Listening to older metal and rap albums that caused such panic in middle- and upper-class white suburban America back in the day always makes me laugh. So much of it sounds so quaint and even silly today. There’s so much cheesiness here; but you have to respect its place in history and what it inspired later.

Good beats, good production. I liked the whole album, but no single track jumped out at me.

Haven’t listened to this whole album in years and I forgot about some of the deep cuts. This thing still bangs. Some of the lyrics are dated, but otherwise from start to finish this album is great. It starts with the crushing Led Zeppelin drum sample and doesn’t let up. It was so much fun to revisit a favorite from when I was young.

This is a masterpiece. Great memories of day drinking in a bar on the Lower East Side 20-some years ago and playing this whole album on the jukebox.

I’m a little more than a quarter of the way through this list and this is by far the most generic, dull and bland music I’ve heard. There have been albums I’ve disliked but are important to their genre, or represent an era and just haven’t aged well, or were cultural phenomena, or by iconic artists - this is none of that. This music is so lacking in anything its boringness is overwhelming.

Obviously I know so many Elton John songs but never listened to a full album. Unreal how many hits are on this one. Only songs I didn’t love were Grey Seal and Jamaica Jerk-off. Rest of the album is great.

I coincidentally finished the Bandsplain podcast on Tracy Chapman a few days ago so I was well-prepared to listen to this album. the first three songs are great. It’s not a style of album I’d listen to often, but there’s no denying Tracy Chapman’s talent.

Not feeling this one. The Comfortably Numb cover is awful. On the other hand, Filthy/Gorgeous and Return to Oz are good. It’s tough for me to judge this objectively because I don’t like “pop band” music at all.

It’s obvious why “Tennessee” is a classic. But other than that I didn’t dig this. There are some other good moments but most of the lyrics are too on-the-nose for me. I appreciate that it was probably a response to the tone and imagery of popular hip-hop of its era, but it doesn’t do much for me today.

Haven’t listened to this whole album in years and I forgot about some of the deep cuts. This thing still bangs. Some of the lyrics are dated, but otherwise from start to finish this album is great. It starts with the crushing Led Zeppelin drum sample and doesn’t let up. It was so much fun to revisit a favorite from when I was young.

Hard to rate this album because it’s really good, but compared to other Radiohead it’s average. I don’t listen to it much, and it’s probably my 6th-favorite album by them. The album feels very much like a product of its post-Iraq invasion time, and that specificity means it doesn’t hit me as hard now that we are out of that specific moment in time. Having said all that, it’s still a great listen. You’d take a less-than-perfect Michael Jordan over most basketball players at full strength.

A great album for driving down the 1 along the Pacific coast. I’m not even a huge RHCP fan and I had fun listening to this all the way through. The band is at its best when Frusciante is on guitar. Not as interesting as their earlier funk/punk stuff, but it’s still the Chili Peppers doing their thing.

Temporarily staying down the street from the mural on the cover. I lived in the area (where he also lived) when he died, and being back again and having this album come up is bringing back a lot of memories. These songs are so good. He wrote such great melodies. The lyrics aren’t the happiest, and there are some very mellow songs, but there are also some bouncing upbeat music that gives the subject matter some much-needed energy and brightness and prevents it from being overbearingly sad.

Lola and You Really Got Me are so over-played there’s no way to critique them: they just are. At some point I heard other Kinks songs and discovered what a great band they are. This album isn’t as good as Village Green…, but it has great songs and is very English to boot. I love how funny and playful they can be, without being silly. They do a great job of writing about small little details and opening them up to be about something bigger.

The first album generated that I had never heard any song from before. I like the punk-y songs. I loved the opening song. The closer is really good, if a little long. I don’t love the baroque pop aspect like I do the faster punk stuff. I bet this is an album that would grow on me the more I listened.

I find this music to be pretty generic and sterile. This is supposed to be soaring, epic, dramatic music but I was just bored by it all. I had only heard a couple of the singles before, and otherwise don’t know a lot about Muse. I’m sure everyone makes Coldplay and Radiohead references- they definitely sound like a boring Radiohead. Maybe a deeper dive into the band would show those comparisons to be unfair, but I’m not interested in listening to any more.

So good. I wish we could rate using half stars because this is a 4.5. It’s definitely better than a 4 so I gotta give it a 5.

I want to like this a lot more than I did. The production and musicianship are wonderful. There are some really great songs. But overall, it just didn’t grab me. The music is gorgeous but it all felt the same to me, which ultimately dulled everything. It was all a little too sweet.

