511
Albums Rated
2.98
Average Rating
47%
Complete
578 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010s
Favorite Decade
Punk
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
29
5-Star Albums
26
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
I’m a Lonesome Fugitive
Merle Haggard
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
Scum
Napalm Death
|
4 | 2.07 | +1.93 |
|
Mermaid Avenue
Billy Bragg
|
5 | 3.17 | +1.83 |
|
Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
Pavement
|
5 | 3.24 | +1.76 |
|
Teen Dream
Beach House
|
5 | 3.27 | +1.73 |
|
Since I Left You
The Avalanches
|
5 | 3.28 | +1.72 |
|
Ready To Die
The Notorious B.I.G.
|
5 | 3.36 | +1.64 |
|
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
|
5 | 3.37 | +1.63 |
|
Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
|
5 | 3.37 | +1.63 |
|
2112
Rush
|
5 | 3.39 | +1.61 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
21
Adele
|
1 | 3.69 | -2.69 |
|
After The Gold Rush
Neil Young
|
1 | 3.63 | -2.63 |
|
Fulfillingness' First Finale
Stevie Wonder
|
1 | 3.56 | -2.56 |
|
Dusty In Memphis
Dusty Springfield
|
1 | 3.47 | -2.47 |
|
Dirt
Alice In Chains
|
1 | 3.47 | -2.47 |
|
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Aftermath
The Rolling Stones
|
1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
|
Blue Lines
Massive Attack
|
1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
|
A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield
|
1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
|
Slippery When Wet
Bon Jovi
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 4 | 4.75 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Aerosmith | 2 | 1 |
| Dusty Springfield | 2 | 1 |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 1.67 |
| Massive Attack | 2 | 1.5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 2 |
| Neil Young | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Billy Bragg | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (29)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Violent Femmes
5/5
YOU CANNOT FUCK WITH THIS BAND!
This album has no bad songs. A masterpiece with no wasted space. Even if you include the two bonus tracks every song is amazing. Although Good Feeling is one of the best closers of all time, so the bonus tracks throw off the flow of the original. Gordon Gano’s songwriting and vocals are so full of teen angst mixed with his unique sense of humor. There are some laugh out loud funny moments on this album in the best way, “hey dad, speaking of driving…” on the bonus track being my personal favorite, what a hilarious payoff! Then there’s Brian Ritchie’s incredible acoustic bass playing, this guy is incredible. And let’s not forget Victor DeLorenzo stirring the soup on his weird trash can drum. Somehow these three came together and made one of the best punk albums of all time, and invented folk punk to boot! An all time great album that definitely deserves to be on this list.
4 likes
Public Enemy
5/5
“I got a letter from the government the other day. I opened and read it, it said they were suckers.” Is the greatest line in the history of lyrics. And more relevant now than it was back then.
This is one of the best hip hop albums of all time. It’s long, but unlike some of PE’s albums this one does not feel bloated. Everything on here works and feels necessary.
3 likes
Jeff Buckley
4/5
This was unexpected. I thought it would be a bunch of corny ballads based on the cover but this was all over the place in a good way. It’s a genre bending wild ride. It’s crazy to me that Hallelujah is the track that is famous off this one cause to me it does not fit the rest of the album and is not all that great of a cover.
2 likes
Kanye West
5/5
I’ve listened to this album more times than I can count. It’s what first got me into Kanye. Not a bad song on here, most are amazing.
1 likes
Neil Young
1/5
I think it’s safe to say at this point that I am not a fan of Neil young. I like a song or two of his but I hated listening to this album. His voice annoys me to no end. Like I said I can tolerate a song or two, I even like some. A whole album is way too much though, and this album especially. The songs were boring and bad, I didn’t connect with this at all.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (26)
All Ratings
David Bowie
3/5
It was scattered but I enjoyed it.
Dire Straits
2/5
Supergrass
3/5
Felt a bit scattered. Some good tunes but for a 40 minute album it dragged.
Derek & The Dominos
1/5
This album lasted forever. Incredibly boring. Being good at guitars doesn’t make up for lackluster songwriting.
The Notorious B.I.G.
5/5
Not much can be said that hasn’t already been said. One of the greatest albums of all time. Even the uncomfortable skits and diddy’s annoying contributions can’t take away from how damn good Biggie is on this one. Easy 5 stars.
Van Morrison
3/5
Not bad. Easy to listen to, kind of background music. Won’t go out of my way to play it again but wouldn’t be mad if it came on.
Stevie Wonder
2/5
Talk Talk
2/5
There were some cool things about this album. Some interesting drum loops, and I liked some of the music. There was a lot of potential here for a great album. That being said it didn’t feel very cohesive, and the songs needed work. Also, every song was ruined for me because I cannot stand the singers voice! This was the most egregious use of what I’m calling “80s voice” (think Tears for fears), it was unlistenable. This would be a three star with a different singer.
Frank Zappa
4/5
I was not expecting to like this. I’ve never given Zappa a fair shake. I thought it would just be bizarre experimental noodling. I don’t know where I got that idea but it was ingrained in me at some point. This album was wild! Peaches en regalia while not being as crazy as the other tracks was an amazing kickoff. After that it was nonstop in your face energy. It was by and large an instrumental album and man can this band jam!
Bob Dylan
3/5
There were some great songs on this album. That being said, in my opinion about 99% of Bob Dylan songs would be made better by cutting out the annoying harmonica solos.
The Doors
3/5
This is a nostalgia album for me. I was way into the doors back in high school so a lot of these songs are baked into my memory. Not everything on here was great, definitely some duds. I haven’t listened to the doors in a minute but I still dig a few songs on this one. Break on through starts the album off with a bang. The rest of the first half is solid. The second half is where it starts to fall off for me. Most of the songs after light my fire are duds. The End being the exception, that song rips.
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
Wow this was intense! I’m glad I listened to this with headphones. I think you’d miss a lot just listening on a speaker or even in a car. I honestly didn’t expect to like this album, I’d always just wrote NIN off as noisy and abrasive. Don’t get me wrong, this album is noisy and at times abrasive. But it’s not just noise for noise’s sake like I imagined. The production on here is stellar. Like wow does reznor know how to use a studio. Not only that, the emotion is there too. If I was listening to this back when it was released I’d be worried for the songwriter. I think this is definitely an album I’ll be revisiting. It won’t be everyday drive to work music, it’s pretty dark and very intense. But I do want to dig in deeper, maybe read along the lyrics as I listen and try and hash out everything that’s going on. I feel like the themes are well portrayed just through the music itself but I know there’s much more to this album than I can get from just one listen through.
Paul Weller
2/5
This was the first album on the list where I hadn’t heard of the artist. Then I read the bio and I have heard of the jam, just didn’t know the singer had a solo career.
I don’t have much to say about this album. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t do anything for me. It felt unnecessary, like this album doesn’t need to exist. It’s just a collection of bland forgettable songs.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Ok first Rolling Stones album on the list but I’m sure there will be like ten more. These guys always show up on best of lists but I’ve never met anybody who actually listens to them. Everyone knows some of their songs but does anybody really love The Rolling Stones? It must be a conspiracy or something I think.
Anyways on to the album. It’s not great. It’s better than that Derek and the Dominoes album I had to listen to but that’s not saying much. There’s like one or two good songs on here and the rest are filler. As a bonus for anyone who sits through the whole thing, Mick Jagger attempts a southern accent on Dead Flowers and it’s not good.
Various Artists
4/5
For what it is this is one of the best of all time. I didn’t know how many definitive versions of classic Christmas songs originated on this album.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
I didn’t expect the Louvin Brothers to show up on this list. I had not heard of them until the Cocaine & Rhinestones podcast did an episode about them. If anyone is confused as to why this album is on here I’d recommend checking out that podcast. It does a great job of explaining the Louvin’s historical significance and their contributions to country music. However, even after listening to that podcast I still don’t love the Louvin Brothers. I appreciate them more but the music is still very dated. Much respect for all that they did but I’m still not going out of my way to listen to it.
Brian Eno
2/5
This album was like The Postal Service only when it was Ben Gibbard’s turn to record vocals he phoned it in and just recorded himself flipping through channels on the tv. There’s some really interesting music on here. It’s just ruined by pointless samples. Just because something was “innovative” does not mean it was a good idea. I have nothing against sampling, when done right it can be very cool. This was not very cool.
Hookworms
4/5
I really liked this album. I’ve seen some criticism because who the hell are these guys and why are they included in the 1001 albums to hear before you die? But I came to this site to be turned on to new music. So while I agree it’s odd to have this album on here I still enjoyed it.
Deep Purple
3/5
It had its moments. The solo on child in time was cool. Space trucking was long but had some good parts in it. Overall not bad. Too long though.
R.E.M.
3/5
Some great tunes on here. Not everything was amazing but a solid outing. A very concise album.
Love
2/5
This album was fine. The instrumentation was very well done, bonus points for horns. Why don’t more bands have horns? The songs were kind of meandering, they didn’t really go anywhere. They just kept going.
ABBA
3/5
Not every song on this album was great, but there are some solid tracks. I wasn’t a fan of the ballads but the dancier numbers were a lot of fun. Some real ear worms that I’m not mad about. The bass is a real stand out.
Sleater-Kinney
4/5
The interplay between the guitar and the bass is very cool. This album sounds so far ahead of its time.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
It’s all downhill from Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. That’s not to say the rest of the album is bad, it’s just how do you top Suite? It’s far and away the strongest song on the album. The rest of the album has some solid tunes and amazing harmonies! Marakesh Express is a lot of fun. There are some duds on here, but even on those the harmonies are great.
The Offspring
4/5
When I go driving I stay in my lane!
David Bowie
4/5
I had heard of Bowie’s Berlin trilogy, I know it’s legendary, I just never got around to listening to it. I guess I thought I’d be disappointed. I always assumed it’d be very melancholy slow music. Boy was I wrong! This album was wild! A lot of fun and I will definitely be returning to it in the future.
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
Aerosmith
1/5
Does having Aerosmith on the list negate the rest of the list? Possibly
I can’t believe someone truly thought Love in an elevator was something I absolutely needed to hear before I died. They really couldn’t come up with 1000 albums without including Aerosmith!? I will never understand how anyone can enjoy this band, let alone subject other people to their garbage. If I could rate this zero stars I would. I did not and will not listen to it. I’ve heard enough Aerosmith for one lifetime, and enough Aerosmith in this instance is any Aerosmith.
Public Enemy
4/5
I’ve always felt like PE had a problem with quality control. There are amazing songs on this album, but there’s also a lot of filler. They could’ve knocked probably fifteen minutes off of this album and it would’ve been perfect. If not for the bloat this would be a 5 star for me.
Queen
4/5
Solid album. Some Prog-y weirdness that I wasn’t expecting from Queen. And how about those metal chugs on Brighton Rock, that was unexpected! I didn’t love all the songs but I’m giving this album a 4. Queen really went for it on this one, they were trying some different stuff. Not everything worked, but respect for going for it. Bring Back That Leroy Brown should not be slept on.
Willie Nelson
4/5
LL Cool J
2/5
This didn’t stand the test of time. There were better and more influential hip hop albums that came out at the same time/before this. I’m not saying LL wasn’t influential. I’m just saying for a list of albums you must hear this one doesn’t pass the bar. The beats are dope though.
Wire
4/5
I can’t believe I’ve never heard this before. You can hear the influence this had on so many bands. I also had no idea REM’s Strange was a cover.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
It was fine. +1 star for horns
John Coltrane
5/5
I’m sure there’s a lot more to this album that makes it great that I just don’t understand. I don’t know a lot of music theory, if I did I would maybe appreciate this album even more. I do hope one day to know more and be able to really dig into this album and other jazz greats. For now though, all I know is I love how it sounds and that’s enough for now.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
Why?
James Brown
3/5
Instrumentals were great, the songs were good. I’m preferential to later James Brown, this was cool but mostly ballads.
Beck
2/5
This felt like Odelay 2 in a bad way.
The Byrds
3/5
I wasn’t expecting to like this. I thought why not just have a country album by a country band? Why do I need to hear the byrds attempt at country? But they did a solid job. Not every song was great, but they really made a solid country album.
Beach House
5/5
I remember when this came out, it received a lot of accolades so I checked it out. I did not care for it at the time. this is a testament to giving things another go. I thought this album was just not for me, turns out I just wasn’t ready for it back then. This album was fantastic! I will definitely be returning to it.
U2
3/5
I tried going into this one without bias. I’ve never been a fan of U2, i find Bono annoying. But I wanted to give this album a fair shake. It wasn’t bad, although I don’t like Bono’s voice on most songs. I get why the hits were hits and why I’ve never heard the rest of these songs. Nothing on here is bad, just most of the album aside from a handful of songs was ok at best.
Beatles
2/5
Well I’m glad they kept practicing.
Air
3/5
A chiller for sure
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
The first half of this album was a bit much. I admittedly almost gave up, it was exhausting. I’m glad I hung on because the second half is where the album really shines. The way It Doesn’t Matter, Don’t Stop the Rock, and Get Up On It Like This all flow together to make one long suite was a treat. Then from K-Hole on it really gets into a cool psychedelic groove.
Ian Dury
2/5
If this album had been an EP and just had the songs from Blockheads onward it would be pretty good. As it is, the first 2/3 of this album are hard to listen to. The musicians aren’t bad but the music is cheesy. And I did not care for Ian’s songwriting and his voice, while solid for the faster songs at the end, did not work with his slower pop songs and ballads.
Holger Czukay
3/5
David Bowie
4/5
All killer no filler!
Oasis
3/5
It was good, a lot of the songs sounded the same.
Living Colour
2/5
Not for me. For a rock album it was too overproduced. Everything was so clean sounding. Talented musicians but it felt vapid even when the lyrics were biting social commentary.
Abdullah Ibrahim
4/5
This was great! I wish the bass was higher in the mix because the bass playing on this album is stellar.
Missy Elliott
2/5
In a fake patois Missy Elliott says I got the rhymes to make you jump, jump, jump. And when she does rap this is true. Missy has bars. Unfortunately the majority of this album is r&b slow jams. Based on my limited knowledge of missy elliott and the album cover I was expecting a hip hop album. I was disappointed. The beats are dope though.
Nas
5/5
Even without historical context this album is incredible. Add in the context and Nas completely changed the game with his debut. Still one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Solid album. Creedence is great. Not everything was amazing, but some absolute classics on here. Ooby Dooby was a fun one I hadn’t heard before.
Neil Young
3/5
This album was fine. Would make for good background music. Neil Young’s voice gets grating after a whole album though. I’m good for a Neil young song here and there but a whole albums worth was too much.
Blondie
3/5
This was a fun one. I knew the hits but never dove deeper into Blondie’s discography. I don’t know if I’d return to this but I wouldn’t be mad if someone put it on.
Marvin Gaye
2/5
A couple good songs in here. What’s Going on and Mercy Mercy Me were decent. Right On was the best track. The rest of the songs were meh at best. I was going to give a three star but Save the Children is straight up one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard so that knocked it down to a two for me.
The Cure
4/5
This rules. Very moody. I love the bass forward sound of early cure.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Solid album. Not really a bad song on here. I wish they hadn’t made Moby Dick the drum solo song, it has a cool riff but the rest of the song is boring. Also although musically the lemon song is very cool the lyrics are cringe.
Roxy Music
3/5
Bogus Man pushed this one from a two to a three for me. Everything before Bogus Man was awful. Everything after it was pretty cool, it got pretty experimental in the second half. I credit old sourpuss Brian Eno with the things I like about this album. Brian Ferry sounds like he’s doing a Dracula impression half the time, he is not my favorite singer.
Tracy Chapman
3/5
Some good songs on here. Not everything thrilled me. Mountain o’ things was really cool.
