This album is Paul McCartney saying “yeah, I don’t need The Beatles to write fucking HITS!” for 41 minutes

Tom Waits is a maniac. He’s playing this old school, traditional style of music but almost nothing about it sounds old or traditional. I’m way into how weird this is and I really wanna dig hard into his catalog.

Every time I listen to Pavement I think “wow, I should listen to more Pavement.”

One of the most original and innovate rock albums of all time. Nobody combines aggression, melody, and sonic experimentation as well as Trent Reznor does.

This album is like the smoothest cup of coffee and the warmest blanket on the coldest day.

Sounds like an album good for a backyard get together with friends on a hot summer evening

Sounds like a horror movie soundtrack. Sick thick guitar tones. Can definitely tell it’s their first album.

Been meaning to listen to this for years. Definitely the soulful Beach Boy. Really liking this

Not my favorite Pink Floyd album, but still great

I like this album the more I listen to it, and it’s great, but it also makes me just wanna listen to Neil Young

This album is interesting. Half of it is like if Ben Folds Five made a jazz album and half of it is intricate new wave pop. Pretty cool overall.

For as popular as Queen is, I’d say they’re still somehow underrated. They’re a pretty different band than their singles let on. This album is very cool and it’s not even their best one

I’m the same as he was when this came out, his debut album. Wild. Obviously, he’s a great songwriter. Not the best singer, but his voice works well for his music. This album kinda seems perfect for a wistful, sunny summer day.

I dig this! Parts of it kinda remind me of a chiller, vibey Band Of Horses or even Kite Party. Kinda surprised I never listened to them before

I dig this! Country is the OG emo

Not my favorite Kinks album but still great!

Every time I listen to Pavement I think “wow, I should listen to more Pavement.”

This album is cool!

This album is fucking WILD

This is interesting. Parts of it remind me of instrumental versions of some of the stuff U2 was doing in the 90s, or some of Bowie’s weirder stuff. Parts of it remind of music from David Lynch shit, which makes sense since he did some music for Lost Highway. I don’t hate it, and appreciate it for the influence it most likely had on some stuff I like, but I’m not sure I’d listen again.

These boys FUCK! Kinda like The Rolling Stones with a little of The Stooges thrown in. There’s almost no way they weren’t an influence on Eagles Of Death Metal and early Kings Of Leon. Pretty fun album!

It’d be very easy for me to say I hate this. But I get it. They’re certainly an original band. There are some cool grooves and guitar tones. Also, Got The Life is a certified banger. All In The Family is ridiculous as fuck though.

A great, somber, thoughtful, well-produced beautiful album...with fucking “Student Demonstration Time” right in the middle of it 🙄

Probably my favorite Bowie album. The last half of this album makes feel like I’m in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I dig this more than I thought I would! The drums are sick and honestly so is everything else. If Pineapple Express took place in the 70s, this could be the soundtrack. If you needed a default example of 70s hard rock, they would probably be it. Pretty fun album!

I get Radiohead, NIN, Björk, and Cure vibes from this. Chill, but cool arrangements. Almost menacing at times. I dig!

I think I love this album more at this point in my life than I have at any other point. The standard for what drums should sound like on a rock album. If these songs weren’t also loud hard rock songs, they could easily all be top 10 pop hits with different production. For all of the things rock music has become since it’s inception, I’m hard pressed to think of a better example of a rock album that’s also incredibly popular in mainstream culture.

This album is like the smoothest cup of coffee and the warmest blanket on the coldest day.

I really should listen to more Rush. Great power trio. Neil Peart was a “fuck you” drummer.

Modern pop music would be better if more real drums (and bass and guitar) were involved. This is fun!

This was maybe my first favorite Beatles album.

I dig this!

Pretty chill! Kinda sounds like airport music on the moon. I dig it.

I’m surprised I hadn’t listened to this before. I enjoy it! Idk, it feels like it’s hard to hate Elton John?

This album is chill as fuck. I need to listen to more Bob Marley. Makes me long for warm summer nights with friends

An interesting mix of early hip hop and world music that kinda sounds like a radio show or a soundtrack. Not bad!

The music is pretty cool. They’re all really talented and there are some cool guitar and bass lines especially. Singer kinda sounds like a precursor to the butt rock singers of the late 90s/early 00s though. Cool vibes overall though!

Pretty chill, interesting, kinda groovy album that reminded me of Broken Social Scene at times

Yo, I like this a lot! Parts of it kinda remind me of a more punk version of early Elvis Costello. Very cool!

I’ve always been put off by Kanye’s persona, but I quite enjoyed this.

Really cool 60s folk, psych rock record. Fascinated by bands from the 60s and 70s ive never heard of

I love that this is the whole show. Johnny Cash was a cool motherfucker. And June Carter is funny

This album makes me wanna drive a muscle car and wear a leather jacket

Not my favorite Who album, I don’t think, but goddamn, every song goes hard

Simply put, one of the best albums ever made. A singular artist working at the peak of his abilities.

