Van Halen is just a really cool band. Hard rock sound, killer vocalist that often steals the show and some guy just absolutely tearing up his fret board for like 2 solos on every song. It’s real rock and roll that gets you pumped up and max out your bench press to. Hell yeah! Rock on man! It’s peak hair metal. THIS is the type of stuff that should be played at halftime of the Super Bowl. Bump being rational, give ‘em what they ask for!

Another album that is incredibly important in my musical journey to attempt to define my ever-moving taste. I considered myself a fan of hip hop prior to listening to this album. But I was only scratching the surface of what it hip hop could be. I didn’t realize just how limited my understanding of hip hop was until I listened to Ready to Die. I was aware this album, Nas’s Illmatic and A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory were often anointed the “greatest” hip hop albums of all time. But my teenage self found the production to be so boring compared to the and often maximalist approach of Kanye West’s MBDTF and 808s & Heartbreaks and the many producers and rappers heavily inspired by them that dominated my experience with hip hop to that point. As such, the minimal approach of loops, drums and bars was comparatively sleepy. But when I decided to give this album a shot in college, I found myself drawn to the dusty bass and punchy drums. It had a rawness that I really only associated with rock that sat just outside the mainstream. It allowed Biggie’s raps and rapping to take center stage. It was refreshing. Biggie might have my favorite voice in rap and is one of my favorite story tellers to boot. After this album, it was over for everything else. I was absolutely hooked on the east coast scene of hip hop’s Golden Era. While it may not be my favorite of the 90s east coast scene (Wu-Tang, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest have something to say too), I cannot deny that it is because of this album that hip hop was able to entrench itself, in my mind, as one of the most interesting (and frankly important) forms of artistic expression, regardless of medium.

This is probably the first time Jimi has clicked with me. I’ve never been a hug fan if when virtuoso guitarist just “play really well”, especially as someone that doesn’t play guitar. It’s just a part of his music that I’ve never quite been able to get over, songs with multiple, long solos that are probably impressive to those that have picked up a guitar and tried to learn more than Smoke on the water. On Bold as Love, I feel like the grooves and riffs are more focused than my other attempts to “get into” Jimi. There are moments that I feel drag, but I find these songs to be much more interesting as a result.

Probably my favorite LZ. Not much I can say that hasn’t been said before… mostly would like to echo that it’s the most fully realized of their self-titled series - feel the most like “Led Zeppelin” out of all of them while still being incredibly tight. There’s not a single inessential song or even moment on this album. In my opinion, it’s the epitome of “1001 albums to listen to before you die”. 8 perfect songs for 43 minutes of perfect music. Even if Stairway to Heaven is slightly overrated. :) I remember listening to these albums for the first time in high school and being absolutely blown away that music from the late 60s - early 70s could sound THIS good. Even with more experience listening to music from this era, I still can’t get over how timeless the production and musical style of this album feels. Probably more of a testament to LZ’s influence on hard rock and metal generally, but all still the same.

Meh… this one is not really for me. I can definitely appreciate the attempt to merge sampling and aspects of hip hop with rock aesthetics. But much like many other attempts from rock artists to add drum loops and an occasional rap verse to their guitar-based music, it never quite reaches the emotional heights of either rock or hip hop. What I will give Beck though is he does not sanitize his approach to rock. It’s noisy, loud and unpolished in a way that most later rap-rock attempts do not seem to capture, which seemed to lean more into the rap part most of the time. And from that perspective, it does make this record more interesting. I don’t find this particular execution of this idea to be one that draws me in sonically. It’s certainly not bad, and I can confidently say it’s more interesting and a better execution than nu-metal/rap-rock acts that try something similar. Generally, I think hip hop adjacent artists are better at incorporating rock into their music than vice versa (see JPEGMAFIA - I Lay Down My Life For You or Jean Dawson - Pixel Bath). And trip-hop artists like Portishead and Massive Attack approach sampling in non-rap in an ultimately much more satisfying way.

