In a discussion with someone whose musical knowledge far surpasses mine, I was given a better idea of how to answer my question.
My friend argued two important elements of classic album are importance and greatness.
Because these are vague terms, I'll try to narrow the definition a little. Importance refers to the influence the album has and how innovative it is in its genre. Greatness refers to how good the music is and how it holds up through the years.
By his definition, "The Velvet Underground is a perfect example [of classic] because it's both influential and the music is still enjoyable today. Whereas a band like Kraftwerk was hugely influential to pop and electronic music, but only the nerdiest of nerds still listen to them."
I can accept this definition because I know all of the words to The Velvet Underground's self-titled album, while I don't know even one song by Kraftwerk.
I did a little googling and found that among mainstream music media, there are a handful of albums that are considered classics. These include Led Zeppelin's, Black Sabbath's and the Doors' self-titled albums, as well as Rolling Stone's Exile on Main Street, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and more.
By and large, these "classic" albums hail from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
(I want make it clear that I think an album has to be around for at least 25 years before its test of time result can be determined. Just take a look at these early reviews of now classics.)
Even turning to Facebook friends to ask which albums were classics, a lot of the same names cropped up.
Seeing as most of the albums mentioned are older than the people who replied, I'll go ahead and give them the "greatness" factor. They've stood the test of time. People are still listening, so they must be good.
But what about the "importance" factor?
This is a bit harder to judge. Importance is more than just being around for a long time - it's about the impact the album had on its genre - the ability to be remembered for something new or beautiful.
Some brief research will show that each of the albums mentioned somehow held innovative and inventive characteristics.
Led Zeppelin was considered a turning point in hard rock. Sgt. Pepper was a departure from the norm of the decade, daring to use "balladry, psychedelic, music hall, and symphonic influences." And Black Sabbath was "the first major album to be credited with the development of the heavy metal genre."
These ground-breakers of their time are today's music education staples.
While my observations are by no means scientific, I think they show that there's definitely a common thread in the music that gets passed down to us.
It will be interesting to see what albums we're calling classics 25 years from now. I've got a few ideas, but I'll have to wait and see. What do you think today's will-be classics are?
*Special thanks to Aaron Muse for sparking my interest on this matter.
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