I’m pretty sure “Cattle and Cane” is the only song from the Go-Betweens I had heard before, so I came to this album not knowing what to expect. It was a really nice album to stumble on- exactly the thing that makes this 1001 album project worthwhile. I like the clean production. That, plus many of the lyrics, reminds me of Rumors, though that album hits a lot harder. Based on “Cattle and Cane,” I’m guessing their earlier albums are little more post-punk new wave type stuff. I think I’d prefer that, and this album was a great surprise that will definitely make me look into their older stuff as well.

I listened to this album twice today. The first time it was on in the background as I did stuff around the house. None of it really registered or caught my ear. The second time I listened closely. I had only heard “My Sweet Lord” and “All Things Must Pass” before. There’s a lot of great stuff on the album, and also things I think could be great. I realized I just don’t like Phil Spector producing the Beatles. The bombast and cacophony of his wall of sound that works so well in most cases, here obscures a lot of Harrison’s creativity. The same thing is what prevents me from really loving Let It Be. The Beatles (and here, Harrison) have always been so unique, but when Spector produces them it sounds like they’re singing on a Phil Spector song, as opposed to Spector maximizing the genius of their own points of view. I’d give this a 3.5, but since half-stars arent allowed i have to round down instead of up for some of the excess and my own dislike of the Harrison/Phil Spector combination.

It’s fine. The title track riff is great, the drum solo is fucking terrible and the organ noodling is annoying. The other songs are fine.

I love this album. I loved it the first time I heard it and it has held up on countless listens. I was really into the early Blur albums before I listened to Village Green, so I immediately connected to the similar observations on provincial English life. One of my favorites.

It’s funny that this music was at one point considered hard and “dangerous.” It almost seems quaint today; a cross between rock and pop. I’ve never been into straightforward rock of the late 70s thru 80s. The bass is usually mixed so it sounds thin, and high cymbals replace low bass drums. When I’m in the mood for hard rock, I prefer heavy rhythm sections and sludgy guitar riffs. Having said all that, it’s Van Halen. The guitar is killer. I know I’ve never listened to this album before but I still knew almost every single song, even the guitar instrumental. It’s a really fun album. It’s an undeniable classic of the genre, It’s just not my favorite genre. I’ll split the difference with my rating.

Very similar to Father John Misty. Lush music and vocals, poignant but also funny lyrics.

Chill music. Great for having on while relaxing or cooking dinner. The only other Brazilian artists I know are Seu Jorge and Os Mutantes; this is much calmer than those other two.

Incredible album. Loved it as a kid and love it even more now. So much of the early 90s alternative rock has the same compressed sound which makes it sound very 90s. The Smashing Pumpkins made denser, fuller-sounding music, and I never realized how different they were from their peers until I started listening to them again in the past few years. They don’t sound like a dated 90s band- this album holds up really well. And “Mayonaise” is my favorite Pumpkins song.

Beetlebum is great. I've always hated Song 2 -- even if it's supposed to be ironic, I can't listen to it. Because of that, I haven't listened to this album as much as their first three. It’s a departure from the early albums, but doesn’t sound totally different. I really liked it and probably should have given it more time back in the day.

This is really good. I can only compare it to Bollywood music, and I know it’s a little different, but I need something to orient myself to as I listened to this. I’m pretty sure when I saw AR Rahman in concert he performed some Sufi songs, probably some of these. That’s all I can say about it besides saying I liked it. Energetic, always driving forward. As long as music has a momentum, I can get behind it.

The hardest part about rating albums is when an album is undeniably well-made, but for whatever reason doesn’t resonate with me. Often when i don’t like music that I can still recognize as good, I’ll go back to it periodically and eventually something clicks for me. Here, I only have one day to listen and rate it. The music reminds me of XX, the vocals are very different. I don’t love the high-pitched vocal parts, but I do think without them this album would be too bland; the vocals at least add a different element to it. I can see how polarizing the high-pitched part is to listeners, and I can’t figure out if I like it or absolutely hate it.

Not quite a 4, but better than the other 3s I’ve rated. There isn’t one moment that jumped out at me but I liked every song. I’ll have to listen to it some more.

Incredible album. Having it come up in the list so close to an Elliott Smith album heightens their obvious similarities but also reveals some pretty major differences. Smith usually sounds so plaintive and desperate; Drake sounds so much more comfortable and settled, and this is somehow even more sad. A perfect twenty-eight minutes.

Amazing.

I guess I just don’t like Cream. I don’t really like psychedelic rock. I could hear Beatles and Kinks sounds here, and I like those bands, so I’m not sure what it is about Cream I can’t latch onto. “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Tales of Brave Ulysses” had good grooves, but for a blues-inspired album, the rest of it felt thin. Any Hendrix album kicks the shit out of this. I expected so much more from such an acclaimed album.

