Journey in Progress
Discovering music one album at a time
1065
Albums Rated
3.69
Avg Rating
263
5-Star Albums
98%
Complete
24 albums remaining
Rating Speed
5
Per Week
1488
Days Active
Reviews
555
Written
52%
Review Rate
vs Global
0.5
Avg Diff
3.69
Avg Rating
Rating Distribution
How you rate albums
Rating Timeline
Average rating over time
Ratings by Decade
Which era do you prefer?
Activity by Day
When do you listen?
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Generous
Rater Style
42
1-Star Albums
Taste Analysis
Genre Preferences
Ratings by genre
Origin Preferences
Ratings by country
Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| They Were Wrong, So We Drowned | 5 | 2.11 | +2.89 |
| Wonderful Rainbow | 5 | 2.28 | +2.72 |
| GI | 5 | 2.54 | +2.46 |
| Bubble And Scrape | 5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
| Let's Get Killed | 5 | 2.68 | +2.32 |
| Orbital 2 | 5 | 2.69 | +2.31 |
| Yank Crime | 5 | 2.69 | +2.31 |
| Snivilisation | 5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
| Atomizer | 5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
| Group Sex | 5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| To Pimp A Butterfly | 1 | 3.61 | -2.61 |
| Imagine | 1 | 3.45 | -2.45 |
| Elvis Presley | 1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
| The Sensual World | 1 | 3.17 | -2.17 |
| Autobahn | 1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
| The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway | 1 | 3.08 | -2.08 |
| Suzanne Vega | 1 | 3.02 | -2.02 |
| Future Days | 1 | 3.01 | -2.01 |
| A Seat at the Table | 1 | 3.01 | -2.01 |
| Heavy Weather | 1 | 2.98 | -1.98 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums and high weighted score
| Artist | Albums | Avg | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 6 | 5 | 4.33 |
| Beatles | 7 | 4.86 | 4.3 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 5 | 4.25 |
| Bob Dylan | 7 | 4.43 | 4 |
| The Rolling Stones | 6 | 4.5 | 4 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 4.6 | 4 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 4.75 | 4 |
| Metallica | 4 | 4.75 | 4 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Public Enemy | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 | 4 |
| The Who | 5 | 4.4 | 3.88 |
| The Kinks | 4 | 4.5 | 3.86 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Beastie Boys | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Beck | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Frank Sinatra | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.67 | 3.83 |
| Pavement | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Elliott Smith | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Ray Charles | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Sly & The Family Stone | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Orbital | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Arcade Fire | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| AC/DC | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| The Clash | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| A Tribe Called Quest | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| OutKast | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Willie Nelson | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Muddy Waters | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Mudhoney | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Taylor Swift | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Dinosaur Jr. | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Coldplay | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Massive Attack | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Iggy Pop | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| The Pogues | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Alice Cooper | 2 | 5 | 3.8 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.25 | 3.71 |
| Michael Jackson | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| The Doors | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| U2 | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| Marvin Gaye | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| Blur | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| Prince | 3 | 4.33 | 3.67 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 4 | 3.63 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 4 | 3.63 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums and low weighted score
| Artist | Albums | Avg | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 1.5 | 2.4 |
| Kate Bush | 3 | 2 | 2.5 |
| Kraftwerk | 3 | 2 | 2.5 |
| Morrissey | 4 | 2.25 | 2.57 |
5-Star Albums (263)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Scritti Politti
1/5
Three words will make my blood run cold now: 80s British pop.
Getting that out of the way, I don’t really understand why I needed to hear this before I slip the mortal coil. I’m happy for Mr. Gartside’s success in the 80s, but this is just like Wham! without George Michael. It was fine at the time, but feels redundant in this small list of albums to hear before I hear no more.
25 likes
Depeche Mode
2/5
Evidently my love for this album faded at some point because I was just underwhelmed this time around.
9 likes
1/5
Evidently, this was removed (for good reason), but I persevered anyway... for over an hour.
4 likes
5/5
I’m sure I’m being contrarian by giving this 5, but I don’t care.
2 likes
Sepultura
5/5
I haven’t heard Sepultura since high school, and I forgot how great they sounded.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (42)
All Ratings
Talking Heads
3/5
I still like Talking Heads and David Byrne. This is their weakest album by far. It’s really hard to fully experience the “punk rebellion” of certain albums when you’re too separated from what they were upending (70s pop, in this case). I realize that our kids won’t really see some of our music as revolutionary for the same reason.
The Strokes
4/5
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Yes
3/5
Bad Company
4/5
Dolly Parton
5/5
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
The Style Council
3/5
I liked The Jam (Paul Weller's original band)... I'm not sure about British R&B, personally, but I understand it as a (possibly) important album.
Elvis Presley
4/5
The Verve
4/5
Bon Jovi
5/5
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
Bob Dylan
5/5
Jeru The Damaja
5/5
I can't believe I hadn't heard this one, but it was obviously good.
The Kinks
4/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
The Offspring
5/5
I loved this album as a teenager. I still love it.
The Crusaders
4/5
Pavement
5/5
Shuggie Otis
4/5
Rush
4/5
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Donovan
5/5
TV On The Radio
4/5
Green Day
5/5
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
Elliott Smith
5/5
Sonic Youth
4/5
The Electric Prunes
4/5
Oasis
4/5
Elvis Costello
4/5
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
John Martyn
3/5
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Q-Tip
4/5
Nick Drake
4/5
Michael Jackson
4/5
Foo Fighters
5/5
The Doors
4/5
Various Artists
4/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
Miles Davis
4/5
The Fall
4/5
The Sonics
4/5
Alice In Chains
4/5
5/5
Finley Quaye
4/5
Bert Jansch
3/5
Van Morrison
4/5
Pixies
4/5
Billy Joel
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
The Streets
4/5
4/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Abdullah Ibrahim
2/5
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
The Roots
4/5
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Silver Jews
4/5
I was very surprised, but I ended up really loving the indie/country/whatever sound. Also, Apple Music started playing Pavement immediately following this, so that algorithm is pretty dead on.
Simply Red
1/5
This is why I didn't like pop.
Serge Gainsbourg
4/5
Despite not knowing the name Serge Gainsbourg, I kind of knew what to expect. This was a perfectly chill way to start the day.
Jungle Brothers
4/5
Not my favorite 80s hip-hop (and wouldn't have made my list), but still fun and thoughtful.
Depeche Mode
2/5
Evidently my love for this album faded at some point because I was just underwhelmed this time around.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
This is why I like this project. I am sometimes reminded about a great album that I haven’t listened to in years.
Magazine
2/5
It wasn't bad, but it definitely wasn't an album I needed to hear before I die.
Bee Gees
3/5
Not what I was expecting, but surprisingly good.
David Bowie
4/5
Still a classic for a reason.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Eagles
3/5
Good, relaxing album. Every song is about a minute too long, but that’s The Eagle.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
It’s okay.
Sepultura
5/5
I haven’t heard Sepultura since high school, and I forgot how great they sounded.
Nas
5/5
I’m not surprised how much I still like this.
George Michael
3/5
Meh.
Fela Kuti
3/5
The Hives
4/5
More punk than I remember, and just good fun.
Fugazi
5/5
Always one of my favorite albums, and I was pretty happy to see this on my list this morning.
Violent Femmes
4/5
I still love the Violent Femmes. This was never my favorite album, but it's still fun to listen to.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Metallica
4/5
I remembered liking this more.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Guns N' Roses
4/5
Better than I remember, but still not the breed of nihilism that I would listen to on a regular basis.
Fela Kuti
3/5
The The
3/5
ABBA
3/5
Genesis
3/5
Dr. John
3/5
Fleetwood Mac
2/5
This projects is making me hate the 70s even more.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
Christine and the Queens
1/5
Nick Drake
3/5
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
3/5
Crowded House
2/5
This didn't really change my opinion of early 90s alt/college rock. It's not really bad, it's just a time capsule; it may or may not have aged well, depending on your relationship with 90s alt and, basically, the Reality Bites soundtrack.
Steely Dan
3/5
Stereolab
3/5
Can
1/5
Jeff Beck
4/5
A welcome respite after weeks of "art rock" and easy listening.
Neil Young
3/5
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
I'm probably rating this higher because I'm so tired of New Wave, 70s, and seemingly random choices on here. Still, it's a great album to play in the background on any lazy weekend.
Kanye West
4/5
Parts of this were much better than I remembered, and others were very "Kanye 1.0" (which I found a little grating at the time, and more now).
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
Fatboy Slim
5/5
Cat Stevens
4/5
Much better than I expected.
Can
5/5
This was insane, and I loved it.
Tortoise
5/5
Brian Eno
4/5
The Kinks
4/5
4/5
Khaled
3/5
Not bad, but I agree with whoever said he loses a star for Imagine. Also, YouTube wands this worse, but I can’t fault Khaled for that.
Bad Brains
5/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Keith Jarrett
4/5
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Suede
2/5
The Who
4/5
Talking Heads
4/5
Def Leppard
3/5
Louis Prima
4/5
Ray Charles
5/5
Pavement
5/5
Tom Waits
4/5
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
The Cure
4/5
The Smiths
3/5
Beatles
5/5
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
5/5
Radiohead
5/5
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
Thin Lizzy
4/5
The Jam
3/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
Deep Purple
4/5
Flamin' Groovies
5/5
Radiohead
5/5
Adele
5/5
The Beach Boys
5/5
Ute Lemper
4/5
Beastie Boys
5/5
The only album so far where I've intentionally listened to the "extended" version.
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
Jurassic 5
5/5
Adele
4/5
Don McLean
4/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Common
4/5
Jethro Tull
4/5
Japan
3/5
Culture Club
1/5
Buzzcocks
4/5
Funkadelic
4/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Sonic Youth
4/5
Gene Clark
4/5
Method Man
4/5
The Black Crowes
4/5
Michael Jackson
4/5
Madonna
3/5
Neil Young
3/5
5/5
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
Made for a fun, funky time getting ready and cleaning up the house. I forgot how much I missed this kind of funk until I heard it again.
Thundercat
4/5
Peter Tosh
4/5
Blue Cheer
4/5
Sister Sledge
2/5
David Bowie
4/5
Fiona Apple
2/5
This was one-star for so much, but it redeemed a star over the runtime. Not sure how, but it did.
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
Charles Mingus
5/5
Reminded me why I love good jazz.
David Bowie
4/5
David Gray
4/5
Wilco
4/5
Dead Kennedys
5/5
Still love this album after all these years.
Public Enemy
5/5
Eminem
3/5
I like parts of this album, but too much of it is really hard to listen to (then and now).
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
Orbital
5/5
Lambchop
5/5
Kate Bush
1/5
This reminded me of everything I hated about 80s pop. I delayed it all day until I was cleaning the house. I put it on all the speakers in the background, and it still managed to ruin housecleaning.
George Michael
4/5
I'll be honest, some amazing production and the Dolby Atmos remastering really elevated this to add a couple stars to an album I didn't think I would enjoy.
R.E.M.
4/5
Richard Hawley
4/5
David Bowie
4/5
Napalm Death
4/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Arcade Fire
5/5
Kid Rock
1/5
It's not just that the music is bad (and it is), and it's not just that he can't rap (but he can't), it's that the lyrics and everything just highlight what a horrible, disgusting persona he built. It's just so awful, and actually pretty disturbing.
The Kinks
5/5
Spiritualized
4/5
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
Judas Priest
5/5
AC/DC
5/5
Slayer
4/5
KISS
5/5
Fine. I'm giving this one all the stars just because it was fun, sounded amazing on Atmos, and it's Friday.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Burning Spear
4/5
I didn’t realize how much I wanted to listen to reggae on my drive until this album started.
The Saints
4/5
50 Cent
3/5
Pere Ubu
4/5
The Who
3/5
PJ Harvey
4/5
The Replacements
4/5
Orbital
5/5
Again, I forgot how much I enjoyed Orbital. At over an hour, this album flew by perfectly.
Rocket From The Crypt
5/5
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
The Youngbloods
4/5
The Band
4/5
10cc
3/5
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Blur
5/5
Solomon Burke
4/5
The Charlatans
4/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Herbie Hancock
5/5
Cypress Hill
4/5
The Undertones
5/5
Youssou N'Dour
3/5
Steely Dan
4/5
The Smiths
4/5
Kind of weird to get this literally 12 hours after Queen Elizabeth died, but I liked this one more than I expected (presumably because Marr wrote most of, if not all, the music).
David Bowie
3/5
The Cramps
4/5
Kraftwerk
2/5
If it was over 36 minutes, I don’t think I could have made it.
The xx
3/5
Boston
4/5
The Modern Lovers
4/5
The Triffids
4/5
Lou Reed
5/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
The Go-Go's
4/5
The Clash
5/5
It feels almost like cheating to listen to this again, as I have it basically memorized. Still, I can’t believe this was an hour; it goes by so quickly.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
Having been a longtime hip-hop fan, this album is still so confusing to me from moment to moment.
LL Cool J
5/5
Dire Straits
4/5
Fiona Apple
3/5
Jane Weaver
4/5
The Gun Club
3/5
Love
3/5
DJ Shadow
5/5
Eagles
4/5
Mike Ladd
4/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
The 13th Floor Elevators
5/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
John Grant
4/5
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
R.E.M.
