513
Albums Rated
2.89
Average Rating
47%
Complete
576 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010s
Favorite Decade
Metal
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Critic
Rater Style ?
40
5-Star Albums
37
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Sail Away
Randy Newman
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Microshift
Hookworms
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
|
Make Yourself
Incubus
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Modern Kosmology
Jane Weaver
|
5 | 3.08 | +1.92 |
|
Trio
Dolly Parton
|
5 | 3.13 | +1.87 |
|
Phrenology
The Roots
|
5 | 3.25 | +1.75 |
|
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sinead O'Connor
|
5 | 3.25 | +1.75 |
|
System Of A Down
System Of A Down
|
5 | 3.26 | +1.74 |
|
The College Dropout
Kanye West
|
5 | 3.31 | +1.69 |
|
Be
Common
|
5 | 3.35 | +1.65 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Gershwin Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald
|
1 | 3.53 | -2.53 |
|
Astral Weeks
Van Morrison
|
1 | 3.27 | -2.27 |
|
Songs Of Love And Hate
Leonard Cohen
|
1 | 3.21 | -2.21 |
|
Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
|
1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
|
Wild Wood
Paul Weller
|
1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
|
Street Life
The Crusaders
|
1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
|
White Ladder
David Gray
|
1 | 3.07 | -2.07 |
|
Hypnotised
The Undertones
|
1 | 3.06 | -2.06 |
|
The Nightfly
Donald Fagen
|
1 | 3.01 | -2.01 |
|
Hunky Dory
David Bowie
|
2 | 4 | -2 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.25 |
| Beatles | 4 | 4.25 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Leonard Cohen | 3 | 1.67 |
| The Divine Comedy | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Verve | 2 | 1.5 |
| Sonic Youth | 4 | 2.25 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Roxy Music | 4, 1 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 2, 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2, 3, 5, 5 |
| Neil Young | 2, 2, 4, 5 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 5, 2, 3 |
5-Star Albums (40)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
SAULT
2/5
I (think) I appreciate what is trying to be said on this album, but I just can't get around how repetitive and boring the tracks are. These are clearly songs about pride and anger, but no emotion comes through. I'm guessing the positive critical acclaim had a lot to do with the social climate when the album was released (RIP George Floyd.) It feels like spoken word poetry over a bunch of synth presets, and the album feels so LONG.
So in summary: 10/10 messaging, 1/10 music.
10 likes
Small Faces
3/5
Silly at times but pretty catchy. Singer's pretty good too. Not something I'd add to the rotation, but I didn't mind it either.
5 likes
Steely Dan
5/5
Probably the best Steely Dan album I've listened to. A handful of songs they everyone knows, and the rest of the album is really nice too.
3 likes
Björk
3/5
I'm not a Bjork fan but this is the most cohesive album of hers that I've ever heard. I still can't really get past her voice or the shoehorning of lyrics into spaces where they just don't fit. But as Bjork goes...not bad.
3 likes
1-Star Albums (37)
All Ratings
Queen
3/5
Not really knowing Queen (or how their sound evolved/if it evolved,) this album sounds like a hodgepodge of classic rock, operatic/Broadway musical, and psychedelic music. Brian May's guitar sound is unmistakable but there are some songs where I wonder if it's actually Freddie Mercury singing, or someone else. This must have blown some minds when it first came out.
The Band
2/5
I have yet to find a Southern Rock album that has impressed me front to back. Maybe it's just me. Nothing on this album sticks out to me, and there's really nothing that I wish to revisit on it either.
Traffic
2/5
A bunch of English dudes that make a Southern Rock album. It's fine, just seems unauthentic/contrived.
Pixies
3/5
This might be the best Pixies album I've listened to. So many of these albums require chronological context to appreciate - it seems like this was an incredibly progressive album, and I bet it had a ton of influence on later alternative rock artists. It does seem a bit lengthy to me, and the Pixies do seem to be a bit formulaic (weird time signatures, indecipherable vocals, loose grooves with loose guitars.) Overall it's not something I'd listen to more than once, but it's fine to appreciate the musical progress.
Foo Fighters
4/5
This is an album that I've listened to frequently. To be honest, I believe these primitive Foos produced a better (musically) debut album than anything Nirvana ever did. Knowing a bit of Grohl's roots, you can hear all kinds of influences shine through, from the jazz clubs he used to visit with his mother to the DC punk scene, but with an individualistic writing style that is instantly discernible. Instead of shoehorning himself into another thrash band, Grohl was able to breathe and be himself with the Foos.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
Dark shoegaze; very droning and simple. My favorite track was the last one on the album, but there's nothing here that I'd like to revisit.
Tina Turner
2/5
You can't deny her talent or her distinction. The Amy Winehouse of the 90s. Not something that I would listen to regularly, but I get the hype.
ABBA
3/5
Bubbly disco pop. Not something I'd generally listen to, but I see why so many folks love ABBA.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Great album, absolutely crammed with story, sentiment, and great beats.
Sheryl Crow
2/5
A perfectly cromulent 90s alternative album. Nothing to listen to again.
Norah Jones
2/5
Something feels so inherently LAZY about easy listening music to me. Norah Jones has a cool vibe to her voice but I can't imagine this music being used as anything more than a Hallmark movie background track.
And don't get me wrong; this is a well-assembled album. The instrumentation is appropriate, the vocals are flawless, and the songs do not seem overly similar or repetitive. The problem is that I don't feel anything (well, maybe a bit bored.) This is music that we're told is good. Music for people that don't like music.
So to summarize: fantastic singer, mind-boggling popularity.
Kanye West
5/5
Grounded Kanye was a thing of beauty. This album was the culmination of at least 6 years of work as a producer and it shows. Every track is inspired and unique, well written, clever, and produced to perfection. Kanye's like seemed to take a dark turn somewhere between Graduation and 808s, it's sad really. I truly do miss the old Kanye.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Part of me believes that Sonic Youth was just taking the piss on this album because of how accessible it seems. That being said, it's far and away the best Sonic Youth album that I've ever listened to
Faith No More
3/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
This seems to be the most Stevie Wonder album I've ever listened to by Stevie Wonder. Wide ranging topics, from relationships to social justice, and a full range of musical talent on display. It's different from front to back and never gets boring.
Patti Smith
2/5
I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if it wasn't set to music. I like the punk aesthetic and the poetic quality of the vocals, but the repetitive backing band was tedious.
Pink Floyd
5/5
An epic album that feels like the realization of an idea from front to back. One of the 1001 albums on this list that truly deserves to be on it.
Bob Dylan
3/5
It's Bob Dylan, what else is there to say? You probably love his lyrics, and it's a coin flip whether or not you can tolerate his vocals. It's a solid album for Dylan, but not something I'd find myself listening to regularly.
Eagles
3/5
The Eagles were some of the 70s best composers and music producers, and while this album is polished to perfection, it still maintains some semblance of having a soul. I want to believe that the band believes what they're singing, but I have a feeling they're ultimately just good actors. This is the best of 70s consumer pop-rock. And that isn't to say that it's GOOD, per se, but you can see why it's on this list.
Donovan
2/5
Psychedelic '60s folk pop. Not something I'd listen to again
Orbital
1/5
This is the first album on my list that I did not feel compelled to completely listen to. I'm guessing this is one of the first industrial/techno digital sampled albums, judging by its age. I'll bet it was highly influential at the time, but now it just sounds like the rejected tracks from the first Matrix soundtrack.
Deep Purple
4/5
I have always heard about how influential Deep Purple was but having only heard the album versions of "Smoke on the Water" and "Highway Star," I never really grasped why. I think I get it now. The live versions of their songs have the kind of metal-esque whistle-voice yelling that I'm guessing wasn't replicated on an LP until Van Halen in 1978. The energy in these songs is palpable; you can tell that they're on the verge of changing rock music forever. I enjoyed the hell out of this live album.
Muddy Waters
2/5
One of the big advantages for listeners in the music industry's streaming era is that QUANTITY is no longer valued the way it used to be. Artists in the pre-streaming era would deliberately record as many albums as possible to make as much money as possible, and boy does it show with Muddy Waters. Sure, blues is formulaic at heart, but quantity + formula = tedium, and it leads to music like this - music that is not inherently meaningful or memorable.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Great Stevie Wonder album, has the classic wah-ed bass, keys, and some great hip hop-esque drumming. The diversity of the music means that aside from the never-ending Maybe Your Baby, the album is really not repetitious. A really solid listen.
SAULT
2/5
I (think) I appreciate what is trying to be said on this album, but I just can't get around how repetitive and boring the tracks are. These are clearly songs about pride and anger, but no emotion comes through. I'm guessing the positive critical acclaim had a lot to do with the social climate when the album was released (RIP George Floyd.) It feels like spoken word poetry over a bunch of synth presets, and the album feels so LONG.
