1021
Albums Rated
3.46
Average Rating
94%
Complete
68 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Electronica
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Generous
Rater Style ?
191
5-Star Albums
48
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trout Mask Replica | 5 | 2.28 | +2.72 |
| Timeless | 5 | 2.53 | +2.47 |
| Moss Side Story | 5 | 2.53 | +2.47 |
| Orbital 2 | 5 | 2.69 | +2.31 |
| Next | 5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
| Phaedra | 5 | 2.73 | +2.27 |
| What's That Noise? | 5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
| Quiet Life | 5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
| Second Toughest In The Infants | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury | 5 | 2.88 | +2.12 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jagged Little Pill | 1 | 3.72 | -2.72 |
| Surrealistic Pillow | 1 | 3.53 | -2.53 |
| Violent Femmes | 1 | 3.5 | -2.5 |
| Illinois | 1 | 3.49 | -2.49 |
| Live At The Star Club, Hamburg | 1 | 3.28 | -2.28 |
| John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band | 1 | 3.24 | -2.24 |
| 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... | 1 | 3.15 | -2.15 |
| 461 Ocean Boulevard | 1 | 3.11 | -2.11 |
| Pacific Ocean Blue | 1 | 3.07 | -2.07 |
| Smile | 1 | 3.06 | -2.06 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | 9 | 4.56 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4.8 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.75 |
| Kraftwerk | 3 | 5 |
| Brian Eno | 5 | 4.4 |
| U2 | 4 | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.5 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 4.67 |
| Yes | 3 | 4.67 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 4.67 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.67 |
| Roxy Music | 3 | 4.67 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| Muddy Waters | 2 | 5 |
| Pulp | 2 | 5 |
| Radiohead | 6 | 4.17 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 4.25 |
| Blur | 3 | 4.33 |
| Metallica | 3 | 4.33 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 4.33 |
| Simon & Garfunkel | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.33 |
| Prince | 3 | 4.33 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 4 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Bee Gees | 2 | 1 |
| Robert Wyatt | 2 | 1 |
| John Lennon | 2 | 1.5 |
| Randy Newman | 2 | 1.5 |
| Tim Buckley | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Green Day | 2, 5 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 5, 2 |
| Ice Cube | 2, 5 |
| Grateful Dead | 1, 4 |
| Paul Simon | 3, 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (191)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Mj Cole
4/5
This is not a 5-star album. Probably not even 4. A strong 3. But this gets an extra star from me for all of the unmerited hate that electronic music gets in these ratings.
2 likes
Pulp
5/5
Pulp basically writes three songs.
1) Songs about sex
2) Songs about poor people
3) Songs about sex with poor people
2 likes
Christina Aguilera
3/5
I thought this site's least favorite genre was electronic music. Nope. Early 21st century pop. Always gets slammed.
This wasn't all that bad. Ballads were a bit dull but the music was fun.
1 likes
Lenny Kravitz
2/5
OK, I get the Photocopy-of-a-photocopy-of-Prince comparisons. But hear me out...
This album is a gritless but slightly funky Lou Reed album.
Simplistic messaging about good and bad. Appallingly bad rhymes. Criticism of the conditions that cause urban washout. Feels like counter-culture but it's being narrated from the sidelines. But middle America thinks he's a prophet.
And I hate Lou Reed.
Bonus point because Let Love Rule is pretty good.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (48)
All Ratings
Fela Kuti
4/5
Really good
Blur
4/5
John Coltrane
5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Alanis Morissette
1/5
4/5
Wire
5/5
Steely Dan
2/5
fIREHOSE
2/5
3/5
Nick Drake
5/5
Pere Ubu
3/5
Death In Vegas
3/5
Metallica
4/5
Spiritualized
5/5
Kanye West
4/5
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Madonna
2/5
Queen
4/5
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
Stan Getz
4/5
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Basement Jaxx
3/5
Buck Owens
1/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Kate Bush
4/5
Kraftwerk
5/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Dennis Wilson
1/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Paul Weller
2/5
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Cypress Hill
4/5
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Elbow
5/5
Bee Gees
1/5
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
Pink Floyd
4/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
Green Day
2/5
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Iron Maiden
3/5
Donald Fagen
4/5
Iggy Pop
4/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Gang Starr
4/5
Beck
5/5
Talk Talk
5/5
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
1/5
The Isley Brothers
3/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
The Go-Betweens
2/5
Arrested Development
1/5
Beastie Boys
3/5
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
Adele
5/5
Talking Heads
5/5
Haircut 100
3/5
Eminem
4/5
Lou Reed
2/5
Blue Cheer
3/5
JAY Z
2/5
Silver Jews
2/5
The Black Keys
4/5
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Elton John
3/5
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
Jimmy Smith
4/5
M.I.A.
