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<\/a><\/p>\nBack in 1977 \u2014 on the third try, record label-wise \u2014 The Sex Pistols managed to finally get a record out. It was called Never Mind the Bollocks, Here\u2019s the Sex Pistols and it would stand for all time as pretty much the greatest one-and-done in rock history. So I got to thinking, what are the best short discographies of all time? And more importantly, would longtime Goldmine writer Martin Popoff be so punk-rockin\u2019 as to stick the Pistols on his own list? \u2014Patrick Prince<\/p>\n
Ha ha, thanks boss \u2014 wait and see! Fact is, I\u2019ve done lots of YouTube shows pondering what if this catalog ended at a certain time, or the reunion never happened, or the world ended in 1980, etc., and it\u2019s always been an interesting exercise. But this particular exercise is, I feel, on pretty solid ground, chiefly because it\u2019s not dealing in what-ifs. And yes, agreed, there\u2019s this added layer of debate, or narrative coursing through, about how short a catalog can be and still transfer over greatness to the band? So sure, let\u2019s do this: here\u2019s 20 well-regarded short catalogs; although before we get there, here\u2019s my list of honorable mentions, also in reverse order: Minutemen, Jane\u2019s Addiction, White Lion, Cinderella, Last Crack, Badlands, Kyuss, Buffalo Springfield, Cream, Joy Division, Philip Lynott, Pete Townshend, Alice in Chains, System of a Down, Boston and Dire Straits. \u2014Martin Popoff<\/p>\n
20. Magazine<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a total of five wonderfully misanthropic albums from the Roger Waters of post-punk, Howard Devoto, who began to be cool the moment he quit The Buzzcocks before the first album (granted, I worship The Buzzcocks). Just four albums between 1978 and 1981, the first two are like a new wave King Crimson Red, the next two are more streamlined, and then there\u2019s a single, deliciously transgressive reunion album in 2011 called No Thyself. I guess that\u2019s all Howard wanted to make public of his own creepy thoughts, and it\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n
19. Nick Drake<\/p>\n
Listening to Nick Drake\u2019s three masterful albums over again to write this modest missive, I\u2019m reminded that he committed suicide on an overdose of antidepressants nearly three years after the release of his final album, Pink Moon, issued on February 25, 1972. We needn\u2019t praise him for his smoky, unearthly voice, but we should for his use of it, his singing. And as I\u2019ve often said, there\u2019s more sublime and inventive acoustic guitar songs across the very bottom rungs of these records \u2014 say, the worst third \u2014 than anything Led Zeppelin ever conjured (granted, I worship Led Zeppelin). And then the top two-thirds, well, that\u2019s some of the most melancholic and epic English folk music ever written.<\/p>\n
18. Bill Ward<\/p>\n
Maybe Bill wasn\u2019t a genius in the \u201880s yet, but imagine if the fearless, brilliant composer of Ward One: Along the Way (1990), When the Bough Breaks (1997) and Accountable Beasts (2015) was writing half of Black Sabbath\u2019s songs back then\u2014music and lyrics\u2014and then was allowed to be the madman arranger he is on this trio of masterpieces. They might have been heralded outside of metal circles as one of the greatest makers of musical art of all time (granted, I worship Black Sabbath in the \u201980s), rather than an entity for which the creativity becomes straightened out for the market conditions of the day.<\/p>\n
17. U.K.<\/p>\n
We have reason to make fun of prog supergroups, but not this one. U.K. arrived and conquered (albeit on a cult level) with songs like \u201cIn the Dead of Night\u201d on the 1978 debut and then \u201cRendezvous 6:02\u201d and stirring pomp rocker \u201cNothing to Lose\u201d on the second and final album, Danger Money from 1979. There\u2019d be a live album as well, but that\u2019s it, until a legendary reunion tour in 2011 and 2012.<\/p>\n
16. New York Dolls<\/p>\n
Year after year, this band\u2019s two original-era albums\u2014New York Dolls, 1973 and Too Much Too Soon, 1974\u2014keep on giving. They are the very best of Mott, Stones, Lou Reed and Aerosmith combined, much more considered, arranged and deftly performed than their reputations would have you believe. David and Syl would reunite for three more records between 2006 and 2011 and those are charmingly not commercial, not \u201cNew York Dolls go to the gym,\u201d which is one way they sensibly could have gone. And speaking of gone, now all five of the originals are gone.<\/p>\n
