AUTHOR'S NOTE

About this list This is not intended to be a list of the best rock records ever made, nor are these necessarily the most representative records of the artists involved. Rather, these are 50 records through which the history of rock may be heard and understood. The list is organized chronologically and refers to the records as they were originally released and packaged, rather than as they have been rereleased and repackaged. This was the way they made their musical mark (which, in some cases, was as collections). There are necessarily more titles from the early years of rock's history, when it was taking musical and ideological shape, than from its later years, when its routines were established. This is not to say that rock became less musically interesting or valuable as it developed, just that it became more familiar. Simon Frith