195
Albums Rated
3.73
Average Rating
18%
Complete
894 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
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Rating Timeline
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Ratings by Decade
Which era do you prefer?
Activity by Day
When do you listen?
Taste Profile
2000s
Favorite Decade
Britpop
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Cheerleader
Rater Style ?
47
5-Star Albums
9
1-Star Albums
Taste Analysis
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Ratings by genre
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Ratings by country
Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trout Mask Replica | 5 | 2.28 | +2.72 |
| Yank Crime | 5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
| Vulnicura | 5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
| Southern Rock Opera | 5 | 2.82 | +2.18 |
| São Paulo Confessions | 5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
| The Dreaming | 5 | 2.96 | +2.04 |
| Behaviour | 5 | 3.04 | +1.96 |
| Ambient 1/Music For Airports | 5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
| Scum | 4 | 2.08 | +1.92 |
| Everything Must Go | 5 | 3.11 | +1.89 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Velvet Underground & Nico | 1 | 3.62 | -2.62 |
| So | 1 | 3.55 | -2.55 |
| Blunderbuss | 1 | 3.4 | -2.4 |
| Ritual De Lo Habitual | 1 | 3.19 | -2.19 |
| Bluesbreakers | 1 | 3.16 | -2.16 |
| Rubber Soul | 2 | 4.13 | -2.13 |
| The Contino Sessions | 1 | 2.91 | -1.91 |
| White Light | 1 | 2.84 | -1.84 |
| Isn't Anything | 1 | 2.74 | -1.74 |
| Band On The Run | 2 | 3.67 | -1.67 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Run-D.M.C. | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Peter Gabriel | 1, 5, 4 |
5-Star Albums (47)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Randy Newman
4/5
This guy is like if Weird Al Yankovic decided he hates the US. He's a really good songwriter with an almost painfully witty since of humor that rides the line between being too corny for its own good and being too real for its own good. I love the really Vaudeville or Cabaret-ish tracks like Lonely at the Top or Political Science. The best part is how well the album aged despite being from 1972. Much like all punk, funk, or anything else anti-establishment, a 53-year-old message is still just as real and relevant as it was 53 years ago.
1 likes
Prefab Sprout
4/5
Everything about this album is so violently 80s, from the cover to the instrumentals. I love 80s music so that's not a problem at all. Lots of interesting influences on the album and they all lead to a pretty cool sound, especially on a song like Hallelujah. An all around pretty good album.
1 likes
Roxy Music
5/5
These kinds of albums are why I do this challenge. Crazy how one guy singing like a weirdo can accidentally spawn a whole genre 5 years later. This weirdo is incredibly fun and knows how to compose a damn good song, so he should keep being this weird. The instrumentals on the album are amazing and really make a great pair with the vocals. Every member of the band is great at what they do and they all have great standout moments throughout the album. The whole thing comes together to make the most unseriously serious album I've heard in a really long time and I loved every second of it. Bonus points for the saxophone, that always makes music better.
1 likes
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
These guys are like a slightly more modern Simon and Garfunkel, but they say "years" in a really brain-tickly way so they're better by default. Anyways, turns out 1990 had the best synthpop. The fact that this and Depeche Mode's Violator came out in the same year is wild. I should stop comparing these guys to other bands I like and just talk about the music. The music is crazy and adds some good LGBT+ representation to this list that isn't wildly flamboyant bisexuals. One of those "I never would've guessed but it makes perfect sense that he's gay" type situations. Really nice for relaxing nighttime listening, despite how funky a lot of the songs are. Great writing in all areas and definitely one of the best 90s albums of the list so far.
1 likes
4-Star Albums (78)
1-Star Albums (9)
All Ratings
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
Absolutely loved the album, the two MCs have amazing chemistry and are incredibly fun to listen to. Best part is it's all tied together by the great DJ.
The Beach Boys
3/5
It was an okay album with some major ups and downs. Wouldn't It Be Nice and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times were both 10/10 amazing songs, the rest of the album was anywhere from pretty good to rather boring.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Just some good, groovy '90s jazz rap. Not a whole lot to say other than the middle of it did lose some steam, but it picked it all back up in the end. I loved Luck of Lucien and Ham 'N' Eggs. The 4 guys are all awesome lyricists.
Also shoutout to this album for making a song berating wife-beaters <3
Coldplay
5/5
Went in expecting some flavor of budget Radiohead given the discourse I've heard/seen regarding the album, definitely more than that. The lead vocalist has a really calming voice and it was a great wind-down album given how wild of a day I had when I listened to this. I could easily see this becoming a part of my regular rotation when I'm in the mood for some moody alt-rock :>
Adele
4/5
Absolutely love her singing voice, I mean, who doesn't? My one issue with the album as a whole is it lacks that edge that most soul music does. It was a little shaped to fit a global palette and it certainly worked. Otherwise amazing album.
Also she covers The Cure, that alone adds a star.
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
David Bowie
2/5
Of all the Bowie albums, The Next Day? My first experience with this album was laughing at the fact that the album cover is literally "Heroes" with a big white square on it. Admittedly, that's the absolute worst part of the album. Past that it's a totally fine and serviceable record, but it's just that and not much past it. Not quite "You should listen to this before you die."
Gene Clark
1/5
This just shouldn't be on here. The Wikipedia blurb this site gives me literally says the album flopped on the charts. He's just trying and failing to sound like Bob Dylan.
Stan Getz
5/5
There are two albums my high school band director would always talk about, this one and Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, now I can see why. Definitely one of the better jazz albums I've ever listened to. This feels like a great album to relax to at night. Not to mention all the jazz classics and standards on this album like Corcovado or The Girl From Ipanema.
SAULT
4/5
I love how unique this record is. The sampling and background vocals are my favorite part of the whole album, not to mention it's violently groovy.
Also some people in the reviews of this album suck at masking their racism. To those people, you're literally the reason this album was made. Do better.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Just not for me, "Draining" is the first word that comes to mind. Even the better songs on the album like O'Malley's Bar just drag on and on for far too long. Not 1/5 because I listen to artists who were primarily influenced by this guy.
U2
5/5
What a grand album, loved every song. The lead vocalist has an amazing voice and knows how to use it. Really glad that this was my introduction to U2.
The Clash
5/5
This is definitely the punk album of all time, nothing beats it. I already listened to this one way before I got it on this list and loved it from the start.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Amazing storytelling paired with subpar vocals and instrumentals, solidly 50/50 to me.
Finley Quaye
3/5
I'm really glad I don't care about Game of Thrones or take public transport, thank you reviewers.
Anyways the album's pretty good, I don't really understand why it's on the list though.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
These guys are obnoxiously high. That drives the whole album, how drugged out they are. Sometimes it leads to greatness, other times it leads to "oh..."
A totally fine album, just maybe a little too druggy for me.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Really cool listen. For how varied the album is, it feels incredibly bloated. Still an awesome listen and definitely up there when it comes to Led Zeppelin albums.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
A lot of this album is fairly uninteresting to me, and then all of a sudden it hits The Sound of Someone... and I understand it. A deeply relaxing listen if nothing else, but one I'm unlikely to come back to.
Dolly Parton
5/5
I didn't expect a Dolly Parton album of all things to be this good. Filled with amazing stories and a really bittersweet tone throughout the whole thing that I loved from the start.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
This is the most horribly chaotic and genuinely entertaining album I've listened to in a really long time. It's awful, but in the best way possible. It's fun, it's goofy, and by every religious being on earth is it a delight to sit through in one go. It takes as much stamina to listen through this album as it probably did to create it, but it's insanely worth it.
Mike Oldfield
3/5
The first 4 minutes really were the best part of the album. The other 44 ranged from pretty good to mentally taxing. Ironic saying that since yesterday's was Trout Mask Replica, but I just didn't find this one as fun.
Brian Wilson
3/5
I feel like I should like the Beach Boys more than I actually do. I really liked this album but something just felt really off about it that I can't put a finger to.
Harry Nilsson
4/5
Pretty interesting album, I loved the goofier cuts of the album and the serious ones met with it pretty well.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
We don't tolerate cheaters in this household.
Spiritualized
4/5
Really nice and relaxing listen, just started going in one ear and out the other towards the end.
Public Enemy
5/5
I mean, come on, it's Public Enemy. they made two of the most powerful and influential rap albums of the 80s and this is one of them. Every song is great and they really did want to dig in their point in the most "we don't really care if you think the title '911 Is a Joke' is offensive" kind of way possible, deserving of all 5 stars.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
This guy is Ronnie Radke for 90s goth kids. Past that it's a pretty okay album but I don't understand why it's on this list.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
This site never misses with its jazz picks, I swear. It's a major compliment to a jazz artist/band to make a face like you just smelled moldy vegetables from their playing, and this whole album made me look like my tongue was about to go flying out of my head. Beyond amazing.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Those two opening songs made me think I was getting the best album I ever heard, the other 9 were just really good.
Cat Stevens
5/5
My parents always disliked Cat Stevens. I never really understood it. This album was 70s perfection and I loved everything about it.