Good beats, good production. I liked the whole album, but no single track jumped out at me.

An incredible technically proficient guitar player who plays the blues and somehow manages to take out all the emotion, edge and rawness. It’s all bland and so flat. I don’t understand how someone so talented can make such boring music.

This is one of those albums that’s hard to rate because the songs are so popular and have always been so since before I was born. They’ve always been such a presence in popular culture that I have no way of critiquing them. Are they great, overplayed, correctly judged, the best rep of the genre, average, what? I can’t answer that. They just “are,” and are overwhelmingly present. What I do know: When the Levee Breaks is fucking awesome. Also, this was “classic rock” when I was a kid, a genre I like but don’t love. I recently had 2 Clapton albums generated for me and hearing Zeppelin made me more confident in my assessment that for straightforward 60s/70s guitar rock, Clapton is boring. I think I like other Zeppelin albums better, and I honestly don’t like Stairway, but the album just keeps driving forward as you listen. Four stars.

I liked this more than I thought I would. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime) sounds pretty modern, like it could have been made by any of today’s synth bands. Big Sleep and New Gold Dream were also really good. I didn’t think it sounded as dated as a lot of the reviews I’ve seen on this site make it out to be. Bands like Future Islands are making synth-pop records today, so to my ear the sound isn’t stuck in the 80s.

At one point in my life this was my favorite album. I never listen to it anymore. I don't need to -- I've heard it so many times before, and I've moved on, music has moved on. Still, I enjoyed listening to it again. Forget "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova"; as I've commented about other cultural phenomenon songs, they are omnipresent and impossible to have any perspective on. "Hello," "Roll With It," "She's Electric," "Some Might Say," and "Cast No Shadow" are all really good songs. The whole album is incredibly well-produced.

I just had a Simple Minds album this week, so there’s no way to not compare the synth sounds here. “This Must be the Place…” sounds like it could be an MGMT song. Another reviewer said a couple songs reminded them of Destroyer, and I definitely heard that. I didn’t dislike any of the songs, but I didn’t really dig it generally. Probably a little below 3 stars, but better than 2.

The “sheltered religious brothers and cousins who finally hear a rock album and form a band” narrative when this came out was an overly-referenced and cynical marketing ploy. But that doesn’t take away from what a great album this is. The next one is pretty good, too, but it’s a bummer that everything after is terrible. The “southern Strokes” or “punk-y Credence” labels were easy shorthand to describe them; at the time this was a really exciting and cool sound. There’s a jaggedness and also a jangle to these songs that are great, and that is missing on the blandly pleasing “arena rock anthem” albums they’d eventually make. I never think to play this album anymore. I’m glad this website led me back to it. 4.5

I've always liked Neil Young's acoustic songs, but the ones where he shreds are my favorites. I love that you get both on this album. I've had a few Clapton albums come up on my list recently, and I've always thought he plays so perfectly it's boring. When Neil Young plays guitar, it may be slightly sloppier, but it's so much more powerful IMO. I love the fuzzy sludge of his guitar tones in the second half of the album. I listened to this album twice today I liked it so much.

This must have seemed pretty cutting edge when it came out, but I can’t get past McLaren’s cynical way of producing music. I think the prudent thing to do would be to learn more about the original music he took inspiration from, and go listen to that.

This is awesome. I don’t know a lot about jazz, world music or the Nigerian politics that went into this album, but that didn’t affect my listening experience. This just rules.

It’s easy to see why Fleetwood Mac has had a resurgence and become popular with younger people. I had never heard this whole album before, but it’s so good.

Not bad. It great. I don’t like psychedelic rock but the harmonies were nice. There were a few really nice moments.

I thought honky tonk shuffle had some movement to it, some energy. This just sits there like a glob of oatmeal. The tempo of the music remains the same throughout, Ray’s singing never changes in inflection or volume, the melodies and themes are of the songs are indistinguishable. It’s the musical equivalent of watching a luggage carousel slowly trudge around and around and around in an empty airport for 37 minutes and 8 seconds.

I like Nico’s contribution to the Velvet Underground album, but I don’t think there’s enough here for a full solo album. I like the mood this evokes, but not all at once.

This one comes out of the gate HOT and maybe dips slightly right after but man this thing is great start to finish.

An all-time favorite album of mine.

She’s an amazing artist who I wish did more. This is just perfect.

I just don’t like Springsteen. I respect him and his music, but I don’t like it.