When I first dove into Led Zeppelin’s catalog a few years ago, I was surprised at how varied their music is compared to their mainstream reputation. This is the first album where they kinda started to deviate from the blues rock they’re mostly known for. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” is probably one of my favorites of theirs.

Just a good ol’ fashioned summertime rock and roll album!

Cant believe I never really listens to this band before, this rules

He's like an old rascally jazz motherfucker who's got some SHIT to say but coats everything in humor...except he’s only 25. This is a fun album to hang out with.

Parts of this album sound like someone gave the Doof Warrior a band. I kinda feel like to fully enjoy this I need to either be in a slick, flashy 90s action movie or on E in a 90s German discotheque. Like, I get it, but it’s not for me.

I really wish Morrissey wasn’t a shithead because this album rules

Maybe the best Coldplay album? I always forget how into them I was for those first few albums.

This album sounds like a demon escaped from Hell and started a band with reanimated skeletons.

It’s hard to not like this band. Great melodies. Easily one of the most influential bands of all time. Idk how much I’d ever listen to them, but they’re undeniable.

Another band/album ive been meaning to listen to for years. I really appreciate how varied this album is. There’s a reason this album and band are one of the most influential of all time.

I get it. This is pretty chill. Still very weird to just like listen to casually

It’s a testament to how great Joni Mitchell that this can be a perfect album and still not my favorite by her

Something about Elliott Smith’s music is very haunting and addicting. I don’t listen to him enough. “Say Yes” is a perfect song.

This album is smooth as hell.

Fairly typical early British Invasion stuff. The Kids Are All Right and My Generation are perfect songs.

There are some cool guitar sounds happening, and I like how scrappy and raw this sounds, but otherwise this is just fine.

I really need to listen to this band more. Feels like a transitional record for them, but it’s still great.

Another band I’d meant to listen to for years but never did. I wish I had! Though maybe it wasn’t the right time? Anyway, I dug this a lot.

This miiiight be my favorite Bruce album. Its a monster.

Listening to this makes whatever dumb shit I’m doing seem cooler

Some really wild bass and guitar stuff going on. I dig this a lot.

This is great. Definitely need to listen to more of this band. It’s interesting to me that the 90s were still a time where a band could be popular in England but not really endure in the US.

Gimme Shelter is one of the best opening tracks of all time and You Can’t Always Get What You Want is one of the best closers.

George Harrison's Indian fusion songs have never been my favorite, but they're definitely cool, so it's interesting to hear the inverse of that kinda. Also, fun fact, this guy was the nephew of Ravi Shankar, who was a close friend of George's and they played together a whole lot, and Ravi Shankar is also Norah Jones' dad. So this guy is Norah Jones' cousin lol

This album is cool! Punk as hell and pretty groovy too. The sax is an interesting touch. Polly Styrene had a cool voice. I definitely hear the influence on someone like Corin Tucker.

I really don’t know why I hadn’t listen to this before considering Bowie produced this during my favorite period of his. Loved it.

I like this more than the other electronic stuff we’ve had so far. It because it’s so simple and melodic.

I like how ethereal parts of this album sound and how it seems like they’re doing whatever they want and stretching themselves

Not as wild and interesting as some of their later stuff but still a very good record and a great debut

I feel like I’d enjoy whatever non-existent sci-fi movie this album would soundtrack more than the actual album, but it’s pretty aight.

This is fine… some interesting sounds going on here and there I guess. I just…do not understand the appeal of listening to music like this outside the context of a club or a car chase scene in an action movie or something lol

I tend to prefer Bowie’s weirder late 70s stuff, but this album is undeniable

I was very surprised by this album. I’d never heard of Richard Hawley before. He sounds like someone who would perform in the Roadhouse on Twin Peaks. I also get some slight Elvis Costello vibes, especially his album with Burt Bacharach. Loved it.

This album is nice.

This album is full of jams. Sometimes I think I like Badmotorfinger better, but goddamn, this album fucking rules

Tom Waits is like an old jazz guy from the future.

Been meaning to listen to this band for a while. Been way into this kinda sound for a little bit now. I dig the concept of this record and how well they executed it

Bowie does soul. Solid album! “Fame” is a banger and a half!

I heard this before In Utero or Bleach so these versions are still somehow more familiar to me. Weird. The thing that makes this album great is that they very easily could've just gone out their and played their biggest hits acoustically and called it a day. But they really only played one hit song and really focused on curating a performance that worked best for that setting and created a certain mood.

It’s amazing to me that a band could be this weird, loud, and catchy all at the same time.

This album kinda reminds me of the first few Paul McCartney solo albums, where it’s mostly just a lot of free flowing musical ideas and sparse lyrics while he tries out new things and directions. This album feels decidedly more somber or ethereal than any of those McCartney albums. I dig it! It’s got a cool vibe you can live in for 40 minutes.

This album is chill and nice

Yo this album goes hard as fuck.

