Gimme Shelter is an absolute all-timer. Gets me so fired up. The rest of the album (and the Stones in general) don't really click with me. I think it's MIck's voice I don't love? All the other tracks on this one just kinda felt like background music to me. Didn't hate, didn't love

I hated this

Surprisingly good. Whimsical and kinda gay in a good way, like Billy Eichner

Good elevator music, not great everything else music

Nice music. His voice is a little nasal and flat for my taste. Instrumental tracks are my favorites. Don’t see myself going back to this often but I enjoyed most of it

This album rules. I fell in love by the time I got to Lovefool and then wanted to marry this album. Great stuff. Call me Mr Rogers because I’m a huge cardigan guy now

Surprisingly good. Didn’t get through all of it but like his voice and some good harmony. Guitar is rad too

Blues is a little boring to me

Pleasant but hard to get excited about most of it. Some nice harmony in a few songs. I’d keep it as background music

I like the vibe but the music just doesn’t do it for me. Too many meandering jam tracks, and the rest of it doesn’t feel memorable

Some nice songs but so, so whiny. Can’t imagine a time I’d like to listen to this

Hungry like the wolf FUCKS. The rest of the album is kinda annoying

Enjoyed it and think I’d like it more with more listens. No real weak spots (but no major highs either)

So many classics on here (Gentle on my Mind, Suspicious Minds, In the Ghetto…). Enjoyed this a ton.

Liked this more than I expected. Their hits were hits for a reason. Billy Corgan’s voice is so annoying that I like it, and I love the melodramatic tone of some of these. But docking a full star for length and some duds along the way

Wake me up when September ends is the best song on this album. That says a lot more about the quality of this album than anything else. I can’t fathom how this album is on this list. No one wants to listen to watered down pop punk from a band that once made actual punk. I was 15 when this album came out and I remember it being lame then, and this is one of the few times I agree with my 15 year old self on music

I know I should like Led Zeppelin but I just don't like most of it. I've tried so many times. Their music bores me. I don't know if they're doing stuff I don't understand, or if it's just a vibe that I don't vibe with, or what, but it doesn't work for me. Every song feels like they figured out a guitar riff and just do it over and over again for 4-10 minutes. When the riff is good (Kashmir) it's good, but when it isn't (most other songs) it's incredibly boring. Giving 3 stars tho bc some songs on here fuck. Obviously Kashmir, and Trampled Under Foot, and a couple others. But they aren't my rock gods.

This album is super gay and I’ll be honest I kinda dig it. Freedom 90 is deliciously gay. They won’t go when I go is really nice - has kinda an elegiac showtune vibe that I really enjoyed. Album drags a little and is slow later on but didn’t hate it

Overall such a solid album - I loved this. It’s held up a lot better than a lot of 90s hip hop. Lauryn Hill obviously stands out - she elevates some mediocre songs (eg Fu-Gee-La) and makes the good ones even better (eg Ready or Not). Killing Me Softly is a gorgeous combo of understated production and her voice in center stage. Some great production in other spots too - super creative Enya sample on Ready or Not that spawned several remakes since then

This album is boring and shitty. Acoustic doesn’t play to Bruce’s strengths. His voice kinda sucks and there’s no energy anywhere in this album. He takes a great song like Atlantic City and makes it shitty and boring. Fuck this album

Pretty unremarkable to me compared to other rock from this era. Some parts sound like the Beatles, some feel like the Clash, all of it is a worse version of that music. Can't see myself coming back to any of this.

i’m not sure who this music is for, but it isn’t me. It’s unobjectionable but doesn’t do anything for me. This one felt like one I need more background info on to understand if there’s some cultural significance or novel musical approach here that I’m unaware of. Otherwise just kinda meandering and repetitive without doing anything beautiful or impressive or catchy.

Two stars just for THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN. 1 star for the rest. This sounds like it was a fun concert to be at, but the music doesn't rock my socks off for the most part (weird that the Spotify version they link here is only 4 songs when the full version is way longer. Feels like they didn't get a fair shake on this). Execution is super sharp (guitar and drums are so tight it's awesome to behold) but the songwriting isn't my favorite from this era. And the vocals on THE BOYS is a little disappointing – lead vocalist is flat on a lot of the fun high notes. Can't give em less than 3 for a classic though.

A great example of early hip hop that's aged well – it's fun, it's got a ton of bounce, and man Snoop is charismatic. The g-funk and synth is so iconic. Even the intro is good. Tried to listen to this while doing work and was having too much fun to focus. I'm all about this.

