Albums you mistakingly thought was an artist's first album

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

As a kid, I always did thought "Control" was Janet's first album since I only hear and saw the videos from Control and her later albums. It wasn't until I started watching Vh-1's Timeline program in the late 90s, I became enlightened about her first two albums "Janet Jackson" and "Dream Street". For those who are not familiar with Vh-1 Timeline. It was a show that would highlight a certain year in an artist's life or career. For example, 1966 (the year Janet was born), 1974 (the year Janet made her first TV appearance), etc. MTV also had a very similar program in the late 90s called BioRhythm.

Similar story I have about MJ. I always thought that Off The Wall was his first solo album. I would always watch his videos and hear his songs on the radio that came from his albums Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, etc. I knew about his songs "Got To Be There", "Rockin' Robin", "Ain't No Sunshine", and "You've Got A Friend", but I always thought those were songs he did with The Jackson 5, and not as a solo artist.   I remember watching his 30th anniversary special on tv in 2001, and wondering why would it be his 30th anniversary as a solo artist when "Off The Wall" hasn't even turned 30 yet?? I was so confused. I actually didn't know anything about his solo albums pre-Off The Wall til after his passing. I do remember when Vh-1 Timeline did a feature on him, but again, I don't remember anything of his solo albums pre-Off The Wall being mentioned or even highlighted. I had also seen Vh-1 Timeline did one for Prince and Madonna.

I also thought "My Way" was Usher's first album and was genuinely surprised to find out about his '94 album. I didn't know about Aaliyah's first two albums until after her passing. The first time I knew about her was watching "Are You That Somebody" video in '98.

[mkarns]

I and probably everyone outside Canada thought "Jagged Little Pill" was Alanis Morrisette's debut. She's probably fine with people treating it as such.

[kimberly]

I think we all thought Stars Dance was Selena Gomez's debut solo album but she keeps referring to Revival as her first, Rare as her second and her upcoming project as SG3. So we'll take her word for it I guess?

"Slow Down" deserves better.

[PREDS PRIDE]

first one that comes to mind for me is the slim shady LP by eminem, for years now it always has felt like his debut album but I always seem to forget that he released an album three years prior, although not on a major label.

[rainie]

Sept 4, 2023 23:24:41 GMT -5 PREDS PRIDE said:

first one that comes to mind for me is the slim shady LP by eminem, for years now it always has felt like his debut album but I always seem to forget that he released an album three years prior, although not on a major label.

Sept 4, 2023 22:48:56 GMT -5 mkarns said:

I and probably everyone outside Canada thought "Jagged Little Pill" was Alanis Morrisette's debut. She's probably fine with people treating it as such.

these two are really great examples

also:
smash being the first offspring album
vessel being the first twenty one pilots album
visions being the first grimes album
debut being the first bjork album (it's literally called debut ??)

[Joe1240]

Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt. No Doubt had two albums released on a non-major label prior to this one.

[PREDS PRIDE]

Sept 5, 2023 0:33:29 GMT -5 rainie said:

smash being the first offspring album

this is also a great example, obviously not for me because I stan them and I enjoy stuff from their two albums before that but I can definitely see most people thinking that's their first album.

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

For a while I thought The Story was Brandi Carlile's first album. She released one before that (and has another rare indie self-released album even before that).

The Alanis one is a good example.

There are likely lots of cases where an artist broke out with a major hit on a song from their 4th or 5th album that it might have been easy to assume was their first.
"Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin, from her 4th album A Few Small Repairs.
"Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba, from their 8th (?) album Tubthumper.
Celine Dion released 9 (!) albums in French before her English-language debut in 1990.

[Au$tin]

The Woman in Me by Shania Twain

[• Господин Умљеновић •]

I do know, but most think Born to die is Lana's first album. And it is funny when people complain that this album is not on some lists like greatest debuts of all time and similar...
Well, it is her 2nd album, like Alanis' Pill

[bat1990]

In 2002, before the internet was robust, I thought Fever was Kylie Minogue's debut album and "Can't Get You Out of My Head" her debut single.

Cue me learning from my local library system catalog that her debut album was from 1988, that they had a copy I could request, and that she had 7 albums for me to discover!!! It was like a gift from the gods!



This wasn't me, but I wouldn't be surprised if people don't know about Robyn's first three albums before she went indie.

[wjr15]

Lizzo - Cuz I Love You
Doja Cat - Hot Pink

I eventually learned that both artists released albums prior to these breakthrough albums.

[schnetzka]

I know it is not her first album but I could see people thinking Metamorphosis by Hilary Duff was her first album. In reality, she released her Christmas album Santa Claus Lane the year before Metamorphosis.

[Night Senses]

Katy Perry’s One of the Boys.

[iHype.]

Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city 

[mkarns]

I was corrected on these long, long ago, but:

The (then-Dixie) Chicks -- Wide Open Spaces
Billy Joel - Piano Man (it didn't help his actual debut, Cold Spring Harbor, that the mixing was orignally botched, speeding up his voice)
Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes (even she probably would like to forget Y Kant Tori Read)

[Ling-Ling]

For a long time, I didn't realize Carly Rae Jepsen had an album before "Call Me Maybe"/Kiss.

More embarrassingly, I didn't know Fleetwood Mac existed before Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham joined. I always assumed the 1975 self-titled album was their debut album. Turns out they had multiple prior line-ups and nine albums already (including another S/T). I think I figured that out in my 20's, lol.

[mkarns]

Sept 7, 2023 19:03:21 GMT -5 Ling-Ling said:

For a long time, I didn't realize Carly Rae Jepsen had an album before "Call Me Maybe"/Kiss.

More embarrassingly, I didn't know Fleetwood Mac existed before Stevie Nicks/Lindsey Buckingham joined. I always assumed the 1975 self-titled album was their debut album. Turns out they had multiple prior line-ups and nine albums already (including another S/T). I think I figured that out in my 20's, lol.

Fleetwood Mac's actual first album was also a self-titled set released in 1968, though that was as an all-male, all-British blues group that bore relatively little resemblance to what most US fans are familiar with. It did include band namesakes Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, however.

Their 1975 album was not Lindsey and Stevie's first recorded work; that was the Buckingham Nicks duo set released two years earlier, which many don't know; also, prior to joining FM in 1970 Christine McVie recorded two albums with the band Chicken Shack as well as a solo set.

[mkarns]

Sept 6, 2023 12:52:20 GMT -5 Night Senses said:

Katy Perry’s One of the Boys.

If you’re talking about the Christian album “Katy Hudson” she recorded as a teenager, well, she won’t complain about you forgetting or not knowing of it. In fact she may wish nobody did.

[Au$tin]

Before I really got into using the Internet for following the music industry, and because I was too young and not in the right demographic to have come across their actual early stuff beforehand, I always assumed Elephunk was The Black Eyed Peas's debut album.

I was floored when I learned it wasn't only their debut, they existed before Fergie!