197
Albums Rated
3.44
Average Rating
18%
Complete
892 albums remaining
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Rating Timeline
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1950s
Favorite Decade
Funk
Favorite Genre
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Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
45
5-Star Albums
5
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phaedra | 5 | 2.73 | +2.27 |
| Night Life | 5 | 2.81 | +2.19 |
| Gentlemen | 5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
| Leftism | 5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
| When I Was Born For The 7th Time | 5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
| Ctrl | 5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
| Ghosteen | 5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
| Rhythm Nation 1814 | 5 | 2.99 | +2.01 |
| No Other | 5 | 3.19 | +1.81 |
| Risque | 5 | 3.26 | +1.74 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ace of Spades | 1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
| Germfree Adolescents | 1 | 3.04 | -2.04 |
| New Boots And Panties | 1 | 2.7 | -1.7 |
| Wild Is The Wind | 2 | 3.63 | -1.63 |
| Now I Got Worry | 1 | 2.52 | -1.52 |
| Straight Outta Compton | 2 | 3.51 | -1.51 |
| Unknown Pleasures | 2 | 3.47 | -1.47 |
| Imagine | 2 | 3.45 | -1.45 |
| Horses | 2 | 3.31 | -1.31 |
| Homework | 2 | 3.29 | -1.29 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| R.E.M. | 3 | 5 |
| Beatles | 3 | 5 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| ZZ Top | 2 | 5 |
| CHIC | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 2 | 5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Pink Floyd | 5, 2 |
5-Star Albums (45)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Amy Winehouse
4/5
My ex-wife threw me a 30th birthday party and one of my coworkers gave this CD to me as a gift. I had never heard of it. Immediately thereafter my ex-wife decided this CD was hers and also that we should get a divorce. Upon relisten, this is a great album but geez get yourself together.
2 likes
Nick Drake
5/5
Amazing acoustic guitar playing and what a voice. Have long been aware of him and this album but never listened to it. I grew up with this kind of sad-guy singer-songwriter stuff and have mostly avoided it since my early 30s but this was fantastic.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (5)
All Ratings
Van Halen
5/5
Eddie Van Halen is a god and this is his origin story. Incredibly revolutionary band and the older I get the more I appreciate super solid music that is 100% about having fun.
R.E.M.
5/5
I still remember walking from school to buy this in the old long form cd box the day it came out. Document - Green - Out of Time - Automatic for the People have got to be the best four-album streak by band ever, although for me the REM artistic energy kind of ran out after this. I don't think this is as consistent as those other three albums but Nightswimming, Everybody Hurts, and Drive for me in particular are classics.
Michael Jackson
5/5
What a monster 5 x 5 star album. Gigantic hits from start to finish. It was only in this decade that I learned Michael Jackson stole his leather and zippers look during this era from Warrant who were still a still unsigned LA local band at the time. More people should know that.
Van Halen
5/5
The #1 reason you shouldn't trust anything I say is that I prefer Sammy Hagar to David Lee Roth and think 5150 is VH's best album. But, while there is some filler here, Jump, Panama, and Hot For Teacher are simply three of the greatest songs by an American rock band ever.
R.E.M.
5/5
Was not in the mood for today's offering so went back and listened to this. The second best album by the first best American band. This and Green (their best in my unpopular opinion) cut through the hair metal and teenybopper music of 1989 and made me the weirdo I am today.
ZZ Top
5/5
Sometimes a little beer drinking and hell raising is just what you need.
Beatles
5/5
This band is way better than Incubus which is extra impressive because this album came out 33 before Make Yourself and the Beatles didn't even have a turntable guy.
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
The patron saint of midwest Christian hipsters of a certain age, and for good reason. It's all too much at times but respect at all times.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Praise You and Rockafella Skank are still cool. Much of the rest sounds the same, but more interesting and clever than a lot of the other EDM on here.
R.E.M.
5/5
One of my all time top ten favorite albums. And maybe the #1 most influential on me. I bought this in sixth grade when the Monkees-esque Stand video was all over MTV. At that point for me, it was all about Bon Jovi, Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Warrant (sorry not sorry) and the rest, with a lot of U2 in there too, but REM was truly the first "alternative" band in my life, in that they were just weirder and more unpredictable and elliptical than U2, and certainly much more so than the hair metal (which I still love) that dominated MTV and which everyone else in school was listening to. This album still kills. You Are the Everything is the most underrated REM song out there. I do feel a lot of nostalgia for this so that may bias me as I know most REM fans do not consider this their best (and indeed a lot of them hate this album), but whatever.
AC/DC
5/5
Heavy! Duty! Heavy Duty! Rock n Roll! And I had no idea this album ended with a Mork from Ork shoutout.
Guns N' Roses
5/5
Top 5 album ever and the best hard rock album of all time. Stop pretending like it isn't.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Rare to find an album where each song is a five star banger. I know it helps there are only 5 songs. This is my 3rd favorite Pink Floyd album, you'll never guess 1 and 2.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Thank god Bob Dylan invented the electric guitar just a couple years after this, because, for all the immortal gems on here, this drags a lot.
ZZ Top
5/5
Perfect album to put on and kick back with the old lady.
