I'm not the kind of person that hates the Beatles just because they are popular. However, I can't help but think that if this came out today it would get lukewarm reception. There are some really great moments, particularly with A Day In The Life and Within You Without You, but as a whole it just feels boring and bland retrospectively. There are way better Beatles albums, and honestly way better albums from '67 (Are You Experienced? AND Axis: Bold As Love in the same year?? Those are way better psych-rock albums IMO). I appreciate the classical infusions through the whole thing and the production is solid as usual, but it falls flat for me overall. 7/10

I'm not very familiar with the material The Temptations were putting out in the '70s, but this is pretty damn good. Songs like Papa Was A Rollin' Stone, Run Charlie Run, Mother Nature, and I Ain't Got Nothin' are absolute highlights. When the group leans into the funk and soul side of things they really shine, and it's wild that they thought this record would flop since they were straying from their typical ballads and do-wop. This album feels so confident and powerful, and I respect the hell out of them for their bravery in trying something so different from what they were known for at the time. It's not the most groundbreaking record, and there are definitely more competent soul and funk records from the time, but this has some great songwriting, performances, and production - making it a highlight of The Temptations' discography. 8.5/10

One of the best albums The Beatles ever put out, but still bogged down by some significant bloat. That’s not surprising since it’s their first double LP, but songs like Revolution 9 are enough to drop this a point or two. 9/10

This album is, without a doubt, a modern classic. It's not perfect, but most of these tracks are genre-defining. It's an incredibly forward-thinking record, feeling far beyond its time while simultaneously being the perfect encapsulation of what was to come for the remainder of the '00s and the 2010s. From the production to the songwriting and performances, MGMT really tapped into something special. 9.5/10

A fun dance/electro album that goes on for way too long and meanders on the same loops far too often. 7.5/10

Arrival is to Disco what Nevermind is to grunge. A truly genre-defining masterpiece, chock full of absolutely fantastic songs. From Dancing Queen to Money, Money, Money and everything in between, Arrival struck gold on every front. The whole record is so well produced, performed, written, and structured. For me, music is all about the feeling it evokes. I dare you to put this on and not feel absolute joy. Yes, it's pop. Yes, it's kitchy, campy, corny stuff. But good lord, this is POP. 10/10

I'm not a jam band hater, and I would never dismiss music because it chooses to improvise for extended periods. I love bands like KGLW and my first concert was Dave Matthews Band (lmao). Jazz and avant garde have always been genres I gravitate to as well. However, the entire 73 minutes of this feels so unnecessary. These are essentially basic, soulless blues songs, extended way past their welcome, meandering for far too long. The musicianship of the Dead is a highlight, but the compositions and vocal performances leave so much to be desired. I can feel that there are supposed to be those big jam "moments" on the album, like the slow blues on Death Don't Have No Mercy, or the extended solos on Turn on Your Love Light, but each of them fall so flat for me. I did not enjoy this at all. 4/10

The Low End Theory is genuinely one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and it's still a toss-up between this and Midnight Marauders as the best Tribe album, somehow. A Tribe Called Quest were really on to something special. Every track they put together during their run (even on the later albums when tensions were higher between Phife and Q), feels like they're discovering something new. As true pioneers to the genre, it feels like they push boundaries at every turn and craft something truly unique in the process. The production on this is as crisp and interesting as possible, Q is in his prime form, and somehow Phife rises up to meet him right where he is. The tracks are unique, diverse, and expertly crafted. This, in my mind, is the real first Tribe album. It was the start of something incredible, and it's put together damn-near flawlessly. 10/10

This is an interesting album that I think ultimately is reflective of its time and not much more. The garage/blues boom of the early 2000s was clearly kicked off in part by this, but there are few tracks here that work. Jack White is an incredibly accomplished and talented songwriter, and you can see streaks of that on this album - but it falls short of impressing me in any way. Songs like Fell in Love With A Girl, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, or We're Going to Be Friends are classics surrounded by mundane songs (Aluminum, I Think I Smell a Rat, The Union Forever, The Same Boy, Hotel Yorba, etc.) 5/10

This has got to be in the top three of Zeppelin's discography, right alongside IV and Physical Graffiti. This record is so good - they are all so clearly in their prime, starting to move into the more experimental/psychedelic sound, but still just playing as loud as they can. I am a die-hard Zeppelin fan. This was the best band of the late '60s - '70s and nobody can change my mind on that. There is not a single skip on this whole album!!! 10/10

