May 15 2025
Moon Safari
Air
Itâs got something, and they use all the right vintage instruments and tools - but completely drowned out by the elevator music they made. This is what they play when youâre put on hold calling a cool company.
3/10
2
May 16 2025
Superunknown
Soundgarden
Chris Cornellâs voice genuinely hurts my ears. That howly, strained style does nothing for me. The lyrics? Terrible.
That kind of drum productionâlike it was recorded in a garbage canâis easily top 3 worst for me.
Somehow, the singles are the weakest tracks on the album. Soundgardenâs never been my thing, and probably never will be. I canât name a single song of theirs I actually tolerate.
1
May 17 2025
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
Folk punk, allegedly. Sounds more like the drama club crashed a frat party.
A-side is all whine and campgrounf tunes. âBlister in the Sunâ has been played to death, resurrected, and killed again. B-side improves. A bit like Television if they started busking.
That this sold 2 million copies is either proof of a marketing miracle or a cosmic joke.
1
May 18 2025
Talking Book
Stevie Wonder
It sounds like the house band on a 90s talk show got stuck in a loop with the cheesiest bits of soul and funk. Slick, lifeless, and smug.
If weâre talking early 70âs soul Iâd rather listen to Lee Moses or Alice Clark.
1
May 19 2025
Blue Lines
Massive Attack
A classic, sureâbut Blue Lines now sounds like it belongs in a â90s museum. Influential, yes. Timeless, no. Dated sounds rarely makes for great records. This oneâs just a fine one.
3
May 20 2025
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen throws everything at the wallâburnt-out motels, punch-clocks, engines that wonât start, dads who communicate exclusively through silence. His voice sounds like itâs been marinating in bad coffee and fried potato grease. Some songs blur, but the atmosphere holds. The drum sound is killerâtight, dry, nothing fancy. Perfect sunday morning record.
4
May 21 2025
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
This is coward music. Chris Martin croons like a man whoâs never been punched and it shows. Coldplay make music for people who think pacing around a clean apartment counts as suffering. Itâs the musical equivalent of beigeâpolished, lifeless, bland. Music for people hearing music for the first time, and sadly, they get this
1
May 22 2025
Halcyon Digest
Deerhunter
A shrug of a recordâdreamy, muted, and fine. Some nice textures, a consistent vibe. Itâs easy to like, but just as easy to forget. Pleasant enough while itâs on.
One of the 1000 albums to hear before you die? Only if youâre out of time and thereâs nothing else around.
2
May 23 2025
Africa Brasil
Jorge Ben Jor
Warm, smooth, and loose in all the right ways. Sometimes it dips, but the highs are undeniable. Donât understand the lyrics, but it feels like an after party. Also famously a Rod Stewart theft. Great housecleaning musicâand I mean that in the best way.
3
May 24 2025
Moondance
Van Morrison
Moondance is the wrong Van album for this type of Albums you need to hear-list. Polished, limp, and smug. A couple okay grooves buried under dinner-party jazz and some truly shitty tracks. One of his most boring âclassics.â
2
May 25 2025
New Wave
The Auteurs
Itâs time for yet another album that shouldnât qualify for this list. New Wave by The Auteurs is a nice jangly, catchy, and buzzy cocktail with hints of glam and classic pop, sure, but nowhere near the best 1001 albums in history. Solid, but definitely not essential.
3
May 26 2025
Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Bill Evans Trio
Ranked as one of the best live jazz albums of all time, butâitâs not. Sure, itâs nice enough, mostly saved by LaFaroâs bass lines doing the heavy lifting. And man is it heavy.
If youâre after music thatâs basically a warm bath for your ears while you cradle a Sunday coffee and let the paper (or app) spill bad news, thisâll do.
2
May 27 2025
Kid A
Radiohead
A monument to Radioheadâs complete inability to turn influences into good music. Itâs art for people who confuse references with substanceâa chore to sit through. All the cool sounds are here, but theyâre dead on arrival. Itâs the thinking manâs Coldplay, an expensive wine with no taste. So smug, so shallow, and so sure of itself while delivering absolutely nothing.