Foo Fighters
3/5
Dave Grohl seems like an all around awesome rock and roll dude. Which the world needs more of. However, outside of Everlong and Best of You I gotta say the Foo Fighters have never really done it for me.
N.W.A.
2/5
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube are obviously mega-talented dudes, but let's not pretend this is not primarily some juvenile stuff at a time when Public Enemy and others were doing their thing.
Judas Priest
3/5
I have a high tolerance for silly classic metal, but this pushed it a bit. The guitar work and attitude are something to behold, but if I'm looking for a classic British metal fix, it's going to be Maiden or Sabbath, not this.
Dire Straits
4/5
My love for fretless bass, idiosyncratic guitar soloing, singers that can't really sing, and mid-80s sentimentality elevates this above the boring parts.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Some good shit. Not nearly as good as Paranoid which came out only six months later (!) but still listenable and rocking. A little self-indulgent.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
Now I Got a Headache
The Cult
2/5
Aphrodisiac Jacket sounds like a Citizen Dick song title.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
J Mascis has a monopoly on being J Mascis. And he uses it for good.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
This must be that "LA sound" everyone is talking about. I love it.
Paul Simon
4/5
Most of this was new to me (well everything besides Me and Julio) and it was an unexpected delight. Never heard him so stripped down, and he's a beast on guitar. Also I had no idea that Gatorade was ubiquitous enough in 1972 to be mentioned in a song - f'ing fascinating.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Was not expecting to see 2 (so far) pre-Sex on Fire Kings of Leons albums here. Hmm. Solid rock n roll band and I'm all for that, but not much in the way of tuneage here.
Deep Purple
3/5
If you're a dad of a 16-year old in 1973, and you hear this coming out of the hi-fi in his bedroom, you should definitely look through his shit while he's at school.
Joy Division
2/5
This album was neither unknown nor a pleasure. Discuss.
John Lennon
2/5
Of all the Beatles' solo careers, Lennon's is definitely in the top 4.
Stan Getz
5/5
Loved it. Listened twice in a row. Want to get a copy of this vinyl, a lazy-boy, and a glass of whiskey.
The Cure
5/5
I feel like kids today don't know about Disintegration and that's a damn shame.
The Go-Go's
3/5
Interesting that this was the 2nd best selling album of 1982 after...Asia. The era of the 80's superstars had not really begun. Pleasant stuff. Belinda Carlisle forever.
5/5
One of my three favorite albums ever since about the time it came out - and yet not even my favorite U2 album, which is The Unforgettable Fire. I like it now even more than back then. 10 out of 5 stars.
Ramones
5/5
Was way into the Ramones in perhaps their least popular era, the last few years of their existence in the early 90s before they became dead legends / t-shirts to put on your kid to let people know you're a cool parent. Honestly, I heretically like the later more produced stuff a bit more, and even though there's like four songs in a row that sound exactly alike, this is a got-dam classic.
Blondie
5/5
Extremely familiar with the hits but never listened to the whole album. Super fine. This album could come out today and be a critical smash.
The Stone Roses
3/5
This came out a few years before my entry into the 120-minutes-verse, and I was familiar with the first two songs (which are solid) and the general "classic" reputation of the album, thus I was confused as to why the rest of the album was just kind of boring.
10cc
2/5
I was excepting and hoping for some deep cut Yacht Rock a la "I'm Not in Love." What I got seems to be the original cast soundtrack of an off-broadway show that opened and closed on the same night in 1974. Things have changed for me and 10cc.
Oasis
3/5
Definitely most apt album title relative to the quality of the band ever. Big props to the bass player though, he is underrated.
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
Dark, repetitive, haunting, I'm into that.
Missy Elliott
4/5
Daft Punk
2/5
Not my thing. I feel like a lot of the music that I find annoying - and which is far more pervasive now than in 1997 - can be traced back to this. And yet that bassline in Around the World (which I have certainly heard before) is about the greatest thing ever.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Owned this album when it came out and I remember it the same as I hear it now - some amazing songs and a lot of slow, unmemorable dirges. Fight Test, Yoshimi, and Do You Realize are classics, but overall not as great as The Soft Bulletin.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
Had never really listened to LCD Soundsystem so interesting to have the chance. One song - Someone Great - I loved, the rest didn't really do it for me, but I can sort of see the appeal. More accessible than Daft Punk.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Glad to finally hear this album after knowing about the Tom Tom Club for a long time - big fan of Talking Heads and of the Genius of Love segment in Stop Making Sense. Liked Under the Boardwalk and Lorelei. Some of the other songs a bit more prosaic. Don't know that I'd listen to the whole album again, but good and enjoyable listen.
Aerosmith
4/5
Wanted to give this five stars based on the rock and roll perfection of Walk This Way, Sweet Emotion, and Toys in the Attic, but damn there is some filler crap on this album and Big Ten Inch Record subtracts a star on its own. Aerosmith rules, but I can't abide the cheesiness.
Nick Drake
5/5
Amazing acoustic guitar playing and what a voice. Have long been aware of him and this album but never listened to it. I grew up with this kind of sad-guy singer-songwriter stuff and have mostly avoided it since my early 30s but this was fantastic.
