760
Albums Rated
3.5
Average Rating
70%
Complete
329 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
US
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Rater Style ?
122
5-Star Albums
14
1-Star Albums
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By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
BEYONCÉ
Beyoncé
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
I See A Darkness
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Rhythm Nation 1814
Janet Jackson
|
5 | 2.99 | +2.01 |
|
Fuzzy
Grant Lee Buffalo
|
5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
|
Architecture And Morality
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
|
5 | 3.05 | +1.95 |
|
Treasure
Cocteau Twins
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen
|
5 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
|
Rid Of Me
PJ Harvey
|
5 | 3.11 | +1.89 |
|
It's A Shame About Ray
The Lemonheads
|
5 | 3.13 | +1.87 |
|
Third
Portishead
|
5 | 3.13 | +1.87 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Köln Concert
Keith Jarrett
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Deep Purple In Rock
Deep Purple
|
1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
|
Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Bill Evans Trio
|
1 | 3.32 | -2.32 |
|
Made In Japan
Deep Purple
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
|
Water From An Ancient Well
Abdullah Ibrahim
|
1 | 3.04 | -2.04 |
|
Exodus
Bob Marley & The Wailers
|
2 | 3.94 | -1.94 |
|
Arise
Sepultura
|
1 | 2.73 | -1.73 |
|
Slipknot
Slipknot
|
1 | 2.68 | -1.68 |
|
Follow The Leader
Korn
|
1 | 2.66 | -1.66 |
|
Catch A Fire
Bob Marley & The Wailers
|
2 | 3.63 | -1.63 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 7 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 6 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 9 | 4.67 |
| Bob Dylan | 5 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 4.4 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.67 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 4.67 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 4.67 |
| PJ Harvey | 3 | 4.67 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
| Beck | 2 | 5 |
| OutKast | 2 | 5 |
| Iggy Pop | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2 | 5 |
| Jane's Addiction | 2 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.25 |
| Prince | 3 | 4.33 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 4.33 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 4.33 |
| Blur | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Deep Purple | 3 | 1.33 |
5-Star Albums (122)
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Popular Reviews
4-Star Albums (251)
1-Star Albums (14)
All Ratings
Steely Dan
4/5
I always forget how short this album is. It's less about the songs and more about the vibe.
B.B. King
3/5
I don't know what it is about the blues, they're just so depressing.
Gang Of Four
4/5
I hadn't ever listened to this entire album before. I really liked it. Gang of Four really don't get enough recognition as an early punk band.
The Smiths
3/5
Morrissey is certainly a guy that thinks stuff, huh?
Dusty Springfield
2/5
Dusty is a great performer, but this selection of popular r&b and pop songs from the really sixties feels unremarkable from a modern standpoint.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
This album is very ahead of it's time
Nirvana
5/5
This was one of the most impactful albums in my life. I will never forget seeing Nirvana play Smells Like Teen Spirit on SNL for the first time
Jimmy Smith
2/5
This album was a jam, but early 60's instrumental blues just isn't my thing
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Some great songs, but a little jazzy for my tastes
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2/5
Wow am I sick of white British boomer dudes playing the blues
Coldplay
4/5
This album is one of the 3 good ones Coldplay made. I don't hate it, but it's not as good as A Rush of Blood to the Head. Don't Panic is all time though.
5/5
Judas!
4/5
The Kinks are really underrated in the pantheon of British invasion bands
The Band
3/5
The Band is undoubtedly a great group, but I just don't click with roots rock.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
It's fun early 60's British Invasion R&B, but nothing really special.
Primal Scream
2/5
I thought Primal Scream was a lot harder music. I liked this album fine, but it didn't really hit me. It was kind of background music.
Serge Gainsbourg
4/5
It's crazy to hear where so many samples came from. Great vibe to this album.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
Great album, but I found the production and composition to be a little repetitive by the end of the LP.
George Michael
3/5
Pretty solid all the way through. Better than I expected.
Garbage
3/5
Good album. I like the vibes, but a lot if the compositions outside of the singles are pretty forgettable.
Fela Kuti
2/5
This song is a banger, but really it's just the one 20 minute song broken to into 2 parts.
Deep Purple
1/5
I'm not convinced that this isn't Spinal Tap
Sam Cooke
4/5
Sam was a hell of an entertainer
Prince
5/5
Oh fuck! Let's go crazy!
Amy Winehouse
3/5
She really should have gone to rehab.
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
I get that this is influential and the first of it's kind, but it is NOT my jam.
Miriam Makeba
2/5
It's fine
The Kinks
3/5
Sure, the Kinks are good but man I'm such of white British dudes in the sixties.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
This is my first time listening through this whole album. It's a little dated, but still pretty damn good.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
*gruff voiced*
Bobby works in the steel mill but his boss don't pay him right. On the weekends he races his 67 hardblock 486. It's the only time he feels alive.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Pretty good, but a little more rootsy than I like.
David Holmes
2/5
Jazzy 90's electronica. It's fine.
The Prodigy
4/5
Still a good album. So very 90's
Dr. Dre
5/5
This album legitimately scared me when it came out when I was 14. It's a damn masterpiece.
Steely Dan
2/5
Definitely a Steely Dan album
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
I love this album. Jangly early 90's guitar alternapop is right up my alley.
Sonic Youth
3/5
I appreciate Sonic Youth more than I enjoy them.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Who's the private dick who's a sex machine with all the chicks?
Curtis Mayfield.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
It was fine. I wasn't really impressed by the Pet Shop Boys, but nothing was terrible. Kind of forgettable.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
I really like The Jesus and Mary Chain. Gloomy, jangly, post-punk definitely hits for me.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
Every track is a banger
The Human League
2/5
It's alright. Honestly, I've heard much better new wave.
Adele
4/5
There's not a bad song on this album.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
It's Stevie
The Modern Lovers
3/5
So incredibly ahead of it's time. They are basically a Pavement prequel.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
Less an album of songs and more a series of improvisations around the impression of being goth in the early 80's.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
These aren't even the best versions of these songs performed at the Star Club in the 60's. Give me The Beatles on speed any day.
The Clash
4/5
Definitely the Clash's best. Also the lightest on the reggae, which I find tedious.
Foo Fighters
4/5
I really never thought the drummer from Nirvana was going to be the one with a 3 decade music career.
David Gray
3/5
It's fine
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
The worst LCD Soundsystem album. It's still a 4/5.
The Sonics
2/5
If I was making a movie about a bunch of suburban, college aged white guys in the 60's starting a garage band, they would sound like this.
Michael Jackson
4/5
He was bad... But maybe not in the way he meant here.
Still, album is a banger. Not Thriller level, but impressive nonetheless.
Beatles
5/5
Best pop album ever made. Beats Thriller, 1989, Rumors... It's a fucking top to bottom, unstoppable stampede of bangers.
The Who
3/5
I recognize what they did here, though The Who don't really connect with me in general.
I do give them credit for having both an Overture and an Underture. That's quality punning.
Common
3/5
I think I'm discovering that I only like laid back cool jazz inflected hip hop in small doses. I don't dislike anything here, but a whole album feels backgroundy. The second half gets better, though.
Def Leppard
2/5
Rock out with your cock out. This is so not my jam.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
70's glam rock. I definitely dig it. They're a little more showtune-y than Bowie.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
He's sad and he has a guitar.
Fuck yeah!
Hot Chip
3/5
I generally like Hot Chip, though an entire album starts to feel repetitive.
Rod Stewart
2/5
Definitely some British boomers doing roots rock
CHIC
3/5
Not bad. Groovy background disco other than Good times.
Sonic Youth
3/5
I respect them more than I enjoy them
The Who
3/5
So tired of white British Boomers
The Doors
3/5
It's the doors. They're fine.
The Streets
2/5
Bri'ish
Marvin Gaye
4/5
I got pregnant just listening to this album. And I'm a dude.
Silver Jews
3/5
Jewish country Pavement
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
21st century Kinks
Traffic
2/5
White British boomers.... Again.
I am so sick of the 60's.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
She's like the Julia Roberts of music. There's nothing about it that's bad, but it just somehow feels like it's for single women in their mid-thirties on an early 90's sitcom.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
I do appreciate goth 80's post-punk, though this particular flavor is a little light on melody and heavy on snare (wow. Those are some reverby snares) for my taste.
Taylor Swift
4/5
Ok, I'm a dude in my 40's and this gave me real teenage girl longing.
It's a goddamn magic trick
Every track is a banger. I don't want to like this album, but fuck it, I really do..
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Ok, trying to step away from the giant mythos of this album and my teenage stoner experience (hah, experience) of it to look at it as objectively as possible.
Every. Single. Track. Rocks.
Green Day
5/5
I never gave this album a chance when it was new. I was so done with Greenday at this point. But fuck, it's good.
Supergrass
4/5
Good album. Supergrass is one of those venerated lesser known 90's bags I never got around to.
