lots of great lists here so far.
I'll be leaving u2 off this list...joshua tree, AB and the rest would no doube rank highly. i'd be happy on a desert island with these records. also will try not to list a band more than once. alas, in no definitive order - numbers just help me keep count:
1 never loved elvis - the wonder stuff: the ultimate rock folk brit pop romp through middle england
2 a storm in heaven - verve: a study in the concept of 'music sounding like album title/cover' - epic and gorgeous.
3 exile on main street - the rolling stones: the prototype rock/country album. amazing songwriting, lean production. a party in 17 songs.
4 revolver - the beatles: transitional beatles rule! the best band ever in their creative adolescence, experimenting, looking forward/backward, challenting the listener and themselves. rewarding.
5 cold water flat - revolver: i don't know why i love this so much - ambitious arrangements, melodies galore to drown out the boyish sentiments of mat flint's simple, sappy lyrics. supermelodic shoegaze.
6 mezcal head - swervedriver: gasoline and chrome, a guitar band to live and die by. a fiery bounty of groaning guitars and frantic rhythms...
7 nowhere - ride: for me the prototypical shoegaze album - moreso than even 'loveless' by MBV. loz tolbert's drums rule the day! oh the beats....
8 siamese dream - smashing pumpkins: guitars, guitars, guitars...billy corgan rewrote the book with this one. a sound often copied, never recaptured.
9 london calling - the clash: the punk sgt. peppers/white album. eclectic brilliance. another party album for the cd changer with 'exile' by the stones.
10 definitely maybe - oasis: simple arrangements, made complex by the inimitable attitude pressed into each song by the brothers gallagher. classic.
11 out of the fierce parade - the velvet teen: american indie with all the best influences. varied rhythms, buckley meets yorke vocals, great songs.
12 grace - jeff buckley: best singer ever. what a ride.
13 the atlantic years - ray charles: sorry - best singer ever. what a ride.
14 secret world live - peter gabriel: gabriel assembles his band of superheros for a 90 minute ride through his best music so far. paula cole sends shivers through your entire body, manu katche is the greatest drummer on earth. what a band, they're not human.
12 up at the lake - the charlatans: they're quietly distinguishing themselves as the best band in the world. nobody, and i mean NOBODY has ever shown the growth and consistent improvement these guys have. this album reads like a greatest hits...
13 harvest - neil young: simple. simple. simple.
14 spilt milk - jellyfish: complex. complex. complex. queen + wings + badfinger + the beatles = this album. arrangement complexity beyond imagination, the wonder of it all only eclipsed by their abillity to actually deliver it all LIVE.
15 the bends - radiohead: (along with ok computer - i had to pick one). guitar rock the way the gods intended. jonny greenwood - inventive beyond words. simply amazing.
16 slip - quicksand: post hardcore punk metal. nothing in the 90s sounded so urgent and authentic. heavy rhythms, mountains of guitars, funk/punk bass, ragged vocals. for fans of rage against the machine and tool.
17 you forgot it in people - broken social scene: my favorite new record/band of the millenium so far. daring, inventive, and epic. bliss...
18 dog man star - suede: feels like a theatrical production more than a rock album, this is the band simultaneously firing on all cylinders and falling apart - brett's skyrocket warbling competing with bernard's epic guitar playing (if only bernard was involved in the mixing process)...it's got soul, rock, classical. ziggy stardust would be proud.
19 ziggy stardust... - david bowie: speaking of ziggy - the prototype glam rock album. song after song pummels you with melodies sweet enough to give you a cavity.
20 wake up! - the boo radleys: i had to pick one from these guys - this one being their most pop, accesible statement. any of their records would do (see 'giant steps', specifically). today it's this one, harmonies, melodies, jumping beats, and great memories of 1995 and brit pop at it's zenith...