Feb 27 2025
Live At The Harlem Square Club
Sam Cooke
4
Feb 28 2025
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beatles
4
Mar 01 2025
1984
Van Halen
Good band. Dumb songs. Great guitarist. The singer is a ham (good). The synths are tacked on, you can hear the bargaining between Eddie and the rest of the group.
2
Mar 02 2025
Blur
Blur
4
Mar 03 2025
Songs From The Big Chair
Tears For Fears
4
Mar 04 2025
This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
3
Mar 05 2025
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
5
Mar 06 2025
Freak Out!
The Mothers Of Invention
3
Mar 07 2025
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon
3
Mar 08 2025
Live At Leeds
The Who
5
Mar 09 2025
People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm
A Tribe Called Quest
4
Mar 10 2025
Fear Of Music
Talking Heads
Better than Remain in Light!
5
Mar 11 2025
The Clash
The Clash
3
Mar 12 2025
S.F. Sorrow
The Pretty Things
The album makes one confront the annoyingness of this list project's title: "Must hear" and "die" are hyperbole, and you do not in fact need to hear this album. It sounds like 1968 psychedelic rock. It has some moments. There is no standout track. For a better look at the genre/period, I suggest playing this album with the sound down, then turning it up when Apple Music goes on to Autoplay Similar Music. Pete Townshend's legacy is not threatened by this little thing. Saying someone was born in track #1 does not an opera make.
2
Mar 13 2025
Run-D.M.C.
Run-D.M.C.
4
Mar 14 2025
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
Mudhoney
3
Mar 15 2025
Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
2
Mar 16 2025
Songs From A Room
Leonard Cohen
I just don't like Leonard Cohen. Whatever it is, he doesn't have it. At least this one isn't over-produced, over-arranged lounge music, but for an allegedly simple and austere record, there's an awful lot of dumb arrangement ideas. As for the writing, I can tell he thinks it's good.
1
Mar 17 2025
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
4
Mar 18 2025
Play
Moby
I winced a bit when this popped up but it's solid. Well-made, various, the Lomax thread holds it together (great sample choices), accessible and entertaining. I remember the scene grumbling and the licensing everywhere; he should be credited with killing the idea of Selling Out.
WikiTIL: His family gave him the nickname, and while his middle name is Melville, he's not related to that Melville.
3
Mar 19 2025
Young Americans
David Bowie
Bowie has secret normie chops but I prefer him a little weirder.
2
Mar 20 2025
The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
Joni Mitchell
New to me. I like a folkie who gets a band working.
4
Mar 21 2025
American Idiot
Green Day
My first selection from the aughts. I think of them as on the better end of radio alternative in the 90s. They are a minor artist. I appreciate them putting in this effort, it's pretty good. (Theme: I appreciate effort.) Another where Must Hear is not quite true. Top marks for the cover art.
3
Mar 22 2025
Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell
3
Mar 23 2025
Supa Dupa Fly
Missy Elliott
3
Mar 24 2025
New Wave
The Auteurs
3
Mar 25 2025
Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
3
Mar 26 2025
Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
Compared to other 60s UK canon bands, the Kinks sound so English it almost seems like a bit.
3
Mar 27 2025
Synchronicity
The Police
4
Mar 28 2025
Fever To Tell
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4
Mar 29 2025
OK Computer
Radiohead
5
Mar 30 2025
Jagged Little Pill
Alanis Morissette
2
Mar 31 2025
Shalimar
Rahul Dev Burman
3
Apr 01 2025
Moondance
Van Morrison
4
Apr 02 2025
Psychocandy
The Jesus And Mary Chain
One of the rare debuts where one wonders how they Did That on the first try. Fewer songs than one thinks have the table saw guitar. So trebly. Such songs.
5
Apr 03 2025
Electric Music For The Mind And Body
Country Joe & The Fish
Do you think the Doors would have been halfway decent if only they got rid of Jim Morrison? Not that simple.
Some work can't withstand being removed from its scene slash context.
1
Apr 04 2025
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
High highs. Good singer. Too long, in the 90s CD way. The skits almost ruin it.