1
May 28 2025
Penance Soiree
The Icarus Line
Loads of bands borrowed the Jesus Lizard and Birthday Party blueprint, all sporting that big-room, Albini-dry drum soundâbut only a few nailed it. While Rye Coalition went full ârock out with your cock out,â Icarus Line turned inward, channeling PILâs sinister squall. Loved it when it dropped, but itâs feeling time-stamped now. Still solidâjust nowhere near a 1001 best album contender.
3
May 29 2025
Queen Of Denmark
John Grant
A list of 1001 albums to hear before you die, and yet hereâs more of the same bland, forgettable drivel. ABBA with folk and electronic fluffâperfect for when Iâm gasping for my last breath. Great timing.
1
May 30 2025
Virgin Suicides
Air
Boring, sweepy synths that work in the film but flop alone. Iâm repeating myself, but this is not an album to hear before you die.
1
May 31 2025
Axis: Bold As Love
Jimi Hendrix
Jimiâs been played to death and itâs a lot of wank, but you canât ignore the cultural blast radius he left behind.
The rhythm section carry the weight; the guitar just gets the headlines.
3
Jun 01 2025
Pelican West
Haircut 100
Haircut 100âs Pelican West has some postpunk DNA, but itâs ultimately drowned in unbearable production and bad songs. Garbage.
1
Jun 02 2025
Goo
Sonic Youth
Jangly, dissonant, and freeform collides with machinelike repetition. Feedback snarls in the background, everything locked in a relentless groove. Lee Ranaldoâs traditional two songs, as usual, blow the rest out of the water, adding an angular, off-kilter punch to an album that already cuts deeper than most. This record just does not fuck around.
4
Jun 03 2025
Born In The U.S.A.
Bruce Springsteen
Canât argue with the title track, but the rest is thin gruel. A pop sheen over grit that never quite surfaces. Wonder if the rednecks ever noticed itâs not a victory lap but a eulogy.
2
Jun 04 2025
Myths Of The Near Future
Klaxons
Why do I even bother with this challenge? Klaxons were the flavor of 2006 or 2007âhyped to the ceiling, gone in a flash. A few catchy indie dancefloor fillers, sure, but thatâs it. No classic, no masterpieceâjust a relic clinging to retro playlists it hasnât earned a place in. Nobody needs to hear this record. Whoâs still spinning this? Not me.
2
Jun 05 2025
Femi Kuti
Femi Kuti
Carries his fathers torch, sureâbut the production and polite horns make it feel more lobby than Lagos. Fire dimmed, not out.
2
Jun 06 2025
Floodland
Sisters Of Mercy
Finally, an actual classic in this graveyard of try-hards. Floodland doesnât just sound big; it sounds like it was recorded inside a cathedral being demolished in slow motion. Pure eighties excess, draped in synthetic fog. Doktor Avalanche thunders like a nuclear countdown with eyeliner, steamrolling every cheesy orchestra stab in its path. There isnât a single weak track. Not one. And then thereâs Andrew Eldritch⊠goth Elvis in a leather trench, preaching the apocalypse with that voice like velvet decay. Itâs pompous, bleak, glorious.
The end of the world never sounded this sexy.
5
Jun 07 2025
Parklife
Blur
This is piss in a pint glass. Boring, smug nonsense built on tired British clichés. Working-class music for people who watch the working class from a safe sistance. Not clever. Not deep. Just happy-go-lucky garbage dressed up as something smart. Music for mental toddlers.
1
Jun 08 2025
London Calling
The Clash
Unlistenable, self-important drivel masquerading as punk. I fucking hate The Clash. If you search âmediocreâ on Wikipedia, Joe Strummerâs name is found somewhere between âperformative politicsâ and âmen with nothing to say.â If you genuinely love this album, you were either lied to as a child or you lie to yourself daily.
