They're a tight rocking band. As far as early Kings of Leon go, this feels a lot less memorable and lasting than Aha Heartbreak though.
Wanted to give this five stars. Clearly an amazing work. A little too rambling and lengthy for my taste.
This band is much better than Incubus, despite not having a guy who just does turntable scratching.
The ultimate 3 star band. Why do people treat Oasis reuniting like a second coming when Third Eye Blind has been kicking it non stop this whole time?
It was implied to me that if I did not rate this five stars, I would be kicked out of the group. Fortunately, it is in fact a five star album.
A masterpiece. Although my least favorite of the three album run of Lightning - Puppets - Justice - it's still OBVIOUSLY a five star album. So much unparalleled riffage in a five year period from a group of drunk guys in their 20s. Still can't wrap my mind around that. Their last great album.
Impressive album, all I knew was Common People, which is a banger. Yet I reserve 4 stars and above for an album that I would willingly put on its entirety in the future, and I'm struggling to think of a future scenario in which I would put on an hour of (what I think is?) snarky British pop taking very deep jabs at people I know nothing about.
So 70s rock critics trashed Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd albums but thought this was the shit? Da fuq. Would say its a snoozer but hard to snooze when he's yelling atonally like that.
Shit Sandwich.
(Sorry. I won't repeat this.)
Listen man, I GET IT. Okay, maybe I don't. But I do think there should be more songs about metrocards.
Not as epic as their very-shortly-thereafter follow-up album, but all the parts of a legendary band are there, and mind blowing that they apparently recorded and mixed all of this in 2 days.
Sentimentality, Knopfler's singular guitar stylings, some fretless bass, and my West-Wing-influenced love for the title song help this album rise above the slog of some of these songs to a generous four star rating.
I know it's a little cheesy and boring at times, but I'm a little cheesy and boring at times.
Well, that was intense. It felt like a marathon to get through it, but as I listened I could imagine myself coming back to this album through life, and it feels singular in its atmosphere and its purpose. I even had a dream about it, which has not happened with any Kings of Leons albums.
A $2.99 used rack classic.
Confirming that if I haven't become a Smiths fan by this point in my life, it probably just ain't gonna happen. I enjoy the "hits" but otherwise Morrissey can save that drama for his mama.
I love that Judas Priest exists as a band. Distinct sound, epic look, killer guitars. But it all feels a little on the silly side of metal compared to Sabbath, Metallica, Maiden, etc. And lets face it those bands are not exactly unsilly.
The guitars and bass are damn impressive. The whole package not so much to me. But glad this exists.
The first couple songs were CD 101 (Columbus Ohio's once amazing and now defunct alternative radio station for which I am very indebted for my musical tastes) classics in the 90s. The rest of the album feels pretty boring to me.
It was a solid, solid album. Glad to be familiar with Paul Weller a bit. I feel like a bit of an ass giving this 3 stars and, say, Nick of Time 4 stars, but for these straight ahead guitar-based pop/rock songs, I just don't think I'd come back to this without some earlier life connection to it. Good on the UK for making Paul Weller a beloved star.
My Ramones era was mostly dominated by the various compilation albums - Mania and All the Stuff and More albums - which included every song on this album. It's big and dumb and I love it. In 1992 the Ramones were on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno playing Censorshit (I think). Around that time, I wanted to go see them in concert with Motorhead at the Newport Music Hall which was only a 1500 person club - amazing in retrospect when you think of how legendary those bands have become since then. My grandmother was for some reason watching the Tonight Show with me and after she saw the Ramones, she said "I'll pay you not to go see them." Good memory. I did not see them, because no chaperone type figure was interested in taking me to Ramones and Motorhead. All of our loss.
So I know this is blasphemy and will assure my blacklisting from the hepcat record club, but this...sucks. Some interesting early electronic sounds but tuneless and can't deal with an extremely morose "singer" who makes Bob Dylan sound like Luther Vandross. The 70s seemed like a rough time to be into alternative rock.
I agree with my colleague Mr. Ryan, particularly how much better in all ways that Public Enemy was at this same time. Also sorry can't get down with the incel-level misogyny then or now. My older brother and his friends were into all this stuff back then and now they all have Trump flags.
Five stars for Flea, John Frusciante, and Chad Smith. Unfortunately, when you mix manure and ice cream, it doesn't really affect the manure but it does affect the ice cream. On the not so bright side, not sure why this was 2.5 times as long as classic Van Halen album.