2/5
The Modern Lovers
3/5
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
Patti Smith
3/5
a-ha
2/5
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Big Black
3/5
Lou Reed
3/5
Thin Lizzy
4/5
Pavement
3/5
Kate Bush
4/5
The Flaming Lips
2/5
The Zombies
4/5
4/5
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
Al Green
3/5
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Janis Joplin
4/5
MGMT
5/5
Stereolab
5/5
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
5/5
Neil Young
4/5
The Who
4/5
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Nirvana
3/5
Tim Buckley
3/5
The Louvin Brothers
2/5
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
Michael Jackson
5/5
Bon Jovi
3/5
Dead Kennedys
2/5
Ray Charles
3/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
George Michael
4/5
Sonic Youth
2/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
Incubus
4/5
The Auteurs
2/5
Eagles
3/5
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Massive Attack
4/5
The Flaming Lips
2/5
Yes
5/5
Def Leppard
4/5
Joy Division
5/5
4/5
Orbital
5/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
Little Simz
4/5
Elvis Costello
3/5
Khaled
3/5
T. Rex
4/5
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
5/5
Jeff Beck
2/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
David Bowie
4/5
The B-52's
2/5
Pavement
3/5
Guns N' Roses
5/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
Morrissey
2/5
Yes
4/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
The Specials
4/5
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Black Flag
1/5
The Everly Brothers
2/5
Meat Loaf
3/5
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Culture Club
2/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Paul Simon
3/5
Slade
2/5
Nina Simone
4/5
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
Pere Ubu
3/5
Dr. Octagon
2/5
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Beach House
5/5
SAULT
4/5
Scott Walker
4/5
The Specials
3/5
Genesis
3/5
Eminem
4/5
Nas
4/5
Emmylou Harris
3/5
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
Elvis Presley
3/5
Van Halen
5/5
The Jam
3/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
The Stooges
4/5
Bad Brains
3/5
Dirty Projectors
2/5
Merle Haggard
3/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
The Pogues
4/5
The Doors
3/5
The Beta Band
4/5
The Beta Band got an endorsement from the main character in High Fidelity and that is good enough for me.
Hole
4/5
Simple Minds
4/5
The Police
5/5
Beatles
4/5
Morrissey
3/5
Baaba Maal
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Gorillaz
5/5
Underworld
5/5
Arcade Fire
4/5
Radiohead
5/5
The White Stripes
3/5
Fela Kuti
4/5
Kings of Leon
3/5
Fairport Convention
4/5
Elis Regina
3/5
The Who
2/5
Ramones
4/5
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
2/5
George Jones
4/5
Radiohead
5/5
Billy Joel
3/5
CHVRCHES
4/5
The Cult
3/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
CHIC
2/5
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
King Crimson
4/5
Taylor Swift
5/5
Orange Juice
2/5
Femi Kuti
5/5
Adele
3/5
The Magnetic Fields
1/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
Pixies
3/5
Frank Black
4/5
Ryan Adams
3/5
XTC
3/5
Radiohead
5/5
Animal Collective
3/5
Björk
4/5
Deep Purple
2/5
Miles Davis
3/5
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Cocteau Twins
4/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Elton John
3/5
Japan
5/5
George Harrison
4/5
Black Sabbath
4/5
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Meat Puppets
3/5
The Kinks
4/5
Eagles
2/5
Primal Scream
3/5
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Slipknot
4/5
Deep Purple
4/5
Nick Drake
4/5
Snoop Dogg
4/5
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Miles Davis
5/5
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
David Crosby
2/5
Jefferson Airplane
1/5
Michael Jackson
3/5
Stereo MC's
3/5
Amy Winehouse
4/5
k.d. lang
4/5
D'Angelo
1/5
Genesis
3/5
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Bert Jansch
4/5
David Bowie
5/5
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
LL Cool J
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Frank Zappa
4/5
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
The Electric Prunes
2/5
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Don McLean
2/5
Devendra Banhart
2/5
Traffic
3/5
The Stooges
5/5
Suede
5/5
Gram Parsons
3/5
Depeche Mode
4/5
The Band
3/5
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
M.I.A.
4/5
Tom Waits
4/5
Kraftwerk
5/5
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
Metallica
4/5
Peter Frampton
3/5
Duke Ellington
4/5
The Monks
3/5
Ananda Shankar
2/5
Elliott Smith
5/5
Mariah Carey
2/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Stevie Wonder
3/5
The Cure
4/5
John Cale
4/5
The Byrds
2/5
R.E.M.
4/5
Can
3/5
Tina Turner
2/5
Metallica
5/5
Rush
5/5
Syd Barrett
1/5
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
The Offspring
4/5
ABBA
2/5
Dusty Springfield
2/5
Gotan Project
3/5
De La Soul
2/5
Mudhoney
4/5
John Grant
5/5
Various Artists
4/5
Faust
4/5
Willie Nelson
3/5
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
The Bees
3/5
David Gray
3/5
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Alice Cooper
2/5
John Lennon
1/5
Eurythmics
5/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
The Temptations
4/5
Germs
3/5
Otis Redding
3/5
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Prince
5/5
Beastie Boys
4/5
Michael Jackson
3/5
The Band
2/5
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
The Go-Go's
4/5
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
Aerosmith
3/5
Simply Red
2/5
David Bowie
4/5
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Aerosmith
5/5
Cream
2/5
Sister Sledge
3/5
Neil Young
4/5
The Monkees
1/5
Beck
3/5
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
The Beach Boys
5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
Slipknot
4/5
Le Tigre
2/5
The The
4/5
Fleetwood Mac
2/5
Carole King
5/5
2Pac
2/5
Arcade Fire
5/5
Jazmine Sullivan
1/5
This is parody, right?