Guess it only took 4 days to get something completely new for me. Or so I thought until I heard Son of a Preacher Man - thanks Tarantino. That is definitely not to say that the rest was any slouch. Springfield’s voice is incredible. It’s so good that the incredible, lush strings/horns and dusty (ha) drum breaks were constantly took an undeserved a backseat as I listened. I found the ease with which she could slide between jazz vocals, traditional soul vocals and even a country twang, while still delivering a sonically cohesive experience to be fascinating. On paper I wouldn’t have thought it’d work, but it definitely does. Another thing that this album has really made me consider is how much I appreciate the limitations of the single LP format. I didn’t find a dull moment on this 40 minute album and I wish artists these days had some physical limitations to really only include the best of the best from their recording sessions. It is much more conducive to creating an album you can’t help but finish, despite its biggest hit coming in the first third of the track listing.

If we consider the early 2000s rock movement to be a revitalization of various flavors of punk/alternative music with bands like White Stripes and The Strokes, this album firmly cements its status as part of the “New Wave” wing. It embraces funky baselines and catchy rhythm-guitar riffs similar to early Talking Heads records (the vocalist even has some David Byrne-esque inflection in places) that I was immediately able to latch onto. These songs are undeniably catchy and pop songs at their core, which makes them easy to “get” the first time you listen. What I think could keep bringing me back to this album though is how is paired with the rough-around-the-edges nature of the production consistent in alternative forms of music. As I have gone on my now decade-long project to “go back” and find what legendary artists shape my taste in music, it is becoming clear to me that I’m usually drawn to artists that have pop sensibility for songwriting/structure but have smothered it in the aesthetics of an “alternative” music genre so it becomes nearly unrecognizable as pop music. Artists that are among my all-time favorites like Kendrick Lamar, Nirvana, Joni Mitchell and the aforementioned Talking Heads are masters of this and I would put this record in a similar category. However, it will be interesting to me though how much I come back to this. I enjoyed it and I think if I was 20 in 2004 when this came out, there’s a good chance their next releases would have been something I’d be extremely excited for. But with other bands from this era taking already precedence for any nostalgia I have for this time period of rock, I’m not sure I’ll revisit this over those. I wouldn’t count it out after a deeper discog dive though.

I had really high hopes for this one after hearing the first track, Turn to Stone. To this point, I had only ever heard Mr. Blue Sky and this song captured a similar vibe that I was excited to get more of. While there a some moments that reached the same feelings, I didn’t find this to be the case across the board. This album is too long I think. After about song 3-4 I felt that I already kinda “got it”. I’m sure the orchestral/symphonic aspects of this album would have been fresh and interesting at the time, and it still sounds very nice, but I don’t feel ELO did enough with this styling to fully justify a double album runtime. There’s a poetics and pop sensibility that is heavily inspired by the Beatles (especially Paul McCartney) in the songwriting. There’s an overall attention to pop song that makes each of these songs sound like they could have been smash hits. Mr. Blue Sky is still legendary and a great song worthy of that status. It was able to bring up many overall enjoyment of the record, but not enough for me to think this is something I’ll revisit often as a complete album.

Every David Bowie album will probably get at least 4 stars… so the only question is if this one can reach 5. Heroes without a doubt reaches this status for me, especially revisiting it for this project. The title track has long been one of my favorite songs of all time. Beauty and the Beast and Sons of the Silent Age also stand out in the first half. But honestly every single song on the first side has a case to be a top 20 David Bowie song. While the first half is just banger after banger, it’s really the ambient works on side 2 where this record cements itself as maybe my favorite of Bowie’s collaborations with Brian Eno. V-2 Schneider pretends to be a standard Bowie song, and you’re just waiting for the vocals to come in. Except they don’t. This is just easing you into the ambient, visceral feelings the next 3 tracks that each perfectly capture the feeling that titles each of the tracks. Just an incredible 3 song run that rivals any moment on side one. I had appreciated and even loved Bowie before I had listened to this album as I when through his discography chronologically a few years ago. Truly a masterclass in balancing tone between the mainstream and experimentation. This album catapulted him as one of my all-time favorites.

Van Halen is just a really cool band. Hard rock sound, killer vocalist that often steals the show and some guy just absolutely tearing up his fret board for like 2 solos on every song. It’s real rock and roll that gets you pumped up and max out your bench press to. Hell yeah! Rock on man! It’s peak hair metal. THIS is the type of stuff that should be played at halftime of the Super Bowl. Bump being rational, give ‘em what they ask for!

