This is the sound of a suburban dad in socks and sandals

The kind of music you'd hear on every late 90s/early 2000s drama or rom-com. It's got the right mood to convey the sadness of the scene, but forgettable enough to be in the background. Great for when you don't want to pay for White Flag by Dido. Instrumentally, it sounds like the music that comes preset on your phone for ringtones and alarms.

Just ok. It was clever of them to put the best song at the end, so you'd listen to the rest of it first

It's so lovely to find an album you like in a genre you don't typically enjoy. This feels closer to folk these days, instead of the bro-cou try you otherwise tend to hear

Pretty unremarkable, especially considering Graceland exists. Cars are Cars is probably one of the dorkiest songs to ever be made

This is the sound of a suburban dad in socks and sandals

Very fun! Soundtrack to New York in ~the past~

The rock on which all subsequent alt was built

Basically unlistenable after 3 songs

Way more Folk than I expected!

Incredible songwriter, but I always get hung up in his voice.

A precursor to the next 10 years of alt sound

Ambitious but bloated. It's impossible to recall any given song when there's another 68 on the album with it

Pretty fun, classic prog

Still one of my fave 60s rock acts. Always fun to listen to the Kinks

Sorry Maxwell, not my jam. Every song is individually decent, but rhe lack of variation in the backbeat makes it a slog to listen to album through.

I was honestly surprised by this. Not yet metal and the most coherent Ozzy will ever be

Not really my jam. It's fine.

Not my jam, yet another not-quite-different-enough contribution to late 60s/early 70s rock

Likely to be my top Dylan album. Most songs are shorter, while still showing his excellent songwriting. His singing style is present, but not yet the caricature it eventually becomes

Awful. The worst album so far

Pretty fun, 70s blues rock. Wouldn't necessarily listen to it again, but works fine as your classic rock driving music

A 2.5 album. I didn't hate it but it's not my jam. Very folky, but has a tendency to get weird and loud at times as well

I am so. Tired. Of this long stretch of man-rock. I can't even care. This is right on the edge of my tolerance

Really fun. This is jazz you've heard before on soundtracks, but it is lovely to listen to again

Moody and atmospheric indie rock. Would have sounded almost standard at the time, but can be appreciated now divorced from the rest of the scene

Early grunge before the genre gets too into itself. They're not afraid to mix things up a bit and you can definitely still hear the punk influence

Incredible. I have tons of nostalgia for this album and Eurythmics in general, and this album absolutely delivers

Not as good as some of the previous jazz albums on this list. Maybe a little too heavy on the jazz clarinet

Sounds exactly how you expect it to. Good representation of 70s soul.

Sorry kids I hate metal

I love to hear the origins of my favourite genres, and this is such a good example of early alt rock and power pop. Loved it, will likely listen again.

Fine, but not long after I finished it I immediately couldn't remember a thing and instead had "The Power" in my head instead. Otherwise, the sound of a scene set in a club in the 90s

One of those bands I knew I should listen to because of all the later ones they influenced. Excellent early alt/new wave with lyrics that inspire pop-punk and emo 20 years later

It's so lovely to find an album you like in a genre you don't typically enjoy. This feels closer to folk these days, instead of the bro-cou try you otherwise tend to hear

A heartbreaking and intimate album. Feels like it's too private at times and you shouldn't be eavesdropping. I wish I had more context for Nick Cave's sound going in

Inoffensive dad rock. Hotel California obviously slaps and overall the Eagle's are not as bad as the meme wants them to seem

It's a shame this is so difficult to track down in its entirety. The few songs I picked were interesting, almost James Bond-movie instrumentation. I think it suffers a bit from being a soundtrack album, especially if you don't speak Hindi, as you know it's telling a story, you just don't know what it is.

Of course, there's nothing more ridiculous than Phil Spector giving anyone a Christmas present as much fun as this one. However, this is a great example of the rock-and-roll Christmas sound that becomes buried in our holiday consciousness for the next 50 years.

