1001 Albums Summary

Bog standard 70's rock album.

Great album, but needs some editing.

Classic. No fat whatsoever.

Not bad. Some songs stand out.

Title song is a classic. Good soul album. Best songs: Let's Stay Together, I've Never Found a Girl & It Ain't No Fun To Me.

One of the greatest live albums?

European electronic burbling. Best tracks: Metronomic Underground, Emperor Tomato Ketchup and Motoroller Scalatron.

80's slick. Patrick Bateman would murder hookers to this music. Not for me. Best tracks: Smooth Operator, Frankie's First Affair, Cherry Pie

Jumps from the sublime to the absurd, but even Bernie Taupin's well meaning (but essentially racist) lyrics about native Americans can't stop this album being fantastic. Best tracks: Tiny Dancer, Levon, All The Nasties

Released 1 week before Sgt. Pepper's - it sounds decades behind. Mid 60's pop. It's not bad; it's just not good either. Best tracks: You Told Me, You Just May Be The One, For Pete's Sake (Closing Theme)

How to follow up 'Rumours'? With a double album of course! A real mixed back of lush songs and lo-fi ones next to each other. Still great tunes all throughout the album though. Not a duff track in sight. Best tracks: (Disc 1) The Ledge, What Makes You Think You're The One, Sisters of the Moon (Disc 2) That's Enough For Me, I Know I'm Not Wrong, Walk a Thin Line

Brand new band for me! Great psyc/power/indie pop. Dark lyrics underneath jangly tracks. Great find. Best tracks: I Wanna Destroy You, Kingdom of Love, Queen of Eyes

Classic. Best Tracks: Gimme Shelter, Monkey Man, You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Classic. I know this album as well as I know any. Genius. Any song on here could pretty much be the best track. The best "fuck you" to folk and rock. And he had two more to follow...and then the other genius albums. One of the most important albums ever made. No wonder he's His Bobness. Best Tracks: Subterranean Homesick Blues, Mr Tambourine Man, It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding).

Gloomy stadium naval gazing. Best Tracks: Never Let Me Down Again, Strangelove, Behind The Wheel

PROGPROGPROGPROGPROGPROG. Best Tracks: Roundabout, South Side of the Sky, Heart of the Sunrise

Amazing lyrics. Great rock. Hard to pick just three tracks. An exceptional first half, but the second just slows the pace and the songs aren't quite as strong. Best Tracks: Get Ready For Love, Hiding All The Way, There She Goes My Beautiful World

Rustic beards. Best Tracks: Rag Mama Rag, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, King Harvest (Has Surely Come)

Blue eyed soul and plastic funk. Best Tracks, Young Americans, Somebody Up There Likes Me , Fame.

Bowie has his glittery, glam rock fingers all over this. Best Tracks: Sweet Jane, All The Young Dudes, Sucker

Electro punk. Best Tracks: Deceptacon, Hot Topic, Let's Run

Big beats are the best beats. Get high all the time. Best Tracks: Right Here Right Now, Rockafeller Skank, Praise You

Jazzy Hip Hop classic. So long though... Best Tracks: Wesley's Theory, King Kunta, The Blacker The Berry

The greatest album ever made by the greatest band. Simple. I could pick any three tracks from this album - even Revolution 9.Best Tracks: Back In The USSR, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Helter Skelter

The 'cool' Beach Boy's cult solo album. Cheesy 70's rock. Best Tracks: River Song, Pacific Ocean Blues, Rainbows

New band for me! Massively produced late 80's Aussie rock. Best Tracks: Bury Me Deep In Love, A Trick of the Light, Save What You Can

Laughing Len's debut. Classic. Best Tracks: Suzanne, So Long Marianne, One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong

Pure new romance yacht. Surprisingly good! Best Tracks: Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf, Hold Back the Rain

This album looks like it smells bad.Thank god I only have to listen to it once. Best Tracks: Ultra Stimulations, Sunday Shining, Your Love Gets Sweeter

YEEHAW! Classic country. Drinkin', fuckin' and fightin' in any order or even at the same time. Best Tracks: Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind), The Devil Gets His Due, I Got Caught

Pilled up New Order. They finally started to smile. Best Tracks: All the Way, Round & Round, Run

Breathy, dreamy and slightly odd. Just what would be expected from a Kate Bush album. Best Tracks: The Sensual World, Love and Anger, Heads We're Dancing

Classic metal album. If you know the NWOBHM then you know what this sounds like. Best Tracks: Metal Gods, Breaking The Law, You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise

Uber 60's harmonious pop. Best Tracks: Straight Shooter, California Dreamin', The "In" Crowd

Prog-folk? Best Tracks: Empty Pages, Stranger To Himself, Every Mother's Son

NEW! Orchestral rock/pop. Best Tracks: A Child's Christmas In Wales, Macbeth, Graham Greene

A mix of funk, soul, R&B. Very front heavy. Best Tracks: Shining Star, Happy Feelin', Yearnin' and Learnin'

Manc misery never sounded so good. Best Tracks: Disorder, She's Lost Control, Interzone

Pure distilled Southern Swamp Rock. Best Tracks: Green River, Wrote a Song for Everyone, Bad Moon Rising,

Girl group New Wave. Best Tracks: How Much More, Tonite, We Got The Beat

Classic grunge. Best Tracks: Even Flow, Alive, Porch

Mid/Late Noughties indie. Reverb over everything. Best Tracks: Two Weeks, Fine For Now, While You Wait For The Others

Scouse britpop arriving at the fag end of the movement. Best Tracks: Natalie's Party, Comedy, Streets of Kenny

Key punk debut album. Best Tracks: I'm So Bored With the U.S.A., White Riot, Career Opportunities,

Classic debut again! New Wave is born in a massive suit. Best Tracks: Uh-Oh Love Comes To Town, Psycho Killer, Pulled Up

Slow, glacial paced art rock. Best Tracks: Sea Song, A Last Straw, Alifib

Reggae. Roots reggae. Reggae. Best Tracks: Marcus Garvey, The Invasion, Tradition

Latin grooves by old boys. Best Tracks: Chan Chan, Pueblo Nuevo, Buena Vista Social Club

One of the greatest hip hop albums of all time? Yep. Best Tracks: Shake Your Rump, Egg Man, Hey Ladies

Ziggy Glam fall out. Best Tracks: Watch That Man, Drive-In Saturday, Jean Genie

Late night, smokey Jazz. Best Tracks: My Man's Gone Now, Solar, Alice in Wonderland

Jangling Dylan wannabe pop/rock. Best Tracks: I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, All I Really Want to Do, Don't Doubt Yourself, Babe

What a voice! Blues rock genius released after she died. What a waste...: Best Tracks: Move Over, Half Moon, Me and Bobby McGee

Classic British indie rock. Best Tracks: I Wanna Be Adored, She Bangs The Drum, I am the Resurrection

Original class of pop punk. Best Tracks: More Songs About Chocolate and Girls, There Goes Norman, My Perfect Cousin

Silky throated singer songwriter - with a dark underbelly. Best Tracks: Sweet Baby James, Steamroller Blues, Fire and Rain

Political hip hop - seriously needs some editing. Best Tracks: Television the Drug of the Nation, Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury, California Uber Alles

60's blues/psych rock. Best Tracks: Over Under Sideways Down, The Nazz Are Blue, What Do You Want

The Boss does stadium rock. Best Tracks: Born In The U.S.A., I'm On Fire, Dancing In The Dark

Blues rock. Best Tracks: Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Ball and Chain,

Proto-proto-punk? Best Tracks: Back To Africa, Teengenerate, (I Live For) Cars and Girls

Synth, electro bubbles. Best Tracks: St. Elmo's Fire, I'll Come Running, Everything Merges With the Night

Folk, guitar moving into some jazzy flourishes. She knocks it out the park again. Best Tracks: Court and Spark, Raised on Robbery, Twisted

Britpop hangover. Best Tracks: North Country Boy, One To Another, How Can You Leave Us

Nick Cave gets dumped by PJ Harvey and moans about it. Best Tracks: Into Your Arms, People Ain't No Good, (Are You) The One I've Been Waiting For?

Possibly their first album of pure genius. Best Tracks: Eleanor Rigby, Got to Get You into My Life, Tomorrow Never Knows

Rock and roll. That's it. Best Tracks: Tutti Frutti, Long Tall Sally, Rip it Up

Funk rock cross over. Best Tracks: Around the World, Parallel Universe, Scar Tissue.