So in summary: 10/10 messaging, 1/10 music.
Fats Domino
5/5
I was shocked at how much I liked this. For a 66 year old compilation, the music somehow still feels fresh. I love the way Fats blows out the mic, I love the timbre of the backing brass, and I love how each song has it's own unique beat and vibe; the album exudes energy. It took a real genius to make this music in the pre-rock-and-roll era.
Laibach
4/5
The spiritual father of Rammstein. Great listen, kind of hard to believe that it came out in 1987.
Wilco
3/5
Well I never fully got into Wilco, this album is a vibe. Honestly, the most re-listenable track on the album is the first one. After that, much of the same in my opinion.
Beatles
5/5
Another true classic; the album that transformed The Beatles from a pop band to an eclectic rock band. And then of course, John Lennon famously said the Beatles were bigger than Jesus a year later and things took a turn for the counter culture. Rubber Soul was the last Beatles album with a popular consensus of being "great." And it is great.
System Of A Down
5/5
Probably the most musical album of the Nü-Metal era. I have a lot of fond memories of this music.
Portishead
2/5
As a child of the early 90s, at first I was really excited to finally listen to Portishead. For some reason I've really never listened to them, even after knowing their early work was lauded as important and great trip-hop.
Unfortunately my expectations didn't really align with what I heard. If this is great trip-hop, then I really don't understand trip-hop. It just seems incredibly uninspired and tedious to me, and I can't get past the dissonant vocals.
That being said, I did kind of enjoy "Magic Doors." So I've got that going for me. Which is nice.
Buzzcocks
3/5
Buzzcocks have always come off just like The Ramones to me - probably pretty mind blowing for their time, but we've come so far since that it's hard to listen to now. The album is mercifully short though, which I've always appreciated about punk. I appreciate my predecessors, but I can't stand listening to them.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Cool, funky jams that are politically and culturally loaded & important. The band isn't afraid to be weird and creative, but holds a groove the whole time. Great album, even if a few songs go on a little too long.
Cheap Trick
3/5
An album that inspired thousands to start rock bands and chase the dream. Unquestionably one of the greatest pop rock live albums of all time.
The Killers
3/5
The Killers are rock music for people that don't necessarily love rock music. And that's fine, but I've never been the type to fall hard for this album. It's not horrible, but I'll take hearing a single every now and then over trying to trudge through an entire Killers album.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
A thesis on enlightenment; this is the encapsulation of a young woman's realization that placating others expectations is nonsense. This album is pure poetry with an unfortunate backing track of 90s alternative instrumentation. Still, the lyricism and delivery of Alanis Morissette make this album an artistic pinnacle for her, and it's an album that I can put on at any time and really enjoy.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
I've finally found it; a punk album that's just too damn long. Based on their following, I'm guessing that "you had to be there." I refuse to believe that this music was written before it was recorded.
Taylor Swift
2/5
I've never listened to full Taylor Swift albums, so if context is important on this one, I'm very sorry but that got lost on me. My main takeaway from this one is it's a well written pop album without much in terms of challenge. Taylor Swift has a nice inoffensive voice and musical sensibility. That being said, nothing about it makes me think it should be a mandatory album to listen to before I die; it's a radio friendly unit shifter.
I'm gonna go with a 2 here. This is the Diet Coke of music; if it's the only thing available, you're not going to be angry, but you're not going to like it either.
Metallica
2/5
I think this was better in concept than in reality. Metal and Classical should go together like chocolate and peanut butter, but the composition and performance of these songs just seem kind of slapdash. Sometimes it sounds like the orchestra has just been shoehorned into the song. Rather than a 2-hour live performance, I can't help but think this would have made a stunning hour-long studio album by cutting the filler and getting James Hetfield's vocals and Kirk Hammett's guitar into a proper studio. A+ concept, C- execution.
Led Zeppelin
2/5
It's Led Zeppelin, but LONGER! I can dig some Zeppelin in moderation, but it's always been hard for me to stomach an entire album, and this was at least 50% worse than any of my previous efforts. They certainly figured out their formula and marketed the hell out of it.
Mudhoney
3/5
Seems like classic grunge. It's not bad, but probably not something that I would listen to again.
Dolly Parton
5/5
Three premier performers making great music. They're all so flawless, what a great album.
The Cure
4/5
I was pleasantly surprised by this album, especially for its age. I loved the atmosphere it created throughout and how tastefully the synths were done. I also never noticed how good the bass guitar was on Cure songs until now, the production is just great. I definitely see why this album is lauded.
Ray Price
2/5
I kind of liked him breaking the fourth wall right away in the introduction. The music itself is not my niche, but he does have a great voice. I can see Tarantino slaughtering to this stuff.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
Pretty chill music. Didn't love it, didn't hate it, but it is certainly unique and compelling.
The Roots
5/5
I love this album; it's a perfect mix of every genre of social justice, from funk to punk. Creative, hooky, chock full of not only talent, but also pop sensibility. Listen actively or play it in the background, it's The Roots at their best.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I've never been a fan of Bob Marley but I always judged him by his singles. Hearing the whole album in context really makes me appreciate his music more. There's a lot of soul in it and I would never have gotten that from a greatest hits album. Loved the vibe of the whole thing.
Serge Gainsbourg
1/5
Horny French man becomes obsessed with 15 year old girl, knocks her up, and then she dies in a plane crash. There's really nothing redeemable about this one.
Radiohead
5/5
One of the all-time perfect albums. I envy anyone that gets to hear it for the first time.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Johnny Cash playing music directly to his target demographic. What a great moment in time to have captured.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
2/5
Pretty good listen. I liked the energy to open the album and the War cover particularly. This band is clearly sure of themselves.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I find most psychedelic music to be kind of goofy and dumb, but Jefferson Airplane manages to exist in the genre while being simultaneously able to be taken seriously. Creative instrumentation, nice genre bending, a really good listen.
2Pac
2/5
This isn't the first time I've tried to listen to Tupac and for some reason, he never clicks with me. Like, I guess there's a lot of intrigue and legend surrounding his early departure, but if you're literally rapping about it, doesn't it become a self-fulfilling prophecy at some point? I do love the old West Coast beats, so he has that going for him, but the paranoia and self-importance just feel so contrived. I don't know, maybe it'll sink in the next time I try to figure it out. Two stars for the beats.
Radiohead
3/5
I'm very glad that Radiohead decided to separate Kid A and Amnesiac instead of making a double album, because the net products are a great album, and this album. Amnesiac feels like a less whole album to me; it almost feels like session B-sides. There are some gems in here though, so it's not all that bad. But off the top of my head, it's easily in the bottom-3 of Radiohead albums.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Very good album, I love the dynamics and theater of it all.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Fun album, great energy. And it's not too long either.
Yes
4/5
I've listened to a bunch of Yes albums before but somehow I never tried to listen to Fragile. This is the best Yes album I've ever listened to - prog, but also with some blues groove to it. It doesn't feel too long or jammy, it's a really nice experience from front to back. The America cover is pretty good too.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
MBV (and shoegaze in general) is really not my cup of tea. I consider this album as basically b-sides to Loveless. Everything's in the same ballpark, but demonstrably more boring.
The Blue Nile
4/5
I've never heard of this band, and I was really pleasantly surprised by this album. It's immersive and moody, it's not too sonic-ally busy, it's unique, and it comes in at under 39 minutes. I could listen to this again and again.
Paul Weller
1/5
I can't think of anything particularly exciting or memorable about this music. It's like he took elements of standard blues, rock, and soul fare and just AI-generated an album. This is dollar-bin fodder.
Dire Straits
3/5
Good unique sound; I like the technical guitar. Really all the instrumentation is great. The singing isn't my cup of tea though.
Ozomatli
4/5
I love the energy of the album; seems like an extension of what Santana did with Supernatural. I also love J5 so I loved the Chali 2na song. My only complaint would be that at some point the music did get kind of formulaic/repetitive, but overall it's kind of a banger all the way through.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Just another Sonic Youth album to me. I never really understood the appeal.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Just a perfect album - revolutionary psychedelic blues rock that was also steeped in pop sensibility. Absolute legend.
3/5
Certainly a mixed bag of an album.
The pros:
- While Fred Durst seems to be up his own ass most of the time, he's got a unique style both rapping, singing, and screaming that does work. It's all over the place and that's part of the allure. Also interesting is you can actually understand everything he says.
- DJ Lethal is legitimately great.
- Wes Borland and Sam Rivers are perfect for each other - their tone and articulation (guitar & bass) complement each other for powerful, punchy instrumentation.