4/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
Fugees
5/5
I remembered the hits and Lauryn Hill’s voice, but I forgot how much Pras and Wyclef Jean demolished the mic. And the crate-digging samples and beats? Wow. Obviously, highlighted in Killing Me Softly, the depth and creativity of sampling on the whole album was some of the best of the time. Also, props for throwing out a line about Guantanamo Bay in 1996.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
The Byrds
4/5
Erykah Badu
4/5
B.B. King
5/5
Tracy Chapman
4/5
The Magnetic Fields
4/5
Beyoncé
1/5
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Van Morrison
4/5
Rod Stewart
2/5
Pulp
3/5
John Martyn
4/5
The Who
5/5
Songhoy Blues
4/5
Steely Dan
4/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
The Jam
3/5
Four stars for That’s Entertainment, but I just can’t do Brit pop.
OutKast
5/5
The Zombies
4/5
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Metallica
5/5
Patti Smith
4/5
Eurythmics
3/5
Blondie
4/5
The Verve
5/5
Morrissey
2/5
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
Fishbone
5/5
Despite my sordid past in the scene, I had fears of hearing “ska” again after all these years, but of course this was different. It was more punk than ska, and everything I loved about the scene back then.
T. Rex
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
Steve Earle
4/5
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
Björk
4/5
Janelle Monáe
4/5
This one was tough. I really was not a fan, but it grew on me over the course of the hour.
1/5
Evidently, this was removed (for good reason), but I persevered anyway... for over an hour.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
I had somehow forgotten that Curtis Mayfield did the soundtrack for Super Fly. The movie was okay, but this soundtrack is way more heartfelt and charged than it deserved.
The Pharcyde
4/5
Mike Oldfield
3/5
I avoid prog-rock, in general, and I wasn’t looking forward to anything that gets listed as both “rock” and “new age.” Still, this was interesting, and it gets an extra star just for the dwarves growling vocals at one point.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Beck
5/5
I love this album from my younger days, but I will admit that listening to it made me follow up with Mutations (which I enjoy more for nostalgia or quality reasons).
Marvin Gaye
4/5
David Crosby
3/5
James Brown
4/5
Paul Simon
4/5
Meat Loaf
4/5
I turned this on to try drive my 5yo son out of the room, so I could take a shower in peace. Moments later, he was dancing with his ukulele as a guitar and singing along. I knew I had made a terrible mistake.
King Crimson
3/5
Late 60s were an… interesting… time for rock.
Kendrick Lamar
1/5
I keep trying, but I just don’t get it. It feels like lesser The Roots, and the blend of spirituality and misogyny are too much.
The White Stripes
4/5
The Byrds
3/5
Willie Nelson
5/5
Dr. Dre
4/5
Le Tigre
4/5
The Beach Boys
3/5
Hugh Masekela
5/5
Primal Scream
2/5
Eric Clapton
4/5
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
2/5
This is the background music of a gallery opening for a friend of a friend. You're attending to support your original friend, but you're desperately hanging out near the open bar and waiting for it to be over. Thankfully, you only have to be there for 45 minutes, and your alarm is set. Also, they have canapés.
Daft Punk
4/5
Bob Dylan
5/5
OutKast
5/5
Miles Davis
5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Billy Bragg
5/5
John Prine
3/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
The Black Keys
5/5
Skunk Anansie
3/5
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
5/5
Grateful Dead
3/5
Public Enemy
5/5
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Lenny Kravitz
4/5
Muddy Waters
5/5
This is such classic blues, and the only surprise to realize it came out as late as 1977. This is truly one of the best representations of the blues sound (okay, there are a lot of other great albums I can now think of, but you know what I mean).
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
The Cardigans
3/5
Tina Turner
4/5
k.d. lang
3/5
It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s not country. There might be one or two standards, but no. I don’t know how the album as a whole could be considered country… I mean, slow guitars do not equal country. Still, it’s fine. I guess that’s my problem: this is a perfectly fine album that many people have heard, and many others haven’t, but how did it end up on this list? It seems like every major publication gave it a solid B (or 4/5 stars), and that’s what it seems like. It’s fine. It’s fine. I’m just confused.
Mudhoney
5/5
Okay, this isn’t universal, but it’s a classic to me (even if you never heard it, you heard Nirvana and Pearl Jam after Mudhoney’s influence).
The Byrds
4/5
The Damned
5/5
Iron Butterfly
5/5
Queen
3/5
I was excited when I saw I had Queen. Then, I realized it was this album. The album of no hits. Better than a bad album, but that’s about it.
The Who
5/5
Much more of the blues sound (that the Brit bands were allowed to appropriate) and stuff I love from The Who. It was a long album, but I was never bored.
Paul Weller
2/5
Hole
4/5
This was my exercise in being open-minded, since I remembered really not liking Hole in in the 90s (too many thoughts tied up with Nirvana and my punk leanings). It was better than I remembered, and I enjoyed listening to the whole album no longer as a teenager.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
King Crimson
4/5
I'm still not sure I "get" King Crimson, but it went really well with the epic thunderstorms sweeping through the area.
Fats Domino
5/5
Tori Amos
3/5
Lucinda Williams
4/5
Orange Juice
1/5
Afrika Bambaataa
5/5
Little Richard
3/5
Soundgarden
5/5
The Sugarcubes
4/5
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Taylor Swift
5/5
This is the opposite of all my music, but I have to admit that Taylor Swift can write a song.
The Stooges
5/5
I didn't expect so much bebop saxophone in a punk album, but I was not disappointed.
Beatles
4/5
Evidently, the stereo version was secondary, and George Martin mixed the whole thing to stereo in under three hours. The albums about 30 minutes, so I'm not sure where he spent the other 2.5 hours after just splitting the vocals and lead instruments and going out for a smoke. The only good mix is for "Money (That's What I Want)," and that was evidently done the next day (after a good break).
The mix is so bad, but it's at least a mix of The Beatles, so it's technically still winning.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Incubus
5/5
Aerosmith
4/5
Okay, this actually had better blues and rock moments than I remember, and is overall much preferable to the Aerosmith I remember from the 80s.
a-ha
3/5
“Take on Me” is five stars.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
The Only Ones
4/5
Okay, this was way more fun than I was expecting.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
Elliott Smith
5/5
I love Elliott Smith, but I was kind of dreading this one and had to get it out of the way before it could make me melancholy for the rest of the day. He had a true gift for changing the mood of everything else happening with a few simple lines.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Doves
3/5
Sebadoh
5/5
I remember seeing them live with my dad (I didn’t know who they were), and they didn’t disappoint. Even today, I listen to this and remember why there even was a “post-punk” sound, how powerful it could be, and I wish it had been less-defined by not being something else than it’s own honest grit.
Queens of the Stone Age
5/5
Beck
5/5
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Gil Scott-Heron
5/5
The Stooges
5/5
Really the best of Iggy, and it happened to be remastered for Atmos.
Scritti Politti
1/5
Three words will make my blood run cold now: 80s British pop.
Getting that out of the way, I don’t really understand why I needed to hear this before I slip the mortal coil. I’m happy for Mr. Gartside’s success in the 80s, but this is just like Wham! without George Michael. It was fine at the time, but feels redundant in this small list of albums to hear before I hear no more.
Miles Davis
5/5
Elastica
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Radiohead
5/5
The War On Drugs
4/5
Okay. I’m surprised I haven’t listened to more War on Drugs, and I plan to remedy that.
Aerosmith
3/5
I just… “kissing your sassafrass”… that’s a real lyric.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Baaba Maal
4/5
Michael Jackson
5/5
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
5/5
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
Gorillaz
5/5
Not my favorite Gorillaz album, but still easily five stars.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I'm struggling with this. I don't remember hating Joni Mitchell, but this entire album felt like the soundtrack to the most boring scenes in 70s cinemas (and I love 70s cinema, but I also remember the boring scenes). I'm rarely surprised by this project, but it's normally a delightful surprise with a great funk album I hadn't heard for some reason. This surprised me because I thought it would be good, and it just wasn't.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
This was better Joni Mitchell than The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Still not my style, but much better.
Astor Piazzolla
5/5
Evidently, I just love Jazz because I just let Apple Music keep playing a smart playlist after this, and time disappeared.
Aimee Mann
4/5
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
Stan Getz
5/5
The Velvet Underground
4/5
I don't know. I really like VU, and I love Lou Reed. I also love the title track. As an album, though? It's a little tougher to swallow. I'm going to give this one star more than it probably deserves because of the things I just said I love.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
5/5
My only regret was that I didn’t get this album on a Friday.
Def Leppard
4/5
This is a tough one. I do not like Def Leppard. The best Def Leppard album is still Def Leppard. However, I could see what they were doing, and it was successful. Adding a star for the last few songs. Removing a star because it’s still Def Leppard.
Devendra Banhart
4/5
Okay, based on the description as "psychedelic folk" I had very low expectations, but this was a great Friday album. It's actually the exact flavor of "folk" that I can get into; reminds me a little of Sondre Lerche or even Damian Rice. I was pleasantly surprised.
Stereo MC's
3/5
The Mars Volta
5/5
FKA twigs
3/5
D'Angelo
3/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
Tangerine Dream
4/5
Nothing I would just sit down and listen to regularly, but great to work or concentrate to.
Norah Jones
5/5
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
It’s so crunchy and filthy. I feel like a need a shower after this album. It’s perfectly 90s. It’s five stars.
Beatles
5/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
It's live prog, and the encore is "Nut Rocker." That's the totality of what you need to know.
The Sabres Of Paradise
4/5
I was worried about another electronic album, but this was surprisingly good. More trip-hop and other influences.
5/5
Stan Getz
4/5
Bob Dylan
5/5
Big Black
5/5
Billie Holiday
5/5
Billie freaking Holliday.
Liz Phair
4/5
Black Flag
5/5
Gang Of Four
4/5
Beastie Boys
4/5
This is tough. I would easily say that Beastie Boys are five stars all around… but… even they would say later that this was probably a three star album among their discography. So, I’ll split the difference this time.
Roni Size
3/5
It's just... 2 hours is a bit much.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
When I was a teenager and first heard this album all the way through (almost twenty years after it's release), I actually thought it was a "best of" compilation. Every song was perfect. I still love it.
Minor Threat
5/5
Arcade Fire
5/5
4/5
MGMT
4/5
Parliament
5/5
Pixies
5/5
Fred Neil
3/5
The Doors
4/5
5/5
I’m sure I’m being contrarian by giving this 5, but I don’t care.
Cornershop
3/5
Os Mutantes
4/5
Talking Heads
4/5
Sigur Rós
4/5
Mariah Carey
1/5
I’m trying, but I dislike this as much now as I did in the 90s.
Duke Ellington
5/5
The Duke all day, and this was a great recording.
The Killers
5/5
Maxwell
2/5
The Auteurs
3/5
Neneh Cherry
2/5
Pearl Jam
5/5
Nirvana
5/5
Randy Newman
3/5
Basement Jaxx
3/5
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
New York Dolls
4/5
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Suicide
4/5
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/5
Still better than Fred Durst or Kid Rock.
The Notorious B.I.G.
5/5
Coldplay
5/5
Gotan Project
3/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
Pixies
5/5
Ash
3/5
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
The United States Of America
4/5
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
Amy Winehouse
5/5
CHIC
3/5
Tim Buckley
4/5
John Lee Hooker
5/5
Wire
5/5
Miles Davis
5/5
Cheap Trick
4/5
Damn. I'm pretty sure I still don't really like Cheap Trick (wrong generation), but I have to say that the live version of them is pretty good.
Pretenders
3/5
Slade
3/5
Better than I expected. I still wouldn't listen to this over AC/DC or something, around the same time, but not bad.
Massive Attack
5/5
Underworld
3/5
3/5
Bill Callahan
5/5
Nina Simone
4/5
Kanye West
1/5
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Taylor Swift
5/5
CHVRCHES
4/5
The Isley Brothers
4/5
Dion
3/5
This was not what I expected. Some parts were better than expected, and others were actually exactly what I was afraid of.
The Cure
3/5
ZZ Top
4/5
Tim Buckley
3/5
Primal Scream
3/5
Femi Kuti
4/5
Not my normal fare, but really enjoyable for what it is.
George Jones
3/5
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Chicago
3/5
It's great for what it is, but I still can't handle over an hour of jamming.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
5/5
Quicksilver Messenger Service
4/5
Massive Attack
5/5
Milton Nascimento
4/5
Beatles
5/5
The Slits
3/5
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
Sparks
3/5
John Cale
2/5
Kings of Leon
4/5
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
The Birthday Party
3/5
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
5/5
I was not expecting to like this as much as I did, but I loved it. A win for this project.
JAY Z
5/5
Leftfield
4/5
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
Otis Redding
5/5
Talk Talk
3/5
Wild Beasts
3/5
The Cult
4/5
Sade
2/5
MC Solaar
4/5
ZZ Top
5/5
Solange
1/5
Little Simz
3/5
New Order
3/5
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
David Ackles
3/5
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Ryan Adams
4/5
The La's
3/5
Wasn’t bad at all, but “There She Goes” is the only memorable song (as much as I love it).
