Sampling and beat-making mastery. The album is packed with Easter eggs if you pay attention. Only thing is, the Beasties’ rapping gets a bit annoying after a while… The hits are hits, though. Shake Your Rump is all-time.

Marvin’s soulful plea of “why can’t we just get along?” Political, funky, and oh so smooth.

Blegh. In researching this album, I’ve dug up some archival transcripts from a real conversation between Allen Collins and Al Kooper: AK: You know what’d be great? A guitar solo to end the album AC: Oh hell yeah, sounds cool, man! People love solos! What are you thinking? AK: Make it…. Long AC: Ahhh great, brother! Like a minute-long closer?! AK: No. Longer. AC: …2 minutes? AK: Try 4. AC: Uhhh but I only know like five licks AK: Bah, so much to learn, Leh-nerd. You just gotta repeat them a bunch! Like, I’m talking multiple bars of the same thing. And when your five riffs run dry, just bend the strings! Trust me, the audience won’t know the difference. AC: Hmm what about my artistic integrity? AK: BROTHER JUST REPEAT IT. WE’LL FADE IT OUT AT THE END. (Free Bird would go on to inspire millions) Official count of unique riffs in Free Bird: 7

Somehow, I had never given this album a full listen until yesterday. It’s already taken my top spot in the hair metal genre - they execute all the tropes well, and it’s a fun listen front to back. I’ll never understand why they didn’t use the title track as the opener… spoken word intro, quiet to loud, two guitar solos… what more do you need?!

Words cannot describe how agonizing it was to listen to this. Truly, this is capitalism’s impact on music personified - a fake conversation between the music industry and Metallica to convey my thoughts: MI: “Holy crap, boys, you sell a lot of records!!” M: “(Spits into spittune) Hell yeah.” MI: “Like, even the albums your fans hate, they still buy because you’re you!” M: “(Throws rocks at schoolbus) Hell yeah” MI: “How about this - we put out a triple live album, but unimaginatively change it up by getting an orchestra to play along with you! Don’t change your live show at all - pretend they’re not there, and we’ll get those Berkeley nerds to throw in a little this, a little that. Sound good?” M: “(Overcharging an old lady for a laundry machine repair) Hell yeah.” (5 years goes by, money is made) MI: “Dang boys, I can’t believe that worked! Tons more money, critics haaaaated it, and now it’s on the 1001 albums list. This is awesome! Everything always works out for Metallica, doesn’t it?!?” M: (Killing ants with EPA unapproved chemicals) Hell yeah.”

Still sounds progressive today. Political, funky, and innovative. 4* because it never reeled me in the same way Purple Rain and Dirty Mind did.

Somehow, I had never given this album a full listen until yesterday. It’s already taken my top spot in the hair metal genre - they execute all the tropes well, and it’s a fun listen front to back. I’ll never understand why they didn’t use the title track as the opener… spoken word intro, quiet to loud, two guitar solos… what more do you need?!

I don’t get the hubbub. Orange Crush is great, and there’s a few good album cuts, but this is a far cry from their peak (Life’s Rich Pageant). The use of mandolin is a nice touch, and foreshadows greater commercial success to come

I don’t get the hype. Likeable tunes with a bit of ambient noise here and there, but gosh is this thing easy to ignore. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart will forever be excellent, though.

I’ve never paid much mind to Amnesiac. I’ve always brushed it off as Kid A 2.0, but in listening, it has a clear identity and warrants its own attention. It’s glitchy, rock-y, and piano-y, serving as a worthwhile bridge between Kid A and Hail to the Thief.

Gorgeous.

Not my thing. For the right person, I’m sure this would be cool.

If I time travel back to 1994, I can see why this appealed to the masses. Nowadays… my goodness, is it too much to ask you change the tempo once or twice?!

The backbeat could use a few more change ups every now and again, but Angus rips and Bon was giving it his all.

Maybe if I’d never heard the title track before (I’ll be damned, karaoke, moms, grade school, and tv!) this would have made more of an impact. I feel the narrative around this album’s inclusion on the list is something like “it’s more than a one-hit wonder!”. But when the other singles and album cuts are very… ok… what’s the point?

