Some great tracks but too much filler on side B. Could've easily been 10 tracks instead of 15. Such was life for albums in the 90s.
Led Zeppelin has always been one of my favorite bands so I'm biased but this is truly the most Zeppelin album. Epic ballads, hard rock stompers, Welsh folklore, Blues basics, just a blast all around. The first disc has 6 of the band's best songs.
Okay now albums like this are why I signed up for this project! All 4 tracks have the same structure (long instrumental followed by short call and response) and I'm not sure if the lyrics pack the same punch as they did in the 70s, but the music still is a trip and the sax solos bang.
The 4 hits from the album still stand the test of time. The other tracks are kind of repetitive and dull. And the Praise You music video is still a work of genius from Spike Jonze.
Have it on vinyl so was nice to listen to that way. Highway Star is a classic and you can hear the inspiration of every Motley Crue song in there. You all know Smoke in the Water too. The rest of the album just doesn't do it as much.
Doesn't reach the levels of greatness as their later albums but very pleasing 1960s pop songs nonetheless.
Disappointed in this one. I like a lot of Cure songs but other than A Forest there's not enough going on here. Almost too moody and atmospheric even.
The bones of a good album are there but a lot of it is very meh. Sad we never got a chance to hear more from him. Eternal Life is a banger though.
Not sure it will crack my regular rotation but good intro to a band I had heard about but never listened to. April Skies is a standout.
UK version is missing Paint it Black which is probably the best song on there. Man I love the Stones but some of these early songs did not age well. They didn't really hit their stride till Beggars Banquet.
Bitter Sweet Symphony is one of the best songs of the 90s. Unfortunately the rest of the album doesn't hold up.
A life changing album when I first listened to it and remains incredible
Never heard of this artist or album before but this was a lot of fun! This guy was doing synthwave electropop in 2004, several years before it really became mainstream. Too bad he never made another album after this.
I knew a few Slipknot songs from the MTV nu-metal days and know that they're a 9-person band from Iowa so I was curious to hear this one. There is some impressive instrumentation on here (the drums are really good for example) but the lyrics are indecipherable, the production is bad, and like most 90s albums it runs too long. Not for me unfortunately but I'm not gonna yuck anyone's yum if this is their jam.
Another gem that I wouldn't have found without this project. I knew of their Nirvana connection but never really listened before and this album rips. It's a little uneven but overall it answers a question I never thought of asking: What if "Nevermind" had been left out in the Arizona sun instead of the Seattle rain?
In retrospect Speakerboxxx is the superior album but I'll never forget the first time I heard Hey Ya! Easily still a 5/5 album 2 decades later, a lot of the songs still feel fresh and even the skits are hilarious.
Standouts: Ghettomusick, Bowtie, The Way You Move, Hey Ya!, Roses
Just not much going on here. Other than Mr. Blue Sky it's not that memorable. And this was a double album.
ABBA is one of those bands where the hit singles are better than the albums. This one is fine and it's fun but not really my thing. I do want to thank ABBA's music for inspiring some of my favorite pop stars of the 2010s though.
Like father like son: Neither Tim nor Jeff Buckley's albums did it for me. There are some interesting ideas in here but every song meanders to get there.
The title track is a classic and it was fun hearing some of The Rev's lesser known songs. Perfect music for a rainy Thursday.
I'm a longtime Talking Heads fan but I don't listen to this album as much as Remain in Light or Speaking in Tongues, but this is typically great stuff from them. The band is really hitting its stride here, an energetic album start to finish.
Standouts: Cities, Life During Wartime, Memories Can't Wait
I only knew Bang A Gong before listening to this but it is an enjoyable album. Singer tries too much to sound like Bowie at times but overall the songs work.
I bet this went hard after your third martini of a Wednesday afternoon lunch in 1962.
This is what real-ass country music used to be, now it's all bros from the suburbs with a giant truck and an oversized hat.
Surprised they went with a live album as opposed to a studio album here. Her voice is great but overall I don't think I'll be coming back to it.