- Sometimes you just want to listen to some angry yet braggadocios music.
The cons:
- The album is WAY too long.
- The first half blows the second half away
This is an album not to be taken seriously - it's basically the professional wrestling of music. But if you can separate your brain from your ears, it's a lot of fun.
Fela Kuti
2/5
Not my style of music. I don't doubt his talent or influence - I just don't like it.
Gang Starr
2/5
I like the flow and messaging, but the beats and monotone cadence are kind of boring. I'm guessing that this is kind of a consequence of the times though. I think it was probably a great album that just didn't age incredibly well.
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
Started off as a banger but kind of trailed off. I do like the vibe though.
Michael Jackson
2/5
Disco Michael Jackson. It's wedding music.
Beatles
3/5
Classic Beatles, not pushing the envelope but fully in their pop phase.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
I think I like emo Sinatra more than club Sinatra. A great, melancholy, personal album that unfortunately doesn't musically stray far from its first few tracks, but absolutely strikes a chord.
Black Flag
3/5
Black Flag was lightning in a bottle. They nailed hardcore punk and made it marketable. They launched a thousand bands, and music today wouldn't be the same without them.
The Crusaders
1/5
Elevator music. Good musicians, but I would never listen to this voluntarily.
Leonard Cohen
1/5
Leonard Cohen kind of feels like the bardic version of Bob Dylan. Unfortunately I feel like Bob Dylan's activism excuses him for his voice, whereas Cohen's philosophical personal introspection and thoughts on relationships just make him sound kind of...creepy. I do not like it.
Jurassic 5
5/5
God I love J5. One of the most talented, articulate, and positive rap groups ever. At the risk of sounding like an old man, I wish the kids today would rediscover this genre the way they've rediscovered 90s music.
Sonic Youth
2/5
Another Sonic Youth album. It just sounds all the same to me.
Eminem
3/5
Eminem at his least filtered. Not his best album by a long shot but it's still a classic.
Neil Young
2/5
Entire Neil Young albums were never really my cup of tea. I love lots of his singles, he's got a charming way of singing and songwriting, but I find it really difficult to listen to 60 minutes of his voice with a mediocre backing band.
Blue Cheer
1/5
This sounds like a high school garage band that kind of got their shit together.
David Ackles
1/5
This is the first album I strongly considered not listening all the way through. It's like Neil Diamond wrote his own version of The Night Man Cometh.
Radiohead
3/5
I'm a decent Radiohead fan, and In Rainbows ranks just under Amnesiac for me. It's a great album but not one I turn to all that often.
Radiohead
4/5
I believe this is Radiohead's best example of electronic-sound-forward songwriting. Their early albums will always reign supreme to me, as an alt-rock fan of the 90s, but Kid A was a not unwelcome departure from that old sound. It's not often that an electronic album can captivate me from beginning to end; this is one of them.
Gram Parsons
2/5
Typical country album.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
I just don't get it. After seeing all the 4 and 5 star reviews, I'm honestly a bit surprised. There's this dissonance in the double-tracked vocals that I just don't like at all. It's got a decent attitude and beat at least.
Kate Bush
2/5
Revolutionary for the time but tame by now. I'm glad Stranger Things resurrected her briefly though, it was really such a fitting song for the show. Definitely not something that I'd listen to regularly.
Burning Spear
2/5
Leonard Cohen
2/5
This is less music to me and more spoken-word poetry. Lots of bitter songs about failed relationships coming from a dying man - it seems like a very sour way to sum up a life.
David Bowie
3/5
Pretty good Bowie album, only knew Golden Years going into it.
Neil Young
2/5
I just don't jive with Neil Young on a musical level. I think the legend and personality of him is great, I love the reverence of other musicians he has. I just can't get past his voice and style. I really wish I liked him more.
Roxy Music
4/5
Great album, cool hybrid rock and roll
Violent Femmes
2/5
Unique, creepy. I've never loved the Femmes but you can't say they aren't completely different from everything else out there.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
What a powerhouse she was. Incredible album.
Randy Newman
5/5
I'm actually astounded at how much I liked this. I've never listened to Randy Newman before, I mostly know him as this un-serious caricature of a performer. This really took me by surprise and I'm definitely going to listen to more of his stuff.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
What a great singer, what dumb lyrics.
The Offspring
3/5
The Offspring were in the right place at the right time. They pretty much perfected skate punk commercially and are instantly recognizable. 13 year old me was absolutely hyped to have this to listen to growing up.
MGMT
4/5
Good emotive music, especially for the genre. They really had something here.
Spiritualized
4/5
For a shogazey album, I actually liked this quite a bit. Atmospheric but also interesting.
Rush
3/5
Great sci fi rock album, absent only of hooks.
Fela Kuti
2/5
I just don't understand the music. Great musicians but lots of repetition and it's really had to engage throughout the whole album.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Really nice riffy noise rock, what I wish Husker Du was.
Björk
3/5
I'm not a Bjork fan but this is the most cohesive album of hers that I've ever heard. I still can't really get past her voice or the shoehorning of lyrics into spaces where they just don't fit. But as Bjork goes...not bad.
Cornershop
3/5
I remember hating Brimful of Asha when it was on the radio, but after reading what it is about, it's really kind of a sweet song. Good album with some unnecessary filler.
Jack White
2/5
Pretty good, classic Jack White. Nothing really remarkable but a good jam.
Fleetwood Mac
2/5
The Hives
4/5
Of of the best The bands of the early 00s; energetic, catchy, and stylish as hell. Iggy's spiritual successors.
Elliott Smith
3/5
The Pharcyde
3/5
Good irreverent rap, feels like youthful inspiration. It's nice to hear something that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
Just another Marley album to me unfortunately.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
I really loved this more than I thought I would. I think I saw Isaac Hayes before as more of a caricature, as Chef from South Park or the guy that did the Shaft theme song. This album was really great though, just catchy soul and some light funk. My only criticism would be the monologue at the end. Really glad I listened to it overall.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
Good, but it didn't really blow my mind
Youssou N'Dour
2/5
I have no idea what's going on, but it's got a nice beat.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Kinda reminded me of that scene from Animal House where the guy was playing guitar on the stairs. Just... cheesy I guess? Not my cup of tea.
R.E.M.
4/5
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Cheesy Brit pop. Has some Ok beats but it's just overwhelmingly manufactured and boring.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Massive Attack
2/5
The Doors
5/5
Amazing album, like nothing before or after it
Mekons
2/5
Kind of a weird punkish album, I don't really understand the sound of it. Not my cup of tea.
T. Rex
3/5
Not bad, this is my first time listening to T. Rex other than hearing Bang a Gong on the radio. Fun glam rock, it does get kind of repetitive after a while though. Wish the album was 20% shorter and 20% faster.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Just peak Michael Jackson, one hit after another. A great example of why he was the King of Pop: he did things no one else was doing, and made it the biggest thing in the world.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
The harmonies and style are amazing. I feel bad that I can't understand it. Wonderful music but it's just too much for me to fully grasp.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Stereolab
2/5
Kinda boring after a while. I dig the vibe but hearing it as a whole album is a bit much.
The Strokes
4/5
I love The Strokes and this is a fantastic album. Catchy, reverent, weird, and eccentric. This is rock and roll.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Very nice vocal styling and songwriting, a nice Beatles cover thrown in. Nice morning music.
Keith Jarrett
2/5
Obviously a great talent, but that doesn't make it an interesting album.
Van Halen
5/5
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Reminds me of the Magnetic Fields. Kinda boring and weird. Two stars for at least keeping it short.
Solomon Burke
4/5
Nice album, shades of both Sam Cooke and Joe Cocker.
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Tortoise
2/5
Movie score music. Not particularly interested in this unfortunately.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
One of the best Neil Young albums I've ever heard, I love his early electric stuff.
The White Stripes
3/5
Cool vibes, neat style. Some of the songs were kind of boring but there are quite a few good ones in there.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
Avant-garde movie soundtrack music. I didn't hate it, can't say I'd ever go out of my way to listen to it again.
Eurythmics
4/5
The White Stripes
3/5
I liked this White Stripes album much better than White Blood Cells. A lot more unique, experimental, and varied.
Love
2/5
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
Sex Pistols
4/5
Classic, the godfathers of all punk.
The Black Keys
3/5
After hearing Howlin' For You and Tighten Up ad nauseum on the radio, I think I forgot all about any kind of joy I ever got out of listening to those songs. That really tainted my expectations going into listening to this album. So I'm actually really glad that this album turned out to be pretty darn good; very eclectic and unique overall. Some soul, funk, rock... really nice grooves. My only complaints are that a: I had to listen to Howlin' For You and Tighten Up again, and b: the album is just a bit long overall. If you chopped this into a 35 minute/12 song album, it'd be a real banger end to end.