There’s some great songs here - how Nilsson isn’t at minimum on classic rock radio is a mystery to me. Jump Into the Fire would get the dads going! Coconut sounds weird as ever - it’s like Kokomo from a more obscure artist.

Yeahhhh very much not my thing. They feel like a cheap parody of a rock band.

Delightful tunes throughout. Victoria, followed by Yes Sir No Sir is a great start to the album. It is a bit loooong for the lack of significant change-ups, though.

Noisey, spooky, and cool. Lots of neat soundscapes and guitar work. Initial thought is it could use a bit more pop structure, especially on side B - of course, this would come as they progressed in their career.

Unpretentious, unpredictable, and full of heart. “Our band could be your life”.

Impassioned musicianship. Somehow I found the drumming most engaging?

Much respect to one of the true badasses of music history, but… if I listened to this not knowing who Johnny Cash was, I’d give it 1*.

A collection of approachable, listenable down-home country tunes. I didn’t know the Byrds went in this direction later in their career. Nothing especially pulled me in, but it’d be a good record for a spring evening.

(Mutters to self, within a record store) “Hmm need something new…” BAM! A know-it-all curmudgeon appears and gives unsolicited advice: “Have you heard of The Beau Brummels? They’re in-creeeeedible”. (Me, being nice) “Ah, I see they’re in the clearence section. I’ll give it a go!” *Flash-forward to one day later. I’m in heaven, in a water aerobics class with Elvis, the entire 27 Club, and OJ Simpson’s wife (turns out, he DID do it?!)* Elvis: “Hey bu-bu-bu-baby, what are you in for? (Strikes pose). Me: “Uhh Elvis, that’s not the move we’re supposed to be doing. I was killed because I listened to the most generic 60s music imaginable. It was like forcing Bob Dylan to run up a mountain, then immediately jamming a pencil in his hand and screaming ‘WRITE DOWN SOME WORDS AND SING IT WITH MY COUSINS, BOBBY.’ Kinda like what that would sound like.” Elvis: “Oh mu-mu-mu-man, that sounds like a real drag, man. What band was it?” Me: “This band I’d never heard of that made it on the 1001 Albums list. You’d think with so many great bands left off the list that when a critic goes out of their way to include something fresh, it’d be interesting and unique at the very least. Nope - it was some band called The Beau Bummels?” Elvis: “DAMN man, when I died on the can that’s what was playin’!” Entire water aerobics class: “SAME!” Entirety of heaven: “SAME!” Uhh yeah, all to say: 1*

The heist… Is… On. Funky, political, and with a voice so distinct and groooovy. My not-so-hot take is I prefer this to What’s Going On.

A live album where you can feel the intensity of the performer, and the love from the audience. It is clear Mr. Brel could do no wrong on this night.

Grand and danceable from start to finish.

Full of personality, undeniably fun. The album still feels cohesive and thematic despite all sorts of full-out genre changes throughout.

The only album I know that’s so vivid it’s like watching a movie. The greatest rap album ever made. My only nitpick: it should have ended on track 10 (keep the skits from 11 and 12, though).

Unless you want generations of people checking their headphones, don’t start your album with 10s of silence! A good album - bleak yet heartfelt.

Uhhhh yeah, not my thing for a whole album. Grime is cool, though.

Interesting to hear metal arrangements with some suuuper minimal distortion or “heaviness” from the guitars. Two years later they’d peak, with a bit more distortion, a bit more production, and a few more classic metal tropes. It’s a delicate balance, though - toooo much of that (I.e. the late 80s) and metal gets out of hand.

Industrial music isn’t really my thing, but this is at least a bit interesting and varied throughout.