There’s some interesting songs in here as he’s working through his life post-Beatles… but there’s also the title track which has become a parody of itself over the years.
A classic that was ahead of its time. Raw, emotional, fun stuff.
Standouts: Blister in the Sun, Add It Up, Gone Daddy Gone
I like a lot of Foo Fighters songs but the album on the whole is just fine I suppose. The first half of the album has some bangers but it loses steam halfway through. "I'll Stick Around" still rocks 30 years later.
But I'll be honest I don't know how this one made a 1001 albums list. Maybe it's to show post-Nirvana Dave Grohl but it's not the band's best work. Grohl played all the instruments and sang on this album so you don't even get Taylor Hawkins, whose drumming was really integral to the band for years before his untimely death. I'm surprised they didn't go with The Colour and the Shape (which has "Everlong" and "My Hero," two timeless songs) or There Is Nothing Left to Lose (first full album with Hawkins). Missed opportunity here to showcase the band here.
Another one where I'm like is this really in the top 1001 ever? Lenny has had some good hits over the years but too much of this meanders. We get it man you built the garden.
Bury me deep in crud
Just listen to Tears for Fears or Level 42 instead
Adding a star for historical significance. Damn, people went nuts for the Duke! They broke a curfew for him!
60 years later and this still rocks. Fun debut album and of course the title track is a classic.
It's perfectly fine if unoriginal rock songs. I guess I am not British enough to care about "mod revival" music in 2025. Oh well.
An album about having fun and hanging out with your friends. What a blast.
Look I'm biased but I've loved these guys for a while now and seen them twice. A synth jam band is a funny concept but they pull it off. Glad this was on here and surprised it's on the lower end of scores - come on not everything has to be guitar-driven or moody dreck from the 1970s.
Standout tracks: Night and Day, Flutes
Some good bluesy stuff in here but kinda fizzles in the middle. A much different sound than their radio hit era of Legs or Sharp Dressed Man.
Gotta respect how Elton John decided he would open this album with an 11-minute prog rock ballad and there's nothing anyone could do about it. I guess Jamaica Jerk-Off hasn't really aged well but the double album of it is good enough to overcome it.
Standouts: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting, Bennie and the Jets
I love Silent Shout by the Knife (probably a 5/5) so I'm surprised this solo debut from one member of the Knife was on the list and not that one. This feels like a B-side compilation of Silent Shout.
A lot of great beats and clever lyrics. The career trajectory of this trio after this album is fascinating.
RIP Brian Wilson and I’m glad 1001 albums listeners got his albums yesterday. Rating this is an impossible task. On the one hand I’m glad he got to finish Smile and be at peace about it. On the other, it feels like an unfinished product or a collection of outtakes. Good Vibrations still a classic though.
This album makes me feel like I'm 15 years old again. All 8 of these songs still get played on classic rock radio. It's nothing groundbreaking but it's 70s arena rock at its most enjoyable and the production is great. This is the only Boston album worth listening to.
Still goes hard 50 years later. The Boss's first masterpiece. An incredible ode to being young and wild in New Jersey. Title track has to be one of the best rock songs ever recorded.
Standout tracks: Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out, Born to Run, She's the One, Jungleland
The title track is a classic blues song that still sounds incredible. But the rest of it sounds like baseball game organ music. Also it's a bad sign when you're already doing a reprise of the title track in TRACK FOUR.
Felt like they were trying to do too much here. Another “not for me” late 70s/early 80s album.
I learned about the White Stripes from the Michel Gondry Lego video for Fell in Love with a Girl. I enjoyed the rest of White Blood Cells so I was very excited when this album was released, and it has not disappointed over 20 years later. But I didn't fully know the reach of this album until I was in Sweden at a soccer game 4 years after the album's release and the crowd started doing a chant to the tune of Seven Nation Army. There's so much good stuff in here from 12-bar blues to chilling ballads to legendary riffs to a cameo from longtime Detroit newsanchor Mort Crim. This is Jack and Meg at their peak.