Classic folk rock. Paul Simon steps up as a song writer. Best Tracks: America, Mrs. Robinson, A Hazy Shade of Winter

Neo-hippy folk. Best Tracks: The Body Breaks, This Beard is for Siobhan, Rejoicing in the Hands

Wicked indie distortion. Best Tracks: Freak Scene, They Always Come, Budge

Real mix of styles in this hip hop. Best Tracks: Rock On, Thought @ Work, Rhymes and Ammo

Pre-post-punk. Best Tracks: Jigsaw Feeling, Carcass, Suburban Relapse

Dark as fuck. Love it. Best Tracks: Tonight's The Night, Albuquerque, Tired Eyes

Pushing the boundaries of Jazz but still accessible. Mind blowing. There's only two tracks so for this one I only chose one. Best Tracks: Shhh/Peaceful

Over-rated post punk purveyor. Probably had to be there. Best Tracks: Annalisa, Public Image, Low Life

Cheesy soft soul r&b/funk. It's just so dull. "Best" Tracks: Let Love Rule, Fear, Mr Cab Driver

Pure garage rock. BT: The Witch, Boss Hoss, Have Love Will Travel

Classic indie. Love it. BT: Rudderless, My Drug Buddy, Alison's Starting To Happen

When I think of African music this is what I imagine. The music Paul Simon and Vampire Weekend obviously ripped off. BT: Papa Bonheur, Qui Cherche Trouve, Port-Monnaie

Scouse indie. BT: Son of a Gun, There She Goes, Failure

70's AOR. BT: Gotta Get Up, Coconut, Jump Into the Fire

Mid-nineties dance. Important, but I guess you had to be there in the field. BT: Forever, Sad But True, Crash and Carry

Face melters and screaming spandex. BT: Running With The Devil, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love, Jamie's Cryin'

Sarcastic, slick AOR. BT: Do It Again, Dirty Work, Reelin' In The Years

Weird welsh indie. BT: Something 4 The Weekend, If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You, Bad Behaviour

My Mum likes this band. I'm not a fan of reggae at the best of times but Brummie reggae? Ugh. BT: King, I Think It's Going To Rain Today, Food For Thought

Love it. The album where Radiohead showed truly how great they are. BT: The Bends, Just, Street Spirit.

Moody alt-rock. BT: Gentlemen, Debonair, When We Two Parted

Brazilian easy listening. BT: Stay, Beach Samba, My Foolish Heart

Goddamn this is dull. All the songs are bland and blend into one mass of yawn. BT: Penitentiary Philosophy, Didn't Cha Know, Bag Lady

Classic 70's rock. BT: Bell Bottom Blues, Have You Ever Loved a Woman?, Layla

More crackin' wise from Laughin' Len. Sounds like there's someone pinging a plastic ruler on a tabletop in the background of each song. Weird production choice. BT: Bird on a Wire, Seems So Long Ago Nancy, Lady Midnight

Classic 70s folk. BT: Where Do the Children Play?, Wild World, Tea for the Tillerman

Nice, mellow African music. There's only 4 tracks on this album so I'm going to pick 2 tracks for best ones. BT: Immigres/Bitim Rew, Pitche Mi

The Boss gets miserable. BT: Adam Raised a Cain, Racing in the Streets, Darkness on the Edge of Town

Prog-slog. BT: Jeremy Bender, Bitches Crystal, A Time and a Place

This was going to be a Simon and Garfunkel reunion album until they fell out and Simon got rid of Garfunkel's parts and re-recorded sections. Panned at the time it is a bit of a hidden gem. BT: Hearts and Bones, Song About the Moon, Train in the Distance

Classic 60's acid casualty psych-folk. BT: Alone Again Or, A House is not a Motel, The Red Telephone

90's UK dance/electronic. The back end of the record is so much stronger than the front. BT: Space Shanty, Inspection (Check One), Open Up

It's U2. You've heard the singles from this album. Just trad stadium rock. Meh. BT: Beautiful Day, Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of, Elevation

Art rock at its artiest. BT: Re-make/Re-model, If There is Something, Would You Believe?

Just one of the most perfect albums ever made. Heartbreak and bitterness with a dash of love thrown in. BT: Tangled Up In Blue, Idiot Wind, Shelter From The Storm

Another album suited to the big beat manifesto. BT: Block Rockin' Beats, Elektrobank, Setting Sun

Punk with sax. BT: Art-I-Ficial, Warrior in Woolworth, Identity

Punk/Soul?BT: Start, That's Entertainment, Boy About Town

Want the sound of a drunk playing a bass shouting in a dustbin? You've got it. Not as bad as it sounds. BT: Ladybird (Green Grass), Paranoia Man in Cheap Shit Room, The League of Bald-Headed Men

Kraut/prog/rock/jazz. BT: Future Days, Moonshake

Polly Jane rocking out. She's great. BT: Dress, Sheela Na Gig, Hair

Angry noise.BT: March of the Pigs, Closer, Hurt

One of the greatest live albums of all time. Fact. BT: Folsom Prison Blues, I Still Miss Someone, Flushed From the Bathroom of Your Heart

Miles changing the face of be-bop and jazz. As you do. BT: Move, Jeru, Rouge

Zep's slightly more folky album. BT: Immigrant Song, Celebration Day, Gallows Pole

This tunes might be overplayed but it is pretty much perfect pop. BT: Wanna Be Startin' Something, Beat It, Billie Jean

Rockprog. BT: Speed King, Bloodsucker, Flight of the Rat

Great little power pop/punk album. BT: Goldfinger, Girl From Mars, Kung Fu

Alt-country/post punk. Occasionally weird, occasionally good. BT: Chivalry, Hard To Be Human Again, Last Dance

It's AC/DC. You know what it sounds like. BT: Highway To Hell, Walk All Over You, If You Want Blood (You've Got It)

MOR country. Strong set if occasionally ruined by the over produced string sections. But we wouldn't have the genius "ditch trilogy" if it wasn't for this album, so I can't really complain. BT: Heart of Gold, Old Man, The Needle and the Damage Done

Important Hip Hop, the production sounds slightly dated, unfortunately some of the issues discussed aren't. Some good tunes are sprinkled throughout. BT: 911 Is A Joke, Welcome to the Terrordome, Fight The Power

Overrated soundtrack for an overrated movie. BT: Playground Love, Highschool Lover, Dead Bodies

A little bit of jazz, some R&B and a heap of funk. BT: Move With Me, Get on Top, Nighthawkin'

Does exactly what it says on the tin. Also offers up a glimpse to the duality of the Southern states of the US. BT: Ronnie and Neil, Guitar Man Upstairs, Women Without Whiskey

Mitchell does some of her jazz/folk. BT: In France They Kiss On Main Street, Don't Interrupt the Sorrow, Harry's House / Centerpiece

One of the most important live performances of the 20th Century. BT: Just Like a Woman, Tell Me Momma, Like a Rolling Stone

Afrobeat. Extended jams that are funky and soulful. BT: Let's Start, Black Man's Cry

The Possum belts out some pure home distilled country. BT: The Grand Tour, Pass Me By (If You're Only Passing Through), Once You've Had the Best

Proto-metal? BT: Summertime Blues, Out of Focus, Parchment Farm

Country rock. You can almost see Whiskeytown and Ryan Adams in the distance. BT: Goodbye's All We've Got Left, Good Ol' Boy (Gettin' Tough), Someday

Just an immense album. Instrumental hip-hop but more than that. Just listen to it. BT: Building Steam With a Grain of Salt, The Number Song, What Does Your Soul Look Like - Pt.4

Boring, boring dub/"ethnic fusion". I can't say it's terrible but I'm certain if I live the rest of my life without hearing it again I won't be bothered. You shouldn't either. BT: Visions of You, Rising Above Bedlam, Wonderful World

FUZZ raincoat rock. BT: Just Like Honey, Taste The Floor, In a Hole,

One of the greats. If you don't like her, you don't like music. Mix of blues, soul and jazz. BT: I Love Your Lovin' Ways, Lilac Wine, Wild Is The Wind

Art-rock at it's artiest - but scratch the surface and there are still pop melodies hidden away. BT: White Light/White Heat, Lady Godiva's Operation, Here She Comes Now

Kiwi pop/rock. I didn't realise I recognised as many melodies here as I did. Much better than I thought it would be. BT: It's Only Natural, Fall At Your Feet, Weather With You

Mid-sixties pop. How were groups like this meant to keep up with The Beatles and Bob Dylan at this point? They couldn't so the produced bog standard stuff like this. BT: Kicks, (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, Louie Go Home

Smooth Yacht Rock. BT: Black Cow, Deacon Blues, Peg

Classic album just. a bit of a dip in the middle. BT: Baba O'Riley, Behind Blue Eyes, Won't Get Fooled Again

It's impressive how bland this album is. Sixth form political lyrics and the inclusion of a didgeridoo. If magnolia paint was an album. BT: When You Gonna Learn?, Too Young To Die, Emergency on Planet Earth

Classic hip-hop. Cube takes on all comers. Just fucking brilliant. BT: When Will They Shoot?, It Was A Good Day, Check Yo Self

Stop being a snob. This album fucking rocks. One of the best debuts of all time. BT: Rock n Roll Star, Live Forever, Cigarettes and Alcohol

I know he's important but I just can't seem to really get into this album. There's so many more great hip-hop albums out there. Too many slow jams, it just kind of plods along. This isn't one for me. BT: Young Niggaz, It Ain't Easy, Death Around The Corner

One of the key voices of the 20th Century. A real singer of the "Great American Songbook." Swing/Jazz. BT: You Make Me Feel So Young, I've Got You Under My Skin, Anything Goes

Yes, the title song may be completely over played, but you can't fault the sentiment. Lennon's more polished second solo album shows him at his typical contrary self, love, peace, jealousy, anger. BT: Jealous Guy, Gimme Some Truth, How Do You Sleep?

