i know this album is iconic or whatever but it didn't make a huge impact on me. the lyrics painted a sad story about a crumbling America that had failed its people, which like, i can definitely get on board with, but the actual music just didn't really hit me beyond the surface level. i think i liked born to run more. favorites: born in the USA, cover me, dancing in the dark

good songs, knew several already from rock band. favorites: purple haze, highway chile

dirt is great. i've listened to it at least once all the way through prior to now, and the singles are phenomenal and powerful grunge tracks. favorite songs: rooster, would?, them bones

listened to it twice since i didn't absorb much the first time while passively listening. nice, calming songs but not what i'd typically seek out or listen to frequently. favorite songs: the windmills of your mind, no easy way down

nice album to listen to, though the songs I had heard before seemed to be the only standouts on the album. favorite tracks: Cecilia, The Boxer

discovering that janis joplin sounds like marge simpson with a bit of angus young at certain points was the highlight of my day. this was most noticeable to me on I need a man to love and summertime. beyond that, though, I'm not sure how many of these I'll come back and listen to. favorite tracks: summertime, piece of my heart

some nice songs here but definitely a downer of an album through and through. frank has a great voice but this whole album isn't for me. favorite songs: in the wee small hours of the morning

great album, so many cool and interesting tracks that combine into a cohesive whole. favorite songs: airbag, no surprises

decent dad rock but nothing spectacular for me. the best songs on the album IMO I already knew. favorites: walk this way, toys in the attic

always cool to see electronic music in its early forms, and I dig the use of samples on this album. some of the songs either don't really work for me or tend to drag on. favorites: the rockefeller skank, praise you

this album slaps! i love the post-hardcore proggy sound, everything flows super well, and it's based on an interesting concept. favorite tracks: son et lumiere, inertiatic esp, roulette dares (the haunt of)

pretty good punk rock album but it's never been one of my favorites from the Offspring. the Wikipedia page also compares it to Green Day's Dookie, which in my opinion is a far better album in most respects. still solid for the most part with a few standout tracks. i also like the reggae influence on what happened to you. favorites: nitro (youth energy), something to believe in, come out and play

cool album! not what i'd normally listen to but I really liked the flow and lyrics. favorites: offence, venom, 101 fm

i knew zero of these songs going in and despite listening to the album twice through, feel like I know zero of them still. that's the struggle with listening to music in the background while focusing on work, I guess. but I digress... this album was a great album for some feel-good Friday jams. good vibes only - thanks stevie! favorites: heaven is 10 zillion light years away, you haven't done nothin'

what a goofy, wacky album. i think another reviewer described this as "bruce springsteen for theatre kids" which feels pretty accurate. definitely thought this was going to be worse considering all the derision and groans meat loaf got in popular culture while i was growing up. favorites: you took the words right out of my mouth (hot summer night), paradise by the dashboard light

not super impressed with this album. feels like a lot of funky filler. le freak is the only one I knew beforehand and liked. decent background music but all the songs are like two minutes too long. favorites: le freak

the album was fine but not very memorable to me. i knew block rockin' beats from mashups but nothing else jumped out at me. favorites: block rockin' beats, piku

good album overall. i already know most of the big deep purple singles and enjoy the general wackiness plus technicality of 70s prog, so this album was a fun listen. speed king feels like highway star lite, and singing along to child in time is a great way to annoy everyone else in the vicinity. favorites: speed king, child in time, flight of the rat

i liked the chill vibes of this album, though none of the other songs beyond the three singles I knew jumped out at me after two listens. favorites: electric feel, time to pretend, kids (though I feel like I've heard it enough to last the rest of my lifetime)

this was an interesting listen. parts of it were really cool and flowed well, but there's going to be filler on a double album that lasts for the length of a blockbuster movie (2h15m!). i only knew the way you move, hey ya, and I think roses before going into this. also, I was shocked at how many guest appearances there were on this album that became huge names later on. favorites: hey ya, flip flop rock

What the heck did I just listen to...? some thoughts my fiancee and I sent back and forth on Discord while listening: "I'm in an evil french depression" "churning, dissonant strings and a french man yelling angrily... finally some good fucking music" "it's like french tom waits in an abandoned factory" "sort of a rammstein-in-paris vibe" all in all, it was super weird but I didn't completely hate it. individual songs would go from parts I loved to parts that sounded insane and back again, but I get it. it was the 80s, these things happen. favorites: (parts of) la fille de la mort and longue route?

i really liked this album! 90s hip-hop with an optimistic message. i had only heard Tennessee going into this and enjoyed most of the tracks on here, mr. wendal being a big standout. favorites: mr. wendal, people everyday, tennessee

a decent album, pleasant but forgettable overall. i don't think i knew anything by the byrds prior to this, though several of these songs are covers of traditional folk or popular 50s/60s songs, so i knew wild mountain thyme and hey joe. mr spaceman was good. 2-4-2 fox trot (the lear jet song) is one of the worst and most annoyingly grating songs I've ever heard. the instruments are hard-panned to the left channel, there's a bunch of like, scraping metal and mechanical aviation noises hard-panned to the right, and the center channel has the astoundingly repetitive vocals phrase. insane audio engineering choices here, even for the 60s. the 17-minute song+interview at the end of the album on spotify ("John Riley - instrumental version 1") was wild. lots of weird/awkward pauses that seemed to be added in specifically for this track. highlights: around 9 mins in they start talking about aliens and around 10 mins in they're making plane noises. tbh i think this interview made me come around a bit on the rest of the album favorites: wild mountain thyme, mr. spaceman worst song of all time: 2-4-2 fox trot (the lear jet song)

this album was super cool, I liked it! funky and fun. some of the tracks (especially Dance or Die) reminded me of Sonic Adventure 2 music that would play during Rouge's levels. Great stuff! Favorites: Cold War, Tightrope, Say You'll Go

meh. nothing here stuck out to me or made me want to listen again. the album was fine as background music but I don't think i'd ever listen to it again. shame because I really like some of neil young's other work, but yeah, this ain't it.

