I'm pretty familiar with the Pixies, mostly the Doolittle album. This one seemed even weirder, but I can absolutely hear a lot of elements that eventually became Kurt Cobain's take on the Pixies via Nevermind. Where is my mind is the main hit, and it might be the only song off this album I'll continue to have on my playlist. It's easy to forget that this was 1988, and people weren't putting out music like this yet. Pioneers of the alternative genre and one of a handful of bands in that weird little era that bridged the gap from Guns n Roses hair metal to Nirvana grunge. So they've always got my respect. I'll stick to the main hits though, still.

Pretty sweet. Never got too into Iron Maiden so I'm glad this album showed up. Amazing bass player, sometimes doing a little too much in my opinion (specifically on Transylvania). "Iron Maiden", "Running Free", and "Phantom of the Opera" were standouts for me. Definitely hear a lot of Avenged Sevenfold. I can only imagine what people thought when this album dropped, it had to be mind blowing. FYI I have always thought Eddie was cool as fuck. If you know, you know.

Many point to this as the very first heavy metal album so this is a pretty pivotal moment in music history. I went through a decent Black Sabbath phase a few years ago, and I think they have a lot better stuff - specifically the Paranoid and Master of Reality albums. But I do get why this album is so important and essential. I really enjoy N.I.B. but the album also feels like a lot of filler and drawn out jamming. Crazy to think of what Ozzie Osbourne would amount to after this. Hoping those two albums pop up in the future.

I dont know what got me into The Cars as a kid, but I've always been a fan. Catchy melodies but oddly unique compared to everything else on KSHE 95. I hear so much Weezer in this. Pretty sure The Cars were a big inspiration to Rivers Cuomo so that makes sense to me. Just looked it up, and Ric Ocasek (singer) was a notable record producer for famous bands like Weezer, No Doubt, and many more so it's cool that he's got his fingerprints on so many notable pieces of music history. Big fan.

I can't think of anyone I would ever recommend this to. I feel like whatever this is had already been done way better prior to 1996 and way better after 1996. Wikipedia says a lot of the techniques used were groundbreaking and still used today, but sampling was used prior to this so I don't get it. Doesn't feel like it was very groundbreaking. Ambient filler music that you probably need to be stoned for. Fun fact - was not stoned for this. Did not enjoy.

What can I say except that they're the f'n Beatles, man? First time listening all the way through this album, and I loved it. Great Friday morning album. Loved the run from Sun King through Golden Slumbers where I couldn't tell where each song ended or started. I Want You sees The Beatles at their heaviest, and it's beautiful. They revolutionized songwriting and the sounds of music in such a short span of time, and this entire album exemplifies that. If you aren't listening to "Here comes the sun" and "Come Together" on the radio, I'd recommend listening to the entire album front to back any time. Highly recommend.

It wasn't bad. Sweet album cover. I've always had an odd thought process with Blur. I think Damon (singer/main writer) is a pompous asshat, but he's also a creative genius. Song 2 is my favorite track by them, but the whole song was meant as a joke to stereotypical rock radio hits. It's also not on this album. London Loves, Tracy Jacks, Jubilee, and This is a Low were the standouts for me. I appreciated the variety of instruments throughout the album. The album felt experimental, large, and daring. It still blows my mind that these guys were just as big as Oasis in the 90's in the UK. This isn't a band that strikes me as someone capable of doing that. But still, it eventually led to the Gorillaz, so I'll give it that.

Why have I never heard of these guys before? Within 30 seconds, I went from "ah man, not gonna like this" to "holy shit, this chick can sing". I loved hearing this album for the first time. Passionate, emotional, politically driven, and angry. I'm guessing this had a major influence on evanescence, flyleaf, etc. "On my hotel TV" reminds me of Rage against the machine and is probably my favorite track, but I enjoyed all of them. I also maybe hear some influence by In Living Color. Also, maybe Tracy Chapman? "We don't need who you think you are" and "Tracy's Flaw" were right up there as favorites, too. The album has multiple radio friendly hits - I'm so baffled how these guys aren't/weren't massive. Great listen from front to back. I'll definitely check out their other stuff now.

Van Morrison rocks. This album caught me at the perfect time. Had me in a great mood on my commute and morning coffee. Makes me want to cook breakfast on a Sunday morning and dance with someone in the kitchen. Highly recommend.

I've got mixed feelings on this. I enjoyed some of it, very chill. It was not the right album to wake up to and hit the gym with, so I listened to maybe the last 75% after while I had my coffee. I enjoyed it way more at that point. "Lying in the snow" was like the Beatles meeting Beach House. I really liked it. Overall, not exactly my style, but I can appreciate it. The back half was better than the front. Not bad for the summer. Probably not bad with hallucinogenics, either.

One of the original punk rockers. When reading the book "Please Kill Me", I got to learn a lot about Patti Smith. Seems like a total junkie, and I don't really get the hype. The first song or two were decent, and then it drops off into that weird 60's velvet underground sound for me. It's just not for me, but it did help move punk rock into a golden age not much longer after this so I can appreciate it in that regard.

It's a solid R&B album. It made me way too sad though haha that's the blues, baby. Not something I'm going to seek out again. "Cry to me" was super familiar, but I can't tell if I've heard the song before or the melody was ripped off by someone else.

I've never given Arcade Fire a fair shake and have always wondered what the hype was. This album definitely made me a fan. This type of music has definitely infiltrated my daily vibes in the last 9 months so I'm glad I'm hearing this now instead of 2010 when this came out. 13 year old Jake would have hated this. 27 year old Jake can really appreciate this. It still feels very modern and ages well. It reminds me of The Killers, Young The Giant, MGMT, and The Revivalists. I really enjoyed it and will probably listen to this album multiple times in the future along with their other albums.

Super interesting album. I was really into the front side, but an hour long really wore on me. I bet this was insane to hear when this dropped in 1996. The instrumentals are amazing, the vocals are perfect at times. I'm glad I listened to this, but I'm not sure how often I'll go back to this. If I do, it'll be a track or two from the front half.

Unpopular opinion - Every Beach Boys song sounds just like the one before it. I don't know what I'm missing. It's not the worst song I've ever heard, but it's not really special either. I saw a quote yesterday saying "It's not that the Beatles were better than The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson was just outnumbered" and I just don't get it. It's good clean family-friendly fun, but it's surface-level cheese, too. Stuff that preppy white boys played to try and kiss a girl after 9 pm on a Saturday night. Lame. I'll take The Beach Boys in a small doses, but even this 27 minute album was too much. I thought that about their Pet Sounds album as well in the past. Give me one Beach Boys song at a pool, and I'll give it 5 stars. Give me a full album, and you get this 2 star review.

These guys just won't go away. I'll admit that I enjoyed this album more than the last one. "Wouldn't it be nice" is definitely my favorite Beach Boys song so it was great to kick things off with. Pet Sounds was able to make it further into the album before getting tiresome of the same exact sound/song. It feels more mature than prior albums. Overall not too shabby, and I can see how the mixing approaches and experimenting led to some new developments for the Beatles.