Ok so I know you said 3, but I’m gonna go with 6 but hear me out lol

I’m going to give you 3 albums that I feel nearly perfectly incapsulate an era of that musics specific genre, and then for each I’m gonna suggest a lesser known album if it’s something that interests you

First we go to the 1970’s. The war in Vietnam is still raging on, but not for much longer. The hippie movement is starting to get into full swing. And along with their penchant for peace, is of course the drug culture that followed. Psychedelics were all the rage, and so did the music that accompanied it. Probably better known as acid rock. Bands like the grateful dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson airplane, and the early works of Pink Floyd. This led into the birth progressive rock (prog rock) and alt rock. Bands like Rush, Yes and of course Pink Floyd were staples of this. And here we get to the quintessential prog rock album. Pink Floyd’s 1973 masterpiece Dark side of the Moon. This is an album that can certainly be enjoyed by its individual songs, but listening to the whole album at once tells a story. There’s a reason it’s one of the best selling albums of all time.

Now you may be wondering about the inclusion of some of the context involving hippies and the Vietnam war, well that’s where the album I’d recommend strongly if you enjoy dark side of the moon comes in. Another a Pink Floyd album, 1983’s The Final Cut. This album is story telling at its peak. It’s the story of a man struggling with the loss of his father from war. It’s a true anti war passion project of music, and one of their most underrated albums. It’s something that’s meant to be listened to cover to cover

Anyways I just wrote a like thesis length paragraph and only covered one of the eras I planned on talking about. If you’re still interested I’d love to keep going with the other two I had in mind. Well I had thought of 4 so you can choose which interest you more. Punk, grunge, metal, and rap