3
Apr 05 2025
Boston
Boston
It's weird to hear these songs without the occasional commercial break for a car dealership. Cheerful, bright, no pretense at all, even with the Wakeman/ELP keyboards. Ain't-broke-don't-fix-it hooks. One semi-ballad in the whole set. The weakness (not a knock) of the singer is disarming compared to their arena rock cohort. Add the double tracked backing vocal and it makes everybody want to sing along.
I estimate it is over 40 years since I have listened to this straight through. Maybe go again in another 40.
WikiTIL: Mostly made by one guy, in his basement, while misleading the record company about recording as band in LA.
3
Apr 06 2025
Highly Evolved
The Vines
"Must hear" LOL
40 days in, first record I haven't finished. I was losing brain cells with every track.
1
Apr 07 2025
The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem
Em is vexing. He's very good, and very bad, and I think he thinks the bad elevates the good, and I don't agree.
3
Apr 08 2025
You've Come a Long Way Baby
Fatboy Slim
I listened to this a couple hundred times BITD and never knew the wall of LPs wasn't the proper cover art
4
Apr 09 2025
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
The Incredible String Band
2
Apr 10 2025
Hypnotised
The Undertones
I'd like Madness please.
Sure, do you want Gang of Four in it?
Uhhh, OK, a little?
3
Apr 11 2025
Band On The Run
Paul McCartney and Wings
4
Apr 12 2025
The Queen Is Dead
The Smiths
5
Apr 13 2025
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
This is great.
WikiTIL: Led Zeppelin could learn from their songwriting credit ethic
4
Apr 14 2025
Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
Dexys Midnight Runners
3
Apr 15 2025
Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
3
Apr 16 2025
Sticky Fingers
The Rolling Stones
As an Exile devotee I'm ashamed of sleeping on this one
5
Apr 17 2025
Live Through This
Hole
3
Apr 18 2025
Brown Sugar
D'Angelo
Good, but very samey.
3
Apr 19 2025
Off The Wall
Michael Jackson
4
Apr 20 2025
The Village Green Preservation Society
The Kinks
3
Apr 21 2025
Celebrity Skin
Hole
Hole are good.
3
Apr 22 2025
Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine
One of those awesome custom cars, every detail idiosyncratic, lights in surprising places, fetish lug nuts, stainless steel 'mufflers' that actually increase volume, BUT ALSO they don't know when to stop applying the wordy lefty bumper stickers.
4
Apr 23 2025
Smokers Delight
Nightmares On Wax
First track is on a compilation I used to listen to, which is as it should be. I don't know if comps are allowed on this list, but The Album isn't always the best view of an artist or genre. If you want to spend 75' on trip-hop that isn't Tricky, there are better ways.
2
Apr 24 2025
Done By The Forces Of Nature
Jungle Brothers
4
Apr 25 2025
Woodface
Crowded House
I was forgetting every track as it played. Completely disposable and unserious.
It's not hard to picture someone liking this. It's definitely a band, who wrote some songs, and played them, which is a thing people do, and then people might listen to it. What is impossible to picture is the person who likes this being remotely interested in an exploration project like this list. It's music for people who aren't that into music. I think the band isn't that into music!
1
Apr 26 2025
Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
I have a weakness for CCR. Best bar band ever. That said, only need Green River on here.
4
Apr 27 2025
Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Fiona Apple
5
Apr 28 2025
Street Signs
Ozomatli
What the heck is this? Well it's pretty good.
3
Apr 29 2025
Elephant
The White Stripes
5
Apr 30 2025
Gris Gris
Dr. John
Someday soon this guy will be Dr John. Better than a lot of the '68 psych miscellany on this list.
2
May 01 2025
Rubber Soul
Beatles
4
May 02 2025
Thriller
Michael Jackson
4
May 03 2025
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
5
May 04 2025
Songs In The Key Of Life
Stevie Wonder
Near perfect most of the way, with multiple songs that might go on humanity's all time mix tape. Adding the B-sides EP to the normal LP pushes it over into Too Long, but so what.
5
May 05 2025
Teenage Head
Flamin' Groovies
❤️2️⃣ find a record I have never heard of where the band cares not about anything but playing great
4
May 06 2025
Ramones
Ramones
4
May 07 2025
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Genesis
Noped out at about a hour. The Venn intersection of Slightly Less Cringe Than ELP and Way Less Cool Than MTV Peter Gabriel isn't enough to support 94 minutes. I don't care about cover art but wow that's dumb.