15. Gillan<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve responsibly stuck this down the ladder, because it\u2019s not a very famous catalog, but heck, I\u2019ve sometimes called Gillan my favorite band of all time\u2014which is one of the subplots here, this idea that if you love to death all five or six albums a band ever did, that might logically put them higher for you than some sprawling history with stretches of stinkers. The core here is screaming drinker Ian Gillan, rumbling, writing bassist John McCoy, mad scientist keyboardist Colin Towns, brash and noisy snare-lover Mick Underwood and then, on the main albums, either Bernie Torm\u00e9 or Janick Gers on guitar. As I\u2019ve uttered many times before, Gillan are essentially a drunk, punk Deep Purple, which somehow makes them better than the original, at least in a short sack race down at the fall fair.<\/p>\n
14. Rage Against the Machine<\/p>\n
I thank my buddy Doug Maher for this pick, because I might have skipped over them. I love how these four guys together managed to capture lightning in a bottle across three inspiring, incendiary albums (plus a crappy covers album) and then rested their case. The first two went triple-platinum, The Battle of Los Angeles went double-platinum, and then the covers album, Renegades, scored single-platinum. They\u2019ve all done other things, including lots of giving a crap about the world, but those three records will always feel important, especially if it stays the way it is and the catalog doesn\u2019t dilute.<\/p>\n
13. MC5<\/p>\n
Speaking of three records\u2014we really can\u2019t count 2024\u2019s Heavy Lifting \u201cproject\u201d\u2014here\u2019s a band with a clutch of albums all beloved for different reasons. There\u2019s Kick Out the Jams from 1969, Back in the USA from 1970 and High Time from 1971, each different and historically important, and snapshots of three different times, really, despite their temporal proximity. They almost got into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but that fizzled, just like Detroit and their career. Like the Dolls, Ramones and Mot\u00f6rhead\u2014each disciples of The Five\u2014all of the originals are gone. Alarmingly, I feel like they are being forgotten.<\/p>\n
12. Tool<\/p>\n
How does Tool only have five albums?! Granted, all of them except the debut at 68 minutes, go pretty much right to the wall of what can fit on a single CD. I think they have more packaging than albums. Anyway, this is the world\u2019s biggest progressive metal band, with the guys being inspiring promoters of artistry inside and outside the band as they spill into other equally cool and standoffish projects. Their tribal, double-helix, hippie math mantra music isn\u2019t to everybody\u2019s taste, but it\u2019s pretty cool that their first three albums are all triple-platinum. That\u2019s a lot of people trying hard.<\/p>\n
11. H\u00fcsker D\u00fc<\/p>\n
The first couple filling-dislodgers are long EPs, and then they made a couple of double albums, so this true power trio did quite a bit\u2014and then Sugar is a continuation. But man, what a catalog, and a singular sound nobody else would dare copy, featuring buzzsaw guitars and oddly bright, tight drums. Zen Arcade is their Trout Mask Replica while Warehouse: Songs and Stories is their Physical Graffiti. In between there\u2019s an Aerosmith Rocks plus maybe a Replacements Let It Be, given the glow of New Day Rising.<\/p>\n
10. The Jam<\/p>\n
Is it possible that the Mod Revival was better than the original? Well, hot take or not, but give me The Jam over old Kinks and Who and Small Faces any day. Consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler, The Jam gave us six albums plus a floral bouquet of non-LP singles and B-sides, all between 1977 and 1982. I wasn\u2019t particularly enamored by the first and last albums, but everything in between was a hard-hitting, spirited, punky take on all your Mod favorites, with lyrics as good as Ray Davies at his peak.<\/p>\n
9. Guns N\u2019 Roses<\/p>\n
I did a whole slightly goofy show on our Contrarians YouTube channel about the 10 different ways to count how many Guns N\u2019 Roses albums there are. The less inventive answers all arrive at less than six. The 18-times-platinum Appetite for Destruction debut, of course, does all the heavy lifting for the band\u2019s short catalog to be considered great, but the two lengthy Use Your Illusion albums are well-regarded, too. And that just leaves a covers album and Chinese Democracy, which I think is a pretty fine artistic achievement, from a guy who sweats blood to produce anything he deems good enough to make public.<\/p>\n
8. Soundgarden<\/p>\n