Bauhaus
3/5
I can hear these guys' influence in basically all of my favorite bands. Past that, it's a pretty good record that acted more like a history lesson for me. Not hugely likely to come back to it but it was pretty cool.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I don't know why I never bothered to listen to The Flaming Lips until now, this might just be my favorite album of the list so far. It's everything positive about psychedelic pop as a genre in one album. If I could give this 6 stars I absolutely would.
Judas Priest
4/5
Nice and accessible. I'd give this to someone saying they want to get into metal and don't know where to start.
David Bowie
3/5
Bowie Album #2 out of 9
Totally fine, I really liked a few songs and the rest were fairly forgettable. Oh! You Pretty Things and Song for Bob Dylan were really good.
David Bowie
5/5
David Bowie album #3 out of 9, and definitely his best work to me. His regular songs on this are amazing, his ambient ones are interesting and really textured, just an all around amazing work of art.
Simply Red
3/5
The best part of this album is the two covers. Past those, it's pretty decent, just missing something I can't quite put my finger on.
Peter Gabriel
1/5
How on earth did he manage to make Kate Bush sound boring? That's just plain impressive.
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
I, probably like a lot of y'all here, knew this woman from that time she ripped up the Pope's photo during her performance on SNL. Really glad to know her music carries that same energy.
By the way, for anyone that needed to know, her name is pronounced like "shin-AID." spared you a Google search.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
Might just be the most middle-of-the-road album I've listened to from this list so far. It's okay house music and I wouldn't be mad if I went to a gay bar or something and heard this album.
Pixies
4/5
All around great album, my only thing about it is how similar some of the end tracks get. Past that it's worth anyone's time and then some.
Janis Joplin
5/5
Holy hell this woman can sing, had me standing up and everything. Scared me with the first note she sang. Might just damn-well be the most talented blues singer I've ever heard, and this might just damn-well be a 5 star album.
Bob Dylan
4/5
My dad always talked really highly about Bob Dylan. I can definitely see why. I'm a big fan of those "a man and his guitar" kind of albums, especially artists like Nick Drake, and this one ticked all the boxes. It's nothing but a good time for 50 minutes. Not to mention how adorable this man is with the way he sings.
John Coltrane
4/5
This is 4 guys jerking themselves off onstage for 31 minutes and that description just about describes my favorite and least favorite parts of the album.
The War On Drugs
2/5
I got an ad, and thinking that the song I was hearing was a part of the album, I looked down and immediately got kind of upset that it just an ad.
Semi-Jokes aside, the atmosphere was neat. I really liked that ambient track towards the end. Past that I don't see myself coming back to this one.
Khaled
3/5
It's really fascinating that that's what pop music sounds on the other side of the ocean. I loved the guy's voice and the instrumentation. Some songs had some really kickass strings and others had some kickass synths. The one major problem that brings it down for me is how bloated it is. This album could've been 30 minutes long and be near perfect. Instead it's 78 and drags towards the end. Don't be me, listen to this in two sittings.
Radiohead
3/5
I feel like I've heard all I need to with Radiohead from their other two big records, OK Computer and Kid A, along with some of their more typical alt-rock stuff. As an album, it's good, albeit incredibly Radiohead.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I feel like Led Zeppelin is always a good time, this one is no exception. Some really heavy hitters on this one too. Something about That's the Way just got to me.
Death In Vegas
1/5
I genuinely thought I was listening to this for an hour, only to look down and see I was on track 3. It's a whole album of a guy making random sounds with the same 4/4 kick-hat-snare-hat pattern for the whole album.
Queen
4/5
Addressing the elephant in the room, the album cover alone stops this from being 5 stars for me. 3/4 of the people on the cover don't look human and it's just uncomfortable to stare at for 39 minutes.
Anyways, the actual album is great. Lots of Freddie Mercury's trademarked theatrical singing, and even some good vocal moments from the guitarist. The highs on this album were incredibly high, but much like all Queen albums to my knowledge, this one has some extreme standouts. On this one it's Brighton Rock, Flick of the Wrist, and In the Lap of the Gods... Revisited (imo). The rest of the album was good, but nowhere near those 3 songs.
4/5
For the fact that I generally don't like psych rock, this was a really good album. It was really fun the whole way through and I like the more funky tracks like Mr. Skin.
DJ Shadow
5/5
"The only pieces of equipment Shadow used to produce the album were the AKAI MPC60 12-bit sampling drum machine, a pair of turntables and a borrowed-by-visiting Pro Tools setup from an early adopter of the technology, Dan 'The Automator' Nakamura." -Wikipedia
I don't know what's crazier, that sentence or the fact that it sounds amazing.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
I simultaneously love and hate saying Gay Messiah was the peak of this album. I have nothing more to say.
My Bloody Valentine
1/5
I guess you could say there Isn't Anything of note on this album.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Now THIS is some soul music I can get behind. I wish I could tell all the pretentious music nerds that Songs in the Key of Life and Innervisions aren't his only albums. What a gift to the world.
The Young Rascals
4/5
This was a lot more jaunty and entertaining than what I was expecting from an album cover like that. They make themselves look like The Beatles but slightly worse and kind of end up going in a different direction while still clearly being Beatles inspired. Regardless, it's just good fun.
Lambchop
3/5
This album doesn't make much sense to me. Everything about it should, in theory, be great. It's relaxing, the band knows what they're doing, and the vocalist does really well on his part. It's an incredibly well-done album that just doesn't have much in the way of real interest. The parts where the vocalist goes super high and strained with his voice sometimes work and sometimes don't, the suddenly more electronic instrumentation on The Petrified Florist was interesting for the fact that it's finally something different, but even then it feels like too little too late. Maybe it's the lack of risk-taking on this album, maybe it's how clean everything sounds, or maybe some third thing that I can't make out, but this album as a whole was just okay, but that seems to be exactly what it's going for.
Happy Mondays
4/5
The result of 4 guys finding out what ecstasy is and going "now what if we made music on this shit?" I'll tell you what, this music sure as hell sounds like 4 guys high out of their minds making drug music. The whole album is insanely psychedelic and weirdly groovy for how hard it is to get a hold of at some points. Regardless, I love psychedelic pop and this album is no exception. I have no clue how I haven't heard of these guys and only just recently found out about The Stone Roses, but Madchester is definitely a genre for me to look into moving forward. Nothing but a good time.
Radiohead
5/5
I've already listened to this album like 5 times before it came up on the list. My favorite Radiohead album by far. I've always loved really mellow, relaxing alt-rock albums and this one is top tier in that regard. Nothing but beautifully written songs with a great atmosphere, perfect for an evening listen like when I usually do these albums.
Lou Reed
4/5
It was just so damn goofy. Lou Reed's really flat and out-of-tone vocal delivery fit much more to me on this album than something like The Velvet Underground & Nico. Also his lyricism ranged from goofy to neat and I liked both sides of it. Just an all round fun album for it's relatively short runtime.
Steely Dan
4/5
I feel like the storytelling is simultaneously the best and weakest part of the album. On some songs it's great, and on others it's really "you you you you you." Past that, i'm never gonna complain about sax solos, and there are like 3 or 4 on this one.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I hate it when I find an album that's like "this is a 10/10, this is peak [insert band here] and nothing will ever beat this in the genre" and then the band makes a significantly better album that blows me further out of the water than the first one did. This is that album, and this album is perfect. this is one of those rare 11/10 if it were possible kind of records. Incredible storytelling, incredible instrumentals, incredible everything. Astounding beyond words.
Daft Punk
3/5
I'm gonna join the masses on this one and say that this album is too repetitive to be listened to anywhere other than a club. That being said, there was the occasional really good song like Rollin' & Scratchin' or Rock'n Roll, but past that it's a moderately okay house album. I would've much rather had Random Access Memories over this.
P.S. I totally agree with the guy that called this tippy tappy plinky plonky noises that go round and round for 74 minutes
Black Sabbath
4/5
Out of obligation: Rest in power, Mr. Osborne, your influence on music as a whole will never go unnoticed.
It's metal with harmonica solos, that alone makes this album great. On top of that, it's a self-titled album with a self-titled song. It's just funny to say "Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath on the album Black Sabbath." Past that, it's an amazing metal record. For how early this was in the creation of metal as a genre, it's still pretty damn heavy, especially that title track. Only real complaint is how much the latter half of the album drags on compared to the first half, but it still ends great.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
Why did they make her so quiet in the mixing? I swear this is the only time I've ever found production/mixing so poor to make a comment on it. Franklin's such a powerful singer but the damn audio engineer took all the power out of her. Past that the album's great, but it really needs a remaster.
Supergrass
4/5
These guys are so British. I like that in a British singer, for them to actually have an accent instead of it disappearing when they sing. The album itself is pretty good, I love their energy and overall sound. Bonus points for making a really good song about what cops can do to a person.
4/5
This was so simultaneously of its time and ahead of its time. On one had, this album came out in 1978 and that's insane. On the other, it's really clear that this album came out in 1978, mostly because of the slurs. My favorite song's title is a slur against people with Down Syndrome. For it's time, though, the song is surprisingly progressive, talking about how people with it are totally normal and have jobs and hats and stuff. That's the main word I'd use to describe the album, progressive. Both stylistically and lyrically.