SZA
5/5
Not exactly my go-to music genre, but has all the hallmarks of a five star album. Inventive, sprawling, and no filler. I had heard SOS but never any of the songs on this album. I shall return to this album.
CHIC
5/5
Loved it. Never heard the full album before. High standard deep cut disco is always good by me. Brilliant guitar and bass, solid tunes. Will go into regular rotation.
Patti Smith
2/5
Loved Just Kids and Because the Night. This however makes me doubt my commitment to SparkleMotion. Maybe you had to be there.
Kings of Leon
4/5
I owned a digital copy of this in that odd period before Spotify but after we stopped buying CDs. And like many of those albums from that period, totally forgot it existed. Still rocks although doesn't really have any "hits." Unexpected to see it here.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Another guy I've always heard about and never really listened to it, can't believe this came out all the way back in 2003, which is the same year White Winos by Loudon Wainwright III came out which was a song I was quite obsessed with. This feels like Billy Joel meets Radiohead both of whom instill existential anxiety in me. 3.5/5
Tangerine Dream
5/5
I always thought this was some kind of second-tier 60s jam band. I must have been mixing them up with a similarly fruit-titled band. Moby Grape? Anyway. This is great. In fact this kind of music is literally the soundtrack of 1980s B-movies which is my shit. Their wikipedia page is way more complex than I ever would have imagined. 127 albums and several dozen members. May 18, 2025 is the day I finally understood Tangerine Dream.
Can
2/5
I don't know, CAN you?
In fairness, at 18 I would have given this five stars.
Eels
3/5
Another band I missed out on, although I recognize Novocaine. Didn't realize Eels and E were the same guy - one of the first shows I ever saw E was the opening act and I figured that guy disappeared but Wikipedia indicates he is quite successful in the soundtrack world. This was right up my alley genre-wise and for when it came out but somehow I just can't get into it. Maybe a little too much ironic detachment for me. Maybe I have no further capacity for alternative rock that came out in the mid-90s.
Blue Cheer
2/5
I guess this is here for historicity, but I'm not quite seeing it. Jimi Hendrix's first album came out the year before which had the guitar sounds but with infinitely better playing, songs, and singing. And The Who were already well into their career. Having a somewhat heavier distortion on its own doesn't seem like a big deal but I guess I'm missing something here.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Of all the songs I’ve ever heard about a gypsy woman casting a spell on an unsuspecting singer-songwriter, this one was the longest.
Tom Waits
2/5
No one told me we were going to have to listen to Tom Waits albums. I feel a little misled.
Ian Dury
1/5
I would advise against offering to hold on to the hard drive of any person who owns this album.
Sonic Youth
3/5
In high school, I thought maybe being into Sonic Youth would get me in with the hipsters, but they all - to the extent took the time to look - saw the truth that I was really a Soul Asylum guy. I have a feeling Grave Dancer's Union is not on this list, but if it were, instant 5 stars.
Justice
3/5
When I saw the cover and title, I hoped this would be an underground yet critically-acclaimed Christian metal album that would be new to me and potentially life-changing. Twas not. D.A.N.C.E. was pretty great however - one of many things that eluded me in 2007. All in all, better than Daft Punk and if I was home-invaded and forced to play EDM I'd be okay with putting this on.
Bert Jansch
4/5
Surprised Bert Jansch has never been on my radar - he is a g-damn guitar hero. Astounding guitar work for a 22-year-old in 1965 and I can hear the influence on Jimmy Page and Neil Young and later virtuosos like Michael Hedges. That said the songwriting and vocals leave a bit to be desired, particularly in comparison to Nick Drake from a couple weeks back. .
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Much like with Bert Jansch, I can hear the sizable influence MBV had on its immediate successors - a lot of whom are my teenage favorites - in the 90s, specifically Smashing Pumpkins. And to extend the comparison, I was missing the more dynamic songwriting and vocals of those successors.
Public Enemy
4/5
Curious choice over It Takes a Nation of Millions... Good reminder of how big of a deal of Public Enemy was for a couple years there in my formative youth. And a good reminder of how big of a deal Anthrax was for me for a brief period too. One of the most important groups ever but this doesn't feel like their best work.
Anita Baker
3/5
I was 9-10 years old when this album came out and very much attuned to what was on the radio. Nothing more annoyed my soul than when Anita Baker came on - the musical equivalent of waiting in Jo-Ann Fabrics with your mother for two hours. Now that I am a lover of all things soft rock in my elder years, I appreciate this a good deal more. But not tons more.
Gorillaz
3/5
Another artist I never really paid much attention to. I recall it being a favorite of stoner grad students in the mid-aughts, and now that I hear it, that checks out. A little aloof for me, but that seems like the point.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
This band reminds me of the house band at the go-go bar in Girl in Gold Boots, as presented by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in one their most entertaining episodes. I think that band might have been better. They certainly didn't play anything as awful as The Toonerville Trolley.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Not cool (or fair) that I had to listen to a 20+minute song to get to a song with my name in it which was over in less than 2 minutes.