The Teardrop Explodes
2/5
Mekons
2/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
I feel like the nine Brit pop albums before this might have artificially boosted the score, but I'm going with it.
Air
3/5
Pantera
5/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Mylo
3/5
Kraftwerk
1/5
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
Circle Jerks
5/5
Cocteau Twins
3/5
Carpenters
4/5
Jimmy Smith
5/5
Prince
5/5
I always forget how tight this album is. All bangers, as weird as that is to say.
Frank Black
4/5
Objectively, I’m not sure why this is on the list (as much as I love The Pixies). Subjectively, it was a fun album and exactly what I want to listen to. I’ll split the difference with my rating, I guess.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
4/5
Korn
3/5
John Lennon
4/5
Skepta
3/5
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
3/5
5/5
Anita Baker
1/5
I know it’s supposed to be good, but I just can’t. Her voice was good, but it all sounded the same and so tied to a time when I think the state of R&B was at a low.
Doves
4/5
Todd Rundgren
3/5
It was that one song that sounded like it was definitely in a Guardians of the Galaxy movie or deserved to be, then 84 more minutes… it wasn’t bad, but there was a lot.
CHIC
4/5
Lou Reed
4/5
Astrud Gilberto
5/5
Just fun.
Brian Eno
3/5
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
The Smiths
2/5
Public Enemy
5/5
Aerosmith
3/5
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Green Day
4/5
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Dizzee Rascal
1/5
Grateful Dead
2/5
Billy Bragg
3/5
Nirvana
5/5
Still an all-time favorite after all these years.
Minutemen
4/5
Leonard Cohen
5/5
X-Ray Spex
3/5
The Velvet Underground
5/5
The Libertines
4/5
Koffi Olomide
4/5
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
Beach House
4/5
The Residents
2/5
Roxy Music
2/5
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Pulp
5/5
Slipknot
3/5
Better than I remembered, but also worse in some ways (the heady days of singing in the middle of metal).
Garbage
4/5
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Mott The Hoople
3/5
Julian Cope
2/5
Tim Buckley
3/5
The Everly Brothers
4/5
The Beach Boys
4/5
Shack
3/5
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
New Order
4/5
Okay, this has renewed my faith that all "pop" from the 80s wasn't trash. I still enjoyed this.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
Iggy Pop
5/5
Sepultura
4/5
Pink Floyd
3/5
Madonna
2/5
The Monks
4/5
American GIs forming a proto-punk band in Germany on their free time. Nice. It’s rough, but I liked it more than I expected.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
I wish the list had included an album that didn’t have to be cobbled together on YT, but that’s nobody’s fault. Overall, I didn’t hate it. I won’t listen to it again, I’m sure, but I will forever know what it sounds like if it’s referenced. I guess that’s a win.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
It's fine. The british bias of the book is starting to slowly kill me, as this was not especially required listening, but it was fine.
John Lennon
1/5
I remember liking this when I was young. I was also idealistic and actually believed the random crap spouted when I was young. Now this entire album just rings of the worst impulses of John Lennon without the balance of the rest of his former bandmates.
Sonic Youth
5/5
This was my Sonic Youth. This weaned me (but not completely) off hardcore punk with its crunchy guitar and throwaway lyrics. I might be rating this higher out of nostalgia, but at the very least I believe it to be one of the best Sonic Youth albums.
Elbow
3/5
I remember liking Elbow, but I didn’t remember this album. Evidently, I didn’t remember this one because I didn’t really like it. It was fine.
Röyksopp
3/5
This is a tough one. I actually thought it was great background music, but not an album I would care to give my full attention to. Trying to judge it fairly means thinking of it in the foreground, and I'm just not that into Norwegian electronic music, I guess.
The Stooges
5/5
When asked what he thought his legacy was, Iggy Pop said he wasn't sure, but he thinks he helped wipe out the 60s.
That along would give this five stars, but I also happen to love this album. It’s not even my favorite Iggy Pop, but it’s still worth all the stars.
Dire Straits
4/5
I enjoyed this much more than I expected.
Gene Clark
4/5
This wasn’t my usual, but it was good enough that I just let it keep going. Not bad.
The Byrds
3/5
Getting this right after a solo Gene Clark felt weird (literally the day after). This The Byrds without Gene Clark and without Bob Dylan's songs. It's... experimental. Okay.
Scott Walker
1/5
The album is named "Scott 2," which felt like a bad sign. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this was so big and overblown that I just started laughing when they went ahead and doubled up his voice so he could echo himself (badly).
Peter Frampton
3/5
I mean, it’s Frampton. It’s probably the best version of Frampton, for what that’s worth. It was fine, but I did want to argue with my speakers every time he referenced “rocking,” because I just can’t understand how this was ever considered rock.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
I don’t have much to say. The good songs are actually really good. The bad ones are awful. This is possibly the actual definition of a 3-star album.
GZA
5/5
I’ll be honest, I didn’t even remember this album, and I had already given it at least four stars just based on GZA alone. In addition, it has plenty of Inspectah Deck, my personal favorite flow artist in the Clan.
The flows are great. RZA produces with the standard sound. The lyrics are sharp even when they verge on making this a concept album based on the movie, Shogun Assassin. Yep, I just talked myself into five stars.
Randy Newman
3/5
These days, I do appreciate the number of people who just misinterpret Randy Newman so much (no concept of satire). I want to like more of his songs, but his older stuff (this album) makes him sound nasty to the point of misanthropy. Then, when he tries to sound sincere, it’s impossible to believe it.
Prince
4/5
It’s Prince, so it’s great. I am deducting one star because 80 minutes is just too much.
Talking Heads
3/5
Steve Winwood
1/5
I don't normally do this, but I just can't today. This is literally so three-star and mid in every way that it actually became a one-star.
The Avalanches
4/5
I’ve always loved this album. I do think some songs are definitely standouts, so it’s not a straight 5 stars, but I still love it.
Bob Dylan
5/5
This is probably not my favorite Dylan album, as far as straight relistening goes, but even then it’s still a five star album.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
I am not the market for 00’s glam. I hated the original glam. For glam, this was fine. I didn’t hate it.
Frank Zappa
4/5
Honestly, this was good. I've always liked (most) Zappa in a "he's doing something different, and I support that" way, but this had some good blues riffs apart from the novelty.
Waylon Jennings
5/5
Outlaw Country is basically the only kind of country I will support, and this is the OG.
Soft Cell
3/5
I liked Tainted Love more than I remember, and the rest of the album was not as bad as I feared. Still, its synth pop.
Frank Ocean
2/5
It’s not bad, but I just don’t see it as exceptional.
Heaven 17
1/5
No. Not well-received by charts or critics? Fantastic. This is a great experiment if you wondered what Talking Heads would be like without any actual talent. Every once in a while, I’d think a certain riff was decent… and then they’d repeat it for five minutes until I hated them even more. Why?
Sam Cooke
5/5
I thought I loved Sam Cooke as much as I could before, but I had never heard him live. His voice is so perfectly raw, and this really feels like the definition of soul. He put his soul into this. I am amazed that I hadn’t heard this earlier, but I’m glad I finally did.
Lana Del Rey
4/5
This was much better than I expected.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Genesis
1/5
Why is there a 90 minute Peter Gabriel rock opera on this list?!?
The Byrds
3/5
This wasn't bad, but I do feel like this kind of album (and also The Byrds) are overrepresented on this (relatively) short list.
Living Colour
4/5
I forgot how fun and offbeat this whole album was.
Merle Haggard
3/5
Ray Charles
5/5
Not much to say except I love the title.
The Specials
3/5
Megadeth
4/5
Neil Young
3/5
American Music Club
4/5
I had no idea what to expect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
I love the Sex Pistols and punk. I liked Johnny Rotten. I just couldn’t with this.
Queen
5/5
The full range from You're My Best Friend to Bohemian Rhapsody, and all in under 45 minutes. It's big and epic, and still tight.
Meat Puppets
4/5
This was so much better than I remembered, and then my Apple Music just went off playing Nirvana, NIN, and my 90s favorites...
The Adverts
4/5
This was pretty top-notch Brit punk. I'll save the extra star for Clash or Sex Pistols, but it was an enjoyable time.
Killing Joke
4/5
The album as a whole didn't blow me away, but there were some bangers mixed in there. Glad I heard it before death, at least.
The Divine Comedy
5/5
I’ll be in the minority and say I loved this. It was way better than Scott Walker, IMO. The lyrics weren’t dumb, they were purposefully ridiculous at times. I liked it.
Suzanne Vega
1/5
Why her and why this album? This isn’t even her popular album.
Brian Eno
3/5
I mean, it does what it says on the can. I listened to it in the background while I worked. Effective.
Muddy Waters
5/5
It's real blues. It's live. I don't quite understand those who'd rather hear a studio blues album than a live one with the energy, but I'll let them have that opinion. For me, this was a perfect snapshot of live blues, taken basically at the end.
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
It wasn't that bad. I could go a lifetime without ever hearing the band name again (just wanting to be hated out of the gate), but the actual "music" was definitely not the worst "noise album" I've heard.
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
Not sure what to say about this. It’s definitely Jerry Lee Lewis being his most Jerry Lee Lewis. It’s not my style, and I can’t complain.
Pere Ubu
3/5
Björk
4/5
I feel like I grew out of my Björk phase (which overlapped with most of my Radiohead phase), but this album is still good. It’s not so artsy as to not be enjoyable. It’s artistic, but it’s also just a good listen.
Hot Chip
3/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
This is just good, classic CCR.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
The songs that clicked were so perfect (obviously Son of a Preacher Man), but some of the songs gave away a disconnect between her vocals and the instrumentation (probably due to the dubbing). A mix of 5 and 3 star songs.
George Harrison
4/5
Over two hours, and I was not looking forward to that. However, I quickly realized that most of the songs were legit good, and the time flew by. Surprisingly good.
The Beta Band
4/5
I like the Beta Band enough. Not as good as The Three EPs, but enjoyable.
Hawkwind
2/5
Some of this was pretty good. However, it’s still two hours of jamming, and some of it was ridiculous. I understand the appeal of jam bands, but there’s also a real art to editing and cutting down to the best parts of a song. This reminded me why I like editing.
The Fall
2/5
Why is this on the list?
Television
3/5
Exactly middle.
Eels
3/5
The Thrills
3/5
The Stone Roses
4/5
Kings of Leon
4/5
Just a good album.
Jamiroquai
3/5
Spiritualized
1/5
I almost fell asleep during the first track.
Scott Walker
2/5
Enough with the Scott albums.
Love
3/5
Some really good songs. Some okay songs.
Elvis Costello
4/5
This was honestly so much better than I expected.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
Mudhoney
5/5
I was so happy to get this on a Friday
Bobby Womack
3/5
It’s definitely not in the top albums for the genre, but it was fine.
Cream
3/5
Venom
4/5
It was, indeed, black metal (ish).
Radiohead
5/5
This has always, and will always be a 5 star for me. This and The Bends were peak Radiohead (along with the accompanying EPs).
Eminem
2/5
Eminem is legitimately talented, but this was a tough listen. It’s just so dark (and gets even darker than you’d expect).
Goldie
1/5
Overstayed its welcome before the end of the first 20 minute track
Pink Floyd
4/5
The The
2/5
Meh. Even for British post-punk (which I may now hate), it was just middle-of-the-road.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Neu!
3/5
Neil Young
4/5
Okay. This might be the Neil Young that I actually like. This is mostly leaning into the blues side of him, and I kinda liked it. I'm shocked, too.
Dr. Octagon
4/5
This had some real highs and lows. Kool Keith can flow with the best and the worst of them.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
I felt like this was the closest I could come to liking prog (and why some people do). It also proved that I don’t really like prog (but understand those who do).
TV On The Radio
3/5
It’s not bad, but it was also unremarkable.
808 State
4/5
Not my style, but well executed.
Ice T
4/5
His flows are so smooth. There’s some 5 star moments, but I can’t say it’s all there.
The Temptations
4/5
Always good.
The Bees
3/5
The Darkness
4/5
Listen, I can’t give a British glam rock band from the 00s five stars, but this was really fun. They knew the assignment, and they committed to the bit. They even did it with good musicianship.
Destiny's Child
2/5
Nah
Joan Baez
2/5
I guess, technically, it’s good to have heard Joan Baez once, if just for reference. I already had. I’m good.
Teenage Fanclub
2/5
It's fine, but I didn't need to hear it.
Justice
4/5
Not my usual genre, but I enjoyed it.
Madonna
2/5
Not even my favorite Madonna, and I really don’t like Madonna.
Marty Robbins
4/5
I don’t know if I could defend it, but I enjoyed the album plenty.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
I won’t give it one-star only because those one-stars need to stay special. This isn’t one star.
Jack White
5/5
Finally. A great album all the way through.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
Came for the bongos, but stayed for the deep hip-hop roots that I found.
Prince
4/5
Oh yeah, there’s a reason this was a classic. I remember now.
Van Morrison
3/5
It was better than I expected (which was two stars).
Giant Sand
4/5
I actually really liked this. I can’t justify five stars, but I did enjoy it.