The kind of music you'd hear on every late 90s/early 2000s drama or rom-com. It's got the right mood to convey the sadness of the scene, but forgettable enough to be in the background. Great for when you don't want to pay for White Flag by Dido. Instrumentally, it sounds like the music that comes preset on your phone for ringtones and alarms.

Atmospheric. The tone wanders a bit and I can't say I *disliked* it but it definitely requires you to be in a specific kind of mood

Love listening to early genre music, because it sounds so basic but you can hear where every subsequent band found at least part of their sound. Imagine Green Day listening to this and then making their early EPS.

Excellent female singer-songwriter 90s alt rock. Feels like the kind of vibes that are popular again

Interesting to hear an album of just covers. Definitely makes me want to hear more by him, and some of his original stuff.

It's hard to separate this from the cultural zeitgeist. The first half of this album is absolutely iconic. The latter half does get a little more screamy than I'd remembered

Wasn't sure what to expect aside from All Along The Watchtower. I was pleasantly surprised to hear all the soul/R&B influence, but then the 10 minute guitar solos came in and wiped the goodwill that generated

Fun dance beat stuff. Unfortunately the best song for me was one that automatically played on Spotify after this album was over

The production is so incredibly dated that it makes it hard to listen to. It's smooth and artificial and any good songwriting gets lots is the late 80s synth haze

Solid old country. Does sound kind of same-y after a while, but El Paso is hard not to like.

Though I haven't listened to a ton of techno, I can't help but feel that this is on the dumb/bro side of things. It's not dire, but the beats get repetitive after a few songs and it mostly coasts on the nostalgia of Smack My Bitch Up being in every action movie c.1998-2001

Sorry Beck, I understand you got really into folk music but it doesn't do it for me. Knowing this is a breakup album does give some weight to the emotions expressed, but the album itself never feels like it goes much of anywhere

I've listened to this album many times before and it is still my favourite Radiohead album. Not as alienating as some of their later stuff, but still sounds unique enough stand out from the other alt rock of its time

An interesting comparison to Goo, it feels like early on Sonic Youth was the perfect name for the band: lound and young-sounding

I always find myself avoiding the Flaming Lips because of Wayne Coyne but every time I do listen, it's super enjoyable. The orchestration is lovely and grand, and this album goes interesting places without being totally alienating

Incredible early 90s alt rock/shoegaze. Will absolutely listen to more, love hearing the inspiration for later alt/indie/emo bands

With a few notable options, this album is a solid jazzy sort-of nice dinner background music kind of thing. Doesn't hit as hard in 2022, but not offensive. EXCEPT for the weird parade song and the one with the child singing. Why??

I'm sure this is very important in the history or electronic music and sampling, and there are some interesting soundscapes, but it otherwise is not that much fun to listen to

Lots of fun 70s rock. Freebird is a classic, of course. Nothing surprising but a solid album

Stevie Wonder is always worth a listen! Stand out song is obviously Higher Ground, but the whole album is solid

Absolutely my favourite Beatles album. I've heard it many times before, but this was a great reason for another

Solid late-70s disco, and We Are Family is iconic. As with a lot of disco, it can get a little same-y throught the album, but still a fun listen.

Decent but never really hits the high of Can You Forgive Her?, which is unfortunate as it is the 1st song. There are better PSB albums out there

I love listening to these slightly more indie bands, it feels like "your favourite band's favourite band." This was a delight to listen to, with its postpunk/early alt sound.

I wonder if Black Sabbath is something people listen to *in spite of* Ozzy's voice. Musically, there's interesting stuff going on and I imagine he's an excellent live frontman but I can't get totally on board with the vocals.

Kind of dreamy and atmospheric at the beginning, that ramps up to almost a celebration at the end.