Pavement
2/5
Didn't like them then, don't like them now. The patron saints of guys who want to be in bands but can't sing, play guitar, write songs, or express themselves without unmerited scorn. That said, it has some nice moments.
Lightning Bolt
1/5
Sounds like they had a good time dicking around and cool someone had enough storage on their iphone to record it all. Wonder if they ever formed a band and recorded an album.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
Well I guess I'm an old man now because I love this.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Great stuff. The output of music by the Beach Boys between 1962-66 is staggering to state the obvious. A little dated and teenage-y for me to truly get into but definitely appreciate the work. RIP Brian Wilson.
Elvis Costello
3/5
Elvis Costello is brilliant. But it's so much output and it runs together. Hard to see myself going to this over a greatest hits collection. Also I feel like so much of his later work makes more sense if you're a fairly well-to-do Brit.
Incubus
2/5
I had to google Incubus to see if they are a Christian band based on that vocal styling. They are not. Some very solid guitar and bass work. However multiple penalties for "Battlestar Scralatchtica" and this:
"And it feels like a matador is taunting me
With his reddest red cloth and I am the bull
Yes I feel emphatic about not being static
And not eating the bullshit that's being fed to me no more
'Cause now I'm full"
Basement Jaxx
3/5
As far as EDM goes, not too annoying and enjoyable at times. More soulful than the typical stuff I hear in the genre.
Butthole Surfers
2/5
I can finally put a full-length album with the name. Giving this one star feels like what they want, so I'm going to give it two.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Major props for this band putting out an album in 1988 that sounded like nothing else, merging metal and alternative. Mountain Song and Jane Says are five stars. That said, Perry Farrell is so annoying.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
It's mind boggling that we went from Meet the Beatles to this in five years while most popular pop, rock, and country today sounds like it could have come out in 1984. A veritable, dare I say, smorgasbord of iconic riffs, I basically learned to play both guitar and bass from this record.
Alice In Chains
5/5
Even though this came out in the height of my teenage music idolatry years, I was never into them. Maybe too nasally, too dark. I was surprised by how much I dug this. That voice is otherworldly. 4.5 stars that I'll round up to 5 why the f not.
Solange
3/5
I appreciate that this album made the list. Listened to it when I came out and enjoyed it. Musically though it never transcends beyond background music for me though.
3/5
Fascinating artist from the (well at least my) glory days of 120 Minutes who sometimes but doesn't always do it for me. We Float is gorgeous.
Incredible Bongo Band
5/5
You could give a room full of monkeys with typewriters a trillion years to come up with a better name for this band and they would not succeed.
Nick Drake
3/5
Beautiful voice, beautiful guitar. Trying to figure out what makes this feel like 3 stars compared to Pink Moon's 5 stars. Presumably the songs themselves. But going forward can't imagine needing a Nick Drake fix and putting this on over Pink Moon.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
From now on, whenever someone brings up the song Sex Machine (which does not happen!), I can be a twit and mansplain how Sly and the Family Stone released a song called Sex Machine *before* James Brown and claim that it's far superior (which it's not!).
William Orbit
4/5
As background work music goes, this is pretty top notch.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Solid funk album, feel like it just needs a little more on the hook side to bring it up to five stars.
The Isley Brothers
5/5
A pretty perfect soul/funk album from Cincinnati's own. Ronald Isley has been the lead singer of this band for 70 consecutive years which is funkin crazy.
Bad Brains
3/5
Interesting from a historical perspective of that era of hardcore music which I know very little about. Guitar and bass are off the chain. But can't get into the whole package.
The Police
4/5
An absolute top-tier five star band. But a little too much atonal filler here for a five star album for me.
Sugar
4/5
A sentimental favorite. Bob Mould's voice and guitar sound were definitely a key part of the soundtrack of my mid-teens. That sentimentality rounds this up to a 4.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
Pleasant, easy listening jazz (the kind of jazz that involves flutes). I'm assuming this album has some historical significance that did not come through for me based on just listening to it.
Beatles
5/5
Norwegian Wood, In My Life, Nowhere Man, Michelle...just mind-boggling that guys in their early 20s were writing and recording these songs in 1965 out of thin air.
Ray Price
5/5
Loved it. Willie Nelson on bass and backing vocals if you didn't know, who also wrote the title song.
Ray Charles
5/5
Pure bliss, love the singing, the big band arrangements, and the song choices. Would love to own this on vinyl.
M.I.A.
3/5
Good on MIA for doing her thing. Every time I try to listen to an MIA song that is not Paper Plans or Bad Girls I realize I am not the target audience for MIA's music.
Beck
4/5
Loved it, never listened to the whole album before. Totally forgot about Jack Ass and how much I love that song. A little too jumbled and quirky for my taste to give it five stars.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
As far as background chill vibe music you might hear while boarding a Virgin Airlines flight in the mid-2000s goes, this is solid.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
Jorma is a beast. The hits still pop. Most of the rest sounds pretty dated and forgettable to me.
The War On Drugs
4/5
I feel like I'm the target audience to give a five star to this. Mega props for him being one of the few new guitar heroes created in this century and crafting an unmistakeable wall of sound. But 8 minutes a song?