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
Not my style, but I did love this album at the time. It reminds me when I had subs in the can of a Ford Ranger.
John Coltrane
5/5
Still one of my favorite Coltranes and favorite jazz albums of all time.
David Holmes
5/5
I’m probably contrarian here, but this is the DJ style I prefer (over most EDM). I’ve been into David Holmes since Pi, and his stuff works for me (as annoying as it may be for others).
Ananda Shankar
2/5
This feels like an album that would have been gifted around my family in 1970 or maybe something I would have heard later on NPR. It wasn’t bad, but I have no idea why it’s on the list.
Supertramp
3/5
It’s hard for me to be objective because I did not enjoy this, but I can imagine people have enjoyed it.
Slint
3/5
I don’t know. I liked the punk roots. It didn’t help that Apple Music immediately recommended Fugazi (who I prefer).
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Yep. This was the mid-90s.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Decent. Not great for me, but not bad at all.
Depeche Mode
4/5
This one trip into British New Wave was actually not bad. It kinda enjoyed a lot of it. May have just been in the mood, but I’ll give it to the album for now.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
I feel this has a specific time and place, so I’ll respect its placement on the list except… G. Love and Special Sauce is the actual name… not like a one-off mock project, but the actual name he chose…
Thelonious Monk
5/5
This is the Monk era that I prefer and will share as representative of good Thelonious Monk.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Already one of my favorite albums of all time, and I’m glad to hear it on the list. The depth and feeling that Cash gives to songs I’ve heard a million times before is amazing. It’s also just a great listen, and I could have it on repeat any day of the week.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
I will agree with most of the other (good) reviews and say that this was extremely influential and important, and also sounds very dated these days.
Happy Mondays
3/5
Antony and the Johnsons
1/5
No. I don't want to be harsh, but it felt like a parody of vibrato after a while. I just couldn't. I had to distract myself with work to finish the album.
Bauhaus
2/5
The Young Rascals
3/5
Better than I expected, but not memorable.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Way too much DMR on here.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Iron Maiden
4/5
Man, these riffs hold up. I skipped Iron Maiden as a teenager because they were before my time and I was immediately into harder, less cheesy, metal. This was eye-opening, though.
2/5
Wow. That was forgettable.
The Coral
2/5
Okay. Yeah. This was fine.
Syd Barrett
4/5
I actually enjoyed this album for what it was, but it's pretty brutal given the state of Syd Barrett at the time.
Slipknot
4/5
Okay. Much better than I expected, but still not great metal. For this list, though, it’s good metal.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
I liked Jane's Addiction okay back in the day. They're still fine. It's also more pop than rock, in my head, and I don't understand any descriptions of "metal" I've heard. It's very, very of that time, though.
Soul II Soul
2/5
No idea why this is on the list. Even for club music, it was repetitive.
The Monkees
3/5
Honestly, it was fun. It can in no way compete with Sgt Pepper (released the next year), but it doesn’t have to. They aren’t The Beatles, and that’s okay.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
Ghostface's flow is still great. I love the references to old school (pre-MCU) Iron Man and general nerdery.
The Who
5/5
Okay, I think this is my favorite The Who album. I’ll even give it all five stars. I did not need the extended version, but the original was perfect.
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
I thought (assumed) I would be getting some French electronica — which would be barely tolerable — until it started and I checked the notes. More British dance music.
Red Snapper
4/5
Not bad. DJ Shadow is my style of “electronic,” and this is nice. Missing a star because DJ Shadow was doing this slightly better at the same time.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
Kinda The Smiths without hating Morissey. I'm not sure if I had to hear it, but I'm not upset about it at least.
Funkadelic
5/5
Great funk. I hate that this is unavailable (due to label disputes) on any streaming but YT, but it's a classic.
Iggy Pop
5/5
It's Iggy Pop. It's great. It's always great. It's even short and to the point.
Arrested Development
4/5
This felt like a throwback even in 1992. I had to keep checking that this _really_ came out four years after "Straight Outta Compton." It feels like an 80s hip-hop, and that's not a bad thing. It's definitely from the preachier school of Afrika Bambaataa, but it was a good listen. There’s a direct line from this to OutKast, btw, so that’s an extra star.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
This might be my highest rated Neil Young. It was totally listenable.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
It was what I expected. Not better or worse.
Holger Czukay
4/5
For German “electronic,” this was surprisingly up there with my taste. Great background music while I was coding.
Hole
4/5
It’s honestly pretty great. I’m not a huge Courtney Love fan, but this was a decent album.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Ray Price
4/5
This is closer to the country that I will kinda enjoy, and that’s mainly just because I recognize its significance in history. I didn’t actually know Price’s name, but I’ve heard his influence in country. It was nice to put a name to the sound.
Roxy Music
4/5
This isn't really my favorite, but they get an extra star for sounding like this in 1972. They definitely sound late-70s in a decent way.
Robbie Williams
2/5
He's trying to sound like Oasis and The Verve and others who did this so much better. It literally sounded like a cover album except most cover albums still try to make it sound like their own songs. I'm chalking this one up to "big in the UK when the reviewers were active."
Björk
4/5
I used to love Björk. I don’t anymore, but I can still respect some of her albums for what they were.
The Beta Band
4/5
Despite being name-dropped in High Fidelity (with praise and accompanying needle drop), I feel The Beta Band is still not as known as they should be. It warmed my heart to see this was on the list this morning, and it did not disappoint. Not as good as The Three E.P.’s, but a solid album.
Nirvana
5/5
Honestly, I didn’t even need to hear this again before rating, but I did because I love this album so much.
Big Star
4/5
I had lower expectations of a band I barely knew from this era, but it was a great Friday morning jam.
Black Sabbath
4/5
So much cocaine went into this that it had to be one of the more expensive albums of all time. Is this prog metal? I can’t tell, but it’s a great listen.
Goldfrapp
2/5
It’s like a full album demo tape to get a Bond theme deal… less interesting than most trip-hop to me, I was just bored.
Rod Stewart
3/5
I had a very low bar going into this, so it probably sounded decent by comparison to my initial thoughts on latter Rod Stewart. It’s not completely backhanded to say it sounded like an enjoyable CCR cover band with a raspy vocalist that I would expect at the state fair.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Better than expected.
Morrissey
1/5
Holy... I thought I didn't like Morrissey before, but he just doubled down on every annoying aspect of his persona. It's like a parody of himself with absolutely no self-awareness. I just can't. I'm literally writing this review halfway through because I'm so annoyed.
Nico
2/5
So, I guess I don’t like Nico without Lou Reed and Velvet Underground. This just felt pretentious and well longer than its 40 minutes.
2/5
I’m not sure what I just listened to, so it’s hard for me to rate. For prog, it was better than average. As an essential album, less than that. It’s just odd, but not in a great way.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
There were good moments. It was… interesting.
The Cars
5/5
I didn't even think I liked The Cars (and I still might not), but this album was wall-to-wall bangers. It also may be the highest percentage of covered songs on one album. I grew up on the punk version of most of these songs, while rarely diving back into the originals. This might almost be five stars just based on that alone.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
I liked this. This indie style got done to death, but that was after this FF, so I’ll give them credit for making it popular.
Moby Grape
4/5
I had not heard about Moby Grape, but this was definitely better than average. Some solid 60s rock with obvious other (psychedelic) influences. Not a favorite album, but a decent testament to the purpose of me doing this project.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Such a great album. I didn’t even need to listen to it this time to know it would be five stars, but I did because I love this album so much.
System Of A Down
4/5
I forgot how crazy SoD was. They were so popular with the Slipknot listeners that I kind of wrote them off back when this came out, but this really was next level musicianship and artistry. I’m still not going to add them to my regular rotation (I prefer non-nu-metal), but I will definitely give them more respect.
Elis Regina
4/5
Not my favorite style, but a reason that I appreciate this project. I hadn’t heard of the album or artist, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.
Laura Nyro
1/5
There were decent moments where she sounded like a decent jazz singer. Then, there was a whole bunch of show choir singing that ruined it. It was mostly the latter.
Supergrass
4/5
This really was a classic. I'm not sure I'm in the mood to give it 5 stars, but I did thoroughly love some decent Brit-pop.
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
A nice side project or experiment from some accomplished musicians. It was a good listen, and I'm here for more of these kinds of albums I haven't heard before in this project.
Talvin Singh
1/5
I'll be honest, hearing a voice over in the first two seconds repeatedly saying "the world is sound" is not a great start and puts me a little on edge. It didn’t get better from there.
3/5
So very prog, but I do appreciate a runtime significantly under an hour. It was too prog for me, but still more enjoyable than I expected.
The Incredible String Band
1/5
Why? Why? WHY?!?
Tom Waits
4/5
I actually like Tom Waits quite a bit, but this is not my favorite. It’s all over the place, but has a few winners like Johnsburg, Illinois
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
This is better than I was expecting, but still not exceptional.
Paul McCartney
4/5
I guess there's detractors of this album that it's incomplete or half-done, but these songs are great as they are. Solid songs with some great musicianship.
Prefab Sprout
2/5
I knew thirty seconds into this album that it would be completely forgettable, and it was. Still, it was a decent listen, and I did enjoy parts of it. Then, I couldn't remember any of it.
Ice Cube
2/5
There’s some good flows, but I can honestly say that people weren’t wrong in objecting to this. The misogyny is at an unnecessary level, even in the world of rap at that time. Cube’s own NWA handled it better (not without any misogyny, of course). It’s just distractingly annoying in this album.
Gang Starr
5/5
This is an album that I knew and wished more people knew about, so I was happy to see this on the list. It’s a touchstone and influence on some of my favorite artists, and I’m happy to give it five stars.
Carole King
4/5
Not my style, but definitely a classic.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
I was nervous going into this album because I was afraid it would fail to live up to the legend and even my memory of listening to it with my dad. I should not have feared. It’s brilliant. It was brilliant, and it still is. It’s raw, but precise. It sounds perfectly done without feeling overproduced. It is rock and psychedelic and real blues. I loved every minute.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
So much meh.
The Icarus Line
2/5
I wanted to like this, but it just sounded like a copy cat of garage bands I really like.
Queen Latifah
3/5
A great debut, and a pretty classic part of hip-hop history.
Barry Adamson
4/5
I was not at all sure what I was about to listen to (went in blind) and had to figure out the whole "soundtrack for an imaginary movie" angle after the fact. Probably because I didn't have that information beforehand (which, I admit, makes it sounds very pretentious), I was perfectly happy listening to this soundtrack for a movie I had never seen. I did actually enjoy this album quite a bit considering it's low rating on here. I guess I'll be an outlier on this one.
Tom Waits
4/5
I know one of my best friends hated this album, and yet I persist. This is not my favorite Waits album (none of my faves are on this list, actually), but I do love Tom Waits. So, even though this loses a star in my ranking of Tom Waits albums, it's still highly-ranked (and I, again, wish that Closing Time and Mule Variations were here to get five stars).
Beck
4/5
This was a great album, plus the Dust Brothers. I love this album, but it's not my favorite Beck (still Mutations). This is more edited and straightforward, but I love it all the same.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
This is a great Stevie Wonder album and a great reference for the new soul music of the time.
Lightning Bolt
5/5
This is very much in my range and one I would defend with, “Yes, this is still music.” Reminded me of And You Will Know… or Hella (who I used to love). Might be giving this is a defensive five star against the average low.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
It’s not the worst Pet Shop Boys album, but I still honestly don’t get why any of them are on this list. In the words of my teens, it’s “very mid.”
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
This is a hard one. I like it more than pop country, for sure. It feels outlaw-adjacent, but doesn’t rise to the level of the others.
Tricky
4/5
This was good trip-hop. I’m not in a critical position to compare them to the Portishead and Massive Attack I was listening to around this time, but I enjoyed the album.
Deep Purple
4/5
I still can’t equate this with “metal” in my head, but this was a decent Groove album for a hard day.
Beastie Boys
5/5
I was so happy to get this album. I needed it today. Classic.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Bookended by two of the best songs to begin or end any album, I have to admit it goes from four to five stars based only on those two songs (but it’s a short album, so that’s a good ratio).
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
A bit all over the place, but a good listen overall.
Hookworms
3/5
Never heard of them before. It was enjoyable, but nothing that new or unique (in 2018) that I would have had to hear before taking the final slumber.
Ryan Adams
4/5
Judging the album, and not the person, I did really enjoy this.
The Clash
5/5
Still one of my favorite albums of all time. All classics. All bangers. All done in only 35 minutes.
Joanna Newsom
3/5
I don’t know. This is literally split between ones and fives. Some moments were like Björk-lite, and some were how I wish Björk sounded.
UB40
3/5
Not the best, but enjoyable.
4/5
Very Devo
Miriam Makeba
5/5
Would not naturally be a favorite of mine, but albums like this are why I’m doing this project. I had never heard this album before, but I loved it. It was authentic, unique (in the context of most of these albums), and she had legit chops when she needed them.
Klaxons
3/5
It was fine, but completely unremarkable. I’m guessing this is on the list for Anglophilic reasons.
Pentangle
3/5
I approached this warily, but it had its good moments.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
I’m a sucker for early Zappa, and I still can’t believe they were doing this in ‘65.