I was waffling between 1 and 2 stars for this album, but even trying to separate the artist from the art, I don't think this album is anything special. the songs are repetitive and overstay their welcome, as they're all just different tweaks of the same shock rock and (proto-)nu-metal-esque filler tracks. Shocked that some critics at the time hailed this as the best album of the 1990s or the album that killed grunge. Frankly embarrassing. favorites: I guess the beautiful people and cryptorchid

ah, another decent-but-not-memorable 1001-list album that doesn't hold any nostalgia for me so I may not fully appreciate all it has to offer. i knew All I Wanna Do going into this and that's definitely the highlight of the album. lot of snoozefest filler here in my opinion. favorites: all I wanna do, no one said it would be easy

while this isn't my favorite nirvana album, I think it's still excellent. the songs have an almost indescribable balance between being written, recorded, and produced well while still conveying a grungy, punky, DIY aesthetic. cobain's lyrics here are some of his best, and the singles from this album have very much stood the test of time. favorites: heart-shaped box, dumb, very ape, scentless apprentice

i enjoyed this album! i didn't know anything on it in advance, except picture book sounded a bit familiar. the main riff from it also reminded me of Green Day's "Warning," which was fun. i liked how the character portraits of each song worked together and how this was basically just an early concept album of sorts. favorites: the village green preservation society, picture book, village green, all of my friends were there

good vibes but few songs really made an impact. the ones i liked the most i knew going into it. all along the watchtower, though a cover, is seriously one of the greatest songs from this era. favorites: all along the watchtower, crosstown traffic

interesting album, and finally something i can listen to in the background without feeling like i'm doing it a major disservice! the experimental soundscapes with more consistent music over the top were interesting, and i can appreciate music that pushes boundaries. nothing here that i personally plan to listen to repeatedly but still decent. favorites: future days, bel air

pretty good britpop. nice vibes and i enjoyed the wikipedia article that included a note about how the band recorded their own grunting sounds for Sometimes I Make You Sad. favorites: sun hits the sky, in it for the money

this was all right, though maybe i didn't listen closely enough to really enjoy any of the tracks. favorites: john barleycorn

uhhh honestly i didn't care for this one as much as fulfillingness' first finale, despite knowing nothing on that album. superstition is the only standout on this album to me, and the rest didn't make any impression. sorry stevie. favorites: superstition

it was fine. i liked i heard it through the grapevine, though honestly not as much as marvin gaye or creedence's versions. album was nice but i'm not sure i'd seek it out again. favorites: i heard it through the grapevine, runaway child running wild

another album where i wish we had half-star ratings on this site! it was pretty solid and pleasant to listen to but the only real standout to me was do you wanna dance. i absolutely love the album cover though - listing out basically all the tracks and then relegating three to obscurity (though they could have just fit them all there) is an incredible move. but i'd expect nothing less from the genius behind like a dozen covers of shortnin' bread. favorites: do you wanna dance, help me rhonda

this was a pleasant album to listen to. i had it on in the background while working and nothing particularly jumped out at me, though i did go back and listen to a few tracks again. favorites: you ain't the problem, solid ground

another album that had a cool premise (two bands coming together to record songs that woody guthrie had written but never recorded) but i wish the album as a whole stood out more. even after multiple listens, nothing here gripped me beyond the general nice indie-folk-y vibes and some clever lyrics. favorites: walt whitman's niece, way over yonder in the minor key, ingrid bergman

pretty good album overall but not their best. my generation and the kids are alright make sense as the big hits to stand the test of time, but the other tracks were enjoyable enough. favorites: the kids are alright, la-la-la-lies, my generation

pretty cool but i don't speak portuguese. i got the gist of a couple songs I read through the lyrics on, but I was honestly too distracted throughout by all the weird noises they were making in the background. meus filhos, meu tesouro had a little yappy dog, a few of them had screeching monkeys, and taj mahal had someone pushing and pulling a plastic straw through a soda cup lid over and over. this has led me to realize that more albums should have weird, annoying sounds as the basis of their instrumentation. favorites: meus filhos, meu tesouro, taj mahal

well, i enjoyed this album (dads everywhere rejoice). solid tracks, though they were all about two minutes longer than they needed to be. still, would listen again. more albums should do instrumental reprises of the last track on side A to start side B. favorites: hotel california, wasted time (reprise)

i really liked this album! it was pretty "out there" and musically experimental compared to others on this list. the first three tracks were great, and the backstory of Robert Wyatt's life at the time adds another dimension to this work. this felt like a crossover between radiohead and the replacements (minus the super creepy/unnerving vibes). favorites: sea song, a last straw, little red riding hood hit the road

this album was cool, though the songs started to run together for me after the first handful of tracks. definitely a good debut for any band though I don't really have any nostalgia for it personally. also, I never really looked closely at the album cover until now. obviously I knew this was not the case, but in my mind I just always assumed the guy smoking a cigarette on the cover was adam sandler. apparently I'm not alone in thinking this. do with that information what you will. favorites: I bet you look good on the dancefloor, when the sun goes down

allegations aside, this album was fine. it's 70s/80s disco, which I'm somewhat lukewarm to overall, but I recognize the lasting contribution to American pop music that disco and MJ have had. favorites: rock with you, burn this disco out

"this whole thing smacks of gender" -dril what a great album! i had heard a handful of songs from this album previously, but the whole thing is a masterpiece. i listened to it three times and like half the songs are grade-A bangers. cool 80s vibes and exciting tracks all around favorites: let's go crazy, darling nikki, when doves cry, i would die 4 u, purple rain

kid rock is a terrible person and rightwing conspiracy lunatic who writes songs about having sex with underage girls. this music maybe would've been passable as instrumentals but my god these lyrics are just awful. welcome 2 the party (ode 2 the old school) might be the worst on this album in that regard. skip it, nothing redeeming here. how did this crack the top 1001 albums list...? favorites: bawitdaba i guess

i don't think this album has aged particularly well 50+ years later (nor has john lennon's legacy). it really seems like he needed the rest of the beatles there to prevent him from putting questionable stuff into his lyrics that the FBI couldn't torture out of me in a million years. the actual music in the songs is pretty lackluster and boring in my onion. imagine is a pretty boring, overplayed song at this point in time, but certainly felt profound the first hundred times I heard it. given the context, controversies, and contradictions of john lennon's personal life, I wonder if he would still believe any of it if he were around today. also is jealous guy just about him beating his wife? john, dude, you can't just put that in a song... and the paul mccartney diss track? wot favorites: imagine? i guess? maybe oh yoko! meh