Blegh. In researching this album, I’ve dug up some archival transcripts from a real conversation between Allen Collins and Al Kooper: AK: You know what’d be great? A guitar solo to end the album AC: Oh hell yeah, sounds cool, man! People love solos! What are you thinking? AK: Make it…. Long AC: Ahhh great, brother! Like a minute-long closer?! AK: No. Longer. AC: …2 minutes? AK: Try 4. AC: Uhhh but I only know like five licks AK: Bah, so much to learn, Leh-nerd. You just gotta repeat them a bunch! Like, I’m talking multiple bars of the same thing. And when your five riffs run dry, just bend the strings! Trust me, the audience won’t know the difference. AC: Hmm what about my artistic integrity? AK: BROTHER JUST REPEAT IT. WE’LL FADE IT OUT AT THE END. (Free Bird would go on to inspire millions) Official count of unique riffs in Free Bird: 7

Interesting heavy take within the grunge genre. The vocals wear on me, though. As a band, you never want “is this pre-Nickelback?” to pop into a listener’s head. It did for me.

An essential “moms who grew up in the 70s” album. Nice tunes, but nothing particularly drew me in.

Really neat. It’s diverse, and heck, just downright cool throughout. I didn’t realize the Beachies had this in their bag!

Moz doing his best tough guy impersonation?

Solid album through and through. Two very strong singles do most of the heavy lifting, though.

I’m sure this album is more to some, but to me, other than something to put on at a dinner party, it’s not giving me much.

I dunno - 10 years late on Sonic Youth? Vocals attempt at edgy and miss horribly.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said. The Strokes defined a generation. If someone tells you they don’t like the Strokes, you can’t trust them.

Meh, I dunno. If it doesn’t have a Beatle’s name on the cover, does it get any attention?

A cool listen. Can be listened to attentively or unattentively, and it still gives a sense of driving progress.

Words cannot describe how agonizing it was to listen to this. Truly, this is capitalism’s impact on music personified - a fake conversation between the music industry and Metallica to convey my thoughts: MI: “Holy crap, boys, you sell a lot of records!!” M: “(Spits into spittune) Hell yeah.” MI: “Like, even the albums your fans hate, they still buy because you’re you!” M: “(Throws rocks at schoolbus) Hell yeah” MI: “How about this - we put out a triple live album, but unimaginatively change it up by getting an orchestra to play along with you! Don’t change your live show at all - pretend they’re not there, and we’ll get those Berkeley nerds to throw in a little this, a little that. Sound good?” M: “(Overcharging an old lady for a laundry machine repair) Hell yeah.” (5 years goes by, money is made) MI: “Dang boys, I can’t believe that worked! Tons more money, critics haaaaated it, and now it’s on the 1001 albums list. This is awesome! Everything always works out for Metallica, doesn’t it?!?” M: (Killing ants with EPA unapproved chemicals) Hell yeah.”

Argh, fine, it’s pretty cool.

A cool piece from a less “top of mind” post-punk band. 1980 was a big year, holy.

Considering innovation, the album stands alone. Jamming 3,000+ samples into an album when sampling technology was still in its infancy is incredible. To take it further, the album is essentially unreplicable because of ever-tightening copyright laws that prevent the free use of intellectual property. Oh, and also, it sounds cool.

Sampling and beat-making mastery. The album is packed with Easter eggs if you pay attention. Only thing is, the Beasties’ rapping gets a bit annoying after a while… The hits are hits, though. Shake Your Rump is all-time.

Elvis gave up his cool guy roots to become a bit of a normie on this one, I think

Gosh, it’s fine. I can’t shake a feeling of arrogance coming out of Moz in his solo stuff.

How can you feel bad listening to this?

Some of the greatest album art of all time. Musically, I think it’s cool, but it’s never drawn me in. Technical mastery has never impressed me much, historically. The opener will forever be great.

Oof. To maintain integrity with my 15 year old self (this album, and Aha Shake Heartbreak were the first non-60s/70s CDs I bought, as I crawled out of classic rock exclusivity), I cannot in good conscience give this 1*. Gotta go 2*, but oof, in relistening this… isn’t great. I see a conversation with a major label’s upper brass going something like this: “Man, those Radiohead nerds sell a lot of records.” “I bet we could sell even more if we polished up the spacey weirdness and made the band more handsome!” Holy, does Muse ever sound like a Radiohead cover band on this one. A closing fun fact: I saw Muse live at a major music festival. Throughout the show, they use little timed cameras on their mic stands to project their faces onto a big screen. About midway through, the bassist’s camera shifted, and whenever the camera went to him we saw up his nose. Nah you know what, screw it. 1* it is.

