Throughout the 1960s, plenty of debut albums brought now-famous bands to the top of the charts. Others, though, didn’t yield much success for their bands or lead to follow-ups. It’s a shame, especially in the case of the following three legendary debut albums from the 1960s. I’m still surprised that they never led to sophomore LPs.
‘The United States Of America’ by The United States Of America (1968)
The United States Of America remain a beloved gem among music historians and audiophiles today. Sadly, though, their time together was surprisingly brief, lasting only from 1967 to 1968, and yielding just one album. The band’s self-titled debut was met with a massive amount of love from critics and fans, but it was just a little too ahead of its time to earn major charting success. Many would say that this album is “proto-prog” and features early implementation of electronic instruments and elements in a rock band. They were ahead of their time, and the whole of this album is absolutely essential listening.
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‘Blind Faith’ by Blind Faith (1969)
Supergroups are rarely poised to last forever. For many such groups, that’s by design. Some of the biggest supergroups of all time were designed to be temporary vehicles for musical creativity between albums or tours of the members’ other bands. For Blind Faith, their end was a bit more complicated. But when it comes to their sole self-titled debut album, many a fan of this psychedelic rock outfit was very sad to learn that they were donezo after just one album and one year together. This album is meteoric, and it was even a smash hit at No. 1 in both the US and UK.
‘Black Monk Time’ by The Monks (1966)
In the age of hippies and Flower Power was a black hole of weird proto-punk goodness known as Black Monk Time. This sole album by The Monks was released quite a while before punk would even come to exist, and I was shocked to learn that it remains the group’s only LP. This is easily one of the most unique debut albums of the 1960s. And The Monks are easily one of the most unique bands of the time.
Formed by several American soldiers stationed in West Germany, the group was known for their unique visual look (complete with black religious habits) and overall “anti-Beatles” vibe. They were a little campy, a little hamfisted in their anti-mainstream mantra, but genuinely unique for the time. And few were using distortion the way they were in 1966.
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)