G. Love And Special Sauce

Not for me.

It’s like when you buy a package of chicken at the grocery store, but when you get home and open it, it has a funny smell, so you end up throwing it away.

Not my....

SHUT THESE WHITE BOYS UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hope i could give it 0 stars

Very bad vocals. Very bad. I couldn't listen to more than 2 songs. Hated it. The instrumental is not that good either. I don't get why this is included in the list.

Första intrycket: En blek kopia av Beck. Andra intrycket: Enformigt och stelt. Inte särskilt roligt. Efter 5 låtar är jag på väg att ge upp. Talanglöst jammande, ändlösa, humorlösa texter. Påminner om bandet i David Lynch:s Fire walk with me

When you're a terrible singer so you try rapping instead, but you're an even worse rapper.

Definitely one to listen to one time only.

A lo-fi blend of blues, hip-hop, and college slacker vibes that tries to be charming and laid-back , but mostly feels empty and irrelevant. It’s technically competent, but lacks soul or depth. For me, it never rises above background noise with attitude. Not my cup of tea. 1/5

This is what white privilege sounds like. There are so many worthy albums even in these overrepresented countries that this inclusion is both baffling and totally predictable. I mean, you can do lazy, and lazy is not easy to fake. Producing an album that sounds laid back, relaxed, easy, or even barely trying is hard work. And perhaps "g love" worked his ass off on this one, but, you know, put some good songs in it while you're at it.

I can only imagine myself on my deathbed reaching for just a little bit more of that special sauce…. Nope. This is one of these albums that could make me buy the book eventually to try and understand the reasoning behind its inclusion.

no

Känns som ett skämt att detta är med i nån sorts topplista.

Obegripligt.

White people shit

I feel disgust listening to this. I feel like I am listening to a high school “band” practicing in their mom’s garage and the neighbours are throwing cans and everything in their way to get them to stop singing. Fire this singer, and start over completely.

This one just didn’t do it for me. Mellow Gold by Beck did this so much better.

Why is this on the list lol. How many great/significant 90s albums got bumped for this.

Oh no. I hated this. Not quite Nick Cave level because I know it takes a lot of weed to be play instruments this way at least, but still really bad. I'll give the producer credit for giving us the St. Anger snare before it was a meme. Real 20 something white trust fund baby with dreads energy in this one.

Offensive on almost every conceivable level.

Respectfully: what the fuck is this? Beck and Sublime already had enough to answer for but I’m pretty sure this is ultimately their fault.

Не зашло

It’s no wonder that the only people who have ever recommended G. Love and Special Sauce to me are people who are also really into jam band music. This is the exact type of white boy-blues/funk hybrid that’ll make a jam band fan do the hippy shake after a glass of “spun wine”. In fact, it’s offensive to call this blues or funk. It just sucks. The other day, I said that Leonard Cohen’s “I’m Your Man” was the worst record on this list. I stand corrected.

LMFAO

Not my cup of tea. Can't stand this guy's raps and rhymes.

Wank, and yes I selected that word specifically

The longer this went on, the more I questioned if this is just one big joke and I’m not in on it. It’s Kidz Bop Rap made for cocky 12 year old white boys who just got their first bottle of Axe Body Spray. Musically I don’t mind it and in parts good, but G. Love ‘s voice is annoying enough to want to punch him in the face for trying to be something he isn’t: a good rapper. I wouldn’t doubt that he HAS been punched for making this album He sounds like he’s just trying to make a joke of the entire genre. Thumbs way down.

First track: ooh, I remember this from back in the day, think I quite liked it at the time. Second track: why is the man still singing in that silly, mannered voice? Third track: this is going to be a looooong album. I also hope John Lee Hooker got paid for the tune to 'Town To Town'.

Klinkt als Shaggy en OMC, maar dan minder cool. Dit was zo fucking raar en niet raar als in Ween raar is ofzo. Raar en slecht eigenlijk. 0.0 (maar ja, dat gaat niet)

Kind of a bland combo of blues, jazz, and hip hop. Combines the three but loses the best parts of all of them. There's some moments that are solid laid back music, but no way this belongs on this list there's people who have done that vibe way better.

