I like most of above but my fav is... The Ramones..Ramones first album..punk anti rock or not!
You listed most of the complete albums on my phone. My list is a little briefer with fewer of the american bands making the cut but essentially the same. I'm not musically inclined enough to be able to identify what makes these albums good, but it's easy to see that their intrinsic quality is identifiable by anyone who listens to the genre. WHY are these albums so good?
I have only two, both from the same era in the '70s.
1. Boston: the first album. Nothing else sounded like this before or since.
2. Kansas: Leftoverture. "Carry On Wayward Son."
No Moody Blues?
My additions:
Pink Floyd: Dark side of the moon, THe Wall
U2: Live Under a Blood Red Sky, War, Boy
Marillion: Holidays in Eden
Genesis: Trick of the Tail (before Genesis turned evil pop)
Well, my list starts out enough like yours I could just cut and paste it... oh what the hell:
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
The Who - Whos Next (the extended release)
The Beatles - Rubber Soul, 1, Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road
Led Zeppelin - II, IV
Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite for destruction
Queen - A kind of magic
Cream - Disraeli gears, Fresh Cream, Wheels of Fire
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Van Halen - Van Halen
Pearl Jam - Ten
The Allman Brothers Band - Eat a Peach +100 on this
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Pronounced Lynyrd Skynyrd,
To it, I would add:
U2 - Achtung Baby, All That You Can't Leave Behind, Rattle and Hum, The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree,
The Goo Goo Dolls: Dizzy Up the Girl, Gutterflower
Boston, Boston
Oasis, What's the Story Morning Glory
Bush, X
Matchbox Twenty, Yourself or Someone Like You
Dave Matthews: Crash, Under the Table and Dreaming, Before These Crowded Streets, , oh God... about every album he ever made.
Linkin Park, Hybrid Theory
Incubus, Morning View and Make Yourself
Eric Clapton, Unplugged. Arguably not rock, but if you don't like 90+% of that album, there is something deeply, deeply wrong with you.
AC/DC, Back in Black. DUUUUHHHH!!!
Audioslave, Audioslave
Dire Straits, Alchemy
Within Temptation, The Heart of Everything
The Who, Who's Next.
Third Eye Blind, Third Eye Blind and Blue (If I'm crossing categories here, it's because I'm ignorant and don't know the difference).
Godsmack, Godsmack.
I'll leave off my Hootie and the Blowfish selections, I suspect I am going to be mocked mercilessly for including U2 and The Goo Goo Dolls... although you have the Beach Boys on there so, pot, kettle.
Desert Island 5:
U2, All that you Can't Leave Behind
The Goo Goo Dolls, Dizzy up the Girl
Honestly, I could stop with those two. But:
Boston, Boston
Crash, DMB
Clapton, Unplugged
And before you ask, why yes, I AM a child of the '90s, and no, I did not discover classic or hard rock before I went off to college in 2000.
Believe me, if it was my top 100, days of the future passed would be on there, as would back in black, brothers in arms (actually, I almost put it in my top 30), and a whole bunch of other stuff.
I tried cutting it down to 20, or even 25, and I just couldn't do it. 30 was as low as I could go.
Oh and if I'd included punk or metal, I wouldn't even have bee able to cut it down to 50; which is one of the reasons I left the separate.
I could think of 10 punk, and 20 metal albums that HAVE to be in my top 50 listing right now without any serious thought.
I'd just have to add one album- The Who Live at Leeds. Their live work from 1969 up to when they recorded Who's Next was absolutly amazing (see also Woodstock or Live at the Isle of Wight). I'm blessed to have that album on vinyl, and better yet, the means to play it.
But Chris, what really qualifies as metal? Guns n' Roses, Deep Purple, Def Leppard, Rage, Halen, Alice in Chains; could all be considered metal and/or the forefathers of metal.
ok Rock for me
ministry , The mind is a terrible thing to taste
Skinny puppy, rabies
Front 242, front by front
KMFDM, angst
Fugazi, 13 songs
The specials, the specials
The Smiths, entire catalog (amazing)
the who, quadrophenia
maddness, one step beyond
joy division, closer
the cranberries, ode to my family
just a quick list, maybe not quite "rock" as Queen but solid albums through and through.
cheers
Off the top of my head.
No particular order:
Led Zep: Physical Graffiti(and everything before it)
Rush: 2112, Permanent Waves, Moving Pictures
Pink Floyd: DSOTM, WYWH
By the way Rush it touring again and I'll be seeing them in about a month! Seriously those guys sound and perform just about the same as they did 30 years ago. Highly recommended!