Kraftwerk
4/5
So close to being a perfect album. In my opinion, Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies throw off the flow of this album. Also I just think they’re stinkers, just not good songs, especially Hall of Mirrors. Otherwise this album is amazing. I love the opener, skip the next two, and then it’s basically one long suite of songs that all flow together.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
Objectively this is probably a 4/5, but I’ve been rating subjectively since I started this so for me it’s a 3/5. There are songs I love and listen to somewhat regularly (dreams, never going back again, the chain). There are songs I can tell are good but I have never cared for them (don’t stop, go your own way). There are some good songs that just didn’t really do anything for me. And there are a few duds. So overall it’s a good album but not one that I’ll be returning to in full.
Billy Joel
4/5
Mostly really good songs on here. I didn’t love everybody has a dream. Otherwise I at least liked and very much enjoyed many of the songs. Italian Restaurant is one of my favorites from Billy Joel.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
I went into this rolling my eyes. I like some SP songs but thought 2 hours was going to be WAY too much. I’m delighted by how wrong I was. This album was incredible and never lost my attention. I could gush over how dynamic and varied it is all the while remaining cohesive, but I’ll just leave it at incredible. What a feat The Smashing Pumpkins pulled off here.
Doves
2/5
This did not need to be on the list.
There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s fine, but that’s it, it’s just fine.
This is inoffensive pop rock, there’s nothing particularly exceptional about it.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
As always a plus one for horns. This album was not what I expected beaded on the first couple tracks. It gets a little experimental and weird in the middle there. Charge and Woman of the World were standouts for me. Not my favorite, but a fun and unique listen.
Taylor Swift
4/5
This was my first time listening to a full T Swift album and damn can she write a pop song! There’s not a dud on this album. Lyrically it’s not super relatable to me personally but it doesn’t matter, the songs are just good. I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I knew the hits, but pretty much any song on here could’ve been a single.
Van Halen
4/5
While I’m not a fan of 99% of the bands/music that came because of this album’s influence (hair metal), Van Halen and this album are undeniable. Just an awesome rock album. Eddie Van Halen is one of the greatest to ever do it. A creative and virtuosic player. The songs are there too, it’s fun to listen to and it rocks, what’s not to love.
Massive Attack
2/5
Some chill beats on here. Pretty much every song was ruined by the vocals.
Eurythmics
2/5
I’ve never cared for the title song and the rest of the album didn’t do much for me. Synths are cool, but the songs weren’t great and I don’t like the choices the singer made or maybe I just don’t like her voice. Either way not my favorite album. Going with a two because there are some good synth parts in it.
Beth Orton
2/5
This is like a mediocre Dolores O’Riordan solo album. There are a couple okay songs but most drag in too long and don’t go anywhere. I’d say just replace this with a Cranberries album and call it a day.
Stevie Wonder
1/5
Well that settles it, I am not a Stevie Wonder fan. This is the second album I’ve had of his on this list and again it did nothing for me. Some of the more upbeat tunes are kind of fun, like Boogie On, but even that one I got bored of after 45 seconds. Most of his songs on this album are slow ballads and they are capital B BORING!
DJ Shadow
3/5
I enjoyed a lot of this. Changeling was fantastic. However, I don’t really buy that it was such a sea change when it was released in 1996. Reading through the Wikipedia and there are quotes saying it set the bar for hip hop and other grandiose statements because of its use of sampling. But this album came out almost ten years after Paul’s Boutique, which basically did the same thing as this album in terms of sampling. I was 5 when this came out so it wasn’t really on my radar at the time. So maybe it was as important as they say, I’m just not seeing it.
Metallica
3/5
Starting with this album I don’t think Metallica should call themselves Metallica anymore. They kind of stopped being a metal band and veered into hard rock on this album. But Hard Rockica just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Metallica. With their transition to hard rock, Metallica made a decent album. Honestly for a lot of bands this would be a great album, but Metallica was coming off an amazing three album run. This album doesn’t come close to those. It has a few good songs but most are just ok to forgettable. All I’m saying is they better have ride the lightning, master of puppets, and …and justice for all on this list if this album is gonna be on it. I get that this is Metallica’s mainstream success album, but it’s not their best.
Aerosmith
1/5
I will never understand how this band is so highly rated, or even remembered. They should have been forgotten and left in the 70s. They had a couple hits but the rest of their music is just not good. A one bit wonder band that somehow clung to relevance.
The Prodigy
2/5
I guess you had to be there cause to me right now this doesn’t stand out as anything special. Climbatize was pretty cool. The rest was ok, annoying at times, but not too bad over all.
Fela Kuti
3/5
This was cool, some fun jams on here. I could’ve done without the 16 minute drum solo at the end, especially consider there already was a drum solo in the middle of it.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Starts off strong but the second half was kind of weak.
KISS
2/5
Detroit Rock City is the only KISS song I really like. I love that little bass riff. The rest of this album was okay to bad. King of the nighttime world is alright and so is shout it out loud. The ballads are not good, I guess Beth isn’t a terrible song but I don’t care for it. Great expectations was hard to listen to. The rest of the songs are forgettable. KISS were amazing marketers, I don’t know how else to explain the cult following of such a just ok band.
The United States Of America
3/5
This felt ambitious. There was a lot of cool stuff on this album. The instrumentation was great, some really cool bass lines, and all around interesting choices. Where the album falters for me is in the actual songwriting and the vocals. These are not the best singers and for me it ruined a lot of the songs. I think this would’ve worked better as an instrumental album. Also, while some songs were exploratory, most of them were, at the heart, pretty standard blues rock songs with some zany effects over them. I know that is what a lot of 60s psychic rock was like, basically blues rock with a twist, but for all the talent this group seemed to have I felt like they could’ve done more.
The Rolling Stones
1/5
I will never understand the love for this band. It’s the stones and Aerosmith that just make no sense to me. How are these bands so highly regarded?
This album was not good.
This band is not good.
R.E.M.
4/5
I believe this was REM’s debut and it is a solid debut. This album showcases a skilled band with a lot of promise. Not every song on here is amazing, but there’s a lot of great stuff, and no real duds. Overall I think it’s a very cohesive album. It was a perfect one to throw in on a Sunday afternoon. It’s got a chillness to it that’s perfect for just kind of hanging out. It is one of those albums that you can listen to closely or just have on in the background and it works.
The Stone Roses
4/5
I really enjoyed this. While sonically very different, I felt like it had a similar vibe to REM’s Murmur which was my album for yesterday. It’s an album I’m sure you could dig into, but works just as well as one to throw on during a chill afternoon.
Teenage Fanclub
2/5
I never really got into Big Star. This band sounds a lot like Big Star. I thought a lot of the songs sounded the same, not much in terms of variety. Also, the songs were kind of boring, like they’re 3-5 minute pop songs that felt far too long. There’s definitely better power pop out there. Not sure how this made the list to be honest. It’s not really innovative, it sounds like it could’ve come out in the 70s but it came out 20 years later. It’s listenable but nothing to write home about.
Suede
3/5
I enjoyed this one! It doesn’t sound like anything else that came out in the early nineties. It sounds like it could’ve come out in the late 70s or early 80s, but with enough of its own sound to not seem dated. I thought it was a bit too long in run time until I found out I had listened to the expanded edition which has like 7 extra songs. That being said, my initial thought was the album should have ended on The Next Life, it was a perfect ender but there were two songs after it that threw off the flow. Come to find out that song wasn’t even part of the original album. I think it would have been a great closer still.
LTJ Bukem
2/5
I didn’t finish it. Got about half way through the first disc. It’s fine, but it’s extremely repetitive. I had no problem with the music other than that it just got boring after a while.
Also, as a disclaimer, the album on Spotify is not the right one. I had to find it on YouTube.
Blur
3/5
I enjoyed this for the most part. I probably won’t listen to it again. It also was too long, I was ready to be done about half way through.
Deep Purple
2/5
You can tell these are very talented musicians. That being said, they lack when it comes to songwriting. There was nothing engaging about these songs. It seemed like the songs were a vehicle to show off how good they are at solos.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
This album was a lot of fun. As always +1 for horns. Dueling bongos and the cover of inna-gada-davida were the only tracks I didn’t care for, otherwise a great album!
Goldfrapp
2/5
I liked the first track, after that it lost me. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, just kind of boring and same-y throughout. Fortunately it was rather short so it was too bad to listen through.
Ash
3/5
This was good. It wasn’t great though. I think this showcases a band with a lot of promise that needs time to flourish.
2/5
The guitar solo on invincible was wild. The rest of this album was just ok. Not bad but I wouldn’t listen to it again.
The Temptations
2/5
This was just kind of boring to me.
Mike Oldfield
3/5
This was definitely unique. I don’t know if I’ll listen to it again, but I don’t regret listening to it either.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
This one definitely has its moments, but it drags a lot too. Some killer but too much filler. Oh what a world was an amazing opening track.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
All killer no filler! Lynyrd Skynyrd brings it with there debut. It took me a long time to really dig into skynyrd, I knew the hits but never sat down and listened to the albums. It was probably a few years ago that i finally dug in and man these guys rule.
Kate Bush
2/5
This did not resonate with me. I don’t care for Kate Bush’s voice, I find it irritating, I can’t put my finger on why that is. There was some cool instrumentation on the album, but as a whole I didn’t like the songs. I know this album has a ton of accolades, I guess it’s just not for me.
MGMT
4/5
This album was better than I remembered it being. I liked the singles when this came out so I listened to the rest and wasn’t all that impressed. I guess my tastes have evolved since then because I was mostly impressed with this album aside from a couple of duds. The singles are still good, electric feel is still the best song on there. Weekend wars and pieces are the two duds in my opinion. Otherwise the non-singles while not as catchy are really cool.
The Undertones
2/5
I was unimpressed by this. Nothing about it stood out. It was just an ok album that I got bored of after two songs.
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
half the songs on here were fantastic, the other half were forgettable. Sex Machine is the standout on the album. Everyday People is short and sweet. Stand! was a solid opener. I wanna take you higher was also a good one. I do not see myself revisiting this album or any of the songs. I listened to this years ago and felt the same way I do now. I understand its importance and can appreciate the musicianship but the songs just don’t do it for me.
Iggy Pop
2/5
Never cared much for solo Iggy. The stooges were great because the music complimented his voice. Iggy Pop does not have a good singing voice, it works for garage rock/punk, but o don’t want to hear him singing slow songs and ballads.
The Stooges
2/5
I really got into the stooges a while back. I read the biography, I immersed myself in their music. I was really into it. That being said I always felt like this was their weakest album. Search and Destroy is amazing, but the rest of the album does nothing for me. For the record, I listened to the 2023 50th anniversary remaster this time. I feel that it is the best mix of this album.
Elvis Presley
2/5
This was a real mixed bag. None of it was all that good though. The musicianship is top notch, but it felt like Elvis was just given a bunch of random songs to sing. Is it a country album? Is it gospel? Is it soul? Nobody knows. Also most of the songs were boring, suspicious minds was good. He butchered Gentle on my mind.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
Pretty dull.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
This I like. These songs are like short stories set to music. I didn’t love every song, but I enjoyed the ride.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I listened to From Elvis in Memphis earlier this week and I was not impressed. I’m not a fan of later Elvis. This is the Elvis I like, he’s still hungry and trying to prove himself. Not every song is great but there’s good energy throughout. A solid debut album.
Common
3/5
I feel # #this is a slow burn. It’d probably take a few listens to really appreciate it. That being said, I listened to it once and have some initial reactions. This definitely feels dated, I didn’t look up when it came out but I’d guess around 2004. It’s definitely backpack rap, that’s not a bad thing, but that style just gets old after a while. It can be a bit preachy, focusing more on the message than the music. And that message oriented music across an entire album can be exhausting. Plus sometimes it veered into corniness. The beasts were pretty solid, some songs sounded like they were produced by Kanye, or a copycat, but this was definitely a Chicago album so I’d be willing to bet Kanye worked on it. Overall an enjoyable album that I won’t be throwing on all that often.
R.E.M.
4/5
This was really good. I’ve never done a deep dive on REM, but this is the second album I’ve gotten from this list and this one was even better than the first (Murmur). I didn’t realize they put out 5 albums in 5 years until I was looking this one up. This is I think the 5th album. That’s a crazy output, and for the fifth one to be this good, these guys were just oozing with songs.
Thundercat
3/5
This was strange. I didn’t mind it but I don’t know that I’ll return to it. I’ve been aware of Thundercat for a while now, he seemed to blow up out of nowhere a few years ago. I know he is an accomplished musician, but the songs on here just didn’t really excite me. It would almost make good background music but it’s just a little too weird for that. I mean that in a good way. I like that he’s making the music he wants to make and is not compromising to get a hit.
Magazine
4/5
There’s a lot to unpack here. I’ve only listened to this album once so I feel like I can’t fairly rate it. There’s a lot of good stuff, again after just one listen I don’t think I’ve taken the time to fully appreciate it. It’s definitely one I’ll have to get back to.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
She has a good voice, but I found this tedious to listen to. The songs did not grab me, I was bored. Give me Norah Jones every time over this.
Cream
3/5
The first third of this album I like. It’s got some chill groovy songs, then there’s Blue Condition which I didn’t like. Ulysses brought it back but the rest of the album didn’t thrill me. Mostly just boring bar blues rock and one novelty song at the end. It’s between a two and a three for me, but I’ll give it a three cause I liked almost half of it.
Rush
4/5
This was almost a perfect album. The last two songs don’t fit the rest. It throws off the flow of the album. It would have made for a very short album, but if you cut Witch Hunt and Vital Signs it would be flawless. I feel like they were tacked on to fill out the album.
N.W.A.
3/5
I guess I never really listened to this album all the way through. I was aware it was controversial, and I’ve definitely heard some of the songs, I think I listened to this all the way through years ago. That being said, I didn’t realize how sexist this album is. I would say it’s of its time but I’m pretty sure this wasn’t acceptable even for the 80s. No, I think they were doing it for shock value, and if that’s the case it still didn’t age well. I still like some of the stuff on here, Express Yourself is low key the best song on the album. That and the hits are all solid, even though I can’t stand Eazy E. His voice just irks me. But this one def takes a hit for how poorly some of the songs aged. However, one song has definitely stood the test of time, and unfortunately its message still holds true today. This country really needs to take a deep look into the rampant racism in policing.
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
Definitely some talented musicians, but I was unimpressed with this album
Hole
3/5
When I first listened to this album, probably in high school, I only liked Doll Parts and Rockstar. I still love Rockstar, it’s easily my fav song on the album. This time though, I liked a few more of the songs than last time. The ones I didn’t care for were the ones where the guitar was too beefy for my taste. I love the guitar on rockstar, gutless, and she walks on me. But the first half is too much of that thick grungy guitar that just doesn’t do anything for me. I like a more raw guitar sound. So for me the second half of this album really shines compared to the first half.
Iron Maiden
3/5
This wasn’t bad but definitely feels dated. For me Iron Maiden is more of a greatest hits band. The songs I really thought were great were ones I already knew, Number of the Beast and Run to the Hills. The rest of the songs weren’t bad, they just didn’t grab me. A lot of them felt too long. I understand that Iron Maiden are metal pioneers and I can see their influence in this album. But I prefer later metal that’s a little heavier. Maiden is just too clean sounding to me, that and I’m not a big fan of Dickinson’s vocals.