Standouts: Ball and Biscuit, Seven Nation Army, The Hardest Button to Button, In the Cold Cold Night
Dark Side may have the most memorable songs, The Wall may have the most memorable story, but I think this is Pink Floyd's best album. The songs are long and slow but they never meander and always feel like thy have purpose. Shine On You Crazy Diamond is a psychedelic adventure that bookends everything but Welcome to the Machine, Have A Cigar, and the title track all stand alone as well. Gilmour and Waters obviously have hated each other for 4 decades (and Waters has gone to the loony bin himself) but I'm grateful we got 4 classic albums out of them over 7 years.
A few classic songs but also some filler... the Stones didn't really put it all together until the album after this. Regardless, when Jagger and Richards are pushing themselves out of their comfort zone you can see glimpses of what the band would become just a couple years later.
What do you mean there are TWO Fatboy Slim albums on this list. I'll admit I enjoyed You've Come a Long Way Baby but this one is just repetitive and boring. Get out of here with this crap stuck in the 90s. Why are we doing this.
I bet this would hit hard on a 10 degree winter day when you're surrounded by a foot of snow. On a 90 degree day in June? Not as much.
I was a little hesitant at first because this was Yet Another British Album From This Era, but actually this was a banger start to finish. I listened through it twice in a row I liked it so much. Sounds like something you'd here at a tiny record store or a college town dive bar. Hell yeah.
Standouts: Ex Lion Tamer, Mr. Suit, Manequin, 12 X U
I think time has been kinder to this album than Nevermind or In Utero. A raw and emotional spin on their original songs and the covers are all bangers. One of the best live albums - truly a Performance and not just a live show running through their hits.
Standouts: About a Girl, The Man Who Sold the World, Lake of Fire, Where Did You Sleep Last Night
It's hard to explain this album in 2025 terms. This was inescapable in the early 2000s - every song seemed to be in every commercial. Looking back some of these are great (Porcelain, Honey, Natural Blues) but others (South Side, Bodyrock) feel remarkably dated. And then the second half of the album takes a right turn away from the blues samples into some moody electronica. Very strange experience overall.
How are there so many "post-punk" albums from the UK around this time on this list? Every song sounds like it was recorded in a cave and they're all like 10 minutes long. I guess the bass playing was good.
Smooth Operator is the best Steely Dan song that’s not a Steely Dan song
Perfectly solid 90s rock album. Have always loved Shirley Manson's vocals.
Still a classic all these years later. Art Garfunkel had his moments here but Paul Simon was definitely carrying the duo at this point. No wonder Simon is the one dueting with Sabrina Carpenter on SNL 55 years later. Also, the band Fun owes these guys royalties because "Some Nights" is a complete ripoff of "Cecilia."
Standouts: Keep the Customer Satisfied, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Cecilia, The Boxer
(Flea lays down funky bass line)
(John Frusciante plays melodic guitar riff)
Anthony Kiedis: BIG BALLA, MEGAFAUNA, MET A GIRL SHE WAS FROM CALIFORNIA
For years I thought this was a better album than Californication but I think it's the other way around now. Give It Away and Under the Bridge are classics but there's a ton of filler on here.
It's kind of interesting but also not really my thing.
Look I love LCD Soundsystem. Sound of Silver and This is Happening are two of the best albums of the 21st century. Their live shows are incredible. James Murphy is his generation's David Byrne. But like, why did this album, their comeback after a breakup and long hiatus, make this list? It's not their best and it's not even the best intro to the band for new listeners.
That being said it's still better than most albums out there, even if it does feel like late career Lionel Messi playing in the MLS. Oh Baby, Tonite, and Call the Police are standouts.
Look the guy knew what he wanted
Some bangers on here like Mrs. Robinson, Hazy Shade of Winter, and America... but also did we need an entire track of old people talking? It's more like a 3.5 but I'll be generous because the standouts are such classics, but still it's not even close to Bridge Over Troubled Water.
Influential for sure but not exactly the most interesting album. Why are there SO MANY late 70s albums on this damn list.
Weird combo of Metallica and a giant symphony orchestra. Interesting concept that starts to wear thin on disc 2. Works more than it doesn't but is it essential in the way Metallica's late 80s/early 90s output is? Probably not.