Germs
5/5
Props to this list for having the US alternative to the Sex Pistols. I like both bands (as I would have back then).
Supergrass
3/5
Yeah, I remember Supergrass. They were fine. They still are. Fine. I read the justifications for being on the list from NME and Q, but I still don’t get it. This is fine, but not something I needed to hear before I could hear nought but the angels’ singing.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
So much shoegazing. My neck is sore at this point. I liked 1-2 specific shoegaze bands (mainly Starflyer 59), but I could never get into My Bloody Valentine. I think I like my shoegaze to have former punk musicians instead of Brit pop, I guess. This is just too.... gazey.
Kate Bush
4/5
Not something I would listen to often, but I will have to give her props for doing her style very well (and much better than some of her contemporaries). It's experimental, but it's still identifiable as music. I respect that.
The Boo Radleys
3/5
This was not nearly as bad as I feared. Still British and shoegaze-y, but some decent riffs.
Small Faces
3/5
The first half was better than I was hoping. The back half was interesting, but a lot of narration for a rock album.
Guided By Voices
4/5
Not one of my favorite GBV albums, but I do still have a soft spot for GBV. No song outlasts it's welcome (28 songs in 40 minutes). It's catchy. It influenced punk in odd ways. I'm here for it.
Duran Duran
5/5
Okay, this is the Duran Duran that I do actually love. Most 80s pop did not age well, but this is the exception (back in '82)!
Metallica
5/5
This is why I need to reserver five star ratings on this list. This album deserves it like few others (but I definitely still have a few higher favorites). It's technical, clean, and never stops pushing forward for the entire thing. "One" is still one of my favorite song intros of all time, but there are so many bangers on this album. Five stars. That's all I can say.
U2
5/5
Two five-star albums in a row on this project. What have I done to be so blessed to have Metallica and U2 back-to-back, and no Brit-pop or disco anywhere in sight (for two days)? Anyway, I loved this album when I first really listened to it about a decade after it's release (even though I kind of grew up on it because I was born in '80 and my parents loved this one). I still love it the more I know about the state of Ireland in 1980. Great lyrics, amazing hooks, and great drums. It's a great album.
ABBA
2/5
I just can't with all the ABBA. This was the best ABBA, but it was still too much ABBA.
The xx
2/5
Wow. So many reviews point out how empty and boring this album is, and yet it is here. It is here as an album to hear during this too short time on earth. I don't know. It is an album. I listened. I couldn't tell you anything about it.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
5/5
There is so much here. It was the culmination of a lot of things and the beginning of a new era. On top of that, it’s a great listen. I’m giving it 4 stars for the album itself, and an additional star for influence.
The Zutons
3/5
It was fine. It was just... fine.
Portishead
4/5
This may have gotten an extra star for just not being more Britpop, but it still earned it. I always loved Portishead, and this was a good listen after the long gap.
Marianne Faithfull
2/5
Apple Music recommended Kate Bush after finishing this album. Yeah. That says a lot to me.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
5/5
This is tough. I really loved listening to this album, and I'm surprised I didn't know it better because it does overlap so much with other things that are high in my playlists (obviously like Public Enemy and Chuck D). When the beat, samples, and lyrics were working they were really working. Then, there were repeated lines like "Medical racist social statistics / Has everyday life become a health risk?" that seemed to mean something, but actually didn't at all. That really brought this closer to a four, but overall I'm still giving it a 5 just for this list and it's importance.
Not the album's fault, but I saw people noting that Apple Music was missing four tracks, and now Spotify was also missing the tracks but didn't even show them on mobile. It just showed as 9 tracks and 44 minutes, and it gave no indication that anything was missing. So, I guess double-check when possible.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
I'm from Texas, but I still don't like most country. This didn't change my mind, unfortunately. Outlaw country or nothing for me, I guess.
Moby
4/5
It’s a formula, but it really does work. As a musician, Moby does more than just find and sample old blues clips. He seemed to actually make something new with his samples. It worked.
Sex Pistols
5/5
This still bangs. I was worried it wouldn’t hold up (and I still like Clash better), but it was still raw and great.
Jacques Brel
4/5
I liked this more than expected. I can appreciate Brel’s role in French pop, and it was overall a great listen.
The Lemonheads
4/5
This was the perfect album for a chill Friday morning. I very much appreciated The Lemonheads when I was a teen, and I can still listen to this whole album so easily. This was one of only a few albums on this list where I’ve voluntarily picked the extended version.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
I was just thinking about Sly and the Family Stone because of Woodstock and the Soul Festival. They were both in 1969, and Sly played at both. They killed at both. This album slays.
Ministry
4/5
I do love the music. The lyrics are a bit… Church of Satan… for me, but they did understand the assignment.
Morrissey
3/5
Of all the Morrissey albums, this is the least annoying.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I like Frank Zappa, but I don’t get this. I tried. There were decent moments that raised it up, but not enough of those.
Queen
4/5
It’s Queen. It’s a really good Queen album. No notes.
The Soft Boys
3/5
This was fine. I see how they influenced The Pixies and others. It was fine.
Deep Purple
3/5
It’s a good live album, but it’s also just a live album of songs already on this list.
SAULT
4/5
This one is really divisive. While understanding (and almost agreeing with) some of the 1- and 2-star reviews, I could almost give it five stars. I could really groove with it, and I could understand the message, even if it was not meant for me.
Elvis Presley
3/5
This was fine, but not necessary. I guess, as time marches on and generations continue, it will be possible to get to a mature age without hearing this version of “In the Ghetto” or “Suspicious Minds,” and they should be listened to before you die. The rest is basic Elvis filler, and I’m not a huge fan of peak Elvis.
Animal Collective
5/5
A have a soft spot for this album (and “My Girls”) because of how I discovered them (a fave podcast at the time) and that time of my life. I still love the album, though, and I think it actually is a good representation of indie pop in the almost 2010s.
Radiohead
5/5
Still a great album.
Digital Underground
3/5
It’s a concept album about being really, really horny. I still like The Humpty Dance, but the rest of the whole album does not age well (even compared to only 90s hip-hop).
Al Green
5/5
Alright. A total slam dunk for five stars. Amazing voice. Great recording. Soulful songs. Done.
Brian Wilson
3/5
This is hard. I wanted to love his magnum opus more than I actually did. It pains me to say that the actual, finished Beach Boys albums that Brian Wilson did were the best versions, in my opinion.
Suede
2/5
I don't know, man. I'm honestly surprised at the number of five (not even four) star reviews for this, and the number of people who say it's top 5 Britpop. Granted, my bar for Britpop is now very low, but this just seemed so ordinary. It was supposed to be big and sprawling and almost prog, but it just seemed like an album of fine, but forgettable, songs of medium length. I'm not sure how this album actually became divisive, but it's at least not among my one-star albums.
Mercury Rev
3/5
This was a lot better than expected. I see a lot of references to the Flaming Lips, and a little REM, and I’m okay with that. This is hard because I’m not sure how much I needed to hear this, but it wasn’t an unwelcome album.
Buck Owens
2/5
Not my kind of country. I can see how it influenced my Cash style, but I just can’t listen to it again (and, man, Streets of Laredo was so much better with Cash at the helm).
Baaba Maal
3/5
Robert Wyatt
1/5
Shhhhh.... I thought it would be better if I didn't have to hear his voice, and then there was a few instrumental passages to show me that, no, it's not better. It's all just so... artsy, but not artistic. It can't believe this was made in 1997.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
Meh. I just can’t think of anything to say about it, really. I forgot about it an hour later.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
2/5
I'm trying here, but "Everyman's an Island" might have the worst lyrics/poetry I've heard in a long time just read over copied beats. It reads like all my high school poetry that I was so proud of and now must hide under lock and key (or just burn). It's all supposed to sound profound, and it's just awful.
3/5
Joe Ely
4/5
This is allowable country for me. Still not a favorite album (or genre), but a solid listen.
Tito Puente
4/5
It was indeed a mania of dance.
Madness
2/5
This album is almost impossible to find in completion, but the big single was Our House. That says a lot.
The Specials
5/5
Man, I am sometimes ashamed to remember that I could rock the rude boy outfit and skank during the ska revival of the 90s, but The Specials reminds me why I liked it. It could never replace "true" punk in my heart, but it was it's own version of punk (in ideals and lyrics). I loved it.
The Doors
5/5
I wanted to dislike this, but this is honestly the best of the The Doors albums, IMHO. It was pure blues without the later sound of The Doors that drove me crazy (basically, just drunk bar singing).
Super Furry Animals
4/5
Of all the Britpop on here, this is not bad. It’s not great, like some, but not bad.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
I was not expecting an album of 4 10+ minute songs, but I wasn’t mad. It was full-on Hayes the whole time.
Metallica
5/5
This is Metallica from before my era, and I wasn't a huge fan of it when I heard it as a teen in the 90s. I was, however, a huge fan of metal and hardcore in general. At the time, this just sounded like last generation's metal (even though it was only a few years difference). Now, I can appreciate it without trying to one-up the slightly older metalheads, and it's really good. I probably should have liked it back in the day as well.
LTJ Bukem
3/5
I did not listen to the two “continuous mix” 1+ hour tracks, but I did listen to the other tracks. I’m not big into drum and bass, and I was worried, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I enjoyed it at times. I don’t know who puts this on for three hours unless it’s background, but the hour of tracks was good.
Britney Spears
2/5
Why? Why on this list? Oh well, it’s not reprehensible enough to get one star, but I’m giving it the bare minimum for not being awful.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Some bangers like Superstition, mixed some treacly lyrics and syrupy vocals.
Tom Waits
4/5
This is definitely not my favorite Waits album by far, but I still loved it and want to give him four stars for the few great songs on here.
Sonic Youth
5/5
Not only was this great, but all the songs Apple Music suggested after in the infinite playlist were great because of this. I know I’m a slight outlier, but I love Sonic Youth, and I really enjoy this album.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
2/5
Oh, another 80s Brit-pop band. I couldn't remember a single song after the album was over and Apple Music started playing Brit-pop bands that are memorable (for better or worse). Evidently, they are possibly Scottish? Still, it sounds like 80s Brit-pop, and I'm done.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
I used to kinda like B&S, and I expected to thoroughly hate this album after almost 30 years. I will say that it was cold and rainy outside, and this album felt so “right” for the day that it gained an extra star.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
Could only get halfway through in one day, and I'm calling it. I love Ella, and I like the Gershwin brothers enough, but I don't even think they would want to sit and listen to their songs for over three hours straight. It's fine, but it's also almost a "best of" compilation, which definitely feels like cheating.
The Pretty Things
3/5
Okay. It’s kinda The Beatles and kinda The Who, and I probably would have loved this if I was alive and knew this album when it came out. Fine. Not sure about listening before I sleep eternal, but fine.
Willie Nelson
5/5
This is the kind of country that I actually love. It's rare, and there are only a few artists who can pull it off, but it's amazing when they can.
Machito
4/5
Very jungle-y, while still feeling like Latin jazz. Not a regular, but it made for an upbeat Thursday.
Van Halen
2/5
Oh, yeah. Van Halen. They were a thing, I guess. Specifically, they were one of the indistinguishable "hair metal" bands that ruined the labels "metal" and "hard rock" for years to come, and I will hold that against them. They seemed to rebel against "not needing a ton of hair product" and "not wanting to sleep with everyone, including underpaid educators who are just trying to teach." This album, specifically? "Jump" was the single, and I hate that song.
Brian Eno
4/5
I was worried about all the Eno, but this album was perfect background music (in a good way). Experimental and quirky, yes, but with actual songs that sounded like songs.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Past-prime Dylan is still better than most songwriters by a long shot. I can’t say I loved this as much as my favorite Dylan albums, but it was more solid than I remembered.
The Pogues
5/5
I was so happy when I saw this pop up in the list. It’s OG punk in attitude and desire to tear down the establishment, but it’s also beautiful and heartbreaking. I love The Pogues, and I love this album.
Kelela
3/5
This is one of those obvious "critic favorite" albums. Sometimes, I agree with the critics and think we've all discovered something new in music. Sometimes, like now, I feel like they were reaching for the descriptions of this "cutting edge production" and "futuristic sound." It was fine. I thought it stood out at the time because R&B was in a bad spot in 2017, but there was some other good albums, so I don't know. I definitely didn't hate it, but I didn't add it to my collection to ever listen to again, either.
Bee Gees
2/5
Nooooo.... It's Friday (a glorious Friday), and I'm supposed to listen to Bee Gees? We'll see how this goes.
It's over an hour?!? Okay, I can do this.
...
Okay, that was not what I expected... didn't sound like the Bee Gees I know, but not better. It's a concept album.
SZA
2/5
I’m just not sure why this made the list. There are some interesting ideas that then lead to generic modern R&B. It’s not bad, it’s just empty calories.
The White Stripes
5/5
Hell yes. I love this album. It starts out with "Seven Nation Army," and you feel like the rest has to be a letdown after such a strong opening. Instead, it stays in the groove the whole time. I don't say this often, and this wasn't previously on my list of favorite albums, but I could listen to this whole album any day of the week.
Motörhead
4/5
First, if somebody is listening to the 2h (or 4h) version, I would like to introduce them to the original 44m version of this album. At under 45 minutes, this album had solid momentum the whole way.
