Lots of feelings and vulnerabilities exposed with this one. I first heard Sleater-Kinney when they opened for Pearl Jam in 2003. I was…not a fan. My ears felt assaulted. In the almost 20 years since I first heard them, I have tried several times to like them. I SHOULD like them because they have all the pieces of a band I should love. Women who rock and pull no punches. A sound that is unique and a message I can get behind. I can’t quite figure out what I turns me off so much and I have spent way too much time pondering this question. I thought at first that it was the way her voice sounds like reverb to me, but I think that could be really interesting used in the right way. I actually really dig the music so that isn’t it either. I think what it boils down to is that it feels like she is just shouting at me. Now stick with me here because this is the soul bearing part. It turns out that I have a huge double standard. I can listen to a man scream into a microphone and find it earnest and impassioned. I listen to a woman scream into the microphone and I find that I want her to tone it down, pretty it up, not be so emotional. Oh fuck, how did I get to be so sexist?! And now you know my deepest shame. It turns out that I want to smash the patriarchy but in a nice (and more melodic) way, which is really not smashing it at all but just succumbing to my programming. I’m giving this album 5 stars and I will keep listening to it because this album, more than any other, has made me think about myself and how I view the world and who taught me to view it the way that I do. It turns out I disliked Sleater-Kinney because it feels like an exposed nerve, which I think is kind of the point. And one that I want to keep exposing.

Intelligent, a little angry, and with effortless cool. Perfection. “So while you fuming, I’m consuming mango juice under Polaris You’re just embarrassed 'cause it's your last tango in Paris And even after all my logic and my theory I add a ‘motherfucker’ so you ignant niggas hear me” Mic drop

Maybe it’s the pop-punk loving side of me, but I really enjoyed this album, especially the first and last tracks sung by the female vocalist. I liked the blend of 50s rock with the driving pace of punk. This is the more palatable version of what The Cramps were trying to achieve. I waffled between 3 and 4 stars and ended at 4 because I want to look up more music by X.

I had to wait until an appropriately gray day to listen to this because Elliott Smith is not sunny day music. I only ever had Figure 8, but thank goodness this album is on the list because it reminded me how much I enjoy wallowing in his music. He is like the male Aimee Mann to me, not quite folk but folk adjacent, not the biggest voice/range but super emotive, distressed in the best way like soft jeans.

I don’t know if it’s the slower pace, the beats, or the samples used, but this is undeniably 90s and that it comfortingly familiar even when I have never heard any track beyond The Rain. Is this the best hip hop album? No. Would I put this on while I get shit done. Absolutely. I hover between 3 and 4 but I think pure nostalgia bumps this up to 4.

I forgot how much I like Tina’s voice. I wouldn’t skip any song on this album with the exception of 1984, which just made me laugh with how 80s it was (so maybe I wouldn’t skip that one either).

I can’t unhear the saxophone now...

It sounds like a blend of a bad Elvis impersonator and bad punk music. The songs were mostly boring until they got unpleasant. I prefer bands that make sounds that sound good together rather than making sound for the sake of making noise.

False advertising, wanted more soul.

False advertising, wanted more soul.

I’m stuck between and 3 and 4. I hear things I like and it reminds me of The Smiths. Ultimately, I could definitely listen to this but no song really grabbed me so I guess it gets the 3 rather than the 4.

This is the link that gets us from 80s metal to 90s alternative. I only knew Mountain Song and Jane Says but this album could easily be could be on regular rotation.

I would listen to this on a rainy day, I like his voice but I get bored by the end of the album.

Lots of feelings and vulnerabilities exposed with this one. I first heard Sleater-Kinney when they opened for Pearl Jam in 2003. I was…not a fan. My ears felt assaulted. In the almost 20 years since I first heard them, I have tried several times to like them. I SHOULD like them because they have all the pieces of a band I should love. Women who rock and pull no punches. A sound that is unique and a message I can get behind. I can’t quite figure out what I turns me off so much and I have spent way too much time pondering this question. I thought at first that it was the way her voice sounds like reverb to me, but I think that could be really interesting used in the right way. I actually really dig the music so that isn’t it either. I think what it boils down to is that it feels like she is just shouting at me. Now stick with me here because this is the soul bearing part. It turns out that I have a huge double standard. I can listen to a man scream into a microphone and find it earnest and impassioned. I listen to a woman scream into the microphone and I find that I want her to tone it down, pretty it up, not be so emotional. Oh fuck, how did I get to be so sexist?! And now you know my deepest shame. It turns out that I want to smash the patriarchy but in a nice (and more melodic) way, which is really not smashing it at all but just succumbing to my programming. I’m giving this album 5 stars and I will keep listening to it because this album, more than any other, has made me think about myself and how I view the world and who taught me to view it the way that I do. It turns out I disliked Sleater-Kinney because it feels like an exposed nerve, which I think is kind of the point. And one that I want to keep exposing.

