Qualifying certain music as “weird” of course, depends on the ear of the beholder. Still, in most cases, defining a certain song or an album as such usually means that such music defies conventional norms, or pop/rock formulas, with artists coming up with unusual sounds or eccentric themes and concepts.
In the case of “weird” albums, we are talking about those that try (and in quite a few cases) to succeed in pushing the boundaries of a genre (or, more often, genres), using unconventional song structures, lyrics, or not-so-conventional production techniques.
In many respects, the 16 albums listed here succeeded in one of all such endeavors, and often qualify as some of the best in rock music
Weird rock albums that totally work
Frank Zappa - Lumpy Gravy (1968)
In his later years, Frank Zappa was mainly concentrating on some more conventional musical forms and lyrics, but even then, and throughout his career he was among the artists that were pushing the boundaries beyond conventional. This one surely ranks among the weirdest he created, albeit, it deserves to be here - orchestral passages, sound effects unknown for that time, spoken word, and it all works.
The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (1968)
Not strange enough? Well, it turns out to be one of the first true noise rock albums around, an Lou Reed and co. brought us quite a bit of noise here that still makes sense and creates music that so many tried to recreate later on without being able to reach the heights The Velvets reached here.
Skip Spence - Oar (1969)
What could you expect from a guy who just got out of a mental hospital spending six months there? Actually, he entered the studio only with a recording engineer who left the tape recorder on throughout the session(s), with Spence doing all 30 himself, thinking they were just demos. Producer David Rubinson took 12 he liked and turned it into one of the most cherished rock albums
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica (1969)
After an excruciating practice regime, Van Vliet subjected his band prior to recording, the band came up with what is still considered one of the weirdest rock albums around, and if you want to label something as prog rock, this would be it.
Syd Barrett - The Madcap Laughs (1970)
Barrett, another artistic maverick with mental health issues, never really survived his ousting from Pink Floyd. Yet here, backed by his former bandmates Gilmour and Waters among others, he still came up with a bunch of off-kilter song structures that still fascinate.
Can - Tago Mago (1971)
Kraut rock was, and still is, one of the avant-garde genres in rock, and this was krautrock at its prime, with Can coming up with spaced-out combinations of both improvisation and composition with deep, dark overtones that still fascinate.
Faust - Faust Tapes (1973)
When Richard Branson came up with his Virgin Records, this was the label’s first release, which Branson cunningly sold for the price of a single, taking it to British album charts. But the music, or more precisely, sounds found on the album, were a strange collage of everything from a vacuum cleaner at full speed to gentle acoustic picking following each other in rapid succession. Still weird (and beautiful) to this day.
The Residents - Meet the Residents (1974)
The Residents were always the epitome of avant-garde, from their inception to this day. Still, this, their initial album that introduced their notorious anonymity, remains prime surrealistic rock with left-field rhythms, noises, and strange song covers.
Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978)
Another band that started out with a strange song cover (Stones’ “Satisfaction”) combined everything from new wave to post-punk and synth-pop in a way that would be imitated a million times afterward, and this their initial album still stands out.
Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician (1987)
Starting out with the band name itself, these Texans were always out to unsettle their listeners, and with great success at that too. Throwing everything into their music, including a kitchen sink, here they were able to present what a combination of psychedelia and punk should sound like.
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
Picking up on the noise of The Velvets and adding classical music training, this experimental guitar rock album turned out to be Sonic Youth’s most influential work, and for all the right reasons. Still weird and beautiful to this day.
Ween - The Pod (1991)
Ween always had a weird sense of humor about them, so they never disputed a rumor that this album was recorded under the influence of Scotchgard. Favoring oddball in every sense of the word, this one is a paean to oddball music as such.
Mr. Bungle - Disco Volante (1995)
Mike Patton and his Mr. Bungle were always out to combine music that wasn’t supposed to be combined. Here (and elsewhere), they threw in heavy metal, jazz, disco, and whatnot else, which worked against all odds.
The Flaming Lips - Zaireeka (1997)
How does this one work? The only people who can tell you that are the ones who were able (and dared) to play these separate four-CD simultaneously, as was intended. Or sequentially, or separately, or whatever.
The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000)
There are intriguing albums based mainly or, in this case, solely on sampling, but this one is probably the most cohesive and intriguing in that respect, as it actually works as one big, weird collage/soundscape.
The Mars Volta - Amputechture (2006)
Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala, are possibly the key chaos in music purveyors out there at the moment. Cramming as many sounds as they could per minute, they were never quiet and always cryptic, and at their best at that here.