This is the kind of album where I give it five stars, then some people be like OF COURSE you gave that five stars, and then I'm like yeah no shit I just gave it five stars. I prefer Seven Swans and Carrie and Lowell and I tend to be sparing on how much emo guy folky music I allow into my life, but as far as that stuff goes, this is primo.
A real QFM 96.3 classic here (Daddy Wags in the house). Thank you Ritchie Blackmore for your immortal contribution to beginner electric guitar lessons for dirtbag teenagers for over half a century now. Take it sleazy.
Think I got this CD when I was 19 in the last hurrah of Columbia House / BMG and had it for about 20 years. In that time I never listened to it all the way through. I realize now why not. Blowin' in the Wind, Girl From the North Country, and Don't Think Twice, It's All Right still hum for me. Mainly as I listened to it I developed a further appreciation for Timothy Chalamet's performance - although I still haven't made it all the way through that either.
I can safely say I've never listened to this much Duke Ellington continuously. Appreciate the history lesson, and very cool to be transported to a pre-rock-n-roll time where joyously yelling at jazz musicians was how you got your ya-yas out.
I listened to a fair amount of Ozzy solo in my youth, he was hard to avoid when you subscribed to multiple guitar magazines in the early 90s. Black Sabbath not so much, and I'm now wondering why their music was not played on the classic rock and hard rock stations, outside of Iron Man every once in a while. Also for some reason I thought Changes was an Ozzy song from the 80s/90s this whole time. This stuff is great.
Okay fine yes the Smiths are good, at least on this album. Morrissey has always been more of a meme to me than a musician, but yeah I GET IT. Some girls' mothers are bigger than other girls' mothers is indeed a lyric for which I must pay props.
I remember buying this CD with a Circuit City gift card around 2004. I must have listened to it quite a bit because I knew every song on here. Hadn't thought about this album in a long time, but it's damn near perfect.
Bjork is great. Fascinated to learn she put out an album when she was 11. I did love the last song, and Human Behavior was definitely an MTV staple of yesteryear, but chilling out to an album of Bjork just makes me nervous, bro.
Very solid. Totally new to me. Although I kept feeling like they sounded like a local band from Ohio or something that never made it big. Or like the soundtrack to a movie about a fictional rock band. Perhaps the vocals are just too musical theater for me. Or perhaps I don't have room in my heart for 90s rock bands for which I don't have a previous attachment. Further proof to me that this list is 1001 albums to listen to before you die as selected by an elder Gen X London hipster. But I'm going with it.
I love Fleetwood Mac but this feels coke-bloated. It's mostly solid, but can't say there's one song on here that really feels like a classic to me. It's like a Use Your Illusion without a November Rain.
Uhhhhhhhh....some of the bass lines were very cool. The album cover was also cool. Otherwise this sounds like open mic night at a coffeehouse in Venice Beach. What am I missing here folks?
I know people like Michael Stipe and Robert Smith were very inspired by Patti Smith and that's totes cool but Patti Smith mostly reminds me of a woman that worked with me at Pizza Hut in 1996 in Delaware, Ohio who did not like me and also scared the shit out of me.
Some obvious 5 star classics on here and some very good stuff that I didn't remember all that well from when I owned this album - e.g. Flip Flop Rock and Prototype - but man I can't condone an artist putting out a 135 minute album of two completely different solo albums with so much in the way of detour bordering on absolute frolic. As a 45 minute album of choice cuts, this is a clear five star album. I don't make the rules on how I rate these. Okay fine I do.
Very pleasantly surprised by the consistency and musicianship of this one. Had not heard this album before other than Brass In Pocket. Feels more similar to the Police than I was expecting. I googled to see if anyone had noticed the similarity between the opening guitar riff in Up the Neck to Def Leppard's Photograph. No one had. But they are for at least the first five notes.
Make fun all you want of the Dark Side of the Moon of CDs sold at Starbucks, but this is some smooth-ass shit and worthy of its accolades. Reminds me of a kinder, gentler nation.
Probably my favorite country album ever. Right in Time, 2 Kool to Be 4-gotten, Metal Firecracker, I Lost It, Drunken Angel are all perfect songs, and the rest of the album is pretty great too. Amazing voice, songwriting and guitar work. Need to get this on vinyl.