This album absolutely kicks ass. Especially in the first half. The energy on this very welcome as it’s silly and so much fun. It’s my first exposure to “glam” aesthetics (outside of David Bowie, of course) and it has certainly left enough of an impression on me to want to find out more about this era/sub genre of rock. Current acts today like Last Dinner Party are heavily inspired by this sound and are among some of my favorite current artists, so no surprise here that I enjoyed it as much as I did.

First half absolutely rivals every other LZ project. If it stopped there, it would probably be my favorite all-time album of theirs. But, the second half exists and while still incredible, it does not live up to the promise of the first half. Like I said, still incredible. But there’s a little too much bloat that leaves me wanting to restart the album after Kashmir.

I think I’m a point in my musical journey where I’m not all that interested in things that, on the surface, prescribe self importance. In our current day and age, if I see enough people talking about a rock album or band being “one of the greatest ever”, I hesitate to fully commit time to listening. This is due to a lot of things. Mainly being just how often non-straight-white-guys are left out of the canon of not only rock, but mainstream music as a whole. It’s kind of a conscious rejection of the Rolling Stone Magazine canon of western music. There are several albums that are left off of this 1089 album list that feel like no brainers considering their importance to non-rock genres of music. (I’m beyond baffled that D’Angelo has one album on this list and it’s not Voodoo). I’m mostly glad that poptimism has more or less beat out rockism in the current zeitgeist. Pink Floyd one of those bands that I could neatly place into this box of overly-praised rock music for me. Stuff that is usually pretty good, but since I don’t have an emotional connection and my favorite artists of today don’t often site as influences on their artistry, I tip toed around them. This group also included groups like Radiohead and The Rolling Stones. But just like Radiohead, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, etc. these groups often more than prove their worth and that they are 100% deserving, at least a little bit, of the heaps of praise that are tossed on them. It’s good, but not as impactful/influential as some would like you to believe. Wish You Were Here is great though. The guitar solos capture emotion better than many other noodlers of yesteryear. This album has way more SONGs than the 5 tracks that are listed here because each weave in and out of different, but related sonic motifs, making the overall runtime just fly by. Nothing drags. The vocals are really great. And to cap it off, the title track is making a really solid case for one of my favorite new-to-me songs of this project so far. It’s good. You got me. This one deserves the love.

This was fine I think. What stuck out most to me was the vocal performance, not necessarily in a good way. The delivery is kind of all over the place and seems to imitate other blues/folk artists that were popping in the US at the time. Just felt kinda inauthentic I guess.

I had a whole thing written here but it didn’t get saved and I can’t be bothered to re-write it completely. The TLDR was this - I appreciate its conscious objection to the “pop country” sound of the time. For that, it’s respectable to lean so hard into the essence of the genre of music they’re making, instead of watering it down for mass appeal. But this album is too long for me. If I had just the best 10-14 songs, it’d probably get another star.

It was a bit of slog to go straight from yesterday’s 2 hour country/bluegrass epic into another country album. This kept my attention better (maybe due to its shorter runtime) but think the introduction of some tasteful fuzzy guitars contributed to overall bluesy feel that I found very pleasing to the ear. The lyrics and the themes within are simple and probably the biggest drawback for me. However the performances themselves are really good and mostly make up for it and contribute to the musicality of the album. Overall, a pleasing listen.

Alanis Morissette was able to capture the angst and anger of the Big 4 of Seattle in a way that many post grunge counterparts haven’t been able to. I had always preferred You Oughta Know to Ironic and I’m glad to say the majority of this album pulls from the former. It generally leans more into its rock sound instead of a pop sound. I’m also a sucker from odd/unique vocalists (David Byrne, David Bowie) and Morissette able to able to scratch that same itch. Match that was some really awesome bass playing, you get a pretty solid listen!

This is a live recording?! From 1957?! In all seriousness, Jazz (particularly vocal jazz) is a huge blind spot for me as a music fan. It just hasn’t been something that I’ve sought out for no other reason than there’s just so much music to listen to. I have a constant feeling that I will never listen to all music that deserves my attention, simply because there is not enough time in my lifetime to not only catch up to a century’s worth of great material, but also stay current. This album doesn’t help. Now I definitely feel like I need to listen to more vocal jazz… phooey. Vaughan’s voice is really great and the live recording does a really good job of making me “feel” like I was in the room that night. I found the moment she forgets lyrics and just starts scatting “cause Ella would do it this way” very amusing and contributed to the overall laid back feeling of this night at Mr. Kelly’s.