The KLF
4/5
Honestly, this was so much better than I expected. I don’t normally do electronic, much less EDM, much less formative UK rave EDM. It all feels repetitive in a way that makes sense for losing yourself in the beat for hours (I assume, as a not-raver), but not for just listening to at home. Anyway, this was not repetitive or boring to me. I’m not buying the album or even adding it to my Spotify/Apple, but it was not boring.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
This was definitely not the worst m Nick Cave album. I liked parts of it enough. It was fine. I didn’t hate it.
Turbonegro
3/5
There were some solid riffs. The lyrics were… I want to blame the second language issue (and I can’t rock out in a second language), but the actual intent of the words seem dumb. The themes are stupid, and that’s not a translation thing. Still, the music had some good moments, and it was all fun. I’m quite sure I didn’t need to listen to this before the eternal slumber, but I don’t really regret it either.
Kings of Leon
4/5
This seems to get plenty of hate on this list, but I legitimately enjoyed it. Have I heard it a little too much for an album that’s not a favorite? Sure. Is it actually hard rock? Obviously not. Still, most of the songs are solid (never mind, 17), and I had no regrets when it was over.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
I get why this was influential, I’m happy to have heard it, and I will never listen to it again. It was definitely the best of its genre.
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
This is one of those albums that I love and makes me want to sit down with my 15yo and explain to her how important it is to listen to all the influential bands around before she listens to more Nirvana.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Honestly, I’ve listened to this album enough to rate it, but I wanted to hear it again. I even listened to the extended version to hear acapella C.R.E.A.M. This is top form for one of the best hip-hop groups of all time. The flow is just so good.
The Shamen
2/5
I’m trying not to call this “beeps and boops,” but damn. It’s just a lot of… yeah.
The Blue Nile
2/5
I'm trying, but this sounds like so much 80s Brit (I know they're Scottish) pop that never broke out of its core group to the wider world, and definitely not to posterity. That's fine. I have favorite bands like that. Why is this one on this list, though? I could barely remember anything to write after the album was over because my mind was already reset by anything else I heard that was more interesting. Okay, that sounded mean, but I think you get it. It's not bad, but it doesn't rise to the level of mortal recommendations.
Justin Timberlake
3/5
Sorry, but I didn't like this kind of pop in 2002, and I don't really like it now. However, I will say that Pharrell is a great producer, and the songs were... the best of this kind of music. I'm going to rate this more kindly based on it not being actively hard to listen to and me even understanding why my ex loved it.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
I definitely feel like I should like this more than I actually do, but I do really appreciate it. Actually, it's a good listen as well. It's not something I would turn to very often, but I can't complain about it. I enjoyed it. It gets an extra star for actually being influential enough to be on this list, as well.
James Taylor
3/5
I thought I liked James Taylor, but this was so saccharine. It wasn’t bad, but thirty minutes was the limit (and thankfully the entirety).
Rush
4/5
I don't even like Rush that much, but even I had to turn up "Tom Sawyer" and leave it loud for the rest of the album. I listen to too much actual (growling) metal to whine about Geddy Lee's voice, but I know it's not great. This has real highs and lows (mainly the fact that I still don't fundamentally love Rush), but I'll make this my highest ranked Rush album.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
This is fine. Nothing really stood out, but I do 100% understand this being on the list as an example of a basic 60s band that's not Rolling Stones or The Beatles.
William Orbit
3/5
Of this… genre, this is mostly enjoyable. I liked it enough. Woohoo.
Air
4/5
This is technically more of a score than a soundtrack (sorry to disagree with the album cover), but I do love scores. This is probably the only score by Air that I know of, but it did remind me of the movie (that I haven't seen in decades). I don't know what to really say about it besides that. It's function really was to accompany a movie I liked back in the day, and I think it did that great. These days, I'm not sure how it works as an independent album, but I still enjoyed it enough to play while working.
N.E.R.D
4/5
I think I like this album. It is definitely a sound of a time, and I appreciate it. I actually love more experimental hip-hop, but I’m not sure I would listen to this again. Still, I think that’s a personal taste issue (not my style of experimental hip-hop), and I can’t fault NERD or the album for that.
Pink Floyd
5/5
This is a concept album that also just works as good music (and even individual singles). Yeah, there’s a few filler songs to get between points in this rock opera, but the bangers are classics for a reason. I can’t even take away a single star.
Paul Simon
4/5
I like Paul Simon. It might be growing up seeing reruns of him on SNL or my dad playing some of the hits (not a huge Paul Simon fan, but he liked the hits like anyone). I can't really give this five stars, but I was not upset about having this on my list.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I like later Stones enough that, except for my favorite song Paint it Black, I almost forget about Beatles-era Stones when they were consistently compared to each other. I love The Beatles, but the Stones were really good. I have no idea who I would have picked in 1966.
Motörhead
4/5
This is not a challenging album. As they say, it does what it says on the can. It is that kind of rock. It rocks. I’m good.
Kanye West
2/5
Didn’t really like this when Kanye wasn’t hated.
PJ Harvey
4/5
A lot of straightforward rock, which I appreciate, and some experimental noise rock (which was hit or miss). Overall, a great album with some solid songs, but nothing that specifically stuck out.
Calexico
5/5
This is why I’m doing this list. I had never heard of Calexico, but this was a great listen. I was engaged the whole time, and I was a little sad when it was over. It might have four stars, but I’m giving it an extra star for being new and reinforcing why I am doing this.
The Fall
3/5
Unnecessary to my musical life, but not as bad as I expected. Noise punk.
Laibach
3/5
I’m not so sure if ironic fascism plays so well these days, especially in German. It’s kind of like the people who get the wrong message out of Fight Club.
I won’t hold that against them, though, since we were not their intended audience. Fine. That being said, it’s still not an album I would listen to again.
Mj Cole
1/5
This is like Dance Dance Revolution, the 2 hour soundtrack. It's so generic. How is this on the list? I don't need to hear this before I die. I walked into coffee shops with no imagination anytime between 2000 and 2010, so I'm sure I've already heard this.
Boards of Canada
4/5
I went into this with extremely low hopes based on my previous experiences with electronic on this list, but this was right up my alley. More elements of trip-hop ala Amon Tobin and ambient ala Aphex Twin.
Janis Joplin
5/5
This is everything you know and expect when you think of Janis Joplin.
White Denim
4/5
This was a surprisingly tight imitation of a jam band sound, and it worked. Some real bangers, and no fillers.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
I was not an RHCP fan when this came out. As a bass player, I loved Flea's work, and I could admit that it was always catchy, but I was too punk for Top 40 songs. Now, I've slowed down, and I can fully listen to this album. It's good. Some of the grooves are great. Some feel like filler. Overall, it's still a good album, and I can finally admit that it was very good at the time.
The Vines
4/5
Good album. Fun. Indie rock, basically. Evidently, some critics called them “the next Nirvana,” but I won’t hold that against the band.
Richard Thompson
4/5
Yeah. This is probably the best version of the (formerly) married folk duo, and I’m pretty sure they were a little inspiration for Mitch & Mickey in A Mighty Wind. Overall, I can just say it’s probably the best version of a time-specific sub genre that I am probably okay with listening to one total album of in a year. Faint praise, I know, but it really is praise.
The Dictators
3/5
Early "punk" in the fashion of The Ramones. I prefer Ramones, of course, but this wasn't all bad.
Happy Mondays
2/5
Ended up listening to this with my 15yo in the car, and I got to warn her about the perils of recording an entire album under the influence of ecstasy.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
It was fine, but not that memorable to me.
Fatboy Slim
4/5
This is just fun. It's not my favorite Fatboy Slim album, but it's just a good time the whole way through. I got it on a Friday, which was also perfect timing because this is a Friday soundtrack.
Joy Division
4/5
I was worried going into this, but I really enjoyed the stripped-down version of Joy Division from this album. I went into this with the notes about how they changed from the normal concert sound (more punk) for this recording, and I definitely think that knowledge helped me put this into context better with how I knew them. I'm giving it an extra star for surprising me (and sounding better than New Order, to me, which sounds like sacrilege).
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
This album was fine. I even enjoyed it. I just don't understand the inclusion on this list. In fact, I just checked, and it's already been removed. Oh well. It was a fine listen, but in no way affected my preparation for eternity. Finally, I want to remove a star for the cover, but that's just petty (so I won't).
Dagmar Krause
3/5
I might have been prepped more for this since my father played piano as part of a cabaret duet that toured Germany in the 90s. I grew up on a lot of Marlene Dietrich and related acts, and I could understand the influence for the music. With that in mind, I actually found this oddly intriguing.
Roxy Music
3/5
It was fine. Even in its time, though, it barely cracked the US Top 40 (at 37), so I’m unclear why this was so important to listen to. I didn’t hate it, but I did feel like I could have spent that 40 minutes listening to music I actually enjoy.
The Waterboys
4/5
This was so much better than I expected. Not perfect, and not an album I would revisit often, but I'm actually glad to have heard it. It does feel a little weird that this was from 1988, like they happened to be 20 years behind in Scotland/Ireland, but I chalk that up to being basically "pub music" (in a good way). Yeah, this was not the height of fashion, but I bet they had fun playing at local pubs for years before releasing their albums. Overall, enjoyable, even if I'm not adding it to my personal library.
Kate Bush
1/5
Maybe this is my bad for not knowing this album would be a weird concept album posing as the score to an off-broadway musical I would never attend. That is to say, I had expectations (an album of normal Kate Bush songs), and they were unmet. All that being said, if somebody had warned me, I would have come in hating it. It’s like telling somebody the movie will have a twist, and then they’re looking for it. If somebody had said I should prepare for donkey hee-haws and intonations that sounded awkwardly like a drama camp recital, it would also have ruined this album.
Grizzly Bear
3/5
I feel like I should like this more, but it just didn't really resonate with me. I tried. I enjoyed the beginning, but it didn't need to be an hour. Mainly, there was just something flat and emotionless that didn't seem to fit. I'm not sure.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
I have to judge this by the specific time and place it was created in, and by that standard it’s a great album. By timeless standards, it’s still really good. It’s great to hear the songs again that influenced so many musicians who came later (many of whom did straight covers out of respect).
The Temptations
5/5
Man, I'm actually on a roll of good, classic albums. I don't even know if I have notes on this. It's just good.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Ooh, I actually did know Echo & The Bunnymen before this adventure started, so I guess that gives some shoegaze cred. That being said, this is another straight 3 stars on this list. I wished I loved or hated it, but I just can't. It is... perfectly fine.
5/5
I have always appreciated David Bowie, but I never really got into Ziggy Stardust. I just believed that some things (rightly) belong to a specific time and place, and I did not feel a part of the time or place for this album in my teens (in the 90s) or 20s. I will admit that I was wrong. This was a great listen, and I'm glad I listened to it the whole way through intently. I still won't be adding it to my list, but it deserves all the praise it gets on here and everywhere.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Three titans for country music together. Loved it, and glad I was "forced" to listen to it.
Beatles
5/5
It’s the Beatles. In fact, they it’s one of (but not) the best Beatles albums. It’s even short with no filler. Five marks, all around!
Brian Eno
3/5
Some parts of this were actually pretty good to listen to. Some parts were veeeeeery experimental. I'd give a 5 star for the songs that sound like songs and a 1 star for the experiments that obviously didn't pan out.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
This went faster than I expected (after I saw the at 1+ hour runtime), so that's good. Overall, it had some strong songs, but not a "warehouse full." Still, I definitely see the influence on some of my favorite bands, and Apple immediately queued up Pixies after this.
Radiohead
5/5
Damn. I was going to rate this one down based on memory, but it hit better than I remembered.
Gram Parsons
3/5
Not my style, but he seemed adept at the twangy country.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
Yeah. This is ELO. The songs that hit are catchy as hell. The misses aren’t really misses per se, but extra noise for the signal to pass through. That is to say, there’s just a lot. Still, the signal is catchy AF.
Death In Vegas
3/5
I remember loving Dead Elvis, but I’m not sure I would anymore. I enjoyed this, but I don’t think I need to revisit DiV for any reason for a while.
AC/DC
5/5
Got this on a Friday, and you just can’t be mad about AC/DC on a Friday.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
This was better than I expected. It’s not great (or in my top 1001 albums), but there were strains of a band growing up alongside Clash and finding a different, soulful sound to play with. Enjoyable for a single listen, and I wouldn’t turn it off if it came back on my rotation after this.
Everything But The Girl
1/5
Gah. I’m one song in, and I’m already pissed and bored.
I ended up listening to some of this while my 7yo son was in the car, and he asked if we could listen to anything else. I said we could, and then we laughed about how much we couldn’t stand this.
Joy Division
4/5
I’m glad they did this with the trimmed down engineering. Liked it, but not listening again anytime soon.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
I don’t know. I don’t love this album, but I do really like LCD. I’m probably biased because the documentary of James Murphy connected so much with me (as a man of a certain age). I’m probably being overly-generous with an extra star, but this all so subjective anyway.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Thankfully not as prog as I was afraid of, but still a little all over the place. “Solsbury Hill” is the obvious high point, but the rest felt like it alternated between 2 and 4 star songs.