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
I love finding new artists through this website that I would've never checked out otherwise. First Coldplay, now these guys. Everything about this album is so beautifully well-done. The instrumentals, the vocals, it's all a really nice experience.
Beatles
2/5
This really is the most nothing Beatles record. Minus points for having a song that glorifies cheating.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
I read "best selling [insert genre] album of all time" and assume it's either great or terrible, this one was definitely the former. The whole album has this incredibly dancey feel to it. Make it a challenge to try not to move around while listening to this, you'd fail in the first two songs. Not to mention those trombones, they were the best part of the album.
Eminem
3/5
This is one of like two albums that Eminem is actually known for. Whenever anyone's talking about how good of a rapper he is, they're usually just gonna bring up examples from this album. There's good reason for that, too. Stan and The Real Slim Shady are some of his biggest songs for a reason. I'd especially call Stan one of the best songs in rap. As for the album as a whole, it's definitely better than I expected, but even then it sometimes got pretty grating and 72 minutes is unnecessarily long. It's the Marshall Mathers LP, not the Marshall Mathers Double LP.
Also I'm definitely not the first to say it but I'll say it anyways, the skits were pretty bad. That one of the guy getting head genuinely made me gag.
Supergrass
4/5
Got both Supergrass albums of the list one week apart. While I prefer I Should Coco, this one's pretty good in it's own right. As an album it doesn't feel as consistent, though. I'm a really big fan of their overall sound and energy and this one has some really banging solos, I especially liked that synth solo in Sun Hits the Sky.
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
It's incredibly important to note that the lead vocalist, John Phillips, sexually assaulted his daughter, Mackenzie Phillips, for an entire decade.
So these guys are The Beach Boys crossed with Fleetwood Mac. That's to say, shitty vocal group music combined with every band member getting into relationships with eachother, subsequently cheating, and then writing songs about it. Overall it isn't terrible, but there's a certain point where "Easy Listening" music gets too easy to listen to and it just fades into the background. That's this album.
Randy Newman
4/5
This guy is like if Weird Al Yankovic decided he hates the US. He's a really good songwriter with an almost painfully witty since of humor that rides the line between being too corny for its own good and being too real for its own good. I love the really Vaudeville or Cabaret-ish tracks like Lonely at the Top or Political Science. The best part is how well the album aged despite being from 1972. Much like all punk, funk, or anything else anti-establishment, a 53-year-old message is still just as real and relevant as it was 53 years ago.
Miles Davis
5/5
This album as a whole is really important to me. There were two albums that my high school band director always talked about, Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool, both by Davis. He's moving to Illinois to take a job as the band director of a whole district this year, and I'm gonna miss him. He's the entire reason I've ever heard of this guy, and he's the sole reason I decided to major in Music Education instead of Law when I was really stuck between the two. He really created a home outside of home for not just me, but hundreds of people during his 19 years at my school. To you directly, Mr. Howell, even if you don't read this, I hope to be just like you in a decade.
"The world is full of ignorant people, don't be one of them." -Page Howell, 2021.
Jurassic 5
4/5
I love these guys' flow and lyricism, everyone in the group is operating on the same wavelength and it really shows in this album. Nothing but great lyricism and flow from the rappers, and great mood and beat from the producers. I'm with the majority here that's never heard of this album and wish they did sooner.
Slayer
4/5
I never realised that metal was always like this. Granted, I'm really not well-educated on Thrash Metal as a genre but regardless this was way crazier than I expected. That's the fun of it, though. These guys are all deranged and everything from the instrumentals to the lyricism screams edgy in the goofiest way possible to me. My only real issue is the vocalist. Sometimes his brain goes faster than his mouth and that paired with how fast everything is feels like it drowns him out at some points. Maybe I'm missing the point, but this was an incredibly fun metal record.
Napalm Death
4/5
This is simultaneously the very first grindcore album and the epitome of the genre. It's pretty much exclusively fueled by raw anger towards god knows what half the time. They really let their rage guide the album, too. Nobody else was making half-second songs where they just shout "YEEEUUUGGGHH" and then move on. It doesn't take a PhD in data analytics to tell that this album is generally hated on this site, but I'd call it one of the rare examples of a genre-founding album also being really good.
B.B. King
3/5
First live album of the list, and of all of the blues I've listened to, this certainly is an album of it. I feel like compared to something like Pearl or pretty much anything by Aretha Franklin, this feels fairly basic by comparison. By no means bad, but incredibly middle-of-the-road for me.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
Before this, I really only knew the Yeah Yeah Yeahs from that time the lead vocalist got featured on a song by Swans. Now I know that the one thing Dance-Punk was missing is women, as is the case with most kinds of dance and punk, and quite honestly just music in general outside of pop. I love the atmosphere of the whole album and the singer herself brings a lot to the overall sound. A good mix of some dancey stuff and some really nice, layered, artsy songs.
Also this album's Runaway is significantly better than Kanye's runaway, fight me.
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
This has everything I'd normally like in an album from this era. Goofy parts, wild experimentation in an already experimental genre, a good groove, etc. The problem is that it all comes together to make some of the most annoying music New Wave has ever produced. It's only made worse by the fact that these guys have a second album on the list. The only interesting part is the cover, or I guess, case.
Prefab Sprout
4/5
Everything about this album is so violently 80s, from the cover to the instrumentals. I love 80s music so that's not a problem at all. Lots of interesting influences on the album and they all lead to a pretty cool sound, especially on a song like Hallelujah. An all around pretty good album.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
This one really wasn't doing it for me. Yet another band that my dad raves about and i'm totally neutral with. I like their vocal harmonies and they occasionally have interesting songwriting, but as an album it's very easy to tune out.
Kate Bush
5/5
This is my favorite Kate Bush album. It's so wonderfully artsy and theatrical in a way that feels really unique to her. All the songs tell really great stories as well, especially All the Love, that one still kills me the third time around. All around her best work to me.
Genesis
4/5
All around good album, but I can't help but feel like I've heard other bands do this really big, symphonic sound much better, i.e. The Who. Still, that opener is insane and the album rarely loses its intensity without good reason. I like how much the lead singer sounds like a dwarf/elf/other fantasy creature, it makes it sound like something from The Lorax or similar.
Björk
5/5
note: it's pronounced vul-nee-CYU-ra
anyways, this album is absolutely beautiful. It sucks that artists' best work is always brought out of horrible grief and trauma, but it really does create some of the most unique works I've ever heard, even from artists who already have an incredibly unique sound, like Björk. I love the mix of strings with electronic production, and her really freeform vocal style fits perfectly above it, all with some of her best lyricism of her whole career. Not to mention those vocal harmonies, absolutely otherworldly. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, sometimes it's upsetting, and there are a few points in the album that are nothing but devastating, but at the end of the day that's what a divorce is, or a loss of any kind. Absolutely incredible in every way an album like this could be.
Michael Jackson
3/5
As an album it's definitely better than I expected. Just all around good fun, except Liberian Girl. That song is terrible. I didn't realise how many hits came out of this album, Bad, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal, etc. They're definitely the best songs, who would've thought, but they're definitely hits for a reason, although The Way You Make Me Feel just feels uncomfortable with the context of MJ being a CP. That about describes the whole album, great songs that are made uncomfortable because of who made it.
Eagles
3/5
Relevant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JlmvtAHhnc
Just wasn't doing it for me, much like the other harmony-heavy country rock bands I've heard. They're decent, but really the only amazing song is the one everyone and their grandma has been hearing for the past 53 years. A lot of it is that The Eagles sound like every other band to come out of Laurel Canyon in the early 70s. Not bad, just pretty forgettable.
The Velvet Underground
1/5
That damn banana haunts my dreams, and it really doesn't get much better on my second listen. I can't think of many albums I've listened to that I feel got worse the second time around. It's really close between this and Rubber Soul by The Beatles for the most overrated album ever in my opinion. There are two or three good songs, but the album as a whole is an absolute slog and significantly more influential than it is good. Lou Reed's solo work is better in genuinely every way.
Norah Jones
2/5
She really just seems like a diet Fiona Apple with softer songwriting. Every song sounded nearly identical and it really started to become easy to tune out towards the middle. A bit of a relaxing listen, but still not good.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
Totally love the genre-blending in this album, I think it's great how it'll just randomly pull from more electronic/EDM genres to create some needed variation. My favorite song of the album is something closer to Trip-Hop than anything from the general sound of the album. Sounds like if Pink Floyd and Ween got together and made a pop-ish album. Much like Pink Floyd, sometimes the songs can get a little too long or freeform, but still, an all around great album.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
These guys are amazing songwriters. That title track is an all-around incredible piece of music that the whole rest of the album almost fights to keep up with quality-wise. It's wild that they named Frank Lloyd Wright of all people for a whole song, but granted, I'm not nearly as well-educated on Simon & Garfunkel as I should be. There's a real intimacy to this album that I find really interesting. I feel like it's an album that's easy to find comfort in, even despite it being the duo's final record together.