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
This is one of those cases where the single he's remembered for is really the best song on the album. I appreciate the soul, but the songs aren't great. Especially when he urges his grandmother to get up out of her rocking chair and dance. It just feels very 80's. And I swear he musically quoted the theme to Green Acres.
Terrence Trent D'arby is "We have Prince at home."
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Pretty good, but it's not like it's going to win a Pulitzer prize or anything.
Queen
4/5
Not the Queenest Queen album, but it's Queen enough.
Faith No More
3/5
It held up better than I thought it would have. Kat time I listened to this was probably 1992
The Go-Go's
3/5
Pretty good album. Didn't blow me away.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
I don't know what it is, but there's sometime about Elvis Costello's vocal delivery that I just don't connect with. On paper he should be the kind of artist I'm really in to, but I just can't get there.
It's like he's making up the words as he goes along and just can't stop shoving more words into the rhyme scheme.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Might sell a few copies
Steely Dan
3/5
Oh. My. God. I am so sick of Steely fucking Dan. I get it, you like jazz and have great production. Jesus.
Alright, this one's a little better than the last 2i had to sit through.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
2/5
It's fine as far as upbeat fifties jazz goes.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
I like this album but I feel like J got way better in his next few albums. He's still developing as a songwriter here.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
I feel like a lot of bands have a really great sound, but they don't have any songs worth listening to. They're all technique and attitude with no composition skills. This is one of those bands. I like a good song before anything else.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Love the Guarldi style piano. There are some very good songs here, and I generally dig B&S, but Joey's be honest, this is the aural requirement of a Wes Anderson film.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Some damn good funk.
Ramones
5/5
This album is incredible. They just invented a new genre out of nowhere.
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
Meh
Björk
3/5
I don't know what it is about Bjork. I like individual songs of hers quite a bit. Human Behavior is an absolute favorite of mine, and on paper she's everything I should like, well crafted compositions, sonically adventurous, but I just find myself zoning out on her when I try to listen to a whole album.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
I mean, it's Marvin Gaye, so yeah it's pretty good.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Another album that was very formative to my listening in my teen years.
David Bowie
4/5
I love Bowie, and this album had some good stuff, and a couple absolute all time great songs. It's mid for 70's Bowie, although it would be spectacular did almost anyone else.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
I don't really dig reggae.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
I had never heard this before. Very nice.
The Mamas & The Papas
2/5
So, I understand their importance to the development of pop in the sixties, but wow is it just so very set in a time. There are 3 great pop songs on here and a bunch of medium covers.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
This album is more a vibe than anything else. It's like it doesn't have any individual songs. It's certainly no Rumours.
Soundgarden
3/5
Soundgarden is the third best of the four big Grunge invasion bands. They're just fine. I don't hate them, but I only really like a handful of their songs.
Tangerine Dream
2/5
Ok, I appreciate the ambient trailblazing going on here, but this is not my bag.
Genesis
3/5
It's interesting, but not my cup of tea. It's crazy how little this Genesis resembles the I've that got famous in the 80's
Meat Loaf
3/5
Neil Young
4/5
Damn good album. I love how acoustic yet bass heavy it is. This is the first album by Neil Young I ever listened to.
Guns N' Roses
4/5
GnR still Rick. There's a reason this album was such a big hit. There are 3 perfect songs and every other one is a 8 or 9 out of 10.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
This rock is certainly prog
Finley Quaye
2/5
I just do not like raggae
Björk
3/5
Bjork just becomes background noise to me. I don't dislike it though.
Nirvana
5/5
I love this album. Kurt tried to be less pop this time, but it's just as catchy as ever. God, I think this one may be a 5/5 too.
Donovan
2/5
So... Much ... Sitar
Scott Walker
2/5
Well, this guy is certainly a guy who sings songs. I kinda like the schmaltzy showtune Tom Jones vibe, but definitely in small doses. The songs themselves are meh as compositions and cover choices, except a couple.
4/5
This is a really good album. Based on my limited listening of Muse before this I was hoping it could be a 5 star album, but the deep cuts didn't quite grab me enough to do it. I think it's a very solid 4 though.
New Order
4/5
There's just something about that plunky reverbed guitar. I dig these guys. Not every song is a 10/10 in composition, but the execution is tremendous.
MGMT
4/5
This really feels like a first album. There's a lot of great musical ideas, a few really great songs, but the bulk of the album is kinda of meandering and aimless from a structural and composition perspective.
k.d. lang
3/5
This is some laid back lesbian vibes for sure. I kinda like it, but it may not hold up to repeat listening for me personally.
Massive Attack
3/5
I thought I'd like this more than I did. I understand it's importance as the first trip hop album, but it's pretty meh for me personally.
Jack White
4/5
This is another case of an artist who I like the vibe of, but the songs all kinds blur together. Also Blunderbuss the song really wants to be Isis by Dylan.
Still it's a pretty good jam in the whole.
The Black Keys
4/5
I haven't listened to this album in awhile. It definitely takes he to a specific time and place.
Grant Lee Buffalo
5/5
I love this album. I still think I generally prefer Mighty Joe Moon, but they're both 5/5 for me.
Tortoise
3/5
Dig the vibe, but I would never just put this on to listen to
M.I.A.
3/5
This album is definitely a fun jam.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Ok, going by the rule of 3 to 4 classics and no filler in the deep cuts, this album is a definite 5.
The Clash
3/5
I get that they're important for the development of punk/ska and modern Rock, but the clash just aren't my thing. This album is good, but doesn't resonate with me personally.
The Cars
5/5
Every single track is great.
Tito Puente
2/5
45 tracks!? Of salsa and mambo. Jesus.
Abdullah Ibrahim
1/5
Yep. That's some jazz.
Beck
5/5
Nothing but bangers. This was Beck's last masterpiece.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Ok so I haven't given this album a good listen in 25 years or more. It's definitely better than I remember. That said, it's still a little flabby. There is some filler on this, and I feel like it's a white album situation. If they had cut it down to the vet best it would be remembered as an all time great album. As it is it's a solid 8/10
The Waterboys
3/5
There are a few good songs here. The British Isles folk music style isn't really something that I enjoy in general, but I'm interested in hearing the rest of they're discography as apparently they have very different sounds in other albums.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
This is a classic, and Do You Realize is one of the best songs ever written.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Strangely wholesome and quaint
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Ok, I like this album more than I used to, but Jimi's psychedelic rock thing just ain't for me.
Johnny Cash
4/5
A really good album overall. And of course Hurt is an all time great cover.
Public Enemy
4/5
This is such a crazy album for 1988. Fuck yeah.
Sebadoh
3/5
I really like the Lou Barlow stuff, but Gaffney and Lowenstein's contributions leave me cold.
Suede
4/5
I really like this one. I know it was pretty widely dismissed when it came out, but it sure holds up better than some of Oasis's shit.
The White Stripes
4/5
I'm generally meh on Jack White's schtick, but this is a genuinely good album.
Neil Young
3/5
Interesting album. It's Neil Young doing a tired laid back country album. I like the vibe, even if the songs are more suggestions of melody than actual compositions.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
I appreciate the importance and technical artistry of Frank Zappa, but I don't actually enjoy his music very much.
Bad Company
4/5
This is like an album from a fictional band in a movie set in the 70's
Happy Mondays
3/5
I like baggy Madchester in small doses. A while album of this is really more than I can take all at once.
The Pogues
3/5
Yep. It's Irish folk punk.
R.E.M.
4/5
I really like REM, though these early tracks are all pretty similar
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
Mid. I don't really like Springsteen.
Pink Floyd
4/5
This album has 9 all time great songs on it.
Unfortunately, it's 26 tracks long.
It's so bloated and overrated. It does not stand up to Wish You Were Here or Dark Side of the Moon.
Still an 8 out of 10
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
Yep, that's some mid-century folk music alright.
The Jam
4/5
Every song is good.
Jefferson Airplane
2/5
Yep. That's some white biker mid-sixties psychedelic bullshit alright.
I am so sick of that decade. It's sooooo over represented in this list.
The Yardbirds
3/5
So. Sick. Of. The. Sixties.
But this is genuinely a better album than a lot of the mid psychedelic era bad British white guy blues.
5/5
This album is a masterpiece.
Bill Evans Trio
1/5
I'm not a jazz fan. As far as I'm concerned this is one long song with no melody or changes.
Keith Jarrett
1/5
Apparently no one had ever improvised on piano before 1975
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Jeff Buckley's songs all sound like he's making them up as he goes along. But it's kind of in a good way.
Nick Drake
4/5
When I first heard Nick Drake I thought he was a modern artist. This is a great album, and only the little bit of indulgent instrumentals and aged arrangement(flute) keeps it from being a 5.
Magazine
4/5
Every song on this album was good.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Kinda repetitive but funky
Songhoy Blues
4/5
The first half of this album goes hard. It slaps. The second half fell off a bit, but was still pretty enjoyable.
The Isley Brothers
5/5
This album slaps beginning to end
Bill Callahan
4/5
Great album
Method Man
4/5
This shit slaps
The Divine Comedy
4/5
I like it better than I thought I would.