i honestly didn't know any of the songs from this album (and I'm still unclear if I should've just listened to the first three or the full seven from the deluxe edition) but the prog was proggy and I'm here for it. imo this album was not nearly as catchy or fun as some of yes' other work, but definitely still enjoyable. favorites: siberian khatru, close to the edge

this album was fine and pleasant background music. nothing here that i'd really seek out or revisit, personally. i had never heard of this guy before now and I'll probably forget his name in a week :\ favorites: one of these things first, at the chime of a city clock

i liked this one! i only knew sharp dressed man going into it but the album has a cool sound and some good tracks. nothing life-changing here for me but i'd listen to some of them again. favorites: gimme all your lovin', got me under pressure, sharp dressed man, legs, tv dinners

this is a classic punk album with simple, solid, short tracks that holds up pretty well half a century later. a lot of these songs have been covered to hell and back so in some cases I'm more familiar with those versions. as a result, some of the tracks here feel a bit stripped-down and basic all these years later, but that might just be from changing sensibilities in popular music. good album though. favorites: havana affair, 53rd & 3rd, blitzkrieg bop, beat on the brat

woof. karma chameleon is a classic but the rest of this album is filler. terrible lyrics, boring music, strange but uninteresting instrumentation... just a big resounding meh across the board. come to think of it, karma chameleon isn't even that great of an 80s song either considering what it's up against... favorites: karma chameleon

i'm not a huge metallica fan but I really don't get the hate for this album. a lot of the songs work well with symphonic arrangements and they're more interesting to me than many of the original album versions. stay mad, "REAL" metalheads favorites: the ecstasy of gold, the call of ktulu, master of puppets, the thing that should not be, fuel, hero of the day, for whom the bell tolls, one

Good album, solid tracks, Beatles are a great band, what do you want from me? I don't know if they deserve all the hype but there are good and fun tracks here, some of which I've been listening to for decades. Favorites: Eleanor Rigby, Yellow Submarine, Taxman, Here There and Everywhere

at first i was like uhhh a live album??? we sure about this? but it's actually good. can't believe this was sealed away in the disney vault for 20 years before being released, I guess because the audience was having too much fun? wild favorites: soul twist/introduction, feel it (don't fight it), chain gang, it's all right/for sentimental reasons

great album, some classics on here, good jazz/rock vibes, no notes. harmonix seriously needs to rewind bodhisattva for rock band 4. favorites: bodhisattva, my old school, the boston rag

i've gotten more into queen over the past few years via Rock Band, so I enjoyed this album overall. after two listens, the songs I already knew remained my favorites, but I'll revisit this one from time to time. favorites: killer queen, stone cold crazy, brighton rock

maybe i'm missing something but this album is... how do I put this... not good? at its best, it's just boring indie folk with bjork-esque vocals on top. other tracks like the glorious land seem to go out of their way to be annoying with the weird-ass pikmin c-stick trumpet noises that don't fit with the key of the song at all. the ending of all and everyone showcases someone trying their best to blow a horn mournfully. the last track was my favorite because bjork let someone else take a turn singing and then it was over. if England is shaking from this album, it's shivering with fear that another one like this is in the works. favorites: written on the forehead? i guess...?

ahh, yeah x3. very mixed feelings here. very high highs and astoundingly low lows. maps and date with the night were both in Rock Band, and maps is like, THE rock band 1 drum song for normies. it's an amazing song. unfortunately, that's about where my praise ends. I think songs like maps with a straightforward vocal performance are best. the riot grrl shouting in the other tracks makes this feel like an unholy mashup between bikini kill vocals over black keys or kings of leon instrumentals, and that is simply not my vibe. the last song, Yeah! New York, might be the worst song I've heard since yesterday's pikmin trumpet on PJ Harvey's album. not sure if this was a bonus track that was left off the original album release but after hearing it, it should've stayed left off. it's got all the makings of a classic: - screaming and moaning - lyrics that include phrases like "yeah! big apple!" and rhyming "pink eyes" with "pink thighs" - white stripes-ass drum part - terrible title - repetitive one-note instrument parts - lyrics that go nowhere and say nothing in the process

i consider myself a fan of early/mid-90s grunge, but this album just never clicked for me. to me it just feels dark and inaccessible, like it's that weird loner in the corner of the party that just truly Does Not Want to Be There. with that said, spoonman absolutely slaps. love that song. black hole sun is a classic too. but the rest? ehhh not for me favorites: spoonman (slaps), black hole sun (classic)

another really great album, and only a week after the last steely dan album it generated for us! what a treat! the jazz-rock fusion works so well for SD's 70s output... i have no notes, keep doing your thing guys. favorites: rikki don't lose that number, any major dude will tell you, pretzel logic, charlie freak

i liked this more than some of the other electronic music albums on the 1001 list, but it's still not my first pick. i assume the music is much better when played at an illegal 90s rave with a copious amount of party drugs, so the sober experience was middling. i appreciate this album's existence and what it sets out to do, but i wouldn't put it on my top 1001 albums list or anything like that. favorites: halcyon and on and on

pretty good overall. i wasn't born when def leppard were popular but I don't understand why they seem to get way more hate than other similar bands from the time. this album has a few classics and I didn't hate any of the tracks, so I guess that's notable for some of these 1001 albums. i'd definitely revisit this, which is why I'm giving it 4 stars (it's honestly a 3.5 like so many others to me) favorites: foolin', rock of ages

good album! aretha has an amazing voice and these songs are solid. i didn't really understand the "bonus selections" on the spotify album just being mono versions of the songs on the album that sounded the same to me, but I guess that's more spotify's fault than anything. favorites: chain of fools, you make me feel like a natural woman

cool album. i loved the instrumentation, the pastiches of the last 50 years of musical genres, and the production. several of the guests brought a lot to their tracks. the lyrics were very hit and miss to me. kendrick will go from a poignant song about institutional racism to a braggadocious song about sex or just repeating nonsense. another 3.5 star album to me but I liked enough of it to rate 4 stars here. favorites: wesley's theory, for free, king kunta, momma