Elastica
4/5
The Shamen
3/5
Iggy Pop
5/5
Todd Rundgren
3/5
Caetano Veloso
2/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Skepta
4/5
The Cramps
4/5
Shuggie Otis
2/5
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Boston
5/5
Todd Rundgren
2/5
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Kate Bush
4/5
The Replacements
3/5
New Order
3/5
Tears For Fears
4/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
The Zutons
4/5
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Björk
2/5
Love
4/5
Common
3/5
Madonna
3/5
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
OutKast
4/5
Small Faces
2/5
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Bee Gees
1/5
ZZ Top
3/5
Garbage
5/5
Daft Punk
4/5
The Police
4/5
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
Van Morrison
2/5
David Bowie
5/5
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Jethro Tull
4/5
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
Coldplay
5/5
Lana Del Rey
2/5
Joan Armatrading
4/5
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
David Bowie
5/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Jamiroquai
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Soul II Soul
3/5
John Martyn
4/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
Radiohead
4/5
Taylor Swift
4/5
Gene Clark
2/5
Roxy Music
5/5
The Smiths
3/5
The Clash
5/5
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
Napalm Death
2/5
Better than the BeeGees
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Faith No More
3/5
Ryan Adams
3/5
Billy Bragg
2/5
Stephen Stills
3/5
The Darkness
4/5
Donovan
4/5
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
System Of A Down
5/5
Robert Wyatt
1/5
Everything But The Girl
2/5
Anita Baker
2/5
Ministry
4/5
Baaba Maal
3/5
Linkin Park
4/5
The Roots
5/5
CHIC
2/5
5/5
Air
4/5
Robert Wyatt
1/5
Quicksilver Messenger Service
1/5
The Gun Club
5/5
Frank Sinatra
2/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
The Cars
5/5
Sigur Rós
5/5
Iron Maiden
3/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
Eels
3/5
Keith Jarrett
3/5
Happy Mondays
3/5
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
The Young Gods
4/5
I don't understand the hatred here. I mean, this isn't my favorite album. Sort of sounds like Rammstein was down on their luck in the early 90s and reluctantly agreed to record the soundtrack to the French release of Twisted Metal on Sega Genesis, but why is the overall score so low here? Is this objectively worse than Slipknot? Or is the problem that most of us don't speak French? Quelle horreur. Probably 3 stars, I am giving it 4 for justice.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
Queens of the Stone Age
5/5
Badly Drawn Boy
4/5
Dion
2/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Steve Winwood
2/5
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Roni Size
4/5
Erykah Badu
4/5
Suicide
2/5
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
Buffalo Springfield
4/5
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Shack
4/5
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
Mercury Rev
3/5
Ray Price
2/5
Klaxons
3/5
The Cure
5/5
Fever Ray
4/5
Public Enemy
4/5
Peter Gabriel
4/5
The Byrds
4/5
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
John Lennon
2/5
Duran Duran
4/5
Saint Etienne
4/5
Muddy Waters
5/5
R.E.M.
5/5
Richard Thompson
4/5
Goldfrapp
5/5
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
1/5
Grizzly Bear
4/5
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
The War On Drugs
3/5
Guided By Voices
4/5
Songhoy Blues
4/5
The Sabres Of Paradise
1/5
Rod Stewart
2/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Wilco
4/5
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
Portishead
4/5
Portishead is great, but that ukulele song cost them a full point on this one.
Ash
3/5
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
Beatles
5/5
From Wikipedia: "I'm So Tired" was written in India when Lennon was having difficulty sleeping.
Lennon wrote [Dear Prudence] about Mia Farrow's sister Prudence Farrow, who rarely left her room...
So... Lennon was always just writing about himself? I couldn't stand his solo albums, largely for that reason. Maybe what made the Beatles so magical is that they could get the best out of Lennon while curbing his ego.
Anyway, it's the White Album. Five Stars.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
He went to the hat store, and he bought himself some DRUGS.
808 State
4/5
This place simply hates Electronic Music. White dudes from the 60s pretending to have the blues? Five stars. Beeps and boops? THAT AIN'T MUSIC!
Digital Underground
2/5
Kanye West
3/5
3/5
Mike Ladd
3/5
U2
5/5
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/5
Elvis Presley
4/5
Solomon Burke
4/5
Cat Stevens
5/5
Travis
1/5
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Sheryl Crow
4/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Morrissey
4/5
Turns out America has had a Black president, so does that mean you will stop whining now?
Fishbone
4/5
The Beta Band
3/5
Little Richard
5/5
Steely Dan
5/5
The White Stripes
5/5
Beth Orton
3/5
Megadeth
4/5
The Avalanches
5/5
Hawkwind
3/5
MC Solaar
4/5
King Crimson
2/5
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
The Beach Boys
2/5
Brian Eno
4/5
The Coral
2/5
Brian Eno
5/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
50 Cent
4/5
Anthrax
3/5
Janet Jackson
4/5
Beatles
3/5
ZZ Top
3/5
The Beau Brummels
2/5
Sonic Youth
2/5
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Waylon Jennings
4/5
The Residents
2/5
As of the time of my review, there have been nearly 11,000 reviews of this album on this website. Yet a few of the songs have ferer than 10,000 listens on Spotify. Yes, I know there are other services that stream this album, but we really are probably making an impressive impact in both Buster AND Glen's royalty checks.
Also, I think it's fair to say that a lot of people aren't listening to this all the way through because of how terrible some of the early songs are, and I can't fault this, as we are only given this one life with which to listen to 1001 albums before we die. But I think there's a lot of cool stuff happening on the back end. Not enough to get this up to three stars, but still better than the BeeGees' Trafalgar.
4/5
John Martyn
4/5
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
Lucinda Williams
4/5
Can
4/5
David Bowie
5/5
Aerosmith
3/5
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
Ice Cube
2/5
Suede
3/5
Dolly Parton
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Afrika Bambaataa
2/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Big Star
3/5
Scott Walker
3/5
5/5
The Verve
2/5
The Undertones
4/5
Radiohead
3/5
Parliament
5/5
Marilyn Manson
3/5
Drive-By Truckers
3/5
The Cure
4/5
The Doors
4/5
The United States Of America
4/5
Coldcut
5/5
Hookworms
4/5
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
The first track sounds exactly like the interstitial music from Summer Heights High, which explains why the album cover depicts a white dude pretending to be a penguin
Venom
1/5
Deep Purple
3/5
1/5
Maxwell
2/5
The Young Rascals
4/5
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Foo Fighters
4/5
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Miriam Makeba
4/5
Gang Of Four
5/5
Hole
4/5
Blur
5/5
Public Enemy
4/5
I grew up in the early 90s and it is a real travesty that 30+ years later, I can still recite every lyric in that rap about butts, the one about the dog doing the wild thing ON MY LEG, and I know what it means to wax a chump like a candle, but I have no memory of hearing any of this on the radio.