Minor Threat
2/5
Stereo MC's
2/5
This was absolutely terrible. But I got through it all, so I'm gonna say 2 stars for the sheer fact that I didn't rage quit half way through.
AC/DC
3/5
I've never been a big AC/DC fan but their sound and charisma re undeniable. One of the defining records of heavy rock.
Klaxons
4/5
Pretty cool sounding album
Van Morrison
1/5
I'm actually really glad I don't like this clown's album. Smacks of sophomoric insights and beatnik-level effort. He's managed to accurately portray the sound of singing with your head lodged completely up your own ass.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
The Magnetic Fields
2/5
This monster of an album is a darling of rock critics everywhere. One Christgau gave it an A+, the rock nerds came running and boom, it landed on this list. I've tried to listen to this album in earnest at least 5 times in my life and I've never made it past the first CD. My brain goes numb somewhere around Punk Love and I just can't recover. This time I made it to Promises of Eternity before tapping out.
It's a damn shame too because there are several tracks in the first 10 songs that are legitimately interesting and engaging. If only they made this a normal LP length.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Trip-hop Dido. I enjoyed this album, it had a nice flow to it and the vocals are really nice. Songs are varied and interesting and the whole thing clocks in at a respectable 40-something minutes.
The Cardigans
4/5
I've always heard that The Cardigans shouldn't be judged by Lovefool, but I think Lovefool is actually a pretty appropriate representative of this album as a whole. Just a chill alt rock album with some funky undercurrent. What a well-composed piece, I really enjoyed the whole thing (except maybe the Iron Man cover - that was a bit much.)
Steely Dan
5/5
Probably the best Steely Dan album I've listened to. A handful of songs they everyone knows, and the rest of the album is really nice too.
Miriam Makeba
4/5
What a great voice, and a nice variety of songs. Historically relevant too. This album deserves to be on this list.
The Young Gods
2/5
Weird and French.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
It was probably the timing of this album being right in line with my adolescence, but I've always found this to be the most listenable RHCP album out there. It's a bit long, perhaps a bit formulaic, but I think there's a nice variety of songs. Unfortunately it seems to suffer from a lack of depth - this is the peak of commercial Peppers.
Billy Bragg
2/5
I think the concept of this album is cool and noble and everything, I just don't particularly care for the music itself. I could barely stand Wilco in their prime, let alone on this album, and I've honestly never listened to Billy Bragg. D for effort, though.
Echo And The Bunnymen
2/5
I get how this would have blown people's minds in 1980, but it just seems kind of silly now.
Milton Nascimento
3/5
U2
3/5
Julian Cope
2/5
I just don't know. It seems like an AI generated early 90s rock album. Nothing here is catchy or memorable enough to stick with me.
Slayer
4/5
Slayer/Reign In Blood was this perfect confluence of music and marketability at precisely the right time. They took the best parts of thrash punk and dark metal and turned it into a tee shirt. Absolute legends. I can't say it's aged horribly well, but they launched a million sweaty, wrinkled bands.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
What can I say? Fatboy Slim brought techno to the masses in the late 90s. Looking back, it hasn't aged horribly, but it's still what it was back then - repetitive, long, suited to the raver kids. It's pretty cool that he was able to cross into the mainstream for a little while though.
Ryan Adams
1/5
Trash human writes boring, generic pop.
Kate Bush
4/5
Megadeth
2/5
Never bought into Megadeth in the great Metallica war. They just sounded like generic period metal to me.
David Bowie
3/5
Not my favorite Bowie album, but he certainly still had it at this point. Very interesting hearing a contemporized version of himself.
The Black Crowes
3/5
I knew 3 of these songs I think - they're a one-trick pony, but it's a decent trick. I didn't hate it anyway.
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
I couldn't finish it, but I figure the first half informs the second half. I'm sure this is somehow important music, I just don't care.
Carole King
5/5
My favorite album by one of my favorite songwriters. I love how great the songs are and how honest the performances are. One of the greatest albums of all time.
Blur
2/5
An album that I've tried to get into since appreciating Song 2 as a kid. It's still hard to get through, but I'm glad I made it to Essex Dogs this time - I think it may be my favorite song on the album.
Ice Cube
3/5
Pretty good. Not my favorite style of rap but the message and relevance is important.
Meat Puppets
3/5
Fun album, can't believe I've never listened to it. It's not something I loved but it's neat to hear what influenced Kurt Cobain so much.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
To me, a classic. Can get a little one dimensional at times but with enough different stuff to still be great.
Moby Grape
2/5
Honestly I thought it was kind of a boring, generic white boy band.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3/5
I kind of dig the music but it does get boring and repetitive. It's not really a cohesive album to me.
B.B. King
4/5
I've only heard newer BB King so I am completely blown away by how well he sings on this album. I think his vocals are even better than his guitar playing, and his playing is legendary. I mean, sure the songs can be a bit formulaic, but to hear the crowd losing their mind over the music... the whole thing is just great.
David Gray
1/5
I didn't like David Gray when the Babylon single was being pumped out every 20 minutes and I don't like him now. It's the kind of music you expect to hear sitting in a Starbucks.
The Stooges
2/5
I honestly wish I liked Iggy Pop; he seems like such a punk icon. He sounds like a demonic(er) Jim Morrison. I feel like for the time, this was probably mind-blowing with it's grungy and loose nature. I just don't particularly like his style. Wish there was a 2.5 star option.
Gillian Welch
3/5
Elvis Presley
2/5
Aside from the singles, most of this wasn't really enjoyable to me. I'm not really a fan of Elvis in general - I appreciate what he did for rock music and bridging the gap, but I just don't like listening to his music. I think I agree with most of the other reviewers in that "In the Ghetto" and "Suspicious Minds" are the standout tracks on the album. "Gentle On My Mind" was also nice to hear.
David Bowie
4/5
Good, classic Bowie album
The Replacements
3/5
Really liked Answering Machine - even though the lyrics seem toxic AF. Overall it reminded me of old Goo Goo Dolls.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Not bad. I liked the singles better than the rest of the album. I guess there's a reason that every old man bar band sounds like them though.
The Who
5/5
Just a fantastic album from front to back.
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
Kanye West
4/5
Proof that Kanye could still write music after losing grip with reality.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
23 minutes of exactly what I expected.
Beyoncé
3/5
Liked this a lot, especially the first half of the album. Would give 3.5 if I could.
Can
2/5
I really don't understand why this is on this list. Mostly unlistenable.
The Stone Roses
2/5
I'm going to try doing this track-by-track for once.
1. I Wanna Be Adored - I don't know how this could be less interesting or more repetitive.
2. She Bangs the Drums - I just listened to it and I don't remember anything about it
3. Waterfall - Cute little riff. Diet Collective Soul.
4. Don't Stop - Wait... is this Waterfall but spun backwards on the record player?
5. Bye Bye Bad Man - Kind of like all the previous songs, but in double time!
6. Elizabeth My Dear - Simon & Garfunkel but brief and boring
7. (Song for My) Sugar Spun Sister - I swear I didn't set out to pan this album. This one's uptempo at least. Same dumb lyrics.
8. Made of Stone - Hey now we're talking. Best song on the album so far, by far. Dark lyrics, dynamic music, epic solo.
9. Shoot You Down - OK, we're back to the typical Brit Rock slow songs.
10. This Is the One - Oh hey, another one that just finished and I can't remember at all.
11. I Am the Resurrection - More angry lyrics, I can dig that. Also a nice jammy bridge/solo out of nowhere. Unfortunately as it came out of nowhere, it also decided to hang around for 5+ minutes.
12. Fools Gold - Oh god, I was just complaining about an 8 minute song, then a 10 minute song comes on. This one's like Kula Shaker on Ambien. I fast forwarded through it so you don't have to - no, it never really changes.
Summary: a whole lot of filler with Made of Stone in between.
The Doors
3/5
Not as good as the first album, to be honest.
Judas Priest
2/5
Judas Priest was never really my thing. The music is good but just not interesting to me.
Morrissey
3/5
Not bad, I liked it more than The Smiths albums I've listened to.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
1/5
Lame, offensively bland "blues."
The Waterboys
2/5
It was fundamentally not that bad, just bored me to tears.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I love the nonsense back and forth - Beasties got incredibly lucky to find each other. They sound like brothers.
Pretenders
3/5
I like Chrissie Hynde's swagger on this one, I just don't like the overall sound of it. Still, the singles specifically make it worth the listen. Just not something I enjoy in it's entirety.
The Temptations
4/5
I'm a big fan of the Motown sound so I really liked this
Spacemen 3
2/5
I thought that after the first few minutes of this, I was going to love it. Boy was I wrong. Started out hot and just became artsy noise for the remaining time.