Good vibes. Would put on at a party.

The moms were right - ABBA is cool after all. A fine example of a weird band that for whatever reason, the people adore.

A great (bordering on psychedelic) British folk album. Genesis Hall is excellent, and the final Dylan cover of Million Dollar Bash more than rivals the original.

Lofi hip-hop radio beats to chill / study to. I dunno, I’ve got nothing against it, but I’ll never listen again.

Synthy and grand. Solid piece of indie electronic - if this came out 10 years earlier they’d surely be more solidified in the indie rock conversation.

Some great songwriting throughout. Feels a bit overproduced - I think the album would have benefitted from a bit less sheen. Green Light is a weak opener/lead single, but album cuts like Writer in the Dark are where Melodrama really shines.

Undeniably fun. The two hits from this album continue to hold up.

Very creative use of synths and vocals. Gosh, someone give Tunde a hug - this is about as bleak a record the 2000s had to offer.

Queen is underrated in how weird their catalogue is. Dig past the hits, and you’ll find some whacky innovation, full of riffs and pizzazz.

Good vibes. Do do do d-do, dit do do-do do do.

Noooo!!!!! A real text conversation between Reggie and I to explain my feelings: AC: Afternoon MLB is such a vibe. Wednesday is the frickin day, man RM: Hell yeah. 12:35 start for STL v PIT, then baseball for the rest of the day. What a time to be alive AC: Love it. I’d much rather ball in the background than Hotel California. That’s my 1001 today… blegh RM: I mean it's not the *worst* eagles album lol AC: The amount of cocaine/mimosa-fuelled sex that’s happened to the tune of this album… RM: And that's a bad thing?!?! AC: Great point RM: We’ve all been there *mimosa emoji* AC: Well, this conversation just wrote tomorrow’s 1* review hahah RM: Hahaha glad I could help *laughing emoji*

Cooler than I expected. So mooooody, with minimalistic but engaging beat making.

Moody and cool, but it didn’t pull me in. I think the Cure has better stuff - A Forest is great, though.

Terrible, unimaginative slop. Pharrell had to start somewhere…

Booooooriiiiinggggggg. More lofi beats to chill/study to.

Great harmonies, great songs. People who know music more than me have shown there’s more than meets the eye with these “simple” pop songs, too. But what can I say, despite all that it’s never reeled me in.

Stevie is always great, but this has to be the worst of his “golden era”.

A solid piece of music history. The Nirvana songs on the album are more pedestrian, but what stands out to me, and what makes this a classic is the interesting choice of covers - Bowie, the Vaselines, Meat Puppets (x2!!), and Lead Belly. One listen, and it’s difficult to restrain from humming “all and all is all we are” the rest of the day.

Steve Winwood is cool. Album is ite.

Gosh, I dunno. A valiant vocal effort, but compared to other soul singers of the time, does Dusty make the cut?

A post-Sign O’ the Times rip-off, with surface-level social justice commentary. Feels like a publicity stunt (“Oooo Janet’s edgy now”). Summing my point, real, actual lyrics from The Knowledge: Prejudice (no) Ignorance (no) Bigotry (no) Illiteracy (no)

Lyrics aside (but singing included), Led Zeppelin is great. Technically masterful without overplaying, and head bangy as anything.

Cutscene to 1976 - upon a first listen, nerds of the world immediately suggest the 2112 Overture as their DnD campaign theme song. Another funny example of suuuch a weird band somehow getting popular.

I think it’s a solid album, but I don’t think I’ll ever revisit.

It’s fine. Put it on when you host your blandest friends for NoName burgers and chips.

The 1001 albums list needs to learn that post-This Year’s Model Elvis ain’t worth yer time! Also… what in the hell, was that the N-word in 20% Amnesia? It’s not, but… who in the hell thought that was ok

Incredibly fun. Crude, but fun. A showcase of comradery and innovation.