Parts of this are pretty cool.

Lotta cool things happening here. I can hear their influence in a lot of places.

I hear a lot of influence on 90s emo and indie rock here. Even Fugazi kinda. Pretty cool, fun album.

I dig this a lot!

Somewhere between the kind of metal I’m not usually into and the kind that I am sometimes into

This album and band’s influence is over so many things I’ve liked for most of my life

This was a great album to listen to first thing on a Sunday morning while I’m waking up and relaxing and eating breakfast. Beautiful soundscapes and it makes me wanna visit Iceland more than I did before.

A top 5 album of the 21st century.

Weirdly, this has never been one of my favorite Beatles albums. Like, obviously it’s great and everything, but ive always preferred others over it.

I hadn’t listened to this album in 17 years. Made me kinda miss when bands like this were popular.

I like the blending of genres with early punk going on here. A few of the songs kinda sound like a punk rock Kinks which I dig. The last song kiinda sounds like early Smiths/R.E.M.

On some days this is my favorite Elvis Costello album.

I dug the acoustic guitar arrangements on this album

Not exactly my kinda thing, but well crafted and executed. Good melodies.

Groovin’ as fuck!

Pretty solid little 60s rock album

This album makes me wanna live in a forest

Another artist I’d been meaning to check out for years. I was way more into this than I was expecting. I like how each “disc” has its own distinct feel.

I’d listen to just a drum and bass version of this album

I enjoyed this. I should listen to her more.

What a weird, cool, beautiful album

This album fit my mood very nicely today.

Very cool grooves and riffs. I dig the lofi sound

Smooth as fuck, and I really like how crisp the drums and guitar sound

Slick as hell, with a lot of sick bass lines

This album is a fucking banger.

One of the most original and innovate rock albums of all time. Nobody combines aggression, melody, and sonic experimentation as well as Trent Reznor does.

I dug this a lot

The title track is one of the most beautiful songs ever written with one of the best vocal performances, and all of the songs are great too.

Eh… idk… I feel like any profound radical edge this might have had at the time is kinda cliched and dated now. Like, the things he’s saying are still mostly true, it’s just they’ve been said a million times and mostly been done better

I dig how cinematic a lot of these arrangements are. I totally hear the similarities to The Soft Bulletin, it’s like they’re two sides to the same coin. Very cool.

Tom Waits is a maniac. He’s playing this old school, traditional style of music but almost nothing about it sounds old or traditional. I’m way into how weird this is and I really wanna dig hard into his catalog.

I wish I would’ve checked out this album way back when I heard William Shatner’s cover of “Common People” in 2003, but I don’t know that I would’ve appreciated it fully then.

Been meaning to listen to them for years. Scrappy, garage punk version of grunge. Cool guitar shit. I dig it!

I wish I would’ve listened to this sooner. Chill as hell.

This is more fun and interesting than the other electronic albums on this list so far, but I still can really only care so much

This isn’t even my favorite Fugazi album, but this album goes hard as fuck. What a one of a kind band.

It is truly wild listening to this album in 2021. It’s still a mostly enjoyable listen, but it’s easy to forget just how extreme Eminem was until you listen to this again. He says so much offensive shit that it almost doesn’t matter anymore.

I feel like I would enjoy this more if I was on acid and seeing it live, otherwise it’s just fine. Some cool sounds going on though.

One of the best debut albums of all time and it’s probably not even their best album. Great melodies, great harmonies, great guitar, GREAT bass, great drums. Just all around great. R.E.M. are The Beatles of indie/alternative rock.

This album is truly fucking wild and great

I dig this! Kinda like if the Clash or even the Smiths made an alt country album. I can hear the influence from this in so much other shit.

Like if you combined John Lennon and Paul McCartney into one person, but in a non-derivative way

Pretty cool little synth pop album. Soulful at times. Karma Chameleon is a certified banger.

It’s hard for me not to compare this to early U2, but I dig it!

Most of this sounds kinda like instrumental Steely Dan, but I dig it!

This was pretty cool

I really should’ve listened to this long ago. It’s very much my shit. Great songwriting, shaggy, yet just polished enough production. Definitely earns the hype.

This is very cool. Great guitar shit. Like Bowie fronting an alt-rock band…but different than Tin Machine lol.

This band pushed and pulled at the limits of 80s New Wave and Synth Pop in the same way that Radiohead did with 90s alt rock and Bon Iver did with 00s/10s indie rock. I’m kind of amazed I never heard of them until Mark Hollis died two years ago.

This is wild as all fuck. Legitimately sounds like a band of demons from the depths of hell. I kinda dig parts of it? But mostly I just respect it for committing to being fuckin’ OUT THERE shit.

This album is front to back energy

My dad had been telling me to listen to this band for YEARS. Kinda like a rootsy prog rock band. Pretty cool!

Incredible musicianship backed up by good songwriting

Parts of this sound like Bowie making a goth rock album. It’s pretty cool, if a little weird and meandering for my taste.

