Horses (album): History and Key Facts

Horses is the debut studio album by American musician Patti Smith, released on November 10, 1975 by Arista Records. Smith, supported by her regular backing band, recorded the album at Electric Lady Studios in September 1975, choosing former Velvet Underground member John Cale as the album's producer.

The music on Horses was informed by the minimalist aesthetic of the punk rock genre, then in its formative years. Smith and her band composed the album's songs using simple chord progressions, while also breaking from punk tradition in their propensity for improvisation and embrace of ideas from avant-garde and other musical styles. With Horses, Smith drew upon her backgrounds in rock music and poetry, aiming to create an album combining both forms. Her lyrics were alternately rooted in her own personal experiences, particularly with her family, and in more fantastical imagery. Horses was additionally inspired by Smith's reflections on the previous era of rock music—with two of its songs being adapted in part from 1960s rock standards, and others containing lyrical allusions and tributes to past rock performers—and her hopes for the music's future.

At the time of its release, Horses experienced modest commercial success and reached the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album chart, while being widely acclaimed by music critics. Recognized as a seminal recording in the history of punk and later rock movements, Horses has appeared in numerous lists of the greatest albums of all time. In 2009, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation into the National Recording Registry as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" work.

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