The Who
3/5
For its time this album seems a lot more heavy than other albums being released. That being said, if The Who had stopped after this one they would be a footnote in the history of rock music. Most of this album is forgettable, there are a couple songs that have stood the test of time and the rest have rightfully been ignored. Aside from being heavier most of the album is standard fare for what was being released at the time. It is not The Who at a creative peak, it is them working out what they would someday become. I don’t think this album should be on this list. If there was a list of singles to hear before you die, I could see My Generation being on it, it’s an iconic song. But this album is just ok.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Some dope boom bap beats on here. The lyrics didn’t age well on some songs, namely the bichez, and the use of the other f word, which I know was pretty prevalent in hip hop at the time, but still doesn’t excuse it. It’s hard to give this album more than a three. His rhymes are solid, but this album was released the same year as Illmatic and Ready to Die. Biggie and Nas pushed hip hop forward lyrically with those albums. So while Jeru has some solid raps and good flow he kind of gets left in the dust by his peers.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
There was nothing wrong with this album. It was fine, but I wouldn’t call it essential by any means. I enjoyed the music but I don’t care for the vocals. The singer has that 80s voice. I think the most popular example of what I’m talking about is tears for fears, but other examples are Modern English, Icicle Works, Naked Eyes, The Monroe’s. These were all one hit wonders, as were, as far as I know, Echo and the Bunnymen. I think it’s pretty obvious why too. It is grating to hear that style vocals for an entire album. It works for a song here and there, but gets annoying when listening for 45 minutes. I’m giving this a three but it’s really a 2.5.
Dr. Octagon
4/5
I’ve heard this album before but it was a while ago. This album is wild, it borders on outsider music at times. At times it sounds like dr. Octagon is stream of consciousness rapping. This was unlike anything else at the time, even for Kool Keith who is Dr. Octagon. It’s almost as if his alter ego takes over and he becomes Dr. Octagon. The lyrics are wildly inventive and, while seemingly random at times, create the lore of the Doctor. It’s one of the strangest concept albums I’ve come across. And the music on here is amazing. The album may never have been more than an underground hit if not for the production. The themes and lyrics are so bizarre that without stellar production this may have been lost to history save for a handful of hardcore fans. But all the ingredients together has made this album stand the test of time. I will say that it was on the long side, and some of the samples, while on theme, make it so I wouldn’t throw this on in public. Overall, a terrific album that still sounds fresh thanks to its unique style.
Adele
1/5
I just couldn’t do it. I listened to 25 minutes before I gave up. I do not connect with Adele’s music. It’s the musical equivalent of watching paint dry.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Man Kraftwerk rules so hard. This is what I said while listening to this album. The Robots was my introduction to Kraftwerk years ago. I stumbled on a YouTube video of them playing it live and couldn’t help but think are these guys actually robots!? I’m still not sure. Their mastery of electronic music and monotone singing voices makes me question their humanity to this day. If this is what AI music had turned out to be, instead of just wonky covers of other artists, I’d be ready to assimilate.
The Robots also sparked my love for vocoders. It’s easily my favorite song on the album, possibly mgmt favorite Kraftwerk song. Although, Europe, Endless is up there too. The rest of the album is also amazing. Spacelab is sparse but beautiful. Metropolis is the darkest sounding song on the album, and The Model is also eerie but less so. The Model is the low point for me, the vocals/lyrics on it kind of ruin it for me. But right after that is the beautiful Neon Lights, followed by the closer which is techs and robotic like the opener. There’s not a bad song on here! I am knocking off one star because when these guys aren’t using vocoders they are not great singers. The singing can be a bit monotonous and annoying for some. But the music is so good it doesn’t ruin the songs.
Bad Company
2/5
I guess I understand why this album made the list. It has multiple songs that remain in the classic rock zeitgeist. For me personally I’ve never cared much for the hits off this album and the non-hits aren’t great either. The title track is the only one I can tolerate, the rest bore me. This is one that maybe “rocked” in 1974, but feels so tame and uninteresting now.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
A loud, sloppy, energetic introduction to a band still working out the kinks. I mean that all lovingly of course. I’ve been a fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for a long time, and I am a fan of this album. However, I see their debut as a promising introduction to a band still finding their voice. A voice they perfected on their sophomore album Show Your Bones. This album though is full of punk rock energy and grime. Mixed in there is a hint of where this band was headed. Maps is one of the most beautiful songs of the 2000s. It showed that behind the grime was a group full of emotion and pop savvy. The sound of Maps is what I think is more fully fleshed out on the next album. It’s cool to see this band growing and learning on this album. A fantastic debut.
Elvis Costello
3/5
Elvis Costello is someone whose music I enjoy at times. I really like some of his songs, but I’ve liked a full album. That remains true with this album. There are a few really good songs and the rest are just filler to me. I think Detectives is probably my favorite song of his.
Nick Drake
3/5
This was an inoffensive folk album. I don’t have much to say about it except I kind of forgot I was listening to it. It makes great background music, it’s sort of soothing. I used to listen to Pink Moon sometimes to help me fall asleep. I don’t think pink moon is boring, it’s just very calming. This one is similar but not as good.
Fleet Foxes
4/5
This album came out when I was in high school and I was a fan. High school was a time when I really started to explore new music. Prior to that time my scope was limited to basically classic rock and pop punk and whatever my parents listened to. I probably found out about Fleet Foxes the way I found out about most new bands at the time. Either an album review in Rolling Stone magazine or seeing them on a late show like Conan which I watched religiously. Either way this was an early foray for me into harmony laden folk music. I love a good harmony and this album is partly responsible for discovering that love. All that being said, this album definitely holds up. My opinion about it hasn’t changed much. For me it’s definitely a front loaded album. The first half is basically flawless, I like every song. The second half falls off though. It feels like they needed more songs and threw some filler tracks on it. Blue Ridge Mountains is solid but the rest are just kind of forgettable. Not bad, definitely listenable, they’re just sparse and light in the harmonies. Maybe they are grower songs that I just never gave the time to breathe, maybe I’ll return to them and give them more time. But as of writing this my opinion is first half perfect, second half needs work.
The Temptations
2/5
This album didn’t do it for me. They’re talented musicians but it just didn’t connect for me. I can’t put my finger on what exactly doesn’t click. I like funk and I like Motown, I guess I just don’t like the temptation’s take on funk/motown.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
It’s sparse but the songs are there. I’ve not listened to much Springsteen, never cared for his radio songs. I enjoyed this album though. The songs are well written and I like that they’re all little short stories. I’d only heard one song off this album before and it was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Bands cover of Atlantic City. I prefer their version of the song, but the cover is only good because the bones of the song were good in the first place. I would give this album 4 stars but I’m docking it one for too much harmonica, harmonica almost never benefits a song in my opinion.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
I didn’t understand most of the words on this album but it didn’t matter! This was a lovely album. Perfect for a summer evening out on the porch. Super chill and relaxing music:
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Led Zeppelin really could do no wrong on their first four albums. There’s a not so great song here and there (looking any you Lemon Song) but for all intents and purposes this was quite the streak. And you’d think by the fourth one they’d be running out of steam, but this is arguably their best album. I do think they should have switched Levee and Stairway, Stairway is an obvious closer. Otherwise the album is packed with hits and flows nicely. They also don’t overstay their welcome, it’s 40ish minutes of great tunes and then it’s done.
CHIC
2/5
There are aspects of this album that I enjoyed. The instrumentation is solid and there are some great bass lines. However, for a relatively short album it felt long. Most of the songs were just one motif repeated for 4 minutes. At Last I Am Free is the worst offender, they took what would be an okay chorus and made it a whole song. So yeah, this album needs work, it really felt like they had ideas for songs and instead of fleshing them out just made entire songs out of one idea.
Merle Haggard
5/5
What a terrific album! Classic country at its finest. I’m not positive but I think this was recorded live in studio, there are little mistakes at times that I think add to the humanity on these recordings. Not a bad word to say about this one!
Kings of Leon
2/5
I liked Crawl. The rest of the album was fine but not that great. I think the two hits off this album are the worst songs on it. Maybe it’s because of them being overplayed, or it’s the woah-oh chorus on use somebody. That was overused for a long time, it’s such a lazy choice. Otherwise, it’s an inoffensive pop rock album, not sure it deserves to be on this list. Just ok.
Duran Duran
3/5
I like how bass forward this album is. I knew two songs going into it. The title track I never minded, I won’t put it on, but if it comes on I’m not upset. I’ve never cared for hungry like the wolf. The rest of the songs were fine, nothing too crazy, but solid pop songs with some cool bass lines.
The Clash
3/5
I’m not sure how I feel about this album. I’ve never been a huge clash fan, I like some songs but not huge on most of there music. I’ve heard this album before and didn’t much care for it. This time I was surprised to find myself not hating it. There’s not much I will return to but I didn’t mind most of the songs, and still enjoyed the songs I already liked. Best songs are Train in Vain, Rudy Can’t Fail, Revolution Rock, and Lost in the Supermarket.
The Cure
5/5
A masterpiece. This album is euphoric. It is also melancholy, but the main feeling I get from it is pure bliss. Just sit back with a nice pair of headphones turn this on and let it wash over you.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
I love the guitar sound on most of this album. I like blown out, dirty, distorted guitars. So I thought I’d really like this album. And I didn’t mind it, I like the sound of it, but the songs just weren’t there for me. I was mostly bored by the songs. The singer is not dynamic, and that’s a choice, but it just grew wearisome after about two songs.
fIREHOSE
3/5
A little all over the place at times. The songs weren’t bad. There were some cool guitar parts and bass lines. As a whole I don’t know how much I liked this. I didn’t not like it but I don’t see myself listening to it again.
Richard Thompson
2/5
I’ve never been big on the 70’s British folk revival, which is funny because one of my favorite bands was heavily influenced by it. I just find a lot of it to be dull. I don’t like most folk music when it’s just one person and a guitar. There are exceptions, but for the most part I like more dynamic music. Even just a guitar and multiple people harmonizing is enough to pique my interest.
This album was mostly the type of folk I don’t care for. Just one person singing and a guitar playing. There were some songs that were a little more interesting, but still not my favorite. I’ll say the album opener was the high point and it was all downhill after that.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Jimi is one of the best guitarists to ever do it. However, I don’t think he really shines in studio albums. There are some solid songs on here. There are also some duds, the musicianship is always good, but the songs themselves are not great. I’m sure even those not so good songs were amazing live though. To me that’s where Jimi really shined. He was a performer, watching old concert footage he is electric on stage, he commands the crowd. So yeah there’s some amazing songs on here, Spanish Castle Magic, Bold As Love, Castles, and the regrettably too short Little Wing. There’s also some decent songs, like One Rainy Wish, songs I don’t mind but wouldn’t go out of my way for. And then there’s some songs that don’t feel quite finished, or are finished and just don’t hit the mark. It’s a mixed bag.
De La Soul
2/5
It seems like they had a lot of fun making this album. However, that did not lead to a fun listening experience. This album felt like it was 80% skits and bad joke songs. The joke songs seemed like they were written by 8 year olds. They were all about doo doo and bad breath and stinky people. The rest of the songs on here were mostly just ok rapping with a couple decent exceptions. The beats on the real songs were pretty cool though.
Coldplay
2/5
I get why the hits on this album were hits and the rest weren’t. They’re the only songs of note on this album really. I still don’t think they’re all that great but they’re more catchy and poppy compared to the dull songs that make up the rest of the album. Daylight is an exception, not a hit but it’s not a bad song. Although you can tell that Daylight is just Coldplay trying really hard to be Radiohead.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
I played this album at work once and I had forgotten about the song Don’t. I definitely got some looks when that came on. Yeah, that song does not fit the vibe of the rest of the album. It’s not a bad song, just pretty different from everything else on there. Anyways, obviously I’m a fan of this band/album. I love the dirty guitar sound, and J. Mascus’ quiet almost sweet vocals in juxtaposition to it. Just great all around, no complaints from me.
Fugees
3/5
If it wasn’t for Lauryn Hill this album might have just been a 90s conscious rap blip. Her singing really rose this album up above others. And she’s a great rapper to boot. The other two sounded pretty generic in my opinion. Not every song on here was amazing, but there was some really good stuff. I think Fu-Gee-La is the best song on here.
Jimmy Smith
3/5
Went into this blind and from the name I guessed it would be a country album. I was not expecting smooth jazz. It’s not bad! Not my favorite kind of jazz, but very listenable. I usually lean toward more aggressive or experimental stuff. This is more lounge music, great for background music at a party in the 60s.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
I never really thought about it but the opening guitar lick on this album is one of the most iconic guitar lines of all time. And it’s only played that one time, it never repeats. But if you play that one line most anybody will know what it is. Aside from that, I wasn’t huge on this album. Marvin Gaye has an incredible voice, but he be never clicked with his music. I can appreciate it, he’s a talented songwriter, I just don’t like the songs. Nothing wrong with them, just not my taste.
Morrissey
2/5
This was better than I expected going into it. I’ve never cared for morrisey’s voice, it just irks me for some reason. So I didn’t love the singing on here but it was tolerable. And the songs were not bad. I really only liked We’ll Let You Know, that song was cool. Other than that I didn’t mind it but I would never return to this album.
The Hives
4/5
Not trying to reinvent the wheel with this one, just a fun straight forward garage rock album. I’ve been aware of The Hives for a long time, but I’ve never really listened to them. I had a lot of fun listening to this album and may go back and check out more of their stuff.
Barry Adamson
1/5
This was not for me. Miles was an ok song, most of this was just sound collages though. And if it was just that it would’ve been better than sound collages with annoying dialogue throughout. I don’t understand this one at all.
Talking Heads
4/5
That stretch of songs from The book I read through to the end was incredible! The first half was good but they saved the gold for the second half. It’s a really good debut from a band I have yet to do a proper deep dive into. I’ve listened to them over the years but just never really dug in. I think I might do just that after listening to this.
Judas Priest
3/5
Metallica
1/5
Wow man, I’ve never had this album be brought up not to be mocked. Like isn’t this universally hated? How did it end up on this list. I did not listen to it. Checked out Madter of Puppets and it sounds like shit. I like Metallica but this was a big miss for them.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
2/5
This was fine. It’s not really breaking any new ground though. This was released in 1966, the same year as Pet Sounds. Now I know it’s not fair to compare it to Pet Sounds, that album was an outlier that was ahead of its time. However, compared to other bands output at the time, including The Beach Boys, but also The Beatles, The Mothers of Invention, and The Monks to name a few, this is pretty weak. This might’ve been noteworthy in say 1962, but there was a big leap in music in the proceeding years, and it seems Paul Revere and the Raiders got left in the dust. I’ll say even for 1962 this would’ve been a pretty average album.
Tortoise
4/5
Djed was wild. I really enjoyed this album. I had a Tortoise cd that I got used on a whim from goodwill back in the day. So I knew what I was getting into to a point. They did not disappoint. For how many influences they borrow from they have a unique and consistent sound. And the music is good!
The Verve
3/5
I liked this more than I thought I would. Bittersweet Symphony was always a song I sort of enjoyed but it drags on. The rest of the first half is solid, way more trance-y than I expected. The second half got a little dull. Also, it was far too long.
Talking Heads
3/5
This had some incredible songs on it. It also had some songs I probably wouldn’t listen to again. So this is tough, the good songs are amazing, just truly great music. The other stuff has some interesting things going on, but as songs just don’t quite do it for me.
Pink Floyd
5/5
A masterpiece. This album is a gateway drug. Maybe not for everyone but for me it definitely was. It’s accessible enough for someone starting on their music journey but also opens your ears to new possibilities. I wrote out a whole diatribe but it was rambling so I cut it. The crux of it is that this album was one of the catalysts for helping me explore new kinds of music. And unlike some other gateway albums/bands this one stays with me. It’s just as good now as it was when I first got into it. Probably in different ways, the themes hit you different depending on where you are in life. But it’s endlessly relistenable and still one of the greatest albums of all time.
Kraftwerk
3/5
Love me some Kraftwerk. This one isn’t as strong as Man Machine or Trans Europe Express, but it’s still good. The centerpiece is the title track and at 21 minutes it’s half the album. This song is a lot of fun, it helps that I’m a sucker for vocoders. The rest of the album is solid but not amazing.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
The songwriting on here must be good because this guy is not the best singer. He’s not bad, but he has a unique voice. It works really well for his slower songs but was a bit rough on the faster ones. I might come back to this because I wasn’t able to focus on the lyrics as much as I wanted to. I’m sure these are interesting songs but I do get bored when it’s just a singer and a guitar which is most of these songs. Again, I have a feeling these are really good songs that need a little work to really appreciate.
