A sibling post-rock album to GY!BE's F♯A♯∞, Mogwai Young Team is the urban before the decay. Massive buildings of light and activity, streets of moving masses, the life of a city that never sleeps. Bigger than any one of us, Young Team captures a tower of sound and delivers it like a sonic freight train. But deep within, there's a certain beauty to this album. Real human connection, amidst the buzzing and chaos, displaying raw emotion in the clearing. Perhaps out of a restless need for closure, Mogwai finishes on a insurmountable level of noise and feedback that proves to be one of the finest post-rock songs in the entire genre. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I would like to see other post-rock heavy hitters on the list before considering this one (Swans, GY!BE, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock), but otherwise my bias is too strong to not add it to the list.

Canadian art collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor building on the backs of Talk Talk and Swans to create a new, apocalyptic form of post-rock. Using space and dissonance, the group evokes images of empty urban landscape and crumbling society. There are few albums feel more like an auditory experience rather than a collection of songs, and this is one of them. Stretches of somber atmosphere that eventually build to a swelling crescendo that pays off immensely. This is the album that directly inspired 28 Days Later, which isn't hard to believe when you find out that East Hastings made its way into the film. It's an album that feels bigger than you or I. It's a full, complete, honest-to-god work of art and it probably needs to be played at the end of the world or something. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Yes, without a doubt.

Shania Twain has a few stellar achievements with this album: best-selling studio album of all time by a solo female artist, best-selling country in the United States, album of the year grammy nomination, and significant influence on other country stars like Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, and uh...who am I forgetting....oh right, Taylor Swift. To say that this album has an important place in music history would be an understatement, so why is it so often overlooked by music enthusiasts? Well for one thing, it's a country pop album which is basically considered a death sentence. That's not to say country pop is a genre devoid of artistic merit (I love Patsy Cline and the Dixie Chicks), but in the minds of many "enlightened listeners" this is a combination of two genres that are just generally uninteresting. I will not be so dismissive, but that's my theory as to why this didn't make the list. Come On Over is Shania Twain at her most confident, fun, humorous, and straightforward. Giving Gen X women songs like If You Wanna Touch Her, Ask!, That Don't Impress Me Much, and Honey, I'm Home brings a sense of female empowerment with Twain playing around with gender roles. This is especially evident in the killer opening track Man! I Feel Like a Woman! which has every concert-goer with a bedazzled cowboy hat go crazy for the line "Let's go, girls." Are the songs any good? Yeah, most of them are, but they're also not innovating on anything that much. It's a fairly safe country pop album that had enough hits to cement Twain's legacy as THE woman in country. 12 singles over three years, to be exact. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Sure, why not.

Avicii broke out as a producer during the early 2010's with his work on the Flo Rida song Good Feeling as well as his own song Levels, both of which were key part of the new wave of EDM-influenced pop music that borrowed heavily from house music and uplifting trance. Avicii would go on to work with several big names in pop such as Coldplay, Madonna, and David Guetta. This gave way for bigger and flashier collaborations that would allow a number of established singers to lend their vocals as features on Stories. Much of Stories is built off the presence of the varying guest features, with Avicii demonstrating his affinity for melodic supersaw hooks and euphoric beat drops. The main takeaway is that most of these songs sound the same with very few standouts, but it's decent for representing the style of pop music that was popular at the time. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Probably not.

A warm blanket of an album. Men I Trust takes a page out of Cocteau Twins book and melds it with the slick riffs of jazz guitar. Lush, dreamy songs with subdued vocals and rich production all around. This is a master class in taking a small sound and making the most of it. My god, what an album. Consistently pretty, locked in a groove, song after song. Does it run a little long? Sure, but I can easily forgive that for how sweet it sounds the entire time. We're lucky to have an album like this. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Maybe. Men I Trust are excellent in their niche of dreamy bedroom pop but it lacks a wider level of influence, so I hesitate to think they'd be a good for the list.

Mary Chapin Carpenter can be best understood as the "missing link" between Reba McEntire and Shanaia Twain. As country embraced a more pop-friendly sound into the '90s, artists were more inclined to write songs with more hooks. Mary Chapin Carpenter leans into this a little, but her focus is moreso on lyrical themes that reflect on gendered issues. Yes, women of country have always been rather observant about these things, but songs like He Thinks He'll Keep Her and I Feel Lucky show themes of female empowerment that would run through to Twain's success. Nearly as catchy? No, but still makes for some pretty good country all things considered. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Not quite. Maybe more of a footnote than anything else.

Garage house music legends Masters At Work flip their usual sound into more latin-influenced acid jazz. This gives the duo an excuse to play around with different jazz styles, including straight swing, scat, salsa-jazz, and a solo piano song. Some work better than others, but the album shines brightest when they just do acid jazz. This is likely due to the overlap with their DJ backgrounds which allows them to employ refined production techniques. To the extent of it's influences, Nuyorican Soul feels like a distinctly New York album. It's like a block party where a number of diverse backgrounds come together to celebrate their colorful styles. Overall, perhaps a bit too spotty to be truly excellent, but when it's good it's great. That's gotta be worth something. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: No, a bit too niche to be representative of Masters At Work's influence.

