There are some wildly obvious quotations of Sergeant Pepper’s here, but I see that he was doing his own thing also. I don’t love his style and the big hit has always struck me as wimpy, but I can respect what he was doing for his time. Plus, great freaking album title!

Passenger and Tonight were good but the rest kind of boring

I mean, they don’t call her the queen of soul for nothin’.

Solidly good songwriting, but her voice! Very sweet. Will listen to more of her stuff. Mother, Slow Burn, Velvet Elvis, and Rainbow were faves.

Great. Forgot how sexy Kurt Cobain‘s growl was.

What can I say, I just don’t like the cure. The guy’s voice has always annoyed me, even when I was a teenager and they were huge. Which is weird, because other whiny Brits’ voices don’t annoy me.

Kinda cheesy. Waterfall is a great song; gotta love Red Light for its frank request for eating out. Can I get a Witness is cringe.

In general kind of boring, “till the cops come knocking” really has not aged well on a couple of fronts. A song about locking a woman up? This seems like it was questionable even in the mid 90s.

There’s no law that says I have to like Radiohead.

Kind of boring

Not my thing, but I can appreciate what they’re doing. Don’t like the screaming, but the jangly guitar hits right.

Passable sexy girl pop. I feel like Lorde could’ve done more interesting things with her voice.

my first five star. What can you say? It’s incredible! I can only imagine what it must’ve been like when it was first released.

Cute funny not very relevant to me riot grrl stuff.

It was nice

Undeniably skilled and clever, but misogyny is a deal breaker.

Beautiful

Not in the mood

Her voice has a great timbre. Not crazy about the songs with the exception of the hits. There is of course the strange aspect of taking American black girl groups and covering their songs well, but not as good as the originals. Kind of strange.

So. Incredibly. Dated.

Ug. It’s the Cure.

Interesting. I don’t know that I will be seeking them out, but I would listen to them some more.

Nice mellow style. Lead has beautiful voice

Great album. Love this band.

What can you say? Absolutely packed with great songs.

Can’t do the voice

Not my jam, but I suppose they served a purpose.

Tight and cute

This is not the best new wave, but I have to give it four stars because of the awesomeness of we are the robots and the accents in models. This is good stuff.

Love me some Beastie Boys

Good not great. But Paper Planes is a jam.

Good not great. But Paper Planes is a jam.

I don’t super love Pearl Jam or even this album, but Eddie Vedder does have a great voice.

Very of its time but otherwise unremarkable.

Some songs are a little silly, but God the hits were important to me.

I can see how this must have been liberating at the time. Now it’s kind of boring.

One of my husband’s favorite albums. His Mom painted the back of a denim jacket with the cover image. For that I’m giving it a four. Some of the songs haven’t aged well. Moonchild sort of unlistenable. Also, reminds me disconcertingly of Spinal Tap.

American girl is about the only song I got excited about, but Jesus he has an iconic voice.

They’re great. Love the mixture of funk, guitar rock, and rap.

Fun and accessible

Kind of boring, and I just really need more music in my music. Too much Lou Reed-esque talking for me.

Great voice in her way.

I like the distinctive sound and judicious use of samples.

Packed with hits, otherwise interesting, and come on —in your eyes is on this.

I was surprised at how many songs I knew. Still, it’s the dead and I only really enjoyed them that one time I heard them live.

Fantastic Voice. Looking forward to learning more.

Fine

Packed with classics and fantastic voices.

Woman lead. Catchy tunes. Great album cover.

Noisy

Eh. Electronic.

A little dated but good

Maybe I don’t like early David Bowie?

Beautiful. I appreciate the jazziness without it being in penetrable.

Meh

Too rocky for me today. Good lyrics, a little dated.

Pretty good: good lyrics and I’m liking it better than Neon Bible.

Planet Rock will always be one of my all time favorite jams. Renegade is interesting. Of course everything is of its time, but this is a solid album. Just came across the lyric “what the heck” in They Made A Mistake. It was a more innocent time.