Decent but not my favorite early hip hop

Such an eerie, haunting album. It’s a VIBE. This is basically a spoken word album which sounds awful but it somehow works great. I haven’t listened to a lot of Leonard Cohen but this made me want to listen to more.

What a nice listen. Such a great voice and fun funk/soul grooves. Feels like I'll like it more and more as I listen to it more. Nothing revolutionary but a really nice piece of music.

Oh boy. I'm not sure why this is an album anyone HAS TO LISTEN TO BEFORE THEY DIE, unless it's what you listen to immediately before you die / during the act of dying. Has to be said that Freak on a Leash is a great song if you're in like 8th grade so that warrants a star. It isn't good, but it's still fun in a shitty way. I like how confidently shitty it is. The rest of it is, well, not good. It sucks.

How many Shankars played sitar?? On this list I was maybe expecting some Ravi, maybe some Anoushka, but never even heard of Ananda (apparently Ravi's nephew). This is basically Indian jam band music. I don't like this style when it's on Western instruments, but when it's a sitar, for some reason I dig it (probably because it feels exotic to my gringo ears, like shopping in the ETHNIC aisle at Whole Foods). So maybe I'm giving too much credit for novelty, but I dig it. Also any album that I can listen to while I'm working gets an extra star, which is basically the opposite of the point of what we're trying to do with this exercise, but this is my truth / lived experience / personal journey so I can give stars however I feel like it A cover of Light My Fire was unexpected and fun.

Pretty lame stuff, Peter Gabriel. Even the 'hit' didn't hit for me (Sledgehammer). Solsbury Hill is a shitty fun song but it isn't on this album. ONE STAR.

3 stars. Really torn on this. Musically I love Sufjan’s stuff - it’s pretty and inventive. but lyrically it’s too cutesy and self consciously quirky for me. How many song titles with 15 words does one album need? He feels like the kind of person who would say “I’m a nerd” in an annoying way

If you don't like this album, you don't like music and I don't like you. Some goddamn classics on here. I've listened to it a thousand times before and I'll listen it a thousand times more.

What a cruel move to put this right after Simon & Garfunkel. Why is this album on this list.

I enjoyed parts of this. If I'd heard it with no context, I'd have said the Court of the Crimson King was by David Bowie (in a good way – the Ziggy Stardust kind of way). Some interesting folk tracks too – I enjoyed the harmonies. Some parts felt intentionally discordant and challenging (21st Century Schizoid Man), but overall it pleased my ear more than it grated. Fascinated that Kanye dug this deep on a sample.

Fine stuff overall. Nothing remarkable compared to what came later, but apparently this album pioneered a lot of the sound that became rampant in the 90s (especially funk and jazz beats)? I don't think this era of rap has aged too well, though – every song feels like they found something cool and stuck with it for 3-4 minutes with no variation. But at the time it was revolutionary, I guess. For my money, from this era I'll take Souls of Mischief over this, but a real RAP HEAD might school me on how much Souls of Mischief owes to Jungle Brothers anyway.

It's easy to hate Common for being a lax faux intellectual rapper. And I hate him for it. I'll give 2 stars for good production on this album though – a lot of socially conscious rap has such sparse and uninspired beats that you have no choice but to listen to the preachy lyrics, but the highest compliment I can give Common is that he picks good producers who can distract from his annoying persona. I actually found myself enjoying a few songs when I could just enjoy the beat without listening to him waxing poetic. But that's as far as I'll go

Is this known as Bowie's saxophone album? Man that thing is WAILING for half this album. The backup singers are pretty fun – gives it a Gladys Knight and the Pips feel. It isn't my favorite Bowie album, but Young Americans and Fame are classics. Bowie's stylistic range was pretty impressive, even if musically most of the stuff on here isn't too inventive. On the negative side, I could have done without the Across the Universe cover, and some songs are corny and shitty (Can You Hear Me). 3 stars in my book.

This album really made me question why we're doing this exercise. This is obviously intentionally discordant; it's the musical equivalent of the worst kind of modern art (they want you to say "it really makes you question: what IS music!?"). These guys are the Jasper Johns of whatever the hell genre you call this. It feels pointless even to give this 1 star, but what else am I supposed to do?

