1001 Albums Summary

I had a realisation whilst listening to this that I've only heard the original, normal Wonderwall a handful of times. I've heard the memes a million times though.

had a sad realisation whilst listening that Lisztomania was not only not on this album, it's a song from a completely different band

in music school, one of my piano skills benchmark exams required me to learn to play + sing this song and that choice of rep still fascinates me years later

I like how western-y some of the guitars are?? I was not expecting that at all

I was not expecting this to be so surreal and emotional, I had no idea about the background of this album. the Beach Boys make way more sense now.

what a fantastic way to start my week. lets go baby

honestly wild that I've listened to Boy King SO many times since like... 2018? 2017? I found it right before they announced their breakup. and yet I never checked out their other music. I did enjoy this one.

go, white boy, go!! this album was WAY more corny and insufferable than I expected. the title track (which is the opener) does NOT prepare you for it. I would make a joke about John Lennon hating the whole "celebrity Imagine video during covid" thing if he'd been alive to see it, but I actually have NO idea how he'd feel about it.

nice, fresh way to start the week

ma'am... I'm so sorry... I wasn't aware of your game

I was expecting this to be much heavier? also: did you know she floated away? well, she floated away. she sure did float away. aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

songs that just lazily repeat the song title as the primary lyric without any nuance drive me CRAZY. this hatred is probably borne of having to play "the Prince is Giving a Ball" 800 times. whatever. Pristeen wasn't my favourite.

I can confirm that Mike Mills is very nice and cool to work with (he is the only member of R.E.M. that I have worked with but I will never miss a chance to mention it)

I LOVE ABSTRACT NOISE MUSIC RAAAAAAAAAAA

nothing but love for a legend

don't these cats know that guitar music is on the way out?

LETS GO BABY!!

all of these songs sound the same but like... I like that One Song? so it's ok

listening to Teenage Riot will always make me think about sitting by the campus greenhouse on a silent, chilly autumn night. laying on the garden bench and staring up at the stars. the sound of deer rustling through the nearby bushes. feeling a million miles away from the rest of the world. perfect.

it was fine, it was good. not the metal I reach for but important to history.

I did not expect the back half of this album to be mostly ambient-type instrumentals and that did not bode well as the soundtrack to my fatigued commute home

nothing but good things to say. there's something really peaceful and healing about listening to heartfelt, powerful music like this in the quiet of night or on an early morning.

no joke, yesterday I looked up and listened to Raining Blood because I hadn't heard it in forever and thought of it randomly. I wondered if this album was on the list. yes, yes it is. and I loved it as much as I always have. it will always remind me of the Pedro Winter interview where he mentions Raining Blood and him and the interviewer just sit and headbang along to it.

this album has two things in common with Dead Kennedys: they both like using slurs and talking shit about MTV. that’s it! that was me trying to find positives. the instrumental/musical aspects were just middle of the road for me. it felt like it should be in a movie… but not in a good way. it’s a direct-to-TV movie.

there's something really special about listening to this while already being pretty familiar with his work immediately following this. you can hear "You've Come a Long Way Baby" brewing in this.

silly, sweet, and sounds lovely. when people say they like "classic rock", they better be talking about stuff like this.

is this what jazz sounds like to people who don't like it? jokes. that's kind of what came to mind for the first track... but I was relieved that the rest of the album didn't feel like that for me. it was chill but still had thoughtful lyrics. it's not necessarily something I'd reach for, but I get why folks like it.

I really enjoyed listening this on a quiet drive to work while the sun came up. it makes me miss living in Appalachia. and makes me want to visit out west...

it just wasn't for me. I didn't like the monologuing, and the vocals weren't hitting for me. I KNOW Marvin Gaye that I fuck with. this just wasn't that. and that's ok! I see why people DO like it.

it was fine. idk why I had it in my head that this was going to be far more of the proto-punk variety. that's not a flaw, that's just me being unnecessarily prescriptive. whatever

as a redhead, I approve of this message. Willie Nelson is someone I don't really know much about/much of his work but I am always pleased by what I hear. I remember watching and listening to him a bit in my guitar classes in university and enjoying his style and technique. you can just tell he feels his music so intensely, and there's such an ease about his playing.

is this satire? genuine question Nick Cave seems like the kind of guy who thinks he's the smartest, deepest guy in your English class but is actually dumb as a bag of rocks

teriffic, teriffic, teriffic I will always have a soft spot for femme-fronted bands, particularly 50's-70's. such strong (literally and figuratively) voices are SO important, and Blondie really rises to that occasion.

