The editor of this book thought this album was more essential than anything by Yo La Tengo or The Cranberries

No wonder it’s not available in Apple Music in the US.

You’re the only 10 I see. RIP DCB.

I was really digging it, but by the fifth track I got bored.

Does anyone else feel like the 90s are over-represented on this thing?

I've never been a big fan of Clapton, so I've never sought out his work. I've found his solo work boring and I never thought Cream lived up to the hype. Like, I seriously don't get why people thought he was the best rock guitarist. So, in listening to this in its entirety for the first time today I found it to be better than I was expecting. I got bored before it ended -- they probably could have trimmed 30 mins from the 75, but I didn't turn it off either. I doubt I'd voluntarily listening to it again, but if it was playing in the background somewhere I don't think I'd complain.

The older I get the more I appreciate (& love Steely Dan). I'm not a big fan of "East St. Louis Toodle-Oo" making this album not as strong in my opinion as Aja, Countdown to Ecstacy, the Royal Scam, or Can't Buy a Thrill.

Pretty much a perfect hard rock album. I've been loving it since my older cousin gave me a copy on cassette in the early 80s.

A classic!

After the first 90 seconds of listening to this tripe, I felt like I was in a training montage of a 90s-00s sci-fi, action and/or thriller flick. I hated this shit at the time, and it seriously hasn't aged well. Had to turn it off after 8 minutes. Absolute garbage.

I have loved this album since it first came out. Every time I listen to it I can't believe how good it is. The best!

"Have A Cigar" prevents me from giving this 5 stars.

This would be a great album if it wasn't marred by cheesy 80s production. I've heard the demo of Born in the USA from the Nebraska Sessions -- imagine if he recorded this album in the 70s

I'm not the biggest big band fan, but I love jazz

I smoked a lot of weed in high school listening to this album, but I feel like it hasn't aged as well as other hip-hop albums from the late 80s/early 90s. The beats are pretty good, but the lyrics are terrible. Couldn't make it past the 4th track. 2 stars for nostalgia. 2/5

I liked the video when I was 9 years old. I think I had the 45. Couldn't get past the 2nd track 2/5

Oh hell yes!

More boring than I was expecting

Moments of brilliance interspersed with banality.

3 for nostalgia

Neil Young makes it a 5, otherwise it’d be a 3.

I was really digging it, but by the fifth track I got bored.

I listen to Pink Moon so much I forgot how good this album is.

I remember hearing & digging this album when it came out, but I seem to have lost track of it sometime over the course of the last 24 years.

Kind of generic & boring apart from the first track

I can't believe I've never listened to this album before today.

I remember so many of these songs from the radio in the late 80s.

Make me know it!

Hey Siri what does foppish mean?

You are the sunshine of my life

I’ve always wished this album was mixed more like a 70s funk album than an 80s pop album.

This album has all the elements of the type of album I should love but I hated it.

Couldn’t get past the first 30 seconds

We can be heroes just for one day

It's not the side-effects of the cocaine I'm thinking that it must be love.

Push it along

Wowza!

My least favorite Miles Davis album.

This is ending up in the regular rotation

Too twee for me

I guess you had to be there.

Meh

I forgot how much I liked Madness

Sound quality was poor. Motörhead has better studio albums.

He should have stayed in the Bad Seeds

I bought this album from the cutout bin by mistake when I was in middle school because I thought it was an album by the hardcore band D.O.A. 35 years later, I still haven't been able to make it all the way through this record.

I made it through about 45 seconds before turning this tripe off.

I prefer their earlier albums with less synth & homophobia.

Too precious for my tastes

Takes me back to my mid-20s living in Northern California studying literature & working in a dive.

I can’t believe the first song isn’t a Sinatra cover. This guy’s a douche.

No wonder it’s not available in Apple Music in the US.

I always preferred Tosh’s voice to Marley’s. This record is really good but it’s no Equal Rights.

This record reminded me of how much I love My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.

Not sure if I’d ever listen to it again, but I liked it & wouldn’t turn it off if it came on.

Boring bland background music

I can think of 4 other Beefheart records I’d rather listen to than this one.

Wish I could give this tripe a 0.

All hail Eddie Hazel.

I’m not a big fan of big band arrangements.

A reminder of how great “Dummy” is.

It's strange that the title track is not available on Apple Music.

My all-time favorite Talking Heads album.

🤢🤮

I was a massive Smiths fan in the 80s & 90s, but by the time Vauxhall & I came out, I had given up on Morrissey.

Couldn't make it through the first track.