I appreciate the constant creative experimentation; however, I like other work from Prince more.

Love superstition, wish there was more of that funk groove on this album.

I had never heard of Big Brother & the Holding Co, but this is the classic rock sound I love (plus no one sounds like Janis). Pass me the bowl, I can listen to this and chill all day.

Intelligent, a little angry, and with effortless cool. Perfection. “So while you fuming, I’m consuming mango juice under Polaris You’re just embarrassed 'cause it's your last tango in Paris And even after all my logic and my theory I add a ‘motherfucker’ so you ignant niggas hear me” Mic drop

Easy, chill background music.

I found that I was relieved when my phone unexpectedly lost connection and the music was paused, I preferred the sweet sweet silence to this.

Love the variety and “Hey” is on just about every mixed tape I ever made.

Great voice, the 80s easy listening is not my thing.

I feel like someone took a bunch of music that I like, chopped it into jigsaw pieces, and then put it back together randomly. Too disjointed for me to really get into, the album was bookended by some songs with lyrics that were pretty terrible, but I enjoyed dreaming of you.

Classic, love the bluesy influences.

One star for my daughter repeatedly asking me what a sex store is because of this album.

Maybe it’s the pop-punk loving side of me, but I really enjoyed this album, especially the first and last tracks sung by the female vocalist. I liked the blend of 50s rock with the driving pace of punk. This is the more palatable version of what The Cramps were trying to achieve. I waffled between 3 and 4 stars and ended at 4 because I want to look up more music by X.

I can handle the music for a couple songs, I can’t handle the “singing”. I just can’t get sit through more than a couple tracks, so it’s a hard pass from me.

Embarrassing truth, I have never listened to this album before, I have never even actively chosen to listen to Fleetwood Mac…and yet I knew all but 3 songs. A testament to the song writing that every song was such a big hit that I knew them anyway. This album is pervasive in our culture’s collective consciousness for a reason.

Parts of this reminded of the boat tunnel scene in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It got weird, dark, a little creepy, and altogether unpleasant.

I had this album on in the background for many a homework session in high school because it’s not too slow but also not too distracting. Background music is all its good for though.

Meh, it’s fine. But is it just me or did all the songs have the same speed/drumbeat?

While, as others have pointed out, this album is less polished than melancholy, I find that to be a point in its favor. I like that’s it’s a little more raw, a little more rough around the edges. I love this album. I find Disarm to be hauntingly beautiful. All in all, this album is so quintessentially 90s and yet has so many levels it keeps me coming back.

I varied between it fading into the background and actively wanting to switch it off. It was a mash-up of spoken word poetry, jazz, and soul that ultimately I just don’t get.

Riley says 5 stars and I agree. I have a soft spot in my heart for pop punk and Green Day does it better than anyone. Jesus of Suburbia is like a microcosm of the whole album, a tiny pop punk rock opera all on its own. Even if you don’t love them, you have to appreciate the ambition here.

Not as good as Elephant

The harmonies always blow me away. Sometimes the song writing veers too far into a country sound I don’t enjoy as much.

I first heard a song from this album, Fake Plastic Trees, in the movie Clueless staring Paul Rudd and some other people. This movie, and the Baz Luhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet (starring Paul Rudd!) which also featured a Radiohead song (Talk Show Host), introduced me to Radiohead and led me to an album that has become one of my top 5 favorite albums of all time. The album starts with a woosh like something is blowing in, then hits you with the guitars, and honestly this might be my second favorite opening to an album (behind the base line for Seven Nation Army). I get excited every time I hear that woosh because I know what is coming next. The layers of sound! The guitars get loud like an arena rock show, then soft again, always layered in a way that is indicative of how experimental they are/will continue to be. At times you get flavors of U2, Oasis, REM, and yet they have a sound that is uniquely their own. The music is always vulnerable, eerie at times, angry at times, and broken in the most hauntingly amazing way. I am a lyric person but despite the fact that I can't tell what Thom Yorke is saying 80% of the time, the combination of his voice and the music transcend the often unintelligible lyrics. The snippets of what come through can be devastating. The rejection of the fame/attention, the futility of life, and the intense longing to belong. The optimism and positivity is cut with cynicism (Nice Dream) but you are quickly brought back up from the nihilism of Fake Plastic Trees by the reverb-y guitars of Bones. They achieve a balance in this album that I can't find in many other works. Case in point is the fade out of Street Spirit which is a perfect contrast to the way the album wooshed in with Planet Telex The Bends would be in my desert island 5-disc CD changer. It perfectly encapsulated my 90s angst while managing, like Paul Rudd himself, to never age.