Public Enemy
4/5
Sonic Youth
4/5
Beatles
3/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Slayer
2/5
The Verve
3/5
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
Mylo
2/5
This is absolutely my style of music, but that doesn't mean this album is good.
Ice T
3/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
Playing the same song twice in a row in a concert... I can't think of many ways that where this would be the right move, but this is one of them.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Astor Piazzolla
4/5
N.W.A.
4/5
Doves
4/5
Fugees
5/5
I am even willing to overlook the stupid skit featuring racist Cookie Monster
Willie Nelson
3/5
Tom Waits
5/5
Beck looks in the mirror and sees Tom Waits, but Tom Waits looks at Beck and sees a Michael Cera character.
The Jam
5/5
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Killing Joke
4/5
The Waterboys
3/5
Holger Czukay
3/5
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
The Lemonheads
4/5
Rush
4/5
Moby
5/5
The Fall
3/5
Ozomatli
4/5
Tom Waits
3/5
Oasis
4/5
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
The La's
3/5
The Triffids
2/5
One star for each song that didn't mention lips.
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
Prince
4/5
Tortoise
4/5
Os Mutantes
5/5
Mott The Hoople
2/5
Supertramp
3/5
Doves
5/5
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
Bauhaus
4/5
Tim Buckley
1/5
The xx
5/5
Dizzee Rascal
3/5
John Prine
4/5
1/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
4/5
Two songs about drugs by track 3 and then a song that starts by bitching about teachers... I never realized how much this album gives off the vibe of that 14-year-old girl who got drunk once while on vacation in Italy with her parents and then won't ever stop talking about her wine preferences.
We get it. You did drugs.
Still, this was a fun listen.
The Temptations
4/5
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
Blondie
5/5
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Jane Weaver
5/5
Paul Simon
2/5
Crowded House
2/5
Cee Lo Green
2/5
Tracy Chapman
5/5
The Who
3/5
Kid Rock
3/5
This is easily the most unexpected rating I've given, and I'm approaching 650 albums.
I knew this album was on this list. I've seen the "Worst Of" list, and I was waiting for it with my one-star rating queued up. Then I hit play.
OK, so the first two hits have held up pretty well. The one about trying to EASE my MIND is just sort of stupid, and the slow ballad has a comically poor overuse of Autotune. But two legit hits. A lot of albums here would be envious.
Before I go any further, I'll acknowledge that Kid Rock has become a sleazy MAGA peddler, shooting at Bud Light because he cannot legally shoot at transgender people. And no, he wasn't from the trailer park in Detroit. But, to be fair, he was more gracious after the 2024 Trump victory than, well, pretty much all Republican politicians. And regarding the fake backstory, maybe it's just a character. I mean, I'm like 75% sure that David Bowie wasn't actually from outer space. 60% sure. So maybe Kid Rock is doing his low-rent version of the Thin White Duke. The Skinny Pale Dude. Anyway...
OK, so then I got to the deeper tracks. Track three has someone - maybe a midget, maybe a 9-year-old, bragging about having a ten-foot dick, which is a level of absurdity that I thought was amazing when I heard Alex Harvey. The next song includes a sort of weird Yelp review for jumbo shrimp when you visit New Orleans AND a confession that he loves mowing his lawn, but secretly gets high before doing it. There's like three songs where he admits that he doesn't have any hit songs yet, but really hopes he gets one. And none of this comes across as purely stupid. He has one song where he basically tells bigots to die and go to hell, which I can get behind. Some of the lyrics are pretty funny. And I always like it when musical acts tweak the formula a bit, and rock-rap is definitely something different. A really good range of cameos, and I'll be damned, he ALMOST pulls off a '90s rap album that doesn't have stupid skits and poorly-aged homophobia. Almost. But I was surprised at how much he dodged that latter bullet.
Does the album have its drawbacks? Hell yes. Gets really samey on the B side. One of the songs resembles 80s rap lyrics in the absolute worst way. He somehow hides that he can pull off having a decent voice by overproducing the vocals to sound like a Cher parody at times. Two of the hits are simply not good, one of them is laughable. This is not a roaring success.
But... it WELL exceeded my expectations.
Three stars. Could've been four, but he'll have to settle for three. He'll be OK, as he'll probably be appointed as the Ambassador to The Netherlands because of weed and the deep and worrying unseriousness of this upcoming presidency.
Bad Company
5/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Iron Butterfly
2/5
OutKast
4/5
Supergrass
5/5
10cc
2/5
Neil Young
3/5
The Adverts
4/5
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
James Brown
3/5
The Stone Roses
4/5
Ice Cube
5/5
Brian Eno
3/5
Neneh Cherry
2/5
The Clash
4/5
G. Love & Special Sauce
1/5
I love Flava Flav. He's fantastic. Tom Waits is phenomenal. But this album, where Flava Flav recorded a tribute album to the sounds of Tom Waits, is pure garbage.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Talvin Singh
4/5
Talking Heads
4/5
Funkadelic
4/5
Roxy Music
5/5
Liz Phair
2/5
Dire Straits
4/5
Minutemen
4/5
Peter Tosh
2/5
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
Björk
5/5
Sparks
5/5
Magazine
3/5
Tangerine Dream
5/5
Screaming Trees
3/5
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Billie Holiday
4/5
Super Furry Animals
5/5
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
Kelela
3/5
Justin Timberlake
2/5
Sometimes you get a debut album and marvel at how the act was able to hit the bullseye right out of the gate. Boston. Coldplay. Cyndi Lauper.
