Poison 13: Wine Is Red, Poison Is Blue (1994 - Sub-Pop); composite release of 2 earlier albums (Poison 13 - 1984 and First You Dream - 1985) that kicked off grunge in the mid-1980s. Without this, garge rock (bands on the labels: Estrus, Get Hip, Gearhead, Crypt, Sympathy For The Record Industry) as well as LA/Seattle/Texas grunge bands (Green River, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, among them) would not exist, or at least sound radically different.
1. One Step Closer (Carroll/Kerr)
2. Seventh Son (Dixon)
3. My Biggest Mistake (Anderson/Gates)
4. Spoonful (Dixon)
5. Out on the Streets (Carroll/Kerr)
6. Big City Lights (Aces 88)
7. Die for Me (Carroll/Gates)
8. Codeine
9. Grip on My Heart (Carrroll/Kerr)
10. Justice (Carrroll/Kerr)
11. When I Was Young (Briggs/Burdon/Jenkins/McCulloch/Weider)
12. Blank Generation (Hell)
13. Hellbound Train (Anderson/Carroll)
14. First You Dream, and Then You Die (Anderson/Carroll/Gates/Kerr)
15. Strange Movies (Presley)
16. Can't Cry (Carroll/Kerr)
17. Parchman Farm (Allison)
18. She's the One (Wingate)
19. What a Way to Die (Pleasure Seekers)
20. I'm Dangerous Tonight (Carroll/Kerr)
21. Love Me (Lott)
22. Strychnine (Roslie)
23. Warsaw (Joy Division)
I can't pull up the full list of songs (don't know if it is my browser).
I'd push Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's Crypt Style (Crypt) over JSBX's Orange. Definitely the band developed the Lo Fi sound that seems to be everywhere in the indie/underground music scene.
Also Gibson Bros. - Memphis Sol Today (SFTRI).
Billy Childish (Headcoats, Milkshakes, Mighty Caesars, Buff Medways, et al) HAS to be on this list someplace. He has released over 100 albums since 1978. And yeah, Sub-Pop got around to releasing some things by him in the 1990s as well (not necessarily his best work). Kurt Cobain was a fan. As cruical to keeping garage rock alive as Poison 13. The Strokes are a limp wristed joke.
Don't know if I would put Rev. Horton Heat's Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em or Full Custom Gospel Sounds, but one of those albums (both Sub-Pop).
Johnny Cash The American Recordings Vol 1.
Prince The Black Album (1987). An underground only release and among the first strains of a major artist realizing he didn't need the major labels anymore (Bowie also realized this when he took his albums out of RCA's budget bin releases and moved his back catalog to Rykodisc).
http://www.spin.com/features/magazine/covers/2005/06/0507_cover_greatest_albums/
100. The Strokes, Is This It (RCA, 2001)
99. Afghan Whigs, Gentlemen (Elektra, 1993)
98. Cornershop, When I Was Born for the 7th Time (Luaka Bop, 1997)
97. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Merge, 1998)
96. The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (Stiff/WEA, 1985)
95. Elastica, Elastica (DGC, 1995)
94. Slint, Spiderland (Touch and Go, 1991)
93. Pearl Jam, Ten (Epic, 1991)
92. Big Black, Atomizer (Homestead, 1986)
91. XTC, Skylarking (Geffen, 1986)
90. Sonic Youth, Sister (DGC, 1987)
89. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell (Interscope, 2003)
88. Stereolab, Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Elektra, 1996)
87. Blur, Parklife (Food, 1994)
86. Meat Puppets, Up on the Sun (SST, 1985)