Elliott Smith
3/5
The Stooges
2/5
Honestly I just don't like Iggy's voice or the looseness of their songs. I know he's like Punk Jesus and the music reflects progressiveness for the time, but I just don't like listening to it.
Little Richard
4/5
It's nice when a musical innovator actually makes something wholly good.
Beck
3/5
I like a lot of Beck stuff but the gimmick does get a bit stale.
Skepta
3/5
I liked this a lot, the music really reminds me of the music of Good Kid mAAd City.
Caetano Veloso
2/5
I really don't get it.
Beach House
3/5
One of the more tolerable shoegazey albums I've ever heard. Can't say I'd listen to it for pleasure, but I didn't mind listening to it either.
Supertramp
3/5
I like it, definitely kind of funky and unusual.
Barry Adamson
2/5
I couldn't get into this. Just weird, eclectic lounge or soundtrack music.
Lucinda Williams
3/5
Not really my genre but it seemed really authentic to me. I like her vocal style.
The Isley Brothers
3/5
Lots of covers, but really pleasant.
Thelonious Monk
3/5
Rod Stewart
3/5
Surprisingly good. Catchy, unique, kinda weird.
Fatboy Slim
2/5
A little boring and repetitive.
Black Sabbath
3/5
Another album I appreciate more than I like. The production is terrible but the songs are revolutionary. I dig their moxie, especially for the time.
MC Solaar
3/5
I actually truly love the beats and the vocal style. Shame I can't understand what he's saying.
The Pogues
2/5
If the writers of this list actually cared about Irish music, the Clancy Brothers, Chieftains, or Dubliners would also be on it. The Pogues are a demonstrably worse band in every way except they're not afraid to cuss a little. I believe their popularity is attributed more to the celebration of Shane MacGowan's alcoholism-soaked aura than any actual musical merit.
Janis Joplin
4/5
Great album, nice mix of hits and other great songs.
2/5
I think I appreciate this more than I like it. Punk's grandpop. The energy is palpable, but that's about it in terms of likeability. I'm sure the kids loved it and it definitely inspired some of my favorite music, but it's just so primordial.
The Fall
2/5
Like a punkier B52s I guess? My issue with it is it's really hard to differentiate one song from another - it all kind of mooshes together. I went from track 12 to 16 in what seemed like no time flat, have no idea where one song stopped and the next began. I could have done without hearing this in my life.
Spiritualized
2/5
I was going to do a track by track review of this but I just found myself feeling nothing at all listening to most of the tracks. It's like a big mishmash of cerebral nothing. I guess the sonics of the whole thing are kind of cool, but I found myself looking forward to it being over already.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Good album - more typical Bruce. I wish it had a little more weirdness on it but I can't complain overall.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I'm generally a big fan of punky feminist music but the combination of the production and PJ's vocals just don't work for me. Liked the energy though, the first song definitely got me riled up.
The White Stripes
3/5
Man I loved this album growing up but I really don't think it's aged well. I used to love the catchy but simple composition and how the songs are both precise and loose at the same time. They sure had some cool styling too. Solid album but it's just not great.
Various Artists
4/5
One of the best Christmas albums out there. I love Motown and the wall of sound production style. Spector is who he is, but his artists are legendary.
Bert Jansch
2/5
Getting major "My Lover Gave Me A Cherry" vibes. Not my kind of music at all. But not offensively bad.
Shuggie Otis
2/5
Not horrible, not great. Slightly tone-deaf, generic funk/R&B. Not sure there are any tracks on here that stand out to me.
The Icarus Line
1/5
I generally think that rock singers should get a pass or at least far more latitude on the quality of their singing, but dear god does this guy suck at it. It's like the guy from the Hives was asked to do vocal tracking while wearing ear plugs. Nothing memorable here, just another attempt to jump on the "The Nouns" bandwagon.
Bill Evans Trio
2/5
The kind of music you expect to play in the background at a swanky club. Unfortunately that doesn't do all that much for me.
Coldplay
3/5
Hey, it's Coldplay. You either like it or you don't.
I don't.
The Beta Band
2/5
Middle of the road album for me, most of it was fairly forgettable. Out-Side was a stand out track to me though.
Blur
4/5
Probably the best modern Brit rock album I've ever heard. Only knock on it is how long it is.
The Dictators
2/5
Ok... I get that they probably influenced the Ramones, but is this an album that I have to hear in my lifetime? No, absolutely not. I'm glad that they brought their influence to music, but they certainly weren't good enough to merit a "must listen." Just give me the Ramones.
Arcade Fire
3/5
I can't find anything that I love or hate about it. It's better than I thought it would be.
Fugazi
3/5
I love the history of the DC scene and the characters in it. Wish I liked Fugazi a little more than I do.
Erykah Badu
2/5
Not a big fan of this. There's this weird double-vocal-tracking thing going on where I'm guessing she couldn't get one good take so they just decided to average two. Just...boring.
T. Rex
3/5
Pretty good, nice hip twist on traditional rock and roll.
Donald Fagen
1/5
Relentlessly boring. I just don't understand how anyone willingly listens to this music.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Astonishingly well put together. Michael Jackson managed to make a perfect record front to back.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
The soundtrack to every stupid teen movie of the late 90s.
Meat Loaf
5/5
A lot of fun. The cheese factor is high with this one, but he's just so good at it. You just have to lean into it.
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
I listened to it twice. What an amazing album, powerful lyrics with sometimes oxymoronic melodies. Nothing Compares 2 U actually seems a bit out of place on this, but it's good enough on it's own that it doesn't matter. Masterpiece.
Missy Elliott
3/5
I generally appreciate Missy Elliott's music but for some reason a whole album isn't doing it for me.
The Bees
2/5
Contemporary elevator music.
Bob Dylan
2/5
I like a lot of Bob Dylan's stuff but this album is incredibly annoying for some reason. I've always been cool with the fact that he had a terrible singing voice - that's just part of the package. This album, though... I don't know if it's how it was recorded or if he was just pushing his voice even harder than usual, but it's incredibly grating. I prefer the Dylan of yore (Freewheelin', The Times, Bringing it all back home, Highway 61.)
Waylon Jennings
2/5
He maybe revered in country circles but it all kind of sounds the same to me.
M.I.A.
2/5
I've always more-than-tolerated Paper Planes but I don't dig the shtick in the space of an entire album. This was unfortunately kind of tedious for me.
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
There's some real power in these songs, and it's a neat orchestral motif that he concocted. Casimir Pulaski Day is a standout that's particularly haunting and beautiful. My only beef is the overall length vs. the refusal to stray from the same sound throughout the entire album.
Beatles
4/5
There are a lot of really great songs on this album. Only complaint is some of it seems either disjointed from the rest of the album or just like filler. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars if I could.
Jane Weaver
5/5
I really liked this whole album; the compositions, beats, lyrics, vocals...the whole thing was just cohesive and enticing. Lots of beauty here.
John Lennon
4/5
Liked it more than I thought I would. Very personal sounding, not overproduced, and nice and concise. I expected a lot more BS considering it's in the era of Yoko, but it was actually kind of like Beatles B-side material.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
The only thing I really liked on this was After Hours.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Pretty good. Moody and kind of dissonant. I feel like this was probably out of place in 1988. I'd give it 2.5 if I could, 3 will suffice.
John Coltrane
5/5
Really great all the way through. Intense, interesting, perfectly long. Improvisation that's clearly skilled. I'd definitely listen to it again, and that's rare for me with this genre.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
I'm not the biggest fan of Fleetwood Mac - I could never get behind the drama and the history of the band, or why that would make the music any better. But it's undeniable that this is one of the best albums of all time, especially when the layman knows well over half the songs on it. It's catchy, it's diverse, it's succinct. Undeniably great.
Minutemen
4/5
The Minutemen may actually be too punk for me. They broke all the rules of establishment punk with their sensible volume and music-standards compliance while railing against the system. I really appreciate them, but I prefer the more corporate punk sound.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
I like his schtick and energy. His voice can get a little annoying but it's a fun album
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Great album, seems like a concept album really. Same motif follows throughout. Unique sound, nice groove
Eminem
5/5
Elton John
3/5
I adore many Elton John songs and his performances but I've never found an entire album I love. He was a recording artist in an era when quantity meant more money, and he and Bernie cranked them out. This album is a bit long but the first half rips. Unfortunately overall I still file it under Elton John's quest to make money (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
James Brown
2/5
The Psychedelic Furs
2/5
k.d. lang
2/5
Scissor Sisters
4/5
While overall it's not for me, it's a nice, catchy, refreshing album. I'm not sold on the Comfortably Numb cover but the whole thing has good vibes. Glad I listened to it.