I don’t think I ever heard this album before. I loved a lot of the songs. It wasn’t full of catchy singles, but as an album as a whole it was great.

I listened to half the album and thought “this sounds like a more jagged Nick Cave” and lo and behold.

Reading some of the reviews, it seems obvious to me that many people are rating Taylor Swift’s public persona, or her history as a pop star. I generally don’t listen to top 40 pop either, but there’s no way this album is a 1. At its worst it’s a boring album; at its best it’s comforting. It’s not even overly stylized or purposefully inaccessible to turn people off it. An album by the biggest pop star of her era deserves to be on this list.

Disco. Good disco, but still disco.

Who isn’t giving this a 5?

I didn’t like this when it first came out. I haven’t tried listening to the whole album in probably close to 20 years so I’m interested to see how I like it now… Post-listening: still not my jam.

Booooooooooring

this is a cool album. Exactly what you’d expect from a Pop/Bowie collab. Must have been really jarring for fans of the Stooges to listen to this when it came out though.

I was dreading this reading some reviews beforehand, but this is great. I had a Cornershop album come up yesterday, and I was thinking how even if I liked it, there’s absolutely no reason it should be on this list. But here we have an album with much more specific sounds, and while it may turn some people off, it’s the kind of album this project was designed for. Like other jazz or jazz-adjacent albums, my limited knowledge makes it hard to compare or even totally understand this album. But I really liked it a lot.

I probably know funk as a genre without ever really paying attention to individual albums or groups. Aside from knowing who George Clinton was, I probably couldn’t have named a song by him. This is such a good album, and I’m happy this project got me listening to it.

I really like this phase of Tom Waits’ music. I think I like the next couple of albums better- Rain Dogs and Franks Wild Years (always trips me out that the song with that name isn’t on the album) - but it’s still interesting to see him take the first steps in that direction.

Before listening… I am confident when I say this is the worst cover of any album on this list. Absolutely no way I ever come across a worse one. What the hell. I really dont like the industrial-techno 90s vibe. Didn’t like it back then and it hasn’t aged well. I also don’t like 60s psychedelia, and the 90s version ain’t much better.

Not an album I will re-listen to in all likelihood, but still good.

About once a year I binge Steely Dan hoping to finally get them. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t actively hate this music, but I recognize it’s not my jam. The “perfectionist” narrative around them seems so overblown to me. There’s nothing objectively perfect about music, so basically Steely Dan can just say it’s perfect whenever they choose to stop. In reality it seems to me to be an excuse to be insufferable pricks during recording. And if the two of them weren’t such assholes, I don’t think there’d be as much mystique around this band.

Can’t stand Rush.

I like Ray Charles, i don’t like big band arrangements. They’re too coordinated. I prefer music to be more loose, especially jazz sounds.

I never got into hair metal when it came out but I admit this is a fun album.

This is an album that has grown on me over the years. I really disliked it the first time I heard it, and now I really like it.

I think I’m missing out on a lot of this album by not having an understanding of the Jamaican politics of the time. It’s still a great listen. For the longest time all I knew about reggae was Bob Marley, and the context i always associate him with is blaring from the porch at a college bro party. Since then I’ve been turned on to the Maytals and Junior Murvin, who I love. This is the first Burning Spear album I’ve listened to, it’s certainly not the last. Reggae is a genre I’m looking forward to

I like the sound tones and lo-fi production, i just wish the songs were more fleshed out. The first solo Beatle album is probably something worth listening to, but it’s not a great album.

This type of music did not age well. It sounds stuck in the late 90s. It also seems very generic to me, which might be a product of it being played in arenas at sporting events.

My very first concert was R.E.M., with a one-hit wonder opening for them. Or so me and my friend thought. We were walking through the hall of the arena and hearing this soaring voice. “What is this. It’s incredible. This is the ‘Creep’ band?” We hurried out into the main arena to our seats and watched Radiohead perform an incredible set. We were hooked, and I’ve been hooked since.

Holiday in Cambodia, and California Uber Alles were the first two Dead Kennedys songs I heard, and they made me seek this album out. It has great energy throughout. I even like the Viva Las Vegas cover, despite cover songs that completely subvert the genre generally seeming like gimmicks to me. Just a great 80s punk album with sneering sarcastic lyrics and fast music.

I’m so conflicted about Ian Dury. There are songs I love by him, and songs I hate by him. Half the reviews of this album talk about what a great songwriter he is, and the other half talk about what a pile of shit these songs are. And everyone’s correct.

Every single one of these songs is pretty well-known and played on the radio. This is straightforward rock that Zeppelin does well. Listening to this in 2023, it doesn’t sound “interesting” but it’s good rock n’ roll.

