Probably the best all girl band ever. They are highly underrated. Two absolute bangers here but every song is good. Great musicians, great vocals. They are synonymous with summer for me...partly maybe because I saw them play in July of 1984 (INXS opened...great show!)

This is one of those albums that you're SUPPOSED to love, but I don't. It's just not enjoyable to listen to. I appreciate Patti Smith and her lyrics and voice and that she was groundbreaking in the punk scene, so I feel like I must give it a 3, but all I really want to hear from her is Because the Night and Dancing Barefoot.

I think we used to have this cd but I have no idea why. It's dreadful. Really boring. And ambient music was around before Moby so I'm not sure why it would be considered influential.

This album is a particular favorite of mine. I love Neil and Tim Finn...you cannot go wrong with anything by them. Love their voices. Love their writing. Two of these songs are on several playlists of mine...Weather with You and Fall at Your Feet. Love all of it. I think they're highly UNDERrated here in the U.S.

I've never been a big fan but I recognize the talent. I had an old boyfriend that listened to him too much and it put me off it forever. But this is an iconic album. Favorite track: Watching the Detectives

Classic rock album. I do enjoy John Fogerty's voice, and it's hard not to tap your toe along to the music. While not an album I would pick out to play on my own, I'm never sorry to hear their hits played. There's not a whole lot of variation from song to song, but they do have a distinct sound.

I know it's a culturally relevant album, but I could never get into it. It was difficult for me to sit and listen to it in its entirety. Joe Strummer's voice is awful...he just yells with no variation in tone through every song. All the songs sound the same to me. If you want to listen to the Clash, Combat Rock is the way to go...much more evolved in style and vocals.

Search and Destroy is the only really good song on this album. It has that cool glam-punk vibe. The rest are meh and very rough. And honestly, Iggy is a terrible vocalist.

It's torture for me to listen to any kind of free form or bebop jazz. However, I know objectively that this is a masterpiece of the genre...so it gets a 5.

I thought I'd be giving this a solid three, but an album with 28 songs should have more than 4 bangers. Most of it is pleasant but not memorable. I saw this tour and they only played 16 songs for the show including the encores. That should have been the max number for the album as well.

Toyed with giving this a 5 because I do think it's one of the top ten albums of the aughts...but 3 of the songs on the second side are forgettable, so 4 it is. Still a favorite of mine though.

Very bland. I love The Power of Goodbye, but one good song cannot save this snoozefest.

This is one of those albums that you're SUPPOSED to love, but I don't. It's just not enjoyable to listen to. I appreciate Patti Smith and her lyrics and voice and that she was groundbreaking in the punk scene, so I feel like I must give it a 3, but all I really want to hear from her is Because the Night and Dancing Barefoot.

He's a great songwriter/storyteller, and the emotion in his voice makes up for it's roughness. I normally don't listen to this much Pogues at once except on St. Patrick's Day but Rainy Night in Soho is a sentimental personal favorite of mine.

I'm a bit torn on this one. I love Queen, I love their sound and Freddie's voice. Brian May is one of the greatest guitarist's of all time. But honestly, when I listen to Queen it's almost always the greatest hits. A lot of the songs on this album are downright silly. I would like to give it a 3.5 but I can't so I guess I'll have to bump it to a 4 because it's so progressive and well...Bohemian Rhapsody.

I seriously question how this band got on this list. I've never heard of them...maybe they're only knowni in Texas? Dreadful jamming. They don't know if they want to be psychedic or a jam band a la The Dead. Really boring anyway.

What the Hell. No.

Eek. Okay...3rd on the list that I've never heard of and that shouldn't be here. 1001 is really not that many albums when you think about how much great music has been produced in the last 70 years...and this is not among those. Boring, monotonous, amateur vocals and instrumentation.

These ladies are icons. Amazing harmonies...their voices are all quite different but mesh together so well. Instrumentation is masterful. Some of the song choices are a little to hokey. I'd love to hear what they could have done with a few more modern pieces.

It's Simon & Garfunkel so you can't really go wrong. Not their best album, but still great stuff. My favorite on this one is The Boxer. Not really a Bridge fan.

Meh. Wants to be psychedelic but there's too much jamming. Wants to be rock but there's too much jazz drumming. Wants to be blues but it's too folky. It's all over the place...pick a damn lane.