Radiohead is obviously a great band, The Bends is a 5 star album that to me is their best. This is pretty great too with some great songs, particularly Karma Police and Let Down. But I cannot abide the paranoia, which has since seemed to become Radiohead's whole brand. I know it might be a bit lame to say, but I do have this weird take that music should be fun and/or meet and comfort you in your lows, not make you feel exponentially and existentially worse. There are some great songs here that are buried in musical gloom, i.e. Climbing Up the Walls. Check out The Easy Dub All Stars cover version of this record, which is a 5 star album that matches the great songs on here with music that make you feel good rather than suicidal.
I think this is the first time I've listened to a Billy Joel album, much less one all the way through. I've always thought of him as Bruce Springsteen for dorks. I think I still feel that way. I get that Billy Joel is a legend, and I don't disagree, but we strictly do 80s Joel music, sir!
Just when I thought this list might be making me a Smiths fan - it certainly is trying with 3 of the first 43 entries being Smiths albums - this album came along and confirmed my prior stereotype that it's an alright band with one guy just kind of free associating in key.
This was pretty great. Being an avid subscriber of multiple guitar magazines in the early 90s, the specter of Jimi Hendrix was unavoidable, and rightly so. Very much a one of a kind and rightly holds the mantle of GOAT guitar hero. Can't help but wonder what strange and mysterious music he would have created if he stayed off the drugs. Had never listened to this entire album, and some stuff on here I'd never heard. Sounds decidedly less cheesy and dated than other late 60s rock albums that pop up on here, e.g. Jefferson Airplane. All that said, not all of it really translates to me in 2025 and some falls flat, but I'm the problem, not Jimi.
This was a little better than I thought it was going to be. Hadn't thought about Frozen and The Power of Good-Bye in decades so those were interesting sense memories. It's a fine album but let's not pretend it compares with her classic 80's output. I have to deduct a star because listening to this I was reminded of how when I was 15 in 1993 my friend and I were thrilled the box office girl sold us tickets to Body of Evidence thinking we were going to get all your 15 year old boy ya-yas out only to be subjected to the most boring movie I have ever seen. #neverforget
I'm getting pretty used to being disappointed by albums from the 60s on this list which sound dated and cheesy to me. This is pretty brilliant from start to finish. Hazy Shade of Winter - which like a good Gen X'er I associate with the Bangles - is underrated and amazing. I'm still not exactly sure what Art Garfunkel brought to the table, but it's undeniable that Simon and Garfunkel's music is so much more iconic than a lot of Paul Simon's later solo work.
Call it full-on middle age manhood, but I've found I cannot resist these classic 50s crooner records. The songwriting, the arrangements, the voices, it's like butt-ah to quote my dear friend Linda Richman. This one feels particularly perfect. And even though I kind of know Sinatra was like not a good guy, and that stuff often does get in the way of enjoying an artist for me, doesn't seem to matter here.
Definitely appreciate that Dire Straits is a one-of-a-kind band mixing a very specific kind of guitar virtuososity (and without distortion!) with thoughtful lyrics, songwriting, and an easy going almost yacht rock vibe, all with Dylan-esque vocals. I have a feeling Making Movies won't be on this list, but I think Romeo and Juliet stands as the best Dire Straits song. That said, it's a little repetitive for me and Dylan-esque is not really what I treasure in vocals.
We have a huge shortage of skilled nurses and yet we've got way too many people putting out albums like this.
Solid gold. Since Covid I've found so much of the music I used to find painfully boring in my younger years - Steely Dan, Frank Sinatra, hell even Bonnie Raitt - to be really interesting and entertaining. Sade is definitely one of those artists. (I still find Anita Baker boring, sorry Anita Baker). Smooth Operator as the opening song on a debut album is a Welcome To the Jungle level shot across the bow. So many of these albums are chores to get through and this is one where I was surprised and disappointed it was over. Also I appreciate a band where the name of the band is also the name of the singer. I'm going to write to the Band Name Bureau to see if I can get a full list of such bands.
There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again. Now let's order some pizzas, throw down some brews, and play Baba O'Riley on repeat.
