List by @riffiter
Essential indie & alternative albums
The independent canon: 20 albums from the Velvet Underground to the streaming era that define indie and alternative rock.
1 like · sign in to like20 albums
- 1
The Velvet Underground & NicoThe Velvet Underground · 19671967 · everyone who heard it started a band
- 2
The Queen Is DeadThe Smiths · 19861986 · wit and misery in perfect balance
- 3
Daydream NationSonic Youth · 19881988 · noise as composition
- 4
DoolittlePixies · 19891989 · surreal, savage, melodic
- 5
The Stone RosesThe Stone Roses · 19891989 · Madchester's founding document
- 6
NevermindNirvana · 19911991 · the alternative breakthrough
- 7
Crooked Rain, Crooked RainPavement · 19941994 · slacker rock's sharpest songwriting
- 8
OK ComputerRadiohead · 19971997 · alternative rock's outer limit
- 9
In the Aeroplane Over the SeaNeutral Milk Hotel · 19981998 · the cult album of cult albums
- 10
The Moon & AntarcticaModest Mouse · 20002000 · indie rock goes existential
- 11
Is This ItThe Strokes · 20012001 · downtown cool, perfectly bottled
- 12
Turn On the Bright LightsInterpol · 20022002 · NYC gloom, beautifully tailored
- 13
FuneralArcade Fire · 20042004 · communal catharsis
- 14
Sound of SilverLCD Soundsystem · 20072007 · dance-punk with a midlife heart
- 15
BoxerThe National · 20072007 · slow-burn songwriting at its finest
- 16
For Emma, Forever AgoBon Iver · 20072008 · isolation as aesthetic
- 17
Vampire WeekendVampire Weekend · 20072008 · preppy on the surface, sharp underneath
- 18
LonerismTame Impala · 20122012 · bedroom psych goes panoramic
- 19
Puberty 2Mitski · 20162016 · indie rock's new emotional vocabulary
- 20
U.F.O.F.Big Thief · 20192019 · folk-rock at its most spectral