Loved it, might be a 5 album on a re-listen. 90s alternative/riot girl with a little Britpop

Wasn't expecting a Dexy's album without Come On Eileen, but I get how they work for some people. The instrumentation was surprising, I wasn't expecting the horns to be present throughout the whole thing. Dectn but not my jam

Super-tight 80s pop but never reaches the high of Rhythm Nation, which is a shame as it's the second track on an album over an hour long. A couple of tracks attempt to be topical/meaningful, but like many 80s/90s "we gotta do something" songs, they fall flat and are not redeemed musically either. Janet is at her best with uptempo pop, and this has some great examples

I think that maybe I just don't like modern country because this was excellent. Older country tends to feel more similar to folk, and I appreciate the storytelling that Dolly does here. Coat of Many Colors was stuck in my head for days!

Not my favourite White Stripes but a solid collection of garage rock relationship tracks. Haven't listened in a while and exactly as good as I remembered in coming back

I've heard other Dirty Projectors albums before that I've liked better. I want to like this one, but it's a little too discordant for me to totally get on board withh

A little too slow and melancholy for my liking but I may revisit it under different circumstances. Seems like the kind of album that requires a specific sort of setting to appreciate.

It's hard to rate Beatles albums objectively. It's obviously very good but suffers from being approximately half covers (which are still good performances). A 3.5 that I'll rate a 4

Sorry Jim, that organ gets boring quickly

A little weird but I thinki liked it overall. Definitely good enough for a second listen. Season of the Witch and Sunshine Superman are obvious stand outs but The Trip is also good, and several of the songs deserve a second listen just to absorb the stories they're telling

I guess good for them for figuring out the 80s rock sound by 1983. It's pretty middle of the road, wouldn't turn it off but wouldn't turn it up

Didn't finish. Kept skipping though songs waiting to find something interesting but never did.

I really liked this kind of 90s alt sound, but honestly this album goes on 20-30 minutes too long for it to be rated higher

You can tell this is really good jazz, but it still eventually ends of feeling like "listening to jazz"

Didn't finish, none of the tracks felt like they ever got going within the first minute or so

Nu Metal is not my jam, but this is slightly more listenable. Also MM is a shitty person and this feels way less edgy than it did 25 years ago

A lot of 90s albums suffer from bloat and sadly this is one of them. Loved the early 90s alt singer-songwriter sound but at about 35-40 minutes in it was dragging

Totally influential and you can hear so many later artists inspiration in here but for me personally it gets too long, both per song and the total length. Maybe I have a short attention span but the extended jammy-ness doesn't do anything for me

A pretty good jam! Dad rock but still excellent. Shows its folk roots as well

Excellent 80s new wave/post punk tracks. Still holds up now and doesn't get too bloated or into itself along the way

This is what happens when band geeks are allowed to make a rock band. They like jazz, obviously. Every song is too long

Pretty good, from before metal got too up it's own ass in the 80s

What an album. You wish he'd taken his own advice when you hear Kanye struggle with the trappings of fame and how he treats women. Definitely a separate art from artist album

Going in I'd heard half the album already simply from being alive in 2011. Was so pleased to hear the other half and hear that it really held together as well

Incredibly fun! The singles on this album I'd heard many times before and are great but this whole album hangs together really well

Really solid metal. Obviously several classic songs in here and it's before Ozzy gets completely unintelligible

Lovely 60s soul

NOW that's what I call 90s indie rock

Really good at the beginning but got overlong and the beats got repetitive

I think I may need to revisit this one later based on so many others' stellar reviews. It seemed like standard singer-songwriter fare, but probably deserves a second listen.

Great stuff. Could see how it wouldn't be for everyone as it obviously leans in a jazz and showtimes sort of direction but I thought it was great

You know when you watch a movie and think: "that was really good but I don't want to watch it again"? That's how I felt about this album. I respect the noise, the alternative directions, the pushing of boundaries, but it's not enough actual music to make me want to revisit

I love high-energy early alt/late punk type stuff and this falls exactly that vibe

Lovely warm stuff with beautiful writing. I can't say the forays into jazz were a great choice, but her classic singer-songwriter pieces are excellent

Maybe my favourite Bowie album?

