Maybe the term shock is a bit extreme but at the very least I'm wondering if they made people say "what the hell is this?" or "what on earth is this?" You get the picture. So today I just bought Black Sabbath's "paranoid" on cd for five dollars and was driving back home and it just got me wondering if some of these albums took people by surprise(to say the least)when they first came out. Please add any of your own suggestions if you feel they fit the bill.


The Beatles-Revolver; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (especially a "day in the life")
Frank Zappa(with or without MOI)the first few especially lumpy gravy(solo) or Freak Out
King Crimson-In the Court of the Crimson King
Led Zeppelin-first two
Black Sabbath-same and Paranoid(first two)
ELP-same (especially "lucky man")
Yes-The Yes Album (ok nothing really out of the ordinary here but I'm guessing it might have been the first time anyone heard really long songs on commercial rock radio)


Probably a bunch of pych albums too. Maybe some Jimi or Cream or maybe something folky or just plain weird. It could be from any genre or decade.