Jesus...that was awful. Worse than I anticipated. It gave me an anxiety attack. I try to be objective with the genres I dislike...but I just Do. Not. Get. It.

I question why this would have made the 1001 cut. There's no way this is an important album. I'm about the biggest 80s music fan around and this is just really awful, bland, boring. They never even had a single hit here.

Again, questioning the validity of this being on a list of "must hear" albums. Really? It's just overly synth-heavy bland techno pop, and it's too new to be an influence on much of anything. The freneticism of most of the tracks is also anxiety inducing.

High drama, unique sound, powerful vocals, dark and moody, sexy psychedelic rock. It's kind of cliche now but when I was young it was a staple of every party. Light My Fire and This is the End should have both been whittled down to three minutes though.

I'd never heard this album before and I loved it! I was familiar with the band's name but I hadn't really heard anything by them...I don't think they were very popular around here. I'm amazed though...this is great stuff. I think they're considered punk, but this is not punk. I would say Post-punk. Great melodies and songwriting. I can definitely hear their influence on lots of other later 80s music.

Hate it. I think he only half raps because he has a shitty voice. Again, I question this as an "influential" album. I know this list is put together but music critics...and I don't think much of the title "critic".

It's just drums. Hmm. I don't know how anyone can just sit and listen to that. I always thought being in a drum circle was the worst kind of torture.

This album is a real letdown after so many greater earlier albums. Not much variation in sound from song to song. Boring.

Unless you just really don't like Pink Floyd, this album is universally loved. Fantastic.

I never liked it in the 80s...mostly just loud synthy club music. Still don't care for it. But props for the openness in sexuality.

They're one of those bands that you think you SHOULD like because they're cool....but whenever I try to listen to them I'm bored. It's a sloppy album, and they are not strong vocalists. I can hear other artists' influence on THEM but I fail to hear their influence on others.

I really like Blur but honestly hadn't heard this album all the way through before...now I like them even more. I hear Damon is kind of a jerk, but I think he's musically brilliant. Really enjoyable catchy tunes.

I'd never even heard of this band but I quite like this album...lovely, romantic, melancholy. I haven't heard anything quite like it, although there are hints of Polyphonic Spree, who arrived a couple of years later.

A lot of really unpleasant noise there. They get a one for sure just for Track 3...so dissonant that it physically hurt my eardrums.

It's a whole dreamy atmosphere to float in.

Horrible. Boring. No substance.

Meh. Started out kind of catchy but I got very bored. WAY too long.

Charlie Brown style. Not offensive but not enjoyable. The freneticism of jazz gives me anxiety. My ex was a jazz musician, upright bass, usually playing this style...and while I appreciate the musicianship, I've never enjoyed it, which probably in large part lead to our relationship's demise.

Old school country. Talented guitar picking. Mundane lyrics....not written for the intellectually minded. Very twangy.

Influential? Hmmm. I don't know about that. Country with a little indie singer/songwriter. A little more palatable than some country, but not terribly interesting.

I never found them to be very interesting. They've only got the one hit. I find the music pretty forgettable. I love the post-punk genre but this is not the best of it. It's catchy but it doesn't stay with me.

Masterful musicians and I know it was important for the fusion of rock, jazz, blues, etc. But it's a lot of just jamming. I don't want to ever listen to it again.

This album is a particular favorite of mine. I love Neil and Tim Finn...you cannot go wrong with anything by them. Love their voices. Love their writing. Two of these songs are on several playlists of mine...Weather with You and Fall at Your Feet. Love all of it. I think they're highly UNDERrated here in the U.S.

I don't get the freeform parts, but I recognize the artistry of the musicians. There is quite a lot of variation between these four pieces which made it more enjoyable than a lot of jazz records.

Classic Old School Metal. Pretty cool. Great guitars. And his vocals are really enjoyable. I wish I'd been posting my favorite track from each album all along...I think I'll start doing that from here on out. Favorite track: Strange World

Highly underrated. I think this might be my favorite punk album. Also, it could be released today and still sound equally relevant.

Oddly, I was never a huge fan. I think they're just too frenetic for me...gives me an agitated feeling, and I don't love her voice...it's too harsh. But definitely an influential album in the post punk and goth rock world. Favorite track: Into the Light

I read that this is their most "accessible" album. Eek. Just being weird is not enough. And bad vocals. Oh, and the name makes me fill ill.

