1001 Albums Summary

What would the world of Karaoke be without Bon Jovi..........? Better. It would be infinitely better. This album is washed out, dated, and embarrassing. I try to imagine the people who still listen to this recreationally and am instantly awash in a sea of peroxide, silicone, and yager. Gross.

To argue that this was anything less than a 5-star album would be a fight against democracy itself. The people have voted. CCR is an institution. Any band that can get right-wing voters to belt out anti-war anthems have some sort of Creole VOODOO going on behind the scenes. John Fogerty is from Berkley, California. The Fortress of Solitude for all things liberal. Yet if you see the confederate flag on a pick-up 50/50 chance they are bumping Fortunate Son. Insanity. True Bipartisanship rocking, I dig.

My 15-year-old self was stoked to see this on the list. While many would argue SLipknot was just more of the same Nu-Metal the 90s were famous for puking out, I found this to be a perfect gateway drug into a world of more evolved Metal. I went from this to bands like (At The Gates, Origin, Sepultura, Dystopia)... which in turn led me to 1000 subgenres, and eventual love of (Metal, Crust, etc, etc) that has never wavered. If it wasn't for the commercial success of this album, it may be that the entirety of my vinyl collection would have been seriously altered. Also, after giving it a relisten, it had some seriously innovative stuff going on in the realm of percussion. so yeah.

A weak attempt at a Beatles facsimile, which I found was not uncommon in the 90's. Oasis did similar productions, and I would argue they did it with more passion and balls. Nothing flat offensive about the album, it was just relentlessly forgettable.

One of my new favorite albums. Feels like I jacked up caffeine intravenously while dripping rainbow-colored vials into both eyeballs. Such a trip.