The criteria to make my list:

• The album has to be on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, although I will make exceptions to this rule as necessary.
• Of course, to be eligible, we are talking about an entire album; not just one or two great songs on an album, i.e., you want to listen to the entire album!
• No greatest hits albums, and this ended up eliminating a lot of albums like:
  • Peter, Paul and Mary, The Best of Peter, Paul, and Mary: Ten Years Together (1970)
  • Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (1971)
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival, Creedence Gold (1972)
  • The Beach Boys, Endless Summer (1974)
  • The Moody Blues, This Is the Moody Blues (1974)
  • The B-52s, Time Capsule: Songs For a Future Generation (1998)
  • Fleetwood Mac, The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac (2002)
  • Guns N' Roses, Greatest Hits (2004)
• No live albums which means no:
  • Deep Purple, Made in Japan (1972)
  • Yes, Yessongs (1973)
  • Lynryd Skynyrd, One More from the Road (1976)
  • Peter Frampton, Frampton Comes Alive! (1976)
  • Wings, Wings over America (1976)
  • Dave Mason, Certified Live (1976)
  • The Beatles, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl (1977)
  • REO Speedwagon, Live: You Get What You Play For (1977)
  • Little Feat, Waiting for Columbus (1978)
  • Cheap Trick, Live at Budokhan (1979)
  • Guns N' Roses, Live Era '87–'93 (1999)
  • Taylor Swift, Speak Now World Tour Live (2011)
• No soundtracks either, and that eliminated:
  • Jesus Christ Superstar (1970)
  • Led Zeppelin, The Song Remains the Same (1976)
  • The Big Chill (1983)
  • John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, Eddie and the Cruisers (1983)
  • Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense (1984)
  • William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture (1996)
• Since I have already recognized some albums on A Cultural History of the Last Fifty Years; that means that those lbums are not included here even though they would normally make the list. So don't look for:
  • The Beatles, White Album (1968)
  • Mary Hopkin, Postcard (1969)
  • Pink Floyd, Echoes (1971)
  • Led Zeppelin, IV (1971)
  • Aerosmith, Toys in the Attic (1975)
  • Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
  • Bob Marley, Exodus (1977)
  • Meatloaf, Bat Out of Hell (1977)
  • Nick Lowe, Pure Pop for Now People (1978)
  • Dire Straits, Making Movies (1980)
  • The Blues Brothers (1980)
  • Culture Club, Colour by Numbers (1983)
  • Hairspray (1988)
• An album on this list has to have been issued after 1965, so apologies to:
  • Chuck Berry
  • Elvis
  • Buddy Holly
  • Little Richard
  No major concert recordings, so you won't find:
  • Monterey International Pop Music Festival (1967)
  • Woodstock (1969)
  • The Last Waltz (1976)
  • Live Aid (1985)
  • Live 8 (2005)
• No country music, so apologies to:
  • Johnny Cash
  • Merle Haggard
  • Hank Williams
• No blues, apologies to:
  • John Lee Hooker
  • Indigenous
  • Muddy Waters
  • Junior Wells