He really does know how to evoke that sense of desperation in lower/middle class America. He's got his sound and doesn't vary a lot but this is still a great record

Sorry dude, your gross lyrics made me turn this off right away

Interesting! Wasn't expecting to do much more than just have it as background music while I worked on some stuff but it ended up being fun and diverse in both sound and language

Right in the middle of this album there's a run of seriously excellent songs that remind you why everyone afterwards was inspired by the Pixies. However on either side of this group is a bunch of noise rock that sounds more like they just wanted to rebel against pop music of the time. It's like a 3.5 for me but I love the middle bit enough for a 4

This music basically means nothing if it's not 1997 and you're not watching an action movie or at a club

When this album first came out I was way too deep in the throes of pop-punk to get much out of it. Revisiting it 15 years later really let's me appreciate what a well-crafted indie/alt record this is

Never totally hit for me, the music is interesting but the singer's voice isn't a great fit

I was kind of surprised that I did enjoy this. There isn't as much variety in the beats as you hear in more recent rap but you can't deny that Ice Cube is a really excellent storyteller

A little too jammy, so not really my jam

Pretty fun, but not the most innovative thing the Beach Boys will do. Hard to see why this is also on the list when there are significantly better albums from them

I cannot rate this album in any way objectively, I basically mainlined it in 2004/5. A classic.

It's interesting but not my jam. Lots of cool samples and melodies, and when reading into the background of the band it was interesting to learn that a lot of their material is satire of totalitarianism. However it's not really anything I'd seek out on my own

Britpop is a weird genre. It's usually not bad, but often not that great either. An album of songs you'd hear in British media and enjoy but not really think of again once the show is done

So fun, was a little apprehensive of this sounding classic rock-samey but had some really cool energy that brings it up

It's lovely but the jazzy lounge sound does get a little boring after a while. Lovely dinner sou Daypack but I probably wouldn't revisit it otherwise

I'm sure these are excellent beeps and books but I was just bored

Has a really interesting sparseness and darkness to it, and feels reminiscent of Bjork and maybe the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Will have to revisit it later, but a 3.5 that I'm giving a 3

A fun classic. The Beach Boys at their best

Reggae isn't really my thing but this is definitely some of the best out there

Interesting early electronic sound. Definitely contains the DNA of a ton of music that comes afterwards but I don't know if I'd sit down and listen to this willingly

Oh shit man you guys made me like a metal album. There's a lot of DNA here for later pop-punk especially. I love the energy and the fact that you can actually hear the vocals

Pretty fun set of post-punk/early alt music. You can hear a lot of influences to later alt rock, but the album goes on a little long

She has such great flow and the lyrics are excellent too. Fun beats and a really tight length

Very cool, definitely flowed better than I'd expected (especially based in some of the other reviews here) but a very fun rock album not bogged down by a lot of the theatrics (aside from excellent use of dog barks) otherwise seen in late 80s rock

I always think of REM as a 90s band but with this album firmly in the 80s you can see how heavily they influenced the alt rock of the 90s and beyond. Great stuff

I'm surprised that I didn't hate this. It's probably one of the best examples of nu-metal but it's still nu-metal and thus sounds quite dated. What not dated is the social commentary however

Incredible late riot grrl/alt rock/power pop with so much energy and attitude and an absolute joy to listen through the whole way

A really neat concept: putting Woody Guthrie's lyrics to contemporary music. The result is something fresh but more timeless than if it was entirely made in the 40s or the 90s

They have one sound but it's a great sound. Everything on this album could be a single but the singles on here are classics

It's such a cool sound that becomes so important for the following decade. However, the album runs a little too long and there's not a ton of variety song-to-song

It's fine. Reggae isn't really my jam so after a couple of songs I just feel like I'm listening to any reggae.

Pretty fun to have in the background in the summer but hard to parse without knowing the lyrics

Between the length and the fact that there they have other studio albums on this list, this seems totally unnecessary

Man I love British post-punk. This is great

Wonderful post-punk. I'd forgotten how many of these songs I'd heard independently before and enjoyed so to hear them collected with the rest of the album was great

Punky and dirty, lots of fun to listen to

So this album solidifies that when I've said in the past "I don't like country", what I MEAN is "I don't like current bro-country". Older country has a lot more genuine emotion behind it and can also be very tongue-in-cheek as well.

