4 Wild Rock Albums That Were Way Ahead of Their Time

Need a few legendary albums to remind you what good music sounds like? Some of these albums weren’t quite so loved when they were first released, but have since become legendary records appreciated for being way beyond what musicians at the time were making in the mainstream. Let’s take a deep dive into four rock albums that were way ahead of their time! We think these particular records are essential listening for any fan of rock music.

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1. ‘The Velvet Underground And Nico’ by The Velvet Underground

Few debut records are as influential as this one, and few works of art in psychedelic and experimental rock are as beloved as The Velvet Underground And Nico from 1967. This Velvet Underground record came out during the Summer of Love, and plenty of acts got huge that very year in psychedelic rock and pop music. 

This record, however, is notably different from the rest. It’s like a sour acid trip that explores the dirty underbelly of New York City in a way that was so beyond what other musicians at the time were doing.

2. ‘McCartney II’ by Paul McCartney

Out of all the rock albums that were ahead of their time on this list, there’s something unabashedly surreal about former Beatle Paul McCartney’s second self-titled album from 1980. This is, by far, the weirdest album to ever come out of The Beatles’ respective solo careers. And we’re not mad about it.

McCartney II is an oddball, experimental piece of work that prominently features synthesizers. Synths were about to become the next big thing that decade and McCartney played his part in setting the trend. While many fans didn’t love this album for being so avant-garde, it has since gotten more appreciation. 

McCartney, in many ways, set the standard for what pop music sounded like throughout the 1960s and 1970s. With McCartney II, he flipped his own script.

3. ‘Led Zeppelin II’ by Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin’s debut album was legendary on its own, but this iconic blues rock band changed the game with their sophomore release in 1969. Led Zeppelin II is a beautiful example of a band perfecting elements that were already intriguing to begin with. 

Where many listeners were expecting more of the same old blues rock, Jimmy Page and the gang decided to subvert everyone’s expectations by putting together a hard rock, heavy metal-adjacent piece of work that was way ahead of its time.

4. ‘Murmur’ by R.E.M.

In the early 1980s, punk was started to collapse under its own weight. Rock was at a point where it was ready to evolve into new genres, and that certainly happened in many different directions. R.E.M. decided to take things a step further by releasing a genre-bending jangle pop alt-rock record in 1983 called Murmur.

Rock albums that were ahead of their time often ducked away from mainstream listeners’ expectations. For R.E.M., though, their debut album laid the foundation for what would become the alternative rock boom well through the 1990s.

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