1
Jun 09 2025
Warehouse: Songs And Stories
HĂŒsker DĂŒ
A double album from a band mid-divorce. Some great moments, sure, but mostly the sound of two guys refusing to edit each other out of fear or pride. Bloated, brittle, weirdly tidy for a band built on raw nerves.
I love HĂŒsker DĂŒ. But this? Their final and weakest album? On the list? Not Zen Arcade? Not New Day Rising?
This was the moment it clicked: the people behind this list have no idea what theyâre doing. Not a clue.
3
Jun 10 2025
Sea Change
Beck
Sad hipster cowboy discovers reverb and makes an okay album
3
Jun 11 2025
The Predator
Ice Cube
The Predator is peak angry Ice Cube, back when he was a menace, not a meme. Some tracks still hit, but the whole thing feels like a time capsule from when dudes wore Raiders hats and said âbiatchâ with a straight face. Time hasnât been too kind to Cube or the beatsâbut hey, nostalgiaâs a hell of a drug.
3
Jun 12 2025
The Notorious Byrd Brothers
The Byrds
This isnât a Byrds album I wouldâve picked for this list. Or maybe it is. I listen to it fairly often. Itâs spiteful (they fired Crosby mid-session and replaced him with a literal horse on the cover), spacey, and kinda great. The sound of a band politely imploding. And tucked right in there is Wasnât Born to Follow, a clear signpost toward Sweetheart of the Rodeo, where they finally got their act together for five minutes and accidentally invented country rock.
3
Jun 13 2025
The Beach Boys Today!
The Beach Boys
Before the acid, before the breakdowns, before Mike Love turned into Mike Evol. Early Wilson magic: sun-soaked harmonies, teenage heartbreak and hooks that basically invented the Ramones. Simple, catchy, irresistible.
4
Jun 14 2025
Cheap Thrills
Big Brother & The Holding Company
Cheap Thrills is fine I guess. Iâve got no issue with it being live, actually kind of like that, but I do have an issue with boring, bland blues rock. And this doesnât do much for me, Janis wailing included.
2
Jun 15 2025
Pink Flag
Wire
4
Jun 16 2025
American Idiot
Green Day
Hahaha. This is as far from a masterpiece as you can get. Every track sounds like it was written by a marketing team in Converse for people who think rebellion is a font choice. A soundtrack for kids grounded for the weekend. A middle finger pointed towards yourself.
1
Jun 17 2025
The Stranger
Billy Joel
This is music for walking in a light breeze, maybe on a long pier or something. When itâs good.
Then the white reggae hits.
The calypso-adjacent nonsense.
The supermarket background muzak.
It makes me want to eat a bullet.
2
Jun 18 2025
Lost Souls
Doves
Mopey, mid-tier filler. Background music for folding laundry. Why is this on a list meant for timeless classics?
Stop cramming in these bland, post-Britpop nobodies. This isnât âmust-hear before you die.â Itâs âaccidentally heard once and forgot while still alive.â
Did an NME intern time travel to 2025 and upload their playlist by mistake?
1
Jun 19 2025
The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators
The 13th Floor Elevators
Jangly, fried, teeth-grinding garage psych. Paranoid, wired, unsteady on its feet. The Elevators lock into a hypnotic churn. Equal parts desperation and vision. Frayed nerves and burned-out synapses, barely holding it together. The hum of minds pried open a little too far.
5
Jun 20 2025
Exit Planet Dust
The Chemical Brothers
Kickstarted a whole new era in ad music for cellphone plans, frozen yoghurt chains, gyms, and eco-friendly detergent commercials. Not that bad, not that good. Just⊠there.
2
Jun 21 2025
Green
R.E.M.
That jangly shrug-rock, saying-nothing self-important garbage. What came after this became the soundtrack to either sipping lapsang tea while journaling or eating shrimp with mid-priced white wine.
2
Jun 22 2025
Blur
Blur
Art school in-jokes, lad pub grim, headache all the way down.