2
May 08 2025
Country Life
Roxy Music
4
May 09 2025
A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield
3
May 10 2025
Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes
The aughts picks on the list get really lazy. I know, everybody wants to create, nobody wants to maintain. If you need three White titles, which you don't, as we lack... So Many Aughts Records, De Stijl is better.
3
May 11 2025
All Hail the Queen
Queen Latifah
4
May 12 2025
Palo Congo
Sabu
3
May 13 2025
Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5
May 14 2025
Treasure
Cocteau Twins
5
May 15 2025
Truth
Jeff Beck
3
May 16 2025
Ellington at Newport
Duke Ellington
3
May 17 2025
On The Beach
Neil Young
3
May 18 2025
Unhalfbricking
Fairport Convention
3
May 19 2025
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
4
May 20 2025
Dummy
Portishead
5
May 21 2025
Olympia 64
Jacques Brel
In one ear and out the other.
2
May 22 2025
Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes
3
May 23 2025
Rising Above Bedlam
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3
May 24 2025
Talking Book
Stevie Wonder
4
May 25 2025
Music For The Jilted Generation
The Prodigy
3
May 26 2025
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
5
May 27 2025
Either Or
Elliott Smith
3
May 28 2025
War
U2
5
May 29 2025
Actually
Pet Shop Boys
3
May 30 2025
Public Image: First Issue
Public Image Ltd.
3
May 31 2025
Fear Of A Black Planet
Public Enemy
5
Jun 01 2025
Black Holes and Revelations
Muse
If all your ideas suck, it doesn’t matter how hard you practice.
Radiohead: No more rock music.
Muse: *makes this*
Everyone: Right, no more rock music.
1
Jun 02 2025
Floodland
Sisters Of Mercy
3
Jun 03 2025
Come Away With Me
Norah Jones
No offense to Norah, who seems nice and has a good voice, but I had to bail on this before it started to annoy me. Insert brunch wisecrack. Sometimes a record punches thru extreme accessibility into mass delusion. Sorry, that wasn't nice. WikiTIL: Ravi Shankar's daughter, yet was legit non-nepo discovered.
2
Jun 04 2025
Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4
Jun 05 2025
Fulfillingness' First Finale
Stevie Wonder
4
Jun 06 2025
I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail
Buck Owens
3
Jun 07 2025
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3
Jun 08 2025
Being There
Wilco
4
Jun 09 2025
Cloud Nine
The Temptations
3
Jun 10 2025
Figure 8
Elliott Smith
3
Jun 11 2025
Let It Bleed
The Rolling Stones
This album has, as they say, a couple songs. The rest is surprisingly undercooked, almost unserious.
3
Jun 12 2025
Odessa
Bee Gees
This record made me feel sorry for it.
1
Jun 13 2025
Surf's Up
The Beach Boys
3
Jun 14 2025
Born In The U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
4
Jun 15 2025
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
4
Jun 16 2025
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips
4
Jun 17 2025
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
3
Jun 18 2025
Back At The Chicken Shack
Jimmy Smith
3
Jun 19 2025
Elvis Is Back
Elvis Presley
3
Jun 20 2025
Melody A.M.
Röyksopp
4
Jun 21 2025
A Night At The Opera
Queen
4
Jun 22 2025
Dig Me Out
Sleater-Kinney
5
Jun 23 2025
Crime Of The Century
Supertramp
Downcast. Theatrical. Sincere. Prog is the lowest genre, it smothers music in musicianship. This is near the top of prog, for what it's worth. "The nicest of the damned", in the words of a band not on this list. The songs with the good melodies are also from the ridiculous singer.
2
Jun 24 2025
Funeral
Arcade Fire
5
Jun 25 2025
The Healer
John Lee Hooker
4
Jun 26 2025
Welcome to the Afterfuture
Mike Ladd
3
Jun 27 2025
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles
5
Jun 28 2025
Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
4
Jun 29 2025
Meat Is Murder
The Smiths
4
Jun 30 2025
Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
Thought, More Too Much UK, but it's great.
4
Jul 01 2025
London Calling
The Clash
5
Jul 02 2025
Arc Of A Diver
Steve Winwood
oof.