kid a is phenomenal. i listened to it three times yesterday and it's beautiful from start to finish. i hadn't heard this album much before now, but I did know five or six songs from Rodeohead and friends playing them beforehand. everything here flows well and the Kid A Mnesia experience that I checked out a few weeks ago has some context now. I've already put this one in my rotation moving forward. favorites: everything in its right place, the national anthem, how to disappear completely, treefingers, optimistic, idioteque, morning bell

what a great album! basically a greatest hits album for boston since all these tracks are solid (and they never really had any other huge hits except maybe amanda). this is another album i know primarily through Rock Band and it's baffling that we got only 7 of the 8 tracks in the game (sorry, let me take you home tonight, someone at harmonix has it out for you) favorites: more than a feeling, peace of mind, foreplay/long time, smokin'

i had never heard of this band or album before now but this was a great listen. i think i played it through 4 or 5 times in the last 24 hours... it's good!! nice 80s indie/pop/rock/new wave style. adding this to the rotation. favorites: perfect skin, rattlesnakes, charlotte street, are you ready to be heartbroken?

R.E.M. has been one of my favorite bands for roughly 20 years so i was always going to like this album, but i confess i only knew the big songs off it. after listening through a few times, i think this album is a perfect encapsulation of R.E.M.'s sound in the 80s. jangly pop-rock guitars without the otherwise ubiquitous 80s synths, creative but obtuse lyrics that get muddled in the mix (so you really have to work to understand what michael stipe is saying), alternative rock drum beats, and driving basslines. all in all, a solid package of tracks that set the stage for their next several albums and some of their biggest songs yet to come. favorites: radio free europe, laughing, talk about the passion, catapult, we walk

the lyrics on this album are great, and the instrumentation is solid. however, the songs themselves just don't come together for me in a gripping and enduringly appealing way. i'm happy for everyone who loves this album but it's another 3.5 stars for me after about two listens. favorites: down to zero, love and affection

ok this might sound crazy considering all the other reviews on this album but I thought this was excellent. it's going to take a lot to convince me to pay attention to a 93-minute double album, but I thought the rock opera/concept album approach worked very well here. listening to each song and reading through the background/explanation and lyrics via DBT's website and Genius annotations really helped to contextualize what I was hearing. obviously, you'll need to have a penchant for southern rock, lynyrd skynyrd, or late 20th century US history to get the most out of this album. but even without those, it still evokes a mood and time period very well. it handles a wide variety of concepts and themes in a moving and respectful way, and definitely deserves your time and attention. favorites: about half of these honestly. in disc/track order, ronnie and neil through the southern thing, zip city, let there be rock through plastic flowers on the highway, angels and fuselage

i think i listened to this album like three and a half times and it was pretty enjoyable. i only knew radio radio and pump it up before this, but this album apparently has basically all his solo hits. the new wave energy on this album is impeccable, but elvis veers off into punk, ska/reggae, power pop, and other genres effortlessly. I'll definitely listen to these tracks again. favorites: welcome to the working week, alison, mystery dance, I'm not angry, watching the detectives

another great album, and i feel like there's not a huge selection of metal/hard rock albums in this 1001 list (either that or the randomizer hates me). this might be my favorite priest album, but the only one I know more than a song or two from is screaming for vengeance. the songs here are solid and there are definitely more hits than duds. it's not the best album ever but really lays the groundwork for future JP tracks and the metal genre at large. also, why oh why did Rock Band only get the crappy live version of this when the studio version is so much better? favorites: metal gods, breaking the law, united, living after midnight, the rage, steeler

i've never been a huge led zep fan, though I like a handful of their singles. this album was fine but didn't do much for me. the instrumentation seemed technically proficient but several songs in particular were like three minutes too long and didn't really go anywhere. the lyrics all being like "baby, baby, oooohhhh whoooooaaaa, baby be my woman tonight" were not exactly riveting. favorites: good times bad times, babe I'm gonna leave you

i like CCR a decent amount and know a handful of songs from their other albums, but not this one. I've heard born on the bayou and proud mary, and of course good golly miss molly. those are really the only standouts, as much as I wanted to like a song called "keep on chooglin'". we really didn't need three out of seven songs to be over 5 minutes long on this album, and they didn't really go anywhere in that time. meh favorites: born on the bayou, proud mary, good golly miss molly

wow, i really liked this album! i knew yoshimi battles the pink robots pt 1 and do you realize??, and just somehow never thought to check out the rest of this album. it's solid all the way through and visits some interesting places musically. I'll definitely revisit this one in the future. favorites: fight test, one more robot/sympathy 3000-21, yoshimi pt 1, in the morning of the magicians, ego tripping at the gates of hell, do you realize??, all we have is now

huh, the critics sure raved about this album 40 years ago but try as i might, i just cannot get into it, even after multiple listens. it sounds like the worst and most uncanny parts of early depeche mode and the residents combined, with a sad man half-singing, half-rambling over the top. i wanted to like this and it's just not doing it for me, but i can respect what it means to the people who really enjoy it. favorites: twenty four hours

good album! trent bangin out the tunes, 1994 favorites: heresy, march of the pigs, closer, hurt

pretty good, this one's got some classic bobby d tracks. dylan is definitely a great storyteller and a huge name in the american folk music scene, though not an artist i listen to that often. i'll revisit some of these highway 61 revisited tracks in the future for sure, though. favorites: like a rolling stone, tombstone blues, ballad of a thin man, desolation row

this was a very pleasant listen. i didn't know any of the songs going into it but after two plays all the way through, i have some newfound respect for joni mitchell and would definitely listen to this again. favorites: my old man, carey, river, a case of you, the last time i saw richard

as a native austinite, i [am mandated by law to] love willie nelson. he's an iconic figure in texas' history and mythology. he also has a great voice (in a kindly old grandpa sort of way, at least nowadays) and knows how to make a song enticing. I'm more familiar with his newer covers like Just Breathe, The Scientist, Have You Ever Seen the Rain (well, a new cover of an old song) so this album just felt like a regular ol' collection of songs to me, but given the willie treatment. very pleasant to listen to. it almost feels like I'm sitting around the campfire looking up at the stars (which, at least at night, are big and bright (but only deep in the heart of texas)) while willie strums away on his guitar. very nice. favorites: stardust, georgia on my mind, all of me