Aretha is amazing. This album is full of really solid blues/soul songs, but what really makes them shine are her performances and energy. No real low points on this for me, other than a few stretches where things felt a bit same-y. 8.5/10

Fun, slightly-experimental hip-hop that becomes pretty repetitive about halfway through. There are still some great tracks, and Paper Planes is obviously a classic, but the rest of the album doesn't really live up to that highlight. 6.5/10

Really fun, boundary-pushing pop music highlighted by Janelle's vocals and excellent composition. I think some fat could definitely be trimmed, (especially the track with Of Montreal), but the highlights really stand out for me. 8/10

I used to be the worlds biggest Black Keys apologist, and this album in particular was so important to me. Brothers was the first vinyl I bought as a 13-year-old. The video for Tighten Up was the coolest thing I had ever seen and inspired me to start learning guitar. I had all these songs on my iPod Classic and listened to them constantly. The song my high school girlfriend and I claimed was "ours" is Everlasting Light, for fuck's sake! I still have so much love for those songs, as well as Howlin' For You, She's Long Gone, and Never Gonna Give You Up. But the whole thing doesn't hold up quite as well as I hoped. This is clearly the Black Keys at their most commercial-seeking. Songs like Sinister Kid, Black Mud, Next Girl, The Go Getter, and basically the rest of Side B just aren't at the same quality as the first half. I still have love for this album, but man, their earlier garage-leaning stuff was so much more fun. Maybe I'm just a Rubber Factory enjoyer.

A very beautiful album with a really palpable emotional energy to it. Nina is fantastic throughout, and her lyricism is always something to behold. This is a super mellow album that didn't quite keep me engaged through the whole thing, but the moments that grabbed my attention the most really pulled me in. Highlights: If I Should Lose You, Either Way I Lose, Lilac Wine, Black Is The Color of My True Love's Hair, Why Keep On Breaking My Heart, Four Women Least Favorites: Break Down And Let It All Out 8.5/10

This album is great if Come On Eileen is your favorite song. The rest of the tracks that make up the nearly hour long runtime outside of that song, are pretty much doing the same thing. Still, it's fun and well produced. It's just way too long and way too similar. Highs: Come On Eileen, Let's Make This Precious, Liars A to E Lows: Old, Plan B, I'll Show You, Until I Believe In My Soul, Reminisce 7/10

This era of Metal has always been the epitome of "I want to be a cool guy" music in my mind. When the spandex and leotards of Hair Metal stopped being cool, the cool guys wanted to be tough and flocked to Metallica. When Hip Hop became thoroughly mainstream, the dorks who were masquerading as tough guys suddenly tried to bite that and made the mistake of Nu Metal. This record, (aside from Limp Bizkit maybe), is the pinnacle of faux-cool-guy-music. I'm sure in its time this album was super cool. But, listening to it now, I only see PUG sunglasses, spiky hair gel, Tapout t-shirts, and my friend's weird dads that reeked of cigarettes and cheap beer. I don't dislike metal by any stretch. I love bands like Sabbath, Death, and a lot of death metal and hardcore of recent years - currently, I think the genre is in one of the best states it's ever been. This record has some solid performances (except for Lars) and good songwriting. However, the whole hour runtime just feels like a joke. They're playing characters, trying way too hard. It's pop music in black leather and chains pretending it isn't pop music. In conclusion, Lars sucks. 6/10

Ill Communication has some really fun moments, and a few all-time great Beastie Boys songs, but the album as a whole is so bogged down by filler that it's hard to think of it as a classic. Tracks like Sabotage, Flute Loop, and Get It Together are fantastic, but I can't see a scenario in which I'm throwing on B-Boys Makin' With The Freak Freak, The Update, Futterman's Rule, Do It, The Scoop, or any of the instrumental tracks. Maybe if they had trimmed this down by about 20 minutes, it would be a better experience. As it stands, it's just a fine one. 6.5/10

So smooth, so jazzy, so sensual, so Sade. I really enjoy the '80s production on this thing. Those synth and drum sounds are the perfect amount of corny, and help to make the whole thing feel like love in an elevator or something. My only gripe is that the tracks get a little too same-y and tend to meander for a bit too long. With an average track length of nearly 5 minutes, I'd expect each one to be doing some fun things composition-wise, not just repeating the same phrases. It's not groundbreaking, but it's fun and sexy and sometimes that's enough. 7.5/10

