The Black Album lifted Metallica to mainstream celebrity, topping the charts in 10 countries and going Platinum 16 times in the US alone. How could it not? With former Bon Jovi and Aerosmith collaborator Bob Rock producing, the heavy metal superstars wrote the most immediate tracks of their career, including megahit Enter Sandman. Meanwhile, Nothing Else Matters showed a tender side to the fire-spewing rockers that helped the wider world take them seriously. View Deal

The warmongering and post-9/11 nihilism of George W. Bush’s America galvanised a plethora of rock and metal bands, not least Green Day. The punks matched the mood of the day with cynical lyrics about alienation and anger, but condensed those themes into ambitious and catchy anthems. Case in point: Holiday, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, the title track and the myriad other American Idiot songs that became fan favourites, not to mention mainstream hits.View Deal

Hybrid Theory was the last great debut of the nu metal revolution. One of the few bands to emerge in the wake of Korn and Limp Bizkit that weren’t mindless ripoffs, Linkin Park got everybody standing to attention with 12 undeniable bangers. One Step Closer, In The End, Crawling, Points Of Authority and the rest added up to an album so successful that their entire subgenre couldn’t outdo it afterwards. 20-plus years on, the band themselves haven’t either. View Deal

There’s a reason you still see Rumours’ artwork on t-shirts more than 45 years after it first came out. Fleetwood Mac’s masterpiece of an 11th album may have been made in a haze of drugs and disdain, but it’s home to some of the best rock songs ever. The fact that all of its four singles, including the instantly recognisable Go Your Own Way, cracked the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 pretty much proves it.View Deal

Far too many artists have been called “revolutionary”, but Rage Against The Machine deserve the descriptor. The politics of their debut album were loudly iconoclastic, typified by Killing In The Name’s famed roar of “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!” Just as dangerous-feeling at the time was the four-piece’s mixture of metal and rap. Though the fusion has been imitated countless times since, it still feels most urgent and original right here.View Deal

Apparently not satisfied with being a great drummer in the world’s greatest grunge band, Dave Grohl formed Foo Fighters in 1995 and became a great frontman in the world’s greatest post-grunge band. Their greatest hits collection is stacked with seismic achievements, from the early and raw This Is A Call to the refined and mature The Pretender. With new songs and unheard acoustic versions also present, it’s a must-have for any rock fan.View Deal

Among the early 90s grunge takeover – which also featured Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden – Alice In Chains were one of the most metal and most sorrowful bands. The Seattle bunch leant fully into emotion on their 1994 EP Jar Of Flies, relying exclusively on acoustic guitars and Layne Staley’s harsh yet melodic voice. The result was six magnificently moving songs, together standing as the band’s last spotless achievement before Layne passed away in 2002.View Deal

Led Zeppelin’s debut was a commercial smash but got eviscerated in the press. As a result, its followup nine months later not only had to double down on the rockers’ commercial success – it had to win over the hater as well. Ultimately, music critics were still hostile, but their savage reviews have long been outlived by standout songs like Whole Lotta Love and Moby Dick. All these years later, Led Zeppelin II is rightfully revered as a classic.View Deal

Deftones helped make nu metal “a thing”, but paradoxically sound nothing like Slipknot, Linkin Park and the rest. Instead, the Californians inhabit a genre of one, and it was Around The Fur that first showed their idiosyncratic ways. Its fizzles of metal, punk and shoegaze let the band transcend subcultures, blasted out from skate park boomboxes and introverts’ home stereos alike. My Own Summer, Be Quiet And Drive and other highlights still sound original today.View Deal

In the landscape of 90s grunge, Pearl Jam weren’t the heaviest band. They weren’t the heaviest, saddest or most progressive, either. Instead, Eddie Vedder’s crew just wrote marvellous songs, making classic rock flair feel modern, in large part thanks to their frontman’s howling voice. Their debut was a breakout hit – reaching the top 10 in the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand – and made an audible impact on artists from Creed to Jack White. View Deal