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

This album spans the generations. It managed to annoy me AND a carpool full of middle schoolers.

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

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

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.

This could have benefited from some editing but it was fine for background music.

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.

My family listened to this album on repeat. Nothing beats her delivery, she made me feel her pain even when I was too young to understand why she was in pain. Unfortunately, this album remains relevant.

This album feels like the score to a show that I can't see. Despite the diversity of sound, I ultimately have no idea what is happening on stage or how the story is progressing so I lose interest.

First of all, the beginning of the song Morning Glory sounds like The One I Love by REM. How did I never notice that before? Secondly, how did his voice not annoy me in the 90s? Don't get me wrong, I still like some of these songs. Hello is underrated and is an excellent start to an album. Roll With It sounds like they want to be the Beatles while Don't Look Back in Anger actually sounds like it could be the Beatles. And of course there is the aforementioned influence of REM. It was a nice walk down memory lane, even if it's one I am not likely to repeat any time soon.

I am having a tough time with this one. There were moments of listening to this that were not entirely pleasant. But somehow they were unpleasant in an interesting way that made me want to listen to more. I can't figure out why that is, but due to the fact that I want to hear more, I am giving this 4 stars.

Like a cross between Elton John and Pink Floyd. I enjoyed this and will listen to more.

I feel bad giving this a 2 considering the cultural significance and the fact that the sound is perfectly pleasant. The problem for me lies in the fact that it was designed to be background to what was happening on screen. It is not designed or intended to be digested on it's own.

This album feels like the musical equivalent of walking into a modern art exhibition and being told that a wadded up gum wrapper is the hottest new art piece. I don’t get it, which makes me angry because I feel like I have been conned. How is this the same man that wrote Hallelujah?! This album is a con job, it has to be. I was sold a bill of goods when I saw the name pop up and what I got was a saxophone laden eighties dumpster fire in which Cohen doesn’t sing so much as recite bad spoken word poetry.

1994 was one of the best years in music, maybe ever, and this album was part of the reason why. In contrast to the distortion and discontent coming from Seattle, Jeff Buckley made an album that was just as emotional and raw but beautiful. His vocal control is amazing as are his musical choices about when and how to use it. Lover, You Should Have Come Over is one of my top 10 favorite songs and was on just about every mixed tape I ever made. I even wrote a psychology paper on that song in undergrad, got an A :). That sigh before the first note of Hallelujah gets me every time. He may not have written it, but it's most definitely his song now. The opening of Last Goodbye sounds a little like it was ripped off by Oasis for Champagne Supernova (the "how many special people" part). And I actually love the way that So Real falls apart in the middle and then puts itself back together. This album is different and classic at the same time. Unlike some of the other music from '94, my love for this album has only grown and that speaks to the wide array of musical styles from which it draws inspiration. That range is apparent in who has claimed to be influenced and inspired by Buckley. Everyone from Adele to PJ Harvey, Radiohead to Lana Del Rey. Hell, Jimmy Page said this album was close to being his favorite of the decade and David Bowie said it was one of the 10 albums he would bring to a desert island. I gotta agree with the greats on this one.

The voice is a huge turnoff and I could not hate that broken English song any more than I do.

Background music

I will always love the texture and unique quality of her voice.

The parts I like, I like better than Tricky's Maxinquaye. Blue Lines is a stand-out but then Thankful for What You've Got doesn't sound at all like it belongs on a trip-hop album. Ultimately, I think both this and Maxinquaye deserve 2.5 so I will split the difference and give this a 3 and Tricky a 2.

Remember how pretentious-ass couldn't get past the saxophones to appreciate Tina's voice? I feel the same about Sade. I can't appreciate the voice and the general groove because all I hear is the sax.

This is a 3.5 star album. I am going 4 because I was so pumped to see them last year with Liz Phair and Alanis. Stupid pandemic.

I appreciate the unique sound.

I used to love this album. It was my perfect rainy day music. Then came #metoo and a slew of allegations that he was a manipulative, abusive, lecherous fuck. Sigh. I can’t separate my feelings about the man from my feelings about the music. If I could, this would be a higher rating.