Not Timberlake.
Van Morrison
3/5
Nick Drake
5/5
Bobby Womack
2/5
Barry Adamson
4/5
My only knock against this album is that it is a little *too* all over the place. The plus side is that the album provides one of the more insane track transitions of all time when it jumps from "It's Business as Usual," which is legitimately a frightening track, to the bouncy, upbeat "Miles." But I'm happy to see this album's inclusion on this list. A lot of albums are here, rightly, because they are the best representation of a genre, even if that genre wasn't all that long-lived. Barry Adamson is on this list because he basically is his own genre.
Deee-Lite
3/5
Judas Priest
4/5
Super Furry Animals
4/5
The Vines
3/5
Grateful Dead
1/5
Method Man
5/5
4/5
Charles Mingus
4/5
Heaven 17
2/5
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
LCD Soundsystem, I love you, but you're bringing me down.
This guy is a real talent - most of his stuff feels really effortless. My one gripe is that on a number of his songs, he adopts this cheesy blasé attitude, like he can't even be bothered to write lyrics or perform adequately or even ad-lib well. Stupid forced rhymes. Lyrics that fall out of sync with the music on purpose and try really hard to feel like off-the-cuff, spur-of-the-moment asides. Instead, it feels like watching a stand-up comedian absolutely bomb. I'm looking at you, North American Scum (Europe has a lot of MIMES!).
I'm taking a full star off for that cheesy crap. But "Someone Great" is one of my all-time favorite songs.
Big Star
2/5
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Air
5/5
Aphex Twin
5/5
Bob Dylan
5/5
Brian Eno
5/5
The Who
5/5
Coldplay
4/5
Ray Charles
4/5
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
I really wanted to give this a five. I was willing to overlook Around the World, which is one of the stupidest songs I have ever heard. So many bangers. But probably 4 songs I would skip every time I listened to this album. Still, the hits are excellent.
New Order
2/5
Christina Aguilera
3/5
I thought this site's least favorite genre was electronic music. Nope. Early 21st century pop. Always gets slammed.
This wasn't all that bad. Ballads were a bit dull but the music was fun.
Manu Chao
3/5
Steely Dan
4/5
Van Halen
5/5
Machito
5/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
AC/DC
2/5
AC/DC are the masters of the single entendre.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
A strong 3 - I've never really cared for the two big hits here, but hearing the whole album really brings out the strangeness of Spinning Wheel - made me like it a whole lot more. This could have really been indulgent garbage, but instead, whimsical weirdness. Not bad.
Neu!
5/5
David Ackles
1/5
AC/DC
3/5
Jacques Brel
3/5
Prince
4/5
Lorde
4/5
Radiohead
3/5
Queen Latifah
3/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Mudhoney
3/5
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Turbonegro
1/5
Spacemen 3
1/5
The Stooges
3/5
Happy Mondays
2/5
The Byrds
3/5
N.E.R.D
4/5
Jurassic 5
5/5
Pantera
2/5
Pink Floyd
2/5
Minor Threat
3/5
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
ABBA
4/5
Lambchop
2/5
I really like Lambchop - they have so many good songs, but each album I've listened to has to have something *quirky* on it and it tarnishes the overall package. But still, when they are on, it's great. Some glimpses of that here.
But what the fuck were those 2 falsetto songs?
Probably the worst tracks I have heard on this whole voyage, and I am approaching 750 albums, including 2 pre-disco BeeGees albums.
No, the BeeGees were worse. But God damn you, Lambchop, for making me think twice about it.
Slint
2/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Great opening track, but got samey after while
Love
3/5
David Holmes
3/5
Dire Straits
4/5
Milton Nascimento
4/5
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Janelle Monáe
5/5
Chicago
2/5
OK, there's a lot to hate here. That guitar track sounds like some corporate dudes listened to Pere Ubu once and cut this track in a single take and then went out to an expensive cafe to celebrate over Michelob Light and sandwiches.
But no. My biggest complaint is with Does Anyone Really Know What Time it Is. I knew this song. I remember that particluar line from the chorus and the "I. WAS. WALK. ING. DOWN. THE. STREET. ONE. DAY" line and thought it was catchy enough. On a closer listen, this song sucks. First of all, much like the Fran Drescher film, "Beauty and the Beautician," it is pretty obvious that they came up with the title and then started writing the piece around it. The little narratives to get up to the chorus are super conttrived, and I don't know if I've heard a pair of lines as bloated as "A man came up to me and asked me / what the time was that was on my watch." Come on. That's like the moment in that terrible M. Night Shamalan movie about how the environment starts killing everyone and someone is on a train and asks "Is this the train to Princeton, New Jersey?" No human would ever ask that question that way. And the actual lyric in this song should be "A man came up and asked me what time it was." I had to restart the song to make sure that I heard how bad that line actually was.
Then the chorus.
OK, sure, I'll grant the double meaning here in the title question. Not mind blowing, but it's pop music, so I check my expectations a little, and this line works on its own. But the possible depth they find here is just annihilated by the backing singers blurting "I! DON'T! CARE! ABOUT! TIME!" in the background, like the song can't trust its own listeners with nuance. An interesting contemplation about time is to be found in "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" by Fairport Convention on this project. This song, however, is just some smug boomer thinking he's clever.