Japan
3/5
A rare pick where I've never even heard of the artist, but I'm sensing a British-centric trend here. Interesting. Of its time and place I suppose. I like the mix of disco and alternative rock but not particularly return-worthy.
Black Sabbath
4/5
I'm realizing that while I'm quite familiar with 80s/early 90s guitar pyrotechnic Ozzy era, Black Sabbath is an oversight for me outside of the bigger songs. Fascinating to see that while 80s Randy Rhodes/Jake E Lee/Zakk Wylde Ozzy defined a certain shredding era, 70s Black Sabbath was its own thing that seems to have help lay the framework for 90s grunge.
Les Rythmes Digitales
3/5
Me giving an electronic album 3 stars is the equivalent of any other genre of album getting 5 stars. Never heard of this before, which is probably not that shocking.
XTC
3/5
One stunner of a song - Dear God - and a lot of perfectly fine English, bookish pop. Fascinating band and, like many others on this list, I'm impressed they built a whole career out of this even if it's not something I would regularly put on.
Love
4/5
All these years watching Bottle Rocket and now I can finally put a name with the music. A lot of these late 60s psychedelic albums seem goofy in their deep tracks, but I'm going to round up for this one.
Deerhunter
2/5
Great for people who find Pavement too uplifting and vocally gifted.
The Waterboys
3/5
I wish I liked this more. But I also like that I wished that.
Q-Tip
3/5
My obligatory three-star rating for hip hop that doesn't annoy me or particularly move me.
Motörhead
1/5
All I really knew about Motorhead before this was the song Ace of Spades. Turns out every other song is just a crappier version of Ace of Spades as written and performed by sex offenders.
American Music Club
2/5
There was a time in my life I would have rated a guitar singer-songwriter sad guy album like this 4 or 5 stars. I'm glad that time is not now.
Faust
2/5
I feel like this didn't make sense because I didn't see Faust I through III, but I keep meaning to see whichever one has Mr. T in it.
X-Ray Spex
1/5
No thanks.
Kings of Leon
4/5
I hope you all realize the effort it takes me not to make a snarky comment about this being the third Kings of Leon album I've encountered so far on this list, but if one truly belongs here, it's this one.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Hey the hits - Bad Moon Rising, Lodi, Green River - are obviously great, and I imagine I will not need to load up the album to have those be in my life as those don't seem to be going anywhere. The rest kind of sound like John Fogerty just riffing. Not ashamed to be a CCR greatest hits guy.
Slade
2/5
Mama Weer All Crazy Now is super cool. The rest sounded better and more sophisticated than Motorhead but not by a huge margin.
Thundercat
4/5
I never heard of Thundercat before the HBO Yacht Rock documentary. I was expecting something more Yacht Rocky based on that, but this is pretty good. Bass playing is off the hook. Vocals are weirder than I was expecting. Loggins and MacDonald are gold.
Digital Underground
2/5
Of course the Humpty Dance was inescapable in 1990 but I had no idea how epically stupid Digital Underground was. So epic I had to give it an extra star. This is like an advil to temporarily clear up 90's nostalgia.
Echo And The Bunnymen
2/5
A less shitty version of The Shitty Doors than Joy Division's version of The Shitty Doors.
Culture Club
3/5
This list is interesting because all the cultural boogiemen of my youth, i.e. Boy George or Ozzy, all sound so quaint and downright pleasant. Never really appreciated how great his voice was, or how unusual of a band Culture Club, especially to score such a huge huge hit with this album in the US in the early 80s. Karma Chameleon is just perfect. I feel like I'm not the target audience for the rest.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
Well this is sort of delightful in a PBS story of pop music kind of way, and while undeniably important in the lineage, I can't imagine anyone rocking out to this on its own terms rather than for nostalgia sake.
Cornershop
5/5
Well hot diggety damn this takes me back. I played this CD a lot in my junior and senior year of college. Some sentimental shit. And, unexpectedly, I like it more than I liked it then. Back then it was all about Sleep on the Left Side, Brimful of Asha, and then often skip to Good to Be on the Road Back Home Again. But the whole thing sounds pretty perfect to me now. And somehow I feel nostalgia without too much painful longing which is kind of a rarity, or maybe the therapy worked.
Iron Butterfly
3/5
By the time In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was over, I had already forgotten what the rest of the album sounded like. I'm not sure I'd ever listened to all 17 minutes, thank you 1001albumsgenerator.com. Strange to think they are from San Diego, as this album really does not scream San Diego.
SAULT
2/5
I remember NPR talking about this album in mid-2020 and then naming it album of the year. That checks out. As far as R&B goes, I found it pretty tuneless.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Sparse and beautiful. Just like this review.
Liz Phair
4/5
A lot of nostalgia for me here, which pushes this up to 4 stars. I owned all of Liz Phair's first four albums, and in truth I would only go back to 1 or 2 songs on each. And my huge teenage crush on her certainly played a role in my devotion. I probably don't need to listen to this all the way through again but thx for the memoreez.
Queens of the Stone Age
2/5
I can't say it better than this random Redditor: "They suck. Their shit is buttock trying to be 10 different genres at the same time. At the end of the day it's boring ass shit."