One of the greatest rock albums of all time. There is both an edge and a sultriness to Led Zepplin. Maybe it’s the way they slide between notes, maybe it’s the blues influence, or maybe I have just seen dazed and confused too many times, but this album makes me want to do drugs and get laid. I guess I now better understand the phrase “sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll”.

I love his voice but found myself getting bored

It’s not boring…

Some of these tracks remind me of the background music that you would play in a scene where life around the main protagonist is sped up and blurry to denote the passage of time. Similarly, these tracks blurred together and nothing stood out for me. It was fine as background music.

I kinda love the RHCP but I know other people hate them (or at least feel very ambivalent about them). I have always enjoyed their more bass driven sound. 1 star off for anytime Anthony Kiedis tries to do that rap-rock thing.

AC/DC only has one level, 11.

My first boyfriend was convinced that Paul Simon sold his soul to the devil after his failed relationships (with both writing partner Art Garfunkel and wife Carrie Fisher) to come away from those failures with Graceland. The album is a blend of such unique styles and sounds and it is amazing to me how joyous the album sounds despite the preceding failures of Simon's personal and professional life. My first boyfriend was not the brightest but he may have been correct in this case.

It takes balls to declare yourself everyone's new favourite band. The first and last songs were the best on the album but even though they have a sound I like, I started getting tired of it.

It's loud, high-energy, punk flavored rock that set the stage for all the female fronted rock bands I love today.

My least hated metal band yet? I guess that’s good enough for a 3.

A jazzy Nick Drake is different but maybe not better than a sad Nick Drake.

I am less familiar with this Led Zeppelin album compared to their earlier albums but that is an oversight I plan to rectify. The four song progression from the bluesy slide guitar of In My Time of Dying, to the rock of Houses of the Holy, to the more funky sound of Trampled Under Foot, to the classic opening of Kashmir (even my 4 year old can’t help but bob her head along to this guitar riff) shows all that Led Zeppelin has to offer. Y’all know how I feel about Led Zeppelin 😉 and this album is no different.

I guess I expected the Talking Heads to sound more synth-y (a la Burning down the House). The music was more rock than I expected but I guess this album was part of their transition. Too bad the only good song isn't even their song.

I had a couple Sebadoh albums (Bakesale and Harmacy) and I have literally never met anyone else who has even heard of them, let alone liked them, so I was surprised as hell to see them pop up on 1001 albums. I also was surprised as hell with some of the sonic chaos on the album. I get that they were all “look at us we are so lo-fi and cool” but why make so many sounds that don’t sound good? Turns out there is a good reason why this album sounds like two different bands, all the songs I like are written by Lou Barlow and all the songs I don’t were by Eric Gaffney who left the band after this album and didn’t appear on Bakesale of Harmacy (if you like the first couple songs, give those other albums a listen). I wish I could give this album a higher rating because the songs I like, I really like, but overall it’s a mess.

First listen I did not like this album. 2nd listen was better and I got a lot of work done thanks in part to the driving beat of most of the songs but it still faded into the background for me. Split the difference, 2 stars.

Sorry guys, I like the music (why don’t people use a harmonica anymore!), but I just can’t with his voice.

I didn’t finish the album. I feel bad rating it on a (very) incomplete listen, but I feel like the fact that couldn't finish speaks for itself.

I dunno, maybe this benefited from being short and fast after a couple very long and slow albums. At least this wasn’t boring.

So I like bluegrass, I like some country, I have even been to MerleFest…and yet Merle Haggard is not my thing. The slow songs kill any joy I get from the faster paced songs. I also prefer the music when he is not singing. I would go back to MerleFest though.

Never heard of The Damned before but damn if I am not a fan.

Janelle Monae strikes me as someone exceedingly creative and the album is eclectic and interesting as a result.

Huh, so I CAN like Tom Waits. I was convinced after we got Bone Machine that I did not like Tom Waits, not no way, not no how. But somehow his voice works better on this slower album? Based on Jersey Girl, where he seems to slip in and out of his growl, it appears the gravel is a CHOICE. My throat hurts just from listening but this is an album that I may come back to when I need a good wallow.