Miles Davis
3/5
The Style Council
1/5
The whole time I was just picturing Paul Allen listening to Huey Lewis.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
I know I should love the Du with all of their influence and prominence, but I just absolutely hate their production. Great songs that sound like they were recorded from the far end of an auditorium with a single mic. Fire their engineers into the sun.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Hole
3/5
In a time when everyone tried to sound like Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love made an album to sound like Kurt Cobain.
Marty Robbins
4/5
So commercial it stings, but at the same time, great bops. I'd have never listened to this, and I'll likely never listen to it again, but it just feels like this pristine time capsule. Perfect production, clear lyrics and nice narrative style. I'll bet the kids freakin loved this back in 1959.
4/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
The hits are undeniable but the filler is too. Not a bad listen but I'm not wholly convinced.
Manu Chao
3/5
I don't understand it, but it sounds like a whole bop.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
The Cult
3/5
Not bad. Reminds me of a more classic rock oriented Misfits. I don't love his voice but it's fast and energetic.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Victim of reggae not being my thing. A lot of it just sounds the same to me unfortunately.
Ute Lemper
1/5
Remember when Jan wrote that song for Hunter on The Office? This is that, but an entire album.
3/5
Some good songs but too much filler
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
The xx
2/5
More like Bore-ance and the Machine
The xx
2/5
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
Energetic, a bit unhinged, this was probably off the walls in 1983. Not bad, just kind of dated.
Aerosmith
2/5
Generic Aerosmith. Not bad, just boring
Janelle Monáe
4/5
Love Janelle Monae, love these songs (especially the Big Boi and Saul tracks.) It does run a bit long, but it's still great.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
Kind of a boring album to be honest. And I do like Neil Young's music. This was just kind of... passive and boring.
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Not my style unfortunately
Dire Straits
4/5
Common
5/5
Quicksilver Messenger Service
1/5
Most of this sounded like the stoner group's band at a high school talent show.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
You can't argue with how cool and catchy the songs are, but you can argue with how much they sound like each other. A pleasant album that suffers from a lack of dynamics.
Frank Ocean
3/5
Booker T. & The MG's
2/5
Cocktail lounge cover band
Supergrass
3/5
Fairly catchy brit-pop. Kind of long. It's not super repetitive but it's also not super memorable.
Sonic Youth
2/5
I just don't like Sonic Youth. I don't understand what the critics see in them. It's just noisy, lazy rock.
Cat Stevens
3/5
Easy listening, but the recording is superb and the songwriting is really nice too.
Bad Brains
2/5
What a departure from their roots, and not in a good way. It sounds like generic 80's hard rock bordering on metal rather than the hardcore punk that I loved in the first two albums. Really disappointed in this album.
Motörhead
3/5
I never liked Lemmy's voice or his absurd distortion sound, but the energy on this is just so palpable. Easy to see why he was revered.
Peter Frampton
3/5
DJ Shadow
3/5
It's pretty neat that the first real all-sampled DJ album came out sounding like this. It's not my favorite kind of music, but the history is really cool.
Funkadelic
3/5
The album started great and just kind of meandered on from there. I didn't dislike anything here but I also don't think I'd come back to it as an entire album.
Radiohead
4/5
As a product of the 90s, I love early Radiohead more than a non-biased listener should. The Bends lacks the depth and maturity of ALL of their followup albums, but it's just a fun listen and it itches my 90s alt rock scratch. Even a 2nd rate Radiohead album deserves a 4.
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
Miles Davis
3/5
Slint
1/5
Deeply boring spoken word indie rock.
Scott Walker
1/5
I'm not going to lie, after hearing the first song, I thought this was a satire crooning album a la Richard Cheese. And I would have enjoyed the hell out of it if that were the case. But no, he was being serious. I think. What a weird, tone deaf album.
R.E.M.
4/5
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Madness
3/5
Short but entertaining
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Joe Ely
1/5
Slipknot
4/5
Corey Taylor has one of the greatest screaming voices of all time. This music made even the kids with ADHD sit up and pay attention. Revolutionary, and never topped within the genre.
Rahul Dev Burman
1/5
Parliament
5/5
This still sounds like the future. What a fantastic album.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
2/5
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
One of my favorite NIN albums. Has a great dynamic mix from blaring metal to creepy quiet. Dark stuff, but brilliant.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Tori Amos
2/5
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
I liked it well enough; seems like a natural evolution from the Sex Pistols. Good of them to be so openly critical of the church at the time. It's not getting replayed, but I appreciate it.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Nirvana
3/5
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
I feel like this is an album Homer Simpson would know by heart.
Japan
2/5
Forgettable appropriated pop.
Tears For Fears
4/5
Primal Scream
2/5
I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this singer thinks he's really, really cool.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
Just background music to a low budget film. You probably had to be there back in 1976 to truly appreciate this one.
Green Day
4/5
I think "commercial" Green Day gets overlooked by the Green Day stans that have been into them since Dookie. I for one appreciate making punk ideas accessible to more people, and that's what American Idiot did. That's why anyone putting the whole album on for the first time knows half the songs already; it's probably the most accessible punk album of all time.
5/5 messaging, 3/5 musically, 4/5 overall.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
I thought I liked Rufus after hearing Rufus Does Judy, but everything I've heard after that just hasn't lived up to that performance. I like Sassy Rufus; this is just gay Thom Yorke (not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Can
2/5
I thought an interesting song came on but it turned out to be Spotify automatically skipping to a Wire song after the album was over.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
The most listenable Elvis Costello album I've heard. I'm still not sold on his voice/schtick, but there were a couple of tracks I'd come back to.
Billie Holiday
2/5
I usually love this kind of music; this cannot be Billie Holiday's best work. I see that it was recorded at the end of her career, perhaps that explains it. Really wanted to like this too.
50 Cent
4/5
Kind of long, but I finally understand why people wanted to shoot him. Great guests, vicious lyrics. Beats weren't great but clearly some Eminem at work there. Entertaining all the way through.
Elvis Presley
2/5
I guess you had to be there.
Silver Jews
1/5
Magnetic Fields but worse? I don't know, this is just dismal.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
Kind of torn between this being legitimately good, energetic rock and it being kind of derivative and boring. I think it's pretty decent but it also doesn't really stand out much in a way that makes me want to listen to it again.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Not as bad as I thought it was going to be
Suede
2/5
Christina Aguilera
2/5
I really try my damnedest to listen to all of these albums in their entirety, but I just couldn't get through this monster. She's a good singer. The songs are just very similar, seems like a one trick pony.
Neil Young
4/5
The Avalanches
2/5
I know people love The Avalanches. I do have fond memories of Frontier Psychiatrist. But as a genre - it just doesn't do too much for me.
Britney Spears
2/5
There's something very creepy about this album. You've got a 16? 17? year old girl singing about trying to keep her man happy, but the songs were written by think tanks. I don't know, it all seems very manipulative and skeevy.
Dr. Octagon
2/5
Kinda psychopathic. Not in a good way.
Talking Heads
2/5
Slogged through the first 2/3 of the album, the last 1/3 of the album was great.
Saint Etienne
1/5
I 100% did not have to listen to this album before I died.
Adele
4/5
Hard to believe all those hits came from the same album. One of the greatest sophomore albums out there.
John Martyn
4/5
I was prepared to clown on this album, but after getting past the initial reaction to his nearly indecipherable singing voice, I found that it really is a beautiful album. He really mastered the echo plex and volume swells. Just a weirdly gorgeous album with a ton of feel to it.
Garbage
3/5
Was fun and futuristic, not as good as the followup album but pretty good.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
Boy, they really thought they had something here, didn't they? Smacks of high school angst. Less true psychedelic, more "let's take the Stones, Mamas & the Papas, and the Beatles and mash them into a grey paste." One additional star for being mercifully short.
Johnny Cash
4/5
Really great. Engaging the whole time, the prisoners seemed to be eating it up.
Bon Jovi
3/5
Bruce Springsteen + Motley Crue + N*Sync = this album. Consummately poppy, but heavy enough to trick the luddite "metalhead" of yore. Lightning in a bottle, especially for the record stores.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
Spotify was missing most of the tracks, but of the ones I listened to - really solid. I like his vocals, the guitar solos (especially the harmonies) were really beautiful. Nice driving pace, super tight. Probably helped by the fact that it was partially recorded in a studio. Sure, it's cheating. Sure, it's kind of long. But that's a pretty sick live album.
Elvis Presley
3/5
The Pretty Things
2/5
You can tell these guys loved the Beatles. It's not bad, but if I was in the mood for the like, Sgt. Pepper is just going on instead.