A classic of my youth. I've listened to so many times in my life that it's hard to fully appreciate it anew, but still undeniable. Stairway and Black Dog were naturally some of the first songs I learned on guitar. Going to California still slays. Side B kind of slows down for me, and Houses of the Holy is still my favorite album to get the Led out, but c'mon people Stairway alone makes this a five-star album.
I would say that the lyrics are beyond ponderous, but considering the lead singer was 19, still way less ponderous than what I would have written (and did in fact write) at that age. Randy California is also an incontrovertibly fun name and I'm sad that there is not a guy named Randy California still around. His name alone gives this an extra star.
All these late 2000s bands named after animals and none of them had the cajones to actually dress up like the animals they claimed to be. Making whiny music doesn't make you an animal, it makes you a whiner. Speaking of which keep your eyes open for the hopefully late 2025 release of "Lighthouse" the debut album by Ghost Tyger & Friends which has a singer who does goes to the nines in dressing up like a tiger and does very little whining because REAL ANIMALS DON'T WHINE.
80 minutes of Zeppelin deep cuts and Kashmir works for me. Bron-Yr-Aur is beautiful - I remember getting the tab for that in a guitar magazine long before I heard the song and even with my imperfect playing it was great just based on the sheet music. Some slogs for sure but they are solid slogs.
My band when I was 22 was called Last Arcade and we did a cover of Salt of the Earth and one time a local alternative weekly music reviewer in Columbus OH saw us and told me he was going to put our live version of that song in his "top 10" of the year. He didn't specify what category of top 10 that it was going to go into nor did he actually ever mention us in any top 10 lists, but he was right in the moment that we fucking rocked that song. I owned this album at the time and listened to it a fair amount. The Rolling Stones are not my thing, but if any of their albums is my thing, I guess its this one.
Are we as a society ready to have an honest discussion regarding whether CCR was the Nickelback of the late 1960s?
Not only did this album give me a headache, but it also made me feel like I can no longer in good faith wear my "Hanspeter Kunzler Was Right About Everything" hat. I think it was probably a good thing it was in French though.
Before this list, I never listened to a full RHCP album. And I've learned that basically every RHCP song that isn't played a billion times a year (which they still do on Los Angeles radio) is like, uh, how do I put this, not good. As with my review of BSSM, the bass, guitars, and drums are five stars and those guys seem cool. But Anthony Kiedis is now confirmed for me as the singularly most annoying singer in all of rock, on every level.
I was psyched when I saw that this album had a very cool title, but was bummed when the music was kind of repetitive and tuneless.
Public Enemy was the high water mark of hip-hop to me - perhaps not surprising for a 48-year-old liberal-ish white guy from Ohio into rock/alternative. Don't think I ever owned an album but the singles on MTV (cuz I certainly wasn't hearing it on the radio) from this era are all classics. Definitely hyper-of-the-moment which does for me affect its longevity but great stuff.
Never listened to this whole album (or any other whole Cyndi Lauper album) and I did not realize how stacked this album was, especially for a debut album. Those first six songs are relentless. Time After Time is pure gold. And I have a deep deep-cut fondness for When You Were Mine and Money Changes Everything. I feel like there is another memorable song in there at the beginning but it's not coming to mind. The last third is forgettable but I'm hard pressed to think of many better Side 1's than this.
I was majorly into The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed circa 18 years old. Even spent what was probably an entire paycheck to buy the Peel Slowly and See boxset. I remember having a crush on a girl I worked with at the grocery store and lending her this cassette. I don't think she was that impressed. Looking back I'm wondering if I truly was that into The Velvet Underground or whether I was just being pretentious. Probably both. But listening to this for the first time in maybe 30 years I knew every word except for the long song where they just talk into both sides of the mix. Jesus is still a standout on all levels and I'm not sure why that song is not talked about more in the Velvet Underground canon. Also justice for Doug Yule, that guy was doing some heavy lifting here. Rounding up for nostalgia.
This is the worst edition of Guitar Hero yet. I think about how Led Zeppelin and Hendrix and Black Sabbath already existed at this time, but I guess the appetite was for more? Fun fact, Christopher Cross filled in for Ritchie Blackmore at Deep Purple's first US concert in 1970 which I presume was for this album. If this album is on here but Sailing isn't then I would like to speak with the manager.
Unlike a lot of his 1950s early rock n roll pioneer peers (sorry Buddy Holly heads), this is still listenable and enjoyable. Don't know if its the myth or the raw talent that makes it so. Makes me want to close the laptop, get into the car, and drive into the country.
