Favorite Records Before I Was Born

Brandon Klein
3 min readOct 6, 2020

A list of my favorite records from before I was born (pre-1993), in order, with my favorite track from each record listed under the record. Here is a link to a Spotify playlist with each of those tracks.

  1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) — The Beatles
    “Getting Better”
  2. Rumours (1977) — Fleetwood Mac
    “I Don’t Want to Know”
  3. Saturate Before Using (1972) — Jackson Browne
    “A Child in These Hills”
  4. Pet Sounds (1966)— Beach Boys
    “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
  5. The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)— Bob Dylan
    “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
  6. Ramones (1976) — Ramones
    “Beat on the Brat”
  7. London Calling (1979)— The Clash
    “Train in Vain (Stand by Me)
  8. Born To Run (1975) — Bruce Springsteen
    “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
  9. Graceland (1986) — Paul Simon
    “You Can Call Me Al”
  10. Blue (1971)— Joni Mitchell
    “A Case of You”
  11. Seconds of Pleasure (1980) — Rockpile
    “When I Write The Book”
  12. Closing Time (1973)— Tom Waits
    “I Hope That I Don’t Fall In Love With You”
  13. Bonnie Raitt (1971)— Bonnie Raitt
    “Bluebird”
  14. Rubber Soul (1965)— Beatles
    “Think For Yourself”
  15. Tapestry (1971) — Carole King
    “Smackwater Jack”
  16. Highway 61 Revisited (1965) — Bob Dylan
    “Like a Rolling Stone”
  17. Sweet Baby James (1970)— James Taylor
    “Fire and Rain”
  18. The Clash (1977) — The Clash
    “I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.”
  19. Gordon (1992)— Barenaked Ladies
    “Enid”
  20. The White Album (1968)— The Beatles
    “Back In The U.S.S.R.”
  21. Straight Outta Compton (1988) — N.W.A.
    “Express Yourself”
  22. Mingus, Mingus, Mingus (1963)— Charles Mingus
    “Better Get Hit In Yo’ Soul”
  23. Astral Weeks (1968)— Van Morrison
    “Slim Slow Slider”
  24. Honky Chateau (1972)— Elton John
    “Honky Cat”
  25. Give ‘Em Enough Rope (1978)— The Clash
    “English Civil War”
  26. Back In Black (1980) — AC/DC
    “Shoot to Thrill”
  27. Prisoner in Disguise (1975)— Linda Ronstadt
    “Tracks of My Tears”
  28. Toys in the Attic (1975)— Aerosmith
    “Sweet Emotion”
  29. Bob Dylan (1962)— Bob Dylan
    “Man of Constant Sorrow”
  30. Let It Bleed (1969) — The Rolling Stones
    “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
  31. The Low End Theory (1991)— A Tribe Called Quest
    “Vibes and Stuff”
  32. Teaser And The Firecat (1971)— Cat Stevens
    “Tuesday’s Dead”
  33. For Everyman (1973)— Jackson Browne
    “These Days”
  34. Labour of Lust (1979)— Nick Lowe
    “American Squirm”
  35. Song From a Room (1969) — Leonard Cohen
    “The Partisan”
  36. Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (1970)— Derek and the Dominos
    “Bell Bottom Blues”
  37. License to Ill (1986)— Beastie Boys
    “Brass Monkey”
  38. Road to Ruin (1978) — Ramones
    “I Wanna Be Sedated”
  39. Exile on Main Street (1972) — Rolling Stones
    “Rocks Off”
  40. Who’s Next (1971)— The Who
    “Baba O’Riley”
  41. Diamonds & Rust (1975)— Joan Baez
    “Blue Sky”
  42. Boston (1976) — Boston
    “Foreplay / Long Time”
  43. Raising Hell (1986)— Run-D.M.C.
    “It’s Tricky”
  44. Off the Wall (1979)— Michael Jackson
    “Workin’ Day and Night”
  45. The Joshua Tree (1987)— U2
    “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
  46. 1999 (1982) — Prince
    “1999”
  47. Paid in Full (1987)— Eric B. and Rakim
    “Paid In Full”
  48. Songs in the Key of Life (1976) — Stevie Wonder
    “Isn’t She Lovely”
  49. Rickie Lee Jones (1979)— Rickie Lee Jones
    “Chuck E’s in Love”
  50. Running on Empty (1977) — Jackson Browne
    “You Love the Thunder”
  51. Jazz (1978) — Queen
    “Fat Bottomed Girls”
  52. Ladies of the Canyon (1970) — Joni Mitchell
    “Big Yellow Taxi”
  53. Live At The Village Vanguard Again! (1966) — John Coltrane
    “My Favorite Things”
  54. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964) — Bob Dylan
    “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
  55. Animal Boy (1986) — Ramones
    “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg”
  56. Volume III (1972) — Charlie Parker
    “Bebop”
  57. You Don’t Mess Around with Jim (1972)— Jim Croce
    “Tomorrow’s Gonna Be a Brighter Day”
  58. Bringing It All Back Home (1965) — Bob Dylan
    “Maggie’s Farm”

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