Joe Satriani Albums Ranked (rated from worst to best)

Joseph Satriani started out as a guitar teacher. He has taught many great guitarists including; Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Kirk Hammett, Rick Hunolt, Charlie Hunter, Andy Timmons, Alex Skolnick and Kevin Cadogan. He then became a solo artist and has forged a career creating some of the greatest instrumental albums of all time. He has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide which makes him the best selling instrumental rock guitarist ever.

When Mick Jagger needed a guitarist for his 1st solo tour in 1988 it was Joe Satriani he turned to. Joe has also toured with Deep Purple and has been a member of the Supergroup Chickenfoot since 2008.

Best Joe Satriani Albums Of All Time

Joe has released 18 studio albums and as always, we’ll rank them from the rest to the best as we see them.

18. The Elephants Of Mars (2022)

Released on April 8th 2022 this is Joe’s18th studio album and his 1st with earMUSIC. This album was put together remotely during lockdowns by Satch and his band. They couldn’t tour and spent their time wisely creating the tracks for “The Elephants Of Mars”.

17. Super Colossal (2006)

Joe’s 11th studio album, which was released on March 14th 2006, was “Super Colossal”. It was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards, which was the 13th time he’d been nominated. 

The track “Crowd Chant” is used by a number of American football teams after touchdowns. It was also used by ice hockey teams and the track was later featured on the soundtrack of the 2009 video game NHL 2K10.

16. Shockwave Supernova (2015)

Released on july 24th 2015, this is Joe’s 15th studio album. It features 2 members of the Supergroup “The Aristocrats”, Bryan Beller (bass) and Marco Minnemann (drums) as well as prog rock multi-instrumentalist Mike Keneally. This album reached number 22 on the UK charts and number 46 in the US.

15. Shape Shifting (2020)

Joe’s 17th studio album, which was released on April 10th 2020 by Sony Music. The track “nineteen Eighty” was released prior to the release of the album as a single. The album was co-produced by Joe Satriani and Jim Scott.

14. Time Machine (1993)

This was Joe’s 5th studio album which was released on October 13th 1993 through Relativity Records and re-released in 1998 through Epic Records. It’s a double album with one album containing new tracks, outtakes and unreleased studio recordings, and the other album contains live recordings from the period 1988-1992. 

13. What Happens Next (2018)

Released on January 12th 2018 through Sony Music, this was Joe’s 16th studio album. He teamed up with drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Bass guitarist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple) to make this one. 

Joe says he deliberately steered this album in a more simplistic direction than his previous album “Shockwave Supernova”. He said instead of writing about an alien, this time he wrote songs “about a human being, two feet on the ground, heart pumping, with emotions, dreams, and hopes. That seemed to be the direction I really was yearning for”.

12. Unstoppable Momentum (2013)

This was Joe’s 14th studio album which was released on May 7th 2013 by Epic Records. The album got into the top 100 in many countries including number 42 in the US, number 41 in the UK and number 32 on the Swiss chart.

Joe teamed up with  bass guitarist Chris Chaney (Jane’s Addiction), multi-instrumentalist Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa) and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta (Jeff Beck) to make this one. 

11. Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock (2008)

Released on March 31st 2008 by Epic Records, this was Joe’s 12th studio album. The track “Come On Baby” was written in a snowstorm in 1993 whilst Joe was on holiday at Lake Tahoe and finished after Joe’s son ZZ encouraged him to. It was dedicated to Joe’s wife Rubina and used by the Canadian figure skater Vaghn Chipeur at the 2010 Canadian Figure Skating Championships.

10. Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards (2010)

This was Joe’s 13th studio album which was released by Epic Records on October 5th 2010. A podcast of each track was put up on Joe’s official FaceBook profile and YouTube channel in the lead up to the album’s release. The track “Light Years Away” was released as a free mp3 single download on September 3rd 2010 as long as the downloader advertised it as a FaceBook or Twitter post.