Manu Chao
3/5
I feel like I was more impressed by the amount of languages this guy can speak than I was by the music itself. It does get better as it goes along, though, and I like the samples of speeches throughout the album. As a whole it's okay and I agree with the people that say it's mediocre Latin bar music.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
It's really common for political songs to age well because they're about the American government not changing anything. This album aged really well because the American government never changes anything. It's 2025 and this album is more relevant than it was in 1988, from every single point the album makes. You'd think that some part of this album would've aged in 37 years, but nothing has. Not the instrumentals, not the lyricism, not anything. Behind the Wall is especially relevant today with how awful the pigs that call themselves "peace officers" treat assault victims, Talkin' Bout a Revolution is especially relevant because that revolution still hasn't happened, and this whole album is especially relevant because rampant fascism and equally rampant indifference keep it relevant. This is one of the best records of the 80s, not just for the music itself, but for the fact that the people at the top inadvertently keep it relevant by continuing to treat people beneath them like shit.
Past my ranting, this album is also amazing musically. Tracy Chapman has an amazing and amazingly unique voice that's nothing but pleasant to hear for the whole album. Her songwriting is great even when it isn't incredibly political, like in For My Lover. This album comes to mind when I think "Albums you should listen to before you die."
John Lennon
3/5
The best part of the album was getting to hear John Lennon aggressively growl "COOKIE" in the middle of one of the songs. Anyways, it's pretty good. There are a handful of songs that make me think that I was doing more thinking than Lennon was when he wrote this album by thinking about that, but there were some great songs in there, too. I actually did enjoy the album. It feels a lot more personal than anything the Beatles could've made and it's pretty nice listen, albeit a pretty nice listen that's occasionally un-niced by John Lennon listing off things he doesn't believe in or out-of-place screaming, but mostly nice nonetheless. I don't have much nice to say about it that I can actually put into words, mostly because the bad of this album is pretty funny, but I swear it's good.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Hearing the Outlaw Country guy take songs from the Great American Songbook was certainly neat, but at the end of the day it was a country covers album. It was okay, but I've heard a few songs from this album covered much better, and the ones I've never heard before weren't particularly mind-blowing. I'm mostly indifferent to the album more than anything.
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
It was okay. 60s Funk has a lot to offer, and I feel like I've just overall heard better come out of the same period. Points for making a long instrumental track that sounds pretty good, though. I feel like they should've either leaned into the lyrics or the funk a little more. Instead they shot for both and couldn't do both well enough for either to be great outside of a handful of tracks.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Some of the least shocking shock rock out there. It feels like the soundtrack to a spoof version of Stephen King's IT, but way less interesting than that description sounds.
Milton Nascimento
5/5
Finally, something to break up my seemingly never-ending streak of 3 stars. Reminds me a lot of Gustavo Cerati, just without all the electronics. There's always something about good Latin music that feels both really strong and really relaxing at the same time. This album especially feels like I could sleep-dance to it. Both singers have amazing voices in their own ways and the whole album is absolutely beautiful. I can see why every Brazilian grandma knows and owns this album.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
1/5
This sounds like British people approximating what blues sounds like. They literally covered an actual blues song, Parchman Farm, and got rid of the second half of the song so they don't have to sing about a guy shooting his wife. It's pretty damn clear that nobody is feeling this as much as they should, considering the genre they're trying to recreate. That drum solo in What'd I Say especially screams "I think this is what a blues drum solo sounds like." I'm pretty carefully using every word except "playing" blues here, because this isn't blues. It's bordering on being a parody, and not even a funny one.
Insert obligatory statement about Little Girl here.
Funkadelic
4/5
Very rarely does someone get the chance to play a 10 minute long guitar solo with the only other backing being another guitar. The guy in the opener took that rare chance wholeheartedly and made one of the best guitar solos in funk, period. The cool part is they gave us a whole 26 minutes of bonus tracks following it. Jokes aside, the rest of the album is good, but that solo is transcendent. Power to the pussy.
Donald Fagen
2/5
It feels like the kind of music that'd play in the waiting room of a therapist's office or a cheesy 80s movie intro. It's polished almost to the point of feeling sterile and there's something off about the vocals that hardly makes them sound human. The #1 word that comes to mind is "Inoffensive," and that's just not where good music comes from.
Van Halen
4/5
All around a pretty great album. It feels like 70s concert energy as an album, crazy guitar solos and everything. The radio hits are pretty good, the deeper cuts are really good, and it was just really fun. Also the guitar solos are violently 70s in the most fun way possible, I know I mentioned them twice.
Nirvana
4/5
Funny enough, listening to this album turned into a really interesting research project for the future. Music preservation is a surprisingly powerful tool that allows us to listen to stuff like this. This album was released months after Cobain's death and it shows a pretty good side of him that isn't shown in his in-studio works. it feels a lot more stripped back and that brings out Cobain's singing a lot more. I pay more attention to the noisiness of Nirvana's works more than Cobain's vocals a lot of the time and this kind of environment brings out how unique of a singer he is. The covers were by far the best part of the album, really unique take on The Man Who Sold the World especially.
The Stone Roses
3/5
Crazy how these guys turned doing MDMA into an entire genre. It sure does feel like ecstasy, though, very light and sparkly in a way that's very pleasing to the ears. Kind of feels like what Isn't Anything by My Bloody Valentine could've been. At some points it gets a little samey and the album as a whole starts to get stale towards the end, but as a whole it was good.
Prince
4/5
Maximum horny jams, I mean this guy is feral in half of these tracks. I'll never complain about something being this violently 80s, especially since this is THE defining violently 80s record. Prince really is a character in every sense of the word and he struts that damn character around whenever he makes music. TL;DR the world's gayest straight man makes really entertaining sexy jams. In other news, the sky is blue.
Lupe Fiasco
5/5
Damn you, Kanye West. I may hate him as a person but he really did make some of the best beats of the 2000s. I loved style on this album and Lupe really does a lot with what he's given. The whole album has this really cinematic feel to it, like he's some larger-than-life figure, and the album cover helps with that. Granted, the album cover is the most violently 2006 cover ever, right down to the Nintendo DS in the bottom-left. Anyways, the non-rap influences on some of the songs were the really cool part to me, like the Soul and Latin inspired beats and singing in the latter half of the album. The whole experience is just that, an experience, and it's a great one.
"The ink of a scholar is worth a thousand times more than the blood of a martyr" is one of the hardest quotes to ever show up in a rap song.
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
The bassist is the best part. It's crazy to ever say "man, that bassist really stole the show," but here I am. Man, that bassist really stole the show. He's the one part of the album that stops it from being any lower, because it really is the definition of background jazz.
Ray Price
3/5
Completely fine. I struggle to really find anything to hold onto with this album, and I feel like I've heard much better in every regard from other singers from the same decade, like Marty Robbins. The storytelling kind of hits all of the 60s stereotypes and you can get the gist of the album off of any one song.
Sam Cooke
3/5
I really need to re-learn how to have fun. There's so much going on in this album and it sounds like such a good time, but the energy of the album just isn't hitting me the same way it is everyone in the crowd. Sam Cooke seems like the kind of person to have every single woman in a 150 meter radius screeching like they just watched Jesus come down from heaven for the first time in thousands of years, and you can hear that at some points in the record. For me, It's way too bubblegum. It's a great album, and I wish I could feel it more, but it just isn't my kind of fun music.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
My dad always said that when he was a teenager, you were either a Beatles fan or a Stones fan. I think it's pretty hard to pick, but if the rest of the Stones' discography is like this album, I'm leaning more towards their side. Granted, I have a soft spot for 60s folk rock. Bob Dylan and The Band are both great, it sure would be great if they made music together. Anyways, I feel like this album's proof that you don't need to completely reinvent the wheel to make a good album, as much as I love artists that do that. It's a good folksy album with really silly and well thought out storytelling throughout it. There isn't much that's needed in the genre past that.
The Zombies
3/5
Of all the things I was expecting with that combination of band name, album name, and album cover, Beatles was not anywhere in my top 5. I was expecting something closer to Jimi Hendrix's flavor of psych rock. It's fine, but really nothing noteworthy, or notable for that matter. I've heard this sound before in like 5 different bands from the same year. Changes was a good standout, though.
Little Simz
4/5
Stuff like this is why we need more women in rap. Little Simz is an amazing lyricist with an incredibly strong flow. I think the beats on the album were the best part to me, though. They were incredibly varied and all brought out a lot of different aspects in her rapping in a really cool way. Shoutout to the literal cartoon sound effects in the opener. Admittedly I liked Side A a lot more than Side B, but even Side B was pretty strong.
Spiritualized
5/5
A massive step up from their debut. The only word to describe this album is powerful. Most of the songs are powerful in different ways from eachother, but they're all powerful. The opener and Broken Heart feel like a massive hug from space, songs like Come Together or Electricity are incredibly heavy on the groovier side of indie rock, and The Individual is an amazing soundscape that just washes over you for nearly 5 minutes. Who would've thought that a group of guys rambling about drugs and space for an hour could be so compelling?