I'm confused as to why this was on the list in the first place. This entire record screams Nine Inch Nails rip off, right? The production is fine, if a bit stale - the song structure doesn't do much interesting, the performances are decent, but that's it. The entire runtime of The Contino Sessions feels like playing a random, edgy PS2 racing game that no one has ever heard of. I genuinely fail to see how this is a groundbreaking, definitive record of music history. I guess the British writers wanted to include "The UK's answer to NIN". This is boring, bland, and repetitive. 4/10

Outkast's fifth studio album might be their best, even though it was always intended to be two solo records. I think that concept is what makes it so strong. Speakerboxxx envokes a constantly moving, thumping, funky/jam feeling. It sticks mostly to hip-hop, but jumps all over the place under that umbrella. There are some club, electro-dance, and early trap beats, and it never feels like any time is wasted. Each performance and feature adds something interesting, and there are some real classic Outkast songs on this side like GhettoMusick, Bowtie, and The Way You Move. Side one is well-rounded and balanced perfectly. Side two is where things get truly genre-bending, with tracks equally at home in pop, R&B, jazz, soul, and funk as they are in hip-hop. Just look at the three most popular tracks - Roses, Prototype, and Hey Ya! There are fewer features here, and Andre 3000 chooses to sing more than rap, which really makes it stand out. The production itself is also more experimental than expected, playing with all sorts of different sonic textures, sampling, and live instruments. Each side of Speakerboxxx/The Love Below explores interesting lyrical themes like parenthood, politics, religion, fame, war, sex, relationships, and philosophy. They're strokes of genius respectively. All in all, this album feels like 2 separate records, but that's what makes it work. Listening to the whole things feels like a testament to why the duo worked so well together. You get the sense that Andre 3000 was always pushing boundaries, while Big Boi kept things grounded and consistent. it's a yin and tang of diverse cohesion and eclectic eccentricity. This is one of the greatest hip hop albums of the 2000s, one of the greatest hip hop albums ever, and possibly the greatest Outkast record (though I still think I prefer ATLiens, somehow). 10/10

This is the "music for guys who think they're cool" final boss. Everything besides the singles (Sweet Child/Paradise City/Welcome to the Jungle), is just fine. It mostly feels like music from a fake band in a movie like Wayne's World or School of Rock. That said, it is exceptionally well produced and the performances are really solid. The songs are pretty standard rock/blues fare with not much more going on. It feels like the final nail in the coffin for Hair Metal before Grunge could really bear fruit. It's an album with some obvious talent behind it that somehow ends up feeling overtly stale. 7/10

This is Jack White in his top form - diverse songs, solid production, and great performances. This might be the best album he was ever involved with, and I can't believe how many of these tracks I recognized. It's really refreshing to hear a record with jazz/blues/rock influence that isn't just ripping off existing artists. It feels like Jack brings his own flavor to everything, and it makes the record that much better as a whole. It's white boy blues, but done right. However, my only complaint is that some of the tracks towards the end leave something to be desired, tending to grow stale after a bit. 9/10

Incredibly repetitive ska music to start off my morning. I can't believe how long this went on for, being the same song in different keys over and over again. A Message to You Rudy is probably the only track that stands out, the rest are just pretty mediocre. It's cool to see how this set the stage for a subgenre to come, but there's not much more to say than that. 5/10

This left me feeling mostly bored. There are some good moments, but overall it fell flat. 6/10

Murmur is a really cool, forward-thinking record with some fantastic tracks on it. I think within just the first few tracks, I really understood the R.E.M. "sound". Unfortunately, I think that hurt the rest of the experience, and by the end of the record I grew pretty tired of what they were doing. It's clearly post-punk and pop inspired, with hints of Television, Wire, and a heavy sprinkling of The Smiths. All of the performances were solid, the songwriting was tight, but the tracks started to blend into each other in a negative way. I still really enjoyed my first R.E.M. experience, but I can't help but wonder if they have records that are more diverse than this that I would enjoy more. 8.5/10

This album is the first time I really feel challenged by anything I've listened to from this list. Dub Housing is a weird experience full of strange sounds awkward performances, unconventional songwriting and structure. But all of that comes together as something greater than the sum of its parts. By the end of the record I felt like I really understood it. It's challenging and boundary pushing on purpose, but not in a pretentious way. It feels like the music understands what it is and finds freedom in that understanding. Everything in its right place by extension. I really enjoyed my time with this and I feel like I'm going to enjoy it even more on a second listen. 8.5/10