First of all, this album does not sound or feel like it was made in 1985. Second of all, the mid-90s success of female singer/songwriters owe a TON to this woman. Shawn Colvin, Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls, Aimee Mann, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Amos, and even Sinead O'Connor. I hear Suzanne Vega in all of them. I like the songs where the acoustic guitar takes the lead more than some of the other synthesizer sounds. I love cracking, small blue thing, and undertow in particular for the guitar parts and for how intimate the lyrics feel. It might not be in my list of favorite female singer/songwriter albums of all time but it’s certainly responsible for them so 4 stars seems appropriate.

I can’t take Tom Waits in any more that very small doses, a whole album is too much.

I can’t believe I have never heard Jurassic 5 before! Lyrics that play on grammar (“pass” participles), reference DDT, and Herman Munster? What’s not to love. They also have that almost jazz-like groove that I love in digable planets and de la soul. Thanks 1001 albums, this is one I will be coming back to.

I had to wait until an appropriately gray day to listen to this because Elliott Smith is not sunny day music. I only ever had Figure 8, but thank goodness this album is on the list because it reminded me how much I enjoy wallowing in his music. He is like the male Aimee Mann to me, not quite folk but folk adjacent, not the biggest voice/range but super emotive, distressed in the best way like soft jeans.

So Bennie and the Jets is far and away the best song on this album. Side note: thanks to Diana’s “cute boots” story, I only hear electric boobs rather than electric boots and it makes me laugh every time. I hated the candle in the wind song that got popular following the death of Princess Diana (so many Diana references today!) and I had no idea at the time that it was a rewrite. The lyrics about Marilyn Monroe were way less sappy and more interesting. Not interesting enough for 5 stars but listening to this did make me want to go watch Rocketman so I will bump this up to 4 stars based the fact that my interest has been piqued.

I didn’t know there would be stones songs I actively disliked. I disliked dear doctor. Jigsaw puzzle went on way too long. Factory girl was out of place. The intro to sympathy for the devil is iconic and got me all pumped but the rest of the album was a let down.

I don’t know if it’s the slower pace, the beats, or the samples used, but this is undeniably 90s and that it comfortingly familiar even when I have never heard any track beyond The Rain. Is this the best hip hop album? No. Would I put this on while I get shit done. Absolutely. I hover between 3 and 4 but I think pure nostalgia bumps this up to 4.

Oh Blur, there are some moments where I like the music and then you go and ruin it with something I actively dislike. You could be so much better.

I realized that A) I have this album on tape that a friend in high school made for me but I had no idea the tape he made was a straight album; and B) he must have run out of room on that one side because I have never heard the last 3 tracks before.

I think I might like Bon Jovi?! At least for walking the dog. It kept me moving and I didn’t get bored. I could do without the intro to Social Disease though.

Meh. The only song I really liked was Maggie May. I do like a lot of the guitar, but his voice really doesn’t do it for me.

I don't hate the music the whole time, but I really HATE the lyrics. Every song is about revenge or sex or sex for revenge. And then there is the rape fantasy. "Oh I really love it when you tell me to stop, Oh it's turning me on." All the lyrics do for me is turn me off.

I don’t know a ton about electronic music but this was somehow both strange AND boring.

So it’s hard for me to rate jazz. It’s not my thing, I don’t seek it out, but as jazz goes, this was pleasant. Riley proclaimed it repetitive but I liked the variations on a theme rather than a bunch of experimental sounds that don’t tie together. Riley’s criticism was hilarious though considering she listens to the same damn song or album on repeat for weeks or months at a time.

Remember when I said jazz wasn’t my thing? This feels like guitar jazz. Is he saying words? Is he skatting? Who can tell.

Come on 1001 album random generator, give me something GOOD! This album suffers a little bit from being the latest in a line of albums that range from terrible to just meh. There is just nothing to get excited about here.

I appreciate the concept, but ultimately the music is too repetitive to hold up well to repeat listening.

