led to the world never seeing the great man perform this work of art. Yet, the record itself was made and handed to his drummer, Mitch Mitchell, to complete the final studio touches for release. Mitchell went ahead and did what many of us might do, being a rock star in the ’70s. He tied the cassette case closed with a headband and stored it at home, forgetting about it for two decades.

A lot has been written about the nature of this recording, about how Hendrix was positioning himself as a black superhero at a time when he was influential enough to make a major statement. The music itself was more complex than anything he had attempted before. It represented a true auteurist side to Jimi, one that signaled the growth of a man into a more experienced artist and performer.^[10]

For that reason, it remains the greatest lost album in music history.

We’ve all heard music from rock music’s most iconic bands—the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Guns N’ Roses, and others. You’ve listened to their songs over and over, and you love them all the same. There are many incredible albums in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, but just as fascinating are the train wrecks, the experiments, and the odd detours. Weird, strange albums inspire shock and awe in fans.

Artists that are seen as icons in rock music often have certain styles that fans know them for. Paul McCartney makes Beatles-esque pop, Metallica makes heavy metal, and so on. The albums on this list are ones that mixed up the formula, with varying degrees of success. They made an impact on fans when they were released, and they still turn heads and grab attention to this day because of how incredibly strange they are.

Let’s take a look at some weird, wonderful, and wild records made by some iconic artists.

Related: Top 10 Musicians Who Were Ahead Of Their Time

10 Paul McCartney: McCartney II

The Beatles are all-encompassing when it comes to popular music. So much so that it seems nigh impossible for someone to not have heard something Paul McCartney has made at some point in their lives. Recorded while he was alone on a farm in Scotland, the songs on McCartney II were originally never meant to see the light of day, as they were intended to just be a fun, weird experiment. After the cancellation of McCartney’s tour in Japan due to marijuana possession, however, he decided to release the album anyways.

The album is well known for being polarizing, and it’s not hard to see why. If you listen to tracks like “Temporary Secretary,” for example, you might walk away feeling grated and annoyed. That song was actually an inside joke, as McCartney found the idea of a temporary secretary hilarious, which tracks with the actual song—which also feels like an elaborate joke at times.

Here’s an idea: Make a playlist with 9 songs, including “Yesterday” and “Bogey Music,” and click shuffle. It should make for an interesting game of Russian Roulette.^[1]

9 Bob Dylan: Self Portrait

By the time 1970 hit, Bob Dylan was already an American icon. Because of this, the pressure on him was immense, and this Self Portrait was born. Filled with strange covers, abrasive live recordings, and the “smooth flow” of a rocky mountain rapid, it was a shock to music listeners at the time and continues to do the same to this day.

When Self Portrait was first played on the radio in full to listeners, many were utterly confused. Critics began to wonder if Dylan had lost his mind. Well, not really. Dylan later went on to acknowledge that he had made the album intentionally bad, calling the album a “joke” and saying that he “wanted to make something [the hippies] couldn’t possibly like.” This reaction was because of the overwhelming pressure of his fame and situation… and because overzealous fans were following him and his family around in public.

While Self Portrait might be less Van Gogh and more Oh no, it’s a fascinating album for what it meant to the rock icon’s life and career.^[2]

8 Johnny Rotten: Metal Box by Public Image Limited

Your first impression after looking at the title of this entry is probably something along the lines of “What an odd name for an album,” and you’d be forgiven for that reaction. The name Metal Box was given because of the packaging that the album was originally included in. The band originally packaged the album in a brutal-looking tin can instead of a traditional sleeve. This packaging is known as one of the strangest choices in music history.

Rotten, originally the singer for the revolutionary punk band the Sex Pistols, had become disillusioned with his life as a leading punk frontman. After the Pistols disbanded, he went on to form Public Image Limited, where he vented his frustrations using abstract and terrifying sounds. No other album they created does this as well as Metal Box. In the song “Poptones,” for example, Rotten wails about a story of a girl who was kidnapped and locked in the trunk of a car, only for the cops to find the culprits by the song the girl heard playing on the radio.

The album is chock full of haunting imagery, such as that which is present in “Poptones,” and fans of the Sex Pistols’ rebellious punk rock may be shocked by what they find inside the Metal Box.^[3]

7 John Frusciante: PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone

John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is one weird guy. When he’s not working with one of modern music’s most popular bands in “The Peps,” he is going solo, creating some truly insane rock music. As hinted by the wacky title, the music contained in the album is weird. At many points, whimsical childlike vocal melodies fly over eclectic electronic sounds like a strange musical bouncy castle.

Frusciante’s eclecticism is clear all over his music. From his rocky history with both substance abuse and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to his descent into the occult, you can see the evidence of a man who has lived an odd life. But there’s also a childlike innocence to it, as some of the songs on PBX feel childlike.