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
I was expecting to like this a lot more than I actually did. It's okay, but it starts to get pretty samey pretty fast and a lot of the songs sound empty or hollow. Maybe I'm just too tired, but I don't have a lot to say past that.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
No cymbals. You either notice it within the first few songs or you never notice it, but there are no cymbals. This was completely intentional. That describes the whole album, it feels very intentional despite how crazy and artsy the whole thing is. It's impressive how many influences and weird experiments he can throw into one album and have it come out great. The innovation of the album brings out a lot of really cool aspects in it and generally a lot more emotion compared to the other stuff I've heard from him, especially on songs like Intruder or And Through the Wire. This was also the first album to use gated reverb, so that's a plus. The best part of the album, however, is that it didn't make Kate Bush sound boring. I will forever despise So for not being able to do the same.
Cee Lo Green
4/5
I wasn't expecting to enjoy this one, good to know I was wrong. What I've learned from this list so far is that I have a soft spot for earlier rap music. It wasn't particularly deep or meaningful, but it was just a damn good time for an hour. Lots of personality and some really fun beats.
The Kinks
3/5
I'm starting to think that every 60s pop record sounds the same. This one at least had a few cool moments, but overall I swear this sounds like the last five 60s pop records I've gotten at some point. Worst part is it's always the bands that I hear my parents talk really well about.
Kanye West
4/5
Kanye making a rap album inspired by 90s Electro-Industrial is the most surprising and most Kanye thing imaginable, double points on the latter for the album title. I love how socially conscious this album is when he isn't saying stupid stuff like "I keep it 300, like the Romans." Maybe he should've rewatched the first 15 seconds of 300 before writing that down. Still, I think this album has Kanye's absolute best instrumentals paired with lyricism that can get a little all over the place quality-wise. While I prefer Late Registration, I can't deny that this is one of Kanye's better albums by far.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
Great country rock, definitely some of the stronger music from the genre I've heard. The guitar solos on this album all go insane and it has some pretty deep moments. I can't really understand why my parents hate this band so much since it isn't for the Florida trademark flavor of Southern Racism™, but I like this album a lot. Of course, it ends with Free Bird, so the album automatically isn't hateable.
Beach House
5/5
Depression Cherry has been a really important album to me for a while now. Me and my boyfriend loved it since the first time we listened to it, I have it on vinyl, the whole thing. I'd honestly say that this is pretty close to Depression Cherry quality-wise, even if it doesn't have the same emotional connection for me. Beach House really knows how to consistently hit that really depressing kind of dream pop sound in a way that nobody else from the genre can.
The Clash
3/5
This album is really good at making London Calling seem even more impressive. The fact that they went from this to one of the best punk albums of all time in two years is crazy. As for this album, it's okay. Some pretty good songs mixed in with some that really didn't do much for me. Nothing bad, but very little that's particularly great. Special shoutout to Protex Blue for telling teenagers in 1977 to use a condom, though. I'd much rather listen to Joe Strummer say it than my parents if I were alive back then.
Roxy Music
5/5
These kinds of albums are why I do this challenge. Crazy how one guy singing like a weirdo can accidentally spawn a whole genre 5 years later. This weirdo is incredibly fun and knows how to compose a damn good song, so he should keep being this weird. The instrumentals on the album are amazing and really make a great pair with the vocals. Every member of the band is great at what they do and they all have great standout moments throughout the album. The whole thing comes together to make the most unseriously serious album I've heard in a really long time and I loved every second of it. Bonus points for the saxophone, that always makes music better.
Miles Davis
3/5
It's pretty good, but also pretty hard to get through. Lots of really sparse improvisation in most of the songs. It has its moments, especially in Spanish Key and Sanctuary but as a whole it was fairly boring. The best part by far is the album cover, that goes incredibly hard.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Surprisingly good. Elvis has a voice that's really nice to listen to and he has a few really good songs throughout. That being said, take a shot every time he says the words "Love" or "Girl" if you want a free ride to a hospital. It makes In the Ghetto and Don't Cry Daddy stand out more than they have any right to, and the album would be way better if it focused on songs like that rather than the usual love songs that take up most of its runtime. Even those love songs are pretty well-performed. Key word is performed, he didn't write the majority of the songs. I don't hold it against him, most country artists were doing that in the 60s.
Bonus fun fact: Elvis has a version of In the Ghetto that he did at a sound check where he replaces "As the snow flies" with "As the shit flies" and proceeds to laugh about it for a minute or two. Good to know me and Elvis have one thing in common, a twelve-year-old's sense of humor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq0Cwd41c1w
Van Morrison
5/5
This album is more than a breath of fresh air after all of the mediocre pop I've gotten from this same decade so far. I don't know why I'm all of a sudden getting some of the best music from the earlier decades of the list, but I'm completely fine with it if it means I get more music like this. It's like Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, but 30 years earlier and a lot more improvised. I wonder if there's a version that doesn't have all of the overdubbed instruments, since Morrison himself said he didn't want them in the album. My own hunt for it showed nothing, or else I would've done that version. As it stands, this is still an incredible album. He's a real wordsmith with some deeply touching storytelling and a very unique voice to support it. The really cool part of the album is that it's mostly improvised, obviously outside of the overdubbing.
Pink Floyd
4/5
A mix of perfect music and songs that are exclusively there to pad the runtime of the album to fit on an LP, and it's perfectly clear which is which. There can even be runtime padding inside of the really good songs. Still, it's one of the most well-known albums ever for a reason, and the parts that aren't 3 minute stretches of nothing are amazing. As always, bonus points for the saxophone.
4/5
I'm both deeply surprised and happy to know that Wonderwall is not the only good song on this album. The guitars feel really overwhelming in a way that only 90s British ecstasy addicts could do for some reason. That and the vocals make the album uniquely Oasis while still sounding like the stuff that inspired it. Maybe it's the fact that I haven't listened to the radio in a pretty long time, but I think this album was one of the bigger surprises so far from this list. I am now contractually obligated to say "anyways, here's Wonderwall," so anyways, here's Wonderwall.
Miles Davis
4/5
Pretty cool jazz. I don't have a lot to say about the album but I really liked it. Lots of good standards came out of it like Boplicity.
Goldie
4/5
If this list has taught me anything, it's that I really should put more thought into trying LSD or Ecstasy at some point. It's very clear that I'm not the target demographic for a lot of the albums on this list because I've been sober for 19 of the 19 years I've been alive. That being said, it's a pretty good album. The parts that deviate from the DnB/Jungle kind of style especially stand out. The actual DnB songs are pretty good, too. I like the really high energy that the style brings, and I especially like what the singer does with it. To reference my favorite review I've seen on this website so far, this album is full of tippy tappy plinky plonky noises that go round and round for 113 minutes, and it's great.
Missy Elliott
4/5
I saw the number of features on this album and got a little scared that they were gonna drown out Missy Elliott on her own album. Glad to know that really isn't the case here. She sings and raps really well and it brings an album that's as good as it is varied. Always a big fan of the really driving soul feel that the album and others like it have.
Gorillaz
3/5
The fact that this was picked over Demon Days and Plastic Beach is criminal. We can shave off a few Bowie albums to fit one of those in. This album is pretty good and has some absolute classics on it, especially Clint Eastwood, but the album as a whole struggles to add up to some of the ones that come after it. Some pretty annoying voices throughout along with a fairly similar feel between songs made this hard to get through at some points. The parts that were good were really good, but everything else ranged from fine to rough.
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
These guys are like a slightly more modern Simon and Garfunkel, but they say "years" in a really brain-tickly way so they're better by default. Anyways, turns out 1990 had the best synthpop. The fact that this and Depeche Mode's Violator came out in the same year is wild. I should stop comparing these guys to other bands I like and just talk about the music. The music is crazy and adds some good LGBT+ representation to this list that isn't wildly flamboyant bisexuals. One of those "I never would've guessed but it makes perfect sense that he's gay" type situations. Really nice for relaxing nighttime listening, despite how funky a lot of the songs are. Great writing in all areas and definitely one of the best 90s albums of the list so far.
Morrissey
4/5
I can't hate this. As much as I want to because of all the weird stuff Morrissey said, I really like it. He has some interesting and insightful things to say when he isn't yapping about how Chinese people are subhuman. I like that the album keeps the Jangle Pop roots of The Smiths' discography and turns it into his own thing.
Unrelated fun fact: Morrissey wrote a 50-page rant about the British government in his autobiography.
808 State
4/5
Roland really is responsible for every good electronic genre. These guys named themselves after the Roland TR-808 Drum Machine. Anyways, this album is great. I love the really distinct TB-303 synth sound in house music, makes it sound goofier. The music goes pretty hard, too. I especially like the more aggressive parts of the album like Cobra Bora and Donkey Doctor. They sound like music for an old Flash game that I would've randomly found on NotDoppler like 12 years ago.
Joy Division
4/5
Probably the single most T-shirt-able album cover ever, equally as simple and iconic as The Dark Side of the Moon but a lot better-looking in my opinion. As for the music, it's pretty good. Sure sounds a hell of a lot like it's cover. There's something about the instrumentals that always sounds a little too empty to me, but they do use that emptiness well in some parts of the album. The singer's voice is really satisfying to listen to and fits perfectly with the instrumentals. Definitely flawed, but the album plays into its flaws enough for it to not really be an issue.