Yeah the last half drags a bit, but this is a masterpiece. Plain Song, Pictures of You, Love Song, Fascination Street are all pretty perfect. Robert Smith is a genius. The Cure's finest album.
There's a guy on Instagram who makes videos slightly parodying artists under the names of e.g. "What Pearl Jam Sounds Like to People Who Don't Like Pearl Jam" or "What The White Stripes Sounds Like to People Who Don't Like The White Stripes". That's what a lot of this sounded like to me. And yet at the end I was left with the question, wait, do I like The White Stripes? Although given that none of the huge "hits" were on this, now I'm a little nervous that every White Stripes album is going to be on here.
I kept starting this over after realizing I had listened to the whole album and the Spotify algorithm had taken me to more Miles Davis. I wasn't as familiar with this as with Kind of Blue, which is a go-to. Honestly I couldn't tell you the names of any songs on either album, but I know that I like it.
I was not particularly happy to see a Bob Dylan double album as my work for the day, but then I was surprisingly into it. But then an 11 minute song was at the end and I was not into it. I'm glad I'm old enough to both not pretend to be into Bob Dylan but also to kind of get it at times. Would have been 4 stars but for the 11 minute frolic.
Opening song built off Can't Help Falling in Love was pretty cool. The rest kind of sounds like the music that people who don't like music would put on when they have friends over and feel like they're should be music playing. And I think that's fine. Also I'm noticing a trend by which the list-maker has a real inability to resist albums that end with mediocre songs that go on forever.
This is a band - well the band - I used to think that I loved in my early 20s and was worried that it would sound super boring, so was pleasantly surprised that it was almost as good as I made them out to be in the old days. My roommate at the time was a manager at Blockbuster and got a free DVD player (this being 1999, this was a big deal) and The Last Waltz was an early release. Felt like I was in a movie theater watching it on a 27 inch 4:3 TV.
Today's music ain't got the same soul
I like that old time rock and roll
It's all pleasant and admirable enough, but are we really not going to collectively admit that this band is basically the same 2 or 3 songs over and over? Rounding up for Ohio pride.
Pure gold. I've listened to a lot of Bob Marley in my time and yet I feel like I haven't listened to Bob Marley nearly enough. Most artists are, obviously, known by their greatest hits, and it seems he is a rather extreme example (I saw his greatest hits album has sold 18 million copies in the US but none of his regular releases have gone platinum) so really good to hear the deep cuts.
The older I get, the more I feel like creating an album that makes you feel anxious (i.e. this) is easy, but creating an album that makes you feel good (i.e. 1984) is hard. But like with the movies, the existential dramas get the critical love. I'm good.
I know I just wrote a review of In Rainbows dissing anxiety-inducing records, but the critical difference here is that The Cure kicks ass and so does this album.
I bought this on vinyl in my early 20s (for probably $2) and don't think I ever listened to more than one side. I can see why. But middle-aged me gets it, man. Willie's voice and guitar playing are slight but pretty perfect.
Wow I did not know this album was so weird and long once you get past the singles. Little Red Corvette is one of the tightest songs ever so I was not prepared for one 9-minute song after another devoid of a lot of hooks. But still entertaining and fascinating. I can't believe a label let Prince put those last three songs on there (International Lover is something else) but clearly Prince knew what he was doing.
I suppose it's my age and background, but hip hop has never sounded so good and important as it does on this album. In fairness, I think rock and pop from the mid to late 80s is also the greatest thing ever. Why is there no Public Enemy movie?
It's a fine line between clever and stupid, but this is not close to that line. I like to think that if I was a teenager in the late 60s that I would have not been into this, but I probably would have been.
Big Neil Young fan here. But his discography is among the most exhausting in all of rock-dom. After the Gold Rush, Harvest, and Freedom are definitely all top 100 albums for me, with After the Gold Rush being top 10. But he's put a whole lot of absolute junk out there. Smart of him to put out Decade to help separate out the wheat from the chaff in the 1970s. Had not listened to this whole album before. It was better than I thought it would be. And it encourages me to go back to some of these deep cut albums. Which I might regret.
Fun stuff. Who knew one album would provide David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer with their biggest solo hits decades later. Gave me a reason to ponder the late 90s swing era, what was that all about? But it seems we're do for another one in the next decade?
