Rockissue

The Real Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame

The artists with at least four albums or five tracks listed in the Rock Annual (or a combination of 3 albums and 4 singles, to give proper due to those artists who in both cases come close to such random criteria) are listed here. They are in alphabetical order to avoid the impression that an artist with more entries is superior to those with slightly fewer. As explained in the 'Archive Fever' essay, the included albums, E. P.s, and singles would enable the listener (me) to understand and review (and thus continually revise) his understanding of the history of popular music in the Rock era. Some artists release several great albums, in quick succession, such that distinguishing among them, when placing them on a rough scale of quality, is splitting hairs; writers for present-day online periodicals may want to give albums numerical ratings of 4.56 versus 3.87—no thanks! Other artists make one great album then arguably never make another one that changes their "story," even if later albums are otherwise notable. Other artists of course simply do not release much and yet have been profoundly influential; two of these not in this list are Big Star and Joy Division. And, as noted in the 'True Examples' essay, certain artists are linked to other artists (most often, when an individual leaves a band for a solo-billed career) and often grouped together (say, when filed at a record shop); thus many may prefer to give "Eric Clapton" credit not only for "Eric Clapton" albums but also the Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos albums. The Rock Annual lists tends to keep different artist names separate, limiting the number of "see" references. In turn, the argument for grouping solo-billed artists with their previous bands can extent to related projects, such as the Breeders as they relate to the Pixies and Frank Black.

ABBA
3 albums, 4 singles

A. C./ D. C.
7 albums

Aerosmith
4 albums; 2 tracks

The Allman Brothers Band
5 albums

Animal Collective
4 albums

Ash Ra Tempel
4 albums - including two albums by Manuel Göttsching

Chet Atkins
7 albums - including one collaborative album with Jerry Reed, one collaborative album with Les Paul; 1 track

Gene Autrey
6 tracks - including one collaborative track with Jimmy Long

Erykah Badu
4 albums

Joan Baez
7 albums

The Beach Boys
9 albums - including one album by Dennis Wilson and one album by Brian Wilson; 9 tracks

The Beatles
10 albums; 15 tracks

Beck
4 albums

Jeff Beck
4 albums

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band
6 albums

The Bee Gees
4 albums; 3 tracks - not including their contributions to Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track

The B-52's
4 albums

Björk
5 albums

Black Flag
3 albums, 4 singles and E. P.s

Black Sabbath
8 albums - not including two albums by Ozzy Osbourne and one album by Dio

Blondie
4 albums; 1 track

Blue Öyster Cult
6 albums

Blur
4 albums; 1 track

Boredoms
4 albums

David Bowie
12 albums; 4 tracks

Jackson Browne
4 albums

James Brown
5 albums; 17 tracks

Ruth Brown
1 album; 5 tracks

Tim Buckley
4 albums

Kate Bush
4 albums

The Byrds
6 albums; 2 tracks

John Cale
6 albums

Glen Campbell
3 albums, 4 singles

Camper Van Beethoven
4 albums

Can
5 albums - not including three albums by member Holger Czukay, one in the regular list and two in the experimental annex; 2 tracks

Mariah Carey
8 tracks

The Cars
4 albums

The Carter Family
8 tracks

Johnny Cash
8 albums; 1 track

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
14 albums - including two albums by Grinderman but not one album by the Birthday Party; 4 tracks

Ray Charles
6 albums; 6 tracks

Cheap Trick
5 albums

Vic Chesnutt
6 albums

The Clash
4 albums; 4 tracks or E. P.s

The Clovers
5 tracks

Leonard Cohen
5 albums

Coil
4 albums

Judy Collins
4 albums

Sam Cooke
2 albums; 6 tracks

Alice Cooper
5 albums

Elvis Costello
7 albums; 2 tracks

Creedence Clearwater Revival
6 albums

The Cure
7 albums; 3 tracks

Neil Diamond
1 album; 9 tracks

Deep Purple
6 albums; 2 tracks

Dinosaur Jr.
7 albums - not including related group Sebadoh

Dion and the Belmonts
7 tracks

The Doors
6 albums

The Drifters
8 tracks

Bob Dylan
16 albums; 3 tracks

The Eagles
2 albums; 8 tracks

Earth, Wind and Fire
5 albums; 2 tracks

Echo and the Bunnymen
4 albums

Electric Light Orchestra
4 albums

Emerson, Lake and Palmer
4 albums

Brian Eno
6 albums - including two collaborative albums, one with Robert Fripp and one with David Bryne, but not including two albums in the experimental annex

The Everly Brothers
4 albums; 3 tracks

John Fahey
5 albums

Fairport Convention
4 albums

The Fall
12 albums; 5 tracks

Faust
4 albums

The Flaming Lips
6 albums

Fleetwood Mac
7 albums - not including two albums by Stevie Nicks and one album by Lindsey Buckingham, 2 tracks - not including one track by Lindsey Buckingham

The 4 Seasons
5 tracks

Aretha Franklin
7 albums; 2 tracks

Funkadelic
5 albums

Peter Gabriel
4 albums; 1 track

Marvin Gaye
5 albums; 6 tracks

Genesis
5 albums; 2 tracks

Gerry and the Pacemakers
6 tracks

The Grateful Dead
10 albums - not including two albums by Jerry Garcia, one album by Bob Weir, and one album by Mickey Hart, 2 tracks