i could go on for days about this man's extremely strange politics and convictions, possibly some of the craziest of any public figure i know, but i'm gonna go ahead and go on record saying that this guy is an ass. you know how sometimes you're so passionate about animals that you accidentally do a racism? morrissey knows. anyway, the album itself was fine. there are some decent songs, though it's hard to feel sorry for ol' sad sack narcissist morrissey here. i also liked how he said he doesn't have many friends in the first track, and several songs later is telling us to hold onto them and not feel ashamed to have them??? who is ashamed to have friends, what kind of serial killer would write this anyway, favorite songs: spring-heeled jim, billy budd, the more you ignore me the closer i get (it's got a good instrumental part even if the lyrics aren't great)

this is probably my favorite CCR album, and like half the songs are solid singles, even if a few of them are covers. the two longer songs definitely feel like a slog to get through but otherwise the album basically alternates between good singles and deeper cuts. favorites: travelin' band, lookin' out my back door, up around the bend, who'll stop the rain

i know neil young can write good songs but none of these grabbed me at all. this was an incredibly long and boring album that went nowhere for me. just a resounding meh. favorites: cinnamon girl, i guess

i listened to this twice while lying on the couch, exhausted from covid. it was kinda trippy, especially ride across the river's jazzy DK jungle beats. there's also a familiar sprinkling of synthesized 80s cheese over the top of the whole record, which was kind of comforting. the back half of the album definitely dragged on, but it was a good listen overall favorites: money for nothing, walk of life

this was an enjoyable listen, even for a double album! stevie knocks it out of the park again with some amazing tracks here and solid musicianship throughout. i definitely liked the first half more, but nothing felt like a bad inclusion here. favorites: sir duke, i wish, pastime paradise, summer soft, isn't she lovely

this music was nice enough as background noise but i didn't really enjoy listening to any of the tracks actively. i wanted to like the album but it just didn't do much for me personally. favorites: pannonica, bemsha swing

this was a baffling inclusion but admittedly i think I'm just not the target audience. a lot of the references and subtleties went way over my head, and i wish i could appreciate it more. still, as i see it, it's a weird album for weird people, and there's nothing wrong with that. this guy is an unapologetically horny brit, and i applaud his genre explorations from track to track. the lyrics don't do much for me, particularly the overtly sexual ones, but whatever. still not sure how this makes the 1001 list but there are worse albums on the list than this one by far. favorites: sweet gene vincent, sex & drugs & rock & roll

meh, there are some okay singles here but knowing that paul is capable of writing and performing much more exciting songs with the beatles, this just doesn't cut the mustard. still the best of any ex-beatle's solo work, but that's not really saying much, is it? favorites: band on the run, bluebird

green onions is a great track, but the rest of the album began to wear thin on me. the hammond organ works great for a track or two, but 35 straight minutes of it was a bit much. after a while it felt like i was at a very confusing baseball game or wedding being held in a liminal space. favorites: green onions, twist and shout

this was enjoyable but nothing special. i didn't know any of the songs beforehand and this album doesn't really have any of his big hits. ehhhh we can do better favorites: fever, dirty dirty feeling, such a night

wow, i really wanted to like this album but it just... wasn't good. none of the songs ever really went anywhere. when i liked the instrumentation, the vocals sounded awful and vice versa. the lyrics weren't interesting for the songs i was reading along to. i listened to the album twice and change just to make sure. the madden bros even made an appearance (it was 2004 so this is understandable) and just didn't add anything to that track. didn't even notice lenny kravitz and he was apparently on two tracks?? also i don't think you can call these hidden tracks if they're just... in the middle of the album??? what. just... baffling and mediocre all around favorites: fly or die

i enjoyed this album and didn't really know any of it (beyond oh susannah, and not his version) beforehand. "sweet baby james" is kind of a ridiculous name for an album but i won't hold it against him. i also think he has a sort of matt mercer look/vibe on this album cover. good stuff. favorites: sweet baby james, steamroller, oh susannah, fire and rain

good album with some absolute bangers in changes and life on mars. i didn't know the others but they were enjoyable to listen to at least. this really feels like bowie finding his niche, and I'm here for it. favorites: changes, life on mars?, queen bitch

interesting album. i've never really listened to patti smith beyond her covers and because the night (amazing song) so it was cool to hear her sort of proto-punk roots. with that said, i wish i had liked these songs more :D it was kinda like riot grrrl vocals over piano instrumentals... bikini kill-y joel. lyrics were great though favorites: free money, my generation (live) (from the legacy edition of the album)

i liked this one. otis redding has a great voice and does some solid covers. I'll be coming back to these for sure. favorites: respect, my girl, wonderful world, i can't get no satisfaction

well, they tried something different and while it's not particularly good or enjoyable, it's still a way more interesting inclusion in the overall 1001 list than the ninth fuckin' Neil Young album or whatever. I liked how about 22 minutes in, the album got much more listenable. I could swear I heard bits of the hawaii five-o theme in there too... interesting. favorites: I'm not currently looking at the track list but I think it was called like feet music or some shit? what the fuck haha

after listening to this like one and a half times, i honestly still don't know what to think of it. it defies classification. some of these songs were well-written jazzy jams with clever lyrics and the rest just sounded like the worst hold music of all time (with some really crappy lyrics on top). i found myself stopping a few times and audibly asking anyone within earshot "what the FUCK are we listening to" favorites: blackkk, tokyo (one of the songs with terrible lyrics though), them changes, where i'm going

i didn't grow up listening to the rolling stones but this album was pretty solid. starts off super strong with the classic brown sugar (which admittedly hasn't aged super well, unless that's part of it). sway, wild horses, and can't you hear me knocking are also great tracks. it gets a bit boring after that, particularly toward the end of the album, but i can see how these have stood the test of time. favorites: brown sugar, sway, wild horses, can't you hear me knocking