9. Strange Beautiful Music (2002)

This was Joe’s 9th studio album which was released on June 25th 2002 by Epic Records. The album title is also the name of Joe’s publishing company and a lyric from “Third Stone From the Sun” which is a Jimi Hendrix song. Joe has said that Hendrix was his main inspiration for starting to play the guitar as a youngster.

8. Engines Of Creation (2000)

Released on March 14th 2000 by Epic Records, this was Joe’s 8th studio album. This album was unusual as it features mainly experimentation with electronic and techno music and not his usual instrumental rock. Most of the tracks were made using guitars recorded or mixed in non-traditional ways, with many being digitally manipulated by the use of sythnsesisers and computer software.

7. Not Of This Earth (1986)

Released on December 18th 1986 by Relativity Records, this was Joe’s debut album. On the inner cover Joe stated that he wanted “to make a ‘guitar-record’ that would be enjoyed by all; not just a ‘guitar-chops-record’ but one with real music on it”.

The album uses electronic drums as opposed to acoustic drums and Joe experiments with various techniques including pitch axis theory, the enigmatic scale and 2 handed tapping.

6. Joe Satriani (1995)

This was Joe’s 6th studio album which was released in October 1995 by Relativity Records. It was his last for Relativity Records and it got to number 51 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 7 weeks. 

This was a more bluesy album with less use of effects and overdubs. Produced by Glyn Johns (who has produced albums for Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Who).

5. Is There Love In Space? (2004)

This was Joe’s 10th studio album which was released by Epic Records on April 13th 2004. This was the 1st album since 1995’s self titled album on which Joe sings, which he does on 2 tracks, “Lifestyle” and “I Like the Rain”. 

4. Flying In A Blue Dream (1989)

Released on October 30th 1989 by Relativity Records, this was Joe’s 3rd studio album. It got to number 23 on the Billboard 200 chart and stayed on the chart for 39 weeks. There were 3 singles released from this album, which were; “I Believe”, “Big Bad Moon” and “Flying in a Blue Dream”.

The track “Back To Shalla-Bal” refers to Shalla-Bal from the Marvel comics universe and is the 2nd reference Joe has made to the Silver Surfer character, who was 1st featured on the cover of “Surfing with the Alien”.

3. Crystal Planet (1998)

This was Joe’s 7th studio album released on March 3rd 1998 by Epic Records and was his 1st to be released by Epic. “Crystal Planet” was on the Billboard 200 chart for 8 weeks and reached number 50. There was 1 single released from this album which was “Ceremony” which got to number 28 on the Billboard mainstream Rock chart and also featured Joe’s Ibanez Universe 7 stringed guitar for the 1st time.

2. The Extremist (1992)

Released on July 21st 1992 by Relativity Records, “The Extremist” was Joe’s 4th studio album. This is Joe’s highest charting album so far, reaching number 22 on the Billboard 200 chart and staying on the chart for 28 weeks. 

The track “Summer Song” was used by Sony for a commercial for the Walkman and was also used on the soundtrack for 2 Sony video games: Formula 1 (1996) and Gran Turismo 4 (2004).

1. Surfing With The Alien (1987)

“Surfing with the Alien” was released on October 15th 1987 by Relativity Records and was Joe’s 2nd studio album. It was also one of his most popular albums ever and helped to establish his standing as a respected rock guitarist. 

The album was recorded on a budget of $13,000 and due to this budget Joe could only use 2 Kramer Pacer guitars and a Stratocaster that he would change pickups on to get different sounds. Also due to the budget, there was extensive use of  drum machines, apart from “Satch Boogie” which used live drums played by Jeff Campitelli.

All Joe Satriani Albums In Chronological Order

Album	Date
Not of This Earth	1986
Surfing with the Alien	1987
Flying in a Blue Dream	1989
The Extremist	1992
Time Machine	1993
Joe Satriani	1995
Crystal Planet	1998
Engines of Creation	2000
Strange Beautiful Music	2002
Is There Love in Space?	2004
Super Colossal	2006
Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock	2008
Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards	2010
Unstoppable Momentum	2013
Shockwave Supernova	2015
What Happens Next	2018
Shapeshifting	2020
The Elephants of Mars	2022

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