Al Green
4 albums; 1 track

Guided by Voices
4 albums

Buddy Guy
4 albums; 1 track

Merle Haggard
2 albums; 5 tracks

Daryl Hall/ John Oates
6 albums - including one album by Hall; 3 tracks

Roy Hamilton
5 tracks

Marion Harris
5 tracks

Wynonie Harris
5 tracks

P. J. Harvey
4 albums

Hawkwind
4 albums

Isaac Hayes
4 albums

Jimi Hendrix
4 albums

Robyn Hitchcock
4 albums

The Hollies
2 albums; 5 tracks

John Lee Hooker
2 albums; 5 tracks

Whitney Houston
6 tracks

Hüsker Dü
4 albums

The Ink Spots
7 tracks

Iron Maiden
5 albums

The Jackson 5/ The Jacksons
5 albums; 1 track

Elmore James
5 tracks

Jefferson Airplane/ Jefferson Starship
5 albums; 2 tracks

Billy Joel
2 albums; 6 tracks

Elton John
6 albums; 7 tracks

Blind Willie Johnson
5 tracks

Robert Johnson
6 tracks

George Jones
8 tracks

Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five
6 tracks

Judas Priest
8 albums; 1 track

King Crimson
8 albums - including one album by Robert Fripp

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
4 albums

The Kinks
5 albums; 9 tracks

Kiss
6 albums; 2 tracks

Kraftwerk
5 albums

Led Zeppelin
9 albums

John Lennon
2 albums; 7 tracks

Madonna
4 albums; 3 tracks

Bob Marley
4 albums; 2 tracks

Paul McCartney
3 albums; 7 tracks

The Melvins
4 albums

Memphis Slim
5 tracks

Metallica
5 albums

The Meters
4 albums

The Midnigters
9 tracks

The Mills Brothers
6 tracks

Roy Milton
6 tracks

Joni Mitchell
5 albums

The Monkees
4 albums; 3 tracks

Van Morrison
7 albums - not including one album with Them; 1 track - not including one track with Them

Motörhead
4 albums

New Order
5 albums - not including two albums by related artist Joy Division; 9 tracks

Ricky Nelson
5 tracks

Willie Nelson
5 albums - not including one collaborative album with Waylon Jennings; 2 tracks - not including one collaborative track with Ray Charles

Randy Newman
4 albums; 2 tracks

Harry Nilsson
4 albums

Nirvana
4 albums

N. R. B. Q.
4 albums

Yoko Ono
5 albums; 1 track

Parliament
4 albums

Charley Patton
7 tracks

Pavement
5 albums

Pere Ubu
4 albums

Lee Perry
5 albums

The Pet Shop Boys
2 albums; 5 tracks

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3 albums; 5 tracks

Webb Pierce
6 tracks

The Platters
5 tracks

Elvis Presley
8 albums; 22 tracks

Queen
6 albums; 3 tracks

Pink Floyd
6 albums

Prince
8 albums; 4 tracks

Radiohead
6 albums

The Ramones
4 albums; 2 tracks

The Ravens
5 tracks

The Red Krayola
4 albums

Jerry Reed
not including one collaborative album with Chet Atkins; 5 tracks

Lou Reed
9 albums

R. E. M.
10 albums

The Replacements
5 albums

The Residents
6 albums; 2 E. P.s

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
4 albums; 1 track - including one album by Robinson solo and one track by the Miracles without Robinson

The Rolling Stones
11 albums; 21 tracks

Roxy Music
6 albums - not including one album by Bryan Ferry and one album by Phil Manzanera, nor the work of short-time member Brian Eno; 5 tracks

Todd Rundgren
5 albums - including one album each by Runt and Utopia

Rush
5 albums

Santana
4 albums

Sepultura
4 albums

Simon and Garfunkel
4 albums

Paul Simon
4 albums

Siouxsie and the Banshees
4 albums

Slayer
4 albums

Sly and the Family Stone
4 albums; 3 tracks

The Small Faces
1 album; 5 tracks

Bessie Smith
5 tracks

Patti Smith
4 albums; 2 tracks

The Smiths
4 albums; 4 tracks

Smog/ Bill Callahan
5 albums

Soft Machine
4 albums

Sonic Youth
10 albums

Sparks
5 albums, 3 tracks

Bruce Springsteen
7 albums

Steely Dan
6 albums

Stereolab
8 albums; 1 track

Rod Stewart
5 albums; 2 tracks

Donna Summer
2 albums; 5 tracks

Sun City Girls
6 albums - not including two albums by Sir Richard Bishop and one album by the Invisible Hands

The Supremes
2 albums - not including one album by Diana Ross; 5 tracks - not including two tracks by Diana Ross

Swans
4 albums

Talking Heads
8 albums; 2 tracks

Tangerine Dream
4 albums

The Temptations
6 albums - not including one album by Eddie Kendricks; 2 tracks - not including one track by Eddie Kendricks

Richard Thompson
5 albums - including three collaborative albums with Linda Thompson

Floyd Tillman
5 tracks

Toots and the Maytals
5 tracks

T. Rex
3 albums; 5 tracks

Ike and Tina Turner
1 album; 5 tracks

U2
8 albums

Van Halen
5 albums

Caetano Veloso
4 albums

The Velvet Underground
5 albums

The Wailers
4 albums

Tom Waits
9 albums; 2 tracks

Scott Walker
6 albums

Dinah Washington
3 albums; 5 tracks

Muddy Waters
4 albums; 12 tracks

The Who
6 albums - not including two albums by Pete Townshend and one album by John Entwistle; 1 track

Wilco
5 albums

Hank Williams
2 albums; 8 tracks

Chuck Willis
5 tracks

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
5 tracks

Stevie Wonder
7 albums; 8 tracks

Robert Wyatt
4 albums

XTC
4 albums

The Yardbirds
1 album; 5 tracks

Yes
5 albums

Neil Young
14 albums; 3 tracks

Frank Zappa
20 albums - not including two albums in the experimental annex