I almost exclusively listen to musicals (and musical-esque things) in one of two conditions: I am viewing a live theatrical performance, or I am being paid to play the music for a theatrical performance. I honestly don't like musicals outside of that.

honestly, I really liked this one. it was raw, it was weird, and it was what I needed in my late night grind.

wild, wacky, wonderful

not their best, but fun

"Sound of Silver" is the kind of album where hating it is, to me, a big red flag, but insisting it's the best album ever bar none is, to me, also a big red flag.

it was fine. it was good. I didn't think about it much.

fun but got repetitive

average Beach Boys album: "I HATE YOUR BOYFRIEND" "look at this cool boat :)" "I WOULD LOVE YOU MORE THAN HIM" look, I like the Beach Boys. I'm more of a 20/20 guy myself, but I love the sound of their music overall. but boy howdy, they sure fucking know how to write songs that are every Nice Guy's "your boyfriend doesn't love you properly but I am perfect for you actually and you just don't know it yet but I can FIX you" anthem. I've been asked out on dates by guys like that. it's not endearing, folks.

instrumentally fantastic. so many tracks that made me go, "oh my god, THIS is that song!!" while listening. but man, the lyrics are a piece of work. I will forever consider it a red flag for a grown adult (of any gender) to write songs about being in high school. get over it!!

I love how nonsensical-yet-biting Pavement can be. it cuts deep for me.

do you want to hear a story? I've got a story. back when I was like 16, I had a really big crush on this guy I knew. we met at a summer music programme and he was a very good musician. I found out that he listened to Supertramp, who have long been a band that I LOVE. this was in the 2010's, so that wasn't exactly super common. so we would talk about them sometimes. and he told me, "you HAVE to check out this song 'Watch the Sunrise' by this band Big Star. I think you'll really like it". he was absolutely right - it's such a great song and I still think about it all the time all these years later. it was the first song I learned on guitar with alternate tunings. the song definitely has the same feel in my mind as "Sister Moonshine," and they blend together in my brain all the time. the rest of the album doesn't sound totally the same, but it still feels warm and nice. also: "Thirteen" is an example of a song written by an adult about adolesence that is done beautifully. it actually feels like a look back, but also like you're seeing through the eyes of the kid. it's nostalgic in an authentic way. instead of feeling like an adult in arrested development having a weird retroactive fantasy about having a weird power trip or edgy experience as a teen.

listening to Alanis Morissette will always make me think of my primary music theory professor. he loved her music and played songs from "Jagged Little Pill" a number of times in class. I have a vivid memory of him singing (in his heavy Brooklyn accent) and pantomiming along to "One Hand in My Pocket", doing the peace sign and everything. I think when the line about playing piano came up, he walked over to the piano in class and played a bit, too.

the Smiths is one of those bands where ever song sounds the same to me, but it's fine because I do like that song. but they really are all the same

there are SEVEN Beatles albums on this list. there are ZERO classical (western or otherwise) albums on this list. classical genres were specifically excluded. that's all.

this album has long been on my list of concerts I'd travel back in time to attend if I could. also on that list: -Alive 2007 (obviously) -Sinatra at the Sands in 1966 -at least half of the performances featuerd in "Desolation Center" (2018)

I like the beats, but I understand why people think it drags on. just listening to the album at face value does make it drag on a bit if you're looking for something to be actively listening to. but it's great for passive listening, and I'm sure it was great for DJs who wanted something that was longer to mix with.

"I want to sleep with Pocahontas" she was like 16, Neil

I love tabla so much

I really was expecting the whole album to sound more like "Black Hole Sun"

I can recognise the significance of this album even if it wasn't for me (though I do enjoy hip-hop in general). and any album that opens with a quote of Mussorgsky has my vote.