Lorde
2/5
I swear a lot of the positives I have to say about this album get ruined as soon as I start to think positively about the album. My number two pet peeve in music is pop artists swearing just once or twice per song to seem hard or strong or something. It's just annoying and it shows up constantly in this album. I guess she says shit more than twice in Homemade Dynamite, but it's really only to get us to say it along with her in the chorus. Some of the harmonies are cool and I did genuinely like Liability until I saw that there was a part 2 (speaking of which, why did she think that two songs were good enough to warrant a part 2?), but as a whole this album feels like every other pop album I thought I was going to like until I listened to it and realised that it sounds like every pop album I thought I was going to like. For the record, I can also swear exactly once in what I'm writing to prove an imaginary point to myself.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
I love the little fun fact in the Wikipedia blurb for this about him recording two albums in the same session and wearing the same shirt in both, adds the kind of continuity that isn't at all necessary but makes the guy a lot more memorable. Anyways, good Jazz. It's really upbeat with a lot of good lines throughout and I love Jimmy Smith's tenor tone. I'll definitely be Back at the Chicken Shack more often.
The Cure
4/5
Minus points for the fact that this album is significantly longer than 17 seconds, unforgivable. Anyways, I love The Cure's specific flavor of Gothic music. It still has the sparse lyricism and cold, empty instrumentals that makes the genre what it is, but unlike other bands in the genre, it isn't so empty that it starts to sound like it's lacking something. Pair that with great instrumentals and even great fully instrumental songs and it makes a really good album.
Drive Like Jehu
5/5
Shoutout to the guy that called this band Slint if they weren't incels. I wholeheartedly agree and this album is much better than Spiderland and about equally as influential. Influence is a stupid way to measure quality so I'm just gonna talk about the quality of the music itself, and the music itself is absolutely quality. Some of the best post-hardcore out there next to Big Black and Unwound (really upset that there's no Unwound on this list). Incredible energy, even in the slower songs like Luau. The opener is especially insane, and gets bonus points for being mostly in 5/4, the objectively best time signature. While I wouldn't call it the best album to come out of the post-hardcore movement, it gets a very, very strong second place. The best one isn't even on this list, so it's at least the best on the list.
Rod Stewart
3/5
What I've learned from this list is that artists should really stop trying to cover Bob Dylan songs, unless you're Warren Zevon. Anyways, I feel like I can tolerate the singer's voice a lot more than most people on this list, but I'm also used to really out there voices. As for the music, it's an album of okay country covers. I loved the opener, but I feel like nothing quite reaches its level.
Jamiroquai
5/5
The very first sound on this album is a didgeridoo, peak music. This is one of those albums that you have to listen to while standing up, no sitting down for this one. You need your whole body working to get the full experience. For crying out loud, he's literally telling you to in the lyrics. Special appreciation for the bassist, Stuart Zender. I feel like bassists in general are pretty overlooked in most genres of music, but this guy's pretty hard to miss. He does nothing but lay down these incredibly technical and funky as hell basslines throughout the whole album. Much like all good jazz and soul, underneath the crazy amounts of groove is a real message of hope despite every political challenge and a need to keep the earth clean. Maybe I'm way too easily impressed by good grooves, but it's also damn hard to keep a good groove for nearly an hour, especially one that's so varied.
AC/DC
4/5
People weren't kidding, every AC/DC song sounds like every AC/DC song. Even if they wrote one song eleven times, it's one damn good song and it was a good time. Not really much to say past that.
Elbow
5/5
I've been eating good this week with this list. First I get Drive Like Jehu, then Jamiroquai, now these guys. What a beautiful album. A great mix of that British kind of indie rock with really nice strings and keys. I always love finding bands I've never heard of through stuff like this and coming out with masterworks. That's what this is, a masterwork. The instruments, the singing, the lyrics, the flow, the everything. Masterful.
Robert Wyatt
4/5
Very dreamy for a prog album. Reading that a guy made this album after becoming a paraplegic is insane and I wonder how much of that pain was put into the making of this album. I loved how flowy and almost disjointed the album feels at times, like lots of parts are being thrown at the same thing and they happen to line up really well. Some of the songs on this sound straight-up ominous in a way that I feel like I haven't seen any other prog album/artist attempt. I really fail to see how this is the 18th lowest rated album on the site.
Pretenders
3/5
I feel like this is an album that's definitely going to grow on me, but as it stands it's okay. I wasn't expecting a song with parts in 15/8. That was interesting, took a second for it to even register. Still, not a whole lot stands out to me about this album compared to other New Wave bands of the time like The Clash or Devo. Perfectly fine, but not much more.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
This album never calms down, just pure 90s rap energy for almost an hour. I love all the features and backup vocalists and stuff throughout the album. I never knew Snoop had actual talent since all I've seen him in for the past 10 years is T-Mobile commercials and baking shows. Crazy what one good album can do to your career. He does make good mac and cheese, though. Anyways, excellent album. Definitely one of the best I've heard from the 90s so far.
David Bowie
3/5
The fourth of nine Bowie albums, and this one's more proof that nine is excessive. Ziggy Stardust, Blackstar, and either Low or Heroes is really all you need to get the full idea of Bowie. If you want to listen to more before you die, he made twenty-six albums. Three is a fine sample. Maybe it's the fact that this is the sixth overall Bowie album of listened to in my lifetime (iirc), but I'm running out of things to take note of in these albums. TVC15 was good, I guess. Of the 4 I've gotten so far, this is the least noteworthy. Heroes and Blackstar were incredible, Hunky Dory and The Next Day were bad, and this one is somewhere in between. A perfectly surface-level review for a perfectly surface-level Bowie album.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Man, Brown Sugar sure is one of the songs ever. I felt emotions when listening to it, none of which I liked. That has to be the single worst song the Stones ever put out. The rest of the album is great, so it's fine. I think they're the only British band that can consistently do Blues Rock well to any capacity. Side note, the guy on this album cover is the same guy on The Smiths' self-titled record. Massive peenus on that guy, that's impressive stuff. Anyways I'm tired and getting all over the place, back to the music. I prefer Beggar's Banquet overall, but the standout tracks of this album stand out a lot more to me, like Can't You Hear Me Knocking. Really good solos all throughout, but the ones on that song are particularly good. You Gotta Move as a song makes this album for me, it's just so goofy. I don't know why they randomly decided to throw in a wind section in the second half of the album, but the only reason I'm complaining about it is because it isn't in the first half. I'm gonna cut myself off before I ramble my way into doubling the length of the longest review I've made to date.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
This is making me realize that I've never heard an Arctic Monkeys song in full, let alone a full album, before this. They're like The Strokes but less fuzzy and more fun. More than anything else, this album is a damn fun time. Not particularly deep, but I'm scared of the idea of the cross-eyed guy smoking a cigarette on the cover making deep music, so it's fine. I guess he's no longer cross-eyed or smoking because I said he is, and whatever I say he is is what he isn't. Anyways, the music. Good fun, I really like the majority of the tracks. This band seems pretty good to throw in a party mix of some kind. Much like party music, I started to tune it out at some points, though.
ZZ Top
2/5
Immediately started with "Who are these guys? Oh, I know this song." And it was the best song on the album. I feel like this music was designed for people who would still drive the car on the album cover in the modern day. I drive very comfortably in my Kia, so I didn't really get much out of this one. Most of it feels pretty uncomfortable. The lyrics paired with the instrumentals feel like the kind of music you'd vaguely listen to for the feel of it and then tune into the lyrics and awkwardly turn down your radio. Sadly, I can't really uncomfortably turn down the music because the 1001 Album Gods gave me this and I must listen.
The Kinks
4/5
Pretty fun album, can't say I was expecting a harpsichord in most of the songs. My big issue with a lot of the 60s bands on this list is that they all sound exactly the damn same. Quoting a review from this site for a Mamas and the Papas album: "Most 60's groups had three choices: copy the beatles, copy the beach boys, or sexually abuse minors." These guys chose to copy The Beatles, but actually did their own thing with it, and by that I mean they used a harpsichord. Jokes aside, most of these songs are good. I especially like Rosy Won't You Please Come Home and Rainy Day in June. Lots of interesting lines and a fun feel no matter what direction the music itself goes in. Definitely one of the more creative albums of the 60s.
Queen
4/5
This is such a strange album. It has Bohemian Rhapsody and Death on Two Legs on the same album as I'm in Love With My Car. Granted, that's just Queen. They really were never album people, more "produce as much varied music as possible until the public picks something up" people. That something was Bohemian Rhapsody, so this album is 4 stars at a minimum by default. I really like most of the songs on this album, though. The Prophet's Song and '39 are incredibly overlooked and the whole album feels very Queen in every way, sometimes for better, and sometimes for I'm in Love With My Car or God Save the Queen.
