25 essential student albums to soundtrack your college years

1.Marvin Gaye, What’s Going On (1971)
Why not start with one of the best? A quintessential Motown record, What’s Going On finds Marvin Gaye turning inward and outward: questioning war, poverty and environmental destruction with soulful tenderness. Driven by lush arrangements and impassioned vocals, it redefined what popular music could say and sound like. By turns a personal and political statement, this album remains a timeless, urgent plea for empathy, justice and change.
Listen to: ‘Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)’

2. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (2007)
Equal parts dancefloor elegy and meditation on ageing, Sound Of Silver is an evergreen classic that transcends its mid-noughties preoccupations and sets early-twenties discontent to a psychoactive, rousing backbeat. If you haven’t trampled through the quiet streets of your college town after a party blaring ‘All My Friends’ through your headphones, now is the time.
Listen to: ‘All My Friends’

3.Fiona Apple, Fetch The Bolt Cutters (2020)
For creating Fetch The Bolt Cutters alone, Fiona Apple deserves some designation of “musical genius”. Created at home in Venice Beach, the album finds the singer among a cluttered scene of pots clanking, dogs barking and children laughing. I’m describing it as if it’s a mess, and while that may be true, it’s a damn masterpiece. Beneath the sonic rawness and elasticity lies inflamed, poetic lyricism that rivals even the best wordsmiths.
Listen to: ‘I Want You To Love Me’

4. Björk, Homogenic (1997)
Homogenic is where Björk fused icy strings with pulsing beats to create a raw, emotional soundscape unlike anything else in the ’90s. Vulnerable yet fierce, the album explores themes of love and identity with an experimental edge. It’s a bold statement of individuality that pushed electronic music headlong into uncharted, deeply personal territory, still sounding futuristic decades later.
Listen to: ‘Joga’

5.Blood Orange, Freetown Sound (2016)
There is so much to love about Blood Orange, aka Dev Hynes: the incomparable grooves, supernova backbeats, sugary yet charged lyrics. A true sonic pioneer, his third album Freetown Sound harbours all of this and more. Dedicated to the marginalised and misunderstood, Freetown Sound is a blistering exploration of racial tension and sexuality that locates itself on the dancefloor, honouring the club scenes pioneered by queer and Black artists.
Listen to: ‘E.V.P.’

6.Boards of Canada, Music Has The Right To Children (1998)
Music Has The Right To Children is a landmark in electronic music. Whilst the ’90s were hooked on house and dance, Scottish duo Boards Of Canada did a complete 180, choosing to make downtempo music on worn-out analogue equipment. With its only vocals coming from diluted samples of Sesame Street characters, the record is nostalgic yet haunting. This is truly an essential study album and one that rewards repeat listens.
Listen to: ‘Aquarius’

7.Bon Iver, 22, A Million (2016)
It’s 3am and you’re up studying for exams, and you want an album that fizzes the same as your head teetering on the edge of red-eyed insanity. Look no further than Bon Iver’s third album. Beyond the cryptic numerical song titles and autotuned drama lies a work of stunning emotional peaks. By turns cathartic and inventive, 22, A Million twists and turns into an act of aural ablution. Its lyrics – the ones you can make out, anyway – are resolute like hymns, and you’d be hard-pressed not to cling to them as affirmations.
Listen to: ‘22 (OVER S∞∞N)’

8.Talking Heads, Remain In Light (1980)
Alongside co-conspirator Brian Eno, Remain In Light saw Talking Heads break from punk minimalism into dense, polyrhythmic experimentation. Influenced by Afrobeat and funk, tracks like ‘Born Under Punches’ and ‘Crosseyed And Painless’ layered loops, chants and paranoia into something radically new. Dropped at the advent of the ’80s, it rewired the possibilities of rock, paving the way for art-pop, post-punk and electronic hybrids. Just try not dancing around to ‘Once In A Lifetime’ in your oversized, shoulder-padded suit.
Listen to: ‘Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)’