I was a little bored by this one. I can usually enjoy weirder, singer/songwriter in this vein, but for some reasons this one doesn’t really click with me. It may be the vocalist to some extent, but I also just didn’t feel very moved by the instrumentals, so it made for an overall pretty uninteresting listen for me. There may be more there lyrically that I could grab onto, but with the nature of this project of a single album a day, the music itself really needs to stand out if I’m going to spin an album from this list more than twice.

The Kinks! Another band from rock’s earlier years often noted as very influential for years to come. I definitely cannot argue with that. I feel this has a rawer sound that some other rock acts from this time. And because of that, the rawness feel intentional, rather than a by product of poor recording equipment. In all, a very enjoyable album with catchy hooks that I could see myself occasionally coming back to.

Perfect album. No notes. Obligated to love as a Minnesotan.

I’m not really sure how I want to feel about this one. Waits certainly succeeds in capture the Jazz club “vibe”. I feel like he’s sitting right in front of me, puffing smoke right in my face. This is difficult to rate. Because it doesn’t really feel like Waits is the performer I came to see this night at the diner. It feels more like I came to the club and he sat across from me and drunkenly tries to have a conversation with me while I try to listen to the jazz band performing on the stage. I don’t know. Maybe if I spent some more time with it, it could grow on me. And maybe I could get into some other of Waits projects because my favorite moments are when he’s actually singing. I find his voice to actually work really well against the backing band. And can I say, the band playing is pretty fantastic. The bassist constantly steals the show for me - I’m a real sucker for upright jazz bass. I don’t know. Difficult one to give a rating since it’s just sooo different from other studio albums.

I can no longer say that I don’t understand Black Flag. Prior to this experience, I have tried to listen to the album specifically and it just was not something I could appreciate. It was abrasive, fast and felt sloppy. Everything sounded the same if I felt tired by the end. This time though, the abrasive and fast aspects of the feel unrelenting and angry. I could feel it for once. I could FEEL it. I am so hyped up on adrenaline right now I could run the 2 brick walls. I think the lead vocalist will run through them first though. Henry Rollins here. Just an oppressive presence throughout this 34 minute run time. The energy never falls through. It’s 200% go-go-go the whole time. The rest of the band tries their best to keep up. And yet, it works for me now. I felt the pocket the band was in and found myself constantly banging my head. I’m so excited to listen to more Black Flag.

The grooves on this album are second to none. There may not be an album I’ve listened to from this list that has immediately connected with me as this one. From the moment I clicked play, to the moment it ended, I was locked in. This record doesn’t seem to have the same pop aesthetics that often come with his counterparts in Motown. As such, it strikes me as really fresh, but I’ll acknowledge that early funk and soul is a major blind spot for me as a massive fan of hip hop and modern R&B. Curtis is just giving me another reason to need to explore further!

This feels like the least essential album that has been generated for me so far. And along with that, I didn’t really like it all that much. I was so close to just skipping Lion in Winter. What is that vocal performance? I feel I’m obligated to give this a 1. My 2s so far either had a sound I don’t care for but, they were trying to do something different and just fell flat (for me) or have a sound that is at least okay (I wouldn’t make you turn it off), but they don’t seem to do anything special or even try to. This one has a sound I don’t care for and doesn’t seem to try and do anything special.

I enjoyed this one a decent bit. I not sure there’s anything in particular that really stands out about it. Psychedelic rock often loses me when it veers a little too far to just “jamming”, but I felt pretty engaged while listening. Overall, pretty solid.