I really enjoyed this one start to finish. I love a good soundtrack, and I definitely see how someone like Isaac Hayes would make a good sountrack - something atmospheric and tone-setting - especially for a cool and groovy movie like Shaft.

this is the kind of album that took me forever to actually listen to front to back, but in the meantime I had listened to almost every individual song a ton of times. it's just so great as a whole though!

not necessarily super my thing, but I also understand why it's popular. and hey, I do like some CAN music, so who am I to judge?

not to be a "media literacy is dead" guy, but all the folks saying "ugh I hate all that RAP MUSIC that just uses those SWEARS and talks about SEX and GANGS and DRUGS, this album is the perfect example of that!!" really make me think that George W. Bush owes us all a huge apology for what he did to the American education system

noisy and raw, just the way I like it

kind of middle of the road for me, but it was a fine listen and I can certainly appreciate where it was coming from (particularly for the time).

wild, wacky, wonderful. it's so great to listen to albums like this and look back. you can hear all of the different bits and pieces that served as inspiration for the artists that came after. this shaped so many artists and still continues to shape music today. rest in power Ozzy 🖤

the one and only! one of the first jazz musicians who I started to really identify with charts from. Blue Monk was one of my favourite charts to play in high school.

it was fine. it was just more Neil Young.

always a blast, always a trip

so many fun tracks, but I love how "were going to be friends" interrupts it all so beautifully

such a fun way to start my day, an iconic album for sure

I refuse to listen to albums by men who sound like they would tell their girlfriends whom they cheated on that they should "bear some of the responsibility"

yeah ok he's a silly goofy guy, things'll be great as long as this fella stays away from electric guitars

what can I say? it was glitzy and fun!

this is the kind of thing I wouldn't reach for on my own, but I'd enjoy it if I'm out and I hear it.

lost a star because of the weird song about Indigenous people. I know it was 1971, but like... do we have to use every stereotype at once? really?

when I was in middle school, I had a hand-me-down Beastie Boys shirt that I loved to wear. I enjoyed their music even back then. an annoying guy in one of my classes challenged whether or not I knew who they were. I lied and said I had no idea who they were just because I knew it would piss him off

the music was fine, but man that album cover set me up to expect the completely wrong style of music

still not over the time they forced every iPhone user to have their album saved. evil

there's something very apt about the fact that I listened to this album whilst prepping my new platform Docs to wear

this was so slow and relaxing and lovely. like sitting out on the porch of a cottage at sunset in June. just... peace, but still energetic.

light and dreamy. so wonderful

a couple nice tracks, but the rest just kinda sounded all the same to me

I don't have beef with you if you enjoy this music, but can we all agree that a song where the narrator essentially says "I want to have sex with you, stop resisting" is... not the best look?

*Gordon Ramsay Voice* finally, some good fucking music

I'm not against having sex noises in music (Mr Flash's "Monsieur Sexe" mix is one I've listened to many times!) but man. not like this

this sure was another Oasis album

light, colourful, fun

I must have been 15 or 16 the first time I heard Elliott Smith. even back then, I knew he just understood it.

Stan Getz and João Gilberto are irreplaceable. I've enjoyed every chart of theirs that I've played, and it really does bring you closer with whatever band you're playing with (if it's the right group)

not anything I'm super crazy about but it had a nice feel to it generally. nice listen overall

fun, energetic, and makes you feel a little bit lighter

I fared better with this album than the last U2 one I had to listen to. I still think there shouldn't be this much U2 on this list, though

I was actually talking about this with a client recently. I GET why Bey is popular, and I'll give her credit for how culturally significant she and her work are. and, regardless of my interest in the music itself, she knows how to put on a show and definitely works her ass off in that regard, which I deeply respect. her music isn't for me, but I get why other people dig it so much.

unmatched! there's nobody like the King

looove listening to this and hearing all of the bits and bobs that influenced musicians who came after. even the album cover served as an inspiration for one of my favourite albums! how could I not enjoy this?

I have always felt Some Type of Way about Ska music and its place in the punk sphere. I get why it's popular, and I definitely think it's fun and has a good groove to it. but like. Jello didn't write any songs about breaking up with a girl or genuinely wanting to get laid... the only songs he wrote about a guy getting it up were from a mocking perspective. he was too busy yelling about Reagan and throwing bricks at cops, ya know?

this was a fun, fresh, and moving way to start my morning. and I had no idea that Cry To Me was his!

no notes. free Britney

I kept expecting Bring Me to Life to play next even though that's a song on a different album by a different artist

woulda been higher but that riff in track two... you know which one :/

whoooo doesn't love some smooth Tropicália

I really vividly remember when David Bowie died (not that it was that long ago). it was such a weird vacuum of time. I was a teenager. somehow, though, I'd never listened to this album. it was a weird, meditative experience.

my queen. my goddess. I could listen to her sweet voice forever.

to quote my brother, "wait, this is one song?"

I do really enjoy West African music, and this is a great example of that. energetic and friendly.