Oh, and then it gets saccharine for no reason with that final line about "We all have time enough to CRY" or whatever. Yeah. true. Sometimes things are sad and time exists. And hold on to your hats, poets, but the final chorus changes CRY to DIE. Oh my god that's so deep. Also, this feels like it's now a mixed message. Time is elusive and I can transcend those other people who feel bound by its artificial constraints and... we're all going to die. Huh?
I gave this album a second star because some of the extended instrumental parts were actually sort of fun. But this album managed to provide TWO of my least favorite single moments of this entire project so far, and I'm in the homestretch.
Lupe Fiasco
5/5
Outro really pushed my goal of listening to every single song all the way through - it's pointless, and I bet he wishes he could have the shoutouts to Kanye and Myspace back - but the rest of this album was terrific.
TLC
4/5
Butthole Surfers
3/5
R.E.M.
4/5
Carpenters
2/5
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
5/5
The Smiths
4/5
Kings of Leon
3/5
The Fall
2/5
Supergrass
4/5
Ride
3/5
The Byrds
2/5
Massive Attack
5/5
The Fall
3/5
Elliott Smith
4/5
FKA twigs
4/5
Van Morrison
4/5
Gillian Welch
4/5
Mike Oldfield
2/5
Paul Simon
5/5
The Only Ones
2/5
The Velvet Underground
1/5
Fleet Foxes
4/5
The Teardrop Explodes
2/5
The Damned
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Joanna Newsom
4/5
Great if you live Bjork, harps, Setters of Catan, and the lyrics of Yes
Leftfield
5/5
Probably a 4-star album, but I need to bring a small measure of balance to this site and its hatred of electronic music
Soft Cell
2/5
An extra star for Tainted Love, one of the best tracks from the 80s. That's all. Nothing else to be seen here.
Spiritualized
3/5
Madonna
4/5
The other Madonna albums I have gotten have been so disappointing - I had such low expectations here, but it actually held up really well. Is it trend chasing? Sure. But not as graceless as she usually is about it.
Elvis Costello
3/5
Lightning Bolt
3/5
Tom Waits
4/5
Dagmar Krause
3/5
Definitely not one of the worst albums in this list. There have been other albums with low ratings that I thought weren't bad, but at least I understood why they were rated so low. This album is fine.
Brian Eno
5/5
AS YOU PECK YOUR WAAAAY UP THEEERE
-B. Ferry
Sebadoh
3/5
The Birthday Party
2/5
Röyksopp
5/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
Nirvana
5/5
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
The Sugarcubes
2/5
Was good at first, but the final 3 songs were awful.
The Slits
1/5
Dr. Dre
4/5
Red Snapper
4/5
The White Stripes
4/5
Traffic
3/5
Laura Nyro
2/5
Some fun music, but the singing bothered me more often than not
Madness
4/5
Stephen Stills
3/5
2/5
Girls Against Boys
4/5
The Kinks
4/5
Morrissey
3/5
Tom Tom Club
3/5
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Thundercat
4/5
Elvis Presley
4/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Pulp
5/5
Buzzcocks
3/5
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
The Prodigy
4/5
Aimee Mann
2/5
Destiny's Child
4/5
Soundgarden
5/5
Astrud Gilberto
2/5
4/5
Tito Puente
5/5
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
R.E.M.
5/5
Paul McCartney
2/5
The Soft Boys
4/5
SZA
4/5
LTJ Bukem
4/5
Depeche Mode
3/5
Ian Dury
1/5
Sepultura
3/5
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
Gary Numan
4/5
Really pretty solid. Very much influenced by Berlin-era Bowie, from the dark synth instrumentals to the Heroes-lite cover art. He doesn't pull it off as smoothly, but there's a lot here to like, and it's far more than just "Cars."
Circle Jerks
2/5
U2
5/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
Deerhunter
4/5
Queen
3/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Frank Ocean
4/5
3/5
I didn't think this was great, but it is WAAAAY better than its overall rating would lead you to believe
The Beach Boys
4/5
UB40
4/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Rod Stewart
2/5
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Boards of Canada
5/5
k.d. lang
3/5
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
I didn't really enjoy this one, but I can hear its importance in how much it influenced early 80s music.
TV On The Radio
4/5
Fred Neil
3/5
The Mars Volta
5/5
Beatles
3/5
Lenny Kravitz
2/5
OK, I get the Photocopy-of-a-photocopy-of-Prince comparisons. But hear me out...
This album is a gritless but slightly funky Lou Reed album.
Simplistic messaging about good and bad. Appallingly bad rhymes. Criticism of the conditions that cause urban washout. Feels like counter-culture but it's being narrated from the sidelines. But middle America thinks he's a prophet.
And I hate Lou Reed.
Bonus point because Let Love Rule is pretty good.
Goldie
5/5
Really good. Probably 4 stars. I gave it 5 because I am a low-IQ individual.
Pixies
5/5
The Streets
2/5
I really wanted to like this so much more than I did. This project is great because it exposes us to so much stuff that is different.
And this is definitely different.
A British rap outfit doing a concept album about a random dude who gets dumped and is sad about it. You don't get a lot of breakup songs about sad dudes. And the guy is painfully normal. There are like 5 songs where he is upset because his TV is broken.
But the vocals are bad. For every one clever rhyme pair, there are about eight that are awful. The staccato delivery ("SHAH...GING") was off-putting. Bad clichés. By the end, I was hoping he would fall in love with the TV guy.
How would these songs work in a concert? "This next song is about a character, see, and he's having a whinge about his broken telly. But it all comes together in a song later on that we probably won't play at this concert."
Anyway. I was entertained. And even impressed. But not by the music.
Santana
5/5
Soft Machine
1/5
Nico
2/5
The first two songs are great, then it devolves into a Velvet Underground album.