Chris, 2112 was number 33 on my list.
I won't take a stab at a top 30, because I'm a little to glazed/preoccupied today, but a few thoughts.
Made in Japan kicks Machine Head's ass. Plus, you get a two-fer. No doubt it's on my list.
Yessongs. I guess I'm more of a Wakeman fan than you. Plus, you get a three-fer.
ELP. Hard to choose, but Brain Salad Surgery takes the top spot. Well, I could go with Return of the Manticore, and get a four-fer.
Rush: 2112 without a doubt. Also, Fly By Night, even though Rivendell is lame.
Don't care for Clapton Unplugged, but From the Cradle is real contender. But it ain't rock.
Something by Santana. Abraxas or Moonflower. Moonflower is another two-fer.
Okay, I've broken the rules. Well, phphphhpt! 
What, no glam? I would have to add David Bowie's "The rise and fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars"--not my favorite Bowie album, but it is the best, most consistent straight rock Bowie Album. I like "Low" much better, but the B-side is very much not Rock.
I'd also put up Roxy Music's "Siren" and The Talking Head's "More Songs about Buildings & Food"
As far as current bands go, I'd also include The Black Keys' "Thickfreakness". They're an excellelent 2 piece blues-rock band with a metal feel. "Rubber Factory" is also excellent. Check 'em out.
ZIggy Stardust was around 35 on my list
I won't spend the time or thought into putting together a list of my own, but I will bring up two points:
1) At what point does pop diverge from rock? I'm thinking especially of the Beatles and the Beach Boys here. The 5 albums from these two bands that you listed here are no doubt some of the best albums ever made, period, but are they actually in the "rock" category?
2) You're right that the album, as a musical form, has been on the decline, but there are several modern bands that I think put a good stab at it:
Muse - Absolution, Black Holes & Revelations
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
System of a Down - Hypnotize/Mesmerize, Toxicity
I'm pretty sure that at least one of those Muse albums would be in my Top 30.
Chris,
I need some clarification. How is Jerry Lee Lewis not rockabilly? If he's rock, then 'The Stray Cats' would be on my list - somewhere :p
Glad to see some Dream Theater in the list!
Don't remember much of the 70's -- I was there after all...
In no particular order:
Boston 1st album
Aerosmith
Aerosmith Toys in the Attic
Aerosmith Rocks
Chicago Live At Carnegie Hall Vol. 1 - 4
Beatles, Please Please Me
If The Beatles and Beach Boys are allowed then I'd like to submit Todd Rundgren's "Something/Anything". Bonus points for packing a whole double album with gems. Todd has always seemed a little underrated to me.
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
Fleetwood Mac - English Rose
Stones - Live'er Than You'll Ever Be (bootleg)
Surrealistic pillow was in my top 50, just not my top 30
Well, I am clearly leaving off obviously Heavy Metal albums as well as Live albums. Both of those catagories should have their own list to be fair. So, in no particular order:
The Who - Who's Next
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Van Halen - Van Halen
Guns 'n' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Boston - Boston
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
Cream - Disraeli Gears
Aerosmith - Get Your Wings
Aerosmith - Rocks
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms
Steely Dan - Aja
Pearl Jam - Ten
Alice Cooper - Welcome To My Nightmare
Black Crowes - Shake Your Moneymaker
Led Zeppelin - II
Deep Purple - Machine Head
Deep Purple - Burn
The Doors - The Doors
The Pretenders - Learning To Crawl
U2 - The Joshua Tree
The Grateful Dead - American Beauty
The Grateful Dead - Wake Of The Flood
Rush - A Farewell To Kings
Cheap Trick - In Color
Eric Clapton - Journeyman
Faith No More - The Real Thing
Top 5 Island Albums:
The Who - Who's Next
Jethro Tull - Songs From The Wood
Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
Led Zeppelin - II
Aerosmith - Get Your Wings
I could do these lists all day long. Metal, Art Rock, Live Albums ...etc, ect. Good idea Chris, this was fun.
Desert island 5, eh? This is actually pretty easy for me, at the moment.
1) Muse - Absolution
2) Poison the Well - Opposite of December
3) Zao - The Splinter Shards the Birth of Separation
4) Mudvayne - LD 50
5) Tool - Aenima
Umm, Who's Next? Don't get it. Who Live at Leeds, fer sure. Beatles--Revolver. I don't really consider the Dead as "pure rock". There's way too much folk/bluegrass stuff in there. They were just the psychadelic version of the old boys jammin round the moonshine still that gave birth, when mixed with a little african american rhythm and blues to rock and roll.
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