Music for radio rotations, warm lager festivals and corporate fairgrounds.
1
Jun 23 2025
Too Rye Ay
Dexys Midnight Runners
Pints raised, shirts off, veins popping.
Folk for lads who never liked folk.
Everyone bought it for Come On Eileen, then quietly shelved it. Rightly so. Itâs provocatively bad.
1
Jun 24 2025
Van Halen
Van Halen
Drop the needle and the weekend materialises.
Several riffs here, like on every VH album, that other guitarists can only dream of writing.
Big, dumb, perfect.
4
Jun 25 2025
Street Life
The Crusaders
Late-night show music. You know, those wet fart sounds from Paul Shaffer and the like. Music for announcers to introduce tonightâs guests. I bet they know music theory.
1
Jun 26 2025
Hot Buttered Soul
Isaac Hayes
Four tracks. Forty-five minutes. Heavy and slow. No fat. No mercy. Velvet voice, strings, sweat and grind. Backed by the Bar-Kays perfectly in the pocket.
Thereâs other R&B album like it and I should listen to this more often.
5
Jun 27 2025
Only By The Night
Kings of Leon
A yawn in album form. Weird lyrics that sound like a youth pastor having a breakdown.
1
Jun 28 2025
Fear Of A Black Planet
Public Enemy
Loud, packed, full of hooks, none of them friendly. Tight and overloaded on purpose. Still makes everything else sound mild.
4
Jun 29 2025
Groovin'
The Young Rascals
Not a classic. Not even close. A couple cool tracks, but most of it is mild, safe and radio friendly enough to offend no one, even in 1967. Background music for people who think rebellion means skipping church.
3
Jun 30 2025
Music For The Jilted Generation
The Prodigy
Sounds like it was made by the kids in gym class who refused to take off their hoodies and thought detention was a personality trait. The minimal lyrics read like the kind of try-hard rage youâd scrawl in the margins of a biology textbook next to an anarchy symbol. The music feels less dated than expected and the drum programming is honestly pretty fucking cool. Iâm not jilted, so this album clearly wasnât made for me, but I still catch myself nodding along
3
Jul 01 2025
Coat Of Many Colors
Dolly Parton
Itâs commercial and radio-friendly country music. Kinda nice, but devoid of soul.
2
Jul 02 2025
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
Charles Mingus
Horns scream, bass wanders, everything spirals into a beautiful nervous breakdown. One point off for making me feel like I should be shooting heroin instead of sitting on the couch eating chips.
4
Jul 03 2025
Live!
Fela Kuti
There are a lot of great Fela records and some of them should be on any essential list. This one with Ginger Baker isnât one of them. Just a live album. Pretty good. Mostly a ploy.
3
Jul 04 2025
Eagles
Eagles
The Eaglesâ debut is The Band for people who iron their jeans. Smooth, safe, and dying to be rustic.
2
Jul 05 2025
Diamond Life
Sade
The soundtrack to your middle school teachers wet dream. Smooth, sultry, and smug about it. Saxophones, silk sheets, and a perfectly chilled chardonnay.
1
Jul 06 2025
Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)
Bob Dylan
Ah yes, bootleg live recordings. The kind you need hear before you die. Or not.
3
Jul 07 2025
Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Tortoise
Love Tortoise. Been spinning this since it dropped. But âalbums you need to hear before you dieâ? Please. Itâs not even their best one. Fantastic background music for doing literally anything. Except dying.
4
Jul 08 2025
Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
As a free jazz aficionado, this is basicâlightyears from Ayler, Coltrane, Sanders, and Coleman. But damn, finally, a real classic. Take Five is in my headphone test rotationâif it doesnât slap, the cans go back. Top 10 basic jazz you need to listen to. Cooler than anything youâll ever make.
5
Jul 09 2025
Histoire De Melody Nelson
Serge Gainsbourg
Music for vacation after parties, drinking Calvados and couch-locked, zooted out of your mind.