Talking Heads
4/5
There's this band called Shellac, no albums on this list for some reason. My favorite thing about them is the time they said that every single song they've ever written was about one of two things: Baseball or Canada. Even if it's an offhand mention of one of them, it always comes back to Baseball and Canada. I really wanted to know if every Talking Heads song was similar, and I even started thinking of ways it would be connected (take Listening Wind being about blowing up a building). I am very sad to announce that very few of these songs are about buildings or food. You should go to Remain in Light if you want songs about buildings, though. Still an amazing album, but if that career-spanning idea came true, it'd be one of the best albums to come out of the 70s, if not, the entire 20th Century.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
My major weakness: One Man, One Guitar. Every damn time. Elliot Smith (kind of), Nick Drake, now this guy. Maybe Springsteen should stick to this and not pop rock. It sounds like he's telling stories around a campfire, really nice feel. Most of the songs are absolutely heartbreaking. Kind of struggling to find words for this album, but it was amazing enough for me to tolerate the Faux-Southern accent. That's saying a lot.
New York Dolls
5/5
I found that my new favorite kind of 70s music is people singing weirdly with funny rock beats. Thank you, 1001 Albums List. I like these guys for the same reasons as a band like Roxy Music, just these guys are a bit more directly punky. The dichotomy of 5 guys in drag makeup screaming and making punk-before-punk style music is the real fun of it. Frankenstein and Subway Train in particular are really fun. Granted, this whole album is really fun, and really good. Really really good. Side note, I would so dress like the guy on the far left.
Violent Femmes
4/5
A review for this album makes me wonder what The Weeknd covering a Violent Femmes song would sound like. Probably awful, but it would at least be funny. Anyways, what a classic album. Never would've guessed this came out in 1983. I really like the singer's voice and the whole thing has a great parody kind of feel to it. Why can't modern incel music be like this?
Deep Purple
4/5
Normally, I only really listen to live albums if they use the base music in a super transformative way. Take Rock Dream by Boris With Merzbow or literally any live Swans album as an example. Ridiculously long solo sections are absolutely enough for me to call this transformative, and it's damn awesome. The minutes-long drum solo in The Mule was particularly awesome. I wanna do that. Really my only issue is how boring the closer is.
Digital Underground
2/5
How are you gonna call an album Sex Packets and then wait until the album's three quarters of the way done to introduce the thing you named the album after? Also, every song on this album is 3 minutes too long, except the two 30 second interludes and the title track. Fun ideas and a somewhat fun delivery, but this album could be cut down to 5 tracks and not lose much.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Much better than the other Jimi Hendrix album I got. This one's really fun and has some truly otherworldly parts. Voodoo Chile is incredible and really justifies its 15-minute runtime. Sometimes the album does just get too drugs for me, much like Are You Experienced. Making this a 2LP means that the drugs guy does what drugs guys do and just wander around sometimes. Still a great album, but the poor guy really should've gotten sober way before the release of this album, then we'd maybe have more than 3.
Jane's Addiction
1/5
What I've learned is that these guys like naked women and just-off-pitch singing. 90% of my issues with this band are the singer, honestly. He's like a slightly higher-pitched and more repetitive Fred Durst with equally as little charm to his vocals. There were a few songs I almost liked before he opened his mouth. The instrumentals aren't really interesting either. I spent a lot of time having them go in one ear and straight out the other. It really doesn't help that every song on the second half of the album is beyond tedious. Just listen to literally any other alt-rock record that came out in 1990.
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
Of all the bands/groups/artists whose biggest song is a cover I've already heard, I never knew Run-D.M.C. was one of them. Apparently their cover of Walk This Way got so big it out-charted the original. Anyways, I love this duo. They're beyond fun at all times and have some wildly entertaining beats to carry their energy even more. Also, their chemistry together. I'd pay someone $15 to find me a group of two people who work better together onstage. All of the passing back and forth inside and between lines is great and adds to the fun even more. If you can't tell, I think this album is incredibly fun, and proof that all rap is improved by real guitars. Bonus points for the saxophone in You Be Illin'.
Al Green
4/5
I love the winds on this, and Al Green has an amazing voice that he uses really well. The songs themselves are pretty basic, but it's pretty hard not to have a good time with it with how damn infectious the whole thing is. The title track is completely out of this world, too.
Beck
4/5
We need more Alt-Rock randomly deciding to not be Alt-Rock for a bit. That's this album. Stays in an Alt-Rock kind of framework but does everything to not completely fit itself in said framework. Some Country here, some Rap there, just random stuff. I love random stuff, so I love this record. Bonus points for the saxophone.
The Vines
3/5
Whoever called this Garage Rock for Britpop fans was onto something. I mean, it's literally Oasis but a little more Garage-y. That being said, I like Britpop, so it's fine. It's not a massively groundbreaking album (again, basically Oasis), but for what it's worth it's a pretty enjoyable album.
Le Tigre
4/5
Interesting to see some Riot Grrrl representation on the list. Good pick, even if it's weird that this was picked over any Bikini Kill album. It has a really good DIY sense to it with all of the really cheap electronic sounds, along with somehow still managing to be pretty dancey. Also I love the singer's vocals, really fun along with the pretty satirical and goofy lyricism of the album.
Little Richard
3/5
This guy's got one hell of a voice, just wish he'd use it for more than singing about a bunch of women falling in love with and/or leaving him. It'd probably be a much better album if I were alive in the late 1950s, but there's only so much 12 Bar Blues I can take in one sitting, and this one's pushing it. I can't be too harsh, though. All of the songs were at least fine, some were pretty good.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
If your song parodying a group of people is picked up by said group of people and becomes their theme song, this means one of two things. Either you're so good at parody that the people you're parodying think it's talking about them positively, or you're so bad at parody that the people you're parodying think it's talking about them positively. Neither option matters. Republicans are too stupid to think critically enough to know that the title track, along with every song on this album, is making fun of them. I guess this is what happens when you ban books instead of reading them. The album's fine, I just really wanted to dedicate this message to the people who voted to fuck over me and the millions of other trans people in the US. Shoutout to Non-Binary people, and Binary Trans people. You guys/gals/others/everythings are cool. All trans people get love, unlike Republicans. They get empty bedrooms and statistically higher divorce rates like they deserve.
Madonna
4/5
I blame Gustavo Cerati for getting me into this exact flavor of electronic music. It's very relaxed, but still has some nice energy to it. Sometimes the sound of the album starts to feel pretty similar, though.
4/5
In terms of Diet Radiohead™, I'm more of a Coldplay fan, but this was surprisingly good given what I've heard about Muse. Citing Depeche Mode and Lightning Bolt as influences was certainly a choice. I hear the Depeche Mode, but definitely not the Lightning Bolt. If they actually combined the two influences and made an overly sexy noise rock album it'd be the easiest 5 stars of my life. Sadly, we do not live in a perfect world. What we got is still a great album, though. Maybe overly derivative, but at least they did enough with it to be their own thing. The Latin influence in City of Delusion and Hoodoo alone is enough to show that.
5/5
Feels like this whole 2LP passed by in an instant, in a good way. I love how clearly passionate about Brazil this guy is, even if he's from the opposite side of the world. It brings a very clear love and intention to making the album and really allows him to break new ground with whatever genre it's trying to Latinize, sounds very Acid Jazzy. For it being effectively a Samba/Bossa Nova album that throws in some electronics, it's very innovative. About as innovative as it is relaxing, very easy to get lost in everything and just let it all go around you. Everything is pretty varied, but it's all excellent.
Todd Rundgren
4/5
The intro game was an interesting idea, and I actually did catch a few things he mentioned in this album, like the hissing sound in a few parts (namely Song of the Viking, albeit very faintly) and a few areas with editing mistakes (also namely Song of the Viking). Maybe it's a ploy to keep me engaged and treat mistakes as something interesting rather than a mistake, but it worked, so I don't care. I'm also absolutely going to start doing this with other older records on the 1001 and on my own time.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Man, these guys did all of the drugs. Songs like You Shook Me or Dazed and Confused sound like it'd be easier to test their alcohol blood level than their blood alcohol level. Still great. I hope I can sing that well when I'm high/drunk. I prefer the more Hard Rock-adjacent sound of Led Zep IV compared to this album, but this is still great, albeit, so very drugs.
Stereo MC's
3/5
Sounds like the kind of music that'd play in a therapist's office lobby, but good. It's still really hard to really tune into and give any kind of opinion on. Nice and relaxing, but not a whole lot past that.
Sade
5/5
Pop in the 80s was just different. Granted, I get my taste in pop from my mom, who grew up with this stuff. This album is proof that I have my mom's taste in pop. I love that really jazz/soul-inspired Pop sound and it's really fun to see bands like The Weather Station reviving it as of recent. Anyways, this album is amazing. Really smooth, really catchy, pretty much everything that makes this genre great. Also, it has Smooth Operator. Enough said on that front. Bonus points for the saxophone, of course.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Why couldn't I have been introduced to Nick Cave through this album instead of Murder Ballads? This is much better. Kind of sounds like it's designed for some weird musical. Granted, I feel the same about Murder Ballads, this just does it better. Anyways, I like the energy of the album. It's a pretty long album but he actually uses the runtime pretty well, never particularly gets boring. Maybe I do like Nick Cave after all.