I'm having a great night, Sam. thanks for checking in.

when I was 17, my mum approached me and (very politely) asked me if it would be ok if she stopped going to my jazz performances at school. I didn't really care that much; she'd been to dozens of my orchestra and band and choir concerts over the years. she didn't need to prove she cared. but I asked her why jazz specifically, and she said that to her, it always felt like we just played the same song and improvised different solos for like ten minutes on each one. when I hear albums like this, I think about that conversation. I now know how she felt.

I honestly really, really enjoyed this, both in sound and in concept

this really is THE Christmas album. if only Phil Spector didn't suck so much!

the first time I heard a Neil Young song, I was 20 years old and in a music therapy session while in a psych ward. the MT played Heart of Gold as part of a lyric discussion. I thought the song was super groovy and now it had so much more meaning to me. imagine my disappointment when I found out that most of Neil Young's music doesn't have the same oomph as Heart of Gold.

if you're gonna name an album after the CTA, you've got big shoes to fill, that's all I'm saying

I do enjoy 90's alt rock. this one dragged a bit at times, but it had a good foundation.

just fine. nice but nothing huge for me

sometimes horny on main is acceptable. this is one of those times.

It was fine. I see the vision, and I can appreciate the significance Serge Gainsbourg has in the artistic community as a whole. mighta just caught me on an off day

some good tracks, but some really lacklustre ones too imo. classic punk albums are always worth the listen though!

smooth like buttah

there's something specifically about French hip-hop that has always intrigued me. that's definitely an area of music and cultural history that I need to read up on more.

Sufjan Stevens will always elicit a very specific brand of melancholy from my heart that hurts so good

idk why I thought Massive Attack was a punk band? I keep saying this about different artists and I need to stop doing this to myself. this was a good album though. trip hop at its best

in Yakuza 0, there are some shops or clubs that have artwork in the exact same style as the album cover for Rio (both are very 80's, which tracks). These two pieces of media are thus inextricably linked in my mind.

the Bob Dylan Universe timeline is divided into two eras: BEGI (before electric guitar incident) AJ (after "Judas")

this did not feel correct. did Natasha Bedingfield write this?

I'm just not a big Bruce Springsteen guy tbh

it's fine. musically it's fun. but I'm sick of listening to lyrics that sound like they were written by guys who've never had a meaningful non-sexual interaction with a woman

I found myself REALLY enjoying this one. super fun

good, peaceful, happy

I was on board until he genuinely started singing about being sexually attracted to a child. this was never ok. DNF

back to something groovy, fun, and colourful!

some of us enjoy some classic country-folk, actually

no notes.

this is a little too 90's-00's (shocker) country for me, but I enjoyed it overall

ok THIS Bruce Springsteen I can get behind

how did I not know that Paul McCartney was on this

didn't know what to expect going in but ended up really enjoying this! 90's alt ftw

I've listened to music from over 14,000 different albums since June 2018 and this album is my #8 most-listened-to album. irreplaceable.

THIS is what Arctic Monkeys sound like? this whole time??

was not expecting there to be any banjo in this

it was fine!!

fun and funky

groovy way to start my morning

I'm not against the Beatles. I just think it's dumb that they have so many albums on this list. seven, are we sure? seven? seven??

Paul McCartney would not have "sung this better", John

when I was a kid, my parents played a fair amount of Annie Lennox. she was recognisable to my siblings and I. the first time I heard Eurythmics (I was about 10-12), I observed that they sounded "a lot like Annie Lennox". my sister was SO excited to tell me the news.

not my favourite of theirs but still a good time

wasn't sure how I'd feel going in but really grooved with this!

it's fine. it's more 90's-00's groove. I don't dislike stuff like this but I'm not reaching for it, either

the only Led Zeppelin album I care all that much about is Physical Graffiti, which, if I know anything about this list, it will likely show up sooner or later

nice and groovy

Joy Division are so funny to me because this one album truly sounds like the same song over and over to me, but I really enjoy that one song, so I don't mind one bit.

Kanye please take your medication and see a neurologist so you can get back to the studio I am begging

it's literally just another Beatles album.

whatever Miles was on (hard drugs), I want it.

I know a lot of folks hate country, but I'm chill with it.

it's fine. the songs all sound the same to me, but that's just me.

a groovy time

it's just not for me.

I've loved this one for a long time. it's disorienting in the exact right way.

I do love the Smiths. wish Morrisey didn't suck so much lol

again, it's good, just not my jam

lotta nostalgia here for me

I'm just not the target audience for this one (as much as I've always wanted to be a gay man).