This is my first Queen album on this list and yeahhhhhhh let's say there's a reason people mostly know their greatest hits. Killer Queen is a bop, Stone Cold Crazy still goes hard, but much of this album just isn't as memorable over 50 years later. Did we really need two tracks of In the Lap of the Gods?
“God” probably rocked people’s worlds in 1970 but today it just sounds like an annoying social media post. Second Lennon solo album I’ve gotten and again it doesn’t hit the way Beatles albums do.
RIP Ozzy. Not as complete an album as Paranoid but that Supernaut riff makes we want to run through a brick wall.
Oh this is very much in my bag. Thank you 1001 albums for blessing me with this lo-fi classic.
There's some boring whimsy in here but overall it's fine and more accessible than the two Lennon solo albums I've gotten so far.
Fun seeing him branch out from his stuff with Garfunkel. Not as complete as Graceland but I'll definitely be coming back to it.
Pure raw unfiltered Chicago blues and a great comeback album. You can hear Muddy’s influence in so many other bands and albums I’ve loved over the years.
Standouts: Mannish Boy, Jealous Hearted Man, The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll
Maybe you needed to be there in late-80s Manchester to get the full extent of its influence I don't know. There are some good tracks on here (I Am The Resurrection is a clear standout) but this doesn't do it for me the way it does for seemingly every music critic ever. Sorry :-(
Incredible stuff. Never really listened to it in one sitting before now but it's damn near perfect. Standouts: Heavy Metal Drummer, Jesus Etc., I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
This album has Iron Man, Paranoid, and War Pigs and that's only on the first side. RIP Ozzy
The real "Crime of the Century" is that this album filled with generic lite-prog 70s rock is on this list over a different Supertramp album, Breakfast in America (which is at least a 4). Much like with Foo Fighters, the guide got this artist wrong and could've given them much better representation.
Nile Rodgers has produced some of my favorite music but this album feels a little dated overall.
Yeah there's a reason this one is universally lauded as a classic. Never had really listened to it through before but the writing is incredible and so is her voice. You can see the through lines to current stars like Lana Del Rey and Lorde in this work. Incredible stuff.
Standouts: Carey, California, A Case of You
"Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Goosey Loosey
Turkey Lurky, Ducky Lucky, Chicky Licky"
Wow so bold and inventive thank you sir.
I always get him and Nick Cave confused. Ehh this is fine, not my cup of tea
A classic that still holds up. Man imagine hearing Freddy's Dead for the first time in 1972.
Fun Britpop album. "Picture Book" is definitely the genesis of Green Day's "Warning."
Maybe it's not fair to grade Stevie Wonder on a curve here but this doesn't quite hit the same heights of his other classic period albums. "Boogie On Reggae Woman" and "You Haven't Done Nothin'" are great of course.
Not my usual genre but greatness is greatness and there's a reason why they call this the best jazz album ever.
I got 17 Seconds as one of my first albums on this list and I was bored most of the time. This was much better, they're hitting their stride here.
Commercialized and watered down but the solos save this from 1 star. The songs that aren't hits are a drag. Tres Hombres was a much better blues record.
You hear some punk and reggae influences here but it never quite comes together. Message in a Bottle still rocks though
I wanted to like it but it wasn't my thing
All I could think of is how contemporary country music sucks in comparison.
This is really when they started to get good. I think I'd put the next 4 Beatles album ahead of this one but who knows when I'll get to them on the list.
Everyone knows Wild World and Father And Son but there's a lot of surprising depth and emotion here outside of those two songs as well.
The songs are fine and Courtney Love was a figure of that era but I'm not sure how this album made the list. It's not groundbreaking or remarkable or really that influential, but still some fun tracks if you liked 90s alt rock. Doesn't hit as much as it did when Love was in the tabloids or on MTV all the time.
I've liked other country albums on this list better
There’s a reason why we only know their greatest hits. Bohemian Rhapsody and not much else!