It sounds as if someone just discovered Garage band and just started playing with instrumental pre-sets and dusted off old slam poetry. I have a headache halfway through this album.... why do you do this to me?

I had What's Going On several albums back, and while listening to This Ain't Living all I could do was wish I was listening to Marvin sing those words instead [Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)]. I have to be honest. I hated every minute of this. Something about it is just so phony to me. I mean - take a snippet from This Ain't Living: "This morning bird sounding sweet / Though I sleep on the streets / I have a feeling I'm free / From society's hand picked hypocrisy" coming from the guy who went to private school and definitely seems to have led a privileged life. I'm not trying to make a broad assessment of his character, but I like to justify my lowest ratings. And this is one of many reasons this album didn't hit for me. I can't even choose one standout to add to my playlist. This meets all my criteria for a 1 star album.

Hate it. I think he only half raps because he has a shitty voice. Again, I question this as an "influential" album. I know this list is put together but music critics...and I don't think much of the title "critic".

Like the instrumentals hate the vocals

Boring and monotone

Never heard of this artist outside of the context of this list, which rarely happens. Its inclusion here is a real head-scratcher. It just sounds like a bunch of random dudes who get together on sundays to play music together and book the occasional bar gig. Did this have any impact when it came out? It certainly didn't have any *lasting* impact.

I remember when their single was a hit everywhere. I didn't really understand why back then, and listening to this garbage again has only reinforced my assessment: this is absolute garbage. This verges on offensive stereotyping of authentic speech patterns in disenfranchised communities. This why guy trying to sound black is super cringe.

This is bad and I couldn't finish it. 1/5

all of it sounds the same and it’s far from good enough for it to be good nonetheless, i have no idea how i finished this x

Everything about this album feels inorganic and unfortunately designed by committee. I don’t understand who this album was made for? It’s not catchy, it’s not groovy, and it’s mostly just awkward and uncomfortable to listen to. The vocal style is so forced and weird. The lyrics are asinine and poorly written. The guitar playing, drumming, and all the other instrumentation is lazy and predictable. This is not something I hope to ever listen to again.

This is what Beck must sound like if you hate Beck. Had to listen in intervals because it was so irritating. No thank you. 3/10

I did not like this. The white dude bluesy thing makes me uncomfortable.

Nobody can convince me that this album deserves its place on this list. There's just no way.

Beck if he was falling in a staircase.

not a fan

Imagine a Red Hot Chili Peppers of blues. Then make it a bit worse. G. Hate. (⌐◉︵◉)

One of the worst vocal deliveries I’ve ever heard. Maybe the worst album on the list so far. Low energy Beastie Boys. Sublime, if Bradley Nowell had never smoked a cigarette. I hate this. Let us never speak of it again.

Couldn't finish this. Like the white stripes minus any charisma

Это просто очень плохо. Если я попаду в ад, они будут пытать меня этим.

I’m the complete opposite of a saucier, more of a “no sauce on my combo rice, please” kind of person.

meökein cpnepctyal TDSOTM settiä.. mutta onkin vain samaa biisä putkeen...

This album affixed me with a perpetual stank face during its duration; not in an "oooh, this shit goes hard" kind of way, but rather an "oooh nooo, this shit is simultaneously setting both blues AND hip hop back decades...turn it off, TURN IT OFF" kind of way.

Dabbling in a lot of genre and it didn’t help them.

I’m really not a fan of jam bands, and the guy’s singing makes it seem like he doesn’t want to be here. But the lyrics are the low point, profoundly dumb themes addressed in profoundly artless ways. I will say that they come across as reasonably fun, laid back people. I don’t think any of the other bands I’ve rated a 1 give the impression of having a sense of humor.

"This makes me feel better about giving Limp Bizkit three stars." - Me to L. Yeah this sucked.

I would rather drink my own Special Sauce than listen to this again. this has to be a joke like the inclusion of Kid Rock?

I love Flava Flav. He's fantastic. Tom Waits is phenomenal. But this album, where Flava Flav recorded a tribute album to the sounds of Tom Waits, is pure garbage.

Some of the songs had an interesting hook, musically. The problem is that each song is the same four bars repeated over and over with no variation. And then comes the vocals: repetitive in sound, sloppy, and uninteresting. This album was boring.