3
Jul 10 2025
At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
Cash sounds more alive in prison than he had in years. A rowdy crowd fuels him; the energyâs sharp, sweaty, and mean. One of the greatest live albums ever.
4
Jul 11 2025
Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp
Sounds like when Bond girls do ketamine in the Alps.
2
Jul 12 2025
Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Arctic Monkeys
I never got this band, and listening today only confirms it: these guys sound painfully, unmistakably middle class. Like leather jackets bought from Zara.
1
Jul 13 2025
The Yes Album
Yes
Where King Crimson said NO, Yes said YES ABSOLUTELY with a big grin and a tambourine. This is prog rock that wants you to feel good about yourself, and thatâs exactly where it loses me. Itâs too jangly, too sparkly, too eager to uplift. I donât mind virtuosity or ambition, I live for it sometimes, but I want it dark, not tuneful. This album never clicked with me.
2
Jul 14 2025
Leftism
Leftfield
This is the soundtrack to that little cafĂ© you just slide into for a coffee to go when youâre on vacation. Volume is a little loud and you just want to leave as quickly as possible.
1
Jul 15 2025
More Songs About Buildings And Food
Talking Heads
Annoying on paper, great in execution. Awkward, clipped, and smarter than most bands ever get. You donât have to like it to admit itâs solid.
4
Jul 16 2025
Odelay
Beck
If you werenât into punk, metal, indierock or synth in the 90s, you probably drank herbal tea and listened to this. You cared about music. But only this little.
2
Jul 17 2025
Play
Moby
Whale noises for agile coaches and lean experts⊠or for IKEA showrooms.
1
Jul 18 2025
Risque
CHIC
Soulless disco and corporate funk.
1
Jul 19 2025
Tea for the Tillerman
Cat Stevens
Sounds like Christian-adjacent campfire stuff. Fake wisdom and that limp âdonât worryâ glaze. Tea for the Tillerman is spiritual wallpaper for cowards.
1
Jul 20 2025
Let Love Rule
Lenny Kravitz
I donât want to live in a world where a Lenny Kravitz album is considered essential.
1
Jul 21 2025
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
Overrated, yes. But still a layered melodic gem. Odessey and Oracle is a classic for a reason, even if the praise sometimes drowns the music.
4
Jul 22 2025
Bossanova
Pixies
Most overrated faux indie there was. Sure, some great songs but god, itâs boring half the time. Worst drummer in rock history doesnât help.
2
Jul 23 2025
Le Tigre
Le Tigre
Still holds up. Sharp, bratty, and fun. For me, this is the only Le Tigre album that exists, and honestly, thatâs fine.
3
Jul 24 2025
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
Coked-out riffs in a muddy mix. The productionâs a mess but the music is wild, ambitious and brilliant.
5
Jul 25 2025
Come Away With Me
Norah Jones
No
1
Jul 26 2025
Bat Out Of Hell
Meat Loaf
Broadway musical with distortion no thanks
1
Jul 27 2025
Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1
George Michael
Radio music about nothing
1
Jul 28 2025
Wild Wood
Paul Weller
Britpopâs grown-up brother with mod grit. Some great moments, but not quite transcendentâŠor whatever.
3
Jul 29 2025
Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Funky boys get moody but still frat house cruise control. No thanks.
1
Jul 30 2025
Surrealistic Pillow
Jefferson Airplane
3
Jul 31 2025
Metal Box
Public Image Ltd.
4
Aug 01 2025
Time (The Revelator)
Gillian Welch
Pretty good cooking music
3
Aug 03 2025
Playing With Fire
Spacemen 3
Languid, narcotic grooves swirl in reverb-soaked haze. Less about climax, more about drift. Feels like floating in slow motion. Easily a 4/5 trip.
4
Aug 04 2025
A Love Supreme
John Coltrane
No filler anywhere. Just Coltrane pushing a single idea until it burns. Itâs the sound of someone who means it.
If you only hear one album before you die, make it this one. Then go back and listen again.
5