Tom Waits
4/5
This is not my favorite Tom Waits (I prefer the very early and late albums), but I still found it enjoyable and got sucked into the rainy day atmosphere. Honestly, I would probably give this three stars as a Tom Waits album, but I think it's a four overall (especially compared to some of the albums I've had to listen to).
Barry Adamson
3/5
This was unusual, then unsettling, then disturbing, and then kinda fun. I'm not sure I needed to listen to it in this lifetime, but I'm not that upset about it either. Actually, yeah, I'm glad I listened. It's no Tortoise, but it was good to have heard.
Fever Ray
3/5
I don’t know. I tried to listen to this whole album with an open mind, but it was just so much. The music was fine, but the vocals definitely pushed it into Björk territory. Not in a good way.
T. Rex
3/5
This was fun! I’m not sure if I had any great revelations or anything, and it didn’t make me rethink glam rock (still not my thing), but it was a fun listen!
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
I knew I would either love or hate this going in, and thankfully I really liked (maybe didn’t love) it. As badly as Depeche Mode aged for me, Sisters of Mercy did better. Same 80s vibe, but a stronger commitment to the darkness over pop. There’s just enough winking at the camera to let you know Eldritch is at least partially in on the joke.
Travis
3/5
This was fine! I liked a little bit of Scottish musicians for once. It wasn’t extremely memorable, but I never disliked it.
Snoop Dogg
3/5
I didn’t like this nearly as much as Chronic when I was younger, and that hasn’t changed. The beats and flows were solid, but Snoop was just amping up the misogyny and really dumb drug references like it was an aspirational identity. On top of that, most of the lyrics are just dumb. I feel like I’m being too hard on it, but I will say again that the rhythms and production are great.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
No. Listened to the whole thing, and no. There were some decent tracks, of course, but they were just because of Reznor. No.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
I had no idea what to expect going into this album, but I really liked it. I probably would have loved the movie, too.
R.E.M.
4/5
Great album. Not really my favorite genre or anything, but it’s still a great album.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I have always and will always love this album. It’s a perfect distillation of the Velvet Underground sound and experience, to me.
Soft Machine
2/5
Enough with the prog. Show me the best 2-3, maybe, and then we’re done.
Donald Fagen
3/5
The album cover set a bar for coolness that the music couldn’t match. I’m not a yacht rock connoisseur, but that’s what I would call this if I just heard it. It’s decent background and didn’t make me actively angry, so I can’t downvote it too much. It’s just… fine.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I have to admit that it started tough (some call it a kick in the teeth), but he won me over on the second disc. I can see how some put him with Tom Waites in that he does both kicks in the teeth and ballads equally well (IMO). Like Waites, I appreciate his ballads while knowing they are not universally loved.
Sheryl Crow
4/5
I don't know. I really don't. I definitely didn't hate this, but I'm not sure I loved it. Honestly, I may have to go against my own history and actually and biases and give this one high marks just based on her actual songwriting.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
It’s Frank, and he’s crooning. This is definitely not best experienced while working, and should have been part of a cocktail hour or a few songs saved for Scotch and smokes alone. Either way, I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt because it was good even out of proper context.
Sugar
5/5
Man, reviews are really mixed on this, but I loved it. I could hear so much Mould (it's basically just him and hired talent) that it just felt like a 90s alt-rock version of Husker Du, and I was here for it.
Drive Like Jehu
5/5
Finally, we hit a "kinda obscure" album that I owned. I miss this era, and this is the kind of music I will always think of when I hear the term "emo." The screams. The distortion. The anguish. After this, I just had to listen to some Rocket from the Crypt, No Knife, Fugazi, Rites of Spring, etc.
Spacemen 3
2/5
I can't actively hate this, but I also can't listen to it again or care to say even that much about it.
The B-52's
4/5
This is fun. I don't really (honestly) see the "underbelly of punk" or whatever some critics point out, but it was good fun.
Sonic Youth
5/5
This is before I was into Sonic Youth (I was 6), but I will always give Sonic Youth 5 stars. This is just noise rock? Cool. I like noise rock. I can see their influence in so much after them (especially these early albums), so evidently a lot of people like bands who like noise rock.
Van Halen
4/5
Geez. I didn’t even like Van Halen, but I have to admit that this does what it’s setting out to do. It starts “slow” with Running With the Devil and just keeps building. It’s not my thing, but it is peak 80s hair band, so they get points for that. Also, as hair metal should be, it’s pretty fun (and not as overtly problematic as a lot of hair metal).
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
I realized I only knew later, post-controversies Sinead. This still has angry moments, but it’s not at the loss of musicality (which I feel is a latter day Sinead issue). There’s a lot of beauty here, and even some bangers. I was pleasantly surprised.
The Police
3/5
I expected better, but it wasn’t awful. I feel like it’s incredibly overrated, but still not the worst. It looks like I’m looking at the definition of three stars again.
Common
4/5
This was a lot better than other stuff at the time. I do like Common, overall, but my favorite tracks were the ones where he worked with artists, and I felt like his actual rapping was often overshadowed by the music of the Soulquarians. Of course, I'm reviewing the album, not just Common, so that actually adds a start in this case. Huzzah!
Caetano Veloso
3/5
Okay, okay. Samba and psychedelic rock, I see you. I can't really judge this against anything else as it sounds so unique (to me). I enjoyed it, though.
Yes
2/5
I'm sorry, I just can't do any more prog. There are Yes fans. Good for them. This list will not convert me into one.
Anthrax
5/5
I like metal (and punk and hardcore and hardcore punk). Anthrax is not my favorite, but I enjoy them more than 90% of this list, so they’re going to get all the stars in comparison. If I’m honest, I’ll admit that some of the lyrics are so ridiculously unsubtle and blunt that they feel like parody when they scream about “crying for the Indian.” I prefer RATM for actual protest songs, I guess. The instrumentation is great, if not challenging compared to a lot of metal on this list (like Sepultura). Still, it’s not Britpop or Prog.
Ice Cube
4/5
Parts of this album are just so strong. The politics and lyricism is so strong when he has a point, but when he doesn't it just feels like he wanders off into random misogyny and violence for violence's sake. I know that was part of the first wave of gangster rap (I was alive and there), but in retrospect it really sticks out as taking away from the greater messages. It's one of the reasons that, outside of individual songs, I sometimes feel like gangster rap struggled to be either political or casually about drugs and violence. Albums like this one can lack a strong point of view due to lack of editing, and that is just more obvious now. We've been spoiled by bands like RATM, and at no point could you imagine Zach de la Rocha jumping from an anti-capitalist protest song to praising weed and guns.
Anyway, the tracks that had a point of view and message were very strong. I guess they could have just cut half, it would have been closer to a Chuck D missive against the police and corruption, and maybe that's not want Ice Cube wanted at the time.
Elton John
4/5
Great ballads. Fun songs like "Bennie and the Jets." Loving it. Wait... "Jamaican Jerk-Off"?!? Okay, and we're back to some ballads.
Gary Numan
3/5
This was much better than I expected, so that's good. It was definitely early synth, but not everything I feared. I can't say I loved it or found it to be so groundbreaking (in the time of David Bowie), but I didn't hate it. Solidly middle for me.
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
Okay, we've definitely hit on something newer (at least in my lifetime) that I've never heard of. Let's listen to this.
Hmmm. Honestly, there was some early Massive Attack sound that I liked, and then there was some alternating boring or annoying pop songs. Wow. Another really interesting and uninteresting album. Three stars because it had legit five- and one-star moments.
The Cure
4/5
I've given The Cure (and all the 80s mod/goth/pop) a hard time during this experience, but this was actually the album from them that I did enjoy. Solid songs. Consistent. These are the tracks that show up in a movie and take me back to the 80s with an actual smile. Nice.
The Police
3/5
It's The Police. They're fine. It was fine. I really don't have anything else to say.
Clearly, not as good as classic U2, but the singles are really good. It’s like five star singles surrounded by fluff.
The Prodigy
5/5
I didn’t actually appreciate this album as much when it came out because the single was so ubiquitous that I was always annoyed. Now, after years of expanding my taste with Chemical Brothers and Aphex Twin, I can truly appreciate it.
The Pogues
5/5
I knew this would be five stars, and of course it is. I love The Pogues. I have a soft spot for all Irish punk bands, but I have a real soft spot for Irish folk punk bands with bittersweet lyrics and a jig in their step.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Heavy. So heavy. Could I say more? Sure. Do I need to? No.
Faust
3/5
I went into this with great trepidation, but it wasn’t that bad. It certainly seemed ahead of its time as moments reminded me of Beta Band and later experiments with sound and spoken word. I mean, I’m not adding it to my collection or listening ever again on purpose, but it was not nearly as bad as I feared.
Megadeth
5/5
You know what’s more metal than death? Megadeath! Now misspell death to be even more metal!
Seriously, though, this album crushes it. Megadeth was never my kind of metal, but I can’t deny this one all the stars.
Screaming Trees
2/5
Meh. I don't really get this as "grunge" and lumping them in with Nirvana and early Pearl Jam or Soundgarden. This is just basic alt rock, to me. It was fine, but completely unmemorable.
The National
5/5
Finally! Another album I love enough to give five stars before listening, and not just out of nostalgia. I actually can't wait to listen now.
Listened and still loved it. Not my favorite The National, but still love it.
Aphex Twin
5/5
I got introduced to Aphex Twin with Windowlicker and never really went back to listen to this one. I am on the record on not liking EDM or most things close to it, but I love Aphex Twin. I prefer his later trip-hop and jungle beat stylings, but I will admit this was a perfect collection of ambient works.
Haircut 100
1/5
Nope. Stop the Britpop. This is album #980 for me, and I can not do more British pop. This isn't even different Britpop. This is just more of the same, but less popular.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
Dear Mr. Groening, creator of The Simpsons and many things, I do not have the 8+ hours available to listen to this album before it starts to make sense. However, I did manage to enjoy this (after finding it only on YT) more than I expected, and it was not as horrible experience as I was prepared for. So, if Matt Groening set me up for a five, and other reviewers and my memory of Captain Beefheart set me up for a one, I'll split the difference.
Blur
4/5
I am beginning to hate Britpop, but I do like Blur. It’s fun. It’s easy. It starts to run out of gas near the end, but not too bad.
Coldplay
5/5
OG Coldplay is still great. I loved it in 2000, and I do still love it. Actually, I forgot how much I loved this one.
Steely Dan
3/5
I may not like Steely Dan all that much. It wasn’t awful, and I can see how it got on the list, so I can’t punish it too much. I can’t give it more than three stars, either. It’s just… music that exists.
Tears For Fears
3/5
A mix of, well, Everybody Wants to Rule the World and a handful of other songs that aren’t that one. As a whole, the album’s fine but not memorable for me.
Gillian Welch
4/5
I knew to pay attention when I saw this linked to so many great artists’ influence playlists. Not my usual style, but it’s great, and I can hear the influence in my favorite folk and related musicians.
Lorde
4/5
Not my style or an album I would reach for, but I'm not denying that the Lorde sound works. She has the right voice for the specific music and those lyrics, and it all works as a package more than any individual element.
Elton John
5/5
Okay, when I think that I like Elton John, I evidently really mean I like this album. I also like songs on other albums, of course, but this feels like the most quintessential version of what I consider my favorite Elton John. It starts with "Tiny Dancer," which is almost impossible to not sing along with (or at least picture the cast of Almost Famous singing along with), then it keeps going with strong songs in a similar vein (though not as catchy as Tiny Dancer), and it wraps up in under 45 minutes. Perfect. If it were longer, it might lose a star, but there's no fat on it.
Big Star
3/5
This was fine. It's notable like a car wreck, evidently, because it's the decline of Alex Chilton's mental health, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. The covers were actually very good, IMO. The whole thing still felt like a weird mixtape of unreleased studio sessions (which it kinda is) documenting someone losing hold on their sanity (which it sadly is).
David Bowie
4/5
Not peak Bowie, of course, but still really good. Should this be on the list after its covered actual peak Bowie so much? Probably not. Is it still better than half the stuff on here? Very likely.
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
Wow. This one had me nervous. On paper, I cannot hate more the idea of a 90 minute country rock concept album about Lynyrd Skynyrd. Somehow, though, it worked for me. I learned too much about George Wallace, but that's okay. the album slipped by in what felt like much less time than many of the hour-long albums on this list, and I was entertained the whole time. I'm not from The South (Texas is not part of the capital S South), but I got into it. It painted a picture that I could instantly picture, and I enjoyed the experience of taking a peek.
Traffic
2/5
Like the title and cover. Like some British folk. Do not like jazz flute or its associated instruments. I tried. Only for Duke Silver.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
For a moment, I thought this was going to be an 80s rock opera, based on the title track. Then, it kept shifting and became more of what I expected. It was fine. It was a lot.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Definitely my favorite Nick Cave album. Beautiful, sorrowful, and atmospheric in all the right ways. It was the wrong album to try to lift weights to (busy day), but it was a beautiful and impactful album.