Punk you can dance to. A favorite of mine. “Damaged Goods” is a standout.

One of my all-time favorite albums by one of my all-time favorite bands. The impact this has had on the shaping and rise of alternative/indie/college rock can’t be ignored. There’s jangle along with some punk sensibilities, so it doesn’t come across as being toothless. I’ve heard Radio Free Europe countless times, and it still sounds fresh to my ears.

Again, it’s hard to rate music from traditions one is unfamiliar with. I like the mix of Brazilian beats and 60s western sounds.

I have only heard his earlier bebop albums. I didn’t think jazz fusion was something I would like at all, but I did. I liked how with only two tracks, he played around a central idea, wandered off, came back and then explored some more.

Good songs but not as good as the Smiths. A whole album of Morrissey at one time is a bit much for anyone older than 17 though.

I remember liking this when I first heard it years ago. I don’t think it’s just because of what we know about Ryan Adams now, but I didn’t like this as much as I recalled. A couple great songs but a lot of boring stretches.

Solid album. It obviously takes on a different meaning having been released so close to his death. Actually, this album seems so geared towards that idea it almost comes across as exploitative. But the songs are so good.

I never would have listened to a Dexys album if not for this project. I’d only ever heard Come on Eileen before. I liked the energy of some of the songs, but I couldn’t get into this album as a whole.

I never got into Kanye. I liked this album but it didn’t hit like a supposed all-timer should. Maybe it’s too introspective and I don’t care about him that much.

Love it. Great guitar riffs, great drumming. The energy is always driving the songs forward.

More interesting than a lot of 80s pop.

So much funk. Such a fun album from start to finish. Growing up we listened to mostly east coast rap, and when this album came out it was like nothing we had heard before.

I was ready to give this a 2 star review after the first few songs, but then I had this playing while doing chores around the house and it was nice. I’ll probably never listen again, but it grew on me. It was good hearing Back to Life again- it must be 20 years since I’ve heard that song.

Still don’t like the big band arrangements here, but Ray’s singing and piano are more powerful than The Genius… album. I didn’t like that one but this is great.

This is absolutely more deserving of the 4 stars I am giving it. It’s just not an album I’m going to listen to play often, if at all again. But objectively, she is a genius.

Embarrassed to say this might be the first full Prince album I’ve heard. Great sounds. He rules.

Great beats.

Great debut and there’s even better coming.

I’ve heard this a million times and it’s still just as exciting and fun as the first. Shane’s a legend and the band are perfect. RIP Kirsty, Phil and Darryl.

Eh, it’s fine.

Might be my favorite album of his. Such a great ear for melody.

The brilliance is in the simple production that lets all the various rapping styles and flows drive the songs forward and give them energy. It’s great.

Generally considered the best Talking Heads album… I think this is a way more interesting album by a Western musician incorporating Afro beats than Paul Simon’s “Graceland.” I still like the more punk-y “77” and “More Songs…” albums by TH just because I like late 70s punk more than world music. This is still a great album though.

Very good garage/blues rock.

Blandly pleasant.

There’s something missing from this album. The feedback of Psychocandy made their sound more interesting, this album is a little too predictable. Not enough variation between the songs, not abrasive enough like their first album or lush enough like dream pop.

Much different than “Constant Craving.” I was ready to hate it when it first started but I got more into it. Not my normal jam, and I’d need the right place and mood to want to listen again, but I did finally end up enjoying a lot of it.

Obviously don’t know most of the lyrics but the guy has good flow. His voice and the music are a little too soft and clean though. Has the same Euro dance beat that the Soul II Soul album on this list has. I wish it hit harder.

The overwhelming use of studio tricks and sounds makes a lot of the first half of the album sound the same. it really kicks off in the second half though. This would be much more my style if the music was a little less pop-y — maybe more weird Beatles and less Bee Gees. It’s sort of like if the Flaming Lips made a straightforward album in the 70s.

His voice is good, production is good, but the sum is missing something.

The fiviest five that ever fived.

Great album. First half especially rips.

Another favorite album of mine. Another one where I wish half stars could be rewarded because it’s just shy of a 5.

Much slower than I expected. Great lyrics.

Great sound. Daniel Lanois brings a lot to this album considering the less-than-great stuff that Dylan was putting out the previous 20(?) years.

Love it.

This didn’t do much for my aversion to psychedelic rock. However, I read one reviewer who mentioned Stereolab having similar sounds, and it put some of these songs into different perspective for me. Still, it’s just a 2 for me.

There are great songs with great melodies and there are just nothing songs.