What a debut! Costello came out of the gate running. Pure anger, spitting power pop. BT: Welcome To The Working Week, Alison, (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes

One of the greatest albums ever made. Dylan has shaken off the folkies and is now busy redefining pop/rock. Songs stretch way over the traditional 3 minute mark and Dylan spits his lyrics knowing that we were all trying to keep up and failing. Not a duff track on it. BT: Like A Rolling Stone, Tombstone Blues, Desolation Row

A triple album that does exactly what it says on the tin. There's a range of styles here and though there is obviously going to be filler with a triple album there are some truly great songs on each disc. This is an album to dip in and out of. BT: I Don't Want To Get Over You, Papa Was a Rodeo, Busby Berkeley Dreams

Sounds like part of the NWOBHM, just not quite a polished. They sound like they're having a great time, and occasionally on this album I do too. BH: Black Metal, Teacher's Pet, Leave Me In Hell

A hidden gem. This is real 70s singer/songwriter though it was a commercial flop. Country/folk melancholy. Best Tracks: The Virgin, With Tomorrow, Tears of Rage

Southern rock/blues played live at the classic venue. If you're not into side long jams then this isn't for you. Best Tracks: Statesboro Blues, Stormy Monday, Hot 'Lanta,

90's Trip-Hop. Some absolute classics on here - if a tad coffee table. Go round to someone of a certain age's dinner party and this will probably get busted out as the night goes on. Not necessarily as bad as it sounds. Best Tracks: Safe From Harm, One Love, Unfinished Sympathy

Not what I was expecting. Space jazz mixed with Yacht Rock mixed with novelty songs... kind of. Best tracks: Uh Uh, Show You the Way, Them Changes

If Poochie with tourettes made an album. If you have ears you shouldn't waste your time. The inclusion of this album in the list must've been a joke. Best tracks: Batwitdaba, Cowboy, Devil Without a Cause

Classic album. The Pumpkins arrive as grunge/alt-rock lords. Sludgy guitars, huge riffs, feline vocals and gigantic drums. Great stuff. Best Tracks: Cherub Rock, Geek U.S.A., Mayonaise

First time hearing this double album. Real mix of rock, blues, folk, folk rock etc. Pretty much anything you'd expect from an early 70's rocker. Pretty good discovery. Best Tracks: Song of Love, Johnny's Garden, Blues Man

Paul Simon's solo debut is a fantastic mix of styles and songs. We have reggae, folk, jazz, gypsy folk, blues, folk rock and latin to name a few of the styles here. The man is a genius. Best Tracks: Everything Put Together Falls Apart, Run That Body Down, Papa Hobo

Swampy chanting, occasional jazz and blues, and bits of nonsense and noise. Best Tracks: Mama Roux, Jump Sturdy, I Walk On Guilded Splinters

A concept album about a man losing his son whois moving to Australia at the fag end of the sixties?Typically great Ray Davies lyrics looking at the minutiae of life and pretty simply it also rocks. Best Tracks: Victoria, Brainwashed, Shangri-La

World music fella does a mix of musical styes in different languages. Dinner party music. Best Tracks: Bongo Bong, Mentira, Welcome to Tijuana

Taken too soon. Voice like an angel one minute, howling blues man the next. Don't blame him for making "Hallelujah" ubiquitous with singing competitions. Everyone should listen to this album. Best Tracks: Grace; Last Goodbye; Lover, You Should've Come Over

Sometimes we forget about the tunes on this album as its cultural standing can overshadow them. The tunes are great. It's The Beatles trying to stop being themselves. Truly mind blowing with possibly the greatest ending track to any album ever. Best Tracks: Getting Better, Lovely Rita, A Day In The Life

A proper outlaw performing outlaw country. You know what country sounds like. This is no different, in fact most of the tracks don't sound any different to each other. Best Tracks: I'm a Lonesome Fugitive, House of Memories, Drink Up and Be Somebody

The last great album by Oasis. Again, one for the snobs to pretend they don't like it but you can't fault the melodies. Just a great, great record. Best Tracks: Don't Look Back In Anger, Some Might Say, Champagne Supernova

Scott Walker loved this guy. Unfortunately I'm not really a big fan of Scott Walker and I don't speak French. It sounds like a stereotype - or did the stereotype come from this? Best Tracks: Amsterdam, Les toros, Mathilde

I had a sister who was a couple of years older than me (still is in fact) and so I used to hear some of these tunes blasting from her bedroom. Pure 90's dance. Best Tracks: Move Any Mountain, Omega Amigo, 666 Edit

P-Funk. It's funk but with some weird back story linked to space. I think. Dropping acid would probably help. Best Tracks: P-Funk (Wants To Get Funked Up); Unfunky UFO; Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker);

New Wave, Punk pop. Jagged guitars which often have almost sing/speak vocals over them. Best Tracks: Precious, Kid, Brass In Pocket

Once again they demonstrate their absolute mastery of different musical genres. This is so much more than just a "dance/electronic" album. You can party to it and also relax. Just a great, great album. Best Tracks: North American Scum; Someone Great; All My Friends

Glam trash proto punk trans rolling stones. Don't let them being Morrissey's favouritie band put you off. Just great rock and roll. Best Tracks: Personality Crisis; Looking For A Kiss; Jet Boy

I know there's a big love for CCR in this list but they're just not an album band for me. The singles are brilliant but they can't keep the quality up over an album. Best Tracks: Born on the Bayou; Proud Mary; Keep On Chooglin'

The sound of one man losing his mind. This is definitely an album you need to listen to even though it may not be that easy. Sort of lo-fi country rock. Best Tracks: Little Hands; Cripple Creek, War In Peace

Folky, Irish music. You can hear the joy of these sessions in the music. Best Tracks: Fisherman's Blues, Sweet Thing, When Ye Go Away

Acid fried psychedelic blues rock. This has some stone cold classic songs of the era on it and is surprisingly brief considering the penchant for acid jams. It still has that obviously the sixties production though. Best Tracks: Someone To Love, Today, White Rabbit

Jangly west coast pop group change into a solid country rock group. Best Tracks: You Ain't Going Nowhere; Hickory Wind; Nothing Was Delivered

He has great voice and lyrics - it's just the sound of this chamber pop stuff doesn't sit with me. I know critics cream themselves over him but I just don't get it. Best Tracks: The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime); Duchess; Get Behind Me

Classic British punk/new wave/mod. Arguably their best album. Best Tracks: All Mod Cons, Billy Hunt, Down In A Tube Station (At Midnight)

It's Tom Petty. New wave punk rock with swagger and attitude. Of course, he never forgot to include tunes too. Best Tracks: Breakdown; Fooled Again (I Don't Like It); American Girl

Dark, dark tracks - in case the title doesn't give it away. Songs focused of death and murder and the vocals and music fits all of these songs perfectly. Best Tracks: Stagger Lee; The Curse of Millhaven; O'Malley's Bar

Old school hip-hop. Important album but it does sound dated. Best Tracks: Nighttrain; I Don't Wanna Be Yo Niga; Bring Tha Noize

Classic folk with an amazing guitarist. What's the best thing to do when breaking up with the missus? Make an album about the break up obviously. Best Tracks: When I Get To The Border; I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight; Down Where The Drunkards Roll

Shouty, screamy, quiet, loud, aliens, love, hate, rock music. Pixies. Best Tracks: Velouria; Is She Weird; Dig For Fire

Poor old Elliot. Here he has moved away from the quiet acoustic numbers he had been previously known for to a full band approach. He still has a quiet voice that sounds like he's scared to be singing. Best Tracks: Son of Sam; Somebody That I Used to Know; In The Lost and Found (Honky Bach)/The Roost

I, for one, welcome our robotic overlords. Best Tracks: The Robots; Metropolis; The Model

