Often young adults, “millennials”  believe older generations should listen more to a little thing called Rock and Roll.

Charles Darwin once remarked, “If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.” Albert Einstein declared, “If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician.” Jimi Hendrix called music his “religion.”

Each generation or so has given birth to songs that have survived not only in written notation, but in popularity. Recording technology enables the endurance of some songs to the next generation and beyond, while the vast majority simply disappear.

Three albums have not only stood the test of time, but continue to endure in popularity: Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon, Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin 4 and Black Sabbath’s –Paranoid. These classic works of art set a standard that all other rock music can be compared to both in the past and present.

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon has sold an estimated of 45 million copies and was on the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988.

As Pink Floyd’s eleventh released album, The Wall is  ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time on many Top 100 albums of all time.

Their song “Money” is a worldwide recognized track that is heard on commercials,  on the radio because it has been relevant for decades.

Roger Waters, a member of the Pink Flyod, conceived the album as a rock opera on 1977 In the Flesh Tour.

Themes of personal isolation, explores the autobiographical character, Pink, whose life begins with the loss of his father. We don’t need no education/We don’t need no thought control/No dark sarcasm in the classroom/Teachers leave them kids alone/Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!

All in all it’s just another brick in the wall. Failed marriages, poor social relationships described in the lyrics act as a metaphorical wall that isolates the character from the rest of the world. “Money” then becomes the song that separates man from the rest of the world.

A second album that listeners should check out might not be as recognizable as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon,  but it was just as influential to the growth of R&R.

Black Sabbath’s Paranoid is their second album and one of the most influential albums of all time.

While Pink Floyd’s story telling narratives became a model for future groups who led the listener through a metaphysical journey, Black Sabbath is quintessentially the model group for the ‘metal’ element in Rock and Roll.

Released on September 18, 1970, Paranoid tops nearly every list of most important LPs of all time.

“Paranoid is important because it’s the blueprint for metal,” Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford said in the liner notes for a 2016 reissue of the album. “It led the world into a new sound and scene.”

Signature songs like “Paranoid”, “War Pigs” ,and “Iron Man” may represent the some of the easriliest heavy metal albums ever made and a big impact on heavy metal. “Paranoid was the sound of Black Sabbath’s reality, a plea for understanding that would resonate with millions of people feeling the same disaffection, many of whom would form groups like Metallica, Pantera and Slipknot – groups that would change the face of metal, as well as the world.”

Lastly, it would be impossible to live a normal life without hearing a lyric or melody from one of the most iconic rock and roll’s most popular fourth album by Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin 4. It is the standard to measure all other popular album in rock and roll.

Led Zeppelin IV was released on November 8, 1971 and became a commercial and critical success selling over 37 million copies.

With songs like Stairway to Heaven, Black Dog, and Rock and Roll made the album one of their best albums ever.

Rock and Roll, as a music form has had a lasting popularity.

Perhaps Led Zeppelin knew it would last when writing the lyrics for “Rock and Roll” almost 50 years ago.

“It’s been a long time since I rock and rolled/ It’s been a long time since I did the Stroll / Oh let me get it back let me get it back / Let me get it back baby where I come from”.

Check out these albums with listening with a new ear. The listener will most likely find the three classic albums are just as fresh today as they were in the Golden Age of Rock and Roll.