Boy is the debut studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 20 October 1980 by Island Records and was produced by Steve Lillywhite. Boy contains songs from the band's 40-song repertoire at the time, including two tracks that were re-recorded from their original versions on the group's debut release, the EP Three.
Boy was recorded from July to September 1980 at Dublin's Windmill Lane Studios, which became U2's chosen recording location during the 1980s. It was their first time working with Lillywhite, who suggested recording drummer Larry Mullen Jr. playing in a stairwell, and recording smashed bottles and forks played against a spinning bicycle wheel. The band found Lillywhite to be very encouraging and creative, and he subsequently became a frequent producer of their recorded work. Thematically, the album's lyrics reflect on adolescence, innocence, and the passage into adulthood, themes represented on its cover artwork through the photo of a young boy's face.
Boy received generally positive reviews and included one of U2's first singles to receive airplay on US radio, "I Will Follow". The release was followed by the band's first tour of continental Europe and the US, the Boy Tour. The album peaked on the UK chart at number 52 in August 1981 and in the US at number 63. In 2003, Boy was ranked 417th on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2008, a remastered edition of Boy was released.
The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye is the debut studio album by Marvin Gaye, released in 1961, and the second long-playing album (TM-221) released by Motown. The first was Hi... We're the Miracles (TM-220). It is most notable as the album that caused the first known struggle of Gaye's turbulent tenure with the label.
Between his release from the U.S. Air Force in 1957 and signing with Motown Records's Tamla label in 1961, Marvin Gaye was struggling to find his identity in the music business. A long admirer of different forms of music from early rock 'n' roll, blues, jazz and doo-wop, Gaye sought to mix the styles of Nat King Cole, Billy Eckstine, Little Willie John and Jesse Belvin, first getting involved in groups such as the Marquees, which he joined following his honorable discharge from a tenure in the Air Forces, which soon replaced the original members of Harvey Fuqua's group The Moonglows under the moniker, Harvey and the New Moonglows, with Reese Palmer doing most of the leads though Gaye did take some lead vocal parts, including speaking in the intro and ending of the single, "The Twelve Months of the Year", and sung all lead in the song, "Mama Loochie". Both songs were released on the Chess label in 1959 and during this period the group sung background for notable Chess acts including Chuck Berry on the song "Almost Grown", and Etta James' "Chained to My Rocking Chair".
After living in Chicago for two years and following a tour in Detroit, Fuqua decided to split up the group and take Gaye with him to help get him work in the musically-developing city. Fuqua then signed Gaye to a contract with his Harvey and Tri-Phi Records and also assigned him to work with his then-girlfriend Gwen Gordy's Anna label. Gaye would do drumming work for acts on Tri-Phi and Harvey including, most notably, The Spinners, on their debut hit, "That's What Girls Are Made For".
In December 1960, Gaye introduced himself to Motown CEO Berry Gordy at Motown's annual Christmas party by playing piano and singing "Mr. Sandman". Gordy was impressed with Gaye and later began working out a negotiation deal with Fuqua to sign the young singer to Gordy's Motown empire. Fuqua agreed to sell 50% of his interest in Gaye to Gordy, which led to Gordy presenting Gaye with a lucrative deal, which he signed with the following month. Gaye was then assigned to Motown's Tamla label, for which he'd record with for the next 20 years. In the meantime, Gaye met and fell in love with one of Gordy's sisters, Anna Gordy and the couple would begin dating during the spring of 1961, marrying within a year.
The Velvet Underground & Nico is the debut album by American rock band the Velvet Underground and German singer Nico, released in March 1967 through Verve Records. It was recorded in 1966 while the band were featured on Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable tour. The album features experimental performance sensibilities and controversial lyrical topics, including drug abuse, prostitution, sadomasochism and sexual deviancy. It sold poorly and was mostly ignored by contemporary critics, but later became regarded as one of the most influential albums in the history of rock and pop music.
Described as "the original art-rock record", The Velvet Underground & Nico served as a major influence on many subgenres of rock music and forms of alternative music, including punk, garage, krautrock, post-punk, shoegaze, goth, and indie. In 1982, musician Brian Eno stated that while the album only sold approximately 30,000 copies in its first five years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!" In 2003, it ranked 13th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and in 2006, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.
Nico sang lead vocals on three tracks, including the single "All Tomorrow's Parties".
The Velvet Underground & Nico was recorded with the first professional line-up of the Velvet Underground: Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker. At the instigation of their mentor and manager Andy Warhol, and his collaborator Paul Morrissey, German singer Nico was also featured; she had occasionally performed lead vocals for the band. She sang lead on three of the album's tracks—"Femme Fatale", "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "I'll Be Your Mirror"—and back-up on "Sunday Morning". In 1966, as the album was being recorded, this was also the line-up for their live performances as a part of Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable.