Bon Jovi
1/5
Boring butt rock
AC/DC
2/5
Mostly forgettable straight forward rock music. I get why at least one AC/DC album is on here, they are an institution in rock and roll music. I like a lot of their songs, but an entire album was too much. They are great at what they do, but for me they’re a greatest hits band with a few deep cuts that are worth checking out. Overall what I expected, a few gems with a lot of filler.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
A classic hip hop album.
The Last Shadow Puppets
2/5
This wasn’t bad. It didn’t do all that much for me but it was decent. None of the songs were all that memorable. I guess it just doesn’t stand out as something worth going out of my way for. If you’re looking for a 60s garage rock inspired side project I’d recommend The Foxboro Hot Tubs over this. They also aren’t breaking new ground, but at least they bring some energy and fun to it.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Man this album holds up! I’ve never listened to the whole thing before but have heard some songs. It’s crazy how heavy this album is, like it’s the first true metal album and they just showed everyone how it’s done. Some of the songs are Zeppelin-esque, but most are very much their own sound.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I had written off Arcade Fire a long time ago. I started hearing about them when Neon Bible came out. I think they were on SNL and at one point I got the Neon Bible cd from the library and listened to it. At the time I did not care for it. So I figured this band was just not for me. Cut to today and The Suburbs is my album of the day. I wasn’t all that excited to be honest, but I’m glad I gave it a fair shake. This album is really good, way better than I expected. I will definitely be returning to this one in the future.
The Monks
2/5
I understand the historical significance of this album. That being said, my reviews on here have always been about my own personal feelings about the music, not why it’s important or anything like that. So while I get why this album is on the list I did not particularly enjoy it. It was kind of annoying. Although I did like some of the keyboard parts when they got all sloppy and noisy.
Guns N' Roses
3/5
I can see how this would have been a breath of fresh air in the late 80s. While it still has some of the trappings of hair metal, it is much more raw. Hair metal was very shiny and sleek, it was rock with pop production. This is straight forward rock music with no frills. I’m not gonna say that I’m a huge fan of it, I like a few songs, but mostly it wasn’t my favorite. However, given the context of when this was released I fully understand its inclusion on this list. And Welcome to the Jungle is still one of the best openers to an album, and a debut album at that. That’s the other thing, while this isn’t my favorite music, this is an incredible debut album. These guys came out kicking.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
A terrific debut album from Harris. Not a bad song on here. Some slower ones that I won’t listen to often but I’d definitely return to this.
The xx
2/5
There was a lot of hype around this album when it came out. I checked it out and was not impressed. 15 years later and I feel the same way. This album isn’t bad but it’s boring and bland.
Miles Davis
4/5
If someone asked me what jazz music is who had never heard it before I might show them this album. A lot of people say that Kind of Blue is a good album to start with when first listening to jazz. I feel like this one is much more accessible. Maybe Time Out would be another good one, but I think this is a contender. It’s not that it’s like beginner jazz, the musicianship on here is phenomenal. It’s just that it’s all very straight forward songs, they never go anywhere too experimental or weird like other Miles Davis albums.
The Mamas & The Papas
2/5
This ranged from corny to just ok for me. It’s not bad but it’s not great. Two notes, the Ramones version of Fo You Wanna Dance is infinitely better than the one on here. And I can’t hear California Dreamin’ without thinking of The Dead Milkmen and the sketch from the Kelsey Grammer Sketch show (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1v9cRhT8Gno&list=FLUEiFsihiBtiiqTbVRZMiWw&index=2&pp=gAQB)
Buffalo Springfield
2/5
Expecting to fly had some cool harmonies, sort of a precursor of what was to come from CSNY. Broken arrow was also a decent song. My favorite part was probably the last 50 seconds of the album. Everything else on here felt like it should’ve been a B-Side or a demo on some special edition of a real album.
Bee Gees
2/5
They really threw everything at the wall to see what would stick on this one. I honestly had no idea The Bee Gees were a Beatles-esque band before they switched to disco so this album was a trip. Most of it did not stick. There were a few decent songs, but this thing is BLOATED! If they cut this down to between 30-35 minutes they could’ve had a decent album. As it is, it’s a meandering mess with a spattering of good songs mixed in.
The Allman Brothers Band
3/5
The second half of this album is incredible. In memory of Elizabeth Reed and Whipping Post are really cool songs with amazing jams. The first half I found boring as hell. It was just boring blues songs with extended guitar solos. I like jams that showcase the whole band, not just filler songs for someone to noodle over. Elizabeth Reed was the highlight for me, that jam was just awesome, you could really feel the bands energy. Same with whipping post but I loved the sound of Elizabeth Reed better, it definitely veered away from the blues focus into something more interesting.
Pixies
4/5
When I first listened to this years ago I only knew Where is My Mind? and the rest of this was very strange to me. I’ve listened to a lot of music in the ensuing years but I never returned to Surfer Rosa. In my memory it was a noisy mess with no real songs. I am so glad it came up on this list. What a fantastic album! It is noisy, but in a way that I really enjoy now. And the songs are definitely there, sometimes they’re buried under the noise but I think the noise more adds to the songs than detracts. And then there’s Gigantic, what a beautiful little pop song right in the middle of all of it. Also where is my mind is still great. I will definitely be returning to this in the future, it feels like there’s way more to unpack than I could get out of one listen.
Fred Neil
3/5
Based on the blurb about him being part of the Greenwich village folk scene, and the album cover, I did not expect much from this album. I thought it would be just a guy and a guitar playing boring folk songs. I was wrong, and was pleasantly surprised by this. This guy is unique. I won’t say it’s my favorite music, but I love that he did his own thing and kept it interesting. Definitely worth a listen.
TV On The Radio
3/5
I’ve heard a few TOTR songs before but this was my first time listening to a full album. They do a lot of interesting stuff on this album. I don’t know how much I like it after just one listen but I did enjoy it. Going to give this a 3 for now but it might be a 4 in the future.
The Incredible String Band
1/5
Well that was obnoxious. It’s like a group of strangers was given a bunch of random instruments and drugs and told to write an album. They made an album I guess, but it was a meandering mess. Like were they dared to cram as many random instruments onto this as possible? I’m worse for having heard this.
Beatles
3/5
Some great songs, some forgettable songs. Overall, a decent album but not one I’d probably listen to all the way through again.
Prince
3/5
I’ve never been a huge Prince fan so I’ve never fully understood the hype around him and this album. I listened to it, it was fine. I like let’s go crazy, it’s a strong opener. After that there are moments that I thought were cool, and I actually liked it more than I expected. However, it’s not one I’m probably going to come back to all that often, if ever.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
1/5
Yeah man, I just don’t like a cappella music.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
This guy is a good writer, but a singer he is not. This is mostly a spoken word album set to music. There’s some great lyrics here but I would not listen to it again.
Eels
3/5
Eels has some good songs, I like quite a few of there songs. However, I find them to be tiring for a whole album. Eels for me is great for a song here and there but it’s too samey when you listen to an hours worth.
Sex Pistols
4/5
Radiohead
5/5
If you didn’t give this 5 stars it’s probably just cause you’re not intelligent enough to understand Radiohead. Radiohead only makes music for smart people, if your not in Mensa dont even think about listening to Radiohead. I bet mozart is happy he was born in the 1800s cause if he was trying to make music while Radiohead was around he probably would’ve quit knowing he could never match the genius that is Radiohead
Rage Against The Machine
3/5
I like Rage, but an entire album is too much. They’re not very dynamic, all the songs sound the same for the most part. So an hour of it is draining. The album is very high energy, and has some really cool instrumentals. But even the guitar solos, while innovative, are kind of same-y throughout. I love a rage song every once in a while, and can appreciate what they contributed to music. However, the album as a whole had me wishing it was over by the halfway point.
4/5
This was great. Not a bad track on here. I wouldn’t listen to them all just randomly, definitely some. most I would only listen to again when listening to the album in full. I don’t mean that as a bad thing, the album just feels like it’s meant to be listened to as a whole.
Fela Kuti
3/5
This was cool. I now understand when people say the talking heads were inspired by Fela Kuti.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
A couple corny songs but for the most part this album was great.
Radiohead
4/5
So this album is a bunch of outtakes from Kid A and while there’s a lot of great songs, it doesn’t flow as well as an actual album. It feels a bit scattered which makes sense given the context. The songs themselves are all very dense, with a lot of different sounds panning in and out. It makes for at times an overwhelming experience, but in a good way. The songs never get boring or redundant. I feel like this is another one that I’d have to hear a few more times to really dig into it.
Gary Numan
1/5
Yeah this was just at the same song over and over. Not sure why a one hit wonder is on the list, but I fully understand why he was a one hit wonder now.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
Starts off strong, dips in the middle, and ends pretty strong. Some of these songs didn’t need to be 6 minutes plus, they could’ve been shaved down. Maybe get rid of the spoken word portion or cut a chorus here and there. There are good songs that just went on too long.
Massive Attack
1/5
Meh
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I liked it. The hits are the best songs in my opinion, but most of the others are good too. Not every song was amazing though, there’s a few I wouldn’t go out of my way to listen to again.
Nick Drake
3/5
I wasn’t big on the last Nick Drake album I got on this list, but this one I liked a lot more. There was more variety to this one. I could definitely throw this on for some background music or for a deeper listen.
Simple Minds
2/5
I don’t care for the singers voice. There are some interesting things here and there in the songs but overall I didn’t find them very engaging. Nothing about this album hooked me.
David Bowie
3/5
This came out in 2013. Bowie could’ve just rested on his laurels at this point but he never stopped. While this isn’t my favorite album it’s not bad. I would not have expected Bowie at this point in his career to still be making unique and interesting music. It truly is a testament to his talent. By 40 plus years into a music career most bands/musicians aren’t putting out anything noteworthy. Usually it’s just some half-assed rehashed bullshit. So kudos to Bowie for never settling down.
Shuggie Otis
2/5
This album was all over the place, it was like they just threw a bunch of demos together and called it an album. The music wasn’t bad, it wasn’t all that great either.
The Go-Go's
4/5
I’ve heard the singles, but not the rest. This was a fun album that I could definitely see listening to again.
David Bowie
2/5
Ok hear me out, maybe not every David Bowie album needs to be on this list. Case in point, this album. If you want an idea of how not great this is just check out his cover of Across the Universe, it’s a hot mess. I genuinely like a lot of David Bowie’s music but this album is just not it.
Television
5/5
This album was hugely influential to me so it’s an easy 5 stars. I may not listen to it all the time any more but it will always hold a special place for me. Also, I will never skip Marquee Moon, it’s one of the best songs of all time. If you get a chance, check out Little Johnny Jewel. It didn’t make the album but it’s on the expanded edition and imo should have been on the album.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I liked this more than I expected. I’ve never really cared for what I’d heard from Springsteen but I’d also not listened to a full album. There’s some really good stuff on here. His voice is still not my favorite but it didn’t entirely hinder my enjoyment of this album.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
Not a bad debut, definitely showcases a band with a lot of potential. Some decent songs, some classics, and some filler.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I can appreciate this album. I can tell it’s really good, but it doesn’t do a lot for me. It’s weird there’s a lot of elements that are right up my alley but as a whole I just couldn’t fully get into it. Also, it is incredibly long, I was fatigued by the end of this. I could almost give this a four because I could probably get a lot out of it if I dug in deeper, but I’m giving it a three because I don’t see myself listening to it again.
Stan Getz
4/5
I will definitely be listening to this again. Hell I wouldn’t mind owning this on vinyl. Super chill, I listened to it on the way home from work after a long day and it calmed me right down.
Johnny Cash
4/5
This guy had great stage presence! This was fun to listen to, I enjoyed his banter between songs. The songs are classic cash, straight forward story songs with minimal instrumentation. It works well for him and I would listen to this again.
The Fall
2/5
If this is The Fall’s most accessible album I guess they’re just not for me. Musically it was fine, nothing that crazy. The singer I did not care for, his talk singing was annoying.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
I usually can only listen to maybe two or three Costello songs in a row before I need a break. I like a few of his songs a lot, his voice is just a bit much after a while. I actually enjoyed this album a bit though. By the end I was ready for it to be over, it went on a little too long. There are some really cool songs on here though, I really liked Senior Service. I’m marking it a 3 but it’s a solid 3.5
Kanye West
5/5
I’ve listened to this album more times than I can count. It’s what first got me into Kanye. Not a bad song on here, most are amazing.
Queen
3/5
Queen is a greatest hits band for me for the most part. I feel like they don’t have a great album. Their albums always have a few good and great songs, but a lot of duds too. This album is no exception. I like the more novelty-esque songs like seaside rendezvous and lazing on a Sunday afternoon. And Bogemian rhapsody is a classic. Everything else was forgettable.
Le Tigre
3/5
Kathleen Hannah rules
The Young Rascals
2/5
It’s fine. Mostly forgettable.
King Crimson
3/5
Easy money was a cool song. I loved the angular guitars on Lark part 1. Park part 2 had its moments. Everything else was anywhere from boring to bad.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
For those leaving 1-2 star reviews, I may not be able to help you but I might know someone who can. Let me introduce you to Cole Cuchna the host of Dissect. Dissect is a podcast where each season does an in depth, song by song break down of an album. Season one tackles To Pimp a Butterfly. I’ve been a fan of Kendrick Lamar for a long time but had no idea how much of a genius he was until listening to this podcast. And I don’t use the term genius lightly. This album is an incredible work of art. Musically, I’m still preferential to good kid maad city, but tpab is a masterpiece. So even if you love this album, and especially if you don’t, I encourage everyone with an interest in music to check out Dissect. It’s not only given me new insights into this album and others. It’s altered the way I listen to music in a good way. I still enjoy music for what it is, just like surface level enjoyment. But I find myself noticing more when I actively listen than I did in the past.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Some definite classics on here, subterranean, and Mr. Tambourine Man are two that I’ve liked for a long time. And some other hits that I don’t really care for like Maggie and Baby Blue. The rest of the songs I didn’t mind listening to, far less harmonica than the last Dylan album I had for this project which is a plus for me. I love when an artist leaves in mistakes like the beginning of Bob Dylan’s 115th dream. The rest of that song was silly but kind of fun.
Neil Young
1/5
I think it’s safe to say at this point that I am not a fan of Neil young. I like a song or two of his but I hated listening to this album. His voice annoys me to no end. Like I said I can tolerate a song or two, I even like some. A whole album is way too much though, and this album especially. The songs were boring and bad, I didn’t connect with this at all.
Solange
4/5
I had never listened to Solange before this, so far on this list there haven’t been many artists that I hadn’t at least heard in passing. This was a pleasant surprise. R&B is probably my least listened to genre. I should say modern R&B, I like older R&B artists like music from early Motown. Anything from the 90s on up though has not clicked for me. That being said, I very much enjoyed this album. I only listened through one time so I didn’t pick up on all of the lyrical themes, but instrumentally it was lovely. I don’t know for sure but it sounded like a lot of real instruments being used. I will definitely listen to this again.
Silver Jews
2/5
This isn’t a bad album but it’s not for me. I just found it boring mostly. I figured I was almost done with it when I looked and saw I was only on the third song. So for a relatively short album I was done with it about three songs in.
Dusty Springfield
1/5
There are so many albums in the world. Surely there is something out there that could replace this one. I get that son of a preacher man was a hit but that doesn’t mean it was important. It’s a bad song, all the other songs on here are mediocre at best.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
For what I can only assume is a B-Sides collection this was still pretty bad. Still, plus one for horns.
The Black Crowes
3/5
I can totally see why this album is on the list. It’s pretty unique for its time even though it has a throwback classic rock vibe. It’s also a tight album, I was never bored, they didn’t waste any time. That being said it’s not my favorite, I don’t think I’d go out of my way to listen to this again.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
This was enjoyable enough. It’s not one I’ll probably return to but I don’t regret hearing it.