Lang said "I can see why late 90s, coming-of-age, angsty teens, who rejected the culture of the cools, would be in to this." His review was basically describing me. Incubus was my bridge between my 90s alternative roots and the emo of the early 2000s. I first got into Incubus with their preceding album, S.C.I.E.N.C.E, an often schizophrenic combination of heavy metal guitars, bass-driven funk, electronic/scratching, and Brandon Boyd's intense but also melodic voice was so interesting to me. Make Yourself is definitely more refined but still incorporates all those different styles. I take issue with the idea that at some point the angst should lift, I will never grow out of my enjoyment of screaming/singing along with Brandon Boyd.

My roommate in undergrad swore that Van Morrison was the best get-it-on music. I never understood. I still don't. Don't get me wrong, the music is perfectly pleasant. But this album is more likely to put me to sleep than put me in the mood.

I am glad I waited a few days to rate this. I am flummoxed by the high reviews. Very few of these songs feel like stand-alone tracks, it feels like a collection of sounds that accompany and play a supporting role to a visual medium I can't see. I don't hate the general feel or sound but something is definitely missing (it doesn't even feel that emotional to me, perhaps because the visuals are adding that piece of the puzzle). It's funny we got Nine Inch Nails two days after this because I am no NIN fan but that album feels MUCH more cinematic to me. Instead of missing a piece of the puzzle, I can almost see a movie playing in my head during large chunks of the NIN album. Not so with Air. Ambient music is weird to me. How am I supposed to get invested in something that is purposefully so chill and designed not to grab your attention?

Hands down my favorite Taylor Swift album. Stripped of most of the big pop production, you are left with writing that is poignant and an album that feels much more intimate. Folk-y Taylor Swift is my favorite of her reinventions so far.

Everything about this album, even the chaos, feels like a purposeful choice with a specific point of view. It's emotional and demands attention. That being said, a lot of this album makes me feel a little ill. The opening lyrics of Closer make me deeply uncomfortable. The whole album is about self-destruction but that song and Big Man with a Gun very explicitly detail how that self-destruction violently drag others down too and the glorification of those darker thoughts have always left me on edge.

If you like a song on this album you better like it a LOT because each song is repetitive af.

I listened to this album a fair amount in the early 2000s. It occupies the same sad hole in my heart where Aimee Mann and Elliott Smith also reside. I can only listen to them when it's a little gloomy out and when I am in a certain mood. Gillian Welch's voice and harmonies are beautiful. I love the way the music highlights traditional bluegrass instruments like the banjo but with a dark twist. If I had one critique it would be that sometimes the music is so slow and soft it sometimes takes on a droning/dirge-like feel that can put me to sleep. Like I said, gotta be in the right mood.

Maybe I was already pissed because I saw the length of this album. Maybe I was already annoyed because choosing to do 69 love songs is a terribly immature joke. Maybe I could have overcome those annoyances if it was good, but it wasn't.

It feels so basic now, but points for paving the way.

Adele clearly went through some shit but damn I am glad we got this album as a result. This album is a pop masterpiece with infusions of R&B, gospel, and soul. Her voice has a very unique texture and tone that makes every note ooze with her heartbreak, anger, and depression. By the time Set Fire to the Rain is done, I am emotionally exhausted, and it's only halfway through the album! This album will be in my regular rotation forever, it was a classic the moment it was released.

my first thought was "is that a didgeridoo?", my second thought was "is this jazz? funk? disco? lounge?". The answers are yes and I don't know. I don't know how to categorize this but it's fun to listen to, a huge juxtaposition to the apocalyptic warnings of many of the lyrics. Some of the tracks ("Music of the Mind") veer too close to improvisational jazz for my taste but the album is nothing if not unique.

Most of the songs just repeat one line over and over. I don't hate the energy, I hate the lazy writing.

4-star album (too much unremarkable filler like Speed Demon, Liberian Girl, Another Part of Me and MJs ballads like I Just Can't Stop Loving You are really not my thing), but the real question is do I give it 4 stars when I can't hear a Michael Jackson song without thinking about the allegations of abuse? My ability to listen to his music is tainted. Lose a star.