The Libertines
3/5
I like the guy that called this landfill indie. That about describes it. Not bad, but not really anything, either. The track lengths of every song spontaneously getting cut in half on Side B makes it seem like they really wanted it to be over, or maybe they wanted to cram in as many songs on the back end as possible. Either way, eh.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
You could just tell that this guy was in a creative rough patch when he made this album. He left Genesis and tried to make his own sound, which happened to be 9 different sounds thrown together on a record in the hopes that one of them would stick. For crying out loud, he made a damn Vaudeville tune. It's still early Peter Gabriel, so nearly every song is still great, especially that Vaudeville tune.
Elliott Smith
5/5
I think I prefer this over his stuff with just him and a guitar. I didn't know that this guy had this kind of music in him. I loved the piano songs thrown in there, and the bigger-sounding songs than what he normally makes, and the softer ones, and just this whole album. Even despite the fact that he has an entire backing band in this one, he still manages to make his music sound really intimate like his older stuff. Also, all of his songs have these really interesting chord progressions, I don't really know how to describe it well, but it really makes his already fairly unique sound really come out. Beautiful album.
Scissor Sisters
5/5
It's gay, it's so gay, it's so unfathomably gay, it's so impossibly unfathomably gay. How do you put this amount of 2000s urban gay into one rock record? I'm gay, maybe not the flavor of gay that these guys are, but I'm gay enough to have heard of these guys before getting this on the 1001 list. That being said, this album is almost too gay. For crying out loud, they gay-ified a Pink Floyd song. That's dedication to the gay. I love it. This album deserves to be on a list titled "1001 Albums You Should Listen To Before You Die" literally just so people can understand how gay an album can be. I love this band. I'm gonna spend 3 hours tomorrow ranting to my incredibly gay future husband about how gay this band is and how much I love it. I said gay fifteen times in this review. Divide that by 3 and you get the number of rainbow stars this album gets.
Brian Eno
5/5
I love life. After getting home from one of the most annoying performances I've ever been in, I get to forget about it and listen to ambient music. "As ignorable as it is interesting" was a really good way to describe this album, thanks Wikipedia. Music For Airports is a really bland-sounding idea but it really goees in some excellent directions. I love the repeated piano lick in 1/1, especially.
Kanye West
3/5
Kind of wild how Kanye made some of the absolute best and absolute worst rap music out there. This one lands solidly in the middle. It has some amazing songs, but it also has Runaway and Blame Game. Still probably his best produced album, if nothing else. The majority of the beats on this album are insane. I'd like this album way more if it wasn't totally full of Kanye-isms (i.e. the "I sent this bitch a picture of my dick" verse in Runaway or All of the Lights in its entirety). It's good, but so incredibly overrated.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Add this one to the list of reasons why 1969 was the best year for music. I love the energy of this album and that singer's got one hell of a voice. Makes me want to keep on chooglin' through the rest of this record. speaking of chooglin', it's such a good word. I'm going to put it in my vocabulary to annoy people with later. Anyways, This album's just really fun. All of the shouting and blues and whatnot is fun, the word chooglin' is fun, it's all fun. Say it with me, chooglin'.
The Triffids
4/5
The reviews for this album got me thinking it was going to be bad. It shows its influences a little too much and it's pretty simple, but it's nowhere near bad. Dare I even say that the 85% of people who listened to this album and called it 1-3 stars don't know what good 80s music sounds like. Maybe I just really like music that's violently 80s, but I'm gonna go against the grain and say that this is pretty good. It's pretty fun, really cinematic, and just a really good time.
Paul McCartney and Wings
2/5
A former Beatle tries to sound like The Beatles with a different band. The results are below average. Not even the saxophone bonus points can really do much for this one.
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Kind of weird for an album to be so backloaded. I can only think of a small handful like that. All of the B Sides are incredible, especially his cover of Hallelujah. Can't say the same for Side A. The title track and Mojo Pin are great, but the other 3 on that side leave a lot to be desired. Anyways, talk about a man that really feels what he's singing. I swear he jumps seven octaves whenever the big parts come around. Double anyways, I'm still upset we only got one album from this guy before he died.
The Who
3/5
Feels a lot more straightforward than something like Tommy. I read somewhere (pretty sure it was the Wikipedia article for Live at Leeds but I could be wrong) that the band didn't like the way Tommy sounded, so maybe it's a good thing they switched to this style instead, but I'm just not feeling the sound change as much. Way too much "you did this, you did that, you you you you you" in just about every song. Baba O'Riley is great, but it promises so much more than the rest of the album gives.
Christina Aguilera
4/5
I think I just like 2000/2010s pop when it isn't white people making it. This was excellent, especially the opening and closing few songs. It loses some steam in the middle, but even then it gets it back really quickly. Also her voice is incredible, much like the saxophone bonus points this one gets.
MGMT
4/5
I started understanding why people like this when the album was almost over and now I feel bad for not liking it for the first 25 minutes. It sounds like the kind of music I'd enjoy when I was 14 and into the most Tumblr Gay™ music imaginable while inexplicably being really homophobic, but I'm now non-binary and not really Tumblr Gay™ anymore, just regular gay. That's to say, this is music for closeted 14-year-olds. If you're homophobic and reading this, I know you're probably hiding the fact that you really want to kiss a dude to an MGMT song, and that's okay. I very un-secretly want to as well.
Pulp
5/5
It's like Geordie Greep's The New Sound, just way less mathy and about 30 years earlier. I love that album and I love this one. Albums that parody creepy weirdos by acting like the creepy weirdos are always entertaining. This guy plays the creepy weirdo a little too convincingly, but in a good way. He clearly convinced some people on this site that he's a creepy weirdo. That's the kind of parody we need more of in the music world, parody so good it actually tricks people into thinking it's serious.
Drive-By Truckers
5/5
"...Southern Rock Opera either imagines, or filters, every topic through the context of legendary Southern band Lynyrd Skynyrd." -Wikipedia
Now if that doesn't justify this album being on the list, then nothing will. I can think of about 20 more justifications for this record being here but I'll condense it so I don't stay up all night ranting about rednecks writing about other rednecks. To start, holy hell is this album fun. It's 5 (at least, I think it's 5) guys singing about sociopolitical issues through a story about Lynyrd Skynyrd, of course it's going to be fun. The idea somehow turns out being way more fun than that sentence, though. From all of the violently southern guitar solos to Three Great Alabama Icons as a song, it's so much fun. This album's also very forward-thinking. The singer's trying to redefine the idea of the racist southern guy by being an anti-racist southern guy instead. Lots of songs about racial tensions and one where he straight up says "To the fucking rich man all poor people look the same." I also learned something by listening to this, which is always a positive. I never knew how much George Wallace was to blame for southern stereotypes. Granted, I also had no idea who George Wallace was until about an hour ago. I also didn't know that I needed a southern rock opera in my life, but I'm definitely glad to have listened to this before my death.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Never heard this album in its entirety up until today, but I swear I went through this album like "I know this song, wait I know this one too, wait I heard this one yesterday." For all that, my favorite song of the album was one I've never heard before, Electric Funeral. Anyways, I wasn't expecting 70s metal to be so hard. It feels really reminiscent of modern Doom Metal in some parts. I love Doom Metal, and I also happen to love this album. Obligatory RIP Ozzy Osbourne.
Jack White
1/5
Jack White could be on the right side of The White Stripes breaking up and it could all be Meg's fault, but he makes it so incredibly damn hard to care, let alone take his side. He sounds like he's poorly emulating The Rolling Stones. At least the Stones had some redeeming quality. All this amounts to is piss-poor breakup music, or should I say, a piss-poor attempt at gaslighting paired with annoying amounts of "woe is me". I don't feel bad for this guy in the slightest.
Pere Ubu
4/5
This list really does give you the whole history of Post-Punk through stuff like this. First you get the stuff that started it like Roxy Music, then you get early Post-Punk like this album, and then you get the stuff when the genre became fully established like Talking Heads. I feel like this one is especially a good history lesson that gets written off for being way too experimental for most people. Granted, most of the bottom 25 on this list is in the bottom 25 because it's too experimental for most people. I'm not most people and I love Post-Punk, so this was great. It's a lot messier than most Post-Punk, but that's a part of the fun. Reminds me a lot of No Wave music from around the same time as this album's release like Swans' self-titled EP or No New York.
Mercury Rev
3/5
You could tell me that Opus 40 and Goddess on a Hiway are Flaming Lips songs and I'd probably believe you. This album feels like it's missing something to make it good. Maybe starting with the strings. The synthesized strings this album uses sound off, I guess out of place is more what I'm looking for, but I don't know really how to describe it. Anyways, speaking of The Flaming Lips, this album sounds like it's trying to replicate Clouds Taste Metallic, just replacing a lot of the whimsy with more direct meaning and strings. When it works, it really works, especially on Opus 40, but it doesn't work too often.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
The Rolling Stones, now with 110% more southern influence and saxophones. I feel like this is the best of the 3 Stones albums I've gotten so far, mostly because of how much more Rolling Stones this album is. It really feels like they're letting loose on a lot of these songs and it adds a lot of fun. It also adds a hell of a lot of saxophone bonus points.