9. Joni Mitchell, Blue (1971)
Released in the summer of 1971, Blue finds Joni Mitchell sifting through the fallout of a tough break-up. Revelatory and debilitating, there is an emotional fluster, a true tenderness to the listening experience. Walls of text do little justice to albums as strong as this. It might gut you, it might even feel like a freight train of reality crashing through. But for anyone who’s down bad after your college fling ghosted you, let these 10 tracks lift you up. After all, Joni said it herself: “You can make it through these waves”.
Listen to: ‘All I Want’

10.Rory Gallagher, Rory Gallagher (1971)
Breaking free from his power trio Taste, Rory Gallagher launched his solo career with a record that’s raw, bluesy and full of grit. His guitar work is blistering, but never showy – serving songs that feel lived-in and honest. With touches of folk and jazz alongside the blues, this debut set the tone for a career defined by soul over flash.
Listen to: ‘I Fall Apart’

11.The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
This isn’t just an album – it’s a beautiful bruise. Blending art, noise and street-level realism, The Velvet Underground’s debut dragged rock music into the underground. The Warholian overtones, mixed with Lou Reed’s deadpan delivery, John Cale’s avant edge and Nico’s icy vocals, made for a sound too raw for its time, but endlessly influential. Punk, indie and experimental scenes all start here, in shadow and feedback.
Listen to: ‘Heroin’

12.Bob Marley and the Wailers, Exodus (1977)
Recorded in Chelsea-bound exile after an assassination attempt, Exodus blends reggae rhythms with spiritual and political urgency. Bob Marley’s powerful songwriting on tracks like ‘One Love’ and ‘Jamming’ channels themes of resistance, hope, displacement and unity. Exodus elevated reggae from Jamaican roots to global influence, cementing Marley’s legacy as a voice for social justice and shaping how music can inspire change.
Listen to: ‘Exodus’

13.The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses (1989)
The Stone Roses’ late ’80s debut fused jangly guitar pop with acid rhythms, capturing the sound of a youth caught between rave and rock. With such tracks as ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ and ‘Waterfall,’ the band sounded effortlessly self-assured. It didn’t just define the Madchester scene – it helped spark a wave of British guitar music that echoed well into the ‘90s.
Listen to: ‘Fools Gold’

14.Little Simz, NO THANK YOU (2022)
NO THANK YOU is a work that snarls with raw defiance and honesty, a sonic manifesto forged in lockdown isolation. Little Simz slices through industry noise with razor-sharp bars and gritty, stripped-back beats, staking her claim on artistic autonomy. Released in 2022, it’s not just a record – it’s a blunt refusal to play by anyone else’s rules, cementing her place in the UK hip-hop scene on her own terms.
Listen to: ‘No Merci’

15.My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991)
Loveless doesn’t sound recorded so much as excavated from a dream. Kevin Shields spent years layering warped guitars, buried vocals and blown-out textures until everything blurred into something strangely beautiful. It’s noisy, disorienting and emotionally distant. But that’s the point. Loveless reshaped the boundaries of guitar music and defined shoegaze in one deafening swoon.
Listen to: ‘Blown A Wish’

16.Fugees, The Score (1996)
One of the ’90s best albums, The Score fused sharp lyricism, reggae, soul and boom-bap production into a sound both globally aware and radio-ready. Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel redefined hip-hop’s boundaries with tracks like ‘Ready Or Not’ and their evergreen cover of ‘Killing Me Softly’. Released in 1996, it expanded hip-hop’s mainstream presence without diluting its complexity, helping bridge underground credibility and global appeal.
Listen to: ‘Ready Or Not’

17.David Bowie, Hunky Dory (1971)
Before Ziggy Stardust, there was Hunky Dory – a shape-shifting, piano-driven album where David Bowie sharpened his voice as both outsider and observer. Tracks like ‘Life On Mars?’ and ‘Changes’ peddle glam theatrics with existential unease. His fourth album, Hunky Dory marked the moment Bowie stopped chasing trends and started creating them, sketching the blueprint for pop experimentation in the decades to come.
Listen to: ‘Oh! You Pretty Things’