Great beats and production. I love Ice Cube’s flow. The inserts were all really good and I rarely like the skits or extras on most rap albums. The songs that are responses to Rodney King were the best part, and sadly are still relevant today.

Pretty good, not spectacular. I see why all the modern alt country guys dig him.

It’s fine. The facade of his celebrity does a lot more work for his reputation than these songs do. People like Big Mama Thornton, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Little Richard are so much better IMO.

Such an exciting debut. I love this album so much. Not much else to say other than that.

These songs are stylistically all over the place. Some are okay, but as a whole it’s underwhelming. And I really dislike the soft jazz elements.

I don’t think I’m a big Prince fan. I liked Sign O the Times a lot, this was just okay.

I know a lot of Smiths songs without knowing which albums they’re on. There are a lot of other songs I like a lot more, curious to find out if they’re on an album(s) that shows up later on my list. Johnny Marr really is great. The band is a lot better than Morrissey solo stuff.

This is a masterpiece. Great memories of day drinking in a bar on the Lower East Side 20-some years ago and playing this whole album on the jukebox.

First album i couldn’t listen all the way through. if this is a genre someone likes, that’s fine, but there’s absolutely no reason this belongs on a general “must listen to” list. If I’m being generous, maybe I can hear some ideas that the XX use today, but i didn’t like this at all.

Nice album to chill out with on the back patio and drink a beer.

Nothing remarkable about any of this. Sounds like a bad attempt to combine Hot Chip and Grizzly Bear. Didnt like it.

No.

The cover of “All Tomorrow’s Parties”is awful. It almost dropped this to 1 star, but the fact that this came out in 1979 instead of the early 80s, meaning it was a trailblazer and ahead of its time, saves a 2 for it. I wish more songs had been like “Other Side of Life”, which is more moody and less generic synth pop.

Sometimes I wonder if the Beatles are actually that good, or if their reputation makes them unassailable. Then I hear a band that sounds like them, who while decent, don’t come close to the Beatles. This is one of those bands. Pretty good songs, I really liked the drumming. But it didn’t rise above “pretty good.”

Listening to the singles on this album brought back vivid memories of the videos, and sitting around all day in summer with friends watching MTV. What a time. 3.5 stars bumped to a 4 because of the memories.

Listened to the first half during the day doing errands and didn’t get it. Listened to the second half at night just sitting around and loved it.

I never listened to this album before. It has the same issues that his cover of “American Woman” has: namely, it’s pretty bland and empty.

Sounds like an insane Syd Barret album, which is saying something. Not sure I’ll listen to this again but glad i have one time.

Not my usual preference but whatever it’s good.

I don’t feel a difference between this and jazz. Instrumental music that meanders around central themes and ideas. Very good.

Before streaming, my friends and I would burn CD playlists of random lesser know musicians we liked. That’s where I first heard the Modern Lovers, and I’ve loved this album ever since.

This is probably better if you’re already a big Metallica fan. It’s not as interesting a take on the songs as I hoped. The songs all sounded too similar, like music for end credits of a Transformers movie (not a compliment). At the same time a lot of them sounded so much more restrained than the normal album cuts. I’ve heard and even seen live other bands do something similar with the LA Philharmonic that I enjoyed a lot more than this.

I can enjoy non-traditional types of music. I like a lot of abrasive punk, noisy kraut-rock or glitchy electronic music that gets low ratings on this site. But this is terrible masturbatory noodling.

Some of these songs sound like they were written as jokes. I dont think they were supposed to be intentionally funny, unless KISS thinks of their fans as the butts of the joke. Detroit Rock City saved it from being a 1.

Really good album. Could hear some influence on Bloc Party in it. 80s post punk and the early 2000s resurgence in the sound are some of my favorite things to listen to.

Easy 5. Era-defining album.

It was hard to rate the other Wyatt album, and this one is tough as well. I don’t know how often I’ll play this, but I think it’s really good. As I said on another review: this is the kind of stuff that makes this project worth doing, not incredibly “normal” artists like Dexy’s Midnight Runners.

This and Blonde on Blonde are the two Dylan albums I heard first. I think they’re also his best.

Couple of songs were great. I did like it. Probably a 3.5, not a 4 so here it gets 3.

This is great.

I was not expecting a Christina album to show up here. I’m not a big pop fan but her voice is excellent. I like that it leans into r&b.

Wanted to like this more.

Before this, I had never consciously been aware of listening to any ZZ Top song. This is the epitome of generic rock music. It sounds like AI created content.

This is so era-specific. Not a band I ever think to play; but these songs bring back memories.

There’s a warmth here that was missing from some of the other albums.

