Great bands with three or fewer albums
Three albums
- Nirvana - everyone knows them, I won't elaborate (great 90s band with an - often overlooked debut in Bleach), and unfortunately in this list due to tragedy.
- Portishead - they need to release a new album, then they won't be on this list.
- Disco Inferno - little known experimental rock band. Their second album, DI Go Pop, is what happens when samples go haywire and control the music.
- My Bloody Valentine - swirling guitar noise and feedback with obscured singing which I suspect is about sappy love.
- Broadcast - they did release a collaboration album, but their three lone efforts are fantastic electronica which, by Tender Buttons, stretch it to its limits. Also sadly here due to tragedy.
- 13th Floor Elevators - Slip Inside This House is an incredible song from a band I need to listen to far more often than I already do.
Two albums
- Joy Division - essentially created post-punk from scratch, also unfortunately listed due to tragedy. However, considering their successor, New Order, have released ten albums (and I've reviewed eight of them) they possibly don't count.
- The Stone Roses - a first album which influenced the Britpop movement, and which the Gallaghers still champion to this day. The follow-up...a bit rougher but still fantastic.
- This Heat - another experimental band which puts despair in first place. I've never heard anything like it.
- The Housemartins - consisting of Beautiful South singer and Fatboy Slim on bass, a jangly, politically aware band that tried to be a capella and got a chart-topping song out of it.
- The Soft Boys - shimmering jangle pop which inspired many bands after them.
One album
- Josef K - the lead singer thought their debut was all they needed to say, and as such this Kafkaesquely named band has only one studio release.
- Sex Pistols - perhaps the most notorious mono-album band, though John Lydon did go on to form the more inventive Public Image Ltd if you're curious.
There are of course the bands that released three truly significant albums (like Wire) which went on to be rather unnoticed, as well as bands (like Pulp) that will probably be remembered far into the future for a classic run of three. Many will also disregard a band's large discography for one album in particular. But that's not what this list is about, as otherwise it would be far, far, longer.
Please do share other bands you love which I didn't include. I mostly aimed to write about only the bands I mostly listen to, and considering I'm not the oldest person perhaps this list surprised you. Share more!