Not exactly easy listening Jazz. It's difficult to listen to and was apparently difficult for the musicians too. You'll get occasional slabs of "standard jazz" but then dissonant notes, weird time signatures will make an appearance. Not for everyone: Best Tracks: Brilliant Corners; Ba-Lue Boliver Ba-Lues-Are; Bemsha Swing

Hippy drug addled music. 70's folk rock though some of it sounds like jams or they're half finished sketches. Best Tracks: Music Is Love; Cowboy Movie; Laughing

Fair play to her breaking into the male dominated hip-hop world. Some good production and flow - surprisingly sounds less dated than some of her contemporaries. Best Track: Dance For Me; Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children; Wrath of My Madness

Why is this here? I can easily go through life without hearing this album. Generic r&b/pop. Auto-tune, triplet beats etc. No different or exciting as anything else that's been released on the pop market for years now. Don't waste your time. Best Tracks: Supermodel; Doves (feat. Kendrick Lamar); Drew Barrymore

Psychedelic tropicalia. Not bad, just not particularly interesting. Best Tracks: Tropicalia; Clarice; Soy Loco Por Ti America

Queen of the folkies. Acoustic finger picking and powerful vibrato vocals deliver a bunch of traditional folk songs. Best Tracks: Silver Dagger; The House of the Rising Sun; Rake and Rambling Boy

A couple of country boys and at least one of them walked it like they talked it. A study in old murder ballads - not your typical country album. Best Tracks: In The Pines; Katie Dear; Knoxville Girl

Classic country rock album by some real heavy-weights. Beautiful harmonies and searing guitar solos - shame they could never keep it together for very long. Best Tracks: Carry On; Helpless; Country Girl

Moving away from standard Motown fare, they begin making more jammed out funk and soul tracks. Great fun. Best Tracks: Cloud Nine; Runaway Child, Running Wild; Why Did She Have To Leave Me (Why Did She Have To Go)

His debut album comes out the blocks fighting. Harsh electronic production, London rhymes. Solid debut. Best Tracks: I Luv U; Fix Up, Look Sharp; Jus' A Rascal;

When Rod was nearing his peak. His love of folk shines through here and his obviously good taste. Backing band is Faces. Just a great 70's folk/rock album. Best Tracks: Gasoline Alley; Country Comfort; Cut Across Shorty

Kind of like a soundtrack to a movie. Background music really. Best Tracks: My Mate Paul; Radio 7; Don't Die Just Yet

Great album. Cohen begins to branch out from his normal finger picking style. Possibly my favourite album of his. Best Tracks: Avalanche; Diamonds in the Mine; Famous Blue Raincoat

Their second album is where the group hit their stride. Great lyrics and perfect instrumentation. Indie rock at it's best. Best Tracks: Seeing Other People; Me and the Major; Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying;

Post punk whiskey preachin'. Best Tracks: Preaching the Blues; She's Like Heroin to Me; Ghost on the Highway.

Prog. Best Tracks: Yours Is No Disgrace; I've Seen All Good People; Perpetual Change

It's Kiss. Schlock, cock rock with terrible painted faces. It's terrible but kind of great at the same time. Best Tracks: Shout It Out Loud; Beth; Do You Love Me?

Pretty much an album of garage rock perfection the only issue is the sequencing. It's a top heavy album. Best Tracks: Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground; Hotel Yorba; Fell In Love With a Girl;

I can't stand U2 normally. Stadium rock posturing. However... this album definitely has something about it that I kind of like. Best Tracks: Zoo Station; Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses; The Fly

Cohen's farewell album. It's his later work so there's more electronic bubbling than acoustic folk. All that's left to say is thanks Leonard; you made us all want it darker throughout your career. Best Tracks: You Want It Darker; On The Level; Traveling Light

Goddamn this album is LOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGG. I don't mind bluegrass/country but a double album that's over two hours long is overkill. If you listen to this album regularly, I've a sneaking suspicion you find members of your family attractive. Best Tracks: Tennessee Stud; I Saw The Light; Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Mid 90's production abound but you can't fault the strength of these songs or the influence this album had on other female singer songwriters mining that angst. Best Tracks: All I Really Want; You Oughta Know; Ironic

Here the lads begin to straddle thrash, rock and prog. They also turned down the bass so it's really lacking a bottom end. Production/ego issues aside, the songs are strong. I mean it's Metallica; all of their early albums are solid. Best Tracks: Blackened; One; The Shortest Straw

Iggy and Bowie hang out in Berlin and record a "James Brown meet Krafwerk" album. Pop's sober, Bowie is out of his mind on coke, milk, sausages and red peppers. That's a good combo. Best Tracks: Sister Midnight; Nightclubbing; China Girl

The sounds of a nightmare. The songs here have been stripped down to their bare bones leaving only gristle left. You'll either love or hate this. I personally love it. Best Tracks: Goin' Out West; Murder in the Red Barn; I Don't Want to Grow Up

This was an album I'd always seen in my local record shop when I was at uni - it seemed odd just from the cover and the music is definitely skewed towards the odd even though it's using traditional instruments. Mostly instrumental, slightly odd and it's ok for that - still, I'm glad I didn't buy it. Best Tracks: Penguin Cafe Single; Zopf: From the Colonies; The Sound of Someone You Love Going Away and it Doesn't Really Matter

Great modern post-punk. Tinny buzz saw guitars, messy drums and a singer who can go from screeching like a tom cat to breathy Debbie Harry style vocals. Best Tracks: Date With The Night; Pin; Maps

A debut album that made the band huge straight away. Whiny emoish vocals, huge noise - orchestral rock? Best Tracks: Neighborhood #3 (Power Out); Wake Up; Rebellion (Lies)

I love the first half of the album with all of it's spiky post punk attitude but the soundscape instrumentals though should be applauded by someone of Bowie's level to try new avant garde ideas, they are just lacking something. Maybe I need to do loads of blow and listen to them again... Best Tracks: Breaking Glass; Sound and Vision; Always Crashing In The Same Car

Sounds like the soundtrack to a John Hughes' movie - but one that went straight to VHS. Soft focus, Thanksgiving turkey/Christmas lights and a couple of lessons learned on the way. I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing. Best Tracks: Iceblink Luck; Heaven or Las Vegas; Fotzepolitic

This album is a white, middle aged, music critic's wet dream as it gives them a chance to pretend they're still down with "tha kidz" as they obviously love this album so they can play it for their daughter's friends to show they're still cool. "He's black and gay! I'm so open minded." I bet they tell people that they're often mistaken for sisters! Not mother and daughter! For me, it's dull modern R&B, decent neo-soul vocals but with nothing interesting to say, dull plodding drum machines, melodies that don't go anywhere. Awful. Best Tracks: Thinking Bout You; Super Rich Kids; Lost

Short jagged country funk post punk? Whatever it is - I like it. Best Tracks: What Gets Heard; Time With You; Some Things

Trip-hop's peak? Brooding synths, breathy vocals, bug atmospherics. Even the dinner party patchouli oil crowd couldn't ruin this album. Best Tracks: Mysterons; Sour Times; Glory Box

Now this is a classic album. Heroin/coked up tax exiles record a double album of swampy rock and blues with a splash of country in an old chateau. What's not to love? Best Tracks: Rocks Off; Tumbling Dice; Sweet Virginia

Certainly a controversial album. If you know Newman then you know what this album is going to sound like - the difficulty for some is recognising that he sings as a different characters in each song. Best Tracks: Rednecks; Guilty; Back On My Feet Again

More modern pop - at least this one has some songs of better quality and isn't relying on auto tune and drum machines all the time. I mean, the tunes still sound like the type of songs teenagers put over a photo compilation of their summer but I've heard worse. Came in dreading this after the choices of previous pop albums but was actually pleasantly surprised. I Best Tracks: Green Light; The Louvre; Liability

It's Kraftwerk. Music by robots for us. Or is it music by humans for robots? Or are we all robots? I don't know. It's electronic bubbling with efficient and stern German vocals. Best Tracks: Europe Endless; Trans-Europe Express; Metal on Metal

It's the fucking King and he's feeling funky. A mix of soul, R&B and country. Elvis owns it. Best Tracks: Wearin' the Loved On Look; Only The Strong Survive; In The Ghetto

Making sleazy and creepy cool - the Purple One just fucking fucks. That one two three punch of the first three tracks is kissing your neck, whispering in your ear and tickling your arsehole... and he smuggled a dick on the cover. Best Tracks: 1999; Little Red Corvette; Delirious

Not the strongest effort. The loose concept of including adverts and idents of pirate radio have dated and you get the feeling that the band may have known this and were hoping the gimmick may cover up for some of the weaker aspects of it. Best Tracks: Tattoo; Our Love Was; I Can See For Miles