This is probably in the bottom half of Zeppelin albums for me. Don't care still a 5.
A lot of idiots in the reviews really didn't understand what this album was about huh?
Every Brit who is like “you just had to be there when they were big” about a nondescript techno group from a city the size of Kansas City, Missouri now probably supports Nigel Farage
Surprisingly poignant. Runs a little too long (especially that last track) but overall a good listen.
First two tracks are stone cold classics and I'm not even a big jazz guy
Cool to see him incorporate some more modern sounds but it doesn't quite reach the heights of Kind of Blue
A 90s classic. We saw her perform the album live in 2021 and every song still sound great. You Oughta Know and Ironic remain classics but some other standouts include All I Really Want, Right Through You, and Forgiven.
Perfectly fine but unremarkable new wave album. Cover of All Tomorrow's Parties was interesting.
Radiohead goes back to guitars after the Kid A/Amnesiac experimentations and makes a foreboding album with classics like 2+2=5, There There, and A Wolf At The Door. I think it's my 5th favorite Radiohead album.
Another classic from the Boss. Favorites include Atlantic City, Johnny 99, State Trooper, and Reason to Believe. Incredible how he can record a stark, chilling classic like this and then have the anthems of Born to Run and Born in the USA.
I think I slow danced to Power Of Goodbye in middle school. Gets an extra star because of the title track but overall not sure why this mid-career Madonna album is on the list.
Some of this hasn't aged well at all but others are timeless. Real mixed bag here
It's great when it doesn't meander but unfortunately it meanders a little too much
Not quite at the level of OK Computer/Kid A/In Rainbows but still a 90s classic. And the songs straight-up Rock unlike some of their later albums. Fake Plastic Trees is a beautiful song and my other favorites include High and Dry, Bones, and Just.
The vocals suck which is a shame because Jeff Beck can shred.
Nicest thing I can say about this album is that it's not very long
In April 2020 this album came out and it really captured the mood of being stuck at home during a pandemic. 5 years later the music is still good but it's not the instant classic that everyone declared it to be. Apple's best album, When The Pawn..., isn't even on this list which is a shame.
It's one song over and over but it's also one very fun very good song
Child in Time is a pretty solid jam. These guys are fine. Machine Head slightly better overall.
Not bad, just not for me.
Need to listen to more Neil Young, this is good stuff
Extra star for Son of a Preacher Man
The Passenger still goes hard as does the title track. You can definitely feel the Bowie influence. Enjoyed this one.
What a year for music 1995 was. Radiohead made their mark as the next great alt-rock band with The Bends, Alanis Morissette captured the angst of the era with Jagged Little Pill, and then there was (What's The Story) Morning Glory.
I'm not a big enough Oasis fan to justify spending several hundred dollars to see a reunion show, but there's no denying the greatness here. A bunch of midtempo rock and roll ballads that you can belt out after a few pints with friends or alone in your room, and haven't lost their appeal 30 years later. Favorites are Hello, Don't Look Back in Anger, and Champagne Supernova, but really anything on here rules.
Anyway, here's Wonderwall.
After suffering through other 90s British electronica like Orbital, Chemical Brothers, and Fatboy Slim's first album, I was very skeptical of this one, however it turns out it's... not that bad? Most of the songs badly need an editor but they have beats and are catchy, Breathe is a banger, and Mindfields was a key song on The Matrix soundtrack that I listened to nonstop in middle school. You couldn't get away with that title of the first track in 2025 though.
Rap music used to be fun!
Daft Punk did it better years later
They sound like AI-generated John Hughes soundtrack songs. Waste of space on this list
More like Less Specials am I right! What is the point of this album? This sounds like a bunch of commercial jingles. It should be fun but it's not! And yet there are 3 albums on this list by these guys.
A masterpiece and up there with The Wall and Ziggy Stardust for best ever concept albums. Kendrick of course is now one of the most respected and well-known rappers around but 13 years after its release I still think it's his best work. He's an incredible storyteller and the beats and lyrics all work.