The Prodigy
4/5
The Prodigy is one of a few bands that brought some of the punks and hardcore kids over towards techno. I like others like Aphex Twin and Amon Tobin more, but The Prodigy was definitely more universal. For me, that was still more Fat of the Land (1997) than Music for the Jilted (1994). This has some of the metal guitars and samples that would get me later, but it didn’t feel as fully-formed yet. Still a good listen for a genre that I barely listen to.
David Bowie
3/5
Not my favorite Bowie, and I honestly most respect than straight enjoy most Bowie. Good, but just not amazing for me.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Not the worst of Peter Gabriel, and I enjoyed this 100x more than any Genesis albums I can think of. It's definitely experimental in parts (from a little to very, very), but he still managed to get a banger of a single in there. He's thankfully not using experimentation to make up for lack of songwriting or musical ability (looking at you, some albums on this list), and that shines through. I can't give it five stars, personally, but I can give it a strong four.
The Human League
2/5
So 80s. Almost 70s since it was '81, but still painfully 80s. I feel like I've heard this album a hundred times on this journey.
Ravi Shankar
4/5
I surprisingly found this very listenable and interesting. I'm not sure I needed the instructions beforehand, but that seems like it would have been more helpful in 1957.
Janet Jackson
3/5
First, this is too much 80s Janet Jackson for me. It's probably too much for anybody in 2025. Still, that's not her fault. Some of the songs were legitimate bangers. Some were really good at getting an important message across. Some sounded like generic 80s Janet Jackson. It was a mixed bag with pretty high highs and low lows. I would give half the album four stars, and I'd give the other half two. This isn't a three-star album. It's a four-star and two-star mixed together. Just want to make that clear.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
I didn't think it was that bad until Apple Music immediately followed this with 90s Radiohead and made everything I had heard sound so much worse by comparison. It was fine. I would listen to it and smile at my wife if she put it on. I couldn't imagine putting it on myself, though. It sounds too much like other music that I like better.
Butthole Surfers
4/5
I’m not sure what I listened to, but it worked for me. Noise rock that would influence grunge later. Represent my TX roots. I kinda can’t believe it made the list, but it was a good listen for me today.
The Stranglers
5/5
This is the kind of album I’m here for. I knew of The Stranglers, but I’d never listened to the whole album before. It was punk, and dark, and I loved it.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Such shoegaze. I didn’t realize how shoegazey music could be in the late 80s, but this sounds like late 90s, or even early 00s, shoegaze. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but it feels relevant.
The White Stripes
5/5
It’s The White Stripes. They’re a little different this time, but they’re still Jack and Meg White, and they’re still great musicians.
Morrissey
3/5
This was the least bad Morrisey. I did not hate it and may have even enjoyed a few songs.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
I can't do all the Belle and Sebastian albums anymore (some just bore me), but this one was catchy enough to make me a little sad when it ended. I was kind of getting into a groove and almost put on some more B&S (before remembering that this is the only album I probably still like). Still shoegaze, but solid hooks and enough solid songwriting to sound more "indie" than "boring" to me.
N.W.A.
4/5
I'm conflicted. I was looking forward to this one due to the songs I know almost too well, but the other songs either started to blend together or become almost unlistenable with the levels of misogyny and unnecessarily violent machismo. Still, the bangers were bangers.
Jazmine Sullivan
1/5
I tried. I tried. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the genre (love older R&B, but not 2020s), title, and cover, but I thought those could all be personal feelings. I ignored that, and I tried. No. It just doesn't make sense on this list, and I shudder to think what got pushed off to make room (I'd hope it was Limp Bizkit, but it was probably Gorillaz or The Killers). I still wanted to give it at least 2 stars, but I couldn't even justify that.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Yeah, his voice isn’t great, and I could live forever without another sax solo, but I do love the songwriting.
M.I.A.
4/5
Not really my style, but I also can't believe this was a debut album. I found myself nodding my head and really listening, so I'll give it the stars for that.
The Afghan Whigs
2/5
I remember a time when I kinda liked this style, but I just can't with these lyrics. I almost had to back up a few times because I should I must have misheard it.
Alice Cooper
5/5
I like Alice Cooper, but I was less familiar with the 70s, non-campy Cooper. This was just good, basic 70s rock, and it showed off Cooper’s legitimate musicianship and skills as a writer. It was great. It was going to be four stars, but that piano transition got me. Five stars.
2Pac
2/5
Yeah. I wasn’t a big Tupac fan back in the day, and I’m still not. As a person, he was involved in so many despicable things (rape and accidental death of a 6yo being the top) that I can’t really idolize him. As a rapper, I just don’t think he could match most of the lyricists before or after him.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Confirmed this is Nick Cave. It’s neither the worst, most repugnant, or best. It’s very middle of the road, and that’s probably for the best.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
My mom loved Joni Mitchell, but I was dreading this. That said, it wasn't bad at all. It had the right 70s acoustic vibe, and it was at least great music for me while working.
Ride
3/5
I a shoegaze classic really a classic? Enough for this list? I don't know. It's very, very shoegaze. It is the definition of shoegaze. Hooray for that. I honestly think I would have loved this at a certain point as a young person. I listened to the albums that spawned from this a few years later. I need to acknowledge that. It's. Just. So. Much. Shoegaze.
Beth Orton
3/5
This was fine. It wasn't exceptional to me, but it was better than a lot of other albums on here.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
There are few opening tracks that can equal "Immigrant Song." That said, the rest of the album is more blues rock, and I also love that. This is still not my favorite Led Zeppelin (which is IV), but it still gets all the stars.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
No. I can’t give this one star, because it’s not unlistenable. I can’t give it more than two, though, because it’s barely listenable. I can’t give respect Adam Ant for his creativity, but I don’t want to ever hear this again.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
4/5
This wasn’t as bad as I feared based on the reviews, and I enjoyed it. It’s not “punk” as the critics said it would be, but it was a vibe I enjoyed.
Deerhunter
3/5
Standard indie rock, but I didn’t hate it. I’m not sure it needs to be on the list with The Beatles and Led Zeppelin, but it was a pretty good representation of 2010 indie rock for future generations.
Ian Dury
1/5
Why? Why did I need to hear this? I wanted to give it a shot, even after that title. It's just so juvenile, though. To paraphrase Benoit Blanc, I felt like it was not so dumb it was brilliant. It was just dumb.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
This was split. It sounded great, but it was just a great sounding collection of covers. That’s great, and I love some covers, but I don’t see why I need to hear this before I sleep the eternal sleep.
Raekwon
3/5
I love Wu-Tang, but this felt fairly middling. It wasn’t bad at all, and I think it should have gotten its sales and praise at the time, but it just can’t stand alone in this list next to actual Wu-Tang and groundbreaking hip-hop albums.
k.d. lang
2/5
I just can't with this. I don't think it's 1 star worthy to me, but it's not worth much more. I remember why I never listened to k.d. lang in the 90s. I would call out something atrocious, but it was so boring I've already forgotten almost everything from the album.
Santana
4/5
Good album. Way more piano than I expected, but overall very enjoyable.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Yep. This is 80s British new wave. I couldn’t identify a single song, but it wasn’t bad or hard to listen to.
The Associates
1/5
That album cover and the name “Sulk”? I’m already not happy. I cannot with this voice. I. Can. Not. What if David Bowie wasn't talented? Yeah, I guess I now know what that would sound like (and I don't like it).
Girls Against Boys
2/5
Heavy, but not nearly heavy enough. This was so panufully 1993. It was no unlistenable, though, so I cannot give it less than two stars.
Manu Chao
4/5
I did not expect to personally like this (even if I respected it), but it was fun. I wouldn’t reach for it often, but it could definitely fit a vibe.
The Young Gods
4/5
Honestly, this is like French NIN, and I’m kinda here for it. Mix in a little Rammstein for good measure, too. I expected to hate this, but I did not.
Deee-Lite
4/5
This was a lot more fun than I expected, and I'm being generous here because I just enjoyed it.
The Beau Brummels
2/5
This was one I had actually never heard of, but I was kinda okay with dying before this. It wasn't bad. It was just... Dylan-lite.
Portishead
5/5
It’s great to every once in a while hear an album that I’m glad to have heard (many times) before not demise, and I’m happy for others to hear it before they become worm food. An album that really defines trip-hop and also steps outside enough to be appreciated outside of genre. I will always love punk and metal most, but I loved this album.
Sabu
4/5
I wasn’t sure, but I got into this after the first song. I can’t see myself really listening to an album of this again, but I would be down to be in a jazz bar somewhere in Florida to experience this music live.
Traffic
3/5
I’m not trying to be terse, but I just can’t find much to say about this. It sounds like the 60s and is completely inoffensive and fine to listen to (mostly). Yeah. That’s about all I can think of to say.
3/5
Others have said it, but this album might have been pretty good if this list had not already overexposed me to psychedelic rock like it. I respect they wanted it to feel scattered and disorienting, so… bravo?!?
Wilco
5/5
Honestly, I had already rated this in my head before listening to it this time. I've listened to this album so many times. There's something connective and calming about the whole thing for me that I realize might be specifically generational or cultural. I'm not sure why, but it feels like the perfect adult chill music for those of us who grew up on punk and metal (and still listen to both).
Weather Report
1/5
I knew I had to get Weather Report on the list at some point. I know them enough by reputation, but I made it to 1040 before hitting it. I don’t know. I don’t get how people legitimately like this, to be honest. Tolerate, sure. Use for background, maybe. But enjoy? I feel like Weathers Report is why the music lovers who hate jazz think they hate jazz. Why did they need to make jazz sound more 80s? Jazz didn’t need or deserve that.
Paul Simon
3/5
This was good. Not Paul Simon’s best, but that still makes it better than half the list.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Never listened to this when it came out, but I was impressed with the lyrics and the flow. Beats were solid, of course, but I was more into the lyrics on this one.
Bob Dylan
4/5
For me, this is peak Dylan. This is the Dylan era I was introduced to (many years later). Not my favorite actual album by Dylan, but in the right era.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
When "Ramble On" ended and I thought it was over until "Moby Dick" kicked in with that groove...
Goldfrapp
3/5
This would definitely be on my list of 1001 albums that “are totally fine.” It was fine.
Ramones
5/5
It’s the Ramones. It’s great. It’s one of the few albums on this list that actually leaves me wanting more.
Cee Lo Green
3/5
This wasn't bad, but it's by far the best thing even Cee-Lo Green has been involved with. Gnarls Barkley is better. Goodie Mob was better. Even other solo ventures seemed more interesting. He's a weird, crazy, interesting man (for better or worse), and I didn't really get any of that from this album.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
I missed this album completely when it came out, despite listening to Damon Albarn since the first Blur. It was a fun experiment, but I can see why it didn’t become a whole separate thing like Gorillaz. Really fun to listen to, but I don’t think anything really stuck around for me after it was over.
Alice Cooper
5/5
I thought I knew what I was getting, and I was very wrong. Broadway, jazz, blues, and orchestral pieces intermingling with the Alice Cooper I expected. Very fun and wildly smart.
Coldcut
1/5
I just can’t. I thought it was okay, and I realized I was only 15 minutes into an album that’s over an hour. Maybe it’s not the album’s fault. I don’t think anybody is supposed to just sit and listen to house music, sober and solo. Still, it didn’t even seem like the best house music. I couldn’t.
Throwing Muses
4/5
Almost impossible to find, but this was great fun. I can see the influence on so many punk bands that came later, but it’s just a great listen beside that.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
This was fine. It was not the worst in the British pop on this list by a long shot, but it's not really the best either. I hate to do another cop out three start for that, but I don't know what else seems fair.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
This was closer to the kind of country I can stand (old or outlaw, preferably both), but still not my jam. I did start to enjoy it, but then it all sounded the same.
Kraftwerk
3/5
I mean, it’s more Kraftwerk, which I don’t love, but it’s relatively short. It was the exact amount of Kraftwerk that I can handle.
David Bowie
3/5
I love Bowie, but didn’t really love this one. It wasn’t bad (still Bowie), but not great, to me.
Simple Minds
2/5
Yeah. I didn’t need more New Wave in this list. There’s plenty.
Ali Farka Touré
5/5
This was a great album that I’d never heard before, which seems like the point of this project. African blues like I’ve never heard before, and it was fun.
Beatles
5/5
I got to 1057 on this list before I finally got to Abbey Road, but it was worth it. Great album. No notes.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
I guess I didn’t get it. It felt pretty meh to me, but based on the reviews I almost (almost) want to give it another listen.
Elvis Presley
1/5
Yeah, I like Little Richard, too, so I'll probably just listen to him. It was short, though, so there's that.
3/5
Man, I alternated between love and hate, appreciation and disdain, and too many other thoughts during this album. Honestly, I feel it should be a 1 or 5, and I can’t figure out which.
De La Soul
5/5
Such a great hip hop album that I haven’t listened to in years. Funny, smart, and great beats. Plus Q-Tip added into the mix.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
This is the kind of jazz I can listen to all day.
Ozomatli
3/5
Some good stuff here, mostly due to Cut Chemist, but overall just highs and lows.
Linkin Park
5/5
I’ll be honest, this one was a personal five from me before I started to listen this time. I can see the arguments against it. It is a little overplayed and overproduced. It’s not even their best. Still, I find it infinitely listenable, and I still know all the words.