Kinda like if Thom Yorke made a solo album during The Bends era, though I’m not sure he would’ve ever made anything this lush and orchestrated.

This album sounds like what I imagine being on heroin feels like. Lotta wild shit going on. I kinda like how it gets more and more chaotic as it goes on.

This sort of sounds like it could’ve come out at any point in the last 50 years. Very cool shit.

Despite all the hype this album has received over the years, I’ve somehow gone 12 years without listening to it. Outside of “Two Weeks,” which I’ve heard in countless commercials and grocery stores, this album is pretty different than I was expecting. I like it quite a bit, though probably not as much as I would have had I discovered it at a younger age. Hints of Beach Boys and Radiohead but, like, in a vaguely folky, chamber pop vein. This album got me thinking about a slight tangent…between like 2008-2012 I was so into discovering 90s emo/indie rock bands and emo revival/DIY scene stuff that I missed most of the somewhat more mainstream indie rock stuff that was more popular with most people in my generation. Like Grizzly Bear, Fleet Foxes, Wye Oak, LCD Soundsystem, MGMT, etc. It’s kinda interesting to me that most of the music I associate with that time period was like 10+ years old at the time.

Made me feel like I was in a 70s high school movie or a backyard bbq. Except the last song sounds like Halloween. Pretty fun

This album is angry and fun

Ever since that documentary a few years ago, it’s been really hard for me to hear any of his songs without feeling really uneasy. That being said, it’s impossible to deny the bangers on this album.

Is this my favorite Springsteen album? I don’t know. That changes periodically. But this is definitely his best, most iconic, and the purest distillation of everything that he does great. Truly one of the best albums of all time. It sounds like the soundtrack to the greatest movie that doesn’t exist.

Melodic, driving punk with sick guitar riffs and goofy-ass lyrics. My only prior exposure to this band was Queens Of The Stone Age’s cover of “Back To Dungaree High,” and I’m really not surprised Josh is a fan.

So much of this sounds like Delay. I hear a little Against Me! in here at times as well. I like this a lot. Very melodic punk. Proto pop punk even.

I’m way past the point in my life where I’m all of a sudden going to get into Van Halen. I also feel like I’ve heard their songs so much just by being alive that I can’t really form an objective opinion on them. Of course Eddie Van Halen is an incredible guitar player. Of course David Lee Roth is ridiculous. Of course these songs are a lot of fun.

I always forget how great this album is. Probably his best sounding album after Imperial Bedroom. Certainly the loudest. Also the last great album of The Attractions era. “I Want You” is such a great song, definitely one of his best.

When I first got into this band I probably connected with this album the least for whatever reason. It’s definitely grown on me a lot and it’s very easy to see how it became a blueprint for a very certain type of indie rock.

Like a proto “lofi beats to study and/or chill to” or whatever. I dig it.

I sort of feel like the best I can say about this is that it definitely inspired more interesting things. A lot of this feels like it could use more focus and editing. The bass is pretty great though. Given what I know about Motörhead, it’s pretty interesting that Lemmy was in a band like this.

This album is Paul McCartney saying “yeah, I don’t need The Beatles to write fucking HITS!” for 41 minutes

This was different than I was expecting. I REALLY enjoyed the first half that was really chill and relaxing and calming. The harder, wilder stuff was cool too, just a little jarring after the first few songs.

Ive been hearing Jane’s Addiction’s biggest hits for about as long as I can remember. They’re a band that I’m honestly surprised I didn’t get into when I was younger considering everything else I was into. Parry Farrell’s voice can be a bit much for me sometimes, but this is a really cool album. Dave Navarro is such a good guitar player that it’s a shame most people probably know him as a reality tv guy these days.

I’m tempted to bring this down a star because the lyrics to “Brown Sugar” are so fucking cringe-y. It’s comforting to know that Jagger has since said he doesn’t really know why he wrote those lyrics like that and would censor himself now. The rest of this album is tight as all fuck though. The drums on “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” are perfect.

I dig this. Feels like it’d be a perfect album for a summer cookout or something.

Ive always kinda been unsure of how I feel about The Doors. Some songs ive heard I’ve liked, others I kinda haven’t cared about. This album kinda skews more towards songs I like, but it still doesn’t really grab me a whole lot overall. I think I like their vibe more than I like their actual songs.

This album is massive, and dense, and really great. It’s not surprising that she hasn’t followed it up yet.

Pop music is infinitely more interesting to me when live drums are involved

Kraftwerk is a fascinating band. Sometimes I kinda like how primitive this sounds, other times it’s kinda cheesy. Sometimes this album is calming, sometimes it’s claustrophobic. This album is basically a soundtrack to a doc that doesn’t exist about the dangers of urbanization in Europe. It’s fascinating to think about what it must’ve been like to be born in Germany at the end of or right after WWII and then come of age and be like “wait…we did WHAT?!” It’s also interesting to think of how much music might not have existed if it weren’t for Kraftwerk.