Man, this album is bland.

I can't believe they picked this one over Halber Mensch.

Having grown up with Smiley Smile & various bootlegs of Smile, I was stoked to check this out when it came out in 2004, but frankly 2011’s Smile Sessions, Smiley Smile & the various bootlegs sound so much better than this re-recorded tripe. The best thing about this album is that there is a definitive track listing/sequencing, but would Smile have actually been released as a 52 minute double album in 1967? This release should be replaced in the book by the Smile Sessions.

Can’t believe this made the list and Getz/Gilberto didn’t.

A damn near perfect record.

I stopped following Nick Cave when Blixa left the band. This record is not as great as the 12 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds records leading up to Nocturama. Doubt I’ll listen to it again but if it comes on I won’t turn it off.

Pleasant ‘80s corporate rock/dad rock sounding background music. I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to it.

I haven't listened to this record since the 90s. It was better than I expected/remembered.

"Substance," "Brotherhood," & "Power, Corruption & Lies" all should have made the list before "Technique." 3: Good, not great.

How the hell did this make the list & not a single Bikini Kill album? I've tried to get into Le Tigre since 1999, but I just can't stand them musically. I'll take Bikini Kill's "Reject All American," "Pussy Whipped" or "The C.D. Version of the First Two Records" any day over Le Tigre. 1/5: I couldn’t make it all the way through the album.

The hits are the hits, the filler was filler, & the Prince duet was a nice surprise. 2/5: I wouldn’t turn it off if it came on, but I wouldn’t put it on voluntarily.

The kind of album that makes me want to abandon this project. I am 100% certain life would still be worth living if I had never encountered this album. 1/5: Didn't make it through the first track.

Minus 1 for no Neil Young. “Marrakesh Express” is a bit cheesy. 4/5: a flawed classic

Proof that I need more Queen in my life. Especially the deep cuts.

I wish I could give this album 5 stars. "Wish You Were Here" & "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" are two of my all-time favorite Pink Floyd songs. However, "Have A Cigar" is one of my all-time least favorite Pink Floyd songs. I'm indifferent to "Welcome To The Machine." 4/5: A flawed masterpiece.

Not sure how this one slipped by me.

I couldn't be bothered.

Since its release I’ve wanted to like this album more than I actually do, but it’s no Fugees “The Score” 3/5: Good, not great.

Serviceable classic rock. Not good, not great.

The kind of record that makes me want to quit this project.

There was a period in my life in the late 90s in college when I listened to this record at least once a day.

Oh look another nineties britpop record! Well that certainly didn't sound like an album I MUST HEAR BEFORE I DIE, like, say "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane (which of course didn't make the list). 2/5: not offensive enough to turn off if it came on & not good enough to voluntarily listen to.

I always forget that there are Yes records before “Fragile” & I wonder if I’d have listened to this one more if it had a Roger Dean cover.

Does anyone else feel like the 90s are over-represented on this thing?

Does anyone else feel like the 90s are over-represented on this thing?

I'm ready for the laughing gas

I was looking forward to revisiting it, but it wasn't my cup of tea in 89 & it still isn’t.

No.

I like the hits but the filler was boring.

Well, I've finally sat through a Rush album in its entirety. 2/5

It spent 937 weeks on the Billboard 200 - 18 years!

Unlistenable

I don’t have the energy to wade through this

I don’t have the energy to wade through this

If it wasn't for Scotty Moore's guitar solos & "London Calling" I'd have given it a 2.

The link in Apple Music took me to Phaedra Revisited which was re-recorded by Tangerine Dream in 2005. Be sure to seek out the original 1974 release - it's much better!

Even though I'm a fan of the La's who bought this album when it came out. I was shocked to see that it made the list of albums I *MUST* listen to before I die when The Cranberries, Yo La Tengo, and Love & Rockets all didn't make the list. The La's were good, not great & definitely not of the caliber of the Smiths or Stone Roses. 3/5

Not as good as Kyuss, the Melvins, or Electric Wizard (none of which made this list), it sounds more like a less-produced Soundgarden. 3/5

A 5 for the UK version ("Mother's Little Helper" & "Out of Time") & a 5 for the US version ("Paint It Black.").

An extremely forgettable 90s release and a reminder that neither Yo La Tengo nor The Cranberries made this list.

Utterly forgettable

A flawed masterpiece. It has taken me decades to warm up to this album musically. They lyrics kept me coming back and somewhere along they way I found myself enjoying it.

This album made me want to listen to Electric Warrior.