When I first start listening to a Cure album I think "Oh, I really like the Cure!" but I tire of it around 2/3 of the way through the album.

I dislike when she sings in her high register with that breathy whisper (most heavily featured on White Dress but in other songs too), it is unlistenable. Overall I am not sure what the fuss is about with Lana.

This album benefits from the context in which it was discovered. I had grown very weary of what passed for early 2000s "alternative" rock and this album comes along and it was love at first listen. I had also just started dating someone really great so the time in my life when this album was on heavy rotation was rose colored for sure.

I feel like I should give this only 4 stars just to differentiate it from the Zeppelin albums we have had on this list so far...but I can't. Their whole sound is just so iconic and while often imitated, it has never been duplicated. It is to be expected that the third album they put out in the span of less than 2 years will have some weaker material, and it doesn't matter because they are at such a high level that those differences are meaningless.

Oh and you know what? I bought another Sonic Youth album and it sucked... it's just noise. - Juno MacGuff Maybe she bought this one?

I like the first song. The rest of the album didn't quite live up to it for me but it was fine.

I generally liked it, it needed something more special to really get it over the hump to a 4. Nothing to complain about but nothing to get excited about either.

I put Jack-Ass on a bunch of mixed tapes I made for people. I always enjoyed that that it was so different from the omnipresent Where It's At. The main draw of Beck is that he is not boring.

Mostly solid album. Loved "Alright", brings me straight back to the 90s. Hated "We're Not Supposed To", why do they sound like chipmunks? Averages out.

I wish every song wasn't so repetitive. Cut 1-2 minutes from each track and this would have been 4 stars.

This album spans the generations. It managed to annoy me AND a carpool full of middle schoolers.

Oof, this album has aged about as gracefully as Madonna herself. Super dated sound, weird artistic choices (looking at you Act of Contrition). The title track is still solid.

The whole album is a vibe best enjoyed after dark. It’s lonely and yet makes me feel like I am not alone. It’s hauntingly, achingly ethereal but also tinged with a sour regret you can’t quite stop thinking about. Glory Box is a standout for me but the whole album is perfection.

Sounded like the soundtrack to a 60s Bond movie...which I guess is what they were going for?

This is jazz where the main featured instrument is Amy's voice. I love the unique texture of her voice but the style of these songs is not really my thing.

Was it an artistic choice to have this album sound muffled? Or a limitation of the recording equipment?

Probably would have been a 3 but damn if Androgynous wasn't super ahead of its time.

Can't Take My Eyes Off You is maybe my favorite cover ever, Everything Is Everything had an amazing video, and Forgive Them Father might low key be the best track on the record. It has everything that makes Lauryn Hill unique, the hip hop paired with her incredibly soulful voice and tinged with reggae. Her lyrics that are often about being authentic and her deep disappointment with other people/systems that are not genuine. Her confidence and vulnerability were all on display in this album and that resonated deeply with me as high school senior trying to find her footing and place in the world.

Gorillaz kind of defies musical categorization and seems to pull samples and influences from lots of genres which keeps it interesting. Ultimately, that inclusion of different influences results in a sound that is much more sonically pleasing compared to Blur. But I do feel like I am missing something by not seeing the accompanying visual art that is part of the "virtual band" experience.

This album made me laugh, not sure that was what they were going for…

Grizzly Bear is at times very reminiscent of Fleet Foxes (Ready, Able in particular). It's good dreary day music but it took a couple listens because it tends to fade into the background.

The best of the crappy Blur albums on this list.

Well turns out I like 70s Rush way better than 80s Rush. This has a classic rock sound...like what Jack Black sounds like when he tries to be super rock n' roll.

If Enter Sandman is your entrance music, you better back that shit up because you are declaring yourself to be bad ass. As the best closer in baseball, Mariano Rivera backed that shit up. Virginia Tech uses Enter Sandman as the team takes the football field and the whole stadium is jumping up and down like the writhing snake that graces the album cover (spoiler, they do not always back that shit up but its still the most bad ass entry into a sports arena). Metallica, for the most part, also backs that shit up by delivering what has become kind of a standard against which all other heavy metal is judged.