Needed this palate cleanser after yesterday's cacophony. This gets 2-3 stars alone for being a beautiful period piece. I'd never heard of Sarah Vaughan before, but what a gorgeous voice – that vibrato, that lilt, that range. From a vocal perspective, I'm sure people have made a ton of comparisons to Billie Holiday, Ella, Nina Simone. But as great as her pipes are, and the vibe, and the backing band, the songs aren't super catchy or memorable compared to those artists – to my ear at least, they mostly sound like jazz standards – which is probably why she doesn't have the same legacy as those greats. And I'm not a huuuge fan of scat so I cringe a bit when I have to sit through it. But overall really enjoyed the listen and will definitely come back to it.

Some great stuff here (eg Nuthin but a G Thang is so goddamn fun), but a lot that I don't love (most of the others I hadn't heard before). Maybe when I was an aggro teenager I would have vibed more with this, but a lot of this and other gangsta rap is too serious for me. My favorite parts of this album were wherever Snoop was on the mic, so what I really want is to listen to Doggystyle again. Also too many skits (any number of skits is too many skits).

Not my cup of tea

I loved parts of this. The super frenetic ultra 80s synth production on tracks like Buffalo Stance were really fun, the unusual chord progressions on Manchild reminded me of Mitski (the highest compliment I can give). Other parts were forgettable, but had some real high points for me. Fun time capsule.

5 stars all fucking day. I love this album. What a TREAT. Gimme all that Fagen and Michael McDonald. Such a tight album. So many jams. Top 10er all time for my money.

This album really bored me. I thought I’d like Marvin but this didn’t excite me in any way

Jump and Panama back to back is insane. What a fun album. I faded a bit on the back half but the rest was like heroin

Not my favorite style of music but a fun stretch for me. Overall takeaway: vocals are kinda lame, but the instrumentals are fun

Uhhhh this was not good. Why do people like Sheryl Crow? Not for me

Had never heard this before. Really fun vibe. Didn't knock my socks off with hits, but I was very charmed.

This is some indulgent classic rock I can get on board with. Shine on you Crazy Diamond is so, so fucking long, but I love the buildup and the atmosphere. I heard this song for the first time in a gem store in Evanston, Illinois (I have no idea why I was there) and was captivated listening to this long buildup while I looked at sparkling gems. Thinking back, I wonder if they only played gem-themed music there (or if they think of all hard rock as on-theme...). I had never like the Pink Floyd I'd heard before that (Dark Side of the Moon didn't grip me the way it got other people), but after hearing that track I put on this album and it clicked. Wish You Were Here is beautiful too. I really like this album.

What a nice listen. Incredible banter and rapport with the inmates, so smooth even when he's tuning his guitar. I don't go crazy for his music but it's a nice listen.

Gimme Shelter is an absolute all-timer. Gets me so fired up. The rest of the album (and the Stones in general) don't really click with me. I think it's MIck's voice I don't love? All the other tracks on this one just kinda felt like background music to me. Didn't hate, didn't love

Enjoyed this - mix of psychedelic and grungy sound that I enjoyed. Not likely to spin the whole thing again but was glad I listened

Realizing I like early Stevie more than later Stevie. This one still has some jams on it (boogie on reggae woman, you haven’t done nothin).

I dunno man. Was this at one point groundbreaking or genre defining? I assume so (confirmed). I guess this is how pioneering music goes - if you’re inventing a sound, it’s by definition in its infancy and hasn’t been perfected yet. So as an achievement or a time capsule on its own terms, significant, but looking back now, kinda meh (however unfair it is to judge by later standards). 3 stars for inventing a genre I guess I do appreciate that this was an era when if you were fat, your stage name was just Fats. We need more of that straight shooting. Ball’s in your court Lizzo

This album almost no impression on me. What a snooze fest. You can’t just trot out Bob Dylan’s 30th album and act like it’s some sort of treasure. Boooooring. 2 stars

This is some challenging stuff. It’s objectively annoying to listen to (the vocals on the title track and the intentionally shitty sounding instrumentals on ‘Laughing’ are good examples). Only got 4 songs in before I had to pull the ripcord, so someone please tell me if the back half really picks up. I liked reading their wikipedia page more than I liked listening to their music, which is always a bad sign. “Describing their sound as "avant-garage," Pere Ubu's work drew inspiration from sources such as musique concrète, 60s rock, performance art, and the industrial environments of the American Midwest.” I don’t know what any of this really means

I'd never heard a lot of this. Some really cool stuff in here. Highlights for me: 'Friends' has such an unsettled feel to it – I'd be curious what musical trick they're pulling to achieve that effect.