Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not: It's eight years to the week that Alex Turner and co first swept to the top of the charts with this impeccable debut. Little did they know that it would become a milestone in the history of guitar music and inspire a generation of new bands.

The Strokes - Is This It: Before this debut from the NYC indie powerhouse dropped, the charts were dominated by Travis and Limp Bizkit. Eurgh. For better or worse, this cleared the way for garage rock and indie revival would dominate the airwaves the next decade and beyond - giving us everyone from Franz Ferdinand and The Libertines to Arctic Monkeys and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Nirvana - Bleach: Not the game-changing chart-topper that follow-up Nevermind would become, but the first taste of Cobain's visceral talent. Landing them on the world stage and giving them the space to define the sound of a generation.

Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory: Yes, really. Whether you like it or not, this multi-million-selling nu-metal masterpiece kept rock in the mainstream, carrying countless others on its coattails while the hard rock bands of old were dying on their arse.

Jay Z - Reasonable Doubt: Officially the most powerful man on Earth, this was the Hov's first declaration that was the best there is - dominating hip-hop and leading the way in making it the most dominant genre of our time.

The Beatles - Please Please Me: Of course the first album from the biggest band of all time was going to be in this list. It's the bloody Beatles.

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses: It's widely regarded as one of the best albums of all time - probably because it was a pre-cursor to Britpop, Madchester, the baggy movement and inspired the likes of Oasis, Pulp, Kasabian and loads more. Shame the band could never live up to its sheer class.

Oasis - Definitely Maybe: Another band to split opinion, the Gallaghers and co became the dominant force of Britpop with this classic-laden stonker that saw indie finally became a stadium-filling genre, giving rise to countless bands that followed (like Arctic Monkeys and The Killers and that)

The xx - xx: This Mercury-winning debut was the spark that brought on the quiet revolution that we're still enjoying today. Without it, who can say if James Blake, London Grammar, Jessie Ware and all that lot would be as successful as they are?

Amy Winehouse - Frank: With a whole lot of soul before the junk really took its tragic hold, Ms Winehouse's debut was as successful as it was influential - turning the world's attention back to heartbroken divas with powerful lungs. What followed was the success of Adele, and sadly Duffy (remember Duffy? She wasn't very good, was she).

The Velvet Undergound - The Velvet Underground & Nico: You know that old Brian Eno quote? The one where he says the Velvets debut may have sold only 30,000 copies in its early years, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band."

Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath: Shocking and controversial in its day, this 1970 debut was a dark mix of blues, hard rock and mythology - marking it as one of the first popular heavy metal albums of all time.

Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner: How many debuts can you think of that won a Mercury, was universally acclaimed, launched a massive career, pioneered an entire genre and was recorded by a scrappy 17-year-old lad? Exactly. Fix Up, Look Sharp.

Pixies - Surfer Rosa: With its visceral and ball-grabbing quiet LOUD quiet LOUD approach, blending searing guitars with imaginative and artful lyrics, this was grunge before grunge even existed and formed the base of college rock. Without it, there would be no Nirvana, no Radiohead - hell, it even inspired David Bowie. Without out, music as we know it would be unrecognisable.

Daft Punk - Homework: Grabbing disco, electro and dance music and bringing it racing into the future, Homework was the sound of this French duo changing the face of dance - and putting a robot mask on it. All in all, it made music harder, better, faster, stronger.

Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks: It may not be the best, but it is definitely THE defining establishment-rocking moment in the history of punk.

The Smiths - The Smiths: With heavenly sky-reaching melodies and bouncing rhythms counterbalanced with poetic lyrics of sheer misery, the world had never heard a band quite like The Smiths, and never will again - apart from the countless artists this album influenced.

Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show: Making their mark as one of the loudest and most politicised voices in hip-hop, this universally-celebrated debut was one also one of the first to revolutionise the way that music used sampling - with bloody awesome effect.

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures: Where would we without the awesome power of this astonishing debut? Well, it set the template for post-punk as know it, and have a massive impact on everyone from The Cure and Radiohead to Interpol and Editors.

Massive Attack - Blue Lines: Proving that less is more, this flawless accomplishment put Bristol on the map and brought trip-hop to the masses - giving us Portishead, Tricky and the shitload of subsequent artists that tried to ape this mysterious but beautiful sound.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? Before Jimi, plenty of stars had proved that they could play guitar, but no one had ever made it sing before.

Beastie Boys - Licence To Ill: It was the first rap album to ever top the US Billboard chart, and it still sounds as fresh, insane and balls-out fun today as it ever has.

My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything: Shoegaze can ever compelling and hypnotic, or dull, pretentious wank. This early leader of the genre set a high standard for the former.

Run DMC - Run DMC: 1984 was the year that hip-hop got a much harder and more aggressive edge when Run DMC dropped this groundbreaking debut. It changed the face of hip-hop forever, with Eminem later hailing the icons as 'the first rock stars of rap', adding: "If you grew up on hip-hop like I did, they are The Beatles."

Guns n Roses - Appetite for Destruction: Released 26 years ago, it is one of the most iconic debut albums in rock history and went on to become the biggest selling first album of all time. To put it in context, it sold over 18,000,000 copies in the USA.