I would have told you before we embarked on this journey that I liked Blur. Somehow I owned a Blur album that I liked (neither one we have had so far have been it) but it turns out that growing up has meant moving on from Blue. While this album was better than the last one, it is still very hit or miss. The hits aren't good enough and the misses are too big for it to break even.

Great vibe but suffers from being too one note. Scenario is the only song that stands out as being different on this album.

Good energy but super short! I feel like the fans at this live show got shafted.

This one is hard for me. I like it more than Sign O the Times because it is less all over the place which made Sign O the times probably very exciting for people who were not me. I don't like it quite as much as Purple Rain; however, which means I should be giving this a 3.5 but our stupid rating system doesn't allow it. Fun fact, being in the class of 1999 meant that this song was requested and played at every high school game/function my senior year. However, it was NOT our official class song because the administration thought the line "I've got a lion in my pocket, and baby he's ready to roar" was too inappropriate. Of all the Prince lyrics about sex to get huffy about....

Ok, I am about to get my 90s kid credentials revoked. Let me preface this by saying that I like grunge. I like the mix of rock and punk and all the grit and distortion that comes with it. But for whatever reason, I just could never get totally behind Nirvana. There are lots of songs I like (All Apologies, Dumb), some I love (Heart-Shaped Box), and some I don't really get but I'm willing to go on that ride (PennyRoyal Tea). But I actively dislike Scentless Apprentice and especially Tourette's (why is that possessive??). They are just noise for the sake of noise. Rape Me has always bothered me because it is supposed to be an anti-rape song like "go ahead and rape me but I will survive this" but you can't really get that unless you read that Kurt intended it that way. Ultimately I feel like Nirvana is Ethan Hawke's character, Troy, in Reality Bites. Trying to be counter culture, anti-everything artists on the outside with a soft, sensitive center...but in reality Troy (and Nirvana) just aren't as good as people want to believe them to be.

I love Outkast. I love their sound. Do I wish they bent their considerable talents towards worthier lyrical topics than their many conquests? Yes. However, contemplating the aftermath of those conquests as in "Ms. Jackson" makes it clear to me they have something more to say than just rapping about "Gangsta Shit" (but they can do that too).

For the first 30 seconds, I thought this was going to be a very different album than it turned out to be. I dig the harder rock sometimes veering into punk sounds. Lead vocals are powerful and I like the strings on Secretly. Actually, the parts of the album (Secretly in particular) reminded me of Evanescence. They are similarly melodramatic, they both incorporate hard rock with orchestral elements, and they have powerful lead vocalists....too bad I can't understand any of Skunk Anansie's lyrics. Even reading them, they are gibberish ("skinny kack para, para dutty dykie nigga") so even if I want to scream along, I wouldn't know what to say. The lyrics leave this one at 3 stars but there were some pleasant surprises with this one.

I think I knew at the time (but I had since forgotten) that Fiona Apple was still a teenager when Tidal came out but this album has never sounded like a teenager wrote it. It is emotional, raw, and definitely more musically complex than the standard radio fare of the mid to late 90s. To teenage me, these songs were permission from an older, wiser, much cooler girl to be whatever I wanted to be, whether that was sultry, angry whatever. It's a message I still need to revisit sometimes and this album will forever be in rotation for me.

Huh, turns out I enjoy Queen even when I only recognize one of the songs.

Almost a 2 because of any song with lead vocals by Richard Manuel. I much prefer Helm’s voice.

OK Computer is only slightly, ever so slightly, below The Bends for me as it skews more experimental and electronic than it's predecessor. But it still contains a lot of the guitar that I love about the Bends with a more dystopian feel. I was reading old reviews of OK Computer and someone called it “body music that circumvents the head to reach the spirit.” That's a pretty apt description of what both The Bends and OK Computer mean to me. Radiohead is one of a handful of bands for which the lyrics are only very distantly important. For me, OK Computer is almost entirely about the feeling evoked rather than the poetry expressed.

This is the most emo rap album I have ever heard. So much self-loathing, anger, and hopelessness. The bleakness was actually kind of refreshing in a way. He definitely has an opinion on the nature vs. nurture debate.

Stylistically "Big Ten Inch Record" was jarring both for the lyrics and the sound. It's like someone plunked a Jive song down in the middle of a rock/blues album. Turns out there is a reason it doesn't sound like the rest of the album, it was a cover.

Bridge Over Troubled Water is one of my favorite songs (the way it builds!), The Boxer is one of only songs I could remember all the words to when I was sleep-deprived and blearily rocking my infants to sleep in the middle of night, and Cecilia just always makes me happy.