Favorite tracks: Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe, Money Trees, Art of Peer Pressure, Swimming Pools (Drank)
Nice to finally get a Bowie album on this list. It's a solid album at the height of Bowie's glam era but I also think he has other albums that are better that I'll get to eventually.
Billy Joel has always been a favorite but I mostly just knew his greatest hits albums growing up. Yes he has been derided over the years for having overly literal songs, but all his hits are crowd pleasers and this album is no exception. The storytelling and instrumentation is great here, as he moves from straight-up rockers to ballads to sagas. Don't have a heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack just enjoy the ride.
Favorites: Movin' Out, Italian Restaurant, The Stranger, Vienna
Insultingly dumb and stupid
It's no "So" but few albums are. Biko is a haunting closer. Gets an extra star for that.
I've seen QOTSA live and they're awesome. But much like the case with Foo Fighters I don't know why their debut album is on here when there's much stronger albums (Songs for the Deaf, Era Vulgaris) in their arsenal.
An okay 2000s rap album from the guy who's now better known for those Microsoft commercials. Nothing bad about it just doesn't stand out.
This was bad and unlistenable and the reviews on here reflect that (worse than even Kid Rock or Trout Mask Replica). But I will say one thing in its credit: it never aspires to be some work of high important art or anything. The record simply is what it is. Still sucks though lmao
The first 2 songs and the last 2 songs are legendary classic rock staples and still hold up. The middle of the album doesn't really do it for me.
Took me a while to get into it. Very strange at times but it grew on me.
Good solid punk rock and a nice preview of the legendary album they'd put out 2 years later.
Clapton is a grumpy old anti vax curmudgeon now but you gotta separate art from the artist here and he could shred back in the day when his most problematic act was “stealing George Harrison’s wife.” This is mostly good psychedelic blues and SWLABR is hilarious. Sorry for liking this!
Bowie's first great album. Changes and Life on Mars are two of his greatest tracks.
Another artist where you wonder what the hell the listmakers were thinking. This album is standard mediocre 90s techno with a few standout tracks like Da Funk, and not a good representation of this duo. Discovery (a solid 5) would've been a much better addition, or even Alive 2007 would've been great, hell we had that Metallica live orchestra album on this list at one point. Definitely a missed opportunity to showcase a great French electronica duo.
Was not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. Lovely trippy James Bond type music. Glory Box is a great album closer.
There's no denying this album's legacy or influence, and Teen Age Riot is an incredible track... I just think some of it devolves into noise rock and it's not as cohesive as some of the other classics on this list. Still, there's a lot I loved here.
Finally some Zappa. Most of it is perfectly fine jazzy prog rock but it loses a star because of Willie the Pimp which is incredibly stupid and long. I don't get the obsession with this guy sorry!
My wife and I saw Chvrches a while ago and the couple next to us perfectly timed their beer run for when the guy sang his 3 songs in the middle of the show. Anyway this album is synth-pop perfection.
Favorite tracks: The Mother We Share, Gun, Lies, Science/Visions
Did I miss something here? This "Oops! All Samples" album is lifeless and dull, and feels like it was made with ChatGPT. You can make an all samples album pretty fun (i.e. anything Girl Talk did in the late 00s/early 10s) but this really wasn't hitting for me.
Might be even better than Kind of Blue. You can hear the evolution in his sound.
Song 2 still bangs. The rest of it is just okay 90s Britpop. Oasis won the war.
Shoutout to Good Times for being the sample for Rapper's Delight. The other songs all start to drag around the 6 minute mark.
There's a limit to how much shoegaze I can handle
Interesting concept album, not terrible but also I get why it's not as well remembered as Tommy or Quadrophenia. The main riff in "Balloon Burning" kinda sounds like the riff in Zeppelin's "Kashmir."
Second Neil Young I've gotten on this list and it's great. Having the full backing band really gives the songs depth here. Standouts include Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, and Cowgirl in the Sand
Good dreamy pop but hasn't aged as well as other albums from that era
Perfect garage rock album. Truly defines the early 2000s for me.
Standouts: The Modren Age, Someday, Last Night, Hard to Explain