Undoubtedly a genius, sometimes his tracks are just too cheesy. However, when he wants to get funky then his squelching synths and cry baby bass is amazing. Best Tracks: Maybe Your Baby; Tuesday Heartbreak; Superstition

Atmospheric electronica. Sometimes it sounds like the stuff of dreams, other times it sounds like the stuff of nightmares. It's a soundtrack to a sci-fi-horror-coming of age movie you didn't know you wanted to see. Best Tracks: Sixtyten; Roygbiv; Aquarius

Thrash metal hits its peak. Growling ginger walrus gargles hate and anger while gurning midget smashes the drums. Solid album. Best Tracks: Battery; Master of Puppets; Orion

Van the man's more poppy effort. Songs have soul and finesse with his amazing vocals. Ignore the fact he's a fucking terrible old man with regressive views that would make Trump blush - or at least high five him. Best Tracks: And It Stoned Me; Moondance; Into The Mystic

Trip-hop makes an appearance again. This album is lacking what some of the other albums have though - tunes. There was an attempt but if I was a teacher the advice would be must try harder. Best Tracks: Some Kind of Kink; The Rake; Bussing

Not as immediate as their other releases however, if you like LCD Soundsystem then you'll love this album. A mix of new wave, post punk, dance, sarcasm and irony. Part of the brilliance is you can play spot the influence and feel just as smug as they are. Unless it's Bowie's "Heroes". That's just a given. Best Tracks: Oh Baby; Tonite; Call The Police

More modern R&B. This album at least is trying to use more interesting instrumentation than some of the others on this list - it's just like other albums on the list similar to this - THERE'S NO TUNES. More interesting / random instrumentation can't make up for the fact that this music is dull. Either I'm getting too old or this music really is as shit as I think it is. And it can't be me. It's the children who are wrong. Best Tracks: Rise; Weary; F.U.B.U.

I remember when this album came out - it was everywhere. Literally. Each song has been licenced to be used in adverts, movies etc. Fair play on Moby for the cash in. It's a mix of electronic synths and beats with old school blues tunes. Best Tracks: Honey; Porcelain; Run On

The hardest working man in show business shows exactly why he is that. Old school soul and R&B doing it right. The crowd is as much as an instrument in this as well. Best Tracks: I'll Go Crazy; Medley; Night Train

It's reggae. Not much else to say about it. Best Tracks: Legalize It; Whatcha Gonna Do; No Sympathy

Revenge of the Nerd. Costello comes out swinging on his second album. Spiky punk/new wave with bitter nasty lyrics. It's probably not healthy if you recognise elements of your self within. Best Tracks: No Action; Pump It Up; (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea

Wanna be Bob Dylans try their hands at folk/psychedelic rock with fairly bland results. 60's reverb abound. Best Tracks: Are You Happy?; It Won't Get Better; Magic Hollow

Someone should've told him he was brilliant. Best Tracks: Serve The Servants; Heart-Shaped Box; Radio Friendly Unit Shifter

A stone cold classic of Southern Rock. You don't have to have a redneck to be able to rock out to these songs. There's a mix of FM classics, blues, riffs and honky tonk. Get tuning that air guitar. Best Tracks: Simple Man; Things Goin' On; Free Bird

How much coke do you have to be doing to decide to open your double album with an 11 minute long prog rock song? This much. A huge mix of styles are across this album from Prog, to ballads, to rock n roll and he nails every one. Even the over played songs still sound good. Just great. Best Tracks: Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding; Bennie and the Jets; Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)

Colon and Blades sounds like the name of a bitchin' death metal act. But they're not. It's salsa. I'm sure it's pleasant enough if you're on some beach but I'm not. And I don't like the beach much anyway. Best Tracks: Plastico; Buscando Guayaba; Pedro Navaja

How does Bob Marley like his donuts? With jam in. That's the best thing I know about reggae. I can't stand this genre. I'm sure someone finds this album important, slow dirges over the same rhythm, but I don't want to meet them. Let's face it they're either 13 year old vicar's kid or some twat on a gap year. Best Tracks: Jamming; Three Little Birds; One Love/People Get Ready

There's only three songs on Spotify for this album, so I can't really give it a fair shake. From the three songs there are, it sounds like a mix of country lounge. If you like the image of someone singing a mix of this in a diner then this is for you. The music's as bland and watered down as the coffee in those places. Probably. I've never been, but that's what I imagine and this album has made me imagine it. Bland, watered down coffee. Best Tracks: Western Stars; Black Coffee; Honky Tonk Angels' Medley: In the Evening (When the Sun Goes Down)/You Nearly Lose Your Mind/Blues Stay Away from Me

Bowie's epitaph. He bowed out on a strong album. Death hangs over this album and it can be hard work. Best Tracks: 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore; Lazarus; Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)

Who let Ringo loose in the studio? Best Tracks: This is a Call; Big Me; Alone + Easy Target

An album loved by first year sixth form college lit students. I'm sure they think if they quote this or get a bad lyric tattoo that it would be something they cherish for ever. Bang on average. Best Tracks: Gloria: In Exclesis Dio; Free Money; Kimberly

Madferrit. How a bunch of junkies can knock out a British classic should be seen as the quality of British drugs and our drug addicts. The music's as baggy as their jaws were gurning. Best Tracks: Kinky Afro; God's Cop; Step On

I hate to admit it, but each of these Yes albums I've actually enjoyed. Maybe I should just embrace my secret inner Yes fan and start dressing up as a wizard, writing in Elvish and talking about how Tolkien is the greatest writer of all time. To Prog and beyond! Best Tracks: Close To The Edge; Siberian Khatru

Occasionally like listening to a cheese grater and a broken keyboard being played by a drunk. Post-punk mash potato. Best Tracks: Navvy; Drinking Wine Spodyody; (Pa) Ubu Dance Party

Bob turns up proper on his second album. Finger pointing protesting love/hate songs. This album sounds like it's going to be friendly with the finger picking acoustic and down home folky couple on the front, but it picks you up by the ear and kicks you in the balls. After that, if you still don't like it it means you haven't been paying attention. Best Tracks: Girl From The North Country; Don't Think Twice It's All Right; Talkin' World War 3 Blues

If music could smell, the tunes included here would; probably of cheap ditch weed and sweat. Hippy prog made by crusties with flutes. Best Tracks: Aqualung; Cross-Eyed Mary; Locomotive Breath

A lazy bloke has been breathing helium and seems to be deciding whether or not he can be bothered to say the lyrics while his mate plays about with a synth. Best Tracks: Can You Forgive Her?; I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing; Go West

Power pop perfection with Iron-Bru coursing through the tunes. See? Glasgow can't be all that bad. Best Tracks: The Concept; What You Do To Me; Is This Music?

Psychedelic nonsense. They should've just stuck to ingesting brown acid and avoided making albums. Best Tracks: Flying High; Super Bird; Bass Strings

Fancy some cliché 70s rock? Want songs about annoying girls and orges? Then this is the album for you. This does nothing to sway me from the idea that Queen are massively overrated. Probably great of you were at Doncaster in the 70s while drinking shit cider, however doing the same thing now just doesn't work. Best Tracks: Father and Son; The White Queen (As it Began) ; Seven Seas of Rhye

Want of mix of a migraine, snarky pop culture commentary and intertwined guitars? Then this is the album for you. You can see the behemoth of 90's alt-rock coming over the hill with this one. Best Tracks: Dirty Boots; Mary-Christ; Titanium Expose

80's soft soul and R&B. The type of music that gets played when Tom Selleck is looking deep into the eyes of Steve Guttenberg. Best Tracks: Sweet Love; Caught Up in the Rapture; No One in the World

I like dirty jokes and horror movies. Perfect. Best Tracks: My Name Is; If I Had; Just Don't Give a Fuck

Musical dustbins getting thrown downstairs. Great. Best Tracks: Seven Nation Army; Ball and Biscuit; The Hardest Button To Button

Like being hit across the back of the head with a frying pan wrapped in barbed wire. Spiky, cold and indifferent to your feelings; a lot like my first girlfriend. Except this album didn't give me a hand job round the back of a youth club. Best Tracks: Natural's Not In It; Damaged Goods; I Found That Essence Rare