1
Jul 03 2025
John Barleycorn Must Die
Traffic
3
Jul 04 2025
The Cars
The Cars
3
Jul 05 2025
Hunky Dory
David Bowie
5
Jul 06 2025
Winter In America
Gil Scott-Heron
3
Jul 07 2025
Live At The Star Club, Hamburg
Jerry Lee Lewis
4
Jul 08 2025
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
5
Jul 09 2025
L.A. Woman
The Doors
Somehow the Doors are worse every time I hear them. I can almost get to two stars for Riders' genuine vibe, but no. Jim Morrison is a jackass, and tho I rate Robby Krieger the band is replacement level. This is probably their best record.
1
Jul 10 2025
The Pleasure Principle
Gary Numan
4
Jul 11 2025
Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water
Limp Bizkit
Too many parts. Some of the parts are ok, specifically the metal choruses. Top marks for derivativeness. Cut every song's time in half. Pretty tired of poor widdle soooo angry boys.
1
Jul 12 2025
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Marty Robbins
3
Jul 13 2025
Let Love Rule
Lenny Kravitz
You’re right Lenny, music is just style.
2
Jul 14 2025
Dirty
Sonic Youth
5
Jul 15 2025
The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
5
Jul 16 2025
Logical Progression
LTJ Bukem
3
Jul 17 2025
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Devo
4
Jul 18 2025
Alien Lanes
Guided By Voices
5
Jul 19 2025
Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4
Jul 20 2025
Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
5
Jul 21 2025
Sincere
Mj Cole
2
Jul 22 2025
Aja
Steely Dan
This makes me think of the difference between this-is-good and I-like-this. In terms of skillful execution it's a 10, easily. Meanwhile it's for-me at only around 6. So it gets an 8. But seriously, if it is for you, it's a masterpiece.
4
Jul 23 2025
This Nation’s Saving Grace
The Fall
5
Jul 24 2025
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
4
Jul 25 2025
Dance Mania
Tito Puente
3
Jul 26 2025
Rock 'N Soul
Solomon Burke
3
Jul 27 2025
Maxinquaye
Tricky
5
Jul 28 2025
Hot Buttered Soul
Isaac Hayes
3
Jul 29 2025
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
3
Jul 30 2025
Honky Tonk Masquerade
Joe Ely
I don't process country music well. This seems pretty good.
3
Jul 31 2025
1977
Ash
4
Aug 01 2025
Billion Dollar Babies
Alice Cooper
I rate this record several ghost emojis
4
Aug 02 2025
Kid A
Radiohead
5
Aug 03 2025
Bone Machine
Tom Waits
4
Aug 04 2025
Rocks
Aerosmith
4
Aug 05 2025
Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3
Aug 06 2025
Untitled (Black Is)
SAULT
3
Aug 07 2025
Foxbase Alpha
Saint Etienne
4
Aug 08 2025
The Band
The Band
3
Aug 09 2025
Lady Soul
Aretha Franklin
4
Aug 10 2025
Black Monk Time
The Monks
4
Aug 11 2025
Is This It
The Strokes
5
Aug 12 2025
Pink Moon
Nick Drake
4
Aug 13 2025
Bitches Brew
Miles Davis
4
Aug 14 2025
Sister
Sonic Youth
5
Aug 15 2025
Aha Shake Heartbreak
Kings of Leon
If one of the most interesting things about your record, such that it makes the first para of the wikipedia page, is that it uniquely has a parental advisory sticker, it may be that your record is not very interesting.
There should be a setting to skip the dropped-in-later-editions items.
2
Aug 16 2025
Station To Station
David Bowie
4
Aug 17 2025
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Bruce Springsteen
4
Aug 18 2025
In The Court Of The Crimson King
King Crimson
4
Aug 19 2025
Hounds Of Love
Kate Bush
3
Aug 20 2025
Leftism
Leftfield
4
Aug 21 2025
Welcome To The Pleasuredome
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3
Aug 22 2025
Talking Timbuktu
Ali Farka Touré
It’s nice that Ry Cooder is doing this and it’s nice that our curator is doing this for Ry Cooder
2
Aug 23 2025
Low
David Bowie
5
Aug 24 2025
Roxy Music
Roxy Music
3
Aug 25 2025
The Infotainment Scan
The Fall
The Fall's catalog is intimidatingly huge, and I had never heard this one, alas. 😭 Weird to say but a great one to start with?
5