The Residents
1/5
Yeah this was nonsense. I did not finish it.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Leonard Cogen just does not click with me at this point in my life. I find his music boring. Most music that’s just a guy and a guitar I do not care for.
Paul Simon
4/5
A terrific debut solo album. I love a few of these songs and the rest I also enjoy.
Turbonegro
2/5
Some of the song titles were pretty funny. As for the music, it was way too overproduced for my taste. Everything was sparkly clean even though the guitars were distorted. And the songs were just okay.
Manu Chao
4/5
This is what I came here for. I’ve never heard of this guy and have not listened to much of this style of music. So this was a new experience. This album was quite a trip. He sings in three different languages and obviously has a lot of different influences. Somehow it works. This was a lot of fun and I wouldn’t mind listening to more. I think my favorite song is welcome to Tijuana.
Steely Dan
2/5
I don’t understand the appeal of Steely Dan. Their music feels so sterile to me. There’s nothing really bad about it, it’s just boring and lifeless.
Foo Fighters
3/5
A straight forward rock album. Some good stuff on here, some just okay. Weenie Beenie is a standout for me.
Funkadelic
3/5
I can appreciate the instrumentals on here but the songs as a whole are nonsense. I think all the lyrics were ad libbed on the spot. The last song they were trying to recreate the magic they had on Maggot Brain. It’s a good song but it doesn’t have the same power as Maggit Brain.
Portishead
4/5
Never heard this one before, it’s dope! Real chill and kind of atmospheric, with a hint of weird. It makes for a really fun listen. I will listen to this again and may check out more of their stuff.
Slipknot
3/5
The production on this album is immaculate. It’s a full sounding rock album, you can tell they paid attention to the drum sound especially. I also liked a lot of the songs. However, this band needs to learn to trim the fat! This album did not need to be as long as it did. There were multiple songs that could’ve been half as long but they added in three extra choruses unnecessarily. I also am not huge on the attempted crossover songs, you know the ones that are like black album Metallica, trying to get some radio play. Those songs were lame.
Otis Redding
3/5
I don’t have much to say about this album. Otis Redding has a great voice, but this album of covers didn’t do much for me. Nothing wrong with it, I wouldn’t be upset to hear it again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it either.
Radiohead
5/5
Peak Radiohead. I forgot to mention it on my In Rainbows but the Dissect podcast does an entire season on In Rainbows. The first episode delves into the history of the band including some dissection of Kid A. It’s worth a listen regardless, I think it’s the best music podcast out there. But if you got this album before In Rainbows, or even after, check out Dissect, it always helps me more deeply appreciate albums.
The Isley Brothers
3/5
The covers on this album were unique but I still prefer the orginals. The rest of the songs were fine. Good instrumentals but the songs didn’t really do much for me.
The Human League
3/5
If this was an instrumental album I could see myself revisiting it, but I can’t stand the vocals. Musically very cool, but the singer is not for me.
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
This was like really bad. Most of this album didn’t need to be recorded. It sounds like some teenagers recording their joke songs in the basement. Maybe one of them finds the tape years later and goes wow we were really bad, but looks back on the time fondly. Seriously though there’s like 30 minutes of them just screwing around at the end of the album. Before that the actual songs feel like they’re supposed to be satirical takes on 50s rock and roll but they miss the mark by a mile and it just sounds stupid.
New Order
4/5
This I like! I love the guitar work on here, you can hear how much this band influenced future indie rock. The songs were also great. I will definitely be returning to this one.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
This was a big step up from her first album. I’m still not a fan, but this was a lot better. I think the production from Mark Ronson was a big part of that. She has a very good voice, I just don’t like her stuff. I can understand why some people might, it’s just not for me.
Solomon Burke
2/5
I’m sure this guy was very influential to a lot of people. But just like a lot of people who are influential, when you listen to them after hearing all the people they influenced it sounds dated. That’s how I feel about this album.
Lorde
4/5
I remember this getting a lot of accolades when it came out but I never got around to listening to it. I wish I had checked it out. Before this all I knew was Royals, and I was a big fan of that song so I’m not sure why I didn’t explore her music further. I’m glad this album came up on this list because it is fantastic. Not a dud on here, just a really solid album that I will be returning to.
Billie Holiday
2/5
I didn’t finish this one. It was incredibly boring. What a snooze.
Nico
3/5
This would have been an amazing Velvet Underground album. The music behind the vocals is so great. Nico’s singing really ruins this for me, just like the songs she sings on The Velvet Underground’s debut album. If Lou Reed sang on this album it would be an easy 4 possibly 5 star album for me. I’m giving it a reluctant 3 because the music is so good but I won’t probably return to it because of Nico. Also, I never knew there was a connection between The Velvet Underground and the Eagles, but Jackson Browne plays guitar on some of the songs on here, and most of The Velvet Underground play on the rest of the album.
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
It didn’t do much for me, but it wasn’t bad. It was a little scattered.
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
If I was rating based on influence or cultural significance this album would be an easy 5. But this is a personal journal for me, so I’m ranking based on enjoyment. That being said this album was LONG, every song was 5 minutes plus and it was draining, I think that’s a problem with hip hop groups, every member has a verse so it makes for long songs. It was also very same-y throughout, so I was kind of bored by it. There are some good songs that stand the test of time, but a lot is forgettable. C.R.E.A.M is a banger.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
I had another PSB album before this one and thought, based on that one that maybe I had misjudged them in the past. This is exactly what I expected on the last one (Behaviour for what it’s worth). This was boring uninspired generic 80s synth pop. There’s some amazing 80s synth pop out there, this just isn’t it. So maybe they got better as their careers went on but this album stinks.
Klaxons
3/5
This was an eclectic and fun listen. Very high energy. Not sure I’d go back to it, but I’m not opposed to the idea.
Jamiroquai
3/5
Jamiroquai is not who I thought he was. I always thought he made R&B music in the vein of Ne-yo or Usher. This came way out of left field for me. This was more like Stevie Wonder. I liked this album, it was upbeat and funky and didn’t overstay its welcome. It’s not something I’ll listen to all the time, but I wouldn’t be upset if it came on.
Muddy Waters
2/5
Man I just don’t likes blues music. I think it’s boring. This album was boring.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
Some okay album cuts on here, but mostly I’m realizing why the songs that made it to the greatest hits were Turn to Stone and Mr Blue Sky. The rest of the songs range from tolerable to exhausting. It’s not that there’s anything necessarily bad on here, just a lot of filler. Okay wow, I just looked and this is their seventh album. No wonder there’s so much filler. Crazy that their biggest hit was on here though.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
Is Marilyn Manson the ultimate edgelord? Jesus Christ this was bad. It’s like Nine Inch Nails without the talent or nuance. This is edgy to be edgy bullshit. I did not listen to the whole thing, I gave it a few songs and skipped through the rest. All the songs sound the same so I don’t think I missed anything important.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Technically the music wasn’t bad, but I did not like it. It’s all sounded like one long song and that song was annoying. Also, this album should have been called I Have Sex because holy shit all this guy sings about is banging chicks. It’s a forty minute brag about how he gets laid a lot.
Morrissey
2/5
I am not a fan of morrisey’s voice. The music on here has its moments, but overall I didn’t care for it.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Apparently Bob Dylan never heard that quote about brevity. A lot of the songs on here I feel like he could’ve cut a verse or six. Ironically, the longest song on here, Desolation Row, is one of the only ones that didn’t feel too long.
Liz Phair
4/5
How have I never heard this album? It must have been influential to a lot of the music I listen to now. I just can’t believe this isn’t talked about more. I’ve heard of Liz Phair and I’ve heard this album title before but I never listened to her/it. This album rules. I honestly think a ton of indie music owes a lot to this album and Liz Phair.
Germs
4/5
Punk as fuck. Media blitz and lexicon devil are the stand outs. The 9 minute closing song was unnecessary.
Madonna
2/5
I liked the guitar on Til Death Do Us Part. The rest of the album was nothing special for me. I recognized a few songs but there’s nothing on here that I would return to. It was fine, definitely of it’s time, it sounds very 80s.
Queen
3/5
Seven Seas of Rhye is the stand out on this album, a terrific closer to a just ok album. The loser in the end is a true testament to not letting your drummer have a song. It’s a real dud, and kills the flow of the rest of the album. The rest of the album flows together pretty well, a lot of fantasy themes and a proggy sound. It’s just that the songs themselves are meandering and uninteresting. Queen has a lot of great songs, and most of them are on the greatest hits albums. There’s a reason most of the songs on this one did not make the cut.
Metallica
4/5
If it’s not 6+ minutes is it even a song? Not according to Metallica. At least until they made their radio record that is. There’s two songs on here that clock under six minutes and they’re both over five minutes. It’s not always a bad thing, I’m in no way against long songs. In fact I’ve said in the past that if a song is over 8 minutes it’s probably a good song. The thought is that if a song is that long it’s probably for a good reason and if you’re patient it will probably be rewarding. This is not a set in stone rule. I don’t think any of the 9+ minutes songs on here absolutely needed to be that long, but I don’t think they necessarily suffered from the length either. Some songs on here could definitely have been made better if they trimmed them down a tad. Still there’s some awesome stuff on here, even if you can’t hear the bass in the final mix. Blackened may be my favorite Metallica song, although Creeping Death is up there too. This is definitely the weakest of their big three albums. Puppets is number one, followed by Lightning. That being said, the weakest of those three is better than a lot of bands best. I think this is the last great Metallica album. After the 80s they really went for a more alt rock sound that is not what drew me to them in the first place. So even if some of the songs are too long it’s because they are ambitious, and I applaud them for that. After this one it seems like they were just trying to get on the radio and the music suffered for people like me who love the hard, fast, and complex Metallica of the 80s.
ZZ Top
3/5
I like maybe 4 songs by ZZ Top. La Grange is one of those songs, so this album has that going for it. The rest of the songs are forgettable. They’re not bad, just nothing special. I’m sure some people probably really dig this, I just find it kind of boring.
Steve Winwood
3/5
Not much to say about this one. It was fine, decent background music for a department store.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
I can appreciate the influence JLL had but I don’t like his music. I like the energy he brings, but I don’t really get anything from the music itself. Honestly, did he just rip off Little Richard? At least it was only 22 minutes long.
Neil Young
2/5
I think the story about the making of this album is far more entertaining than this album. For the Turnstiles was a cool song.
The Who
4/5
This rocks. I couldn’t fully follow the story the first listen through, but I will be returning to this one.
The The
1/5
Well that was awful. At one point I thought this things gotta be over pretty soon, only to find out I had just finished the second song. For a relatively short album there was a lot of fat that could’ve been trimmed. Every song should’ve been 3 minutes shorter than it was and even then they would be shit songs, but at least they’d be shorter.
Peter Frampton
3/5
I’ve never actually listened to Frampton Comes Alive. It’s probably one of the more well known live albums. Although it’s strange because outside of this album you don’t hear much talk about Peter Frampton any more. This was enjoyable, a bit on the long side but I never got tired of it. I didn’t really love the music either. It was good, the band is talented and Frampton is good at the guitar, it’s just most of the songs were okay at best. Penny for your thoughts was sick though, too bad it’s the shortest song on the album.
The Kinks
4/5
This was great, I know a few Kinks songs but have only listened to one other full album of theirs. I knew Sunny Afternoon and it’s still my favorite track on here. Every song was concise, there was no filler on here. Just a fun album full of story songs.
Pink Floyd
4/5
This album is definitely an experience. It’s not one I listen to often, it’s been 10+ years since I last listened to it in full. In my opinion the best way to experience this album is at a laser show, but at least listen to it in the car or on headphones. The studio trickery needs stereo sound to get the full effect. I honestly don’t know how to rate this album. It is a classic and it is awesome. However, it is bloated, and there’s a lot of filler songs that, while they somewhat contribute to the album as a whole, are not good songs on their own. I still think it’s a great album that I won’t listen to again for another 10 years, save for some of the hits that stand on their own.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Insanely influential album. There’s some classic songs on here, some are still fun to listen to. It gets a bit old listening to a whole album of this because it’s pretty primitive when it comes to rhyme schemes. If I was eating based on cultural impact it’d be an easy five. But my ratings are based on personal enjoyment so it’s a solid three for me.
The B-52's
2/5
Wow man the B-52’s were way more surf rock-y than I imagined they’d be. Rock Lobster is a fun song. Overall though this was very same-y throughout and I got bored of it.
N.E.R.D
2/5
It sounds like they had a lot of fun making this album. That being said I don't think it was all that good.
OutKast
3/5
To call this album bloated would be an understatement. Okay technically it’s two solo albums under the Outkast moniker, but still. This thing is two hours and fifteen minutes long! I am an Outkast fan but even for me it was too much. Don’t get me wrong there’s a lot of great stuff on here, Hey Ya is one of my all time favorite songs. There’s also a thousand skits, and a lot of songs that could’ve gone on some sort of special edition rerelease. What I’m saying is a lot of these songs should have been B-Sides and outtakes. If they cut a lot of it, got it don to an hour of the best songs this could be a classic five star album. As it is I’m giving it three, there are songs I’ll return to but I don’t see myself listening to it in full ever again.
Jack White
4/5
I remember when this album came out I was initially disappointed in it upon listening. I was a huge White Stripes fan and this was Jack’s first solo album. To me it just didn’t have the same magic that the Stripes had, it was too polished. I haven’t listened to it since then. Until now, and I can honestly say I was wrong. This is a great album, it is a little too clean sounding but the songs are there. It’ll never beat what the White Stripes did, but I will definitely listen to this again.
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
Thought I only knew one song on here, but I knew three! Who knew Cyndi Lauper had more than one hit? And Time After Time is a cool song, I just didn’t know it was her. I didn’t mind this album. I probably won’t listen to it in full again, but I will listen to some songs from now on a while so it’s a three for me.
Tori Amos
2/5
I did not like this. There were a couple moments I liked. The dissonant piano on precious things and the song Happy Phantom. Other than that I couldn’t wait for it to be over. This album was a drag.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
This is just the poor man’s Of Montreal. Do yourself a favor, ignore this album and listen to The Sunlandic Twins instead.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
Red Light Indicates Doors are Secure was my introduction to this band. I initially ignored them cause of the name or something, I don’t remember. But my friend showed me red light without saying who it was and I was in. This album is fun and I love the angular and unique guitar riffs. Not a bad track on here.
Jethro Tull
4/5
It’s no Thick as a Brick but I enjoyed this album. I don’t know what the concept is, there’s a guy called aqualung who’s not a great person. And there’s some religious themes, but I couldn’t figure out the story on first listen. Still a solid album that was fun to listen to. I’m giving it a 4 cause I’ll probably listen to it again.
3/5
When this started I wasn’t super into it. I like some stuff by the kinks, but the first few songs on here are not their best work. Then Australia happened and Shangri-La folllowed. Those two songs are worth listening to the rest of the album. After that the rest of the album is really good, but those two songs in the middle are the focal point of the album for me.
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
It was fine, I didn’t regret hearing it but I won’t go back to any of the songs.
Orbital
3/5
The first half of this had me bored, I considered giving up. But I held out and from Remind till the end was really good. Halcyon and On and On is the best song on here, and a perfect closer. It was going to be a 2 for me based on the first half, but it hot bumped up to a three because it pulled through in the end.