Every 80s trope you could imagine is featured in this album. But, hell, it’s tough to say it isn’t fun.

If this was teenage me, it would have been an insta-5. High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, and Just remain all-timers, but the album cuts and other singles are a bit… “Britpop boring” for me these days.

*Making my mom proud* Honestly, pretty good. More varied, and a bit weirder than I expected. There’s a bit too much Sting “weird reggae” cringe, but hey, at least he’s using his handsomeness for the betterment of humankind.

Now I can see what all the hubbub was about when this dude went electric. The album is a delight, and young Bob is charming as anyone.

I tried.

The hits were a nostalgic and enjoyable listen, and the rest of the album held up? Not too shabby, Supertramp!

Dusty sounds more in her element on this one (I had her debut a few weeks ago). Soulful, bluesy - put it on at your murder/mystery party or something.

Some of the finest garage rock revival you’ll get. Head banging rockery with tender moments, all to the beat of the unreservedly maligned Meg White. The singles still hold up, and there’s no shortage of great album cuts. A bit bloated at 16 songs, but I won’t complain.

One of the peak mom-core records of our time. Again, I ask - why this above all the other great music that’s been left off this list?

Pleasantly surprised. With no radio-worthy singles (at least in my lifetime) this is a completely fresh listen. Great harmonies throughout, and dang, at 20 songs there aren’t many misses. I’ll be relistening.

Just… horrible. Truly, I’m unsure if there’s an album in existance that represents more of what I hate in music. I thought about making a list of everything I hate, but it’s more effective to express one sentiment - when I listened to this, my mind wandered to those in my life I hate most loving this shit.

Super fun, super smooth. Q-Tip clearly still had it post-Quest.

Maybe the most consistent album from an awful band. These vocals alone… dear goodness…

Throughout the completion of this 1001 album project, my 1* reviews can be summed into two themes: especially awful music, and “why this?”, with the latter warranting a more cutting review about why the album was ever chosen to be featured. My 5* reviews, on the other hand, have exclusively been within the theme of especially excellent music - until now. Blackstar is a “why this?”, because the “why” is beyond something any nice sounding record can do. Blackstar fills me with gentle assurance. The artistry, to be handed a terminal diagnosis and respond with a grin. “Watch this”, I imagine him thinking. Even in death, another artistic reinvention - his final form - enshrouded and buried, and showing that art can be found in all things.

Feel-good and prime Kanye-collaborated. I feel Shad owes Common a beer for the inspiration.

Spooky and passionate. A really cool post-punk record that doesn’t get nearly enough attention. Monitor is AMAZING - sometimes the simplest lines (this case, the bass) can be most impactful, and gosh is the guitar great.

I think it’s interesting and progressive, but the vocal style is far too theatrical for me to enjoy for more than a few minutes.

I think about 3 Feet High and Rising as the most kind, and Enter the Wu-Tang as the most evil on the spectrum of influential group-style rap albums. Both great in their own way, only one you’d play with your parents in the room.

Endearing, but never pulled me in. Tough to believe the opener, slur infused as it is, was written by the same person who wrote You’ve Got a Friend in Me.

Marvin’s soulful plea of “why can’t we just get along?” Political, funky, and oh so smooth.

If someone ever asks “define teen angst” this is the first example that comes to mind. Underrated in its riffiness, and unique in its rhythm section, it’s a stone cold classic through and through. “I hope you know, that this will go down on your permanent record.” “Oh yeah?”

A “blueprint” record for American punk. Not sure if I’ll revisit, but it does what it’s supposed to better than most.

There are very few double albums that turn out well. GYBR is no exception - this thing is bloated. Nonetheless, there are still some great album cuts (Grey Seal comes to mind). The three major singles to come from the album are not favorites either - I’d be fine never hearing Benny and the Jets ever again.

Next to the Charlie Brown Christmas, this was the first jazz album I ever liked. With every listen, it continues to amaze and excite.