Whatever you want to call this, nu metal, rap-rock, aggro-metal, alternative metal...it sucks. Look, I like to scream along as much as the next kid, but stop growling your lyrics at me. Wikipedia tells me people liked this album with Entertainment Weekly reviewer Jim Farber calling it "a big load of dumb fun" and said that "going to almost laughable lengths to mess with metal cliché". They got the laughable and clichéd part right.

I feel like the album cover really reflects the album. From far away, the picture is calm and serene. Up close, there are so many intricacies. This album is really beautiful but ultimately I prefer my serene music to be a little more depressing so that I can really get a good wallow.

There is so much potential here and a lot to like. Ultimately, I bumped this down from 4 to 3 because it just didn't feel like a cohesive album. More like a starting point that could go lots of different directions.

I like that kept hearing reprises of the song My Generation throughout the album, it made it feel cohesive.

This is the album that kickstarted my little pop-punk loving heart.

I am rarely (never?) tempted to go track by track in a review. But this album has so many different reasons to hate it, it's impressive so let's take this journey shall we? Holes - The beginning screams Coldplay but like a crappier version of Coldplay...oh wait, is that a saw? wtf? Tonite It Shows - It sounds like a song from a musical for a character who is like walking alone but then comes to some big realization. It feels very theatrical...but sung by someone who can't quite hit the notes. Endlessly - Is that the saw again? Is that a chorus of people trying to sound like the saw? I Collect Coins - Like an old timey jukebox running out of power and going slowing out of tune Opus 40 - oh! this song doesn't suck...wait, why are they dragging out the end so much? stop ruining this! Hudson Line - dear god the 80s saxophone and just 10 extra seconds of a single high pitch at the end. Why?! The Happy End (The Drunk Room) - Is the drunk room in a creepy funhouse? What is with the weird stop in the middle where I was blissfully relieved it was over, but no! Goddess on a Highway - oh! a second song that doesn't suck, let's try not to ruin this one at the end. The Funny Bird - NOW you are self-conscious about your voice and singing through some voice distortion box? why now? Oh good, let's end this song with a bunch of random noise. Pick Up If You're There - I didn't hate this one even though it was a little like a funeral dirge...until that effing saw sound again, and then for some reason an unintelligible answering machine message. Seriously, now you guys are just fucking with people, laughing at what they will listen to and call it music. Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp - I don't have a huge problem with this song. But it's way too little, way too late....oh wait, 3:50 seconds in it ends and becomes a hidden terrible track that again sounds like the backing to a bad musical that happens in a creepy funhouse. 2.5 not crappy songs are not enough to pull this out of 1 star territory. Also they made me spend all this time listening to the songs again so I could write this review and I am spiteful about that.

Started strong, but I was expecting a little harder sound with a name like The Stranglers. Ended up getting a very Doors vibe on some songs with that electric organ. Ended up being more silly than subversive.

Its funny to me that on the list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums" in Rolling Stone, #24 is Rage Against the Machine, #25 is Metallica's Black Album, and #26 is Dirt. I agree with this order, but there is little daylight between these and I enjoy each of them immensely for different reasons.

Really dig the guitars in this, nice find!

It's hard to listen to this now and not see the mental health problems. It's like a sonic manifestation of his bipolar disorder. Couple that with his recent anti-semitic comments and listening to this album 10 years after it dropped feels more like listening to a cautionary tale rather than experiencing ground-breaking art.

Sounds like a party.

I love Tracey Thorn's voice but I very much dislike the smooth jazz vibe. Her voice is the only reason this is getting two stars instead of 1.

The spoken word of Trouble Down South and Psycho Cupid was off-putting. Darkness and Doubt had some twang that was completely out of place. At least on Abernant the twang verged towards irish drinking song. This album is a big No.

I like the vibe but it never grabbed my attention to rise above background music.

Sonic Youth tried their best to ruin a great album with last 30 sec of Mildred Pierce and the end of Scooter + Jinx. Despite them trying to ruin their rating, there is a lot to like and appreciate about this album compared to some other Sonic Youth on this list.