Tom Waits
4/5
Cocteau Twins
4/5
The Style Council
4/5
OK, minus a star for that awful rap, but this album was wild - it was like a movie soundtrack- the songs all thematically fit together, but sound like they are from nine different artists. Nope. It's all the Style Council.
I like the idea of dropping bombs on the White House.
Violent Femmes
1/5
Absolutely unreal that one album has two of my least favorite songs of all time on it: Blister in the Sun (and a little bit softer now!) and that awful incel anthem. So much crap here. I absolutely hate when bands pretend to be too cool for their own lyrics, like.in the songs here where it is counting and says some dumb shit like "I don't remember what 8 is supposed to be" - like you didn't record that line on like 20 takes of this track. God I hated this album.
Orbital
3/5
I love Orbital, but I have never really been all that into this album.
GZA
5/5
5/5
Wilco
5/5
Muddy Waters
5/5
The Strokes
5/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
Motörhead
3/5
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
4/5
Tori Amos
4/5
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Giant Sand
2/5
Miles Davis
5/5
The Pharcyde
3/5
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
Koffi Olomide
2/5
4/5
The Libertines
2/5
Sam Cooke
3/5
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Pulp
5/5
Pulp basically writes three songs.
1) Songs about sex
2) Songs about poor people
3) Songs about sex with poor people
Arctic Monkeys
5/5
Nanci Griffith
3/5
Green Day
5/5
Release the files, fatass
Grateful Dead
4/5
Thought I was going to really not enjoy this. I still don't understand the fandom, but this was a good album.
Talking Heads
5/5
4/5
The Who
2/5
I already didn't like "My Generation" at all.But then the horrible cover of I'm a Man was an unpleasant surprise.
Throwing Muses
4/5
The Byrds
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
About halfway through this album, I started thinking it sounded like I was listening to someone who was losing his edge - who was sliding from "musical genius" to "running out of ideas." Then track 4 hits us with this lyric...
I've just got nothing left to say
I'm in no place to get it right
And I'm not dangerous now
The way I used to be once
I'm just too old for it now
At least that seems to be true
Well, it was a good run while it lasted.
3/5
Much better in the moments when they weren't trying to be the Beatles
PJ Harvey
3/5
William Orbit
4/5
Dolly Parton
3/5
Sonic Youth
4/5
Joan Baez
3/5
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
Wow, this list doesn't know how to handle American country music. It feels like you are asking someone who doesn't like the genre from 1995 to list their favorites. Bonnie Raitt. KD Lang. Dwight Yoakam. And NOTHING from the past 30 years, when country music has exploded in the States. This album felt incredibly '90s, like Raitt was being hirednto write theme songs for feel-good family sitcoms. My favorite tracks were the ones that didn't.
Pentangle
2/5
Björk
3/5
Bill Callahan
3/5
Steve Earle
2/5
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
It would be revealing if you could go through this list in chronological order. This album is really good. For me, the most impressive part is how it (mostly) avoids all of the issues that made its contemporary albums in the late 80s, early 90s SO BAD.
Skunk Anansie
5/5
The KLF
4/5
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
TV On The Radio
4/5
PJ Harvey
4/5
Nirvana
5/5
Endless, Nameless is not my style. Hated it. But... this album is pretty flawless otherwise.
Burning Spear
3/5
KISS
1/5
Really didn't enjoy this. This felt like Rock N Roll as it would be depicted on stage by some local band in Saved By The Bell or somesuch.
The Hives
2/5
Ute Lemper
2/5
The final two songs lean into an eerie and more ...authentic? ... vibe. Kept this from being a 1 star from me.
Def Leppard
2/5
The Charlatans
2/5
The The
3/5
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
Based on the reviews on this site, I know this album isn't everyone's cup of tea, because it isn't some white guy from the 60's pretending that he has the blues, but this album is an absolute classic. One of the best of its genre, which absolutely earns it its place on this list.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Gene Clark
2/5
The Black Crowes
5/5
The Associates
2/5
The Pretty Things
1/5
If you like the Beatles, you won't like this album. If you don't like the Beatles, you really won't like this album
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Cohen is not really my thing, but good songwriting and an extra point for being a little weird.
Queen
4/5
The Boo Radleys
2/5
Herbie Hancock
4/5
Solange
5/5
Yeah, yeah, we all know the whole "Thank You, Beyonce" phenomenon so I sort of cannot blame Dimery for including this album on this list. Nobody deserves to die over music. He's just watching out for himself, and his name is out there.
But my account here is anonymous and I have nothing to fear.
It is an embarrassment that this nepo-inside-job made it on to the list and no Bill Withers. No Tame Impala. No INXS. No Shania Twain. I smell a rat. And this album is not good. One star, easily. Vapid lyrics. Washy sound. Momentum-killing interludes. No thank you, Beyoncé. YOU HEAR ME? ONE STAR I don't care who hears about... oh hold up. Someone is at my door. Let me just get this and I'll be right back...
Joe Ely
3/5
Eric Clapton
1/5
Here's the review I *thought* I was going to write when I got to Kid Rock.
Music sort of sucks. For someone who hates Black people, he sure enjoys stealing their music.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Beatles
5/5
I think in a lot of ways, the Beatles get by on this site on account of ... being the Beatles. I saw that this album had recently climbed to the #1 best-reviewed album on this entire project and was sort of bummed out. It felt so... predictable. And I wasn't blown away by some of their other albums like I had expected to be.