James Taylor
3/5
I didn’t expect to like this. My dad has listened to James Taylor my whole life and I never cared for his unique blend of bittersweet folk rock. However, it’s been years since I’ve heard his music, and I was pleasantly surprised. I liked most of the songs on this album, Steamroller Blues being the big exception. The whitest man in the world did not need to try a blues song, it was painful to listen to. Other than that, when he stuck to what he’s good at, it was enjoyable. I won’t probably go out of my way to listen to it again, but if it’s on I wouldn’t turn it off either.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I liked California and a few other songs. It wasn’t bad.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Some great tunes on here, and some that are dated/unfortunate. Definitely some songs that I have and will continue to return to. One I didn’t get into in the past but I enjoyed this time was Slow Ride. It’s still a 3 because I don’t see myself going back to it and listening in full, but there are plenty of songs that were already in the rotation and now one more. So it’s a strong 3, close to a 4 but there’s a few stinkers on here that keep it in the 3 range.
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
This was great. I’ve only listened once, so there’s not any songs that I can specifically point to for ones I’ll go back to. But I will definitely listen to this in full again.
Throwing Muses
2/5
These guys were just ten years too late to have had a minor hit. If this had come out in 1993 people might be like “Oh yeah, Throwing Muses, they had that one song right?” But alas, this came out in 2003 and is destined to be forgotten outside of this list.
Beatles
2/5
Historically I know this is an important album. That being said, it isn’t anything to write home about. It’s fine, the covers aren’t great, but the originals are fine. So personally I wouldn’t listen to anything on here again. So it’s a two for me.
Violent Femmes
5/5
YOU CANNOT FUCK WITH THIS BAND!
This album has no bad songs. A masterpiece with no wasted space. Even if you include the two bonus tracks every song is amazing. Although Good Feeling is one of the best closers of all time, so the bonus tracks throw off the flow of the original. Gordon Gano’s songwriting and vocals are so full of teen angst mixed with his unique sense of humor. There are some laugh out loud funny moments on this album in the best way, “hey dad, speaking of driving…” on the bonus track being my personal favorite, what a hilarious payoff! Then there’s Brian Ritchie’s incredible acoustic bass playing, this guy is incredible. And let’s not forget Victor DeLorenzo stirring the soup on his weird trash can drum. Somehow these three came together and made one of the best punk albums of all time, and invented folk punk to boot! An all time great album that definitely deserves to be on this list.
Deep Purple
2/5
Well that settles it, after two albums for this list, I do not like Deep Purple. Their music is boring. It’s mediocre songs used as vehicles for solos that are mostly also mediocre and boring.
Carole King
2/5
My rating has no bearing on how I feel about King’s talent. I didn’t know I knew any Carol King songs. Turns out this whole album is full of hits. I’ve seen the cover art before but had no idea what her music sounded like. Based on the art I thought she was going to be James Taylor style folk music. Little did I know I knew like 80% of the songs on here. It’s not for me, I wouldn’t listen to it again or go back for any particular songs, but at least I now know who Carol King is.
Iron Maiden
2/5
Transylvania was kinda cool, the rest was not for me. It’s too clean to be metal. I’ve never been a fan of Bruce Dickinson’s voice but it’s still better than this guy, whoever he is.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
It’s a shame Respect is so overplayed because it’s a genuinely great song.
Little Richard
3/5
It’s a solid rock and roll album. I wouldn’t go out of my way to play it again, but if I was at a sock hop this would get everybody dancing.
The Everly Brothers
2/5
I wasn’t big on this one.
John Lennon
3/5
I liked this more than I thought I would. I’d say about half of this album is solid. The other half isn’t great.
4/5
Loretta Lynn is a national treasure. This was a fantastic album.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
In my review for Led Zeppelin IV I stated that Led Zeppelin did not miss on their first four albums. I forgot about 3. This one was a slump in the first four albums. There’s a few great songs on here, the rest are b-sides at best.
Alice In Chains
1/5
I gave up. I just can’t stand this band.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I think she wrote a book of short stories but needed an album so she just kind of sang the stories. These songs are meandering. It’s good storytelling but it did not need to be set to music.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
This was interesting. Never listened to them before, I’d be open to listening to more.
Cypress Hill
2/5
Based on this album I think the Insane Clown Posse was heavily influenced by Cypress Hill and that’s not a compliment.
Gorillaz
3/5
The second half of this album where they lean more trip hop was actually pretty solid. After the first half I was ready to slam this album, it was uninteresting and middle of the road. I still think without the gimmick this would have been a minor album that was mostly forgotten save for Clint Eastwood.
The Killers
4/5
This came out when I was in high school and it was huge. And for good reason, this is a fantastic album. Glamorous Indie Rock n Roll is a sleeper jam on here, it’s a great closer. And one of the best songs on an album full of hits.
White Denim
4/5
Terrific album. It flows so well, and it leaves you wanting more. Anvil Everything is the standout track.
Metallica
3/5
This had more ballads than I remember, probably the weakest of their big three albums (lightning, puppets, justice). Still a solid album with one of the best title tracks in all of rock music.
Grateful Dead
3/5
For how much people talk about dark star on this album I just don’t get it. It was easily the weakest track on this album. It sounded like they were recording in separate rooms but the microphones were outside the rooms. It was clunky and not cohesive. So I was not looking forward to the rest of the album. But right after that is a three song run that really jammed and was a lot of fun. Those three songs are all I’d really return to on this album, but I would gladly listen to them again. The rest of the album is fine but a little too bluesy for my taste. I’m still interested in checking out more of the Dead, I’d probably just pick something from a little later in their tenure.
Elton John
3/5
This was good. Tiny Dancer and Levon are all timers for sure. The rest of the songs are all pretty solid, but except Indian Sunset, that one wasn’t great.
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Aside from the album title this was fantastic! Maseru is the standout track for me.
Prince
2/5
I’m sure for most people there’s at least one well respected musician that they just don’t get. For me that is Prince. I could not stand this album. His production always sounds cheesy to me, and his voice is annoying.
Haircut 100
4/5
As always, plus one for horns, and boy were there horns! This is an example of a one hit wonder band that should’ve been bigger. I knew Love Plus One from an 80s compilation cd my parents had and I always liked that song but I never checked out anything else from these guys. This was a great album with a unique sound.
Basement Jaxx
2/5
Man I’m just not really into house music. I like a few tracks but overall it’s kind of boring. This album was not an exception. Every song was too long and I get it, they’re long on purpose for like raves or whatever. I love electronic music just not this.
The Cars
5/5
They might as well have just repackaged this album when they put out their first greatest hits. It’s nothing but gold on here!
Public Enemy
5/5
“I got a letter from the government the other day. I opened and read it, it said they were suckers.” Is the greatest line in the history of lyrics. And more relevant now than it was back then.
This is one of the best hip hop albums of all time. It’s long, but unlike some of PE’s albums this one does not feel bloated. Everything on here works and feels necessary.
The Beach Boys
4/5
A couple songs didn’t age all that well. Specifically, Little Sister, and She Knows Me Too Well. Although, I don’t know the context of the songs. Maybe Knows Me was meant to be a critique of that type of guy by showing the hypocrisy of his world view. If that’s the case it’s way ahead of its time, but I don’t think it is the case.
Anyways, the rest of the album is great! Lots of good tunes on here, Help Me Rhonda is the stand out. One bonus point, the Ramones did a cover of Do you wanna dance that is a rare instance of the cover being better than the original.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
The Runners really swung for the fences on this one and I think it paid off.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
This was great! I’ve never listened to Basie before and I wish I’d found him earlier.
Lou Reed
4/5
I too like to watch things on tv, Lou. However, I have no idea what pancake factor one is.
This album was great. I still can’t stand Perfect Day, I just don’t like it. Every other song on here I enjoyed. I knew a few and found some new ones that I’m adding to the rotation. So yeah if not for perfect day this would be a five star.
Fats Domino
3/5
I didn’t mind this but it didn’t do anything for me. Blueberry Hill was a cool tune.
Soundgarden
2/5
This is lame butt rock.
B.B. King
3/5
This was better than I expected. I’m not much for blues music, I usually find it boring. I expected this just to be a guy playing guitar and singing. He had a full band with horns and everything, and as always, plus one for horns. That said, even with the extra instruments it was still dull at times.
Laibach
1/5
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Rammstein was boring and bad?
Well wonder no more! Meet Laibach!
Boston
5/5
I didn’t know I knew every song on this album. What a debut album, it’s a veritable greatest hits. This was a band that knew exactly what they wanted to do and executed it perfectly.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
This was interesting. Not bad, but nothing I would return to. I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but I wouldn’t choose to throw it on.
Pretenders
4/5
This was great. I’ve heard the Pretenders, I think I listened to their greatest hits cd in the past. This album was not what I expected based on that. It was way more experimental and unpolished. It had a punk edge to it. You can hear glimpses of their future in songs like the big hit, Glass in Pocket, but this was way more raw and energetic than their hits. Pleasantly surpriser.
The Stooges
4/5
I was really into the stooges years back. I loved this album. I haven’t listened to it in quite a while. We will fall takes up a third of the album and for a 34 minute album is a lot of filler. Everything else on here is great. An influential album for me personally but also to the world. This is raw and energetic, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. The definitive protopunk album.
Fleetwood Mac
2/5
I guess I just don’t get Fleetwood Mac. This is just dull music to me. It’s background music for a convenience store. It’s not unpleasant, it’s just bland. I don’t think I’ll ever understand the appeal of this band.
Nick Drake
3/5
I used to listen to this album to fall asleep. Not because it’s boring, it’s just very calming.
Rod Stewart
3/5
This wasn’t bad. Maggie May and Reason to believe are really good. There were some other decent tracks, and there were some just okay ones. Nothing bad though, I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did. I would listen to this again.
Miles Davis
5/5
I don’t know enough jazz history to know why this is so highly regarded. I very much enjoy this album, it’s a great album for a rainy day. I just wish I knew more about the context as to why this is one of the best of all time. Again, it sounds good, but in 2025 it sounds like a lot of other jazz albums I’ve heard. Was this style of jazz unheard of at the time? Was this an evolution in sound? That’s what I’d like to find out. For now I will contend with the fact that I don’t know but I still think this is great.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
This might be my favorite LCD Soundsystem album. It feels like a perfect transitional album. It still has the silliness and energy of their first album but it’s showing signs of where’s they’ll go on the next one. There’s not a bad track on here. I was going to give it 4 stars because I didn’t think I liked the closer. But honestly, everything works so well on here, I think it’s a 5.
Nirvana
4/5
This is probably the best of the unplugged series. I haven’t listened to it in years. I was instantly annoyed by Kurt’s comment about how most people don’t own their first record. That dude hated that people liked him. He really wanted to be this underground figure who wasn’t appreciated in his time cause people just didn’t “get it” yet. But people got it and they loved it, and for good reason. There’s a reason people still talk about nirvana the way they do. These are great songs and the covers are almost all better than the originals. And there was some light and funny banter so I shouldn’t be too salty about how whiny Kurt could be. It just annoyed me out the gate, but the rest of the album redeeemed him.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
This one really took a left turn on the last two songs. Like did they just need to fill some space at the end? Anyways, this album was fine but nothing really jumped out at me. It was just an ok album.
Soul II Soul
1/5
Ok so Back to Life was the hit off of this I figured out. That song is nothing extraordinary. The rest of this pretty mediocre with some songs bordering on cringe (I’m looking at you Dance, or is it Daahnce?). Needless to say I was not impressed and did not need to hear this before I die.
Van Halen
4/5
This rocks and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. A concise album, all killer no filler.
Songhoy Blues
3/5
The guitar work on here was unique and interesting. I enjoyed the music but am not generally a fan of group vocals which is most of this album.
Portishead
4/5
How come nobody told me Portishead was so good!? This is the second one I’ve had on this list and it’s even better than the first one! I love the dissonance juxtaposed with the singers lovely voice. And the off putting samples that are unexpectedly clipped always keep you guessing. I was thoroughly impressed by this album.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
Great voice, and I love the instrumentation. The songwriting to me is lacking. I didn’t connect with any of the songs. They just seemed shallow to me. They’re stories but they don’t go anywhere or have any purpose. She’s like the female James Taylor but the songs aren’t relatable.
Sonic Youth
4/5
This is a transitional album. It’s still heavy on the no wave influence of early Sonic Youth, but you’re starting to hear the melodic pop sensibilities that would become more prevalent on later albums. This is not my favorite Sonic Youth album but I found myself enjoying it more than when I first heard it. I chalk that up to having listened to a lot more of their work after this album. In context this is an obvious precursor to Daydream Nation, arguably their masterpiece, although I do love Washing Machine. It’s a solid album showcasing a band figuring out their sound.
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
I enjoyed every song on this album. Jet might be my favorite Paul McCartney song. I would definitely listen to this again.
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
These guys had a couple big hits in the early 2000s. I liked those songs back then. Hearing the whole album now I was not all that impressed. Most of the songs are pretty mediocre, Take Me Out is still a solid jam.
Kelela
4/5
I loved this. An artist I’ve never heard of, a genre I’m not to keen on, yet it blew me away. The rest of the R&B community needs to catch up with Kelela.
Beastie Boys
3/5
A real mixed bag this album. Way more instrumental tracks than I expected. Overall solid album if not a bit bloated.
Tricky
2/5
After hearing Portishead’s Third I thought hey maybe I like trip hop. Apparently I just like Portishead, because I didn’t like this at all. The Public Enemy cover was surprising and the only good song in the album. When your only good song is a cover that’s not a good sign.
David Bowie
4/5
I never checked this out when it came out. It got a lot of hype but I chalked that up to people wanting it to be good because it was the album Bowie released just before he died. Boy was I wrong! This album is stunning. Bowie never stopped experimenting, he made incredible music right to the end. He didn’t rest on his laurels at all. And this album is a testament to that. What an artist this man was, truly a huge loss to the world of music. And as always, plus one for horns.
Bob Dylan
3/5
There’s some really great stuff on here. Dylan is obviously a terrific songwriter. However, the bluesy stuff just isn’t my favorite. It’s a little too Rolling Stones and I do not like The Rolling Stones.
Django Django
3/5
This is the second album on here that sounds heavily influenced by of Montreal but is inferior to them and came out 10 years later. If they don’t got Sunlandic Twins on this list then it’s a shit list.
This isn’t a bad album, but it’s very scattered. And like I said they wear their influences on their sleeves, but don’t do enough to differentiate themselves from them.
The Cult
2/5
Mediocre bar band rock.
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
While I appreciate that this list has introduced me to something new, I’ve never heard of this guy before, but it was not for me. I found this to be dull and overly long.
The Cure
3/5
Of the Cure albums I’ve listened to this one is by far the darkest, heaviest, and the weirdest. This is not my favorite Cure album, but I appreciate how they always took chances and went all the way with it.
Nirvana
4/5
Nirvana’s best album. It’s raw and noisy and full of energy.
X-Ray Spex
4/5
This is punk as fuck. And some of the best saxophone use in rock music.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
These guys make the Shaggs sound like virtuosos.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
Super chill classic country
Jeff Buckley
4/5
This was unexpected. I thought it would be a bunch of corny ballads based on the cover but this was all over the place in a good way. It’s a genre bending wild ride. It’s crazy to me that Hallelujah is the track that is famous off this one cause to me it does not fit the rest of the album and is not all that great of a cover.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
This was nice. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Neil Young led songs, and some of it was corny, but it was enjoyable to listen to.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Not into it. I was bored. Not terrible, I just found it monotonous.
Sister Sledge
3/5
After the first song I wasn’t super stoked to hear the rest. It was very disco, and I’m not anti disco, but I didn’t think I’d enjoy an entire album of it. However, aside from that track, and the title song, which has been played to death at this point, the rest of the album was lovely. I would gladly listen to this again.
Animal Collective
3/5
This is a decent album. I didn’t care for a lot of it when I heard it years ago, but it’s grown on me. I think there’s still some just ok songs, but Brothersport is probably my favorite album closer of all time.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Good stuff, makes me want to dance while I’m cooking dinner.
The Band
3/5
I really liked a few of the songs on here. The rest were fine but I wouldn’t go back and listen to them again.
Napalm Death
4/5
Shakespeare once said Brevity is the soul of wit. If that’s true, Napalm Death is the wittiest band of all time. If it takes you more than 58 seconds to get your point across you need to go back to songwriting school.