Yep, this is funky jazz

Sounds like a more rock-and-roll Rod Stewart, go figure

I think ultimately I prefer his stadium rock work, but this is a nice change of pace. Definitely more contemplative and quieter

Ladies Love Cool James but I thought this was only ok. 90s rap gets pretty samey after a while. Ofc Mama Said Knock You Out is great

Decent older country. Christine's Tune is excellent

Pretty fun funk/soul. I didn't realize how much I'd heard before until I sat down and listened.

Another album that is impossible for me to be objective about

Cool vibe, lots of recognizable bits

Some decent individual songs but plods along, especially when compared to the energy of My Aim is True

Piano jazz. It's fine

Pretty decent punk. Not enough here to make me want to come back to it but I'm not sad I heard the album

It sounds like Def Leppard. If you're into that great, but otherwise it sounds like movies-taking-place-in-the-80s soundtrack music

Solid rock album, with an incredible opening track

Probably the best Bob Dylan is going to get for me personally

Incredibly sad to listen to posthumously, you can hear her raw emotion in every note

Cool, mellow 60s folk

Great album. Maybe a 4.5, the peak of Bruce's stadium rock, while still having solid commentary on being lower/middle class and American

More Kinks are always good ;)

Congrats for writing the same song 8 times I guess? Oh no wait, there was a weird jazz arrangement in one, my mistake

Lovely 90s Britpop that doesn't seem to have aged a day

It's a shame but reggae just doesn't do it for me, the tracks are too same-y and chill

Heard it Through the Grapevine is obviously a great song but the rest if the album fell flat for me

This is just video game boss music, so unless I'm fighting an immortal demon king, I don't really care

Cute! Beatles-adjacent, folk-tinged and a little psychedelic. Maybe not a big fave of mine now, but probably would have been in 1967

Loved it, but suffers from overlong-90s-album syndrome, so starts to sound a little repetitive in the back third

A little too melancholy for me to vibe with overall, but I enjoyed her as an album artist way more than any of the singles I'd previously heard

Soundtrack to my retro New York romcom

Incredible punk/new wave. Love it

Pretty unremarkable, especially considering Graceland exists. Cars are Cars is probably one of the dorkiest songs to ever be made

Interesting African Jazz, probably cool to hear live, but not my thing for day-to-day

Super interesting new-jazz/funk sampling, etc. It's very modern, may not age super well, and I think I'd like individual songs better as part of a playlist instead of the whole album at once

Aside from a couple of weaker songs (Jamaica Jerk-Off?), the album deserves its spot on this list as a masterpiece

Don't tell my Dad I said so, but this was pretty boring

Its interesting from a music history standpoint of course, but I just finished it and couldn't tell you a thing about it

Just ok. It was clever of them to put the best song at the end, so you'd listen to the rest of it first

Honestly incredible, there's a reason this was everyone's best album of the year. It's thoughtful and angry and poignant while still having incredible beats and mixes

A little long bur consistently excellent throughout

Come for Sultans of Swing stay for...a bunch of songs that are not as good as Sultans of Swing

As much as I prefer lyricism and storytelling (which this album has in spades), I do find myself missing the music a bit, which just acts as texture over which the stories are told.

Excellent jazz

Oh, so it's just jazz? Way less obnoxious than I expected it to be

It's fine, but the problem is that Back to Black is SO much better.

It's Queen, it's a good album

Pretty fun, lots of singles

Fine I guess. Getting real tired of these albums that are all about how people mash up samples to create soundscapes

More sampling and dance music. It's fun, but unless I'm at the club, idk if I needed to hear this before I die

Ehhh I guess I respect the experimentation must it's not really fun to listen to now

Kinda boring?? Two singles does not a must-listen album make