5 Classic Debut Albums You Might Not Realize Were Written By Other Artists

Every musical act starts their career with a debut album. It's a way of putting their songs on a tangible medium that listeners can actually hold onto. Of course, this idea is getting muddled in the age of streaming tech, but collections of songs are, regardless, the way to rack up listening minutes from your fans. Most of the time, these artists and groups write their own material. But occasionally, a record label will have a more popular or seasoned songwriter craft the debut album for a prospective talent in hopes that they'll take the spotlight from day one.

These are debut albums written by other artists, and each album on this list made a splash on the charts. We've rounded up everything from classic rock in the '60s to pop music that's lived on for half a century. You'll also notice music that became one of the most beloved internet trends, late '70s hard rock that made a legend, and one of the most scandalous debut albums ever released. So, buckle up and let's go for a ride through five classic debut albums you might not realize were written by other artists.

In 1977, Meat Loaf dropped his debut album "Bat Out of Hell." Unknown at the time, this would become the highest selling debut album in UK history. It launched the rocker's career to heights nobody could've foreseen. This album alone spent over 500 weeks on the UK album charts, peaked at 13 on the Billboard 200, inspired a musical, and made Meat Loaf millions as a multi-platinum seller. And, it's an enduring album that had a major resurgence of popularity in 2022. Pretty good for a debut, huh? But Meat Loaf didn't write this album. Instead, it was created by composer and producer Jim Steinman.

Steinman wrote the music and worked on the music video production that helped make "Bat Out of Hell" popular across the ages. The composer took a base of classical music and blended it with rock personality to create one of the highest selling works in history. He's the architect of Meat Loaf's fame post-"Hair," and he's hardly known at all outside of the industry.

Today, you can find Steinman in the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, but you're probably already familiar with more of his work than you realize. He wrote for the musicals "More Than You Deserve" and "Dance of the Vampires," along with several films. More importantly, he was the songwriter behind hit pop songs such as Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."

Australian actor and pop star Kylie Minogue has enjoyed a flourishing international career that's spanned nearly 40 years, though for some reason, she's the type of pop star people forget they've heard of. She's had multiple chart successes that don't even sound like the same artist — take, for example, her contrasting styles in her cover of "The Loco-Motion" from 1988 and "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" in 2002, her two biggest singles in the US. It's this sort of versatility and career longevity that has earned her the moniker "Princess of Pop."

None of Minogue's success would've played out the way it did if her debut 1988 album "Kylie" flopped. It landed her on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 53, with notable hits "I Should Be So Lucky," "Got To Be Certain," and the aforementioned "The Loco-Motion" taking singles charts around the world by storm.

One of the most famous songwriting groups in history is responsible for "Kylie" — Stock Aitken Waterman. Stock Aitken Waterman is a trio composed of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman, and together they've created several chart topping hits and launched some of the biggest names in pop to stardom. They worked with Bananarama, Judas Priest, Donna Summer, and several other musical acts. They hold the writing and arrangement credits on Minogue's debut album except, of course, "The Loco-Motion," which is a cover.

We wouldn't want to intentionally rickroll you, but we'd never have the song "Never Gonna Give You Up" if it wasn't for Rick Astley's debut album, "Whenever You Need Somebody." It dropped in 1987 amidst steep competition. Michael Jackson's "Bad," Whitney Houston's second album, the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack, and several major rock albums came out the same year. Yet, somehow, "Whenever You Need Somebody" avoided getting lost in the musical commotion.

The album was a smash, and the writers must've been proud. Yes, this is another creation from the great pop-star-makers Stock Aitken Waterman. Don't get it wrong, Astley had been on the professional music scene in various capacities before he released "Whenever You Need Somebody," but Stock Aitken Waterman raised him up from playing club gigs to a chart-topping star. The songwriting trio convinced him to drop his previous band, FBI, and go solo. Then, they whisked him away to London.

For Astley, this was a gamble. Stock Aitken Waterman would eventually produce multiple massive hits, but when Astley jumped on with them, their winning streak was still in its infancy. Good thing he took the risk, though, since it essentially made his career. And it seems "Whenever You Need Somebody," or at least its most famous single, will live on through internet culture for a very long time.

Milli Vanilli's 1989 debut album "Girl You Know It's True" wasn't only written by other artists, it's surrounded by controversy. In fact, it's almost difficult to call the album theirs in the first place since the two frontmen of the band didn't actually have anything to do with the music at all. Not in writing. Not in recording. And not even in singing during the live performances.

The faces of Milli Vanilli were Fabrice Morvan of France and Rob Pilatus of Germany. At their core, the two were dancers. One thing they certainly weren't was the musicians behind the music on their own album. During performances, they lip synced with the vocals, which is pretty common with major vocalists since singing every night and keeping the same level of clarity is difficult. The voice only has so much endurance before it needs to rest. But, the vocals Morvan and Pilatus were pretending to sing were actually recorded by session musicians.

The pair also didn't write the album. Instead, the music was created by producer Frank Farian — with one notable exception. The title track of "Girl You Know It's True" was actually ripped off from a Maryland hip hop group known as Numarx and packaged as a Milli Vanilli single. Numarx, of course, wasn't aware of this until the song was already a hit. Nowadays, this is one of the biggest lip-sync scandals of all time, for good reason.

The Monkees are one of the most iconic names from the late '60s. The group was already rising in fame from their TV show before they dropped their 1966 debut album, but once "The Monkees" hit record stores and radio stations, it was the turning point for Monkeemania on the airwaves. This album and the following three would all peak No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Basically, the Monkees secured major fame right out of the gate, and there are several people to thank for it.

While major hits like the No. 1 "Last Train To Clarksville" or nostalgic favorites like "The Monkees" theme song wouldn't be the same without Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork, they didn't write them. Instead, a team of seasoned songwriters from the era composed this debut. It included Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart — who also wrote hits for Jay and the Americans as well as Fats Domino — alongside frontman of the band Bread, David Gates, and the legendary Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Goffin and King also wrote songs played by the Byrds, the Animals, and several other big names in the '60s. And it's thanks to this group of songwriting heroes that The Monkees' music made the splash it did from day one.