there's always something to be said when a white artist or group releases music in a traditionally black genre/style and the white artist is who finally brings that genre into mainstream media and acclaim. i saw a quote on their wikipedia that called the Beastie Boys "the Elvis of hip-hop" and from this listen, i think that's an accurate assessment, although not necessarily a bad thing in itself. it's clear from the way the album is produced and the intelligent sampling that they know what they were doing and were knowledgeable of black hip-hop artists that they were obviously influenced by, along with their own previous experience with punk and rock. could we call combining hip-hop aesthetics with punk and rock a sanitization of black hip-hop in the same way many are critical of early white rock n roll artists? i'm not sure, especially because rock is itself a traditionally black genre, even if it has been taken over in the wider cultural imagination by white men. in my mind, this kind of sound is more of a subset of the larger hip-hop genre as a whole, but i think i need to do more research into the Beastie Boys and refresh my memory on classic hip-hop before i make any definitive conclusions. not something i'd listen to in my own time probably, but interesting nonetheless!

I need to be in a dark smokey jazz club swaying gently with a negroni in hand NOW

this is a great album that really showcases Aretha's vocal talents and the heart and soul she puts into her singing. It's crazy to think this is her tenth studio album but she's still really only at the beginning of her mainstream career and there are still so many amazing songs to come. Of course "Respect" is iconic, but I really loved a lot of tracks on here that I had never heard before just because I only really knew her biggest hits. I do wish I could have heard it on vinyl because I think the sound quality and mixing might come across a bit better, but I'll be on the lookout for it now in my local record stores :)

not really my style, but Slash’s guitar playing is INSANE so i gotta give credit for that

i feel like this is one of those albums that we all acknowledge is one of the greatest of all time but we never actually consciously listen to it (at least in my experience)…maybe i should change that though because it is truly SO good- the “King of Pop” title is well deserved for this album alone. I ended up knowing a little over half of it already (all the singles) but even the lesser known album tracks were masterfully written, performed, and produced and i found a new favorite that i hadn’t heard before with “Baby Be Mine”

i came into this album with absolutely zero expectations or prior knowledge and i was very pleasantly surprised to find that i loved it! this is exactly the type of sad indie rock with a twist that was a staple in my high school days and still holds a very special place in my heart so idk why i haven’t listened to them before- this album will definitely be going in my future rotation though, and i’m excited to check out more of the Flaming Lips work

not really my thing- i do like electronic music sometimes but this was never fully catchy or active enough to be good dance/rave music, nor was it ever fully ambient enough to be relaxing or meditative. i can appreciate the effort and the artistry that went into it though, and i can see why it's considered important in the history and development of electronic music

i was a bit skeptical for the first few songs and i was honestly kind of thinking "oh god a whole hour and a half of this?" but "There She Goes, My Beautiful World" converted me, and it was only up from there. as i said above, i love the Dylan/Cohen/van Zandt parallels in his songwriting and i think his lyrical imagery is beautiful, especially for the love songs. the album is a bit dense though, so i think i'll need another listen or two to really get the nuances of some of these songs but overall i think it's very strong! i don't think i'm quite converted on his voice- it's fine, nothing special- but i think he's a great lyricist. i was also recommended to listen to Let Love In as well, so I will definitely do that, and I'm looking forward to hearing more of his discography in general :)

fun and catchy! not normally the genre of music I listen to in my own time but I enjoyed myself and I think George Michael has a great voice and can write some really good songs

this is SUCH a good album and it's really such a tragedy that Janis died right at this moment when she finally had the creative freedom she wanted as well as a backing band that was able to match her talents beat for beat and had incredible chemistry with her. I can't believe so few recordings of her and the Full Tilt Boogie Band exist...Wikipedia says that none of the concerts she played on tour with them were recorded and we only really have two appearances on The Dick Cavett Show and this album to immortalize their sound. all the more reason to be grateful for what we have- but just imagine the kind of career Janis could have had if she hadn't died when she did. truly a one-in-a-million voice, and a one-in-a-million artist, and i treasure this album and her three others with all my heart.

again we should bring up the fact that a non-black singer is taking a genre traditionally sung by mostly black musicians (the blues) and mixing it with a genre that is seen as culturally white (punk) and that's what makes the sound (somewhat more mainstream) successful. I don't know if he really needed to sing the n-word on that one song either. still, "cowpunk" is an interesting concept that results in an interesting sound when it melds together in the right way. however, i do think it works better on some songs than others, otherwise, it's either too disjointed or too clearly in one direction or another. i do agree with Jack White that "She's Like Heroin To Me'' and "For the Love of Ivy" are great songs though.