Pavement
4/5
Pavement Rules! This album rules and it’s not even their best one.
R.E.M.
4/5
This was great.
Norah Jones
4/5
Perfect music for like a dinner party or a date night. She has a lovely voice and the music is chill.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Even though she’s a pop culture icon who I’ve always known about I never actually listened to Dolly’s music until now. It’s really good!
Gil Scott-Heron
2/5
This was mostly incredibly boring. It was talk singing over piano noodling. The two songs where there was actually structure and other instruments were fine but nothing special. Watergate blues was interesting, it made me realize the US has been through shitty stuff before and came out okay, so it gave me hope for the future.
Paul Simon
4/5
That guitar solo on Allergies was a trip! This album was great, Paul Simon is great.
Neu!
2/5
Maybe Neu! Shouldn’t have gotten back together. Their first two albums were innovative, and the influence they had can still be seen. This was just ok.
Dusty Springfield
1/5
This should be called Dusty sings karaoke. This is just white washed versions of Motown songs. Do yourself a favor and seek out who originally performed these songs and listen to the superior recordings.
Elliott Smith
3/5
I’ve never understood the draw of Elliott Smith. His music is fine but he has a cult status that eludes me. I have nothing against his music, it’s not bad, I guess it’s just not for me.
The Zutons
3/5
It’s fine, nothing to write home about. I don’t think I’ll ever listen to this again, it was just kind of bland pop rock. Plus one for horns.
John Grant
4/5
The way this started out I did not expect to enjoy it. The first two songs are not great, but it gets way better after that. The rest of the album is surprising and funny and just a good time. Pleasantly surprised by this.
Rush
5/5
I love that Rush’s drug song is mostly just a geography lesson. These guys are nerds to the end. But these nerds can rock! The title track is one of the greatest songs of all time. The second half of the album, while not on theme with the first half, is still chock full of great tunes. In my opinion, they should have made 2112 its own album, or an EP, but it’s basically two albums. The first side is one long song that tells a story, and the second is other songs not related to the first. The only misstep for me is Tears. It doesn’t fit the flow of the second half and is kind of a snoozer. Other than that it’s a perfect album.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
LET THE GIRL SING!
If not for White Rabbit and Somebody to Love this album would be forgotten by almost everyone. It’s a mediocre blues/folk/rock album save for a couple of songs. The other singer/singers, I’m not gonna look it up but it sounds like there might be two male singers, are not that good and their songs are boring. How a band that mostly plays stale blues rock came up with white rabbit is a mystery. That song has no chorus, and hardly any song structure, it just builds and builds till it explodes, but it works so well. And Somebody to Love has a sound of its own, wholly unique to the rest of the album. Everything else on here is forgettable, I did like the instrumental track though.
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
She’s a good singer but this was pretty dull.
Dr. John
2/5
Never really got Dr. John. This album is murky and messy, and for me not in a good way. It’s extremely lo-fi, maybe they didn’t have very good equipment, or maybe it was intentional, I don’t know. But for me it was hard to even hear a lot of it.
Billy Bragg
2/5
This did not have to be a double album. There was way too much bloat on here. All the alternate takes, instrumentals, and demos should have been on some sort of deluxe anniversary edition, but that’s just the regular album!? If he had cut this to a tight 45 minutes it could’ve been okay. Even then his voice is annoying unless he’s playing a cover in which case he puts on an accent that makes him sing better for some reason. I liked the union song, and his woody Guthrie cover was solid. Everything else was not great.
Brian Wilson
4/5
Brian Wilson said he prefers this version to the Smile Sessions version, but I prefer the latter. There’s something about those original recordings that the 2004 version is missing. It’s an energy, and the vocals by the original beach boys help. Either way, this is still terrific.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I never understood the appeal of Springsteen. I listened to this album and I just don’t like his music. It’s one of those things where there’s nothing wrong with the music, it just doesn’t click with me at all.
Keith Jarrett
3/5
I liked this, it’s impressive he made this all up on the spot. I doubt I’d listen to it very much in the future, an entire album of one instrument is not something I go out of my way for usually. But I don’t regret hearing it.
Arcade Fire
2/5
There was so much hype around arcade fire when this album came out. I didn’t like it then, and I still don’t think it’s all that great. Their next album, The Suburbs, is solid, and Funeral was good. Everything else they’ve made, including Neon Bible, is mediocre.
Incubus
3/5
Very well produced. However, while the production works overall, it’s highly produced and it doesn’t sound right when the distorted guitars come in. Everything else sounds great, but the guitars are too sleek and clean even though they’re distorted. The bass, drums, and electronics sound incredible. There’s a lot of cool ideas on this album, even if the songs end up being mostly just ok. And then there’s the lyrics. The lyrics on here are bad. The metaphors and similes, of which there are more than you’d expect, range from comical to nonsensical. It would t be as big of a deal but this is a lyric heavy album. So while the musicians are technically adept, songwriting is where they still need some work.
The Pharcyde
2/5
De La Soul made this album three years earlier and it was way better.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
A seminal hip hop album, and in my opinion, Snoop’s best work. This album was a statement, Snoop came out swinging and proved that he was more than just Dr. Dre’s protege, he was one of the best to do it. His rhyme schemes on this album are intricate, and he does it in such a laid back way you don’t even realize it. Snoop proved he was a one of a kind rapper on this album that still sounds great over 30 years later.
Eminem
4/5
Man I forgot Eminem was horrorcore adjacent at the beginning. Like a lot of these songs sound like if ICP was good at rapping. But that’s what separates Eminem from other shock artists, the dude can spit. So while not all of the subject matter appeals to me in my 30s like it would have in my younger days, this album holds up thanks to fantastic beats and Eminem’s endless bars.
Weather Report
3/5
This is technically competent, but it felt a bit hollow.
Ravi Shankar
3/5
I very much appreciate the uniqueness of this album while having no interest in listening to it again.
Jurassic 5
4/5
I mean, it has What’s Golden on it and that’s one of the best hip hop songs of all time. The rest is great too, J5 are always good.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
Buddy Holly had a ton of potential, it would have been interesting to see what he would have done with more time.
Nina Simone
2/5
So everyone at work probably thinks I’m going through a break up or something after hearing me listen to this. A lot of bummer songs on here, and I didn’t really care for her voice at times.
The Cardigans
4/5
I like that they foreshadowed the Iron Man cover by playing the Black Sabbath riff at the end of an earlier song. And speaking of that cover, I love when a band really makes a cover their own, and boy did they do it. Lovefool is infectious and groovy even if it’s been overplayed at this point. Overall a pretty solid album.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
This guys voice bothers me. I don’t get why this is even on here. It’s a pretty bland rock album. Maybe it’s the vaguely political lyrics? Is this supposed to be an “important” album? I didn’t care for it, it was dull but try hard at the same time.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Not bad, but not great. Didn’t mind it but there weren’t any true standouts on this album.
Duke Ellington
4/5
This was great! high energy jazz. I chose to listen to the original 1956 track listing instead of the 2+ hour rerelease. There’s a Spotify playlist someone made with that track listing.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Great harmonies and great tunes. I’d be curious to learn more about that Bob Dylan homage/parody, what’s the story behind that?
Siouxsie And The Banshees
2/5
That song about the Chinese buffet was alright. Other than that, I like some of what the banshees did when they played with dissonance. As for Siouxsie, she ruined every song with her singing that sounds like a whale dying.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
+1 for horns. I liked the songs with horns, the non horn songs were pretty bad.
Beastie Boys
4/5
A landmark hip hop album, there will never be another quite like it. I know the Beasties can be a divisive group but regardless of how you feel this album is important to understand hip hop history.
Ice Cube
3/5
Cube was the best rapper in NWA, but I’ve never loved his solo stuff. It’s not that he got bad at rapping, it’s just a bit much I guess. It’s a bit samey throughout the record. It kind of felt like getting yelled at for an hour. The exception of course being Good Day, if he mixed in a few more like that to give the audience a break it would’ve made the album flow better. I would like to know more about what was going on at the time of recording because I felt like I wasn’t understanding some of the things he was talking about. Is he like super antisemitic? That’s how it came off to me.
Travis
2/5
This album was a snooze.
Elton John
3/5
Some great songs on here. Some mid songs on here. And then there’s Jamaican Jerk-off.
Eminem
4/5
Eminem really stepped it up on this one compared to the slim shady lp. He still has a lot of shock rap verging on horrorcore, but there’s also some sincerity that he ventures more into on future albums.
Mj Cole
2/5
I can appreciate the stutter step drum beats. It’s more unique than a lot of dance music. However, I didn’t find it all that danceable and it was boring and way too long.
4/5
Great album, almost prefect, but I don’t think she’s leaving home fits. It feels shoehorned in.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
For the most part this really felt like a movie soundtrack. As in, it is meant to be background to the action happening on screen. Most of this is not that interesting. There’s a couple tracks that work on their own but for the most part it was boring and repetitive. Do you thing was cool.
Cowboy Junkies
2/5
Based on the band name and the art work I was expecting a hard rock band. I was expecting to be unimpressed. I was very wrong about the first part but I was still unimpressed..
Black Sabbath
4/5
Never listened to this one all the way through. I knew the hits and it makes sense that they were the hits. That being said I enjoyed the majority of this album. Planet Caravan was interesting but I wouldn’t listen to it again. Otherwise it was a great album. Rest easy prince of darkness.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Pretty enjoyable. It wasn’t amazing but I didn’t mind it.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Willie Nelson makes the chillest country music.
The Modern Lovers
3/5
Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole.
I want to rate this a 4 just for that song, but it’s a solid 3 for me. I feel like this makes for a good companion album to the Violent Femmes debut album. It has similar themes but from a person with a different perspective, more hopeless romantic than bitter. It’s a good album but not one I put on ever, save for Pablo Picasso and a couple other songs.
Skunk Anansie
3/5
This was all over the place. Not a cohesive album, they couldn’t even decide on a sound. I’m not against changing your sound but you have to establish a sound to begin with. A talented group but I found the album to be disjointed and a bit overproduced.
Destiny's Child
2/5
This album was way too long. It also was not fun, like if I’m listening to pop music I want to have fun. This is not fun music, it’s all either message songs that are dumb, or it’s songs that should be fun but musically are aggressive. The production is great though.
Heaven 17
1/5
This was bad. It was bottom of the barrel 80’s synth pop. The singer has the generic 80’s synth pop voice that every band had at the time. It’s a voice I hate and find very annoying. The songs were hard to listen to. There’s one song on here that has a synth “solo” at the beginning that straight up sounds like a toddler mashing around on a keyboard. I don’t know why anyone would listen to this, let alone enjoy it.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
This is one of my favorite albums. It’s one of the best hip hop albums of all time, and one of the best concept albums of all time. Kendrick Lamar is destined to go down as one of the greatest to ever do it.
The Vines
2/5
You ever notice that nobody asks what ever happened to The Vines? Because even when the garage rock revival was a big deal The Vines were mediocre and bland. This album is a great example of that. This album sounds like a sophomore slump but it’s their debut album. The ballads are dull and the “rock” songs are also dull. If this came out today people would wonder if it’s an AI band because it sounds soulless and generic.
The Byrds
3/5
This was inoffensive folk rock. I have nothing against it but it was nothing to write home about.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
Interesting. It’s all over the place after the first song. Not necessarily in a bad way, seems like they were trying some things out. Overall I didn’t mind it but I doubt I’ll ever listen to it again. Also, that is some terrible album art.
Kanye West
4/5
The last great Kanye album. I wasn’t ready for this when it came out, I thought it was bad. But it is a fantastic album that follows the hero’s journey. Or does it? The Dissect podcast does a full season on this album, breaking it down song by song and I highly recommend everyone check it out. They do terrific work and help me fully appreciate the albums they cover.
The Verve
2/5
Relentlessly bland.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
Most of these songs were 3 minutes too long. Next was the only song that didn’t drag, the rest were just one idea repeated for 4+ minutes. I don’t understand this album’s inclusion on the list.
Tom Waits
4/5
This album sounds amazing. The production choices, the instrument choices, and the instrumentation are all perfect for this music. It’s raw and gritty. I didn’t really like any of the songs enough to probably listen to this album again, but I love that this knows exactly what it’s supposed to be. So this is a strange one for me, I love this album for what it is even if I don’t think I’ll listen again.
Chicago
4/5
Chicago brings the heat on their debut! I’ve always been aware of Chicago, but I never dove deep. This album has some flaws, some songs go on too long for instance. Like was that minute long tambourine solo at the end of Beginnings really necessary? I think not. But overall this album slams. And I did not expect a 5+ minute experimental noise guitar solo on Free Form Guitar, that was wild and way ahead of its time. Plus there are plenty of horns, and I love horns.
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
Hey guys, maybe try and focus on like 9 songs and make them, how do I say this, good?
This is an album of mostly songs fragments. On They Might Be Giants album Apollo 18 they made a bunch of song fragments (later compiled as the song Fingertips) so if you put the cd on shuffle it would feel like flipping through the radio in between full songs. The only difference between Fingertips and this album is the Giants did it as a throwaway and they are talented so the fragments end up being interesting.
That isn’t to say the Magnetic fields aren’t talented. I honestly think they are, the main guy plays tons of instruments competently on here, and there are some genuinely good songs (Papa was a Rodeo in particular). The problem is 70% of this album is unnecessary to downright bad. Also I hate the singer, is he singing bad on purpose or is he just tone deaf? Make the girl the lead/only singer and this album would be way better.
Sepultura
4/5
Hell yeah man! This rocks so hard! When Metallica was going alt rock these guys just got heavier and faster.
The Smiths
3/5
It was alright, I don’t understand the hype around the smiths.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
Solid album, didn’t know it was gonna be live. Janis Joplin’s singing really carries this band, if not for her this would be just okay blues rock. The lead guitar on Ball and Chain was great.
The Bees
3/5
Never heard of these guys but I really enjoyed this. I wish I could give it a decimal rating cause it’s not quite a 4 for me but it’s way better than a 3. Like a 3.8 if I could do that.
David Bowie
3/5
This list has forced me to finally deep dive into Bowie and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. This album is no exception.
2/5
It was fine.
Johnny Cash
3/5
Starts strong but gets pretty meh after a while. The Man Comes Around might be my favorite Johnny Cash song.
Traffic
2/5
I imagine this is what Phish sounds like to people who don’t like Phish.
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
This would make for good music to fall asleep to. Seriously, in what other scenario would you play this dull and uninteresting music. Fistful of Love has some cool horns though.
The Psychedelic Furs
2/5
Nothing really memorable about this one.
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
Never heard of this guy, this is what I signed up for! It’s cool to be exposed to new stuff. This was enjoyable.
New Order
3/5
This grew on me. At first I wasn’t digging it, it sounded like a lot of 80s synth pop, kind of generic. But as I kept going I found myself enjoying it and noticing how forward thinking it is. This album has a ton of foreshadowing for what would come next in electronic music. Some of this is proto-EDM and techno. This album was wildly progressive.
UB40
3/5
The bass needs to be turned up, otherwise this is kind of elevator music. It’s not bad, it grew on me. I wasn’t digging it at first, but by the end I found a few things I liked about it. But the bass is way too low in the mix.
Bob Dylan
4/5
It’s crazy that this is so compelling and it’s mostly just a guy and a guitar. Usually that would get old fast especially with a 50 minute run time, but this never bored me. Of every song was amazing, but it was consistently interesting.
Megadeth
3/5
This album was really good until the singer started singing. He has the whiniest voice. I want to know what the other guys sound like if he was the best choice for singer. Still gets a three because the music rocks. Would be a four with any other singer.