Nope. This is just a fantastic album. One of the best side effects of this project is the number of times I've listened to a "classic" album straight through for the first time and thought, "so THAT is what all the fuss is about"
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
September 15, 2025: The Trump administration has changed the name of the hit song on this album to "Voluntarily Hugging the Nifty Post." The band must now be referred to as the All Man Band. Thank you for attending to this matter.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
David Bowie
4/5
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
George Michael
3/5
The Killers
5/5
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
B.B. King
4/5
Brian Wilson
1/5
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
1/5
Alice Cooper
3/5
Raekwon
3/5
Scissor Sisters
5/5
American Music Club
2/5
Teenage Fanclub
2/5
Tricky
5/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Korn
2/5
Arcade Fire
5/5
Tim Buckley
2/5
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
Mj Cole
4/5
This is not a 5-star album. Probably not even 4. A strong 3. But this gets an extra star from me for all of the unmerited hate that electronic music gets in these ratings.
Dexys Midnight Runners
5/5
Kraftwerk
5/5
Marty Robbins
5/5
THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT
I joined this project for exactly this type of album. The music and singing are good here, but an album with narrative songs about wild west banditos who get shot to death or who find Jesus because they saw a herd of cattle get blown up by lightning? Hell yes.
The xx
4/5
Cheap Trick
2/5
Kanye West
3/5
Not bad overall, but a full star deduction for being a Nazi and hanging with pedophiles.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
5/5
What a fantastic surprise.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Fiona Apple
3/5
The Yardbirds
3/5
The Smiths
4/5
Primal Scream
5/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Randy Newman
1/5
"You got a FREEEEND in ME!
And I got a FREEEEND in YOU!
Unless you a redneck. Or a sharp-tongued Jew.
I gor a FREEEND in YOU!"
"Randy..."
Moby Grape
1/5
Jerry Lee Lewis
1/5
I hated listening to this. Yeah, yeah, it's important, and I don't begrudge its being on this list. And I don't always have a problem respecting the art when I cannot respect the artist. I gave 5 stars to a Kanye album. But somewhere between "Humpin' at the Middle School Hop" and "Goodness Gracious, Girls Lick My Balls," I just couldn't...
Sufjan Stevens
1/5
22 tracks. I gave it one star for every song that didn't have any obnoxiously overwrought title.
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
Funkadelic
4/5
Ghostface Killah
4/5
The Cardigans
4/5
The Divine Comedy
1/5
Hüsker Dü
2/5
Django Django
4/5
Sepultura
3/5
Portishead
5/5
Common
3/5
Everything But The Girl
4/5
Norah Jones
3/5
Of all the 3-star ratings I have ever given, this one is by far the three-est.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Randy Newman
2/5
Marvin Gaye
2/5
New York Dolls
3/5
DJ Shadow
5/5
Weather Report
2/5
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
I wasn't sure what to make of this, so I just asked the guy on the album cover how.many stars I should give it.
Steely Dan
5/5
David Bowie
4/5
I get why this was included on this list - it looked for a moment like this was going to be Bowie's swansong, and it's important to remember that this came from out of nowhere after a decade-long disappearance, and it was a definite improvement over his torpid albums of the early 2000s.
I also get the resentment of its inclusion. It is the least significant of Bowie's NINE albums on this list. Even in his own catalog, Scary Monsters and Super Creeps and Let's Dance have a better claim. The former was a stellar album, the latter was one of the best pop albums of the 80s. The lead single, Where Are We Now, is sluggish and reminiscent of his least interesting early 2000s work. And Blackstar is so much better at being an act of closure on an amazing career.
But upon listening to it again here, so many of the songs are just really good. A few are excellent. Pretty incredible that we debate whether or not Bowie's eleventh-best (maybe twelfth-best?) album should be on the list.
Pink Floyd
5/5
The Sonics
3/5
Joy Division
4/5
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
Barry Adamson
5/5
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Roxy Music
4/5
An odd choice for Roxy Music. Their first 2 albums definitely belong here, but I think both Stranded and Siren have a stronger case. On this one, Ferry settles into that sort of crooner mode that served him well, but became his entire persona for a while. Some of the lyrics here are really bad.
But still, it's Roxy Music. Four stars.
The Prodigy
4/5
Talking Heads
5/5
Billy Bragg
4/5
I hate Walt Whitman.
Everyone is supposed to just love the guy because he was so BOLD and had such CHARISMA, and HE SHOULD BE ON THE TEN-DOLLAR BILL, but no, I think he's pretentious and egotistical and I would never want to hang out with him in real life, so why would I want to wast emy time reading his poetry?
And he killed poetry.
Everyone lining up to be the next free-verse, lyric-obsessed, bombastically introverted American voice, that it drowned out everything else. If you didn't like his form of self-ingulgent, ticker-tape crap, then clearly you were some sort of philistine. Poetry isn't for THE PEOPLE. It's for ME. Jesus Christ. Imagine if cinema veered hard in this direction, and the only thing at the cineplex 10 were ten different movies about directors making movies. Forget narratives. Forget variety. Just give me more of that Woody Allen look-at-me bullshit.
GOD I HATE WALT WHITMAN.
People throwing out "I contain multitudes" or "Barbaric Yawp" - he gets a barbaric NOWPE from me. Self-indulgent tripe.
Beck
4/5
Bob Dylan
3/5
The Pogues
4/5
Miles Davis
4/5
The Stranglers
4/5
Scritti Politti
1/5
Sounds like an advertisement for Service Merchandise.
Richard Hawley
2/5
The Undertones
3/5
Man, groups in the 70s just loved to sing about having sex with high school girls.
Hot Chip
3/5
The Doors
4/5
T. Rex
3/5
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Robbie Williams
2/5
For people who weren't there, "Angels" hit a level of drunken pub shout-alongs later demolished by Mr. Brightside, but this song was huge.
Sex Pistols
4/5
Fugazi
3/5
The Youngbloods
4/5
Wild Beasts
1/5