“Freak Scene” is one of my all-time favorite songs. I love J’s guitar playing.

Two Deep Purple albums close together. Didn’t love either, didn’t hate them.

I always thought Femme Fatale was an odd song for REM to cover, but now I see they basically did the Big Star cover of it. Makes sense. I had never heard this album before, so I thought of Big Star as a power pop band. I liked the more minimalist songs. Holocaust floored me with how sad it was.

I loved this album when I was in college. Haven’t listened a lot recently but I enjoyed it.

I was ready to dislike this. I wasn’t a huge fan of Cult of Personality when it came out, and a lot of late 80s/early 90s rock has production that makes the music sound extremely dated to me; I lived through it, I don’t need it again. But… I liked this. There was great energy and momentum throughout.

We think of the 90s as grunge era, but grunge was only a small part of what was a wild musical style decade. It killed hair metal (yay!) but was itself usurped by nu-metal in just a few short (boo!). Even though grunge, Nirvana, and Cobain himself were short-lived, the excitement and musical shift this album helped usher in was incredible. The raw noise and loose sloppiness of this album can’t hide the pop sensibilities and incredible ear for melody these guys had.

I think the Folsom album has more energy to it.

This has the impossible job of being compared to Astral Weeks. That album is perfect; this one is slightly less so.

I had this album as a kid- I remembered the songs and the cover art, but I didn’t remember the name of the album itself. Weird. Offspring aren’t a band I ever listen to anymore. I don’t really like their branch of punk. Tried listening with fresh ears and an open mind but I still don’t like.

I think this is only the 2nd performer/band I had never heard of before, and to my surprise it’s an album made when I was actively seeking and consuming new music. My only frame of reference for this is Massive Attack- it’s not as moody or trippy as they are - and Fatboy Slim, and this is more groovy than that is. It’s not really my thing.

I always thought Amy Winehouse was vastly superior. Nothing has changed my mind. This is very safe and bland- no bite or edge to it. Just sort of generically well done.

My rule for electronic music is: was it pleasant enough to have on in the background? Yes? 3 stars. So… 2 stars.

A billion times better than Elvis.

Dance music for a Mommy and Me class. Blah.

I love a lot of Tom waits albums. I only like this one.

Arular is my favorite album by MIA but this one is very good.

I just don’t like late 70s/80s metal.

Just a nothing of an album. What a dud.

I didn’t like the Clapton solo album or the Cream album this project gave me. But three songs into this album and I’m really enjoying it. after listening to the whole thing: can’t stand the bluesy noodling songs. It’s why I don’t like Clapton’s solo stuff. I was going to give it a 3 but Layla is way too good. So 4.

So many great songs but I don’t think i like listening to the whole album in one sitting.

I went away to college and came home one break to discover a friend got into drum and bass during his first semester. We were rock and rap fans, so when I first heard musicians like Goldie and LTJ Bukem I was lost. Now all these years later these late 90s drum and bass albums make me nostalgic for that time, and I have a better understanding of the genre.

This is awesome.

One of my “5 albums on a stranded desert island” albums.

I like Elvis Costello but this one wasn’t a standout. Good album though.

This had everything I hate about music… and I didn’t hate this. Weird.

I’m a little more than a quarter of the way through this list and this is by far the most generic, dull and bland music I’ve heard. There have been albums I’ve disliked but are important to their genre, or represent an era and just haven’t aged well, or were cultural phenomena, or by iconic artists - this is none of that. This music is so lacking in anything its boringness is overwhelming.

I was all-in on the Brit Pop stuff in the 90s. I already had the two Blur albums that follow this one before I ever heard “Modern Life…” When I did finally hear it, it was at my friends house while we read West Coast Avengers comics and I immediately loved it. Years later when I finally heard the Kink’s “village green preservation society” and heard the monumental influence on Blue, I was brought back to those good old days as a kid spending my afternoons listening to CDs and reading comics after basketball practice.

A lot of these songs feel like they could have been recorded in the past couple of years.

I used to be against any music with any amount of twang in it. Then I got into old Wilco and that was my gateway to country and Americana. I’m so glad because it opened me up to Gram Parsons, and this is one of my favorite albums now.

“Hey yeah we’re perfectionists how dare you rap artists sample us we are gonna sue you. Also we stole from jazz artists note for note but have we mentioned we are perfectionists?” Dinner-cruise-ass music.

I couldn’t get into this album (aside from “Take Me Out”) back in the day, and the same holds true today. It’s catchy and fun, but you get everything you’re going to get from these songs on the first listen.

I like Elvis Costello but Jesus enough with the Elvis Costello albums already.