1 - even the most popular one just hurts, honestly the wrong time period to be producing music like this--no excuse

I didn’t know Stoned College Roommates of America got to lobby for spots on this list

lmao why is this here

No, thank you

I don't know what the special sauce is, but it's pretty bland. 'Walk To Slide' and 'Shooting Hoops' I could probably add to a playlist, but anything more than that and I would just be so bored. It sounds like it's trying so hard to be cool, and maybe it is to the right person. Maybe it was cooler in the 90's. I have nothing against mixing genres of music together to create something unique, but unfortunately it's a mix of blues, jazz and rap. All of which I'm not particularly fond of so this was never going to be a good album for me.

I guess this is the album that inspired millions of white college freshmen to rap over their acoustic guitars at open mikes. I can’t ever forgive that.

Imagine the Red Hot Chili Peppers without any musicianship or songwriting ability. And then make it a bit worse than that.

this shit is genuinely repulsive to me

Did not care for this genre of music nor the musician's style. Not a fan of hip-hop fused with jazz.

This is dire. This is an album I am meant to listen to before I die? Why? If anything it’s making me want to meet my demise quicker 🫠

Love and special sauce, terrible name with music on equal level. What the hell happened to the sound of that drums? Does the singer know the words to his own songs? Does anything make sense in here? Interestingly bad album, once in a lifetime experience.

Never heard of this band before, but trying to give them a fair shot. I can see why they were popular on college radio at the time, and they have a couple decent songs (Blues Music and Cold Beverage), but overall they are a bit cringe. Less interesting than what Beck was doing around the same time, and not as fun as the Fun Lovin' Criminals. Musically, the rhythm section is quite good, but the singer just sounds like a stoned guy at a house party trying to imitate the Beastie Boys. They actually remind me a bit of Gomez, who did a much better take on this style later in the 90s. Hope their debut is in this list somewhere.

shite

Meh 1 star

This stinks, it blows my mind that the guy who I watch perform in the heat at 3 in the afternoon at mid tier jam fests has an album on this list. How many albums does Keller Williams have on here while were at it!

No love for this G from me

I really want to like him but this album is just painful.

Meh

This album just flat out and missed me., The vocalist mumbles. Sure, it’s a groove. Reminds me of a pretentious album somebody in Brooklyn would put on while sipping craft beers and wearing pork bean hats. Not a fan.

There's a track called 'Garbage Man'. A comma between the 2 words of it's title would enable it to serve as a description for the whole album.

Just don’t like this at all

genuinely one of the most obnoxious albums i've ever heard. this brand of blues-rap gen x whatever the hell this is, is such a pain to listen to. the only saving grace here is the musicianship, which is pretty alright, but yeesh man. this sounds like if the mediocre-at-best busker in the subway station got a record deal. it sounds like an alley cat getting its tail run over by a bicycle. it feels like it has to be ironic but i do think it is quite genuine. pretty awful.

I hated those singles in the 90s. I hate them today. This album sounds like high school kids just learning their instruments and started a band. Then played at a party, someone recorded to and released it. A joke A mistake Just plain awful We should be able to do zero stars

Hätten nicht 2 oder 3 Titel gereicht? Warum immer gleich ein Album?

not for me...