David Bowie
5/5
Damn, he was really going through something. The fact that this wasn't the darkest album he would make in his final years really says something.
OutKast
5/5
This is definitely in the conversation for top 10 hip hop albums of all time.
Ice T
3/5
There's some good stuff on here but a lot of it really feels dated too. Plus he gets really preachy, and let's face it, he's not the best rapper on earth.
Body count was revolutionary at the time though.
Rush
3/5
That's certainly some 70's rock
Everything But The Girl
2/5
This was aural wall paper
Iggy Pop
5/5
This is one of the 20 best albums of the 70's. I do think it could be sequenced better.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
The Stones are one of the best greatest hits bands ever, but I've yet to be really impressed by one of their albums.
Common
4/5
It's your World is like Black Free to Wear Sunscreen.
That J Dilla production is incredible though
Morrissey
4/5
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.
Dolly Parton
3/5
I recognize the quality and skill here, but this music is not for me. I prefer later, Poppier, less country Dolly.
Elbow
3/5
Not bad, but I'm really struggling to see what artists this from dozens of other orange l orchestral indie albums.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
This album is very disappointing. Other than Maps and Y Control, I didn't like a single song. They weren't terrible, just undercooked white stripe style jam.
Pearl Jam
5/5
It's impossible for me to listen to this album without thinking of being 14 years old in 1992, and the 50 million times I listened to it on my walkman.
The Undertones
3/5
This sounds like a million other post punk, clash, buzzcock clones
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
I. Hate. Reggae.
Nirvana
5/5
One of the best live albums ever. I remember watching this when it first aired on MTV at the age of 16.
The Police
3/5
Meh
David Bowie
4/5
This is one of the least of Bowie's early glam albums, I think. I much prefer Ziggy Stardust or Hunky Dory. Still a good album but it's a solid 7.5/10 instead of his usual 9 or 9.5.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
This sounds like how I would describe a generic post-grunge album to someone who never heard one before.
Or: We have Sonic Youth at home.
Napalm Death
1/5
Nope
Fleet Foxes
4/5
It's good and all... But the songs aren't really songs. They're more moods.
Bob Dylan
5/5
I think this is Dylan's best album.
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
Damn good album.
The Prodigy
4/5
I mean, it's prodigy.
Pulp
4/5
Every song is a 7/10... Except Common People. That's an 11.
CHIC
3/5
Outside of le freak this is the most background music ever.
Elliott Smith
5/5
Yeah, this is right up my alley. It's a near perfect album.
Buzzcocks
4/5
Buzzcocks>Sex Pistols.
The Stone Roses
4/5
There are 3 songs on here that are great and the rest are a solid 7.5/10. It's good but not great.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
Every song is a bop. 10/10. No notes.
Coldplay
4/5
This is their best album.
Prince
4/5
Not Prince's best album, but still pretty damn good.
Morrissey
3/5
He really just says the exact thing he thinks every time.
SAULT
3/5
This is like someone took all the rapping off a Kendrick album
Pavement
4/5
I really like Pavement, but I don't get the worship by white Xennial dudes.
Solomon Burke
3/5
It's fine. Early 60's soul and R&B is just not my jam. I'm honestly getting pretty tired of Boomer music.
The Cure
5/5
I love this album. Easily The Cure's best album, maybe the best Goth album of all time. Definitely in the top ten best albums of the 80's. The layers of thick, textured synth; the chiming, delayed guitars; and a lot of the tracks actually rock. It's a cohesive total work while having incredible individual tracks throughout.
Fugazi
4/5
I never like Fugazi as much as I feel like I should as a late Gen-X white guy.
Radiohead
5/5
This album was so ridiculously ahead of it's time. It was the 21st century version of Dylan going electric.
Fever Ray
3/5
This was fine electronic indie but nothing special.
Little Simz
4/5
This was a really good album. If the second half had held up as well as the first it would have been a 5.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
I really like this album, but there is really not much variation between a lot of the tracks in terms of production.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
Meh, it's ok. I've never really been a fan and this hasn't changed my opinion. It's not bad, just not for me. Too Zeppelin influenced for my tastes, and I like Zeppelin but everyone seems to forget that style is only half of what makes a band great. The other half is writing really good songs. These guys are in the same bucket for me as Soundgarden and Tool. They're ok, but not really what I like about 90's rock.
Jethro Tull
4/5
I was very pleasantly surprised by this album. I remember listening to my dad's copy when I was a kid and my memory was of silly, self-important, bloated classic rock, but it is really solid all the way through.
Hole
4/5
This album is a lot better than I thought it was. I never have Courtney much of a chance, but damn. This is a solid album.
Rage Against The Machine
3/5
These guys sure are mad.
ZZ Top
3/5
It's fine. Raunchy Southern 70's blues isn't really my bag.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Aretha is great. The band is great. The song selection and sequencing is ok. Except for Respect. That song is an all time banger.
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
This was perfectly fine traditional country. It didn't really stand out to me.
The National
5/5
This album was incredible. 5/5
David Bowie
5/5
I really like this era of Bowie
OutKast
5/5
Incredible album. Half of it is weird, experimental, psychedelic, electro-funk, genre expanding, hip hop. Then Andre 3000's half starts and shit gets REALLY crazy.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
2/5
I appreciate this but I don't enjoy it
Eagles
5/5
Ok fine, it's a 10/10. No matter how much I can't stand Don Henley as a person, this album is damn near perfect.
Radiohead
5/5
Radiohead is practically cheating. This album might be the final form of the early 90's.
Justice
5/5
This shit slaps
Dire Straits
3/5
Other than The Sultans of Swing, this album is super mid. None of the songs are bad, and stylistically it's interesting, but nothing stands out.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Every song is a perfect piece of pop. Simple yet effective.
Thelonious Monk
2/5
This is the jazziest jazz that ever jazzed a jazz.
Jurassic 5
5/5
This is my first time listening through this whole album. Damn it's good.
Cream
3/5
3 great songs and a bunch that sound like typical 60's psychedelic bullshit
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
It's not The Beatles, but it's kinda The Beatles.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
It was fine. Nothing really stuck out to me about it.
Kate Bush
4/5
Kate is such a drama kid
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
Meh, it's ok.
David Bowie
4/5
Too much Brian Eno, not enough David Bowie.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
Damn good album. Tom Petty came out of the gate firing hot.
Gene Clark
4/5
I had never heard this and had to Google who Gene Clark was. I'm not a big fan of The Byrds, so I was very surprised by how good this album was. Sad that it was never vindicated during his lifetime. It's really good.
Billy Bragg
3/5
Meh. This is not my jam. Vaguely folk music sounding interpreted through a drumless punk aesthetic with lyrics about labor disputes and taxes just didn't do it for me.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Goth drama kid energy. I like it.
Nick Drake
4/5
Good stuff
Leonard Cohen
4/5
This is a great album. It's not in my top tier of Leonard Cohen albums, but it's still great.
Skepta
3/5
That's a lot of 2010's British rap I'm this list. For some reason.
Harry Nilsson
5/5
Every song is great.
Roni Size
2/5
I wasn't even a fan of drum and bass even I went to raves in the 90's.
Portishead
4/5
Damn good album.
Various Artists
3/5
Yep. Christmas.
3/5
No thanks.
Iron Butterfly
2/5
More 60's psychedelia. Please make it stop.
The Cult
3/5
It's ok. Kinda like a slightly goth Thin Lizzy.
Talking Heads
5/5
Yep. This is a masterpiece.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Long album. Really good though.
The Byrds
3/5
Better than a lot of the sixties bullshit. At least it's pre-psychedelic so that bit if cringe is missing.
Faust
4/5
I really like this album. It's definitely a complete whole, and so far ahead of it's time.
The Killers
5/5
Damn this album is good.
Eminem
4/5
He's a damn good rapper, and this is a great first album but I think it's a little repetitive, and a lot of the songs have that same Dre G funk production. His next few albums definitely were better.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Might be Dylan's first masterpiece.
Tina Turner
4/5
Much better than I thought it would be.
Giant Sand
3/5
Sleepy, southwestern whisper pavement is pretty alright.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5/5
Goddamn, I did not expect this album. I thought I was going to be getting something between Iron & Wine and Bon Iver, but this shit makes Bauhaus look cheerful.
3/5
The singing Gallagher's voice gets really grating after awhile. There are 5 great Beatles ripoff songs on here and the rest are OK Wings ripoff songs.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Yeah, this is pretty damn good.
Joanna Newsom
3/5
It's fine. I feel like she's making it up as she goes along.
Radiohead
5/5
This might be the last rock album that was actually an advancement of the art. One of the best albums of all time.
Elvis Costello
4/5
I like Elvis Costello's music but I feel like he writes his lyrics in full, non-stop paragraphs.
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
10/10 album. There's not a bad song on here
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
Every song is a banger
Muddy Waters
3/5
I just find the blues so depressing
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Not bad. No single song stood out, but had a cool white British soul by way of punk vibe.