Sublime. Best Smiths album and one of the best albums of the 80s with two of my all-time favorite songs...There is a Light that Never Goes Out & Bigmouth Strikes again. Lyrics, vocals, instrumentation...all brilliant.

I love Tom Petty. This is not is best work overall, but Breakdown IS one of his best songs...so for that, American Girl, and the fact that he's so dang pretty, I'll still give it a 3.

Listened to parts of every "song" but had to skip through them. Offensively trashy. Nothing with such poor grammar is going to get more than a one from me. Just can't.

Probably the best all girl band ever. They are highly underrated. Two absolute bangers here but every song is good. Great musicians, great vocals. They are synonymous with summer for me...partly maybe because I saw them play in July of 1984 (INXS opened...great show!)

I don't know enough about African music to rate it properly, but it was interesting to listen to. Varied and complicated instrumentation.

I only knew this band by name...actually thought they were from the 70s, so I had no idea what I was in for. Pretty satisfying loud grungy rock with some sick guitars and drumming.

I was digging the sound of many of the tunes, but it's too bad they're so repetitive. You can definitely hear their influence on many alternative bands. I just wish the songs went somewhere instead of repeating the same handful of notes over and over and over.

Arguably the most important Beatles album IMO. More mature, more experimental, a lot of variation in style between songs. Just great songwriting. A personal favorite of mine.

Not just an album...an art event. Seems like it might be too long...but if you tried to eliminate anything, it wouldn't be the same. Just amazing songwriting.

My heart sank when I saw another album from this lame band on the list. Just awful. Singing and playing both sound amateur. No life to the music. They're quite recent to...what have they influenced??? I cannot for the life of me figure out why they are on the list at all, and certainly not twice.

Hard to rate because I don't even know what you would call this. I'm sure it's supposed to be good for what it is, but I didn't care for it and wouldn't ever listen to it again.

The same guitar sound in every track (notice I didn't call them songs). That and bellowing. Made me wish we'd gotten a rap album today...which is saying a lot. Just awful.

The standard for funk.

Queen

Unparalelled songwriting and one of the purest voices to ever grace the world. I always forget how much I love Cat Stevens in between listenings.

Really full of themselves and must have smoked WAY too much weed.

I would call this experimental sound art. I like a lot of music by Bjork...but not this. Kind of interesting, but also largely unpleasant. Experimental and weird, but not sure about influential.

This album disappointed me. I've liked the song Hysteric for a long time and was happy to see the album show up on the list, but I was bored by most of it. A couple of memorable songs. The rest is pleasant enough background noise.

I love Today and Disarm, but other than that the songs all sound the same. Good live band, bad listening band.

Funny, I never really loved Take on Me in the 80s, although the video is iconic. BUT if you listen to the acoustic version recorded in 2017 you will see just how beautiful a song it is and also what a great voice he has....still. From this album though, my favorite is The Sun Always Shines on TV. Overall, the other songs are mostly forgettable. One thing to note however is that I've never seen a song on Spotify have over a billion views before....but Take on Me has 2,240,938,654....as of this viewing!

Title kind of says it all. It's a bunch of samples.

I could almost give any album with Jimmy Page playing on it a 5. And I could almost give this one a 5 just for Kashmir. But it really should NOT have been a double album. Too much filler with songs that hadn't made the cut from previous albums.

I usually like tango music. And it's usually quite sexy and sensual. This had WAY too much xylophone...and the xylophone took all the sexiness away.

Feels just like background music to me...nothing that stands out. Very homogenous. I'd never heard of them...and I guess you might not have if you weren't into raves. They don't have the original on Spotify but I'm guessing it wouldn't matter to much to me.

I'd never heard of them...which is a shame because I would have LOVED them back in the day. More interesting than any other punk band I can think of...much more variation in sound. Some definite shades of Adam Ant...who's one of my favorites. I'll be adding this to my permanent playlist and looking for it on vinyl.

One of my favorites. Best of dream pop and pioneer of shoegaze.

I would put this in the top five albums ever made. We need more than five stars for this one. I can't even pick a favorite song because there are too many. It's a tie betweeen Never Going Back Again, The Chain, and I Don't Want to Know.

Kind of an average hippie band, but not bad.