The bulk of the songs that would become The Velvet Underground & Nico were recorded in mid-April 1966, during a four-day stint at Scepter Studios, a run-down recording studio in Manhattan. This recording session was financed by Warhol and Columbia Records' sales executive Norman Dolph, who also acted as an engineer with John Licata. Though the exact total cost of the project is unknown, estimates vary from $1,500 (US$12,528 in 2021 dollars) to $3,000 (US$25,055 in 2021 dollars).
Soon after recording, Dolph sent an acetate disc of the recordings to Columbia Records in an attempt to interest them in distributing the album, but they declined, as did Atlantic Records and Elektra Records—according to Morrison, Atlantic objected to the references to drugs in Reed's songs, while Elektra disliked Cale's viola. Finally, the MGM Records-owned Verve Records accepted the recordings, with the help of Verve staff producer Tom Wilson who had recently moved from a job at Columbia.
With the backing of a label, one month later in May 1966 three of the songs, "I'm Waiting for the Man", "Venus in Furs" and "Heroin", were re-recorded in two days at TTG Studios during a stay in Hollywood. When the record's release date was postponed, Wilson brought the band into Mayfair Recording Studios in Manhattan in November 1966, to add a final song to the track listing: the single "Sunday Morning".
Surfin' Safari is the debut album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released October 1, 1962 on Capitol Records. The official production credit went to Nick Venet, though it was Brian Wilson with his father Murry who contributed substantially to the album's production; Brian also wrote or co-wrote nine of its 12 tracks. The album reached number 32 in the US during a chart stay of 37 weeks.
The album was preceded by two singles: "Surfin'" and "Surfin' Safari", which charted at numbers 75 and 14, respectively. The success of "Surfin' Safari" helped secure a full album for the group while an additional single, "Ten Little Indians", was issued, charting at number 49.
For You is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Prince. It was released by Warner Bros. Records on April 7, 1978. All tracks were produced, arranged, composed, and performed by Prince. Prince started recording in September 1977 at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he had previously made a demo. Friend and producer David Rivkin (later known as David Z) provided advice and engineering assistance.
For You reached No. 163 on the Billboard 200 and No. 21 on the Billboard Soul chart. "Soft and Wet", the album's lead single, became a minor hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 92. However, it became a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, peaking at No. 12. In 2016, after Prince's death, the album re-charted on the Billboard 200, reaching No. 138.
Prince started recording in September 1977 at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he had previously made a demo. Friend and producer David Rivkin (later known as David Z) provided advice and engineering assistance. Rivkin was being considered for the role of executive producer, but Warner Bros. instead chose Tommy Vicari, known for his work with Gino Vannelli. Vicari suggested taking the project to a studio in Los Angeles, but Prince's manager Owen Husney chose the Record Plant in Sausalito, California. Shifting the project to California, Prince, Vicari, Husney, and Husney's wife settled into an apartment in Mill Valley, California, with a view looking down at Sausalito and out to the San Francisco Bay.
Starting in October, the basic tracks were recorded over three months at the Record Plant. Vicari tried to exert his influence as producer but Prince shrugged off any advice that was contrary to his wishes. Prince worked obsessively on the project, singing all vocals and playing all instruments, including acoustic, electric, and bass guitar; acoustic and Fender Rhodes piano; synth bass; various keyboard synths by Oberheim, Moog, and Arp; orchestra bells; drums and percussion. He used the Oberheim to provide the sound of a horn section, but with guitar lines layered into the mix. The basic tracks were finished in late December 1977. Husney later observed that Prince had drained Vicari during the recording process, such that Vicari was "heartbroken" because he had just been "treated like shit".
In January 1978, Prince and Vicari moved the project to engineer Armin Steiner's Sound Labs studio in Hollywood to begin overdubs and final mixing. Prince distanced himself further from Vicari, concentrating on laying down multiple vocal lines to create a polished commercial sound. Warner Bros. selected an art director to design the album cover but Prince booked his own photography session with Joe Gianetti, resulting in a head shot taken in a dark room with Prince's face lit by candlelight. Prince completed the final mixes on February 28. The total project cost $170,500—US$708,358 in 2021 dollars—three times the original budget. With all the work, including 46 vocal lines layered into the first track, Prince was exhausted. He later said that he was a "physical wreck" when he finished.
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen. It was produced by Mike Appel and Jim Cretecos from June through October 1972 at the budget-priced 914 Sound Studios. The album was released January 5, 1973, by Columbia Records to average sales but positive critical reviews.
Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. first charted in the United Kingdom on June 15, 1985, in the wake of Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. tour arriving in Britain; it remained in the top 100 for ten weeks. In 2003, the album was ranked at No. 379 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and in 2013 the same magazine named Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. as one of the "100 Greatest Debut Albums of All-Time". On November 22, 2009, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. was played in its entirety for the first time by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, to celebrate the last show of the Working on a Dream tour.