I'm not a big fan of swing/jump blues/vocal jazz, but this album can get the party going!

No.

Workinonit!

If I wanted to listen to music that sounded like this I’d listen to U2, Queen or Depeche Mode, so I put on Khruangbin & Leon Bridges' "Texas Sun" instead. 1/5

Not sure how this one made the list when "Europe '72" (or "Skull & Roses" for that matter) didn't. I doubt this album is going to win over any new fans. That being said, I really like licorice. 4/5

Off the top of my head I can think of 5 Sonic Youth albums that are better than this one. 3/5

-1 star for the referee whistle at the end of “It’s All Over Now” & -1 for "Only A Hobo" 3/5

Not sure if the Monkees belong on this list, and if they do this isn't the album. 2/5

Magnum opus

The editor of this book thought this album was more essential than anything by Yo La Tengo or The Cranberries

I was 10 years old when this album came out, & I was just branching out into developing my own music tastes beyond my parents' (Beach Boys, Beatles, Monkees) or Top 40 radio (Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Cindi Lauper). I remember there was a lot of parental anxiety over this album (& hip-hop & heavy metal in general). I can't remember if I wasn't allowed to buy it, or I had merely assumed the outcome of that conversation before it was had, so not only was it one of the first albums I acquired that was "my" music, this was the first tape that I copied off of a friend. Since Check Your Head came out (& completely blew my mind), I have hardly listened to License to Ill. I'd say "Girls" & "Fight for Your Right" are the two weakest tracks on the album, and the deep cuts were refreshing to revisit. I'd still take Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, & Hello Nasty over this one. 4/5 - a flawed classic.

No

Sounds like the music you hear on NPR.

You’re the only 10 I see. RIP DCB.

Wish I still had this one on vinyl

This would be a perfect record if it wasn't for the skits. 4/5

+1 for "Love Removal Machine" -1 for "Born to Be Wild" 3/5

Nope

Not my favorite James Brown record. Ended up putting on Sex Machine instead.

I have to be in the right mood to listen to Mjnor Threat & I’ve always preferred the first two seven inches.

I decided to listen to Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams (not included on this list) instead.

The soundtrack to when my wife & i started dating.

Yes!

Meh. I ended up listening to Sweetheart of the Rodeo instead.

Sublime

💀 ⚡️ 🌹

Been loving this since 1987

Desert island disc

I turned it off halfway through a song called Rock and Roll Pussy.

I prefer Billie Holiday’s small combo works & I’m not a fan of strings in jazz. Still it’s Billie Holiday 3/5

Pretty bland Gen X adult contemporary. Had it on as background music in the morning. Wasn’t good, wasn’t bad. Then “JC Hates Faggots” came on…

1987 saw INXS’s “Kick,” Love and Rockets’ “Earth, Sun, Moon,” & the Cure’s “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.” None of these albums made the list yet this godawful tripe from 1987 that sounds like a parody Christian rock band made it.

Ended up listening to Neutral Milk Hotel all day instead.

Ended up listening to Neutral Milk Hotel all day instead.

I wasn’t in the mood in 94 & I’m still not.

I can tell I’m an American of a certain age because despite not liking Bon Jovi at the time, I’ll take this album over all the electronica that plagues this list any day.

Well that was more boring than I was expecting.

This would have been a 5 star single album.

Even as a Pavement fan I'm shocked 2 of their records made the list. I prefer Crooked Rain.

No

Not my favorite Waits album

Masquerading as a country record. Ended up listening to Waylon & Willie instead.

3 Dexys albums on this list? They only put out 3 albums in the 80s during their original run as a band! Warren Zevon should have sued them for plagiarism.

After reading that Billy Joe wanted this to be his Bohemian Rhapsody I decided to listen to Queen’s A Night at the Opera instead.

I prefer 52nd Street

Got bored, turned it off

I love Sonic Youth, but I can’t fathom how 5 Sonic Youth albums made this list when none by Yo La Tengo or Galaxie 500 did.

The cowbell on “The Wizard” at 2:11.

“Things Fall Apart” is one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. “Phrenology” is why I quit listening to the Roots.

The sound of robots procreating.

Glad this made the list over Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo & the Cranberries.

I’m not a fan of post-Mick Harvey Bad Seeds.

Soft rock diarrhea.

+1 for the final track

Got bored, turned it off.

Desert island disc.

No.

Quite possibly the worst record of all time & definitely not worthy of this list.

+1 for nostalgia

+1 for Kristy MacColl +1 for Johnny Marr