this one is tough because obviously this album is very famous and considered iconic to 90s music history but at the same time i can't help but wonder how much of that is as a result of Kurt Cobain's death and if we would view the album differently if he hadn't killed himself. obviously he was going through a lot and felt that it was important to use this album as a kind of exorcism or outlet, and you can definitely hear that in the songs, but that doesn't automatically mean that i like them or think he was doing anything unique or profound in the way he chose to express his pain. i didn't like when John Lennon screamed on Plastic Ono Band, and i don't like the screaming here either! there are some nice songs on the album, and i have a feeling that if i went more into Nirvana's back catalog i think there would be things i would like a lot more, but unfortunately for the most part this just wasn't for me

whew so much that I could say about this one...the production is crisp as hell, the songs are catchy, this is basically the textbook example of how to write a great pop album in the 21st century. HOWEVER, i think this album tends to get a similar treatment to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in that it is generally seen by mainstream music criticism to be her best work even though I don't think the entire album as a unit is her strongest work. still, it's impossible to deny its lasting cultural impact, and this was the album that brought Swift into a whole new level of stardom. people may gripe about my comparison of Swift to the Beatles, but when you speak about cultural impact and influence on pop music and culture at large...there really is no one else on that same level. Taylor Swift is the millennial Paul McCartney. that's not me speaking as a fan of either Taylor or Paul, that's just an observable fact. it's also interesting to remember things like the whole streaming debate and to compare that to the Beatles also not being on streaming services for many years. of course, it's irrelevant at this point in time (money wins out always sadly) but it also shows you how much has changed in the music industry and landscape over the past 10 years.

this was another album that surprised me with how much I liked it! I had never heard of this band before, but I found a lot to love here and I'll definitely be diving into more of their discography at some point. it is interesting that critics seem to consider them more psychedelic/prog rock though...i do hear the psychedelia on some songs (mostly "River to Consider) but honestly I hear more country and folk influences...but maybe that's just because they're from Texas lol. all and all though, i'm really glad i discovered this band and this album!

this one is also tough because i haven't seen The Virgin Suicides, and i generally don't listen to movie scores by themselves except in very rare exceptions, and certainly not without seeing the movie first. also, i don't listen to a lot of electronic music so i don't have a lot of intelligent things to say about the music itself lol. with that said though, there were some cool tracks and i like the vibe of this kind of electronic music more than what i heard on Phaedra. the final track was really the only one that caught my attention- it was absolutely chilling- and i assume kind of encapsulates the story of the film? i am more motivated to see the film after listening to this though, because i assume the film uses the score in a very smart way if it was so critically acclaimed

i remember liking this album a lot when i first listened to it ages ago and i still really like it now! we need more artists to Yearn like this....get ur fucking asses up and YEARN no one wants to yearn anymore....but seriously i really enjoyed his melodies and i like the kind of folksy production of this album a lot. i don't know if i'll become as big of a Neil stan as a lot of people i know are, maybe i need to listen to the rest of his catalog, but i enjoyed this album a lot!

I thought it was great! something about folk music just scratches a particular itch in my brain....i always love the melodies and arrangements and this album was no exception. it definitely seemed to lean more in the trad folk direction rather than folk rock in my opinion, but i thought everything sounded great and it was fun to listen to...i'll definitely have to check out some of the other albums from this group as well!

really nice sound! this is another one that i had absolutely no prior knowledge of but really surprised me with how much i liked it. the production is crisp and interesting and not overly dated by 80s synth sound- it actually sounds pretty timeless. the lyrics are also smart and contemplative and i like the lead singer's voice. i also like the electric and acoustic versions of the song equally well, which shows how strong the songs are by themselves and also how smart the production (of both versions!) is. i will definitely be checking out some other albums from this band!

honestly i was so bored for so much of the album....really such a laughable difference from listening at age 12 with basically a blank slate of musical taste (my parents had little to no interest in music so did not shape my music tastes whatsoever) to listening now with much more knowledge and distinguishing preferences. Adele has a good voice, but she doesn't do anything interesting with it except belt with a good tone. it's kind of the textbook example of how a good voice is simply not good enough if you don't put emotion and a distinct perspective behind the music. and it's not because she isn't primarily a songwriter either, there are many amazing singers who are not songwriters who are still great interpreters. this was just boring! the maybe two exceptions were "Turning Tables and "Someone Like You", but after 45 minutes of album filler that isn't even well-performed, it isn't enough to save the album