I mean, it’s of its time. Pretty good, though. One song was cringe, but You Don’t Know (How young you are) was pretty good.

White guy makes album co-opting other people’s music, with singers from different cultures? Sure. Who am I to judge? One of my favorite albums is Graceland.

Wild horses and moonlight mile are just plain beautiful. Brown sugar, though canceled, is an undeniable classic. Finally, though I’ve known it for years, upon close listening it has been gratifying to see what a complete rock ‘n’ roll jam can’t you hear me knocking is.

C’mon

Fun!

Don’t totally love this, but of course son of a preacher man is great. Nice frank treatment of a girl’s sexuality without being lascivious. And windmills of your mind is surprisingly interesting.

I love run DMC with all my heart but to me there are no standout tracks on this album. I understand that it made them crossover stars, but it is not my favorite.

I don’t think this holds together quite as well as bridge over troubled Waters, but still of course giving it a four.

Even today sounds like a fresh voice. I would listen to this again.

In my top 10. If not top 5.

This must’ve been thrilling at the time. A very fun listen.

Some interesting songs here: drums, droning melodies, lyrics.

Never listened to more than a song before. Great, straight ahead blues.

Interesting, don’t love.

Interesting and at times good, but I also tired of the dude vibe loudness sometimes

Interesting and at times good, but I also tired of the dude vibe loudness sometimes

No stand out songs here, but vocalist Ian McCulloch has long been one of my favorite new wave singers. Plaintive without being whiny.

Of course genius of love is one of the all-time jams, but most of the other songs struck me as kind of silly.

What the hell is wrong with me? Why didn’t I listen to Björk from the beginning? This is great! Different, engaging, interesting. Plus her otherworldly voice and interesting (ESL?) take on lyrics. She pronounces ghetto blaster Jetto blaster. 😂

Not my kind of music, but of course interesting.

This is incredible. The energy, the tightness, the rhythms are fantastic. Will definitely listen to more from this band.

With the strong British accents and the liberal quoting of the Beatles’ calliope and horns, I would’ve loved this in my 20s. Now I think it’s just OK but I’m happy I listened to it.

Great rhythms, hot horns.

I’m sure it’s very clever but I just did not have the patience for the theatricality today.

Not as good as Megadeth and Sepultura, but likable enough. Won’t pursue any further, though.

Fine. Not my thing.

I’m sure important, but not my thing.

Not only is this album obviously hugely influential and important, it is beautiful, and best of all the first track is “an introduction to Indian music.” What a fabulously practical and illuminating addition to the album.

I don’t love the beach boys as much as I could, but there is something very beautiful and almost chilling about the contrast between Brian Wilson’s Faceto and his brothers deeper tenor. I didn’t love this album, but they do have a few very beautiful songs

Didn’t love. Except title track, of course

I’m sure interesting in its time, but now just mostly annoying.

The songs with lyrics were kind of dreamy. I could take or leave the others.

I don’t know when, but I actually have listened to this album quite a few times. B.B. King is not my favorite, but this is undeniably a magnificent album.

Smooth, not that exciting.

One of the soundtracks of my youth. Not my favorite, but very pleasing and introduced me to a new genre.

What a fabulous album. people must’ve gone crazy for this. I’m not a huge Led Zeppelin fan, but they really do have a fantastic sound. I am nerdy enough that my first real introduction to Robert Plant’s voice was sea of love in 1986 or so. Really great to hear him in a Real rock ‘n’ roll setting. And yes yes, I know the cultural appropriation implications of Led Zeppelin singing the blues, but damn they did a good job.

Very fun. Also, interesting learning about the close ties between New Orleans Italian Americans and African-Americans early in the century.

Ultimately, I just don’t think Beck is that exciting I guess.

This is a solid four because of all the hits, but I have to give it a five because of girls just wanna have fun. That is a generational tune.

Very fond memories of listening to this album with my college housemate.