Neil Young is a top ten artist for me, and in early high school was top 3. My first exposure to him was seeing him on Farm Aid one lonely junior high Saturday night playing Mother Earth, just him and a mega distorted guitar (I believe the guitar on this album is recorded from that show with the vocals overdubbed). Fucking blown away - I didn't know you were allowed to be an unattractive middle aged guy blasting out a slow song on solo electric guitar with that much distortion and no backing band. I think this was my first Neil Young album but found most of it boring and didn't think about him for a while. About a year later I saw that Weld came out (which was the live album from this tour) and it was mentioned in Guitar World in connection with Nirvana and Pearl Jam whose albums had just came out, and I got Weld and was off to the races. I still find this kind of boring, but less so than back then. Rounding up for sentimental reasons.
My heavens that was dumb. And yet so demanding of my attention. I see on Wikipedia they were critically assessed as "a trio of buffoons" around this time, and that tracks. I do appreciate the audacity of Teacher's Pet even if I do not condone it.
Very pleasantly surprised by this. Was a bit of a BB-hater since being forced to listen to Intergalactic - which I did not care for - by local Columbus radio every 30 minutes for a few months around the turn of the millenium. The music is great, these guys can play and compose. Definnitely the best Beastie Boys I've heard.
Two pleasant surprises in a row after being accustomed to being unpleasantly surprised by the deep unpleasance of full albums of artists that I was never that into (ie RHCP, Motorhead). Not necessarily something I'd put on the old turntable but if I were the kind of person that went to gyms where they blare music, this is better than 90% of what they play.
I always find Beck clever and agreeable. But it tends to lack meaning or emotional attachment for me at times. I don't know if that's the lyrics or the way he delivers them. This album is one of those times. But you keep being you Beck, I'm glad you're out there.
Of the monster selling albums of 1987, perhaps the greatest year for albums ever - Joshua Tree, Slippery When Wet, Hysteria, Whitney, Dirty Dancing, etc - this one was never really on my radar. Because I didn't work at a gas station while I also attended high school. And I'm a f'ing romantic. But even still the videos for No Sleep and Fight For Your Right did bust into my suburban home just as they were intended. In retrospect I realize this was probably even worse than the nay-sayers warned and also that we all should have chilled out. That said, I'm good on the Beastie Boys for a while.
I had a copy of this CD when it came out as a result of working in a record store and reading the music press. Couldn't get through it then. Obviously talented but a little too mumbly and morose for me in 2025. The underlying instrumentation is the best part.
I appreciate how short that was, which is the thing I like most about hardcore punk like this. Godspeed, young punks.
Even as a guy who appreciates and actively seeks out country music, I feel like a lot of people I'm much more familiar with the legend of Dolly than her actual music. Well this was pretty perfect and worthy of her image as a living saint. Here I Am is epic.
This album came out during the worst few months of my life, going through a divorce and life on my own and extremely stressful work situation - and this album and Neon Bible were there for me in a very very deep way. Even then I skipped through a lot of the sloggier songs, but Sprawl II, We Used to Wait, Ready to Start, Modern Man (and Intervention in particular from Neon Bible) were handrails in the dark.
If there is one common theme to this list, it's that some bands that had a couple hits here in the US have been ruling in the charts in the UK for decades. I did not know. I love me some greatest hits UB40, and Red Red Wine is a sleeper karaoke hit that even non singers can nail, so that's something to be celebrated. I really liked this and makes me want to explore more of the catalogue, but kind of dull as well at parts.
One of my proudest record store moments was buying Where You Been - I think in the very final days of the CD long box - after school from the very incongruous hipster record store existing in an alley in my extremely whitebread suburb and the owner giving me huge props for my choice. I feel like I spent a lot of minimum wage money on CDs partly to get his approval. That album was great. This is like an audition tape for that album. The guitar is unmistakeable and I am a big fan of singular guitar heroes of which J Mascis is one. Also I share the same first initial and a pretty similar last name to J Mascis and at a NYC law firm interview in 2005 the interviewer was hoping I might be him. Which is pretty unusual for an NYC biglaw partner to think.
A very pleasant surprise from a band I've never heard of. This could have been generic riffage but it was not. The riffage was in fact prime. And the vocals and melodies top notch. Probably not something I'd add to the rotation but I'm glad I know Skunk Anansie.
