10 Vinyl Records Every Classic Rock Fan Should Already Own

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If there's any genre of music that screams to be listened to on vinyl, it's classic rock, a genre that roughly spans the late '50s to the early '80s. From this fertile time, there are some records that are essential for any classic rock collection. For the uninitiated, vinyl records are the natural habitat of this music. That crackle as the needle finds its groove before the first song, the look of the sleeve fanned out on your lap, and the sound fidelity are all part of the experience. 

The increased focus on recording full-length LPs during the classic rock period made that "album era" a period of sonic invention and stone-cold classics. In putting together our round-up, we focused on albums that broke new ground and established a legacy. From the innovations of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Electric Ladyland" to the massively influential "The Velvet Underground & Nico" and the mythos-generating "Rumours," these records may sound fine streaming, but they're best served on a spinning plate of vinyl.

An arty (kind of) concept album, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" captures the Beatles on a creative high. Of the 1967 LP, Ringo Starr said in "The Beatles Anthology," " ... whoever had the best idea ... that was the one we'd use." You've got John Lennon's spaced out and luminous "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," Paul McCartney plucking heart strings on "When I'm Sixty-Four," and Ringo Starr bringing us all together with "With a Little Help From My Friends." The final track, "A Day in the Life,"  is a true psychedelic rock mic drop.

As far as we're concerned, a classic rock record collection without Queen's "A Night At The Opera" is woefully incomplete. With Freddy Mercury's otherworldly singing colliding with Brian May's frenzied yet razor-sharp guitarwork, the album is '70s rock gold and deservedly made the band legends. Feast on the scorn of album opener "Death on Two Legs," the sci-fi epic "'39," or, of course, the over-the-top singalong staple "Bohemian Rhapsody," with its mandatory headbanging after the operetta breakdown.

Spending 31 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200 after its release in 1977, "Rumours" was the second album of the classic line-up of Fleetwood Mac that included Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, and Christine McVie. Lush, expansive, and anthemic, it features timeless love songs and ballads of heartbreak like "Go Your Own Way" and "Dreams." That it was recorded on the heels of Nicks and Buckingham's breakup and Christine and John McVie's divorce only adds to its emotional weight, grabbing us by our hearts and never letting go.

Often considered their best, the Rolling Stones' 1972 album "Exile on Main St." is a double LP that finds Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and the rest of the band dipping into their beloved American musical styles. Side A ends with the bluesy boogie of "Tumbling Dice," but then the B side kicks off with the countrified boot stomp of "Sweet Virginia," which slides into the expansive Americana of "Torn and Frayed." Rounding up his favorite albums for The Guardian, Tom Waits said of "Exile on Main St.," "This is just a tree of life ... a watering hole"; that's high praise from the iconic troubadour.

The last studio album Jimi Hendrix recorded with band members Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Electric Ladyland" is a '60s psychedelic rock masterstroke. The guitar god's playing alone would make it legendary, but it's the album's commitment to experimentation that makes it an essential part of any classic rock collection. The band turned Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" into blues rock gold, and that buzzy solo on "Crosstown Traffic" is Hendrix playing a homemade kazoo. And then there's side A's final track, "Voodoo Chile," a jam that sets fire to our minds with every spin.

A classic rock collection ought to include multiple David Bowie records; after all, he was rock 'n' roll's greatest shapeshifter. "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" gave birth to — and killed – Bowie's most famous alter-ego and look: Ziggy Stardust. Mick Ronson's guitarwork and Bowie's spacey lyrics collide to create a supernova. "He'd like to come and meet us," goes the chorus of "Starman," "But he thinks he'd blow our minds." The title track "Ziggy Stardust," along with tracks such as "Suffragette City," all do exactly that.

There are many ways that Janis Joplin's album "Pearl" is a heartbreaker, not least of which is that she died before completing it, leaving so many cards on the table. "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose," she wails in the iconic chorus of "Me and Bobby McGee," showing us exactly what's at stake when you try to love. "Buried Alive in the Blues," an instrumental because she never got the chance to record her part, haunts us every time. 

While the hippies were digging peace and love in 1967, the Velvet Underground channeled the art, danger, and hedonistic lifestyle of downtown New York. Nominally produced by Andy Warhol and featuring German actor Nico's singing on many tracks, their debut album "The Velvet Underground & Nico" didn't sell well initially, but has since become a countercultural touchstone. "All Tomorrow's Parties" captures alienation and loneliness, while "Venus in Furs" revels in leather and kink. "I wanted to write the great American novel," front man Lou Reed once revealed in 1987 (via "Blank on Blank"), "but I also loved rock n' roll."

It would be a cosmic crime not to listen to "Abraxas" all the way through. While this psychedelic epic from 1970 features one of Santana's most popular songs in "Black Magic Woman," the whole album is a trip; a journey through inner and outer space. With Latin percussion and polyrhythms guiding Carlos Santana's guitarwork, the album explodes with innovation. From hip shakers like "Oye Como Va" to the grandiose, groovy rock of "Mother's Daughter," it's an album that invites you to tune in and drop out.

"Another year with nothin' to do," Iggy Pop moans on "1969," the opening track on the Stooges' self-titled debut LP, and that sense of nihilism permeates through the rest of the album. Sounding like nothing else from that year, the album tore the hood off rock 'n' roll and exposed its engine. Tracks like "I Wanna Be Your Dog" and "No Fun" draw throughlines from '60s garage rock to punk, and there's nothing like Pop's demented vocals. "Their music is loud, boring, tasteless, unimaginative, and childish," wrote Edmond O. Ward in Rolling Stone, "I kind of like it." As far as any worthy classic rock vinyl collection is concerned, we think it's essential.