Talking Heads
4/5
David Byrne is a wacky guy.
Blur
5/5
So much better then Oasis
Fela Kuti
2/5
I just get really tired of songs that are over 10 minutes long and mostly drum and organ solos. I get it, you smoke pot.
4/5
Pretty good punk. 5 for style, 3 for composition.
Duke Ellington
2/5
Jazz gonna jazz.
Air
3/5
It's a great film soundtrack, but as an album, divorced of the context of the film, it didn't really hold up.
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
It's really hard rating this without thinking about The Beatles.
The Smiths
4/5
There's a lot of Morrisey on this thing
Nanci Griffith
3/5
It's fine. A solid 2.5.
Kings of Leon
4/5
This is really a band finding themselves. You can hear the influence of The Strokes and The Modern Lovers. It's pretty good, but they definitely developed their own voice better on later albums.
Paul McCartney
4/5
Honestly, this is Paul's weakest album of the 70's. It's barely an album, being a bunch of experimental stuff he slapped together at home alone. Junk and Maybe I'm Amazed are the only things elevating this.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
There's a reason these guys are so respected.
Funkadelic
3/5
Yep. That's Funkadelic alright.
FKA twigs
4/5
It's a good album, but outside of the 4-5 standout tracks every song sounds the same.
The Beta Band
4/5
It's good, but it's probably my least favorite collection of Beta Band songs.
New York Dolls
4/5
Much bluesier than I was expecting.
Black Sabbath
4/5
It's a vibe, but it's also kinda like metal Grateful Dead.
Beach House
4/5
Pretty good 2010's Indie rock. It starts out very strong, though it slips a little in the back half. If it had maintained the same level of quality as it did for the first 5 or so songs it would have been a 5.
Ice Cube
3/5
This album is more historically important than actually musically enjoyable. Ice Cube is no Dr Dre.
The xx
4/5
Good album, but has that thing where every song sounds the same.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
We get it. You're high and you like guitar solos.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
Such a good album. The criticism of the time that she was overly political and her songs were just non-rhyming descriptions of what she saw are basically 3 songs on this record. And even those are still catchy, well composed pieces of music.
Public Enemy
4/5
It's a good album, but after a while it feels repetitive.
The Damned
4/5
So much catchier and fun than I thought it would be. Early 80's punk can be so dour sometimes, but this was great.
R.E.M.
5/5
This might be their last great album.
Lambchop
3/5
It was alright.
Marty Robbins
3/5
Not what I'd ever choose to listen to, but I kind of get it.
John Coltrane
3/5
I get it. I just am not interested in jazz.
Soft Cell
4/5
Pretty good. They deserve to be known for more than just Tainted Love
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
5/5
I never really listened to these guys before. They're somewhere between The Smiths and New Order and I love it.
Oasis
3/5
Whichever Gallagher does the singing just yells everything. If it wasn't due that I'd like Oasis a lot more.
The Beach Boys
4/5
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. What is everyone hearing here that I'm not? I've read and watched and listened to so many critical assessments and deep dives into this album, and it still just shines like The Beach Boys. I get that they innovated with the baroque sound that became popular in the mid sixties, and of course Brian Wilson is a great composer of melody, and this is undoubtedly a very good album. But it being in the conversation of greatest album ever is confounding to me.
Also, I HATE the way they recorded the drums. It sounds like they're in another room down the hall.
And they put Sloop John B on here. It's a banger but imagine if Roll Over Beethoven was on Sgt. Pepper.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
Bow wow wow yippee yo yippee yay.
Manu Chao
4/5
He truly is king of the bongo. I liked this album a lot more than I thought I was going to.
The Stooges
5/5
It's crazy how simultaneously 60's and not 60's this album sounds.
Arcade Fire
5/5
This album really felt like something new when it came out. I still think it's their best one.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Yeah yeah, it's great
The Police
3/5
Meh
Korn
1/5
No thanks.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Yeah yeah yeah, mid 70's Stevie Wonder is great.
The Darkness
3/5
These guys are like a serious version of Ninja Sex Party. But the lead singer is doing an Elmo impression. It is NOT a good falsetto.
5/5
Paula Jean, you're a badass
James Brown
5/5
Song the song James!
Germs
3/5
When a movie wants to play generic punk music, this is what it sounds like.
Big Black
4/5
I liked it much more than I thought I would.
Weather Report
4/5
I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.
Fatboy Slim
5/5
Slaps
Blur
4/5
Pretty solid album though there's a little filter in it.
Madonna
5/5
Damn good album
The Stooges
5/5
Better than their first album
Merle Haggard
3/5
Yep. That's 60's country.
Miles Davis
3/5
Jazz sure is jazz
Arctic Monkeys
5/5
This one hell of a debut album.
Jane's Addiction
5/5
Still a great album, even if Nothing's Shocking is better.
3/5
Ahead of it's time for 1969
PJ Harvey
5/5
Paula Jean, you're a champ
Metallica
3/5
Someone got a double bass pedal for their birthday.
Norah Jones
3/5
Yep, that's some laid back piano.
Wilco
4/5
Damn this album is good.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I mean... It's Dark Side of the Moon
Janet Jackson
5/5
We really are all part of the Rhythm Nation
The Band
3/5
The band is cool and all, but late 60's roots country rock ain't my jam.
Neil Young
4/5
Neil Young ain't bad.
Beastie Boys
5/5
This album is just incredible. I can't imagine how much it would cost to use all these samples if it were made today.
The Beau Brummels
3/5
R.E.M.
5/5
Damn good album
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Incredibly ahead of it's time.
Billy Joel
5/5
I grew up thinking Billy Joel was a cheesy hack. Now that I'm actually listening to his discography, I have to begrudgingly admit he's a cheesy genius.
The Fall
3/5
Meh
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Meh
Tom Waits
3/5
It's definitely Tom Waits. I've tried over and over again, but I just don't get it.
Bon Jovi
4/5
Yeah fine it's pretty good
Van Halen
4/5
It goes pretty hard. The last couple songs fall off a little though.
Hookworms
4/5
This album goes.
Röyksopp
3/5
I like the Caveman Insurance song.
Traffic
3/5
Meh
Talking Heads
4/5
David Byrne discovered one drum can do one thing and another drum can do another thing.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
Too much. I like Ella Fitzgerald but not for 3 hours and 19 minutes.
Madonna
4/5
Pretty good, but it's still no Like a Prayer.
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
I thought this was going to be twee, self-indulgent millennial bullshit, but damn it's so good.
Sonic Youth
4/5
I respect Sonic Youth more than I enjoy their music.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Way better album than Beggars Banquet
Louis Prima
5/5
Every single song on this album is a banger. No skips.
The Lemonheads
5/5
This was one of the most influential albums of my teen years. It was constantly on in my room and my walkman.
LTJ Bukem
2/5
I actually went to raves in the 90's. This is the music that drove me crazy. It's too upbeat to chill out to, but there is absolutely no energy to it.
It's basically ambient with a "bom...ta... bom ta" beat behind long melody-less pads.
It might be good to focus on work or studying but to just listen to? No thanks.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Oh no. Halfway through the New Jack Swing beats started and it physically hurt me. So many sampled orchestral stabs.
ABBA
3/5
Yep. That's Abba alright.
King Crimson
3/5
I don't think the drummer ever stopped playing that first fill he started on the first song.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I like Neil Young, but I don't like like Neil Young
Slade
3/5
They're definitely a rock band.
Dire Straits
4/5
I really like this album, but I'm absolutely befuddled by the sequencing. Who doesn't start an album with Money For Nothing? Also, lyrically there are some things that don't hold up today.
Queen
5/5
10/10. No notes.
Blondie
4/5
Not bad
Radiohead
5/5
Sometimes I think I like this album better than Kid A.
The Cure
4/5
Not my favorite Cure album. It feels like a band figuring out who they are. The Forest is an all timer though.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I really liked this album but it was a little long and saggy towards the middle.
Beatles
5/5
I think this one gets overlooked a lot. It's not their first and it's not as start-to-finish pop perfection as A Hard Day's Night, but it's really solid and a perfect follow up to Please Please Me. Their second best early album.
Boston
4/5
I didn't think there could be too much "soaring guitar" but here we are.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
Meh
Can
3/5
Not my favorite Can album
Os Mutantes
4/5
I liked this album way more than I thought I would. It probably helps that I have no idea what they were saying.
Yes
3/5
It's like they improvised the entire album but without missing a single scientifically placed note. If Steely Dan were more steely and less Dan. This drummer fucking loooves quarter notes on the snare.
David Bowie
5/5
One of my favorite early Bowie albums
Sade
4/5
Sounds ahead of it's time.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
This is probably the best Stones album I've had on this list yet.
Fiona Apple
4/5
This girl goes hard
Kanye West
5/5
Damnit Kanye, what happened? This was so good. He was always a terrible person, but it used to feel harmless and he made damn good music. Neither is true anymore.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Yep that's Elvis.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
This album is a masterpiece.... Then there's Jazz Police.