Adele
3/5
Otis Redding
2/5
It's pretty good but I didn't realize that his style could get tiresome.
The Thrills
2/5
Björk
3/5
She's got a cool voice. Not my type of music though.
Neil Young
5/5
Neil Young's best. After the Gold Rush may be his best song, and the rest of the album is just magic. I'm not a fan of a lot of his work, but this album captured something special.
Bob Dylan
4/5
One of Dylan's best; great songwriting and engaging all the way through.
Small Faces
3/5
Silly at times but pretty catchy. Singer's pretty good too. Not something I'd add to the rotation, but I didn't mind it either.
Duke Ellington
2/5
I'm not doubting the Duke's talent - this was just too long and boring for me.
Incubus
5/5
This album is very dear to me as a child of the late 90s. Wonderful production and stylistically everywhere.
Syd Barrett
1/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
I love Stevie Wonder but this isn't my favorite album. That being said, everyone knows Higher Ground & Living for the City, but my favorite track here is He's Misstra Know-It-All. Still a great album, just not the first (or the second, or even the third) that I would turn to if I was in the mood for some Stevie.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Another great from Dylan's heyday.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Nice and pleasant. This would be some great beach music.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I've always considered Elvis Costello very toothless, inoffensive pop-rock. It's not a bad listen but I also don't find anything remarkable about it. I'd give it a 2.5 if I could.
R.E.M.
2/5
Not particularly good or memorable.
4/5
Amazing album, the first half is absolutely flawless.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
That's gotta be the most enjoyable Echo album that I've heard.
The Temptations
2/5
I normally love Motown (and the Temptations.) This has to be the weakest album of theirs I've ever heard.
The National
2/5
Just.. boring. I really couldn't get into this.
Aerosmith
3/5
Not bad. I kind of liked the little musical interludes in between songs.
David Bowie
2/5
I like David Bowie for the most part and I know how lauded this album is, but honestly aside from the singles, nothing much stands out here.
Louis Prima
4/5
Joyful and unique, great energy.
Talvin Singh
2/5
Kind of tedious.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
The Smiths
2/5
"There is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a bop. I think maybe I would have liked this in high school, but now it mostly sounds like a bunch of indistinct melodrama.
The Divine Comedy
1/5
It's like Spacehog got fed up with their contract and decided to put out a joke album to fulfill their obligations to the company as a final f. u.
The Undertones
1/5
Sounds like a local bar band that kind of has their shit together.
Lou Reed
2/5
Boring, tedious, kinda creepy too. Mercifully short. I feel like most of the New York scene was just a big old circle jerk back then. Velvet Underground might have started something big but this isn't exactly my favorite evolution of it.
The Specials
3/5
I like The Specials for their style, their progressiveness, and for doing everything completely different. The music itself I don't love - I find a lot of ska to be kind of goofy, the GOATs being no exception. But I do admire them for who they were.
Roxy Music
1/5
Seedy music, terrible vocals. It's the music a coke-infused SNL band would have cranked out in the 70s.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This has to be the best Led Zeppelin album of all time. A perfect mix of hard rock, blues, and pop. Plus, it bows out before any one of their gimmicks becomes taxing. Lightning in a bottle.
Air
3/5
While this isn't really my style, I do really like the vibe going on. Really nice simple compositions that are pleasant. Fairly predictable. It's like listening to macaroni and cheese.
Brian Eno
4/5
I really didn't think I was going to like this and walked away really liking it. It's just really well composed, catchy, and relaxing.
The Clash
4/5
The best of The Clash, classic album.
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
Neneh Cherry
2/5
Beck
2/5
Santana
4/5
William Orbit
1/5
Ambient throwaway garbage.
Fleet Foxes
2/5
Pros: It's pleasant, has a nick gimmicky sound, it's not too long
Cons: It gets kind of tiresome quickly.
I didn't mind it overall, but I'm certainly not adding it to the rotation.
The Beau Brummels
1/5
Beatles
5/5
All time favorite Beatles album
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
Everything about Siouxsie says I should like her/the band, but I just hate the sum of the parts.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Decent. Chaotic and noisy but there's an art to it.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
3/5
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Daft Punk
3/5
Dennis Wilson
2/5
Not to be a dick or anything, but I think Brian Wilson may have been pretty darn important to the Beach Boys.
Steely Dan
3/5
I never understood the Steely Dan hype. They're great instrumentalists, gifted composers, and decidedly very boring people. Better than elevator music, worse than anything with earnest feeling behind it. Yacht rock that's probably actually best appreciated by those soulless enough to own a yacht.
Roni Size
2/5
My hot take for electronic music is that the harder it is to reproduce, the better it is. This is music for a movie heist scene, and the reason it works in a heist scene is because the scene generally ends within 5 minutes or so.
Leftfield
2/5
I'm running out of ways to say I'm not a fan of most 90's electronica music.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
This is 3 mid-90's electronica albums in a row and I absolutely hate the entire genre now.
Talking Heads
4/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
It's pretty good I guess. Reminds me a lot of Yes. Nothing I'd play again but I didn't hate it.
Ministry
3/5
It tickles me that in the era of the Gregorian Chant music fad, someone's mom may have picked up THIS CD by mistake.
Feels a bit ahead of it's time - feels like Rammstein/industrial shred era NIN. I wouldn't add it as a regular to my rotation and I can't really appreciate a whole album of it at a time, but this is far better than a lot of the 1001 list's electronica.
Green Day
4/5
Dookie isn't my favorite Green Day album - the production value kind of sucks, but the songs are all there. It was revolutionary for the world of punk-pop and it launched a thousand bands.
Fever Ray
3/5
I didn't love this but it wasn't bad either. It kind of reminds me of a darker yet more palatable Bjork.
The Auteurs
2/5
Heaven 17
1/5
This was just awful. Maybe it sounded a lot cooler in the 80s. I don't know, and frankly, I don't care to know.
Holger Czukay
4/5
Weird but oddly great. It was like pre-techno if that makes sense. Definitely not mad that I had to listen to this.
Sabu
2/5
I wish I could enjoy this more but something is definitely lost in translation.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Perfectly fine album. The sound's a bit dated so I don't think I'd revisit it, but I didn't hate it either.
Isaac Hayes
2/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
A standard Marvin Gaye album, but the back story makes it so much more engaging to listen to.
David Bowie
4/5
Air
2/5
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
The Modern Lovers
2/5
The Jam
3/5
Succinct, diverse, upbeat. Didn't mind that at all.
3/5
Ananda Shankar
2/5
That was mercifully brief.
Girls Against Boys
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
2/5
The Cure
2/5
Unfortunately, this is the least memorable Cure album I've ever heard.
Animal Collective
3/5
Dion
1/5
I can't really find anything redeeming about this. Soulless, boring music.
Herbie Hancock
3/5
Very cool melding of funk and jazz, I really enjoyed this.
Björk
4/5
Honestly my favorite Bjork album that I've heard. Just gorgeous songs. Her stuttery phrasing still bothers me a little but the language barrier is probably responsible for that.
Brian Eno
4/5
I think this is the second time I've listened to an Eno album and both of them have left me wanting more. I honestly like this better than most Talking Heads albums in their entirety. Beautiful music.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
The Shamen
2/5
Another album that I'll never remember a single track of.
Guided By Voices
3/5
It's like stoner post-punk. I don't love it but I appreciate the vibes.
Hookworms
5/5
This was gorgeous all the way through, and I loved the energy
AC/DC
4/5
I'm familiar with all the AC/DC singles, but the only songs I knew going into this one were Highway to Hell and Shot Down in Flames. Honestly this could have been the only album they ever released; it's got everything that made AC/DC AC/DC.
Night Crawler seemed a bit problematic though.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
A perfect Led Zeppelin album. All over the place sonically, never gets boring.
CHVRCHES
3/5
There were a couple of legitimately great songs on this album but I think it got watered down by a lot of similar-sounding songs.
Carpenters
3/5
Deee-Lite
2/5
Paul Simon
3/5
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
2/5
Not much to say about this. Didn't really resonate with me at all.
Ghostface Killah
3/5
It was pretty good all the way through. There was a lack of variety that did make the whole thing feel a bit labored, but overall it wasn't hard to get through.
Prince
5/5
I'm not a huge Prince fan but this album is perfect - every song is distinct and different, masterfully written and recorded, and it's all over before you know it. This was the best of everything Prince had to offer.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
It's a classic, and it probably planted the seed for all rap-rock acts to grow from. It sounds a bit dated but it's still a bop.
Genesis
3/5
KISS
3/5
Vintage jock rock. I prefer the live stuff.
Coldcut
2/5
I couldn't remember a song off of this album to save my life. Bunch of polished nonsense.