this album sure was fine. pleasant enough but all the songs kinda just blended together. also i guess van morrison is an antisemitic anti-vaxxer now SO THAT'S GREAT favorites: moondance, into the mystic (i know it was the 70s but cool g-slur bro)

this album was great and i really enjoyed it. the post-hardcore/punk sound leads to a lot of high-energy songs that are musically varied and interesting, in my opinion. i don't mind the vocals at all and the more i learn about fugazi, the more i admire their perspectives, politics, and DIY attitude. i hadn't heard more than a handful of their songs before now, but these'll go into my regular rotation. i almost gave this four stars but i just rated rolling stones as four and this was so much better. five stars, dammit! favorites: turnover, repeater, blueprint, sieve-fisted find, two beats off

wow, i have no memory of this but apparently i liked seven of these songs on spotify as i was listening to this album at work yesterday? welp. cool album, basically sounded like queen plus david bowie plus jukebox the ghost (and my fiancee said early of Montreal as well). basically just the ultimate mashup of glam and new wave sounds. I'll add some of these to the rotation, good find! favorites: this town ain't big enough for both of us, amateur hour, hasta manana monsieur, talent is an asset, in my family, equator, barbecutie

what is there to say about this album that hasn't already been said? it's basically the pinnacle of the 70s glam rock genre and bowie's best. the album flows well, has some genuinely great lyrics, and great sound. basically everything still holds up to this day and likely will for years to come. an absolute classic. also, I'm a huge fan of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, and Lady Stardust's opening sounds uncannily similar to The Summer of '91. I'm definitely onto something here. favorites: five years, moonage daydream, starman, lady stardust, ziggy stardust, suffragette city

great album! i agree with the other commenters that this is a 5-star 1001-albums-album but like a 4.5/5 for radiohead themselves. it's no ok computer or kid a or in rainbows but it is pleasant and weird and enjoyable and complex like we've come to expect from thom and the boys. favorites: 2+2=5, sit down stand up, sail to the moon, backdrifts, where i end and you begin, there there, myxomatosis, a wolf at the door

this was a cool, funky jazz album. crazy that you can just put four songs on an album and call it a day, but herbie's just built different i guess (he's fully loaded). this was like 3.5 stars for me but i don't know how often I'll revisit it. gonna have to clear my schedule if i want to listen to all 16 minutes of chameleon. cool tracks though favorites: chameleon, watermelon man

this sure was fine. it sounded like the rolling stones and the ramones mashed up into one mediocre rock band. i guess there wasn't much music around in the 70s like this and that's why it influenced so many actually good musicians, but i don't think there's much here nowadays. not for me anyway. better than some albums on this list but mostly just average to me. favorites: personality crisis, trash

i didn't know any of these songs going in but i really liked this album and listened to it twice in a row, then a bunch of other outlaw country. the story behind the album is great and the lyrics and instrumentation are spot on. my favorite line is probably "if my feet could fit a railroad track, i guess i'd been a train" favorites: honky tonk heroes, ain't no god in mexico, black rose, we had it all

i'm convinced the sonics were just the mediocre-er beach boys. how did this make the 1001 list...? there's just nothing interesting going on here, save for MULTIPLE SAXOPHONE SOLOS favorites: money, strychnine

well, i wanted to like this album but this guy has multiple allegations of domestic abuse against him so yikes. there's so much good music out there in the world that 1001 albums really shouldn't continue platforming people like this... favorites: let's stay together, how can you mend a broken heart

pretty good overall, though a lot of the songs sound really similar. i ended up listening through the album four times just to try to differentiate between the songs and pick up on things i'd missed. great lyrics, moody guitar, and hushed vocals come together to make a solid album. i can see how this would have a huge impact on people who discovered it at the right time in their lives. i didn't have any knowledge of or nostalgia for elliott smith prior to yesterday but still enjoyed it. favorites: speed trials, Alameda, ballad of big nothing, between the bars, rose parade, angeles, say yes

this album was solid and i can see why it's considered a classic but it didn't make a huge impact on me. born to run (the song) is one i already knew well and really enjoyed, and I'm sure i'd heard thunder road and tenth avenue freeze-out at some point. after two listens though, this album just sounded like the best and worst of billy joel and meatloaf blended together. the sax is cool though favorites: thunder road, born to run, jungleland

another fine album that didn't really do much for me, even after two listens. the songs are all pretty samey and unfortunately the one song they wrote wasn't one i really cared for. i can definitely see how people would like this sort of music but i just don't think it's anything special. the songs i knew going into it are still my favorites, and hard to handle is definitely the best one here. favorites: hard to handle, she talks to angels

solid industrial album. not my favorite but certainly a unique sound compared with everything else in this list. production and mixing seemed really flat though... everything felt very compressed in terms of EQ and i think the album suffers as a result (even if this was a stylistic choice). songs are hit and miss but yeah, interesting stuff overall. favorites: jesus built my hotrod, scare crow, psalm 69

meh, not interesting or engaging to me... like all the other neil young albums I've had generated so far. he has like three songs i like, i swear, i just haven't lucked into any of them yet D: favorites: tell me why

eh, i used to hate AC/DC but have come around on them a bit in recent years. they've got like eight good songs but unfortunately only one of them is on this album. after the title track, this album doesn't really go anywhere or do anything exciting, it just all sounds the same. if you really like the one 40-minute AC/DC song they wrote, then you'll love this album, but it was just ok for me. favorites: highway to hell, touch too much

i love rem and don't care who knows it. this album might be their best work of the 80s (though i've listened to green more) and it's just fun and well-done all the way through. finest worksong is a great opener and it just stays high from there. i know probably 95% of the words to it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine) so i may not be an unbiased judge of character here. anyway this album is great, five stars. favorites: all of it but if i have to pick a few, finest worksong, welcome to the occupation, exhuming mccarthy, ...end of the world..., the one i love

i liked this more than i expected to. he sounded like an american beatle so if you're into that then you're good to go. nice songs, interesting and varied music, and the song about the lime in the coconut - what more do you want? favorites: gotta get up, without you, coconut, jump into the fire