Slipknot
1/5
I actively hate this music. Listening was literally torture. Does the drummer have like 10 bass pedals?
Steve Winwood
2/5
Do you find Bruce Hornsby just a little too edgy? Well, have we got an artist for you!
Eagles
3/5
Every hit song from this I've heard too many times. Every other song is pretty forgettable.
Bob Dylan
5/5
While still great songs, Dylan's political stuff from this era don't really hold up. But his more universal material is all time goat stuff. Girl from the north country and don't think twice it's alright are some of the best compositions ever.
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
I really enjoyed it.
Skunk Anansie
4/5
A really interesting hard rock combination of Evanescence, Fishbone, and Massive Attack with some lyrical inspiration taken from Public Enemy, but more personal.
I liked this album far more than I thought I would.
American Music Club
3/5
Decent country tinted college rock. It kind of feels like The Replacements Lite.
Sister Sledge
3/5
That's definitely disco.
The Strokes
4/5
Pretty good rock album
Kid Rock
1/5
Fuck kid Rock.
James Taylor
3/5
James Taylor has no business playing blues, given how white bread his vibe is. He makes Blues Brothers 2000 sound authentic. His chill folk stuff though is pretty alright.
He answers the question, what if Oh Susanna was too hard?
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Not bad big beat techno. Not their best though.
David Bowie
5/5
David Bowie's last masterpiece.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
CCR is always pretty good.
The Who
4/5
Good live band... So much jamming.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Crotch rock flavored Halloween glam. Not my cup of tea, but I didn't completely hate it. I was expecting a 2 and I got a 3.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Pretty repetitive but I dig the overall vibe.
The Offspring
3/5
It's fine. Kinda repetitive. Wasn't my jam in 94, isn't now. I preferred Greenday.
ZZ Top
4/5
Pretty much all bangers.
Wild Beasts
3/5
Someone who makes this list really loves over dramatic theater kid indie. It's so light on music from the last 30 years, but what they choose is baffling. This is one of the most mid albums ever
U2
4/5
I kinda get why U2 blew up. This is a pretty good album, despite being able to hear the nascent cringe of their later years laying dormant, ready to burst forth.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Little more gospel-ey than I was expecting. You can hear the undiluted good and bad he brought to CS&N and Buffalo Springfield.
Elton John
4/5
There are some truly dizzying highs on this album, but there are some really deep lows too. For every Goodbye Yellow Brick Road there's a Jamaica Jerk-Off. Also, it's really long and bloated. If he had cut the 5 worst songs it would have been a masterpiece.
Lou Reed
5/5
I love this album. This is the precursor of everything from Bowie's more minimalist post-Ziggy Stardust work to Patti Smith to Pavement.
Jungle Brothers
4/5
Really ahead of it's time.
The Shamen
2/5
Meh
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
I don't dislike Rufus Wainwright, but his brand of over dramatic, Broadway-esque, non melody isn't really for me.
Muddy Waters
3/5
Probably the best straight blues album I've ever heard. Still not really what I'm into.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Probably the best Pink Floyd album after DSOTM.
Wilco
5/5
This album is just incredible. It's not only the most experimental of Wilco, it has their strongest song writing.
The Young Gods
3/5
I liked it more than I expected to.
Beyoncé
5/5
Not as good as lemonade, which isn't on this list.
Ute Lemper
2/5
This sounds like a Barbara Streisand album from 1966.
3/5
Perfectly pleasant retro futuristic jazz hop. But it's background music.
Incubus
2/5
Nu Metal for potheads that had a Reggae phase and wore Che Guevara shirts in college.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Not for me
Leftfield
3/5
Yep. More 90's niche techno.
Bobby Womack
3/5
Not bad. Not my jam though.
Holger Czukay
4/5
I loved this one a lot. Maybe even more than some Can.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Not my kind of music usually, but this album is really good.
Kanye West
4/5
The first dip. It's still great but a definite fall from MBDTF.
Thundercat
3/5
You got your 90's R&B in my Frank Zappa.
Eels
4/5
Solid album all the way through.
Shuggie Otis
4/5
I like the vibes
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Nah, I'm good.
Megadeth
2/5
Not for me. Though I do think this album is more listenable than a lot of metal.
Radiohead
5/5
This is my favorite album.
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
I liked ita lot more than I expected to.
Big Star
4/5
Great album start to finish.
Slint
2/5
Nah
UB40
2/5
This album is Profoundly boring.
Van Halen
4/5
It's basically start to finish bangers
Erykah Badu
3/5
Didn't leave much of an impression but I enjoyed it while it was on.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
This album is ridiculously good.
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
I was expecting to like it more than I did. The roots/country influences and the weird almost covers threw me off. Still it's a vibe.
Randy Newman
3/5
It's fine
The Pretty Things
4/5
This album goes hard. Somewhere between the Kinks and The Beatles.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
All bangers
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
3/5
Very meh
5/5
These fellas may be on to something here.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Yeah, it's good. There's a lot of PJ Harvey in this list.
The Jam
4/5
I really like this album.
Bee Gees
2/5
So syrupy.
Bonnie Raitt
4/5
She seems like a very nice lady
M.I.A.
3/5
It's like listening to the world's most aggressively British marching band, but the musicians are all on ecstacy and playing Casio keyboards for children.
Carpenters
2/5
It's like Christian music but they keep forgetting to mention Jesus.
Sugar
4/5
Pop punk before there was pop punk.
4/5
It really is
Destiny's Child
4/5
She's right. I wasn't ready for that jelly.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Comparatively, the Eifel Tower would be a very small penis.
George Michael
3/5
The straightest album ever
Maxwell
3/5
These jams sure are slow
Motörhead
3/5
Sure they rock, but to what end?
The Psychedelic Furs
4/5
Great post punk
Heaven 17
3/5
This is what the 80's sound like in movies made about the 80's.
Stan Getz
4/5
Laid back and delicious
Stereolab
4/5
I really liked this one. More than I expected to.
SZA
4/5
Don't run with her
Kings of Leon
3/5
Leon is ruled by a decent, but not great Monarchial Collective.
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
The sounds were, indeed, psychedelic.
Suzanne Vega
4/5
It washed over me and left almost no impression outside of vibes
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Jazzy Joni jams
Alanis Morissette
5/5
Thank you, Uncle Joey
Lou Reed
4/5
I like it, but it's no Transformer.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Solid album with at least 3 all time classics.
U2
5/5
I'm unironically angry at how good this album is. I want to continue to think of U2 as being pretentious, generic leftover 80's pop-rock.
Circle Jerks
3/5
Too long
De La Soul
4/5
Damn good album. Too many skits.
Grateful Dead
2/5
Nope
Barry Adamson
3/5
I didn't know what to expect. I can't imagine he paid for all those samples.
Queen Latifah
3/5
Not a single track stood out. It sounds like 80's hip hop alright.
Beatles
5/5
It's the 6th best Beatles album and it's still better than most music.
AC/DC
4/5
They sure were
The La's
4/5
Quick, poppy and fun
Queen
3/5
Pretty good. Not great though.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
This lady is awesome
Dolly Parton
3/5
Perfectly nice.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
I love this album. It's probably a 9/10. It gets a 5 in this format.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
It's fine
Lucinda Williams
4/5
I lined it more than I thought I would.
Janis Joplin
3/5
She could sing
Metallica
4/5
I just don't enjoy metal but I understand why this is the album that crossed over.
Love
3/5
Not bad. Not great.
Dagmar Krause
2/5
German Beerhall style Broadway musical influenced music just isn't a genre I'm especially interested in.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Sounds like the 90's
Julian Cope
3/5
Gives bargain bin Nick Cave
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
While it doesn't have any single song that's as good as Maps, it's overall a much better album than their first.
Robbie Williams
3/5
This is the most 1997 album ever
The Dictators
3/5
If the Modem Lovers lyrics were written by an edgy 14 year old
Red Snapper
4/5
Very good for background music.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Corn. Highway. Main Street. Factory workers. Taillights. Beer. Town.
It's like Americana mad libs.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Impeccable production and musicianship. Not a single song that stands out.
Morrissey
3/5
Yep. That's Morrissey alright.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
This is the most aggressively 1996 album I've ever heard.
Orange Juice
3/5
These guys were really into I Zimbra.
The Undertones
4/5
Fun punk
Missy Elliott
4/5
Timbaland staking a claim
Fairport Convention
3/5
The 60's
Patti Smith
4/5
I've listened through this album probably 4 times now and I respect it more than I enjoy it. It's basically spoken word poetry with musical backing. It gets an extra star for historical importance and the cover.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
I appreciate the proto-grunge production more than the actual songs they're playing.
a-ha
3/5
It's ok
Le Tigre
4/5
Bop after bop
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Damn fine album
Parliament
4/5
Tear the roof off this mother
Joni Mitchell
4/5
The more I listen to Joni Mitchell the kid it feels like she's making the songs up as she goes along.