Fiona Apple
4/5
Love Fiona's voice and songwriting. Admittedly she's not 100% in my wheelhouse though.
Drive Like Jehu
2/5
One of the things I appreciate about Fugazi is they kept their music to a reasonable length. There was no reason for a 9 minute song - they got their vision out in 4 minutes. Drive Like Jehu makes the mistake of thinking they could maintain my attention for over an hour with 12 songs. I do like the genre but this is a real slog to get through.
Sigur Rós
4/5
It's gorgeous music. I can't understand a word they're saying though, so they may be singing about either fjords or racial purity, I have no way of knowing. I also don't find myself wanting to listen to this stuff 99% of the time, but I can't deny its beauty and that shouldn't really impact how it's rated.
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
Not bad. Very produced country music but Bonnie Raitt has a lot of cred to me between the songwriting and the guitar playing.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Great album. Surprisingly powerful Americana music for a quartet of Californians.
Motörhead
2/5
Ace of Spades (the song) was ALWAYS playing in THPS and I've never really liked it. Lemmy's voice was always just terrible to me. I guess at the time it was kind of a novel thing, and their art surely provoked the youth as well, but I feel like it's just edgelord stuff today. Add on the problematic as hell "Jailbait" and you've got a barely-talented band writing cringey music. On the plus side, the album was relatively short.
Kelela
3/5
I'm kind of surprised I've never heard of Kelela, this was pretty great. Some of it got a bit monotonous but it was a nice pleasant listen. More of a 3.5 if I could.
Magazine
3/5
It's fine, but I feel like the author's UK bias really shows in a LOT of the albums he picked for this list. I have no idea why this would be considered a must-listen to album, especially with entire genres of music missing or wildly underrepresented from the entire list.
Marilyn Manson
3/5
Evil personified - listening to this album just makes you feel DARK. It's pioneering and honestly, I don't know that anyone has ever been able to do it again so well. NIN was always brooding and dark as well, but never quite got into the evil territory.
Separating the art from the artist, this is just a brilliant album.
Happy Mondays
2/5
This did nothing for me.
The Go-Betweens
2/5
Bland, unmemorable, inoffensive. There's absolutely no reason for this to be on this list.
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
I really liked it, but I wish there was a 3.5 stars option. Feels like the music that McCartney always wanted to make.
Alice Cooper
4/5
This must have been shocking when it came out, I love it. Campy, psychotic, well composed and recorded.
Queen Latifah
2/5
I think maybe this album requires a ton of historical context to properly appreciate, because it sounds very dated at this point. Not a must-hear album, I'm afraid.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Quite good for the genre, I think. Closer to 3.5 but I think it deserves the 4.
Nick Drake
3/5
He was taken too soon and was a great songwriter, but the album give me major I-Gave-My-Love-a-Cherry vibes, and I kind of want to smash an acoustic guitar right now.
The Birthday Party
1/5
That was a miserable experience.
Machito
4/5
Music to my ears after far, far too many mediocre British albums. Had me captivated from start to finish with some wonderful unexpected solos that were straight fire.
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
Long and blah. The fact that this is on the list but not Discovery by Daft Punk... daft.
The Gun Club
2/5
Not for me. The singer's voice is just grating and everything else was high school garage band level.
XTC
3/5
Beatles melded with Tears for Fears - I actually quite like the first half of the album, the production is amazing. The second half feels like much of the same unfortunately. Altogether I'm glad I listened to it. Another 3.5.
Giant Sand
2/5
Well, 'chore' is accurate. Just kind of drones on. Vocals aren't great. Couldn't recount a single track if I tried.
Morrissey
2/5
It's fine, typical Morrissey fare.
New Order
3/5
I quite liked it, but I'm not sure how re-listenable it is. Solid right-down-the-middle album.
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
Another album I enjoyed but not sure I would ever revisit. Drone, noise, angst; high school me may have stanned for it.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
1/5
So this guy was in Moby Grape and Jefferson Airplane, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, then drove directly to the recording studio upon his release from the nuthouse to record this album. And all of that makes this album make complete sense - that he had the clout to demand this album be recorded and get it released. Because there's absolutely no other way anybody would have released this crap.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Great album, it's a tad long but he must have been so incredibly inspired when he made this. 4.5, but definitely leaning towards the 5.
Jeff Beck
3/5
Kind of cool as a time capsule album - you can tell where Led Zeppelin derived their inspiration from.
Jeru The Damaja
4/5
Good album, reminds me of a slightly less developed Jurassic 5. But of course, this album is from 5 years before they even formed. A stepping stone that holds up.
Gil Scott-Heron
3/5
Loved the message, didn't quite enjoy the music though.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
Not an exciting album but it had a decent vibe to it. I'd go 2.5 but I'll round up.
Liz Phair
3/5
I've tried to listen to this album many, many times over the years because all indications are I should absolutely love this album. Unfortunately, her superb songwriting skills are almost nullified by her sound. Usually a bad vocalist will get some leeway from a great band or vice versa - she doesn't get the benefit of either. Add it to the list of albums I really wish I could love.
TV On The Radio
3/5
Kind of a cool vibe, unique. Not something I'd revisit. 2.5/5.
Def Leppard
3/5
Over the top, polished, as commercial as metal can possibly get. I'm not a fan of the music but the band is legendary... for other reasons. 2.5 as an album, I'll round up though.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
Not loving it. There's something so "safe" feeling about British hip hop.
Underworld
1/5
The music was bad but the length was what drove me into angry territory.
Culture Club
2/5
Not my cup of tea. Not sure what else to say about it.
Robert Wyatt
1/5
I would like that 40 minutes back, please
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Good album, some classic songs on here. Feels like there's some filler in the middle but it was enjoyable.
Van Halen
4/5
Fun album. Van Halen kind of found their formula and stuck with it, but it was something no one else could replicate. 33 minutes with hardly any filler. Dinged for being dumb, but great for the ear candy. 3.5 if I could.
The Who
4/5
Cool album, especially for 1965. The Who really took the rock/blues trend and made it their own thing.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
I'm not a fan of EDM and my ratings reflect that, but this is one of the better albums I've listened to on this list. I think maybe the vocals broke up the repetition that I have a problem with in the rest of the genre. Anyway, they had their own unique spin and I didn't mind that at all.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Sympathy is a classic and the rest just kind of rolled into standard Stones fare. Not bad but not as dynamic as some of their other albums. Probably a great album in a historical sense, but from what I've read, this is the album where the Stones kind of figured out the honky-tonk swagger rock kind of thing, and they were certainly still figuring it out.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I love the atmosphere and narrative of this entire album, and I've listened to it many times. One complaint would be that there's very little difference in the songs themselves, musically. Would have liked a little variance from song to song.
3.5
Rod Stewart
4/5
Like a sexy Joe Cocker. The album somehow simultaneously exceeded my expectations and made me a bit afraid of getting cancelled.
Cypress Hill
4/5
Cypress Hill has a very unique sound, cool vibe. I feel like it does get a bit repetitive but I liked the album overall. 3.5/5.
Orange Juice
2/5
Soft boy Talking Heads with a voice I just can't enjoy.
Sister Sledge
2/5
This is usually my genre but I just didn't get into this one. It might be the disco part of it that's throwing me of - I usually love everything soul and funk, but this feels like a dance album over everything else.
U2
3/5
Kind of a fluffy U2 album - lots of droning atmosphere and melancholy lyrics. Not bad, not my favorite U2 album either.
Haircut 100
2/5
It's a bop but altogether not very interesting. Another Brit biased choice.
Beth Orton
3/5
Frank Black
4/5
I liked it as much as any Pixies album I've ever listened to. The first handful of songs were especially good and very different from each other. I think it does go on a little long, feels like it should be a sub-40 minute sub-12 song album.
UB40
3/5
I think they're talented musicians and the scene was pretty cool. It's not my type of music and some of the instrumentals just get tiresome. 2.5 but I'll round up.
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
This was a pleasant surprise for me. Southern Rock isn't my favorite genre but it was interesting to see Drive-By Truckers' (apologist) perspective. Yes, using race dynamics to get votes is racist. But with that out of the way, the whole album is like a cousin-marrying Gen X love letter to the South. The instrumentation is loose, the vocals barely rise above the standard of acceptability, but there are some true gems of lyrics in here, and their brand of musicality provides an interesting backdrop. For these reasons, I wasn't put off by the length of the album.
The Verve
1/5
This was incredibly boring.
Ella Fitzgerald
1/5
I love Ella Fitzgerald but this simply is not an album.
Fred Neil
3/5
I guess that was kind of cool. The best song was the one everyone knows, though.
The Verve
2/5
Another boring Verve album. Slightly better than the one I was forced to listen to yesterday, though.