Le Freak is, of course, on every disco playlist. The album is pretty solid, although Savoir Faire makes me feel like I'm shopping for gloves at Porteous. Nile Rodgers went on to write huge hit songs for David Bowie, Duran Duran, Madonna, INXS, Diana Ross...just to name a few. I actually saw them in concert about 18 months ago when they opened for Duran Duran in Boston and they played a whole list of famous songs they'd written for other people, which blew my mind. And they sounded fantastic. I wouldn't have known how vast their influence was if not for that show...so I'm going to bump this up to a four.

This is one of my top five albums from the aughts. Five of the songs are in my regular rotation on a couple of different playlists. I'd never heard anything but Mr. Brightside back in the day though...so didn't fall in love with it until more than 15 years after it was released. Favorite track: Change Your Mind

I've heard other Indian music in film that I've enjoyed much more than this, which seemed incredibly hokey. I started to say it sounded like an Indian James Bond soundtrack...but really it's more like an Indian Austin Powers soundtrack. But from what I read, this composer is legendary and very influential in the genre so I guess I'll have to give it a 3.

They just sound like a mess to me...too much going on and anxiety inducing,.

I was actually going to hit did-not-listen even though I DID listen, but I don't see the option now. Must have waited to long? Anyway. Against popular opinion I loathe and have always loathed her music. Apart from the fact that I hate this style of music, I find her voice nasally and grating. But I feel I have to give her at least a 2 just because she's so popular.

I love the Pet Shop Boys but this is not their best album. It's pleasant to listen to but not terribly interesting. Their newer albums are their best.

I had never heard this album before, vaguely remembered one song but not the name of the band. I had to read up on them to know it was Bob Mould. Great album...I wish I had heard it back in the day, but at least it will go on my play list now!

The Strokes is one of those bands that I always think I should like more but for some reason I don't. They're fine. I enjoyed the album. But nothing stays with me. Nothing makes me want to listen over and over again. There's nothing particularly special. I think they're overrated.

This album should not be here. Dude got an inexplicable amount of mileage off those two songs. They're catchy, but the rest is fluff.

I'm rather reluctantly giving it a 4, and mostly because I do love Like a Prayer, and because it is her best overall album. I honestly think she's a weak vocalist but she's worked her flamboyance well.

This is pretty much the beginning of the entire college band/indie rock scene...and the influence on every indie rock band since. Also the soundtrack of my late high school and early college years. Favorite track: We Walk

I think we used to have this cd but I have no idea why. It's dreadful. Really boring. And ambient music was around before Moby so I'm not sure why it would be considered influential.

Tried to be objective, but this is just really bad. Again, I fail to see how it's influential when they weren't doing anything new.

Not my thing musically, but important to the social justice movement, and therefore more important today than ever.

I have a great fondness for this album because I used to listen to it with my college boyfriend while properly tripping. It's not quite the same without hallucinogens, but I can still conjure up the delight of hearing it for the first time while watching the birds from his tapestry dance across the wall. They are the Kings of prog rock for sure.

One of my favorite albums. I find it flawless and Dylan's best. I once went as Shelter from the Storm to one of our friend group's infamous theme parties...this was come as a Bob Dylan song.

Mind-numbingly boring.

I'm sure I'll never listen to this again because it's too slow and depressing, but as always, Leonard Cohen is a great poet and songwriter.

Hmm. I mean they're fine? But boring. Kind of run of the mill generic 80s music (and I say that as a huge fan of 80s music). I had never heard of them, and I question them being influential. This album came out in 84 and what they were doing was nothing new at that point.

I hate Chicago and this is a bloated pretentious album.

Just NO

Never heard of them before, but it's pretty decent psychedelic rock. Evidently they invented the rock opera...which I'm not sure the world needed.

I'm a huge Bowie fan but this is not his best. Some critics say "transitional". I think I'd agree with others that it was coke-fueled aimlessness. But it does have Golden Years and TVC15, which are fun. Favorite track: Wild is the Wind...and I know it's probably a travesty to say, but I much prefer this version to Nina Simone's. Still pretty impressive that you could make this album when on so much coke that you don't remember what city you recorded it in. I would give it a 3.5 if that were an option.

Abysmal. Guy has the worst singing voice I've ever heard.

I've never been a big fan but I recognize the talent. I had an old boyfriend that listened to him too much and it put me off it forever. But this is an iconic album. Favorite track: Watching the Detectives

I do think the guy has a nice voice when he's straight up singing instead of yelling...but other than that, nope. I always try to read up on why someone thinks these bands are influential...and for this one it said because they combined rock, metal, hiphop and electronica. To that I say...Pick a Lane.