I can see that it’s probably interesting, but I don’t really like it. Lead singer’s voice is not endearing. But the album cover is fantastic. God, I love those buildings.

Listened to this and his first two albums today. In general I like and respect him but don’t love him. But it’s nice to get his to know his music better

Listened to this and his first two albums today. In general I like and respect him but don’t love him. But it’s nice to get his to know his music better

Not my style so much, but I like the pop punk vibe. And the guy has a really good voice.

Of course fantastic. I was unaware of this series. I will check out the other albums.

Engaging and clever, I might listen some more as background music.

Really boring. Does not belong on this list. Giving it my first one.

Boring

Good not great.

This strikes me as high school and college stadium rock. I see the appeal, but don’t need to pursue further.

Less hard than I thought it would be. Interesting. I can see how the harder subgenres flowed out of this.

Nope

Fun, fresh, accessible

Wikipedia says he’s the fourth best soul singer, though they don’t mention Sam Cooke. Still – I’m surprised I’ve never heard of him. He has a fantastic range, and a good voice when he goes more bluesy. I can do without the Nat King Cole adjacent songs. But the other stuff is really good.

My God, this is packed with hits for a first album. Five!

Nice to the post Beatles vibe from a different perspective. My sweet Lord is such a great song

I couldn’t get the content on this album on Spotify. I listened to their first album. The singers voice is definitely beautiful and the instrumentation is nice straightahead rock ‘n’ roll. But for music on the artier side I need to be able to hear the lyrics and I can’t with her enunciation.

This is exactly why I’m doing this project: to listen to stuff I should have been all along. Guitar, voice, lyrics. Got it ALL! This music makes me happy to be alive.

I mean, it’s Bob Marley.

Fun to listen to the whole album. Had no idea all of those hits came from just one record.

She’s got a great voice. I will seek her out again.

Whatever. It’s EDM. Boring.

Can’t do the voice. Cannot do the voice

On balance, annoying.

So tight. Incredible drums.

The band! The hits!

One great song, the rest serviceable.

Dated

I’m not a huge fan, but this is obviously a solid album. Plus, shine on you crazy diamond is one of the best titles in rock ‘n’ roll history.

Don’t see what’s so special

Such a great album. Really took me back. Definitely one of the soundtracks to my sophomore year of college. 😊

One good song, the rest kind of annoying

I see how it might be foundational, but with today’s ears it sounds a lot like harder Rolling Stones stuff. Not that exciting I guess.

Uh oh. David Bowie isn’t doing it for me. Plus, way too many instrumentals.

Not my favorite, but of course so incredibly solid. Living for the city and higher ground are just classics.

I almost gave this a five just based on under my thumb. Then I realized I gave Stevie Wonder’s innervision a four, and that just didn’t seem right. But a word on under my thumb: I think that is one of the best rock ‘n’ roll songs of all time. Top five. I see how these days it would read as sexist, and certainly that scans. However, I see it as a celebration of sexual power that could work either way. I have always loved it and I still do.

I thought I was going to blow it off but it was weirdly fun. The vocals are such a strange direct quote from the beach boys, but I like them.

There are some wildly obvious quotations of Sergeant Pepper’s here, but I see that he was doing his own thing also. I don’t love his style and the big hit has always struck me as wimpy, but I can respect what he was doing for his time. Plus, great freaking album title!

Weirdly, “clean” is the word that comes to mind here. They are so tight and bright. Songs a bit same same, but a great album.

I mean, she’s got a great voice: soulful, wonderful timber. But do you get a lot of credit for essentially being a mimic of previous styles? I don’t know.

Boy! I wish I hadn’t written these guys off as “Stoner music“ in the seventh grade. Of course, they rock so hard! And Eddie Van Halen‘s guitar work, while now strangely sounding like a parody of itself, at the time must’ve just blown people‘s minds. they are incredibly skilled and very fun to listen to.

Am I prejudiced against singing in French? Yes. Do I dislike industrial? Yes. This is a hard pass.