Led Zeppelin is the debut studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 12 January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records.
The album was recorded in September and October 1968 at Olympic Studios in London, shortly after the band's formation. It contains a mix of original material worked out in the first rehearsals, and remakes and rearrangements of contemporary blues and folk songs. The sessions took place before the group had secured a recording contract and totalled 36 hours; they were paid for directly by Jimmy Page, the group's founder, leader and guitarist, and Led Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and cost £1,782 (equivalent to £31,203 in 2021) to complete. They were produced by Page, who as a musician was joined by band members Robert Plant (lead vocals, harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums). Percussionist Viram Jasani appears as a guest on one track. The tracks were mixed by Page's childhood friend Glyn Johns, and the iconic album cover showing the Hindenburg disaster was designed by George Hardie.
Led Zeppelin showed the group's fusion of blues and rock, and their take on the emerging hard rock sound was immediately commercially successful in both the UK and US, reaching the top 10 on album charts in both countries, as well as several others, while it reached number one in Spain's albums chart. Many of the songs were longer and not well suited to be released as singles for radio airplay; Page was reluctant to release "singles", so only "Good Times Bad Times", backed with "Communication Breakdown", was released outside of the UK. However, due to exposure on album-oriented rock radio stations, and growth in popularity of the band, many of the album's songs have become classic rock radio staples.
David Bowie is the debut studio album by English musician David Bowie. It was released in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1967 through Decca-subsidiary Deram Records. Following a string of singles that failed to chart and being dismissed from Pye Records in late 1966, Bowie was signed to Deram on the strength of "Rubber Band". After spending autumn of that year writing songs, David Bowie was recorded from November 1966 to March 1967 at Decca Studios in London with production by Mike Vernon, who hired numerous studio musicians. Bowie and his former Buzz bandmate Derek "Dek" Fearnley composed music charts for the orchestra using Freda Dinn's Observer's Guide to Music.
Musically, the album displays a baroque pop and music hall sound influenced by Anthony Newley and the Edwardian styles of contemporary British rock bands. The songs are primarily led by orchestral brass and woodwind instruments rather than traditional instruments in pop music at the time, although some tracks feature guitar. The lyrics are short-story narratives that range from lighthearted to dark, discussing themes from childhood innocence, to drug use and totalitarianism. Bowie utilised various ideologies on the record for his later works. The cover artwork is a headshot of Bowie in a mod haircut wearing a high-collared jacket.
Released in both mono and stereo, David Bowie received positive reviews from music journalists but was a commercial failure due to a lack of promotion from Deram. Two tracks were omitted for its release in the United States in August 1967. Bowie provided more tracks for Deram, all of which were rejected and led to his departure from the label. Retrospective reviews have unfavourably compared David Bowie to the artist's later works, but some have recognised it positively on its own terms. The album was reissued in a two-disc deluxe edition in 2010, which featured both mixes and other tracks from the period.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963 by Columbia Records. Whereas his self-titled debut album Bob Dylan had contained only two original songs, this album represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary words to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions. It opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which became an anthem of the 1960s, and an international hit for folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary soon after the release of the album. The album featured several other songs which came to be regarded as among Dylan's best compositions and classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country", "Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".
Dylan's lyrics embraced news stories drawn from headlines about the Civil Rights Movement and he articulated anxieties about the fear of nuclear warfare. Balancing this political material were love songs, sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features surreal humor. Freewheelin' showcased Dylan's songwriting talent for the first time, propelling him to national and international fame. The success of the album and Dylan's subsequent recognition led to his being named as "Spokesman of a Generation", a label Dylan repudiated.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan reached number 22 in the US (eventually going platinum), and became a number-one album in the UK in 1965. In 2003, the album was ranked number 97 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2002, Freewheelin' was one of the first 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The Rolling Stones is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released by Decca Records in the UK on 16 April 1964. The American edition of the LP, with a slightly different track list, came out on London Records on 30 May 1964, subtitled England's Newest Hit Makers, which later became its official title.
Recorded at Regent Sound Studios in London over the course of five days in January and February 1964, The Rolling Stones was produced by then-managers Andrew Loog Oldham and Eric Easton. The album was originally released by Decca Records in the UK, while the US version appeared on the London Records label.
The majority of the tracks reflect the band's love for R&B. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (whose professional name until 1978 omitted the "s" in his surname) were fledgling songwriters during early 1964, contributing only one original composition to the album: "Tell Me (You're Coming Back)". Two songs are credited to "Nanker Phelge" – a pseudonym the band used for group compositions from 1963 to 1965. Phil Spector and Gene Pitney both contributed to the recording sessions, and are referred to as "Uncle Phil and Uncle Gene" in the subtitle of the Phelge instrumental "Now I've Got a Witness".