You're walking through the fairground with your date. They're miserable as you couldn't even win them a prize goldfish at 'Toss the Ring'. You tried to tell them it's all a fix and the rings aren't big enough to fit over the bowls, but they wouldn't listen. They looked at you like this date was as poor as your excuse. It begins to drizzle and your candy floss droops. Who cares? The idea of candy floss was better than the actual thing anyway. Over the sounds of others laughing, talking and screaming, you glance over the top of your date's head and see a man made of right angles standing next to the waltzers. You catch his one good eye and realise it's too late; he's seen you. He starts barking at you and your date and beckoning with a twig like finger. His one milky eye seems to be like some hazy frayed rope that's been knotted around your neck and he draws you in. Over your date's protestations, he somehow convinces you both to sit inside a waltzer. No one else is here. The lights are flickering and the smell of sawdust and vomit become oppressive. He laughs like man gargling kitty litter and slams the safety bar down and spins the cab round as the ride starts up. You're stuck here with this awful date spinning round and round and round and round. You have the fear that you'll be here forever in some kind of carny limbo. This is the music that is playing over the speakers. The louder you scream the faster the ride. Remember: fun is the key but keep seated at all times or you may die. Best Tracks: 16 Shells from a 30.6; In The Neighbourhood; Down, Down Down

You don't have to be an alcoholic with no teeth to understand and like this album; but it couldn't hurt. Best Tracks: The Old Main Drag; A Pair of Brown Eyes; Sally MacLennane

Repetitive dross from Bolan. Too much hairspray and glitter fumes must have affected everyone in the seventies for this to be considered anything but music for 8 year olds. What someone thinks good rock sounds like when they have never actually listened to rock. Best Tracks: Metal Guru; Baby Boomerang; Telegram Sam

Late 90s moaning. Music to listen to on a wet weekend with a girl who wears bowling shoes and a ballerina dress. Best Tracks: Celebrity Skin; Awful; Malibu

Prancing wigs with gravel in their throats, coke up their noses and a pocketful of fucking great rock songs. Best Tracks: Miss Judy's Farm; Stay With Me; Too Bad

Another angry man with ginger hair thrashes about religion, politics, warfare, fights against drug and alcohol addiction, UFO conspiracy theories and even the Marvel Comics character Punisher. You can practically smell the BO and Lynx Africa from here. Best Tracks: Holy Wars... The Punishment Due; Hangar 18; Tornado of Souls

It's over in about 15 minutes so stop moaning. Best Tracks: Deny Everything!; Operation; Behind The Door

Sour Krautrock. Someone's been listening to Stereolab. Never judge a book by its cover? Well, you can judge this album by its name. Avant garde but not avant harde to listen to. Best Tracks: H>A>K; Did You See Butterflies?; Loops in the Secret Society

The blond bombshell dropped this massive album and lost all of his guitar god chops in the process. Everyone's parents will have owned this at one point - whether that's a good or bad thing will be argued forever. Best Tracks: Show Me The Way; Baby I Love Your Way; Do You Feel Like We Do

It's AC/DC. What were you expecting? Best Tracks: Shoot To Thrill; Back In Black; You Shook Me All Night Long

Sulky from losing the Britpop wars but making tons of cash in the process, they embraced American alt-rock. And heroin. But mostly alt-rock and came up smelling of roses. The uni-browed Mancs looked on. Best Tracks: Beetlebum; Song 2; You're So Great

Let's face it, 'Strangeways' is their greatest album. Moz and Marr still come out swinging with this album though (even if it is only a bunch of gladioli). Though Moz may have turned into an insufferable boor and the title track is the worst song on here, it's still a solid album but (I'm saying it again) it's not their best. No matter what anyone may tell you. Best Tracks: I Want The One I Can't Have; That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

It's like none more 80's. She's got a hell of a voice but it's dated badly. Just don't ask to see her nutbush city limits. Best Tracks: What's Love Got To Do With It?; I Can't Stand The Rain; Private Dancer

The soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist. Monster of an album. Everyone should own a copy. Best Tracks: So What; Blue In Green; Flamenco Sketches

What's not to like when a giant pop star gains a conscience and then decides to tell you all about it? Everything. It sounds like a hot mess. Parts of it are like people have got the button on their sampler stuck. Best Tracks: Rhythm Nation; Miss You Much; Escapade

Strange scientologist releases the perfectly titled album. This is smooth and hot. Long strung out soul jams that make you want to bathe in coco butter. Just forget about the aliens. Best Tracks: Walk On By; Hyperbolicsyllablecsesquedalymistic

Late 90's indie rock - jangly guitars, muddy hip hop style beats. Maybe a few too many instrumentals slow the album down however, like everyone's local cornershop, it's well worth checking out. Best Tracks: Sleep on the Left Side; Brimful of Asha; Funky Days are Back Again

Beck gets dumped and all mopey. The songs are fairly similar in tempo throughout and kind of blend in to one. Maybe he got dumped because he was already mopey and this album was the final straw. I don't blame her. Best Tracks: The Golden Age; Paper Tiger; Lost Cause

Though they were falling apart they still managed to produce one of the greatest albums ever. Everything has been written about it and just to reiterate - the end medley is worth the price of admission alone. If you don't like this album you've got no soul. Best Tracks: Oh Darling; I Want You (She's So Heavy); You Never Give Me Your Money

Fake gypsy wannabe dabble with blue-eyed soul. Makes me hate dungarees and polka dot handkerchiefs to an irrational degree. Best Tracks: Geno; Seven Days Is Too Long; Thankfully Not Living In Yorkshire It Doesn't Apply

I tried to George, I really did but it sounds like music for middle aged women to gurn over and pout about how good looking you were and how they would only need a couple of minutes with you. Frankly, it feels a bit like a pub singer plying his tunes down the local. Best Tracks: Freedom! '90; Something To Save; Heal the Pain

Misery loves company and 90's alt-rock. It has a strange feeling of almost childlike nursery music with dark lyrics. Like a creche run by Jimmy Saville. Best Tracks: Novocaine For The Soul; Susan's House; Mental

My sister used to listen to this album when I was seven. It wasn't for me then and it isn't for me now. Best Tracks: Like a Prayer; Express Yourself; Cherish

I for one welcome our computer overlords. Best Tracks: Airbag; Paranoid Android; Karma Police

Hipster in 1990. The three members look like the worst kind of douches you'd want to meet. Bad retro funk dance. Best Tracks: Try Me On ... I'm Very You; Smile On; Groove Is In The Heart

The music you want playing when you have violent diarrhea. In the best way. Best Tracks: Ace of Spades; Love Me Like a Reptile; (We Are) The Roadcrew

I mean, it's a bad acid trip set to music. It is entertaining, granted, but the only time you would really listen to it is when you're in your first year at uni and you put it on to show how cool and unique you are when actually you're just a cunt and no one likes you. Best Tracks: Sweat Loaf; Pittsburgh to Lebanon; Human Cannonball

Junkies band to together and make an album that no one buys. Cut to a few years later and it's now one of the most important albums ever. Nowhere near as out there as people claim. Solid tunes. They almost make heroin sound worth it. Best Tracks: I'm Waiting For My Man; Venus In Furs; Heroin

I mean it's the queen of pop for the 21st century. I get that this was an event when it was dropped but again, it's just more bland R&B - at least the production is interesting that's what saves it. Just. Best Tracks: Pretty Hurts; Drunk In Love (feat. Jay-Z); Partition

I always forget just how good his voice was. Pure sex, pain, romance, lust all condensed into one voice. Great live album. Best Tracks: Cupid; Medley: It's All Right / For Sentimental Reasons; Twistin' The Night Away

It does exactly what it says on the tin. Music to be ignored and listened to. Ketamine probably helps. Best Tracks: 1/1; 1/2

Always a singles band. If other greatest hits have been included on this list, their greatest hits should have just been included instead. As English as a fish and chips in newspaper wrapping. Best Tracks: Tomorrow's (Just Another Day); Blue Skinned Beast; Our House

A record that was always in the bargin bins or on BOGOF - and it shows why. It appears and then disappears. Kind of like Tricky's career. Best Tracks: Black Steel; Hell Is Round The Corner; Aftermath

It's LZ II. If you haven't heard this yet you're either deaf or living somewhere with no music. It's a classic for a reason BUT it's not their best. I think it's lauded so much on the strength of a couple of songs. You know what they are. Best Tracks: Whole Lotta Love; Heartbreaker; Ramble On

Another live album for the list. Generally with live albums it's a case of "You had to be there" and this one is no exception. Fairly weak power pop and teen screams. It sounds like a weeb's dream. Best Tracks: Come On, Come On; I Want You To Want Me; Surrender

Sometimes the whole thing sounds like it's about to fall apart but then the spit and sawdust keeps it together. Wilco begin to stretch their alt-country legs by flexing out in to classic rock stax, folk, blues and alt-rock and snap a few tendons in the process. Best Tracks: Misunderstood; Monday; Kingpin

Stodgy late 60's British blues. Toad in the soul. Best Tracks: Shapes of Things; You Shook Me; Blues Deluxe