Joni Mitchell’s Blue has had an immense impact on the music that I gravitate towards and seek out currently. It is the first folk album that clicked with me and has opened me up to other singer/songwriters of her time and of today. Some of my favorite albums and artists in recent years can directly be linked to my love of this album and the way it opened me up to a sound I previously found boring. While I can’t really put a finger on why it works for me, Mitchell’s approach to playing guitar and piano is entrancing to me. It’s all simple and often the only thing accompanying her voice. And I think this minimal approach really keeps the focus on the her vocal performance. Joni Mitchell certainly has a voice and songwriting approach rivaled by few and is likely why I was immediately able to take to this album. It has stayed in my rotation ever since, but I always love an excuse to relisten as she quickly became one of my all time favorite artists. If I were to make a list of my favorite songs of all time, she would probably have the 3rd most songs on the list with literally every song here probably making my short list. And if it were a ranked list, A Case of You is easily right near the tippy top. Every song has a message that, even if I don’t always relate to, I can at least completely understand and empathize with Mitchell. She makes me simultaneously feel sad and blue (lol) but still encourages me believe that everything will work out and be okay. It’s my happy and sad album of choice.

This album seemed to inspire a many film scores with intense action scenes from the early 2000s. I do mean that in the best way possible. It has a relentless intensity that I can manage in small doses. Each song here is enjoyable and interesting on its own. But all together, I just get a little tired by the end.

Another album that is incredibly important in my musical journey to attempt to define my ever-moving taste. I considered myself a fan of hip hop prior to listening to this album. But I was only scratching the surface of what it hip hop could be. I didn’t realize just how limited my understanding of hip hop was until I listened to Ready to Die. I was aware this album, Nas’s Illmatic and A Tribe Called Quest’s Low End Theory were often anointed the “greatest” hip hop albums of all time. But my teenage self found the production to be so boring compared to the and often maximalist approach of Kanye West’s MBDTF and 808s & Heartbreaks and the many producers and rappers heavily inspired by them that dominated my experience with hip hop to that point. As such, the minimal approach of loops, drums and bars was comparatively sleepy. But when I decided to give this album a shot in college, I found myself drawn to the dusty bass and punchy drums. It had a rawness that I really only associated with rock that sat just outside the mainstream. It allowed Biggie’s raps and rapping to take center stage. It was refreshing. Biggie might have my favorite voice in rap and is one of my favorite story tellers to boot. After this album, it was over for everything else. I was absolutely hooked on the east coast scene of hip hop’s Golden Era. While it may not be my favorite of the 90s east coast scene (Wu-Tang, Nas, and A Tribe Called Quest have something to say too), I cannot deny that it is because of this album that hip hop was able to entrench itself, in my mind, as one of the most interesting (and frankly important) forms of artistic expression, regardless of medium.

While I do enjoy a handful of Thundercat’s singles, he’s not really an artist I look to for great album experiences. They are often pretty good with a few absolute stand-out singles. Them Changes and Walk On By are the “take-home” singles on Drunk and the rest is fine, but not enough for me to revisit the whole album. But Them Changes and Walk On By are so incredible that I can’t rate below 3. That and Thundercat’s work with other artists (Kendrick, Mac Miller, Anderson .Paak just to name a few) is more than enough for him to warrant a mention on such a list.

I thought this was pretty cool. There’s a sorta dusty/fuzzy mix that is applied across the board that adds to the immersion and a cohesive sound across the album. This is despite not really knowing what you’re going to get from track to track. It was cool and is something I could see myself revisiting and appreciating more.

I think that I’m a little bit of a sucker for jangle pop. While it isn’t a genre that I’ve explored very deeply, I’ve never listened to any similar albums and thought anything other than “This is real nice.” Which I think perfectly encapsulates this album. It’s real nice.

Maybe no one will know what I’m talking about here but I’ll try anyways. Do you guys remember that audio clip where some people would hear “Yanny” and others would hear “Laurel”? I would hear Yanny and it would baffle me that other people could hear something entirely different. That is, until one day, after listening to it with a group of friends, it switched. I could hear Laurel, clear as day. And I couldn’t believe that I ever heard Yanny in the first place. Putting a pin in this for now. I have heard many speak of the production style that’s used by Public Enemy. Often described using layers upon layers of loops and samples with atonal and industrial sounds chopped in sporadically, it never sounded like something that I would want to listen to. And it honestly wasn’t something I was very interested in. I’d heard Fight the Power before anything else and it was these qualities of the musicality that made me unsure Public Enemy’s sound is one that I could enjoy. I respected it, but I didn’t get it. Outside of its messaging and Chuck D’s imposing presence, it didn’t feel like something I could get into. It’s those 2 qualities that have made me leave a page for Public Enemy in my musical catalogue. The messages of the lyrics are challenging and important in all the best ways and Chuck D has one of the best voices in hip hop period. But listening to the album, I was having a hard time getting past the production. It is exactly as advertised and it was difficult for me to immediately find the groove that these tracks offer… until it looped for the 4th or 5th time and a flip switches for me and it all makes sense. I could hear Laurel, clear as day. And I couldn’t believe that I ever heard Yanny in the first place. I am completely entranced by this atonal, industrial, hodgepodge of samples.

