1001 Albums Summary

Never been much of a Queen-head, per se. Don't get me wrong, I've listened to some of their bigger hits and have enjoyed them, and I have tons of respect for the late Freddie Mercury who was undeniably a talented vocalist, but I've just never really had much of an urge to listen to a Queen album from start to finish as much as plenty of other artists. I figured that I would eventually get around to listening to one, just instead of out of any urges it'd just happen on a whim... seems like today is finally that day. My first impressions with Queen... is that I've been clearly missing out. Since this was their third album, it sounds like they're still trying to figure out their sound, but it's closer to the more "operatic" sound that can describe Queen's music: operatic with a rock twist. Freddie's great, as expected, but the other band members like drummer Roger Taylor and bassist John Deacon show themselves to be talented in their own right. But of course, there's Brian May. Just the opening track alone is a showcase as to why he's one of the all-time guitarist greats, and even outside of that track, he shows himself to being capable of busting out some killer guitar solos like it's nothing. Quite the first impression, overall, and not a bad way to start off listening to these 1,001 albums. Favorite Track: "Killer Queen" Least Favorite Track: "Dear Friends"

When it comes to '90s electronic dance music, there are a couple albums that I think helped define the genre; there's Daft Punk's Homework, there's Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works 85-92, and then there's this one. A lot more punk-ish in its sound than those too, for sure, and the late Keith Flint sounds like he wouldn't be out of place in a British punk rock band from the 1970s. The difference is where you'd hear music like this; whereas a punk band would probably play shows in small venues with some mosh pits, you'd probably hear the Prodigy's music at a rave. Repetitive music, but that's how it goes with EDM. There's still enough variety in the sound so that this doesn't really get boring (for me, at least, taste is subjective after all). The three big singles ("Smack My Bitch Up", "Breathe" and "Firestarter") are obviously the big highlights of this album, though songs like "Serial Thrilla" and "Fuel My Fire" are songs that I feel can't go ignored, they're just as good as the big three. Could've used some shortening in some songs, but The Fat of the Land is an undeniable classic of '90s EDM. Favorite Tracks: "Smack My Bitch Up", "Breathe", "Serial Thrilla", "Firestarter", "Fuel My Fire" Least Favorite Tracks: "Narayan", "Climbatize"

15 cents for a pretzel? The economy truly has gone down the toilet since 1974. A lot more consistent than I remembered, even if this isn't their strongest. Their lyricism, as always, is on point, always some captivating lyrics that are kinda like character studies, whether it's a heroin junkie in "Charlie Freak" or renowned saxophonist Charlie Parker. And the instruments are some chill yet still technically impressive jazzy pop rock, perfect for divorced dads (and I mean that in a positive way) and any major dude out there. Favorite Track: "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" Least Favorite Tracks: "Through With Buzz", "With a Gun", "Monkey in Your Soul"