I didn't discover Tori Amos until Under the Pink (1994) and then I went back and listened to Little Earthquakes relentlessly. Tori was basically a different, less distortion driven way to express my teenage angst at a time when grunge music was dominating airwaves. Grunge and Tori Amos were two sides of the same coin for teenage me.

This one is hard to nail down, is it blues? jazz? pop? Sometimes his voice really worked for me (Couldn't Love You More) and sometimes it really didn't. Overall, I am more intrigued than turned off.

His voice reminded me of Belle and Sebastian, but without the jangliness that makes Belle and Sebastian pleasant.

I can see how his voice works better for fronting a more pure jazz album like this than it does for Bone Machine. I just can't handle that this album is more like a live reading of a collection of short stories.

My 4 year old said "He sounds like a bad guy" and she is right. The title track gives me major Scar vibes from The Lion King. In a way, the music actually fits his voice better than some of the other albums we have had to listen to. That is the only reason that I am giving this an extra star and should in no way be misinterpreted as a softening of my dislike for this artist.

This album sounded like the backing track to an awesome training montage in an 80s action movie. I'm pumped, point me toward the bad guys.

Best Sonic Youth album on this list.

My family took a lot of road trips when I was a kid. We lived in NC But we drove to TX, Yellowstone National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park at different points. Nanci Griffith was the soundtrack to these drives across the country and honestly I can't think of a better soundtrack to driving through the mountains and across the heartland of this country. This probably veers too far into country music for my taste these days but the nostalgia of it is strong, her voice is beautiful, and her music helped shape my love of blue grass even though I don't love country.

I can respect the musicality, but The Beach Boys is not my jam.

My review of Grace by Jeff Buckley referenced how 1994 was the most incredible year for music (Portishead, Weezer, Beck, Jeff Buckley, Beastie Boys, Green Day, Live, Tori Amos, Cranberries, the list goes on) and Superunknown is part of what made 1994 incredible. Chris Cornell is one of the best male rock vocalists of all time, his range is ridiculous, and his voice is just raw power. Soundgarden may not be my favorite of the projects of Chris Cornell since I prefer Audioslave to the more heavy metal sound of Soundgarden, but his voice is nothing short of 5 stars every time.

Juxtaposing harmonies with lyrics about insects laying eggs under the skin or the stream of consciousness lyrics of I Got the Hots, The Soft Boys are not pleasant to listen to but at least they are not boring.

I know it’s a lot of noise, but somehow, and I can’t put my finger on why, it’s not JUST noise and I dig it.

I respect her range but I hate how she uses her voice to sing in that breathy way.

The middle third of the album was great. I have a special place in my heart for Gigantic since my roommate in college originally thought the lyrics sounded like "amphibian love" instead of "a big, big love". I still like to sing it that way. Ultimately, this album is not my favorite Pixies album, it doesn't feel as intentional as Doolittle, but I still love the Pixies sound.

Noisy noise a la Sonic Youth

This reminds me of Jethro Tull, so it gets the same rating.

Strange to think this is the album that kicked off heavy metal and resulted in much pearl clutching, I expected it to be more intense. Mostly it just sounds like a bluesy rock album with some kick ass guitar solos.

Man, "Don't" kill my vibe! I was digging this fossil of the early grunge/indie rock era...until they went and blew it with the song "Don't". One star deduction for that monstrosity of a song and making it the longest song on the album was just adding insult to injury.

Apart from the first track, I felt like I was at the enchantment under the sea dance before Marty McFly spices things up.

Semantic satiation is a phenomenon whereby the uninterrupted repetition of a word eventually leads to a sense that the word has lost its meaning. Halfway through drop the pressure Mylo says morherfucker’s so many times it loses all meaning. Not only are the lyrics repetitive, the repetition of the same sounds renders this album nothing more than background music.

I am not a fan of krautrock. I am a fan of my pre-K daughter's song about being cool in the pool (to the tune of "do your ears hang low"): I will stay real cool in my little swimming pool On a sunny summer day, I will splash around and play When I wear my bathing suit, I will be cool and cute In my swimming pooooool!

God Only Knows is a masterpiece. However, I mostly dislike vocals sung entirely in falsetto so some of the slow songs I find to be grating. They are at their best when the tempo is a little faster.