this was an interesting album. their whole shtick reminded me of the band Ghost, but like, the 80s german industrial version. i enjoyed the german queen covers. unfortunately, the novelty of the album wore off after a few tracks, leaving the last half of it a real slog to get through. also, the ironic fascism element probably hit different in 1987 than in 2023... :\ with all that said, i get why this is in the bottom 20 or so albums on this site, but I'll stand by my mantra. it's better to be weird and interesting and potentially off-putting than milquetoast. i'd rather listen to my ninth totally off-the-wall album than my ninth neil young album. favorites: leben heisst leben, geburt einer nation, opus dei

this album is one of my favorites. just the right amount of weird and interesting without sacrificing quality. once in a lifetime is one of my favorite songs ever, and the entire front half of this album is banger after banger. favorites: born under punches (the heat goes on), cross-eyed and painless, the great curve, once in a lifetime

this was a pleasant listen though honestly not something i'd really seek out myself or listen to often. nina's deep and soulful voice is a highlight of the album and really sets her apart from the pack. favorites: four women, lilac wine, wild is the wind

i normally love all sorts of "weird" music and sampling but for some reason beck never really clicked for me (beyond "loser" anyway). something about the composition just feels so haphazard and either meaningless or like I'm too stupid to understand what he's trying to accomplish. either way, doesn't feel great. i do like the way beck careens into different genres left and right, even on the same track. still, i came into this only really knowing the two big singles and left the same way. i'd give this 3.5 stars if i could just because i like a lot of what it's doing but realistically I'm not sure how often I'll be coming back to these deeper cuts. favorites: devils haircut, where it's at

i truly don't think this deserves to be the lowest-rated album on the entire 1001 albums list. i mean i GET why people aren't going to like it on the surface level but it was definitely unique. some of it sounded like german nine inch nails, while other tracks sounded like someone falling down thirty flights of stairs with their entire drum kit falling after them. either way, it's better than the ninth neil young album on this list. let's do our part to make sure kid rock and his sleazeball ilk fall to the bottom position on this list, yeah? favorites: tanz debil, jet'm, kollaps

i know this album is iconic or whatever but it didn't make a huge impact on me. the lyrics painted a sad story about a crumbling America that had failed its people, which like, i can definitely get on board with, but the actual music just didn't really hit me beyond the surface level. i think i liked born to run more. favorites: born in the USA, cover me, dancing in the dark

this was a great album and i really enjoyed it. funky tunes and great lyrics - power to the pussy indeed. i was planning to only give it four stars but really the only complaint i have is that two of the tracks are 10 minutes long, which isn't really a "problem" per se. good stuff here, I'll definitely revisit it in the future. favorites: maggot brain, can you get to that, hit it and quit it

i never really got into led zep and always found them to be a tad overrated but I'll freely admit that this is a good album. it has its ups and downs but the singles are solid and there are some bonafide classics here. also misty mountain hop sounded like suffragette city + 20th century boy, so if you're into those then you might like this track. favorites: black dog, stairway to heaven, misty mountain hop, when the levee breaks

i enjoyed this album, though i didn't know any of the songs on it beforehand. like most people (i presume), i'm mostly familiar with the greatest hits collection and a handful of other tracks. this album was great music to have on in the background while at work and i liked the message of the lyrics i heard. also i kept thinking Baby We've Got a Date was like the reggae version of Ring of Fire. cool stuff, definitely need to listen more in the future. favorites: Concrete Jungle, Baby We've Got a Date, Stir It Up

honestly, nuts to the haters. this album was great. it was wild and wacky and all over the place, but in a fun, tongue-in-cheek way. the biggest knock against it was the unnecessary sprinkling of racism across a few of the tracks. hotel, baron samedi, and maybe oh effendi all felt a bit unsettling to listen to in those sections, like hearing an uncle you always thought was kinda cool spout some nonsense at a family reunion. the use of AAVE (or i guess whatever the British equivalent is) just looks bad, especially 50 years later. otherwise, the songs were fun and interesting. some felt like 70s classics, others could've been written in 2009. hotel sounds like a flight of the concords or vampire weekend song. clockwork creep is like freddie mercury singing in a musical showstopper. old wild men seems to be poking fun at bands like led zeppelin, which I'm always here for. in summary, this is like steely dan + queen + meatloaf + talking heads + elvis costello + novelty records from the 50s + L + ratio + first single failed to chart. this feels like a band that john flansburgh of they might be giants would love. also their band name is bad. favorites: basically everything. old wild men and baron samedi are probably my least favorites of the bunch

eh, not the worst album on this list by a long shot, but pretty dull and uninspiring to me. the songs all smush together and don't really go anywhere. whenever i thought the music sounded ok, the vocals were there to bore me to death, and vice versa. lyrics were meh and had some secret "god is good" messaging which was an unpleasant discovery. the best compliment i can give it is it reminded me of Rouge's level music in Sonic Adventure 2. also, surprised to see that no one's referenced any of the legal issues or controversies surrounding erykah "hitler was good actually" badu. she's not like, kid rock or marilyn manson level, but still, yikes favorites: didn't cha know (i guess)

not sure how i feel about this album. the funky tracks were amazing but the slow, soft piano ballads didn't really hit home for me. i did have a minor heart attack when i saw that papa was a rollin' stone was nearly 12 minutes long and a third of the total album length, but man did they do it justice. that song slaps and i was wrong for prejudging it so. i don't really remember most of the later tracks but I'm sure they were pleasant enough. there's really nothing *bad* here. favorites: papa was a rollin' stone, love woke me up this morning

i've always liked the clash and their music a fair amount and while i didn't know the songs here super well, this album was no exception. solid early punk tunes with a clear message and fast, driving guitars and drums. i think they were still finding their footing here and some of the songs later in the album are a bit dull, but i really liked the first few. police & thieves is a decent cover too. overall, it's good, but it's no london calling. favorites: janie jones, remote control, I'm so bored with the USA, white riot

boy, this one is hard to rate. on one hand, i really liked the music. 4-5 star instrumentals here, super cool late 00s indie vibes. however, the vocals were like a 1-2 and the lyrics were absolutely a 1. what the heck was happening with these lyrics...? "disowned us daddies like the poopers of the party" really says it all. and that's from the same track talking about putting a boot up your asshole and a slipper in your bits. what favorites: the fun powder plot, hooting & howling, all the king's men