For the longest time I thought I hated Heart. Eventually I figured out those were actually Rush songs I had heard, so that’s when I learned I hated Rush.

A back-to-back-to-back-to-back of Dexy’s, Style Council, Rush and Genesis. Absolutely brutal run of albums generated. Maybe the one or two songs I didn’t hate on this album could bring it up to a 2, but I’m in a bad mood from a second prog rock album in a row, and a double album at that. Yuck. 1 star.

I like Bob Dylan, but at first I thought it was silly to include a bootleg (if a commercially-released one) on this list. But honestly, Dylan’s shift to electric and the animosity it generated is a huge moment in folk and rock music history, and the fact that this is the famous “Judas” concert makes it vital.

Toothless and weak.

I had no idea “I Wanna Destroy You” wasn’t originally an Uncle Tupelo song. I like a lot of the songs. I can hear REM in this, who I love. This was missing something for me though.

Love this album.

Unremarkable and forgettable. I assumed it was from around 1994, but seeing it was made in 1999 makes its inclusion here even more confusing - this would have sounded dated already when it was first released.

Hated this at first but it grew on me. Respect his unique POV and artistry even if it’s not my usual.

I’ve always thought “Bittersweet Symphony” was too long, boringly repetitive with no distinction between verse/chorus/bridge. It just plods along at one pace, and still ends up nowhere. The rest of the album is equally unremarkable.

This is so good. I’ve only listened to sporadic songs before, but am a huge fan of Albini’s production work.

Standard, every day pop music, just with actual drums and guitars. Some catchy hooks but pretty unremarkable.

History Lesson Part 2 is one of the greatest songs about friendship. These songs all have such a strong point of view. A “stranded on an island bring 5 albums” album for me.

I bet they put on the sickest live show, but I didn’t dig the album.

Very nice just not something i want to listen to a whole album of.

“Mom, can we get Oasis?” “No, sweetie, we already have Oasis at home.” Oasis at home: The Charlatans

Another reviewer said Adele is obviously talented but makes such uninteresting and uninspired music, and I have to agree. It’s a well-crafted album that doesn’t make you feel the emotions it’s trying to make you feel. No original point of view, very sterile album.

This is excellent. I had never heard anything by John Martyn before. A lot of folk - even the good stuff - can be repetitive. There was good variation here, while at the same time sounding like a cohesive album.

My only frame of reference for this is Dizzee Rascal’s Boy in Da Corner, which gets referenced here. I love that album, this isn’t quite as good.

Listening to older metal and rap albums that caused such panic in middle- and upper-class white suburban America back in the day always makes me laugh. So much of it sounds so quaint and even silly today. There’s so much cheesiness here; but you have to respect its place in history and what it inspired later.

Learned about these guys after Nirvana, so in the timeline of my memories I lump them with 90s alt rock. Then i remember they started in the 80s and it blows me away. They’re not 90s alt rock; they helped inspire 90s alt rock.

Never heard them but heard of them, and for some reason I assumed these guys were in the same vein as Pet Shop Boys. I thought the first minute of the first song was a joke. Yuck.

Might be fun to play on the porch while kids come to the house to trick-or-treat.

Another band I had heard of but never heard- I always assumed they were a late 90s alternative/industrial band that would have fit in on The Crow soundtrack. I didn’t dig this.

This is always my answer for “what one-hit wonder is actually great?” This band is incredible.

This was a nice surprise. A lot of variation in the songs.

This was great. Heard of them but never listened before. Some similarities with X, a more punk B-52’s, an obvious influence on Sleater-Kinney.

Their first album is really good, this one is fine, everything after this is awful. What an utter disappointment this band became.

Had the Beatles continued into the 70s maybe as a band they would have churned out cheesy songs, but they didn’t continue, and so all we have are the various solo projects which are almost all bad. The soft rock quality of Paul’s solo stuff is particularly annoying to me.

Reading the description and other reviews, I was prepared to hate this. But it wasn’t what I feared. Not my usual jam, but a good listen.

First, is this where Gwen Stefani got inspiration for her delivery? Second, a warning to everyone just starting out: there are THREE Dexy’s albums on this list. I’m too far into this to quit - and I’m desperately hoping there isn’t a fourth - but I think you all deserve a heads up of what’s to come.

Bob Dylan fronting the War On Drugs doing a concert of Dire Straits covers challenge.

This album is a lot more self-reflective and critical of the culture and traditions it comes from than people are giving it credit for. They’re legit southern rockers with a deep connection to the history (I think Patterson’s dad was an engineer at Mussel Shoals studio?) but they don’t ignore the shameful parts of the history.