Year: 1969

"The Velvet Underground" was the self-titled third album by the avant garde Velvet Underground, whose members included the late Lou Reed. The album was made following the departure of band founder and composer John Cale. Reed wrote its haunting love song "Pale Blue Eyes," which has been widely covered, with well-known versions by such artists as Patti Smith and R.E.M.

#88. 'Rain Dogs' by Tom Waits

- Best Ever Albums score: 16,048
Year: 1968

The double album "Electric Ladyland" was the last studio album recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was made in London and New York amid Hendrix's tours. It had the hit "All Along the Watchtower," in which Hendrix improvised, using a cigarette lighter as a guitar slide.

#65. 'Forever Changes' by Love

- Best Ever Albums score: 20,757

In Utero" was Nirvana's third and last studio album. A Rolling Stone reviewer called it "brilliant, corrosive, enraged and thoughtful." Nirvana's frontman Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994. Smashing Pumpkins' success exploded with the release of "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness," 28 songs that stretched from punk to folk. It produced the hits "Bullet With Butterfly Wings,""Tonight, Tonight,""Thirty-Three," and "1979," which would become the band's biggest U.S. hit. Year: 2000

For "Kid A," Radiohead added drum machines, synthesizers, and an ondes martenot, an instrument invented in the 1920s that has an oscillating sound not unlike a theremin. Ahead of the album's release, Radiohead made it available for online streaming. Even so, it went platinum in its first week, debuted at the top of U.S. charts, and was awarded a Grammy for best alternative album.

#4. 'Revolver' by The Beatles

- Best Ever Albums score: 76,868
Year: 1985

"Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" on "Hounds of Love" was the first U.S. hit for Britain's Kate Bush. The album took her two years to write, compose, and create, using piano, synthesizers, and traditional Irish instruments.

#69. 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' by The Smashing Pumpkins

- Best Ever Albums score: 19,773
Radiohead’s triumph here was to revive the multi-layered concept album, one that demanded you put on headphones, ponder all the musical surprises, and absorb its take on modern alienation. And wouldn’t you know it, this wilfully noncommercial album produced their biggest singles, at least in the UK, and remains a classic. 15: Prince & the Revolution – Purple RainYear: 1980

Released not long after the death of singer Ian Curtis, the album "Closer" depicted a tomb on its cover. The album had already been in production, but many fans found the image tasteless and exploitative. Closer was the band's second, and last, album.

#63. 'Weezer' (The Blue Album) by Weezer

- Best Ever Albums score: 21,951
The cover artwork on "Revolver" was drawn by Beatles' friend Klaus Voorman, who would later play bass for the band Manfred Mann. It won a Grammy for best album cover. Uncredited singers doing vocals on "Yellow Submarine" included Marianne Faithfull, Donovan, guitarist Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, and George Harrison's then-wife Pattie Boyd. The album was released before the Beatles stopped touring, but they never performed any of its songs live.

Master of Puppets" is considered one of metal's best albums. The band made the album in Denmark, working on it overnight for three months. Not long after its release, Metallica's bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a tour bus crash.The Bends" was Radiohead's second album. Some of its songs were recorded at a studio owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, and others were done at London's Abbey Road Studios. "The Bends" was better received by critics than the debut Pablo Honey had been, but none of its songs matched the success of "Creep," the hit single from the first album. Year: 1966

"Pet Sounds" is considered by many to be the Beach Boys' album masterpiece. It includes the timeless "Wouldn't It Be Nice,""God Only Knows," and "Sloop John B."

#12. 'Untitled (Led Zeppelin IV)' by Led Zeppelin

- Best Ever Albums score: 59,549
Year: 1972

"Harvest" was the first hit album for Canada's Neil Young, with help from Nashville session musicians, the London Symphony Orchestra, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and his former bandmates David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash. It features the huge hit "Heart of Gold," along with "Old Man" and "The Needle and the Damage Done." Young later wrote: "'Heart of Gold' put me in the middle of the road. Travelling there soon became a bore, so I headed for the ditch. A rougher ride, but I saw more interesting people there."

#86. 'Close to the Edge' by Yes

- Best Ever Albums score: 16,251