Trying something a little different here. Excursions - what an incredible start to the album. That upright bass sample will forever be stuck in my head. I’ll never let it go. Perfectly captures the vibe and feel of the rest of the album. If you only listen to one song from this album and want to understand what ATCQ is… make it this one. Buggin’ Out - Incredible opening verse from Phife here. It’s a great introduction to his style and really sets him apart from Q-Tip. And their chemistry is on full display here. I take it back about Excursions being the only song… you need this one too. Rap Promoter - that guitar sample is everything here. Tip is absolutely right - “this one’s a fly love song”. Butter - the horn on the chorus just makes me melt every single time. Phife does his best to take the moment for himself with a couple incredible verses ,but that horn just swoops in and snatches it from him. Verses from the Abstract - this beat is so nasty. I get why Tip says funky like 12 times in his verse. How can you think about anything else with those drums!? And the vocals on the chorus with Tip shouting out everyone Native Tongues adjacent gives me chills every time. And why is the funkiest part when the beat just drops out and it’s just Tip. I love this album. Show Business - I have no idea what the sample is. I think it’s a guitar? Either way, it’s the kind of thing that Tribe does so well. They don’t overuse it. It comes in only right when you need it. Little moments like that are all over the place here. All of the little things that come in for a beat or two and don’t reappear for another 10 bars. Lesser producers would try to a jam them into the loops for the whole track. How is the second best posse cut on this album? Vibes and Stuff - it’s verses like the first one on this track where Tip really makes the case for my favorite rapper. He is just so smooth over this beat. The little embellishments and layered vocals - he’s probably my favorite rapper to just listen to rap. Infamous Date R*pe - first and only “misstep” for me, if I can even call it that. I just get a little confused with Phife’s verse. Is this supposed to be an example of date r*pe? Or we complaining about a woman that has “changed her mind” after an encounter? It’s ambiguous enough to me that I can read it the first way since, the track ends with a verse from Tip basically saying “consent is important” so I guess I don’t know. Regardless, an attempt was made to be less misogynistic than other rap acts of the time (or even today) so props, I think? Check the Rhime - Phife and Tip’s back and forth the perfect encapsulation of their chemistry. They work so well together. I love a good horn loop… Everything is Fair - Why does the the vocal sample here remind me of David Byrne? I’ve always heard his voice here, just me? I love how the beat goes back and forth between 2 samples in a similar way Phife and Tip go back and forth in the previous song. Just a really creative approach to beat switches. Jazz - probably my favorite snare sound on the album. Just so punchy. It sounds like they are smacking the heck out of a trash can lid. Oh, did I mention a love a horn sample? This chorus has a good one. Phife flow on this beat is perfect. Skypager - lol it’s funny to me that the fact that a skypager can be flaunted as a status symbol is the most dated thing about this 33 year old album. This had to still be funny and silly at the time too, right? I mean Phife seems too proud that his Duracell batteries last for 3 weeks! Song still bangs though What? - I’ve always seen this an intro to the next track. I still feel that way. But I love the way Tip says knockin’ boots. Makes me giggle. I love this album. Scenario - this sample is so good. It’s constantly reused and for good reason. Every verse here is stellar. It’s probably Phife’s best on the entire album. PSA to anyone that wants me to do karaoke. Learn one of these verses and get 3 other friends to learn one too. I’ll take whichever one’s left and we can have some fun taking over the party. Best posse cut ever? This and Danny Brown’s Really Doe are neck and neck for my favorite. Hopefully it’s obvious that I adore this album and understand why Questlove calls himself that.