Oh boy, a Taylor Swift album... she's the one who made the album that has "Frontier Psychiatrist" on it, right? Yeah, as you can probably tell, I'm not particularly enthused to be getting a Taylor Swift album this early on (and I've in fact been putting off listening this - for context, I was given this album on January 5, 2025, and I'm finally listening to it on January 29, 2025, like I knew I was going to fall off of doing this little challenge but goddamn I was hoping it wouldn't be this early on). And it's not that I hate Taylor Swift - I don't particularly mind when her songs come on the radio, though I think most of her songs I've heard from her are just okay - it's just that she's so overexposed that I am absolutely tired of hearing about her and people talking about every little thing she does... the perks of being the biggest pop-star in the world, I guess. But going back in time to 2014, Taylor Swift was undoubtedly a popular artist though I don't think she might've been considered the biggest pop-star in the world then (to me, it might've been Katy Perry before she entered her Witness era), and her sound appealed more to fans of country than fans of mainstream pop. But with her 2012 album Red, she started to show signs of shifting away from her country pop roots in favor of a general pop sound. Songs like "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" were hits, but songs like "I Knew You Were Trouble" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" felt like they were much bigger hits. So why not embrace a sound like those two songs that appeals to more people? And that leads us to the album of the hour, 1989, where Taylor cements completely shifts her sound to mainstream pop and... well, I didn't totally hate it, so I'll give it that. If you've never heard a Taylor Swift song but have heard any of the majority of pop songs within the last 10 years or so, this is what this album sounds like. Catchy melodies and lyrics about romance and break-ups, both without much in terms of artistry and being interesting. There are some songs that range from decent to good like "Style" and "Wildest Dreams", both of which feel different enough for me to remember (though these were also radio hits, so...), but for every interesting songs, there are more songs that are either boring as hell or just plain not good. "Shake It Off" was the lead single off of this album, and the lyrics, especially the chorus, were already cringe-worthy in 2014, in 2025 they're just absolutely embarrassing. Who decided to let the white girl write the lyrics "players gonna play, play, play, play, play / And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate"? The least I can be glad for is that there wasn't any rapper guest appearances here. Then there's "Bad Blood", a song that on the surface seems to be just another breakup song, but interviews and speculation seem to suggest this song is about Katy Perry and how she and Swift were apparently feuding at the time. And the lyrics reek of pettiness and Swift tries to paint herself as a victim, and people seem to only care because it's Taylor Swift, and I couldn't give any single shit about this feud between two famous women. These lyrics have also just aged poorly since Swift pretty much won the feud, so to speak, becoming the biggest pop-star in the world, while Katy Perry fell off with Witness and has truly bottomed out with 143. This is easily the worst song on the album. The rest of the album is just pretty boring, generic pop. Just too many songs about her romantic exploits and breakups, it gets really tiring. And the production is clean, which isn't a bad thing itself, but it's also very generic-sounding and plays it too safe, in fact, this album might be the progenitor of the generic pop song that has dominated the genre for the past decade. Thank God for artists like Charli XCX and Chappell Roan for reminding me that mainstream pop music can be good. While this album is just overall okay, it might've done more damage to the integrity of pop music than good. Maybe I hate Taylor Swift actually. But, hey, I finally listened to this album, and that makes me want to get caught up with the other albums I've been assigned, and I can eventually get through the rest of the challenge so I can listen to such great albums as... Devil Without a Cause by Kid Rock why the FUCK Favorite Track: "Style" Least Favorite Track: "Bad Blood"

If listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band is like looking through a kaleidoscope and seeing all sorts of psychedelic patterns and shapes, then listening to the White Album is like looking through a kaleidoscope and seeing patterns consisting of inner-fighting and clashing views, a mishmash of genres from standard rock & roll to proto-heavy metal to a sound collage, and the number nine. The White Album is a rather interesting album. With most of the songs written while the band were at a Transcendental Meditation training course in Rishikesh, India and recorded as arguments and differences broke out among the four that would eventually lead to their break-up, this album is pretty much where the Beatles peaked creatively, with lyrics that are satirical ("Back in the U.S.S.R.", "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"), political ("Blackbird", "Revolution 1"), and informed by the trip to India and this album's troubled recording ("Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey", "Sexy Sadie"). And while you have your typical Beatles pop rock, there's plenty of songs that are different genres, whether that'd be blues rock ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "I'm So Tired"), "Paul's granny music", as John Lennon described "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", proto-heavy metal ("Helter Skelter") or a sound collage consisting of the number nine ("Revolution 9") that is definitely the Beatles at their most experimental and avant-garde and probably would have never been made had John never met and fell in love with Yoko Ono. At the same time, though, you can tell how kinda messy this album is, and that prevents me from seeing this as their masterpiece. Division between the four Beatles led to a fragmented recording session where the band rarely recorded together and instead worked separately. Thus, the mishmash of genres with each song, and you can tell that each Beatle were developing different ideas on how to craft a song, whether it'd be George Harrison's guitar-driven approach or Paul's inspiration by old-hat jazz that he grew up with (again, "Paul's granny music"), and when a filler song like "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" strikes, that's when you can tell that songs like those were recorded when they were starting to run out of ideas. While this album is good, it unfortunately marks the beginning of the end of the Beatles. Favorite Tracks: "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Happiness is a Warm Gun", "Blackbird", "Sexy Sadie", "Helter Skelter" Least Favorite Track: "Wild Honey Pie"

My first Blur album! Now, I'm much more familiar with Damon Albarn's work in his other most famous project, Gorillaz, so going back to his britpop roots in Blur was... interesting. A very British album, from the lyrics examining British life in the mid 1990s, to the throwback to British punk rock in a couple of songs, to just the way Albarn delivers his vocals... I guess there's a reason why it's called "britpop", after all. And it has plenty of catchy songs; can't get the chorus to "Girls & Boys" out of my head. Does get a bit dull in some places, though, and I can think of at least three songs that could've been cut to make this album a bit shorter, but this was a decent one overall. I think I prefer Albarn's work in Gorillaz more, though. Favorite Track: "Girls & Boys" Least Favorite Tracks: "The Debt Collector", "Far Out", "Lot 105"