Paul Simon
3/5
Not bad, but it's not nearly his best.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
I appreciate that this was from 1978
Ghostface Killah
4/5
This album was really good. Too long though, and could have used fewer skits.
Laibach
2/5
We get it, you're German.
Screaming Trees
4/5
Really fun and catchy post grunge
Morrissey
3/5
Yep. That's Morrissey alright.
TV On The Radio
5/5
I love this album
D'Angelo
4/5
Some very fine baby making music
The Stooges
3/5
Cool
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
Perfectly nice
Simply Red
3/5
This soul is far too blue eyed for my taste.
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
Someone discovered Patti Smith
The Beach Boys
3/5
This is where the Beach Boys became Beach Men
Caetano Veloso
3/5
Perfectly nice
Iggy Pop
5/5
This is his best album. Lust For Life has a couple 10/10 songs, but every single track on this one is incredible.
Tim Buckley
3/5
There is some great song writing on this album, but so much of it is obscured and overwhelmed by the mid sixties psychedelic folk arrangement and production that it's almost hard to pick out. Swirling organs and harpsichords have become some of my least favorite cliches of the era.
Steely Dan
3/5
Dads everywhere are lightly bobbing their heads.
Lana Del Rey
4/5
It makes so much sense that she married a Florida alligator wrangler.
David Bowie
5/5
Disco Dave ain't bad
Justin Timberlake
3/5
Impeccable production. This album has 4 truly great pop compositions and the rest are pretty mediocre early 2000's filler that are elevated slightly over other pop filler by Pharrell and Timbaland.
Joy Division
4/5
This just have sounded like the future in 1980.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
Chamber pop. Nah, I'm good
Deee-Lite
3/5
Outside of Groove is in the Heart it's a very pretty much just fine album.
Linkin Park
3/5
This is the bridge between Nu-Metal and Emo.
I'm not sure if that's a compliment.
Eric Clapton
3/5
Yep. That's Clapton
Massive Attack
3/5
Meh. It's a vibe but not very good songs.
50 Cent
4/5
50: "I love you baby girl"
In the background: gun sounds.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
I didn't want to like this album as much as I did. That said, the second half got progressively weaker until we hit Freebird.
Roxy Music
4/5
It's like Bowie meets Television
Black Sabbath
3/5
There is so so so much 70's Boomer rock on this list. Do we really need to listen to 4 Black Sabbath albums before we die?
Deep Purple
1/5
We get it, whoever makes this list: you were a 17 year old white guy at some point in the 70's and you got high a bunch. Jesus, I'm tired of this self-indulgent boomer nostalgia. This is NOT an album anyone NEEDS to hear before they die. It's a perfectly average 70's live jam bullshit white guy album.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
Nobody does blues better than a bunch of white guys
Jane's Addiction
5/5
It's hard to communicate to younger people how influential Janes Addiction was. This album and The Pixies Doolittle were the foundational building blocks of 90's alternative rock.
Violent Femmes
5/5
Perfect, beginning to end. I've listened to this album more times than I can count.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Shut your mouth
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Great album, but it's crazy this is 1990. It feels so much more 1987.
Dion
3/5
Interesting and better than I thought it would be
Depeche Mode
4/5
Really solid
Dizzee Rascal
3/5
Sure, let's load this list with 20 different UK rappers but there's still no Madvillainy or Lemonade.
4/5
I've never really understood the U2 love by elder Gen X. I think I'm just a few years too young to get it. I've always thought they were just OK. This album is fine. The second half of the album is very filler. The first half though had some really great songs.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Honestly, there are too many random covers on here. Born to run? San Jose? It's a bloated album and these versions of these songs aren't interesting enough to justify their inclusion on a record that could have been a solid 40 minutes of original material.
Aerosmith
3/5
Music to drink Mad Dog 2020 to.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Solid but not mind-blowing
Radiohead
5/5
This is the album that I listened to for the first time while driving across country to see my dad for the last time. It's not Radiohead's best album, and it's not my favorite of theirs, but in some ways it means the most to me.
Pentangle
3/5
Someone discovered Dorian mode and just kept going with it.
Sabu
2/5
Drums
The Temptations
4/5
Funky and fun
Arcade Fire
5/5
I haven't listened to this album since probably 2011, and I came in assuming it was going to feel dated and overblown in retrospect. But damnit, this album has aged really well. I didn't remember half the tracks on here, and it's basically perfect beginning to end.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
It's a vibe more than an album
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
2 bangers and the rest is pretty pleasant jazz
Aerosmith
3/5
This sounds like music for boomers to commit date rape to.
Gets an extra star for Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion.
Anita Baker
3/5
Perfectly nice, smooth 80's r&b. It's just not for me.
Van Morrison
3/5
There's are way too many live albums on this list. There are maybe 5 live albums in the history of popular music that should be on this list.
That's not to say that live albums aren't good, but top 1000 good?
Def Leppard
2/5
The shiniest, hairiest hair rock. Not my jam.
The Auteurs
4/5
I enjoyed it. Just good, straight ahead early 90's Brit rock.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
Fuck this album. I hate the music on it's own merits, MM being a predator is immaterial.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
It's a pretty good mid-sixties rock album. The Stones are taking baby steps to bring a grown up band.
Portishead
5/5
It's rare an album this experimental is also this listenable. Reminds me of Kid A in ways, but in some ways it's very unique. I was kind of annoyed at a late-career album like this making the list when so many from the 21st century are ignored, but this one is genuinely great.
The Sugarcubes
3/5
Bjork went on to much better things
Iron Maiden
3/5
Yep. That's early 80's metal alright
XTC
3/5
It's fine. I always feel like I should like XTC more than I do.
Burning Spear
2/5
I just don't like reggae
Suede
4/5
Better than any of the Oasis albums on this list
The Doors
4/5
This is their best album
Happy Mondays
3/5
It's fine, but we really really didn't need more than 1 Happy Mondays album on this list.
Kings of Leon
4/5
Damn, I never really have these guys a chance but this album is terrific
Kraftwerk
3/5
Musically, it's fine, not especially interesting in the context of 2025. It's inclusion on this list is only because of it's historical importance, which makes me wonder if this is just a list of important albums, rather than a list of albums that remain great after their cultural moment has passed.
Nick Drake
5/5
This sounds like it was recorded in 2003
LL Cool J
3/5
Those New Jack snares.
Big Star
3/5
There's some incredible proto dream pop here, but also a bunch of meandering and weird covers.
k.d. lang
3/5
A perfectly nice lesbian Country & Western album. Not really to my taste though. I prefer my lesbian music more in the indie singer songwriter vein.
Shack
4/5
I liked it. Reminds me of more interesting Oasis
Frank Sinatra
4/5
50's emo
Milton Nascimento
3/5
Nice 70's folk rock. Only a few tracks really stood out though.
Michael Jackson
4/5
A lot of the songs sound like they're working on becoming Don't Stop Till You Get Enough but can't quite get there.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
Pretty good post punk
Björk
3/5
Bjork just doesn't do it for me. I'm not sure I NEEDED to hear this album before I died.
Beth Orton
4/5
I really liked this album.
Charles Mingus
4/5
Honestly, one of the better jazz albums on this list so far
Peter Gabriel
3/5
It's fine
Emmylou Harris
2/5
Emmylou Harris's 21st album is on this list but not:
Madvillainy
Lemonade
The Black Parade
One in a Million
The Great 28
Paid in Full
Tragic Kingdom
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Last Splash
This list is so boomer centric it wants to talk to the manager.
The album itself is just fine. Nothing special, light easy listening late Boomer career, Mom driving the kids to practice in a mini van.
Waylon Jennings
3/5
This is the first Waylon Jennings album I've listened to as the way through. There are definitely some tracks here I really liked, but then there are some that are just... Too country.
Ian Dury
3/5
I like the production. It's maybe the most aggressively British performance I've ever heard.
The Bees
3/5
I really enjoyed this one, though it felt somewhat slight.
4/5
I like XTC just fine but come on! This is the 2nd album of theirs I've had m here. The multiple albums by niche or very taste dependent artists is really starting to annoy me.
In regards to this album specifically, chamber pop is ok but it gets old fast for me personally. This one is better than most both for it's production and songwriting.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
Better than a lot of these psychedelic era rock albums that I'm getting so sick of in this list.
Lightning Bolt
1/5
I do not enjoy this
Love
3/5
All of these mid sixties psychedelic era albums have 2-3 absolutely classic songs and a bunch of supremely dated acid hippie diddling.
4/5
I'd never really listened to Spirit, and with the cover art and the year it was made I was expecting more self indulgent white boomer blues and hippie noodling, but I really liked this album. It's well produced, interestingly arranged, and the compositions are solid if not overwhelmingly brilliant.
Fugees
4/5
Solid beginning to end
Supergrass
4/5
I completely missed Supergrass in the 90's. They might be my favorite of the Britpop adjacent bands though now that I'm listening to them.