I like this a lot. Reminds me of Bowie’s Low, for obvious reasons, but not quite as dark. I can definitely hear the influence on a lot of indie rock here

Ive gotten back into this album in a big way in the last couple years. Buckley gets a lot of (rightful acclaim) for having an incredible voice, but he was a fantastic songwriter and arranger as well. Given the fact that he died so young, and the transcendent, ethereal nature of his music, it sometimes seems like he has this aura of sadness around him similar to other musicians who died young. But if you watch live videos and interviews of him, he actually seems like he was pretty goofy and high strung and had a corny sense of humor. Which would’ve been…interesting to see how it would’ve informed his music had his career had a chance to continue. Anyway, this album fucking slaps and the drums are incredible.

When I was in middle school and high school, whenever I rode the bus to school I would be listening to music on my Sony Walkman portable CD player. Inevitably, people would usually ask me what I was listening to. Whenever I was listening to something that I knew most people my age wouldn’t have heard of or liked (most of the time) I would say I was listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers. They were popular enough and seemingly acceptable enough for most people not to question me after I gave that answer. Now, more often than not, it feels like I have to defend liking this band for any number of reasons. Truth be told, from about 2000-2006, I was obsessed with RHCP. After hearing this album, I decided that I wanted to one day make music that sounded like them. Even though I never really did that exactly, they were the first band I remember making me feel that way. What’s undeniable about this band is immense talent of John Frusciante, Flea, and Chad Smith. What’s also undeniable is the chemistry that these 4 people have together. Anthony Kiedis can very often be a ridiculous and embarrassing singer and lyricist, but he never sounds insincere, for better or worse. What’s always apparent with RHCP is that these 4 people need each and need this band. This is a band that’s forged through trauma, grief, and addiction that always sounds like they love each other and love making music, even after almost 40 years together. Californication is the album that got me into them. I’m not sure if it’s their best or my favorite, but it’s definitely one where it felt they were able to tap into some form of magic. As with any RHCP album, there are some notably groan-inducing lyrics, but there also a whole bunch of bangers.

I like this a lot. Like a bridge between 80s new wave/dream pop and 90s alt rock and shoegaze with 60s pop rock harmonies.

I might not like this quite as much as To Bring You My Love, but it’s very good. Also, sorry Elvis Costello, I love you, but this album sounds great.

I’m not too sure why I hadn’t heard this whole album before. It’s probably because I’ve heard about half the songs a million times over 25 years so I figured I’d heard the best of it. All the songs on here are jams though.

Ive heard this album realistically at least 100 times in my life, and today, listening in my noise canceling headphones, is the first time I’ve noticed the yawning in “I’m Only Sleeping” and the clapping in “And Your Bird Can Sing.” Music!

Not my favorite Talking Heads album, but still very good!

Like Berlin era Bowie, The Cars, early Cure, and a little proto-NIN mixed together. Pretty cool!

One of my favorite albums of all time. I somehow love it more each time I listen to it. Maybe not the most representative of R.E.M. as a whole, but goddamn, what a gorgeous emotional piece of work.

Of Springsteen’s near flawless, decade and a half run of albums at the beginning of his career, this is probably my least favorite. “No Surrender” still rules though.

Never really listened to Genesis outside of the hits until my uncle passed last year. This was one of his favorite albums. I think I appreciate a lot of prog rock more than I like it, but there’s some cool shit going on here. Phil Collins is a monster drummer.

I really do not listen to Pixies enough, and when I do it’s usually Doolittle, which is probably their best album. But this album kinda rules too.

One of the best pop rock albums of all time. Also, maybe the only band I can think of with male and female singers where the male singer isn’t a total embarrassment to the band. ALSO, somehow I’m just realizing how tight of a drummer Mick Fleetwood is.

I was so deep into early Radiohead at the time that when I first saw the “Yellow” video on tv shortly after this album came out I was instantly hooked. Coldplay’s early work is way more than just a 90s era Radiohead pastiche though. Listening to this album (and even parts of Rush Of Blood…) Coldplay still sounds like a small bad writing simple, emotional, well-crafted songs instead of the overblown trend-hopping pop stars they’ve been the last decade plus. It seems kind of hopeless to think that they’ll ever sound like this again, but it would be nice if they went back to sounding anything like a rock band again.

Almost gave this a higher rating, but some of the lyrics are cheesy af…but maybe that’s part of her appeal?? Idk

I’m into this WAY more than I thought I’d be. It’s so calming and the music is so complex and intricate.

Wilco has several great albums. Sometimes I tell myself my favorite is something different than this one, but this is just a straight up masterpiece in every sense of the word.

I’m a little ashamed that younger me had some sort of block in my head that convinced me that this band was lesser than the other similar bands I liked at the time and wasn’t worth checking out, because I love this now and I’m sure I would’ve then too.