18.Lupe Fiasco, Food & Liquor (2006)
Food & Liquor introduced Lupe Fiasco as a sharp, socially conscious voice in early-2000s hip-hop. Blending complex lyricism with soulful production, the album tackles issues from poverty to personal integrity. With the help of producers The Neptunes, Jay-Z and more, the album sees Lupe Fiasco weave street tales and intellect over soulful beats, turning propulsive tracks like ‘Kick, Push’ into anthems of rebellion and reflection.
Listen to: ‘Hurt Me Soul’

19.The Cranberries, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? (1993)
Soft-spoken but emotionally piercing, The Cranberries’ debut glides between dream pop and alt-rock with aching sincerity. Dolores O’Riordan’s voice – fragile one moment, fierce the next – carries songs like ‘Linger’ and ‘Dreams’ into the realm of the timeless. Beneath its gentle surface is a quiet confidence, marking the start of a band that never needed to shout to be heard.
Listen to: ‘Linger’

20.SZA, Ctrl (2017)
Shaped by years of delays, rewrites and self-doubt, Ctrl emerged as a deeply confessional debut that redefined R&B’s emotional range. SZA’s fragmented narratives and conversational vocals – especially on ‘Supermodel’ and ‘Drew Barrymore’ – captured modern insecurity with bone-simple honesty. Rather than chasing sonic polish, Ctrl embraced imperfection as aesthetic, shifting the sound of R&B toward something more unfiltered and emotionally immediate.
Listen to: ‘Drew Barrymore’

21.Saba, Care For Me (2018)
Care For Me is grief processed through rhythm. Written after the murder of his cousin and collaborator John Walt, Saba turns personal loss into minimalist, jazz-inflected hip-hop that never flinches. The production is sparse, the lyrics piercing and tracks like ‘PROM / KING’ unfold like diary entries. Released in 2018, it’s one of the most intimate rap albums of the decade: quiet, aching, unforgettable.
Listen to: ‘BUSY / SIRENS’

22.The Roches, The Roches (1979)
The Roches’ debut is strange, stunning and completely its own. Produced by Robert Fripp, the album blends tight blood harmonies with disarmingly honest, often oddball songwriting. Songs like ‘Hammond Song’ and ‘Runs In The Family’ undercut folk sweetness with emotional complexity, dry wit and mould-breaking sonics. Its refusal to conform made it a cult classic – and a quiet rebellion in folk music’s softest voices.
Listen to: ‘Hammond Song’

23. Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)
Recorded in the wake of personal losses, Funeral channels grief into grand, orchestral indie rock without losing emotional intimacy. Self-produced on a modest budget, it blends anthemic arrangements with raw urgency on tracks like ‘Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)’ and ‘Wake Up’. Its release in 2004 marked a turning point, helping to sustain indie rock’s growing ambition and paving the way for a new wave of baroque pop.
Listen to: ‘Wake Up’

24.Neil Young, After The Gold Rush (1970)
Released in 1970, After The Gold Rush captures Neil Young at his most poetic and paradoxical: balancing environmental dread, romantic disillusionment and fragile hope. The album’s stripped-down arrangements and cracked vocals give these 11 songs an unfiltered intimacy. It remains a cornerstone of introspective songwriting, blurring the lines between folk, country and rock with quiet conviction. Put this on during early morning walks, late-night study sessions, or moments when everything feels a little uncertain.
Listen to: ‘After The Gold Rush’

25.The Doors, The Doors (1967)
The Doors had a pretty tough break in 1966. They were ousted as the Whiskey a Go Go house band, soon after being dropped from their label. Their next move had to be big. After signing with Elektra Records, they began working on their self-titled debut. Combining jazz, blues and soul elements, The Doors sounded unlike anything else on the airwaves, with Jim Morrison’s spoken word poetics and stoned melodicism, and Ray Manzarek’s dawdling organ solos. Yielding hits like ‘Light My Fire’ and ‘Break On Through’, this album is, in many ways, the ground zero of psychedelic rock.
Listen to: ‘Light My Fire’

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