Whether or not you are brave enough to enter the Intaglio zone is up to you, but once you dive in, you may never be able to get out.^[4]

6 Nirvana: In Utero

To no one’s surprise, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain experienced many struggles during his time on Earth. These struggles are what make In Utero such a fascinating album to talk about. Recorded in the year leading up to Cobain’s death, In Utero reflects heavily upon his pain. The album is noisy, unabashed, and jagged, being produced by experimental punk legend Steve Albini. It’s a big shift for the band, and In Utero sees the change in Cobain’s persona from “voice of a generation” to a troubled man.

Despite the misery that is being trafficked on this album, it is still beautiful and moving to listen to at many points. Songs like “Serve the Servants” deal with Cobain’s displeasure and anger at the musical establishment and fans that brought him his success, and In Utero can be hard to listen to, knowing that you are witnessing someone’s descent into a dark place.

Nevertheless, it is a fascinating and impactful record, and anyone who makes its acquaintance will surely not be disappointed.^[5]

5 Van Halen: Van Halen III

In many ways, there’s nothing more fascinating than a disaster, and this entry might be the textbook definition of one. A famous rock music train wreck, Van Halen III includes the one and only appearance of oft-maligned lead singer Gary Cherone. Not only was there a new singer, but inter-band conflict and the Van Halen brothers’ notorious drinking problems were negatively affecting the band.

There are many reasons this album is considered the disaster that it is. One key example is the final track, “How Many Say I.” The vocal performance is famed guitarist Eddie Van Halen’s lead vocal debut, which does not go well. It is often mocked as one of rock music’s worst vocal performances of all time. Vocal hilarity aside, Van Halen III lacks the party rock grandiosity of Van Halen’s early work and signaled the band’s decline.

Van Halen III represents the fascinating and often hilarious flip side of sex, drugs, and rock and roll and where it can all go wrong. If you choose to witness it, you might want to wear a hard hat.^[6]

4 Lou Reed and Metallica: Lulu

Lou Reed and Metallica are two beloved and essential figures in rock history. From Lou Reed’s grimy rock ‘n’ roll poetry with the Velvet Underground to Metallica bringing blistering heavy metal to the pop charts, people had the right to be excited by the collaboration between the two. What they ended up getting was, well, kind of a disaster. Many fans were incredibly confused by the contents of Lulu, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s quite strange and hard to listen to.

An example of Lulu’s infamy is a famous lyric in the song “The View.” Lou Reed yells, “I am the table!” in a voice that is half scream and half demand. The moment has inspired a cascade of memes on the internet in the years since Lulu’s release. It highlights the strange but captivating nature of the album, which was based on a German play about a character named Lulu.

Despite many odd choices, strange sounds, and perplexing lyrics, Lou Reed and Metallica’s unabashedly strange album Lulu will be one that lingers in fans’ minds for decades to come, whether they like it or not.^[7]

3 Guns N’ Roses: Chinese Democracy

Beginning the podium on our eclectic rock music list is Chinese Democracy, one of hard rock’s most interesting detours. The recording and release of Chinese Democracy was interwoven with many hurdles. From perfectionism to personal conflict to recording industry blues, this album truly had it all. This smorgasbord of awful circumstances resulted in a 15-year gap between the release of this album and their previous released in 1993.

This album is truly a melting pot of eclectic musical influences and confusing choices from the band. Taking cues from the likes of Industrial rock legends Nine Inch Nails, Chinese Democracy represents an interesting stylistic shift for the band, who sound weirder than they ever had before. While it doesn’t all stick, it’s still a fun and odd listen.

Even though it was bogged down by constant trials and tribulations, Chinese Democracy is just as wild as its namesake.^[8]

2 The Beach Boys: Smile

The Beach Boys occupy a fascinating place in rock music history. From surf rock teen heartthrobs to baroque pop innovators, the Beach Boys’ cultural legacy is vast and varied. Many stories exist about the band’s difficulties, especially those of “tortured genius” Brian Wilson, who has often experienced debilitating mental troubles during his life. Maybe the most enduring of these stories for a long time, though, was those that told of the lost album Smile.

Being one of rock music’s most fabled “lost treasures,” Smile was said to be in recording limbo for decades. Fans clamored for it to be released, but year after year, nothing came out. However, in 2011, The Smile Sessions was released, and hungry fans were finally able to dig into one of rock music’s best-kept secrets.

One of rock’s most legendary mysteries, Smile is a beautiful album that will always make you wonder what could have been for The Beach Boys.^[9]

1 Yoko Ono: Fly

While Yoko Ono isn’t necessarily known as one of rock’s biggest musicians, she is an icon in her own right. She’s been busy making some of rock ‘n’ roll’s most groundbreaking, challenging, and experimental music for the better part of 50 years now, and everyone knows at least one guy who is still bitter about her “breaking up the Beatles” (which wasn’t her fault, for the record). Fly is certainly one of rock music’s freakiest and most bizarre statements.

Fly is a cornerstone in weird avant-garde rock music. This is apparent in songs such as the 22-minute-long title track, which spends the length of an entire side of a vinyl disc horrifically screeching and doing strange vocal manipulations. Seriously, much of the sounds she makes are akin to a small animal being brutally murdered right in front of you.

A monument to how weird rock music can get, Fly is part album, part medieval torture device, and it wouldn’t be better any other way.^[10]