The Who
4/5
It’s always Beatles or Stones, The Who always gets snubbed. They’re light years better than the stones. My theory is that they rocked so hard that they surpassed that debate and are instead included in later bands like Zeppelin. They’re light years really do have two distinct eras, the early British Invasion years and then later when they turned it up to 11. Anyways, this might be their best album. One of the best openers and closers in rock history.
The Byrds
2/5
When the only memorable song on your album is a cover that’s not a good thing.
John Cale
3/5
I was not expecting this music based on what I know about John Cale. I was a little disappointed at first. I mean this is a pretty straight forward pop album. I was expecting more experimentation. That said, the album grew on me, it’s not the best thing I ever heard but there’s some decent tracks on it.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I get why this made the list but it wasn’t my favorite.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
I hated this at first but it grew on me. It’s not great but it’s fun. Cold Beverages a good tune.
The Who
4/5
This rocked.
Gang Starr
3/5
This is probably influential in some way but I didn’t think it was anything special. The beats were solid and I am a fan of turntablism. The raps were good, sometimes silly, mostly end rhymes. I think for the time it doesn’t stand up to Chuck D, Rakim, or even Ice Cube.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
I’m not a big Stevie Wonder guy but this was pretty good. I like his more uptempo songs, the funkier ones and ones with horns. The ballads/“message” songs were boring and cheesy. Also, while the album length never got excruciating I still think this could have been way shorter. First thing he could’ve done is cut out the 3 minutes at the end of songs that were just repeating the same thing over and over. And the kids yelling the skin colors of famous people was unnecessary. We got the message of the song from the song, it wasn’t subtle, none of his message songs are subtle.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
This isn’t something I’d usually go out of my way for, but I can appreciate this album. It’s raw and introspective with some songs bordering on stream of consciousness. And then there’s some fun ones thrown in there, like raised on robbery, and my personal favorite, the album closer Twisted.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
I enjoyed the music on this album. I’m always a fan of horns and some of the songs have them. I can’t put my finger on why, but the singers voice bothers me. So I doubt I’ll return to this album because of that, if not for the singer this could be a 4 star for me. Mayfly and Judy and the Dream of Horses are my two favorite songs.
Finley Quaye
3/5
I dig how bass forward this album is. Lyrics are kind of cheesy but the overall sound is great.
Donald Fagen
3/5
At first I thought I didn’t know who this was and then he started singing and I knew it was the Steely Dan guy. This sounds like a steely Dan album. Maybe a little more synth heavy but it’s got that Steely Dan sound. I’m not a huge Steely Dan guy so this was just ok to me.
Herbie Hancock
4/5
This is great! I was already a Watermelon Man fan, but the other three songs are just as good. Hancock refuses to let you get bored, it’s just one exciting idea after another and it all works together in a cohesive way somehow. Fantastic stuff!
Lou Reed
3/5
Pretty good. Solo Lou Reed is not my favorite, I love the Velvet Underground. There were some good songs on here, and some really sad ones. Some were just okay.
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Soya was listenable. The rest of the album I didn’t care for. Every song felt like forever, it was incredibly repetitive.
David Bowie
3/5
Another solid entry from David Bowie. I didn’t enjoy this one as much as others but it’s still really good. I think this would be a good headphones album.
The Police
3/5
This was weirder than I expected. The second half was what I expected, that’s the Police sound I’ve heard in passing. But the first half has some different stuff on it. I wish this ranking system was 1-10 because I gave Bowie’s Low a 3 yesterday and this I’m also giving a 3 but it’s closer to a two and a half, and Low is closer to 4 than 3 but wasn’t quite a 4 for me.
Culture Club
2/5
I don’t like this. it makes sense they put the hit as the first song because everyone would have given up before they got to it otherwise.
Happy Mondays
2/5
There was some decent music on here but I don’t like the singer. His voice annoyed me to the point where I couldn’t enjoy most of this album. Harmony was a cool tune though.
T. Rex
3/5
This was good. I’d heard it before a long time ago and didn’t like it then but now I do. A solid album.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
I don’t think Dinosaur Jr realized how funny of a prank cutting off Just Like Heaven would be in the digital music age. I downloaded it as an mp3 from some sketchy website and thought I got a bad file so I downloaded it from elsewhere and same thing. So I went in YouTube and sure enough that’s just how the song ends. But this was the earlier 2000s so downloading an mp3 took more than a minute, so I sat and waited for two desperate downloads before realizing I’d been played. Good stuff. Anyways, this is a good album but it’s not my personal favorite of theirs. It’s like a 3.7 for me.
Moby Grape
2/5
A note, the album on Spotify doesn’t have the same track listing as the original album per Wikipedia. That said, I listened to the Spotify version because that’s what I had. I thought this was just ok, I didn’t hate it (except Mr. Blues, which was garbage bar blues) but I definitely didn’t love it. It was standard 60’s rock, nothing special.
Radiohead
5/5
It’s a toss up between this and In Rainbows for Radiohead’s best album. I think Rainbows takes it but it’s close.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
2/5
Mom, can we have Public Enemy?
We have Public Enemy at home.
At home:
The Shamen
2/5
I understand the inclusion of this album on the list. This style of dance music definitely had its cultural moment in the 90s. I was too young to be going to clubs or raves at the time so for me I associate this with the Mortal Combat movie soundtrack. Did I need a whole album of the Mortal Combat theme song? Absolutely not. The majority of this is a 10 second drum sample played ad nauseum for 3-5 minutes. I think EDM advanced a lot over the years where artists started making it more dynamic, but this early stuff is very flat. There were a few songs that broke the mold though, Evil is Even was cool and different. 666 Edit was the peak of this album, it had different parts, and I loved where they cut the music in and out so it seemed like it was skipping but stayed on time, that was cool too.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
This was very long, but it was quite good. I only really knew Jailbreak and The Boys are Back but they have a lot of good music. And am I mistaken or did he say Huey Lewis was in the harmonica?
The Avalanches
5/5
This is the first album I’ve never heard that I’m giving 5 stars to. I always thought the avalanches were like the books, I now know differently. They are both sample heavy groups but the avalanches make fun music. That’s not to say the books are t good, I like the books but they’re not gonna make you want to dance. This album was a lot of fun and its sound was unique and fresh even though it’s 20+ years old. I wish I’d heard this album a long time ago but it was a joy to discover.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Interesting to say the least. This was a little all over the place, I’m sure it makes more sense in the context of the movie. It was enjoyable to listen to.
Anita Baker
2/5
This is not my style of music. The Spotify blurb says it’s romantic soul music. It’s sappy ballads, I’m sure there are plenty of people who love this but I am not one of them.
Green Day
4/5
This album has aged very well. It still sounds fresh in 2025. Not a bad song on here either, although I don’t think pulling teeth fits the overall flow. It has a sixties garage rock sound that just doesn’t mesh with the pop punk sound of the rest of the album. It’s like a 4.8 for me, not quite perfect but pretty damn close.
The Smiths
2/5
I’ve lost track of how many Smiths/Morrisey albums I’ve had to endure from this list. Shit’s probably messing up my algorithm. Anyways, I don’t like Morrisey’s voice and not a big fan of the bands overall sound either. As for this album, no stand out tracks, it was all meh.
The Smiths
3/5
Yesterday I had to listen to Meat is Murder and in my review I complained about all the Smiths/Morrisey albums I e had to listen to thus far. So of course today I got another Smiths album, this website is taunting me. But jokes on them because I actually liked this one. This album is way better than Meat is Murder. It had funny moments (give us money), and it was sonically just light years ahead of their sophomore album. If this is the only album by the Smiths/Morrisey I’d ever heard I’d think they were a pretty good band.
The Specials
3/5
I hope there’s more ska on this list. I like ska but this album is not one of my favorites. For one, I’ve never been a fan of chanted group vocals which this album has on most songs. And the main singers voice wasn’t great to me. Musically I enjoyed it but the vocals turned me off.
Meat Loaf
3/5
I wonder how many metalheads bought this album when it came out based on the album art and were disappointed. Seriously the album art is metal as hell. Definitely does not match the music. Paradise By the Dashboard Lights is a classic, just a fun song. The rest of the album wasn’t bad but I don’t think I’d go back to it.
Megadeth
3/5
Once again, every Megadeth album is ruined by awful vocals. This one is no exception. What could have been a solid thrash album I couldn’t get into. Black Friday was the standout.
Venom
3/5
Here’s how this album goes. Satan, death, occult stuff, weirdly horny teenage fantasy, murder, blood, satan.
One of these things is not like the other, one of them doesn’t belong!
Seriously, if you weren’t paying attention, Teacher’s Pet doesn’t make any sense. It’s also just a straight forward blues rock song so musically it also sticks out like a sore thumb.
Anyways, this album definitely deserves to be on the list. It’s hella lofi sounding but you can tell how influential it was for metal in the 80s.
Sam Cooke
3/5
I enjoyed this. I think I’d listen to his studio albums over this but it’s still good.
Pavement
5/5
I just listened to Wowee Zowee the other day, not sure that one made this list but I’m glad at least Crooked Rain did. This album is Pavement at their best, I love their other albums but there’s just something about this album. They struck gold on this one.
Björk
3/5
Based on what I’d heard about Björk in the past I thought this was going to be weirder than it was. I mean I guess for a pop album (is Björk pop?) in 2001 this was not the norm. It has some experimental tendencies, I think the albums sound owes a lot to artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre. To me it sounded like those artists but more tame. Her voice isn’t bad, but I don’t love it either, and the songs were a little too melodramatic for my taste.
The Electric Prunes
3/5
This was like the nuggets collection meets the white album. It was garage rock but all over the place. These guys were ambitious, I’ll give them that. But the songs weren’t there for me. There was just nothing that stuck with me
The Beta Band
2/5
This was not very good. I don’t think I needed to hear this. It wasn’t that bad but it was boring and bland.
Scott Walker
2/5
I know this guy has a cult following but it’s not for me. I don’t get the hype. What makes this guy different from say Tom Jones? Lyrical content? It’s still cheesy music even if the songs are darker or whatever.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I was gonna say this is great but it’s not as good as the Soft Bulletin. But I’m not so sure any more, this might be better than or at least equal to Soft Bulletin. I have yet to see if that one is on the list, but Soft Bulletin and At War with the Mystics also deserve to be on here as well.
Taylor Swift
2/5
I liked a couple songs on here but most of this album was kinda boring. It was surprising seeing as Swift is the biggest pop star on earth. I figured a full album would have some catchy tunes but this was mostly forgettable.
Lupe Fiasco
3/5
If you’re reading this before you listen, SKIP THE OUTRO! It’s literally him thanking people for 12 minutes. It’s very nice of him to do that but it is not a song I want to listen to.
Now, onto the rest of the album. I remember when this came out and i wasn’t into it. That remains the same in 2025. It’s kind of cheesy, and too preachy. Lupe has some great rhymes but the songs on here are just okay.
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
I heard this was Jeffery Epstein’s favorite album.
Drive Like Jehu
4/5
This rips!
Mott The Hoople
3/5
A pleasant surprise! I had heard a song or two from these guys before and wasn’t digging it but this album was cool. I would def listen to this again.
Os Mutantes
4/5
This started out as a strong three but as the album went on it quickly became a solid 4 for me. Bat Macumba is my favorite song.
Baaba Maal
2/5
Repetitive and long. It’s not bad but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it.
Tom Waits
2/5
A lot of ballads. Not my favorite.
Alice Cooper
2/5
This wasn’t as one note as I assumed it would be. Every song I’ve heard of Alice Cooper, mostly just the hits, have been pretty samey. This album has some more unique tracks like Blue Turk and Alma Mater. I didn’t love it but was pleasantly surprised by the variety.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
I liked this. The guitar work was impressive. And the overall sound was enjoyable.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
1/5
This kind of reminded me of Soul Coughing if Soul Coughing was bad.
Ananda Shankar
3/5
The covers made me appreciate the originals more. The sitar on the covers was very simple but it made me realize how complex the playing was on the original songs. Sagar was the stand out track.
Jane's Addiction
2/5
I’ve always found this band to be annoying. I don’t know exactly why. Part of it is Perry Farrell’s voice but it’s not just that. I guess it’s just one of those things, not sure why but I am not a fan.
Can
2/5
I like some of Can’s music but this album wasn’t my favorite.
Eagles
2/5
So I looked it up and Greatest Hits is the Eagles best selling album. That makes sense cause their album tracks are pretty meh. I also didn’t really like the hits off this album but I get why they were popular.
Jane's Addiction
2/5
Better than Ritual De Lo Habitual but I still find this band to be annoying, mostly Perry Farrel’s vocals. Hopefully now that I’ve had two in the same week I’ll be done with Jane’s Addiction for the rest of this list.
Aphex Twin
4/5
It’s wild listening to this and knowing what future Aphex Twin albums sound like. This is pretty chill and atmospheric for the most part. I like it, but if this was all I’d ever heard from Aphex Twin I would be a bit underwhelmed. It’s a solid album but his other stuff is groundbreaking. Here’s hoping The Richard D James album or Druqks is on the list!
Supertramp
4/5
Dreamer is my favorite Supertramp song. There’s a bunch of other good ones on here. Not every one was amazing but a solid album.
The Sabres Of Paradise
2/5
There was one cool song on here. No idea what it was because I had to listen on YouTube where it’s just the whole album as a video, not available on Spotify. It’s at about the 43 minute mark. The beginning of the album is so tinny, lots of high pitched sounds with little bass. Definitely not what I look for in electronic dance music. The second half was a bit better but still not very good.
Skepta
2/5
I don’t know how it goes in England, but in America we all decorate our own Christmas trees. Santa brings us presents, he doesn’t do anything with the tree. That being said, this guy has some bars but I didn’t love the album. The production was great, but some of the hooks were god awful, like painful to listen to. And the skit where the guy said fam 70,000 times was obnoxious.
Pere Ubu
3/5
Wonderfully weird. Sentimental journey was unnecessary but other than that this was a cool album. Loved the use of dissonance.
SAULT
4/5
This was unexpectedly cool. I’m not usually big on R&B but this wasn’t your typical R&B. I’m talking like Usher, Ne-Yo, you know like sexy pop music. This was closer to instrumental hip hop and I dig it. For me it’s a very high three but it’s close enough that I’m giving it a four.
Gotan Project
4/5
Who knew tango and electronica would meld so perfectly. This was great, a very chill album.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
Not bad! When I dream was an excellent closer. The album started out sounding a bit generic, but it got unique pretty quickly and I enjoyed it. Again, I wish this was a 1-10 scale because this isn’t a 4 for me but it’s better than a 3.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
This one dragged a bit more than the last Pumpkins album I got in this list and that one was longer I believe. Still I’m finding myself surprised by how great the Pumpkins are. I always liked a few songs, but never dug into an album, just the greatest hits. There’s not a bad song on here even if it is a little bloated.
Billy Bragg
5/5
Well this kicked ass. Billy Bragg’s voice has gotten a lot better with age I guess. I listened to one of his early solo albums for this list and I couldn’t stand him but I liked him on here. I’m also a Wilco fan so the Tweedy sung songs I very much enjoyed. Usually I save my fives for absolutely perfect albums but this one is close enough so a five it is.
The Doors
2/5
I have a soft spot for the doors, I was really into them in high school and even though I’ve kind of grown past them, I still have a nostalgic enjoyment of some of their music. I said all that to say this album was rough. Don’t get me wrong, Waiting for the Sun and Peace Frog are two of their best songs. Everything else on here is pretty bad. I like psychedelic weird Doors, not bar band Doors, and a lot of this was boring blues rock. The other songs were weirdly sentimental ballads that really showcase how Morrison’s poetry wasn’t always great.
Sepultura
2/5
This was a huge departure from Arise, the only other album I’ve heard from these guys. I loved Arise but this, not so much. My first thought was it sounds very nu metal. Then I looked it up and they worked with a bunch of nu metal guys on this album. I’m just not a nu metal guy, so this album wasn’t it for me. Also, skip the last song, it’s thirteen minutes of tribal chants.