Smooth operator, indeed

This album is wild as fuck and does so many vastly different things

When I first dove into Paul Simon’s catalog a few years ago, this was one of my least favorite of his solo albums. I still think it’s pretty uneven, but the title track is one of his best songs, and “Train In The Distance,” and “Renee and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After The War” are really great too.

Missed this album back in the day, but I quite enjoyed listening to it today. Has a lot of similarities to things I already like and I imagine I’ll be revisiting this a bit.

Probably my second favorite QOTSA album, but goddamn it gets me pumped. A near perfect combo of simple and repetitive structures with complex and intricate arrangements and rhythms and great melodies. The instrumental bonus tracks are unnecessary though and it’s weird that the reissue is the only version on streaming

Pretty weird but pretty good. Surprised I’d never even heard of this band at all.

Like a soundtrack to the best neo noir film never made.

I feel like I like the idea of this more than I actually like it.

Not my favorite of Dylan’s early all acoustic stuff (that would be The Times They Are A-Changin’) and a tad inconsistent, but “Blowin In The Wind,” “Girl From The North Country,” “Masters Of War,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” are among the greatest songs ever written.

I love this album and have a huge soft spot for this band and genuinely think they’re underrated among 90s/00s popular hard rock bands. That being said, I can’t justify giving it 5 stars, but it’s a strong 4 from me. I put two songs from this album in a lyric diary project in 12th grade 😂

I don’t listen to this album or Billy Bragg enough

I always forget how much I like this band and how great their first 3 albums are (Reflektor is really good, but the first 3 are perfect). This album definitely deserves to be on a list of best debut albums of all time.

Idk why I never got into this band before. I dig this a lot.

Interesting first Metallica album to get here

This some proto-Dido shit. Pretty chill. I dig.

People have been telling me to get into this band for years and it hasn’t happened yet, but I dig this a lot.

I still don’t know if this is my favorite Cure album, but goddamn is it perfect.

This album makes me wanna karate chop the sun in half while punching a cop in the dick.

Some of this kinda reminds me of Spoon and some of it kinda reminds me of Summerteeth era Wilco.

Phil Spector sucks, but this slaps

I’m not the biggest Beck fan. I like most of his stuff and admire how diverse his music is. But man… I love this album. I come back it occasionally when I’m in a certain mood. Great wallowing in sadness album. Great production by Nigel Godrich.

This kinda sounds like if The Beatles had come up during the late 80s alt/college rock scene and I’m all about it.

Paul Simon has been making music for 60 years. He hasn’t released a bad album and he’s released several masterpieces. This one just might be my favorite though. Just banger after banger.

“The fuckin’ crowded city!”

Pretty cool! Very good Van Morrison cover.

Not sure what my favorite National album is, but this one sure is great!

Maybe my second favorite Bowie album after Low. This album sounds like drugs.

For some reason I have a very vivid memory of reading (PRINTING it out even) an article on VH1.com in like 2003 or something about the recording of this album. I was very intrigued by the idea of 9 minute Green Day song. I probably bought this album the day it came out and I definitely listened to it a lot after it first came out. And then it became the biggest fucking thing in the world and I got tired of it for a long time and mostly fell off of the Green Day train altogether. Listening to this album now though is very interesting. It’s a very well-crafted album with very good songs that manages to hold up fairly well if also sounding pretty dated in some ways. Green Day was likely never going to be as good as their earlier albums again, but it’s kind of a shame that they also haven’t been as good as this album again at least.

There are times when this is my favorite Springsteen album. It creates a certain dark, foreboding mood in a way that none of his other work does except for maybe “The Ghost Of Tom Joad.” This album also might have his strongest songwriting of his career. It’s sort of amazing that only one of these songs has been adapted into a movie. Ever since reading Bruce’s book, “My Father’s House” kills me every time

Like the crosspoint between early Cure and early U2 and extremely my shit. Can’t believe I hadn’t listened to this sooner.

It’s funny how I sort of think of “Gimme All Your Lovin’” as a Christmas song because of The Santa Clause even though that song makes no sense being in that scene in that movie. This album has cool riffs and fun vibes though.

Was into this band quite a bit back in the day but kinda fell off after the third album. This one still mostly rips though

Really love this.

Riffs = thick. Grooves = smooth. Probably my favorite Sabbath album of the three I’ve heard so far.

On the surface this is pretty standard 60s pop music, but there’s a weird, dark beauty lying underneath that makes it really cool.

This is very chill and calming

There’s still a hint of the sadness that permeates deep within his first solo album, but there’s also some hope and sweetness here too. “How Do You Sleep?” still makes me sad even if it is a banger musically.

Bro was IN HIS FEELINGS about that divorce, huh?

A friend once told me to read Nick Drake’s Wikipedia page because his story is incredibly sad. He was right. I’ve been a fan of Pink Moon for years, but goddamn if this album isn’t just about as beautiful and mournful as that one.