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
I know Kendrick's great. I also know that I don't actually know that.
Machito
3/5
Machito was only 5'4" but before he called himself Machito he went by "Macho". That's fantastic. Glad I now know about Machito fka Macho.
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
I give myself 5 stars for listening to all 3 hours and 15 minutes of this. Pleasant stuff. The lyric "So I'm looking for a boy 'Bout five foot six or seven" is not something that is familiar from contemporary online dating profiles.
The Bees
2/5
Sounds like music created by and for trust funders.
Robert Wyatt
2/5
Fascinating wikipedia page, dull album. I did like some of the basslines.
PJ Harvey
4/5
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this. PJ Harvey was a mainstay on 120 Minutes in my prime 120 Minutes watching years and she seemed cool but never my thing. I tend to avoid anxiety-inducing albums, but this is the best of her albums I've heard.
Fiona Apple
3/5
This sounded pretty much like I expected it to sound. Quite an original vision and the accolades make sense to me. A little too art installation for my taste.
Garbage
4/5
Garbage is some real mid-90s nostalgia, and upon revisiting I realize it is a cut above the rest. Never heard an entire Garbage album before, consistent stuff and I realize I never really appreciated what they were doing at the time.
The Darkness
3/5
I owned this CD when it came out and listened to Growing on Me (a highly underrated classic) and I Believe in a Thing Called Love a lot, and then tried to force myself to listen to the rest, and typically failed. Those two songs are five-star bangers. The rest is commendable but generic.
Travis
2/5
I feel like this should have been the 1001st album because it definitely puts you in an open-to-death mood. I owned a promo copy of this CD when I was 22 and in peak sad-guy music season and didn't care for it then either. But hey it's 90's brit-pop so I should have seen this one coming.
Holger Czukay
2/5
My guess as to what this would sound like based on the artist name and title was pretty spot-on, thank you very much.
Buzzcocks
2/5
All I knew about the Buzzcocks before I heard this was the song What Do I Get? Presumably from a car commercial 20 years ago. I think that may have been all I needed to know. Punk is a pretty overrated genre there I said it.
Le Tigre
3/5
In a Spice World, be Le Tigre.
LL Cool J
2/5
Some of it was pretty good but now I'm just anxious LL Cool J is going to steal my girl.
Erykah Badu
3/5
That is one smooth voice. But it violates my rule about the inclusion of songs over 10 minutes that don't need to be over 10 minutes.
Genesis
4/5
My first experience listening to an entire album of Peter Gabriel's Genesis and I feel like I couldn't have named a single song from that era before this. I go back and forth on my tolerance for prog rock, but having Peter Gabriel's voice involved is a huge argument for it. This inspires me to do a deeper dive on early Genesis. And maybe in the future this nudges up to 5 stars.
Koffi Olomide
4/5
It all kind of sounded the same (partially because I don't understand French), but it was a delight to be introduced to this artist.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
My favorite country voice and one of my favorite all time singers. I would have picked Wrecking Ball for this list though.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
I was expecting this to be 5-starrer for me, what can I say I guess I'm more of an Innervisions guy. Some of it just went on a little too long for my warped 2025 brain, but Stevie Wonder in the 1970s was on fire.
Skepta
2/5
Can't imagine why this didn't catch on in America. Reminds me of the Nigel and Antoine Key & Peele sketch. I did appreciate that if you miss a rhyme the first time, it gets repeated about 8 more times per song.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
This is obviously not an album you'd play on Touch Tunes on a Friday night but it is perfect.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
I think if this had come out five years earlier when I was 14 and not 19, I probably would know every word on this album. Kudos all around but a bit twee, although happy to have an opportunity to use the word twee in these not very twee times.
Nina Simone
2/5
I fully appreciate that Nina Simone is a legend and for good reason but this album gives me the heeby-jeebies and not the fun kind.
Gene Clark
5/5
This is what I love about this list, hearing a lost gem like this. Not so much hearing another random Britpop group. High caliber nearly-lost-to-time early 1970s California country rock is right up my alley.
Ice Cube
3/5
True story: I in fact saw the Goodyear Blimp on Sunday and said "today was a good day" to another woman looking at it, who said she just said that to someone else, and this album came up on Tuesday. Not my cup of tea but you have to give it up for a song that is inextricably tied to a delightful life event for over three decades now.
Nick Drake
4/5
Three Nick Drake albums in the span of a few months feels like guerilla marketing for anti-depressants, but from checking his wikipedia page, I do believe this means no more will be coming. His guitar playing and vocals remain gorgeous but we need some Halen or something up in this b.
Violent Femmes
5/5
Fascinated to learn this album was recorded when the singer was 20 and he wrote all the songs in high school. And that he's a devout Christian, who knew? This album seemed to be a mainstay of the nerds I was around my freshman year of college, but don't think I ever heard the whole thing. Much better than I expected.
Alanis Morissette
5/5
This album was of course ubiquitous in 1995 my freshman year of college, yet I only listened to the whole album for the first time fairly recently after getting into a latter-day Alanis kick. I liked the hits back then and I like them even more. I think I saw her as an industry plant back then, and maybe she was, but I don't give a shit now. Also I remember for a weekend in 1995 there was a widespread rumor that she died that I think made it across the whole country - ah life before the internet.