Sadly, we only got the one reunion album, but 2012\u2019s King Animal is killer, complicated Soundgarden that lives up to the doomy grunge magic of the fecund jungle of music sprawled across the original five albums. Hey, all the Seattle grunge bands were cool, but I feel like Soundgarden was the band that united all manner of disparate fan and critic, without reservation. If you liked metal, doom, prog, blues, punk, post-punk or prog, here are pieces of all that quilted together with skill. I guess it was just good art, which is what people picked up on when they sent 1994\u2019s Superunknown all the way up to six-times-platinum.<\/p>\n
7. Max Webster<\/p>\n
This jewel of a Canadian progressive pop metal (?) snow globe band is usually the first that comes to mind when I ponder this subject. The catalog is a tight five records between 1976 and 1980, and given the band\u2019s status as the baby Rush (with about a dozen connections), I\u2019ve been known to state my preference for Max as my favorite Canuck band over Rush. It\u2019s because of the very premise of this article, really, the point being that I adore all five Max albums as much as my five favorite Rush albums, so percentage-wise, of course they\u2019re better.<\/p>\n
6. Jimi Hendrix Experience<\/p>\n
Three albums that decimated the field when it came to the reinvention of the guitar as an art form. At the same time, Jimi was doing more than Cream or anybody with respect to inventing heavy metal. Plus, it\u2019s just great, soulful music with rich, gorgeous vocals we don\u2019t talk about enough. Are You Experienced (August 23, 1967) went five-times-platinum, Axis: Bold as Love (January 15, 1968) went platinum and Electric Ladyland (October 16, 1968) notched double-platinum.<\/p>\n
5. The Smiths<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a complicated catalog, given the singles climate the band embraced and the difference between UK and US releases, notably at the compilation end. But there they sit (in detention), the definite four albums, issued between 1984 and 1987, with the band\u2019s dirty drawers drawing enough press for the last two to RIAA-certify as gold in the US. Briefly, we love The Smiths because the mind of Morrissey is practically a small nation-state. His daily dramas are then set to a sort of anxious, fiddly anti-pop emerging from the jangly, often acoustic guitars of Johnny Marr. There\u2019s very little rock starry about any of it, but I guess that\u2019s the point.<\/p>\n
4. The Clash<\/p>\n
Combat Rock was a big success, even if most fans couldn\u2019t penetrate past the two hits. Still, it was considered high urban art, sort of like mid-period Talking Heads. Cut the Crap is the only reviled album. The Clash, Give \u2018Em Enough Rope and Sandinista! are beloved by discerning music-lovers everywhere. But, best for last, London Calling is considered one of the greatest albums ever made, and I concur. Famously, they never reformed, even to tour, stating that their work was done. Amen.<\/p>\n
3. Nirvana<\/p>\n
Like Nick Drake and Jimi Hendrix on this list, Nirvana made a trio of albums and was stopped by death. Bleach is arguably the first great grunge full-length, Nevermind is the stuff of legend, heavier than its reputation but also just smart, and then In Utero is the defiant, noisy, dark coda for Cobain. Cult vibes, good vibes and bilious vibes, but lots of vibes.<\/p>\n
2. The Police<\/p>\n
Not sure they are as good as Gillan or Max Webster, but more people think they are, and I love them to death too, so I\u2019ve got The Police way up the list. It\u2019s a hallowed five-album run, with the solid proof of concept first, followed by the masterwork of that concept, the watered-down also-ran of the concept, the production piece, and finally the sort of spare, atmospheric, disjointed record with the smash hits between the experimental mood pieces. Synchronicity sold an astounding eight-times-platinum, and yeah, what a capper to a career blown up by pathologically opinionated infighting.<\/p>\n
1. The Sex Pistols<\/p>\n
It\u2019s cheeky, because should we really be celebrating a one-and-done? I think so, when the album is this much of a landmark, a rule-breaker, a scene-setter, both smart at the lyric end and headbanging heaven at the music end, whilst also purportedly being punk. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here\u2019s the Sex Pistols was issued October 28, 1977, and we\u2019ve never stopped talking about it, or, in fact, writing books about it. It\u2019s so oddly artistic and unlike anything else and yet, at the core, conservatively built, that it\u2019s hard to think of another example like it. I dunno, let\u2019s just declare it so good that it hasn\u2019t opened the door to pick off additional one-and-dones to pollute this list\u2014The Sex Pistols own one-and-done.<\/p>\n
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