не понял зачем это здесь

this made time move slowly, in a bad way

I found nothing to like about this

Like a bland, boring, linear, unimaginative version of the weird wonders Soul Coughing was offering around that time period. The most distinctive track as seen from 2024 is "Blues Music", and it's basically a rip-off of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth". Being nice performers doesn't make you a "1001 Albums You Must Listen To Before You Die" fodder. Some people in Robert Dimery's team were definitely out of their depth (hopefully not Mr. Dimery himself). There were at least 60 albums released in 1994 (admittedly a stellar year for music at large) that were far better than this one. Here's the list: Weezer - Weezer (The Blue Album) Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Portishead - Dummy Nas - Illmatic Blur - Parklife Shellac - At Action Park Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York Hole - Live Through This Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Let Love In Beastie Boys - Ill Communication NOFX - Punk In Drublic Jeff Buckley - Grace Vangelis - Blade Runner Green Day - Dookie Tori Amos - Under The Pink Massive Attack - Protection Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set, Thrash And No Star Beck - Mellow Gold Gravediggaz - 6 Feet Deep Liz Phair - Whip-Smart Sebadoh - Bakesale Frank Black - Teenager Of The Year Low - I Could Live In Hope* Lisa Germano - Geek The Girl Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works vol 2 Superchunk - Foolish Method Man - Tical The Magnetic Fields - Holiday Beck - One Foot In The Grave Lisa Germano - Happiness REM - Monster Oasis - Definitely Maybe Helmet - Betty Neil Young - Sleep With Angels Kristin Hersh - Hips And Makers Soundgarden - Superunknown L7 - Hungry For Stink The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley The Divine Comedy - Promenade Korn - Korn Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible 2PAC - Me Against The World dEUS - Worst Case Scenario Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand Girls Against Boys - Cruise Yourself Pulp - His'n'Hers Joni Mitchell - Turbulent Indigo Rancid - Let's Go Warsaw - Warsaw *Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom* Tortoise - Tortoise Dinosaur Jr - Without A Sound Body Count - Born Dead TLC - CrazySexyCool Pearl Jam - Vitalogy The Offspring - Smash Suede - Dog Man Star Now, Mr. Dimery... Can I be part of your team? Where should I send my resumé? 1/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential" albums. 6/10 for more general purposes (5+1) Number of albums left to review: 92 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 391 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 228 Albums from the list I certainly won't include in mine: 289 (including this one)

is the special sauce a load of old wank

Meh. Blues rip off.

I hated this when it came out and it's aged to be worse. Dumbed down lyrics and repetitive guitar tracks. Nah.

Not a good or really meaningful album, but more of a symptom of the time. In the early to mid 90s pressing a cd was cheap. The break even point was so low that record labels were willing to gamble. There was just as much quality music in this period as any other period in modern history, but it was awash in a sea of crap. This album is part of the larger sea. This reminds me of the band you got to play your kegger in exchange for free beer and felt you overpayed.

This is like blues-jazz-alternative-rap fusion, right? Honestly I’m impressed someone can mix four genres and not be good at any of them. Oh and add in a bad blaccent? The cherry on top. Hard pass.

Not my jam. Quite samey, quite quickly. If music were a wraith, it would be G. Love and the Special Sauce. As the songs played I felt my life-force being drained. None of the tracks made it into my playlist.

Pure rubbish. The list never ceases to amaze me with bad selections

I didn’t listen to the entire album because it was not only bad but boring as well.

no

This is pretty terrible. Baby's Got Sauce is particularly egregious. Couldn't finish - toughed it out till half way through. Gave me a migraine, though that may have been coincidence.

No idea how this obscure artist with a crappy album makes it on a list like this.

No.

More terrible 90’s music

This smells like hackysack.

Blir uppriktigt sagt förbannad när sådana här album dyker upp när man vet grupper och artister som inte är med på listan. En skiva att torka sig i röven med.

The singer's voice is really annoying.

Ugh that mush mouth semi rap. Spare us.

Great, hip-hop one of the music styles that for some reason rub me the wrong way (together with punk and jazz). Some of the music is actually OK but as soon as the "singing" starts it is immediately ruined.

Nothing special on the sauce

What the hell was that? 1/5

Like it's not bad, the production is okay, the singing is okay, but its so so boring I couldn't finish the album 1.5/5

Typical rich kid wants to be a hip hop artist. Found nothing to like here

This singer is annoying and the music isn’t that good, either. How ‘Baby’s Got Sauce’ was called the song of the year for 1994, a year with great output from much better bands, is beyond me, considering that I don’t remember a second of it. I don’t remember most of it, because it wasn’t notable enough for me to pay attention to it during my morning activities. I do remember the last song, though. It, like the rest of this album, is bad. This is one of my less bitter 1 star reviews, but it’s not like I have a higher opinion of it.

Not for me. 1/5

the "rapping" was.. too painful... i didn't finish.

Dreadful. I tried to treat it as Captain Beefheart, to which it has a superficial resemblance, but I really hated it.

Seems like every song sounds like the other. Boring

Embarrassingly bad.

Absolutely fucking awful.