A raw breakup album that finds ground between the bitterness of Alanis Morissette and the weight of PJ Harvey. DiFranco takes the folk formula and molds it into her own cathartic source of processing her emotions. Also, what a wizard on the guitar! She makes a riff her bitch every time. A willingness to dabble in other genre influences and implement them into her songs makes Dilate an underrated gem of the '90s. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Not quite notable for the list, but comes close.

Carried primarily by the opening hit single assisted by Curtis Mayfield, Discosis is more of a Canadian oddity rather than a must-hear album that defined any particular sound of the 2000s. Most of Bran Van 3000's music feels like a proto-LCD Soundsystem that's less focused than it's American counterpart. Also not nearly as fun or interesting. And too long! Woof, lots of things going against this album. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Nope.

Perhaps the oldest recordings of both the users' list and the full 1001 list, The Best of The Hot 5 & Hot 7 Recordings bear the gold standard of dixieland jazz. Armstrong is, of course, a legend and absolutely deserving of his flowers, but the genre conventions of dixieland come across as a bit antiquated in comparison to the evergreen stylings of Big Band busters such as Ellington at Newport. These really, post-war jazz towers over even the greatest works of artists like Armstrong, but we have to pay our respects nonetheless. Not only a skilled trumpeter, but a charismatic voice who delivers each song with a certain "cool" factor. If you walk away with any song to appreciate from this album, it should be West End Blues and St. James Infirmary. There are many more bonafide classics in Armstrong's catalogue, but those two are here and they are fantastic displays of musicianship. Don't dawdle. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I'm of two minds. While archival compilations are invaluable for appreciating music recordings before the idea of a proper album solidified, it sort of goes against the spirit of the list (which is why In the Wee Small Hours, largely considered to be the first "concept" album, is first on the list). I think if we're to expand the scope of the list's purpose, then yes this should absolutely be on the list. However, as much as I would love to include the Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits compilation, it also opens a can of worms for what other archival compilations should be considered. So, maybe not.

You've likely heard at least one of these songs on classic rock radio before, probably the Stroke. Squier's big rock sound can be partially attributed to the production of Reinhold Mack, who is also notable for this work with ELO, Queen, and Deep Purple. As far as this brand of '80s rock goes, Don't Say No is pretty safe and a bit bland. Much of the time he sounds like a watered down Led Zeppelin, but in all honesty it's not bad either. Very middle-of-the-road radio rock. And it wraps up before the 40-minute mark so that's a win. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: No!

It's a damn shame that Chet Baker, the prince of cool, never ended up on the list. If he were, it should either be his first studio album Chet Baker Sings (if only for My Funny Valentine) or this one. Chet lacks his soulful melancholic vocals on this, but makes up for it with a masterclass in instrumental mood. I like to think that Chet was made for early mornings, just as the sun is rising and the streets start to come alive. I'm sold. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Absolutely.

Some exceptionally slick indie rock from a band that seemingly failed to capitalize on their rising success. Resume includes opening for Neil Young, receiving praise from Liam Gallagher, and getting featured on BBC Radio 1. Despite being the next big thing in UK music, they never really did anything else. It seems like frontman Davey Newington went on to be a session musician for other Welsh artists, which is a shame because his follow-up record would've cemented Boy Azooga as a leader in indie rock. Oh well. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Afraid not.

This sort of AC/DC-clone aussie pub rock revival of the 2000's really only yielded two bands worth mentioning: Airbourne and this one. In truth, neither are worth appraisal because later acts like The Chats and Amyl and the Sniffers more successfully fused the sound with more garage punk energy. Are they a competent band? Sure. Lots of bands can write a few riffs and play a rock beat under it. Is it good? Not really! And 50 minutes on top of that, there's really no need. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: lol no.

Perhaps most notable for being the most prolific French-language artist of the 21st century, Stromae successfully blended electropop and hip hop in a way that was both stylish and distinctly European. While it only barely broke through to the anglosphere (having charted in Canada and specific US areas), Racine carrée demonstrates that there is a whole other world of popular music outside of the usual English-speaking artists. To that extent, I can easily see why Stromae attained so much success in Western Europe. While incredibly well-made, the music itself didn't quite strike me as anything special. Still worth a consideration for breaking out of the usual US/UK albums. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Maybe!

A sibling post-rock album to GY!BE's F♯A♯∞, Mogwai Young Team is the urban before the decay. Massive buildings of light and activity, streets of moving masses, the life of a city that never sleeps. Bigger than any one of us, Young Team captures a tower of sound and delivers it like a sonic freight train. But deep within, there's a certain beauty to this album. Real human connection, amidst the buzzing and chaos, displaying raw emotion in the clearing. Perhaps out of a restless need for closure, Mogwai finishes on a insurmountable level of noise and feedback that proves to be one of the finest post-rock songs in the entire genre. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I would like to see other post-rock heavy hitters on the list before considering this one (Swans, GY!BE, Talk Talk's Laughing Stock), but otherwise my bias is too strong to not add it to the list.