Top 5 - Album 1-2-3 Punch - Best Opening Three Albums

A lot of bands don’t come into their own until their sophomore album. Some hit it hard out of the gate, many to never do much after. Some bands, though, knock it out of the park on their first three at bats! These are my Top 5 of the best 1-2-3 album punches to start a bands career of all time.

5. Metallica Thrash Metal pioneers destroy all comers with their first three: Kill ‘em All, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. ‘84, ‘86 and ‘88 respectively.

4. Jimi Hendrix He only had three studio albums in his lifetime: Are You Experienced, Axis Bold As Love and the double album Electric Ladyland. Rumor is in 2024 there will be a boxed set of previously unreleased tracks recorded at his famed Electric Ladyland studios before his untimely death. Looking forward to hearing them!

3. Cream Thought of as the very first Supergroup, Cream overflowed with talent in Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and, of course, Eric Clapton. Really, they only had four albums which were all great, but for the purpose here, just looking at the first three: Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears and Wheels of Fire.

2. Van Halen Always equate Van Halen with partying, especially in the summer. Their first three albums are great and are still in heavy rotation. Van Halen, Van Halen II and Woman & Children First. Perfect for a club, an arena or cranking out a car window on a warm summer evening.

1. Pretenders The first three albums of this band led by front woman Chrissie Hynde were fraught with tragedy, losing not one but two members of the band to drug overdoses. Nevertheless, the first three outputs Pretenders, Pretenders II and Learning to Crawl are fantastic.

What about you? What would your Top 5 be? Who did I miss? KISS? Madonna? CCR? The Cars? Let me know!