It is a fairly bloated album. Fair play for trying to pull this off but they have better albums - the subject matter of pinball, pop-culture messiah and paedos is probably not for everyone. Where's the book Pete? Best Tracks: 1921; Pinball Wizard; We're Not Gonna Take It

If you're of a certain age - either a teenager going through heartbreak, or an *cough* older person just being nostalgic for early alt rock - then this album is great. It has the heaviness of Husker Du but also great lyrics and melodies. If you like guitar and heartbreak, you'll love this album. If you don't probably not so much. Best Tracks: The Act We Act; Good Idea; If I Can't Change Your Mind

The sound of one acid casualty revisiting losing his mind. It's curious to wonder what would've happened to music if he'd managed to complete it during the first attempt. Best Tracks: Heroes and Villains; Surf's Up; Good Vibrations

90's dance. Being on drugs and in a dimly lit field on a cold night in March with the smell of cow shit in the air would probably help with the enjoyment. Best Tracks: Duke of Earlsfield; Wilmot; Theme

A voice like a fraying rubber band across pseudo-psychedelic folk rock. I'm sure it all means something, I'm just not sure what. Best Tracks: Pleasant Street; I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain; Once I Was

Mid-nineties uber producers form their own band and stick a singer on. You just know all the music videos had scratches all across them and cigarette burns. Gnarly. Best Tracks: I'm Only Happy When It Rains; Vow; Stupid Girl

Prog goes pop. Beach Boys style vocals with new wave synths. Not as bad as it sounds honest! Best Tracks: School; Bloody Well Right; Dreamer

None more 80's production of synths, sax and sexy backing vocals over some of Laughing Len's most hardcore songs. Best Songs: First We Take Manhattan; Everybody Knows; Tower of Song

Second biggest selling rock n roll act after Elvis. You can imagine John Candy serving giant pancakes with this album playing in the background. McCartney was listening - that's a good enough stamp of approval for me. Best Tracks: Blueberry Hill; Honey Chile; Blue Monday

First thing to admit is that you will never be as cool as GSH. Now that's out the way, this album is a mix of poetry, jazz and soul. Ron Burgundy jazz flute abound with late night piano and warm tones of an electric piano hugging you. Ham and eggs coming at you. The depressing (and predictable) thing is lots of the issues that he raps/sings about here still exist. Best Tracks: Rivers of my Fathers; Back Home; Daddy Loves You

The group come out peeking from behind their dole cheques for their debut. The template for what they were is here. Stuart Murdoch comes across as the Morrissey who would be ok to hang out with. Possibly too twee for some, you can't fault the lyrics and melodies. Put on your horn rimmed specs and sit back a listen to the misery and neuroticism hiding underneath those pretty melodies. Ignore that electronic track though - it's shit. Best Tracks: The State I Am In; Expectations; I Don't Love Anyone

A real mix of styles here: electronic beats, new wave and pub piano. You can hear LCD Soundsystem taking notes. Best Tracks: No One Receiving; King's Lead Hat; By This River

Ska. Come on rude boy - get skankin'. The sounds of fighting in dance halls and looking down the barrel of Thatcher's Britain. The depressing thing is that like many of these albums, the politicians have changed but the general culture hasn't. Best Tracks: Message To Rudy; Too Much Too Young; Little Bitch

Big, fat covid denying, anti-vaxx idiot makes big fat, over the top idiotic album. Even Springsteen thinks this album is a tad OTT. Aspects of it are cringe and the kind of stuff neckbeards probably think are romantic but I've got to admit, you can get swept up in it. Ignore the man and listen to the music - it's the least we could do. Best Tracks: Bat Out of Hell; You Took The Words Right Out of My Mouth; Paradise By The Dashboard Light

You know that feeling in your dreams when you're stuck in mud and you can't seem to get anywhere? That's this. Best Tracks: Only Tomorrow; In Another Way; Nothing Is

Two guys with big beards and the drummer who's called Beard but doesn't have a beard play a mix of southern rock and blues. Pretty good if you like this sort of thing but it's nothing very special. Best Tracks: Waitin' For The Bus; Jesus Just Left Chicago; La Grange

The slow jams fail this album. Classic beats, great rhymes and flow. It just can't be kept up through the whole album. Best Tracks: Work It; Back In The Day (feat. Jay-Z); Funky Fresh Dressed (feat. Ms. Jade)

Much less funky than their previous efforts (though the funk is still present) this album is more focused on bringing a more rock sound to the funkiest people on the planet. They do indeed rock as well as funk. Not their best. Best Tracks: One Nation Under a Groove; Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock Music?! Cholly (Funk Getting Ready To Roll!)

Folking hell. Superb guitar playing singing classic folk songs. Distinctly British. Best Tracks: Needle of Death; Running From Home; Angie

The stench of early 90's Britpop is all over this album. Cooing vocals, guitars that either jangle or buzzsaw and the need of a couple of tracks to be dumped. Best Tracks: Wish I Was Skinny; Barney (...and Me); Lazarus

The songs here are not made for those with short attention spans. Afrobeat goes on and on and on. There are flashes of excellent parts but then it just seems to fall apart and move into blandness again. It wouldn't be so bad if the tunes were good but it all just blends into one jumble of noise. It feels like something hipsters would put on at a dinner party. I just hope I'm not at it. Best Tracks: Wonder Wonder; Nawa; Plenty Nonsense

Just a great album mix of jazz, neo-soul and pop melodies. The lyrics showed that there were bigger issues behind these songs. You can only imagine what she could've achieved. Best Tracks: Rehab; You Know I'm Know Good; Tears Dry On Their Own

More of a rock leaning to this album than their usual orchestral swells; though these are still there - like walking into a cathedral in a pair of crocs. I lived in the suburbs. It didn't sound anything like this. Best Tracks: The Suburbs; Ready To Start; Modern Man

Classic soul and funk samples over a weird variety of topics such as fisting, shooting someone in the ass, forgetting your driving licence, being discombobulated, trying to be a stereotypical hip-hop artist and failing for a music video... If you want to get weird to hip-hop this is the album for you. Best Tracks: Oh Shit; Officer; Passin' Me By

Pseudo-cosmic utterances under spacey guitars. If this band didn't have reverb / flange who knows what they would have done. I'm sure being on smack probably makes this album more interesting; however if you're not, all this album seems to be demonstrating how far up its own arse psychedelia is willing to crawl. Best Tracks: Honey; Revolution; Lord Can You Hear Me

Brian Eno raises his bald auteur head again in this list and this time with a man in an oversized suit who occasionally wears a stiletto as a hat. That should give you a clue about the music herein. It's a mix of samples and rhythms. More of a party album than Eno's previous ones (though the kind of party where you'd listen to music, stroke beards and nod your head to the progressiveness of such an album) and that is probably David Byrne's influence. Definitely ahead of the game when it came out. I can agree it's an "important" album - I just don't know if it's an enjoyable one. Best Tracks: Mea Culpa; Regiment; The Jezebel Spirit;

Late 90's nu-metallers make clean, crunchy record. Distorted guitars that your mum would find acceptable, scratching, smooth vocals. It's almost Yacht Rawk. Lots of teenagers sitting in their bedrooms feeling hard done by listened to this. Best Tracks: Privilege; When It Comes; Drive

Spiky guitars, spiky vocals, spiky drums. Music so angular you could cut yourself on it. Best Tracks: Three Girl Rhumba; Ex Lion Tamer; Mannequin

Miserable Glaswegians sing about depressing things in a public toilet. It's an album smothered in rain clouds but occasionally poppy melodies break through like a bit of warm sunshine. Best Tracks: Darklands; Happy When It Rains; April Skies

The songs are mixes of psychedelia, gospel and space rock. The songs are long and can drag on. Usually break up albums are exciting - this one is like the pub bore droning on at you about nothing. Best Tracks: Come Together; I Think I'm In Love; Electricity

Smooth vocals and light funk and soul underscore these tunes to show that there's something lurking in the depths of the US. Best Tracks: Billy Jack; When Seasons Change; So in Love

Talk about schizophrenic. This album has a mix of classic early hip-hop tracks and terrible "smooth" R&B vocals that sound like something a 15 year old would think is romantic. The ballads are so bad they border on parody. Best Tracks: It's Nasty (Genius of Love); Scorpio; The Message

John Zorn can fuck right off, but not in a hateful way. You hear the first track, you've heard them all. Best Tracks: Chronology; Good Old Days; Blues Connotation

White men's blues with notable nobhead and wife pincher Eric Clapton. Does what it says on the tin. Best Tracks: Key To Love; Have You Heard Steppin' Out

Yeah, they may be capitalist phonies but when your riffs are as good as anything Black Sabbath came up with, I can look the other way. Best Tracks: Killing In The Name; Take The Power Back; Know Your Enemy