Eurythmics
4/5
I think the album is very uneven, swinging from really great songs to cheesy white 80's funk. The good stuff is incredibly good and the bag stuff is still ok enough that I didn't actively hate it.
The Boo Radleys
4/5
Really great album. I didn't think I've learned to them before really.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
This is one that was playing constantly for about 6 months in 1994 then I completely forgot it existed. It holds up better than I thought it would, at least in the first half. The back half of the album starts to get pretty repetitive.
The Zutons
4/5
I had missed these guys, but this album is definitely up there with other early 2000's sleaze rock. They deserve to be in the conversation with bands like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Fiona Apple
5/5
This is an absolute masterpiece and one of the best first albums ever made.
Sepultura
1/5
Nah, I'm good
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
It's like a badly painted Lord of the Rings mural on a 1973 Ford Econoline that belongs to a 17 year old stoner dude named Patrick in Ohio made an album.
Supertramp
4/5
I genuinely liked this album more than I thought I would. Closer to ELO than ELP.
Moby
4/5
Moby gets a lot of shit and honestly he mostly deserves it, but this album is wall to wall bangers. He was never this good again.
Hugh Masekela
3/5
Perfectly nice jazz. Jazz mostly sounds all the same to me. The difference between good and bad, as far as I'm concerned, is whether it's nice background music that I don't hate, or if it's grating and unpleasant.
David Crosby
3/5
It's fine. A lot of doodling in between mediocre melodies.
The musicianship is top notch.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
This is probably my favorite Elvis Costello album I've listened to yet. I often feel like the songs are overwhelmed by his weirdly aggressive vocal delivery.
Goldfrapp
3/5
Vibey. It's like if Portishead were 30% more influenced by James Bond themes.
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
I'm not going to lie, this would get a whole star higher if it weren't for the tremelo singing.
Willie Nelson
5/5
I have never heard this one before and it might be the most relaxed, soothing, 10/10, 50 year old Country & Western concept album about murder I've ever heard.
King Crimson
3/5
This is just not for me. Prog jazz rock feels like a chore.
Deep Purple
2/5
Why are there so many Deep Purple albums on this stupid list!?
Digital Underground
3/5
This is a really meandering, unfocused mess of New Jack Swing. Humpty Dance slaps as always.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
It's crazy that this was in 1988. It's very ahead of it's time.
Jamiroquai
2/5
Absolutely not. I do not own a hat big enough, or have participated in hacking a sack enough to listen to this.
Gorillaz
4/5
This is a goddamn great album.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Slaps beginning to end. Only part I didn't love was the extended jam on side 2
The Avalanches
3/5
It's alright.
Venom
2/5
I just don't like metal. This one is kind of silly though.
The Monkees
3/5
The Monkees are more culturally important than musically important. There is nothing special about this album. It's just mid sixties detritus that the boomers who put this list together have nostalgia for.
Raekwon
4/5
This goes pretty hard
Ananda Shankar
2/5
This is so so so so dated. It's like music in the background of the psychedelic portion of a Monkees biopic.
I really don't feel like I NEED to hear sitar covers of Rolling Stones songs.
R.E.M.
4/5
Damn good album.
Rod Stewart
4/5
If it wasn't for the mediocre covers of Elvis and Dylan, this might have gotten a 5. 8 listened to this years ago but it never clicked. This time, though, I really got it. Really good album that was aaaalmost great.
Soft Machine
2/5
I'm not really into this kind of experimental, jam prog whatever.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
Janelle Monae is like a funky black female Bowie. I'm here for it.
Elton John
5/5
I think this might be the strongest overall album Elton John ever made.
Beck
5/5
Beck using his powers for sad is so goddamn effective.
The Beach Boys
3/5
There are 4-5 really great Beach Boys songs on here and 7-8 totally OK filler songs. Other than it being a pivot point for Brian Wilson's song writing where he started to write about things other than surfing, girls, and cars, there is nothing special about this album.
Something I've realized since I've had a few Beach Boys albums here is that I really enjoy their greatest hits and everything I didn't grow up with leaves me pretty cold even after multiple listens.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
A little too Broadway for my taste
KISS
2/5
I don't think there's a 70's phenomena that I get less than Kiss. Maybe giant lapels and gold medallions.
The Fall
3/5
The Goth-52s
Jeff Beck
3/5
It's definitely a change from most of the British 60's blues albums on this list. But it still didn't really hit for me. It started strong but then fell off.
Orbital
3/5
Honestly, kind of boring
The Fall
3/5
I like their instrumentation but I just cannot with the vocals
The Verve
4/5
Solid album with one of the greatest songs ever made and 3 other really top tier tracks. The rest is strong if not great. Their lesser works are way better than Oasis's mid tier.
Ray Charles
4/5
Good stuff, Ray
Mudhoney
4/5
The range of music that got called grunge is incredible.
The B-52's
3/5
It's very B-52's
Paul Simon
3/5
Not his best. There are a lot of diddly half songs
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Lounge hop just isn't my jam
The Soft Boys
4/5
This is one of my favorite early post punk albums that I've learned about through this site. I had never listened to The Soft Boys before, and damn, it's really good. The opening song sounds 7 years ahead of it's time.
3/5
So much 80's British synth pop tried to be so funky, but they were so very very white
Randy Newman
3/5
I don't dislike this album at all, but I can't help but feel like I'm listening to the soundtrack to an early 2000's Pixar movie about a mouse living in New York in the early 1900's.
Richard Hawley
3/5
The amount of regionally popular British music that is super boring on this list is stupid
Willie Nelson
4/5
A perfectly nice set of standards done in Willie style.
Metallica
2/5
Nope. Just not a fan of Metallica and this seems sooooo unnecessary. There are also just too many live albums on this list
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Nice background music for a restaurant that serves artisanal cocktails and small plate gastro explorative seafood foam
Mike Ladd
3/5
I always find experimental hip hop to be pretty hot or miss, personally, and this one is interesting but seems to be a bit meandering. I'm not sure it really has a cogent narrative running through it either musically or lyrically.
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
Really nice.
Mudhoney
4/5
Much catchier and poppier than a lot of the grunge from this era.
The White Stripes
4/5
We get it, you don't have a bass player
Roxy Music
4/5
I like Roxy Music but I don't like like Roxy Music
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Mostly mid country with just a couple stand out tracks.
Death In Vegas
3/5
It's like the soundtrack to a late 90's TV show about a team of futuristic hacker spies but they're also all teenagers.
Gary Numan
4/5
Gary Numan is underrated.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
So much mediocre 90's British techno on this list.
It was 5 minutes into the album before I heard a sound that wasn't just a drum.
Someone discovered the delay pedal and just went to town.
The British obsession with reggae and dub.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
A lot more melodic and soulful than I was expecting. The electro-funk influences I expected were there, but a lot of it is directly descended from Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.
Miles Davis
2/5
This is just not for me
Bob Dylan
5/5
I mean... It's Blonde On Blonde
Deerhunter
4/5
This is an above average indie album from the 2010's and I generally like it fine. BUT!... I'm having trouble figuring out what separates it from 100 other indie albums from that era that I like as much or more.
Saint Etienne
3/5
Nice, but nothing special
Otis Redding
5/5
Yeah it's good
Pantera
2/5
I just don't enjoy metal
Booker T. & The MG's
2/5
That's a lot of organ
John Prine
5/5
John Prine isn't talked about enough. He should be mentioned more alongside of Willie Nelson, Harry Nilsson, and Randy Newman
Khaled
3/5
It's ok, but honestly it just feels like mid pop with an Algerian twang
Elastica
4/5
A little over stuffed but really solid
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
I'm just not a Chili Peppers girlie. This one though was on repeat for me in 10th grade along with Pearl Jam 10 and Nevermind. It's definitely the least of those 3.
In retrospect it does not hold up and is actually pretty tedious and overlong. We get it you're funky and horny just quit heroin.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Very solid 90's rap
Beatles
5/5
I mean .. it's The White Album
Tricky
3/5
Totally fine
Christina Aguilera
3/5
No one:
Christina Aguilera: Woooooaaaaaaaiooooaaasaa Yeeeseeaaaaaaaeeeeeaaaaahhhh!
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Jazzy and fun
The Byrds
3/5
Sounds like 1967
New Order
3/5
Enjoyable if repetitive
The Who
3/5
One of the best of these mid sixties, white, British kids trying to sing American blues albums. You can hear their influence both on and from The Beatles. It's still boomery as fuck though. Songs about how getting married is so unfair to men because they have to work so not age well.
Joy Division
5/5
This must have sounded like it was from outer space in 1979
Ice Cube
3/5
There's It Was a Good Day and then there's the rest of the album.
Arcade Fire
4/5
Arcade Fire's first 3 albums are still bangers, even 20 years later.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
This is a perfectly nice little album, but I don't feel like I needed to hear it before I died.
