Debut albums have a unique aura that can only be discerned through their first offerings. Not sparkle or control, but the feeling of someone showing all their cards before being told by others how things should be. These albums don't only start careers when they come out at the right time.
They have the power to change the way things are: radio stations start playing different music, and the locations where the music is made are influenced by them, thus new scenes arise.
Nowadays, there have been a lot of debut albums in the music industry which have been quite successful in terms of sales. However, there only a handful of those debuts that have actually changed the perception of artists about genres, images and honesty. The ones that have done so are listed below.
At the time when Gorillaz was first introduced to the public in 2001, the idea of a cartoon band seemed like a diversion. However, the point was the project itself. Damon Albarn didn't use a single genre but rather went escapist hip-hop, dub, punk, trip-hop, and pop without any concept of ownership or scenes. "Clint Eastwood" was weird and catchy, "19-2000" took this concept further, and the animation became just as influential as the music. It probably didn't hurt selling more than 7 million copies worldwide.
The Strokes came out with Is This It in the same year and the album sounded more like a return to basics than a breakthrough. Rock music, in their opinion, had become too much of everything. This album was a perfect example of how less could mean more. The songs were short, the guitars were sharp and the singing was done in a very low-key manner. "Last Nite" and "Someday" were what everyone was listening to at that time and thus guitar bands were back again, albeit doing it under the guise of the "effortless" style.
Afterwards, The Killers hit the plays with Hot Fuss and made it chic once more to be ambitious. They combined synth-pop, post-punk, and catchy choruses and didn't feel the need to say sorry for it. Over the years "Mr. Brightside" has probably survived different scenes whereas at that time the album was important because it showed that indie bands could go for the big leagues.
Arctic Monkeys arrived with a debut that was as good as the buzz around it. Their album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not which was fueled by early sharing via the internet and non-stop live shows. It became the time the fastest-selling debut in UK chart history at the time. "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" gave the impression of barely under control and many saw the greatness of it.
MGMT's Oracular Spectacular surfaced not long after and confused listeners with the band's intentions but in a good way. The band seemed to resist the idea of them being pop stars but then you find "Kids" and "Electric Feel," two songs which took over anyway. Hidden under their music were sarcasm, psychedelia and real feelings which led indie music to progressively adopt synths, dance floors, and festivals.
By the time of the 2010s, debut albums began to carry weightier themes. Janelle Monáe's The ArchAndroid was a work of a mature artist right from the start. The album was a mixture of funk, soul, rock, orchestral music, and science fiction, all wrapped up in a grand concept. "Tightrope" was there to familiarize the listeners with the album but the real influence of it came from the magnitude and the self-assurance of the record.
Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 took a more subdued path. For example, "A.D.H.D." talked about addiction, generational cycles, and institutional neglect without bringing any promises. The album was not extravagant and it didn't get instant recognition but it stuck and it was one of the factors that hip-hop slowly evolved into a more profound self-examining genre.
By means of Channel Orange, Frank Ocean was the one to shake off the artists' mask of being comfortable with what they're admitting. "Thinkin Bout You" was the easiest access point, but what really made the album stick around was the emotional openness. The point where vulnerability stopped being a risk and rather became the core was reached.
Lana Del Rey's Born to Die was a subject of heated argument when it was released. Now, that discussion seems to be missing the point. "Video Games" and the album's tragic but grand style of storytelling had a lasting effect on the pop façade of the 2010s, mainly in the digital world.
In the past few years, Olivia Rodrigo's Sour has been a convincing argument to the fact that debut albums can still be regarded as events. Almost overnight, "Driver's License" set a new record in the streaming field while songs like "good 4 u" gave a pop-punk vibe which was back into the mainstream again. The album was a success because of its full commitment to the emotions of the artist and there was no hedging.
Each debut album has this kind of weight. Such albums are the ones which are able to seize a moment before it gets firm and turned into a formula. These albums were not only the introductions of the new voices but also the nudges of modern music to a different direction, most of the time without their realization.
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