It’s rare for a band to have an album that’s a genre defining masterpiece that’s easily the best album of the year it was released. Radiohead has three albums that fit that category and 3 or 4 more that come pretty damn close to hitting that mark. In Rainbows is one of those masterpieces. It’s amazing how this album is one of their most accessible and “pop rock” friendly while also not losing any of the weirdness, experimentation, and anxiety-inducing darkness that defined their early-00’s work. This album is so good that it’s almost become a footnote that it also completely changed the game on how we buy music. Also, the bonus disc is incredible too.

Really dig this

It’s easy to forget sometimes that there’s only two people on this record

This would be 5 stars just for “A Forest” and “At Night” but the rest of it is great too

If it weren’t for Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, I’d say this is the best Smashing Pumpkins album. Still, it’s one of the best guitar and drum albums of all time.

It’s amazing how on paper this band sounds like the most uncool thing, but in practice they’re cool as all fuck.

The gold standard for roots rock/Americana. Just impeccable songwriting and musicianship.

It’s dumb to have ever wished for the Foo Fighters to sound like this forever, but I really wish they sounded like this for more than they did

Just a fun and incredibly horny rock record.

Timeless, transcendent, beautiful, and heartbreaking

This is maybe the 4th or 5th best Radiohead album and it’s still perfect. That’s how great they are.

One of the most iconic voices of all time singing some of the best songs ever written less than a year before his death is grade A emotional manipulation, but goddamn if it doesn’t work

Another casualty of my “I wasn’t paying attention to ‘mainstream indie rock’ at this time that I definitely would’ve liked” era

It’s interesting how so many post-punk/new wave bands from the early 80s sound like variations on the same sound. Not in a bad way…just interesting..

I may not be too well-versed in hip-hop but I know that this album rules.

My impression of Lenny Kravitz after hearing “Fly Away,” “American Woman,” and “Are You Gonna Go My Way?” on the radio forever is that he’d be hard to take seriously. Listening to this album though I’m like…what if Lenny Kravitz is good???

Obviously, Hendrix was an incredible guitar player, but I think if he also wasn’t such a great singer and songwriter, and Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding weren’t also great musicians, much fewer people would still care about his songs today.

Musically pretty cool, but I can only handle so much of the whole talk singing thing

I’d somehow never heard of David Berman until he died in 2019, but everything I’ve heard of him since I’ve really liked. It’s like if Pavement was sadder and slightly twangier.

Love this. I really should’ve listened to it when I first heard of it years ago.

I’m not sure if this is my favorite Pink Floyd album, but the title track might be my favorite Pink Floyd song, as cliche as that might be.

Sometimes this is my favorite Cure album. It’s also the first album I remember playing drums along to as a kid.

This album just straight up rules

This album is fun as fuck. 4.5

Like a horny, party boy version of Billy Bragg.

This is really the only Sufjan album I’m familiar with but it’s a stunningly beautiful and staggeringly ambitious piece of art that would be incredibly difficult to reproduce. The fact that he had ever planned to do an album for each state is completely fucking bonkers.

I like What’s The Story better but this one is sick

Likely no other artist will go out like Bowie did: surprise release two great albums relatively close together and then promptly die without any warning. A true king.

This is after I stopped really paying attention to this band, but this album is pretty cool if a little long and not as good as Rubber Factory or Thickfreakness. Not sure if I ever actually listened to it all the way through before.

The title track is my favorite Hendrix song.

Willing to bet Billy Corgan was listening to this a lot when he wrote Adore.

First time I heard this album was at a closet of an apartment in Philly at 3 am in the waning days of 2011 as some guy we were staying with was blasting it and trying to convince us of its greatness when all we wanted to do was sleep. I liked it better this time.

I’ve been hearing that this album is great since it came out and I’m dumb for not listening to it until now because it is great.

This album is cool, but far from the best Beastie Boys album.

Travis walked so Coldplay could fly. Was way into this album and The Invisible Band in middle school. Nothing extraordinary, but solid albums!

Fucking incredible guitar work. Yet another album that I’d been meaning check out for years that I wish I’d gotten to sooner.

There is truly no one like Björk

It’s interesting to think about what Pink Floyd would’ve been like had Syd Barrett stayed in the band.

Holds up very well! “Please Forgive Me” is a perfect song. 4.5.

I like this a lot. Very eclectic with interesting arrangements and great melodies.

The Sugarcubes: great band with a one of a kind incredible lead singer and a sometimes secondary lead singer who wishes he was Frank Black. Rilo Kiley: great band with a one of a kind incredible lead singer and a sometimes secondary lead singer who wishes he was Elliott Smith.

As far as Who rock operas go I prefer Quadrophenia, but the scope of this album is impressive, especially for when it was released.

Not only one of the best albums of all time, but also one of the best opening stretches of songs on an album of all time.

Yet another band I’d been meaning to listen to for years but just hadn’t. Love this.

Same thing I said about Stone Roses

The Smiths best album probably. Just insanely good hooks and arrangements. Too bad Morrissey’s an asshole now.