i liked this album! the "daisy age" of early 90s hip-hop was a fun time and i wish we could go back. the samples in this album are on point and i actually recognized a few of them without going to whosampled. good beats and good vibes, what more could you want? favorites: beyond this world, feelin alright, what u waitin 4, good newz comin, doin our own dang

this album was pretty cool and i enjoyed listening to it. I'm not sure how "iconic" it is or anything, but it definitely fits the early 2000s vibe of up-and-coming alt/indie rock music i remember. maybe there's a world where these dudes hit it big instead of the killers or lcd soundsystem or something. squares is a jam and the other tracks are fine to good imo. definitely some weird and trippy stuff on here though. favorites: squares, al sharp, human being, gone, eclipse

very cool songs for/about/by german robots. this sound would have absolutely blown my mind if i were alive and had heard it in 1978. each song felt really unique and interesting, and i enjoyed what each of them brought to the table. will listen again. favorites: basically everything. metropolis was the weakest track in my opinion

great album here, wonderful background music to have on while working. the songs are musically varied and interesting, and the lyrical themes were fun to work out with my intermediate spanish knowledge. I'll definitely listen to more of this in the future. favorites: chan chan, de camino a la vereda, el cuarto de tula, dos gardenias

This music was pleasant enough to have on in the background but didn't really move me or hold my interest for long. the covers are pretty good but i don't know how much of this i'd relisten to. it has a cool origin story though. favorites: mining for gold, blue moon revisited, I'm so lonesome i could cry, sweet jane

this album was fine and i'll concede it's notable/historic, especially for a live album. this version of i want you to want me is really the most iconic version in my opinion. i liked the songs i knew already, plus clock strikes ten had some interesting instrumentation going on. everything else felt like filler, and the live part didn't really add much to the experience for me. quality was also not stellar, but it's live and in the 70s so i get that. favorites: hello there, i want you to want me, surrender, clock strikes ten

this was a cool album and i really enjoyed it. i like salsa as a genre well enough but i couldn't tell you a single song or artist name. it was cool to hear a lot of it all in one place and try to figure out the lyrics. cool west side story reference as well. the instrumentation and musicianship are just off the charts here. favorites: plastico, buscando guayaba, pedro navaja

well that sure was an album. i didn't hate it but boy is there a lot of mediocre filler on here. the highs are very high (under the bridge) and the lows are oh so low (sir psycho sexy). i'm no prude but sir psycho sexy might be the worst and most generally disgusting/off-putting song i've listened to in 140 albums so far. it's just gross and feels super misogynistic. bleh. before i listened to this album all the way through,, i really lamented that it got delisted from the rock band music store. now i'm pretty much at peace with it (though it'd be nice to have under the bridge back at least). favorites: i could have lied, mellowship slinky in b major, give it away, under the bridge favorites:

win butler sex pest controversies aside, this album was stellar. i never listened to it at the time but it absolutely evokes that late 00s indie rock vibe. everything has a bit of an ethereal quality to it, and some of these tracks are just hauntingly beautiful. the organ was a nice touch without feeling overdone (looking at you, green onions by booker t and the mgs). i really enjoyed this and will come back for more in the future! favorites: keep the car running, black wave/bad vibrations, ocean of noise, (antichrist television blues), no cars go, my body is a cage

while i enjoyed this album, i can absolutely see how it would not be appreciated unless you're already at least somewhat of a fan of deep purple's music. the 20 minute tracks, extended drum and guitar solos, and random high-pitched screams aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea. still, i thought this was an exceptionally well-made live album, especially for the 70s. after listening to cheap trick's at budokan last week, this blows it out of the water in every way - tight musicianship, incredible virtuosity, fresh improvisation, and high fidelity audio. favorites: the ones i knew already (highway star, child in time, smoke on the water, and space truckin) plus the weird screams and bits on strange kind of woman and lazy.

as everyone else has said, this album is extremely strange. it felt like a cross between they might be giants and the residents, both of whom were probably inspired by this anyway. i basically liked every other track on here though. some of them were probably pretty good satire 60 years ago and parts of that are surely lost to time. the weird skits and random samples really made me feel like i was turning the radio dial to desperately tune into a station with a real song. i definitely understand the dislike for this album but i thought it was a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of boring stuff on this list. favorites: who needs the peace corps, mom & dad, bow tie daddy, what's the ugliest part of your body, absolutely free, flower punk, let's make the water turn black, mother people

meh. this was a pretty average mid-90s britpop/alternative affair and nothing really stuck out to me. certainly not as immediately recognizable or hooky as bitter sweet symphony or the other tracks from their 1997 album. i was going to give this 2 stars but i suppose it's not THAT bad, just a bit dull and uninspiring to me. or maybe I'm just not in the right mood to enjoy it. it was pleasant enough to have on in the background. favorites: on your own, history

in a not-at-all shocking move surprising no one, i thought this album was excellent and one of the best on 1001 albums so far (like 150 albums in). i've loved maiden for decades despite some boomery comments on social media and the first few albums being a bit rough around the edges. with that said, the music is great here. you can really see how this laid the groundwork for their later albums and really the entire NWOBHM genre as a whole. the guitar harmonies are something maiden do extremely well and will become a staple of their songwriting moving forward. drums hit hard and everyone sounds good, though this is pre-bruce dickinson so not quite the same impact on the vocals front. prowler is an amazing kickoff to the album and really sets you up for what's to come. remember tomorrow is fine but a little boring imo. running free has that iconic pounding drum part and a great singalong chorus. phantom of the opera might be the best track here, and really the first instance of a maiden epic. interesting musical variation between sections, "higher brow" lyrics based on literature and theatre, and a longer runtime would become staples for iconic similar tracks in the future. transylvania just straight up slaps. strange world was another one that didn't really make an impact on me, but they bring it back with charlotte the harlot. along with prowler, this makes two songs about women of the night on this album? closing it out, we have iron maiden by iron maiden from their seminal album iron maiden. solid track here, great music, lyrics are kinda goofy, but it's another song that's hella fun to sing along to. favorites: basically everything here. remember tomorrow and strange world are the low points for me. best is probably phantom