Goldfrapp
4/5
Fun and interesting, but maybe a little repetitive
Pixies
5/5
It's impossible to fairly rate albums that I listened to on repeat in my teens. This is one of those albums that I already had every song liked.
The Smiths
4/5
The Smiths are so weird because Johnny Marr's music is incredible and it feels so intentional while it feels like Morrissey is making up the words as he goes along.
Eminem
4/5
This is a fascinating snapshot of suddenly having to deal with being famous. I honestly didn't think there's a single song on this album that isn't about Eminem's reaction to culture's reaction to Eminem.
The homophobia and misogyny are difficult 25 years later. They were notable even at the time.
All that aside, every track is a banger as far as production and hooks are concerned.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
The are a whole lot of very mediocre British albums on this list. There's a reason these guys were a one hit wonder. It's not a bad album, but certainly not one of the 1000 most important ever in all of music.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
It's a vibe, for sure. Don't think it's an album I NEEDED to hear before I died.
Björk
3/5
I feel like I should like Bjork. I was young in the 90's, I love Radiohead and the indie electronic music that came up in the late 90's and 2000's, but there's just something that doesn't hit for me.
White Denim
3/5
Solid, but meandering 3.5 stars
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I didn't want to give this 5 stars, because I'm sick to my teeth of Boomer classic rock, but goddamn this album goes hard
Al Green
4/5
Nice and groovy
Devendra Banhart
3/5
I liked the first few songs, but then it started on the experimental acoustic vaudeville stuff and guys voice became more and more grating.
Van Morrison
4/5
Dag bang dig along bang doo long doo
Underworld
3/5
Sometimes it feels like this list was made exclusively by Brits who were 20 in 1996
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
A little preachy in a very 80's way, and more of a pastiche than anything.
Culture Club
2/5
I hadn't realized, before this list, exactly how much the Brits were trying to sound like 60's r&b in the 80's
I mean, what's more soulful and funky than white Europeans with second generation Yamaha keyboards?
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
Full of bops but also aggressively 2000's
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
Super Nintendo Sega Genesis
Billy Bragg
4/5
Better than I thought it would be
Iron Maiden
2/5
I just don't like metal.
The Only Ones
3/5
Perfectly nice, very Television influenced sound.
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
That's definitely a lot of 70's synth
Aerosmith
2/5
Yuck
TV On The Radio
4/5
Just a damn good album. The production is incredibly 2004 though.
Hole
4/5
We were all really rude to Hole in the 90's.
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
It feels more like an exercise in being very British in a mod sixties way than an actual album
Jacques Brel
3/5
Oui
Prince
4/5
Party's over. Oops, out of time
Cornershop
3/5
Doodly, jammy,collage just isn't my thing. I like the more pop tracks, but those make up maybe 40% of the album. Also a pretty mediocre cover of Norwegian Wood.
The The
3/5
Very 80's
The Youngbloods
3/5
Ahead of it's time in that it sounds like generic early 70's Boomer jamming instead of late 60's generic Boomer jamming.
Throwing Muses
4/5
Damn good album, especially for one this early.
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
I was never a NIN fan, but 31 years later, it's definitely still a really good album.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
This is the most dated mid sixties psychedelic bullshit ever. I did not need to hear this before I died. I know what this shit sounds like without hearing another mediocre 20 year old boomer white guy who just got high for the first time.
I get it, you discovered reverb and organs
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Good but I don't get the hype
Cocteau Twins
5/5
There's not a bad track on here. It's a 4.5 because of the aggressively 80's drum compression, but otherwise it's basically a perfect album so I'm giving it a 5 here.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I just didn't get Springsteen. Still, the album is pretty great
Paul Simon
5/5
I don't care what anyone says, this album is perfect beginning to end.
Calling it cultural appropriation is extremely simplistic. Firstly, the African music on this album is performed by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. They are African. Is it cultural appropriation if it's being performed by the actual culture in question?
Secondly, there's the cultural lens of the time in which it was made. Younger people are seeing this as a white guy stealing culture. When this was made it was seen as an artist sharing his love for another culture's art. I understand the impulse, but the intentionality deserves to be part of the conversation.
Aphex Twin
3/5
The most background of music
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
I enjoyed this, but I didn't love it
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
Surprisingly modern sounding
Pere Ubu
3/5
These guys heard Television and Devo and started a band
Missy Elliott
4/5
It's a 4.5, but I'm rounding down for the interstitial talking. The remnants of 90's hip hop sketch culture were still hanging on at this point.
The Vines
3/5
So very 2000's. Good but it doesn't stir anything in me.
Steve Earle
2/5
Super meh. Country has to be extra good for me to enjoy it. I did not need to hear this album before I died.
Living Colour
2/5
The musicianship is top notch, but it has the emotional and political messaging subtlety of Zack Attack from Saved by the Bell
Miles Davis
4/5
I recognize the quality while still not especially enjoying jazz.
The Slits
3/5
Britain discovered syncopation in 1976 and didn't look back for 10 solid years.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Groovy
Soul II Soul
2/5
Background music.
Back to Life is still a bop though
Alice Cooper
2/5
This is the halfway point between David Bowie and Black Sabbath. It sounds like a Spirit Halloween
Thin Lizzy
4/5
This really goes
The Doors
2/5
This one is just meh. Even among Doors albums.
Youssou N'Dour
3/5
It kinda goes
Haircut 100
3/5
So many early 80's British albums. They all sound the same. This is to New Wave what Candlebox was to Grunge.
Paul Weller
3/5
I'm starting to get frustrated with how many mediocre British albums are on this list. So many of them blur together and I do not need to hear them before I die.
A solo album by the guy from The Jam? Come on.
On it's own merits, it's totally fine though it sounds very much like an 80's guy desperately trying to sound 90's.
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
This one is difficult. I enjoy a lot of the music, while it still feels aggressively 1989, and is preachy preachy preachy. It's also impossible to divorce what I know of her life from the music. But, of course, her music is so autobiographical that maybe I shouldn't even try.
The Black Crowes
3/5
Meh. Combining British white guy blues with crotch rock isn't really my thing
Talking Heads
4/5
The Talking Heads just have sounded like they were from outer space in 1978.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
I'm genuinely disappointed this isn't two lesbians
3.5 stars. This site really needs half stars.
The Associates
3/5
More early 80's British synth pop.
Yay.
A combination of Duran Duran, Joy Division, and Kate Bush.
Every second feels like synthesizers blasting and that new wave baritone scream going full blast, non stop. Someone maybe should tell them about dynamic range.
Tears For Fears
4/5
I just complained about the amount of early 80's British synth pop. At least this one has a distinct sound to it and has held up over time, unlike some of the others.
Beatles
5/5
I think these boys may be on to something
Crowded House
4/5
This is definitely the best so far of the many many 80's British new wave white guys trying to transition to the 90's sound albums on this list.
Bee Gees
2/5
Oh my God this is boring, milquetoast, soft adult contemporary, middlebrow bullshit. The fact that this nothing album of nothing songs is on this list is actually insulting.
The Bee Gees are a band that learned the exact wrong lesson from the Beatles. Every song tries to sound as epic as A Day in the Life but with the lyrical depth of I Want to Hold Your Hand.
And I hate their voices. They sound like Muppets in a bad way
Neneh Cherry
3/5
Aggressively 1989
Carole King
5/5
This still holds up
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
This is a tough hang
Duran Duran
4/5
After listening to so many early 80's British New Wave albums in this list that are truly painful, these few that stand out almost feel refreshing.
Ash
4/5
I have never heard of this band, but I really enjoyed this album.
3/5
My dad called this style of country "cryin' in your beer music"
Sex Pistols
4/5
I generally like The Sex Pistols, though they seem a little silly with the passage of time. Especially considering how manufactured they are. This is still full of very catchy songs.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
The music is generally good, and I appreciate the attempt on social commentary, but some of the lyrics are confusingly right wing.
Beatles
5/5
I genuinely believe this night be the best album ever made.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Sonic Youth make me feel like I'm not cool enough to get it.
Mylo
3/5
Low-fi beats to be bored to
I didn't hate this. I thought I would.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Solid album
The Byrds
3/5
All these mid sixties psychedelic albums by bands with 3 good songs who all bought a harpsichord and a sitar sound the same to me.
Black Flag
3/5
we live in a society
The United States Of America
2/5
Just because it's from the sixties doesn't mean it's good
Motörhead
3/5
Not my jam
Funkadelic
4/5
I really liked this one
Sigur Rós
5/5
Despite being in Icelandic, this somehow touched me.
CHVRCHES
4/5
Nice
Talk Talk
3/5
Yep, another British new wave album
T. Rex
4/5
Great even without Jeepster
George Jones
3/5
This is who was supposed to play at that Country and Western bar in The Blues Brothers
The Birthday Party
2/5
Just because an album is groundbreaking doesn't mean it's good. Sometimes they're digging into ground that isn't good for planting anything.
Spacemen 3
3/5
Someone got a delay pedal for Christmas!