50 Great Albums Celebrating Their 20th Anniversary in 2011

Just how good was 1991 for music? Think about this: Nevermind and Blood Sugar Sex Magik came out on the same day. So did Use Your Illusion and No More Tears.

It also was a polarizing year for music fans. Some embraced the apparent end of hair metal and the onslaught of amazing music coming from America's Pacific-Northwest.

For others, 1991 signaled the "death of metal" — although judging by stellar releases from Death, Suffocation, Metallica and Sepultura, it would appear some bands didn't get the memo.

If blues was your thing, you probably just sat back and enjoyed B.B. King's Live at the Apollo, The Fabulous Thunderbirds' Walk that Walk, Talk that Talk and the first posthumous Stevie Ray Vaughan release, The Sky Is Crying.

Whatever your tastes, most will agree that '91 was a tremendous year for music. That's why we've assembled this list of 50 now-classic albums that will be celebrating their 20th anniversaries this year.

Josh Hart

Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.