It's all yelling.

Nope

Fantastic guitarist although I found the vocal parts and lyrics a bit bland. Definitely looks like he influenced many many other artists.

Wish I'd heard of this one when I was in my teens and 20s!

I didn't need to hear it live, but I do love his music.

Fun and recognizable but as an album it's very monotonous.

I'm very fond of them...they remind me of a specific set of people at a specific time in my history that I'm most nostalgic about. I hadn't listened to this album straight through before...I'm more familiar with Bug....but I loved it. Favorite tracks: Little Fury Things, Raisans, and their cover of Just Like Heaven, which I already had on a couple of playlists.

Revolver and Rubber Soul were always my two favorite Beatles albums. So many great songs. Favorite tracks: He Said She Said and Here, There and Everywhere

I quite enjoyed some of the instrumentation....but I don't like talking over music. Either sing or just leave it as instrumental music.

Sooo many great songs...and A Day in the Life is my all-time favorite Beatles song.

Not nearly as good as Nevermind. If I didn't know it was released later I'd think it was an earlier album. It's kind of a mess except for a couple of songs.

Nope. Never liked them.

I'm not buying that this, in 2004, was influential.

Bores me to tears.

John was a deeply flawed man, but a great songwriter, and I love the sincerity and honesty in his music. I think Imagine has become too familiar and is easily written off as trite, but I personally can't ever hear it without tearing up. It's a vision for a better world that could be if everyone cared.

A bit of a snoozefest. I don't like the breathy weak vocals. She might have a great voice but it's hard to tell since it's all autotuned and synthesized to death.

Elevator music from my childhood....one thing I'm not nostalgic about.

I was latecomer to Blur's music, except for the big hits, but then really got into them over the last few years. Now they're one of my favorites. If I were to hear one of their albums without knowing the release date, I would have a hard time figuring out what decade they were from...which is one of the best things about them. Favorite tracks: You're So Great, Beetlebum, Song 2

One of my top ten favorite albums of all time, from one of my top 5 favorite bands. I fell in love with the Pixies the moment I heard them....and this album, for me, is perfection. Fave tracks: Where Is My Mind? (one of my theme songs), Cactus, and Tony's Theme (because it always reminds me of my friend Tony who's one of my favorite people on the planet)

Makes me sad that I haven't managed to see them in concert...

I had no idea Brazilian psychedelia was a thing, and I had never heard of the Tropicalia movement. Very interesting...and I admire any artists working under a fascist regime.

Probably my least favorite Bowie album.

No doubt she has a great voice, although I don't care for this older pop music. A lot of hits here....covers, but she made them her own.

I know I've heard it before...but I can see why I'd forgotten it. Wow that was boring.

I'd never listened to the whole of either of them....and didn't like either of them equally. I'm sending Hey Ya a special 5 all on its own because it's one of my all time favorite songs...but the rest gets a 2.

I think it's safe to say that ambient electronic music has no place in my record collection.

I hadn't heard this album of theirs before and liked it so much I listened to it three times! Definitely paved the way to Loveless (and a lot of other music) and I actually liked some of it better.

Robyn Hitchcock is a brilliant songwriter and storyteller. There's no one like him and he's unapologetically himself. I like his later stuff, solo and with the Egyptians better, but that may be because I heard it first and loved it before I heard The Soft Boys...but this is obviously the basis for that and indie psychedelia.

Boring. Not offensive, but very bland. And this is one of those albums on the list that I don't agree is influential because there's nothing new in it.

Corny but classic, and they really were incredibly talented. I'd like to think that if she'd lived and been well that she would have become better known for her drumming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVBtjaHxR7Y&ab_channel=OloapsVL

I like Hard to Handle...but I don't go out of my way to listen to it, and the rest is kind of forgettable generic "American" rock. I don't see how it's influential at all since they didn't invent anything and are clearly the ones influenced by others.

I'll still give it a 3 for the lyricism but I don't like this album. Don't like the weird jazz, which I don't think meshes with her style. It detracts from it. I'll stick with her pre-1975 albums.

I still love this album. Solid straight through. And there's no denying its influence in pushing grunge into mainstream popularity.

Although it's not my favorite Lenny album, it was an impressive debut and cemented his style...seamless blend of rock, funk, soul. And that voice..... P.S. Just have to add that he's even hotter now than he was then, which is a feat unto itself.