Randy Newman
4/5
I remember reading about this album at length in the book Mystery Train which I read when I was 22 thinking I might be a music critic someday. I also bought the album on vinyl around at that time and don't think I made it all the way through. Which is why I am not now a music critic, other than this. I feel like I need to listen more closely (i.e. not while doing stressful, brain-intensive work) but I really like it. I also had no idea he wrote "You Can Leave Your Hat On" which I have to come to learn is apparently a huge, timeless hit in Ukraine via Joe Cocker's version of it for the movie 9 1/2 Weeks. Now you know.
2/5
This could have been great and started off with promise. Instead it was dull, mediocre, and, at times, annoying. Whatever came on next after this on Spotify was similar but infinitely better.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Okay 1001 list you have made me a Nick Cave fan. And a Smiths fan. But still not down with Morrissey.
Tricky
3/5
I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. I would never put Trip Hop on over, say, Reggae, but I wouldn't be mad if someone put this on.
Gillian Welch
3/5
I used to love music like this. Now it bums the shit out of me. Voices, guitar, and lyrics are beautiful. But dude. This last song is longer than some of my relationships.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
I did not expect to see this mainstay of VH1 one hit wonder lists show up here but interesting to hear an entire album. I think at least one other of these songs could have been hits. A great sound but a little goes a long way. I was relieved to finally look at the Wiki page for this album and see I only needed to get through the first 10 songs. I did have some good times in college dancing to Come On Eileen if anyone wants to hear more about that.
Baaba Maal
2/5
I feel like a bad citizen of the world in saying this, but this was just too repetitive and boring to elevate itself beyond the dreaded 2-star badge of shame. I really do love his song with Mumford and Sons though. I know that doesn't reflect great on me, but I'm just as God made me.
Meat Puppets
3/5
Kind of a fascinating, unclassifiable band. Not exactly my thing, but I salute the Meat Puppets and mostly thought about how cool it was that Kurt Cobain at the height of his fame devoted 20% of their Unplugged show to this band and specifically this album.
Ryan Adams
3/5
I was a huge Whiskeytown fan and their first album Faithless Street should be on this list. Ryan Adams has put out a lot of amazing songs but they are unfortunately drowned out by an abundance of not amazing songs, and I can't get down with the self-sabotaging mopey-ness the way I did in my 20s. If this were a 36 minute album it would be five stars.
ABBA
4/5
I was puzzled by ABBA growing up - I saw commercials for their greatest hits albums on cable tv all the time but never heard their music on the radio or MTV and never heard anyone talk about them. I was kind of surprised they actually had albums and not just greatest hits compilations. This was great. But I can see why they have 9 albums and 13 greatest hits compilations.
Raekwon
3/5
People don't talk enough about how the introduction of CD technology led to artists putting twice as much content as really necessary on their albums.
Röyksopp
3/5
I was today years old when I realized Royskopp and The Knife are not the same thing. I can dig some Royskopp.
Tears For Fears
5/5
Never owned this album but Shout, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and Head over Heels ruled the airwaves just when I first became conscious to the concept of top 40 radio. Very cool to hear the extended versions and the whole album. Will be purchasing this vinyl pronto.
The Temptations
4/5
Not sure I had any of these Temptations songs before - love some soul deep cuts. The I want my mommy parts were def unexpected. I feel like I should learn all the bass parts on this album.
The Sonics
3/5
Interesting little history lesson here - I can see how this became a cult classic. That voice is something else. But I can also see how it didn't become a hit.
Hookworms
3/5
Pleasant and layered enough to make for a good listen, but sounds more than a little passionless and generic, as if a group of nepo-babies started a band with the help of AI.
Primal Scream
3/5
As far as 90s albums by British bands I've never listened to and nobody I know cares about go, this one was actually pretty good.
Anthrax
4/5
This was just what I needed yesterday. Among the big 4 of thrash, Anthrax really holds their own position. And strangely compared to their brethren - Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer - their lyrics are actually pretty positive and life-affirming, which I always appreciate in thrash.
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
Having never actually heard Sleater-Kinney but aware of their general place in the pantheon and of course aware of Carrie Brownstein, this was a lot more abrasive than I was expecting, although it got better as it went along. I was assured by a major Sleater-Kinney fan in my life that this is definitely on the anxiety-inducing side of their canon, so curious to hear more.
Beatles
5/5
I feel like I can't not give this five stars even though some of the silliness and experimentalism (aka junk) is not my jam. But listening to other 60s era rock albums on this list has made me realize just how astronomically superior the Beatles were to every other band in that era.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
I feel like a lot of millenials and younger folk assume us Gen X'ers were rocking out to Nirvana and maybe Pearl Jam on repeat in the early 90s. We sort of were, but for me and my kin we were primarily obsessed with Siamese Dream, the absolute greatest rock album of the 90s. Even better than I remember, 10 out of 5 stars.
Pink Floyd
2/5
I really love me some Pink Floyd. I have actually spent a good amount of cash seeing an extremely good Pink Floyd cover band (what up Australian Pink Floyd) on more than one occasion. But I just cannot get down with the Syd Barrett and not David Gilmour version of Pink Floyd.