Music that you want to punch in the face. If it was just one song of this style of music I could cop it and maybe even enjoy it in the background, but a whole album of samey douche slacker rap was a heinous assault on my ear holes. Even for people who enjoyed this album, surely they'd agree it shouldn't be on this list, what does it bring to music?

Fucking hated this album. I can imagine everyone that loves this band to be completely insufferable. So, so lame, boring, lazy (not in a good slacker way). Awful college douche music. Can't believe it got on this list. Even the name. Fuck this album. My new worst of the project! Half a star. Fave track: This Ain't Living

This is what happens when you let annoying people go without bullying. Awful. Just awful.

What fresh hell is this? White boy rapping over swinging beats? No fucking thanks

This is too jammy for me, and sounds like several afterparties I went to as a kid. I dont remember one single melody after hearing through, and I am probably even more bored than what the musicians performing on the record sounds.

Awful, grating. Nice drums, everything else painful.

Very dull

ohhh man i'm soooo baked hahahahaha

Cringe inducing pretension. Clearly introduced to blues and funk legends through hip hop samples, these guys decided to have a go. I like the sound the band aspires to; they just need about 5 more years of constant gigging to be able to pull it off. The drummer is so distracted by ornamentation that he can’t quite hold the pocket. The guitarist has zero melodic sense so his leads consistently CLUNK; and while he’s clearly spent a ton of time learning cool chords, he can’t play them in real time so his rhythms feel forced. (And of course in funk, feel is EVERYTHING.) But while the band misses, at least I get what they’re shooting for. G. Love is just an embarrassment in everything he does. His contribution constantly displays an idiocy combined with arrogance. If I were on a bus and overheard him having a conversation, I’d probably get off and wait the 15 minutes for the next one rather than have to listen to any more of his nonsense. And what is that weird vocal affectation? It makes him sound like he’s developmentally disabled. Finally, in Blues Man, “G” celebrates a number of blues, soul, and funk legends. I’m 550 albums in and, while I’ve heard literally scores of albums by mediocre British kids imitating these legends (mostly from the 60s but let’s throw this album in with the detritus), I’ve heard albums from exactly three of those who actually deserve not to be forgotten. Put a different way, in what music-loving universe should people hear G. Love & Special Sauce but not Blind Lemon Jefferson, Albert Collins, Bukka White, James Brown, Chaka Khan, Sonny Boy Williams, Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Junior Wells, J. B. Hutto, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, etc. etc??

Not my cup of tea

Not for me Garbage

Sounds exactly like you would imagine a band called "G love and special sauce" to sound. Which is a band that sounding like background music at a bad restaurant, while "G Love" throws out rhymes like you would expect someone who calls themselves "G Love" to do. Awful.

Not sure how this made it on any list of great albums. Couldn't even finish the whole album.

No more special sauce for me

Boring and amateurish.

nope!

1 - I couldn't understand a word this dude was saying because he can't sing for shit, but I felt like this album was sexually harassing me.

Christ. We really let white boys do whatever they want, huh?

Don't love G. Love. Always felt it was super overrated...this listen backed that up. 1.5/5

One hour of the most aimless, sloppy, poorly executed blend of rock, hip-hop, and blues that should be forgotten with time. I’m gonna go read a book.

OK, this is the new bottom of the ranking of all of these albums so far, out of 364. (I also figured out just now that my ranking is missing some albums, which means I have to sort it out again, which adds to the list of grievances I have against this album.) It was already apparent that this would be a new low by the title of this album (also, why does the band name use an ampersand when the album doesn’t?), and it pretty much proved my assumption correctly. It was a lot more boring than I imagined it being, but whenever I started paying attention again I wished that I hadn’t. What was the reasoning behind putting this on the list?

Unfortunately not my sort of music. Just didn't really give with the singer's voice

It's funny to think that the only reason this record exists is due to world war 2 propaganda. Without it the Nazis would have won and where would we be now? Thank you G. Love and Special Sauce. You saved us.

Vocalist sounds like he is trying too hard

Fuck this album boring vanilla ice rapping over pseudo blues bull shit

what even is this nonsense

Songs that sound like they were written by middle schoolers who just discovered the blues, with horrible singing to boot.