Man… why’d Win Butler have to go and be an abusive asshole? The first three Arcade Fire records are perfect.

Stevie’s 70’s output is unimpeachable.

Quite possibly my favorite album of all time.

This was the first U2 album I heard, consciously anyway, and my first concert was seeing them on this tour, so I’ll always a special fondness for it. However, it’s a fairly uneven album. It’s got some really good or even great songs (Kite is the best on the album) but it feels like they played it too safe, which is a mode they really haven’t gotten out of since this album. Solid album, but not as good as their best.

I totally understand their influence and why they’re such a seminal band for so many people. I think I just missed my opportunity to get into Joy Division and have them have any meaningful impact on me. I also think I just like too many bands that took their whole thing and did it better.

One of Dylan’s many perfect albums

Elvis Costello has had a very varied and eclectic career with many highs, but goddamn if there ain’t a strong argument for this being his best album.

Took a while for this album to click for me, but now it’s one of my favorite Neil Young records. The beginning of Neil doing whatever the fuck he wants at all times.

There are a lot of very legitimate criticisms you can throw at this band, but it doesn’t change the fact that this album fucking slaps. A goofy band bonded together by immense trauma and drug addiction.

“Mr. Tambourine Man” probably isn’t one of my favorite Dylan songs but I’ll be goddamned if the following verse isn’t the most poetic shit: Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow

It’s weird how the older this album get and the more I hear it, the more it sounds like it was beamed in from another dimension, even though all of the sounds on it are recognizably human. Just a pure masterclass in pop songwriting, production, and arrangement.

Veni Vidi Vicious is one of several albums I thought about buying many times during the height of “I Hate To Say I Told You So” being on MTV/VH1 all the time. Very cool stuff, though it’s weird that a compilation album would be eligible for this list…

Maybe the best breakup album of all time? Also one of my favorites

These days when you hear an album was recorded in someone’s basement you think lo-fi indie or punk shit, not bombastic, widescreen area rock like this. Fun stuff!

RIP Mark Lanegan. One of the most interesting figures of the 90s Seattle scene. Such an incredibly versatile voice with an equally incredibly versatile career. I really haven’t given this band in particular enough of my time, but this album is very good and deserves more appreciation. 4.5 stars.

Unfortunately it’s impossible for me not to think of The Cable Guy when I hear “Somebody To Love.” Cool album though!

This is a wild album that I’m not entirely sure how I feel about yet. “Frankie Teardrop” is fucking intense and terrifying and bumps this up an extra star for me.

There are some great songs on here, but the album could probably lose a few songs and overall sounds more dated than most of his other stuff.

The lost art of naming your songs after the first line in the lyrics.

I have a lot of thoughts about this album. Pearl Jam are one of my favorite bands, but in my opinion this is a solidly mid-tier album for them. It’s undeniably a classic, with some great songs, and undoubtedly a large part of the reason they’re still a band today. However, they were hardly a band for a year before this album came out and while that young scrappiness is part of the appeal of this album, I don’t think they’d really hit reach the fullness of their sound until later in the 90s and early 00s. Eddie’s voice is great on this album, but he really came into his own later on and I think a big part of the reason his voice has kinda become a meme is because of how it sounds here. Also, too many terrible late 90s and early 00s bands seemed to base their entire identity on trying to copy this album without having any of the depth, insight, talent or vision that Pearl Jam has. All that being said, “Alive,” “Black,” “Jeremy,” “Porch,” and “Release” are all stone cold classic bangers.

They really were THE Band, huh?

I love this album, but the lyrics of “A Man Needs A Maid” have not aged well and the string arrangements on that song and “There’s A World” feel out of place with the rest of the album.

I still have a vivid memory of “Crawling” playing over the morning announcements on day in 7th grade and everyone freaking out.

Some of this kinda sounds like if Queens Of The Stone Age wasn’t heavy.

Pretty cool! “Good To Be On The Road Back Home” is a banger, and the Punjabi cover of “Norwegian Wood” is sick. Wild to think this is one of the last things Allen Ginsberg was part of.

“I’ve been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down, now I’m trying to get to heaven before they close the door.”

At the very least this is my 2nd or maybe 3rd favorite Joni Mitchell album.

There’s no good reason for me to not already be a huge fan of this band.

“Look, look, something is very wrong! I don’t want Santana “Abraxas,” I’ve just been in a terrible auto accident!”

Fuck Ryan Adams, personally. This bitch blocked me on Twitter years ago for no reason. And he’s an abusive dick

Probably the most emotionally vulnerable album made by an A-list artist.

Maybe my favorite Neil album

Probably my favorite Beatles album and one of my favorites of all time

One of the best albums of all time. A truly singular work of art.

I feel like I need to be in a very specific mood for this stuff, but this is album IS very cool

Fuck Ryan Adams

Best drum album

I wish bands were still able and willing to make albums this sprawling, diverse, and ambitious