Muddy beats, smooth vocals, easy listening for the mid 90s. Best Tracks: Protection, Karmacoma; Heat Miser

The angry nerd returns, spitting lyrics as sharp as the twanging chords on his guitar. He originally wanted to call this album 'Emotional Fascism". If that doesn't let you know the theme of this album then nothing will. Best Tracks: Accident Will Happen; Oliver's Army; Green Shirt

A real mix. When the tunes hit, they really hit but sometimes it's a bit to whispy and twee. Best Tracks: Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God); Hounds of Love; Cloudbursting

The typical goth kids trying to ape Bowie and smoking clove cigarettes sing about nasty things. Just listen to Bowie or The Cure instead. They still remembered the tunes. Best Tracks: The Passion of Lovers; Kick In The Eye; The Man With X-Ray Eyes

Re-imagining of a Russian composer's works in glorious prog. Best Tracks: The Sage; Blues Variation; Nutrocker

This man fucked. Best Tracks: Let's Go Crazy; When Doves Cry' Purple Rain

Perfectly produced 70's radio pop/rock. More tunes knocking around than a pack of lozenges. Best Tracks: Movin' Out (Anthony's Song); Vienna; Only The Good Die Young

Unused lyrics from Woody Guthrie give Billy Bragg a chance to hang on the coattails of Wilco and Woody - two artists much better than him. Bragg struggles to keep up. An album of two halves. Best Tracks: California Stars; Ingrid Bergman; One By One

Ex-junkies start to learn their instruments and enlist the help of an orchestra. Less about UFOs or Vaseline and more about human relationships, though the helium vocals are still here. They seem to start to realise coming out of the fug of alt-rock and smack that they have more ideas they can explore. Best Tracks: Race for the Prize; A Spoonful Weighs a Ton; Waiting for a Superman

An angry fat man (and his band) who is chewing on hornets spits his words about UFO's, superheroes, broken bones, psychotic meltdowns, love that can smother you, the Gaza Strip, the Dead Sea...and thank god he does because it's fucking brilliant. Best Tracks: Gigantic; Where Is My Mind?; Tony's Theme

Like the funkiest end of the pier band you've ever heard. You can decide if that's a good or bad thing. Best Tracks: Green Onions; Rinky Dink; Mo' Onions

Buzzsaw guitars with a mix of melancholic melodies. Best Tracks: These Important Years; Ice Cold Ice; Could You Be The One?

Fancy listening to a man sing in a made up language? Then this is the album for you. Typical adjectives for this album seem to be "ethereal" and "deep". The instrumentals are great but unfortunately the yelping of the singer can get a bit grating. Best Tracks: Svefn-g-englar; Staralfur;

...where we came in? One man's self imposed breakdown pushed upon us. It must be terrible being a multimillionaire rockstar. At least there are great tunes accompanying this double album moan. Isn't this... Best Tracks: Another Brick in the Wall pt. 2; Mother; Comfortably Numb

Sickly leopard Richard Ashcroft is still in his "mad" phase. Mix of plodding indie with shoegaze/MBV guitars. This is probably a seminal album if you come from Wigan and hadn't heard anything else. Best Tracks: This Is Music; On Your Own; History

I've tried my best to avoid this Brit-School music for mums but it seems this list has forced it on me much like every fucking piece of media that exists tried to as well. It's bland and inoffensive; it's like the aural equivalent of a digestive biscuit. It's the best argument for the need for music snobbery I've heard in a long time. There. Done. Best Tracks: Rolling In The Deep; Rumour Has It; Someone Like You

Pure blues. I mean, you're not expecting electropop from Muddy are you? Best Tracks: Mannish Boy; I Can't Be Satisfied; The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll

The hangover/come down from Britpop begins in earnest. Mix of perfect power pop / indie rock with a darker sensibility. Things weren't alright anymore. Best Tracks: Richard III; Sun Hits The Sky; Going Out

A bit less caterwauling on this jazz/folk album than normal. The songs are like hippy jams and meanderings. Great if you like that sort of thing. Best Tracks: Strange Feelin'; Buzzin' Fly; Dream Letter

80's pop. Can't fault the title track but again, light funk, blue eyed soul just doesn't hit the mark. The fact that some critics say this is one of the best albums of the 80's says volumes either about that decade or those critics. I can't decide which. Best Tracks: Faith; Father Figure; I Want Your Sex - Pt.s 1 & 2

If this was the opening attacking then rock & roll has nothing to worry about. Sub-standard EDM that thinks it's more intelligent than it is. Just listen to Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem. Best Tracks: Drop the Pressure; In My Arms; Otto's Journey

Gangsta rap never sounded as good or as thrilling as this. Angry in all the right ways and with crate digging samples used, this is the perfect album to get people riled up on any side of the political spectrum. Still sounds fresh today as it did when it came out. Unfortunately the topics rapped about here are still as fresh as those wounds that first appeared - this seems to be a running problem. People are dicks. Best Tracks: Straight Outta Compton; Fuck Tha Police; Express Yourself

This is an album you need to sit down and take your time with. When David Berman sings, you need to listen to his lyrics. It has a country/indie rock charm, but there is always the feeling that there are storm clouds on the horizon. It's an album that needs a hug and a pat on the shoulder. Best Tracks: Slow Education; I Remember Me; Tennessee

The sound of a truck load of instruments getting shoved down the stairs and the aborted fetus of Wait's songs spilling out on the floor while some dogs lick up the afterbirth as the stranger in the basement bangs about with a broomstick on pots and pans and the heat pipes cough. Best Tracks: Jockey Full of Bourbon; Gun Street Girl; Anywhere I Lay My Head

What could generously be called an eclectic mix of styles or truthfully: throw enough shit at a wall and see if it sticks. 80's R&B/pop with lame attempts at rapping. Once again, more proof that the 80's was fairly dire for mainstream music. Best Tracks: Buffalo Stance; Manchild; Kisses on the Wind

Overrated sixties coat tail riding musicians continue on with their bland melody free store brand psychedelic rock. Probably far out if you were about 8 when this released. It just sounds dated now. It says a lot when their best song is written by someone who isn't in the group and they have the cheek to edit out verses. Lame. Best Tracks: So You Want to Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star; Have You Seen Her Face; My Back Pages

It's Led Zeppelin IV. What more do you fucking want? Best Tracks: Black Dog; Stairway to Heaven; When The Levee Breaks

Knopfler's Dylanesque singing won't be for everyone, but his guitar chops are enough to win people over. Though you may drive a Ford Mondeo, this is a much better album to be listening to than anything by Chris Rea. Turn it up loud as you drive into your parking space outside the office. Impress the temps. Best Tracks: Down To The Waterline; Water of Love; Sultans of Swing

He might be a robot. This is probably what it sounds like if KORG Synths or a ZX Spectrum was trying to flirt with you. Best Tracks: Metal; M.E.; Cars

Weird mid 70's art pop. There seem to be about a million ideas here for songs and they all seem to be crammed into one song after the other. It's a bit of a mess. Melodies trapped under pretentiousness. Best Tracks: The Wall Street Shuffle; The Worst Band in the World; Silly Love

Malinese blues. Lots of guitars. Lots. Best Tracks: Soubour; Sekou Oumarou; Nick

The blueprint for Aerosmith's career is set here. Sleazy rock mixed with overblown pomp with a dash of FM blues. Not bad at all. Best Tracks: Walk This Way; Sweet Emotion; You See Me Crying

If you can't enjoy this album, there must be something wrong with you. A mix of jazz, swing, Jive and Blues. You can just hear these songs being played in a Tim Burton or John Hughes film when everyone is just enjoying life. And why shouldn't you once in a while? Best Tracks: Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody; Jump, Jive an' Wail; Buona Sera

More like 'Songs From the Big Hair'. Best Tracks: Shout; Everybody Wants To Rule The World; Head Over Heels/Broken.

This is the music that gets played in a club while a Terminator that looks suspiciously like Annie Lennox is chasing after you. Best Tracks: I Could Give You (A Mirror); Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This); This Is The House

She's like a character actor but for country music. Great support but just not good enough for her own time in the spotlight. Best Tracks: Bluebird Wine; Boulder to Birmingham; For No One

Much better Neo-Soul/R&B than some of the other albums on here. Hill can perform a range of styles successfully. She doesn't overly rely on gimmicks and warbling over the top vocals (though they are present natch) she remembers to include some choruses you can actually recognise a melody in. The god-bothering can be grating but the real issue here are the fucking pointless skits. There's a good album here getting buried by these naval gazing excerpts from a "classroom". Best Tracks: Doo Wop (That Thing); Every Ghetto, Every City; Everything Is Everything