The Afghan Whigs
5/5
This album was a big part of my late teens, early 20s and I'm not sure why I never saw this band live. What Jail is Like is epic. They should have been more popular, particularly for their later album 1965. Rounding up for being the coolest band to ever come out of Ohio.
Leftfield
5/5
Yeah so what I'm giving an EDM album five stars, everybody f'ing relax, it's not a big deal and it probably won't happen again.
Justin Timberlake
2/5
There's a lot to commend about rejected latter-day Michael Jackson tracks sung by a highly punchable douche-bro but you won't find those commendations here.
Happy Mondays
2/5
Happy Mondays seem like the British version of RHCP: solid band, nauseating frontman.
Metallica
5/5
One was a game changer for me seeing it on MTV for the first time in sixth grade. It took me a number of years before I fully embraced the long form thrash of these early Metallica albums. This, Ride the Lightning, and Master of Puppets are all forever five star albums. Can't say that I feel that way about any album they've done since then.
Steve Earle
4/5
I owned this on cassette back in college when I went through a big Steve Earle phase. Seems like it's definitely his most straightforward country album which put him on the map before he got steadily weirder and more interesting. I Feel Alright from 1997 should have been on this list instead of this, but this album is super solid.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
I love how weird Sly & The Family Stone is. Whilst also being funky. I guess that's kind of the whole point.
CHIC
5/5
I think my favorite part of this list so far is appreciating Chic on a deeper level. Chic all day works for me.
Eurythmics
4/5
Now I'm wondering if I've never really heard any other Eurythmics song besides Sweet Dreams. I'm sure I did as they seemed to be on MTV a lot in the 80s. Anyway, this was almost entirely new to me. A little odder than I expected. But I'm down with it.
John Lennon
2/5
If there is one thing this list has taught me it's that John Lennon's solo output is...not that great. I'm in the minority that thinks the lyrics to Imagine are kind of ridiculous, especially coming from a serial cheater and all around not very nice guy. Oh Yoko is pretty great and brought back memories of the Rushmore soundtrack. The rest is forgettable.
Mj Cole
3/5
Well more generic EDM and I know it's probably not technically EDM but you know what I mean and no I don't need an explanation on why it's not. I did like that it mostly went by without me noticing it.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This is definitely a top 3 Led Zeppelin album for me, just after Houses of the Holy and Led Zeppelin IV. For some reason I didn't really discover it until adulthood and didn't really appreciate until later adulthood. Tangerine is also a top 3 LZ song alongside Over the Hills and Far Away and, sorry not sorry, Stairway. I still don't quite get Hats Off to Roy Harper, but let me mansplain to you that Roy Harper sang lead vocals on Pink Floyd's Have a Cigar which is an infinitely better song. Also don't f with the Immigrant Song.
The Shamen
3/5
If an electronic artist on this list is miminally cool to listen to and doesn't annoy me, they get 3 stars. This group came dangerously close to losing a star with the rap in the last song, but it's the holidays so I'm going to let it slide.
Bob Dylan
2/5
I feel like I write the same review every time of Bob Dylan, which is that I'm glad I'm old and wise enough to not feel like I have to pretend to be into Bob Dylan all that much. Like when I owned this CD 25 years ago. Make You Feel My Love and It's Not Dark Yet are good. The rest is snoozy.
KISS
3/5
Now I've finally listened to a whole Kiss album. They're just like not that good of a band, but kudos on them for going so far with the image to distract people from that fact.
Green Day
4/5
Yet another album where it is astonishing that I've never listened to it in full before as it came out when I was a junior in high school playing guitar in bands. Green Day has just never done it for me, but it all makes sense. In fact it seems like this was the most influential rock album of the entire 90s given the number of other bands that followed in the next 10 years?
MGMT
4/5
A 2009 time capsule for better or worse. The three hits remain as big as hits as ever and the rest remains the rest. But those are some great hits.
Doves
3/5
Pretty solid 90s alternative rock I suppose
The Modern Lovers
2/5
I can see why unhappy mid-70s rock critics thought this was the t-i-t-z. I do feel like I should have known before today that Jerry Harrison was in this band. I'm less concerned that I didn't know the Cars drummer was also in this band.
The Who
4/5
No album containing Baba O' Riley can come in at less than 4 stars.
Janet Jackson
5/5
Hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit after hit. There were literally that many hits on this album. Thank you for the time capsule.
Soundgarden
4/5
Another classic from my high school days that I never owned or listened to all the way through. I respected Soundgarden but never too into them. Black Hole Sun was constantly on the radio for years and pretty annoying. I get it a lot more now. A lot of really brilliant music on here and less sludge than I was expecting. My Wave, which I haven't heard in forever, is absolutely on point and should have been a huge hit. In honor of that song being in 5/4 time I will award this 4/5 stars.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
My ex-wife threw me a 30th birthday party and one of my coworkers gave this CD to me as a gift. I had never heard of it. Immediately thereafter my ex-wife decided this CD was hers and also that we should get a divorce. Upon relisten, this is a great album but geez get yourself together.