I noticed this album was released August 27, 1991 which is probably to the day that I started high school - which is incredibly fitting. I never actually owned this album but I didn't need to as it was ubiquitous. Honestly, it's even better than I remember it. And in retrospect kind of funny that they were lumped in with Nirvana. It makes sense somewhat as they kind of dressed alike, were both from Seattle, and lyrically were a total 180 from the hair metal (which I loved) that still dominated MTV until right around this time. But Pearl Jam were just incredible f'ing musicians - Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard are beasts - and this album is absolutely arena rock for the 90s. Glad to take this ride again, and I think Black is up there as one of the best songs of the 90s.
Never listened to this whole album before. In a way it's kind of simplistic, but it's also a totally unique and fun sound that goes down easy and doesn't overstay its welcome. Billy Gibbons is appreciated but I would say underappreciated as a guitarist, not sure if he invented the pinch harmonic but I think safe to say he popularized it in rock music. Would definitely pick this up on vinyl.
A very good and welcome introduction to Femi Kuti. The bass playing was fire. I may start using "Plenty Nonsense" as an instagram story soundtrack given the appropriateness to these times.
I was familiar with John Martyn only through the song Sweet Little Mystery which is an amazing underappreciated gem. This is really great, kind of a dark, slightly trippy yacht rock. I feel like on repeat listenings this could go up to 5 stars.
I was excited to see this as the selection - I recall liking The Cult in their quasi hair metal days of Fire Woman and Sweet Soul Sister only to find out later they were proto-alternative mainstays on the local alternative rock station. Unfortunately this album sucked.
This is not my favorite album of Pixies songs, although Dig for Fire is a highlight for me. That said, the Pixies with their distinctive sound, surrealism, and characters are like a comfort sitcom for me - Mork and Mindy if you will? - and I am always down for the show.
What a seismic change to rock n roll this must have been, and a lot of it shines through still today, but the four Zeppelin albums that followed this were just such undeniable 5-star classics, and this feels like more of a pitch for what was to come. Definitely brings back some Columbus Ohio QFM 96.3 sense memories listening to this all the way through.
Several times while I was listening to this I actually completely forgot I was listening to this, which bumps this up a star.
I don't understand what they mean
And I could really give a f*ck
When I started this project I saved 4 stars and higher for albums that I would voluntarily put on again because I dug them so much. But now I've got a lot of albums to listen to with new ones coming every day. I've changed my mind. This was really something special and I'm probably never going to listen to it again and that's just fine.
Generally I'm highly suspect of bands named after the guitar player (or anyone besides the singer) unless you're Van Halen which gets a pass because: 1) Eddie Van Halen is basically the greatest guitar player ever; 2) 1/2 of the band had the last name Van Halen; and 3) it's just a sick name for a band. So I've never been really been sure what to do with the Santanas of the world and I of course lived through the Supernatural era and indeed worked in a record store in 1999-2000 where that was the only consistent seller that year besides Enimem's second album, and it was weird how much Rob Thomas was involved with that. Anyway, this was absolutely great and I need to relax and go with the Santana flow.
This was fantastic. I don't have enough Salsa in my life. And I like the disco element.
I feel lame that I think that the song he did with Mumford and Sons is one of the best songs of the last decade, while also thinking this was very repetitive and not that interesting to me. I assume it's a language barrier thing. Sorry for being so basic.
Perhaps the finest rock album to ever come out of Ohio. What Jail is Like is an all-time fav. I'm vaguely aware that Greg Dulli is unliked personally for some reason, but I totally dig their 90s output and feel like they never got the respect they deserved. I can only assume this is because people are jealous of Ohio and hating on the Afghan Whigs is the only way they know how to express that.
It is rather schmaltzy but if anyone enjoys some well done schmaltz I think it's me. Who have I become. This is a fascinating album historically and I know because I watched all 16 hours of the Ken Burns Country Music documentary. AMA.
Never listened to this whole album before despite being a big Petty fan - as debuts go, it's not exactly Appetite for Destruction or Ramones, but it's pretty damn good. We all need more Tom Petty in our lives.
I am living proof that being in your very early 20s at the same time Fatboy Slim was hitting big whilst totally totally ignoring Fatboy Slim will not seriously impair your future. Praise You is good though.
This album went on and on and on. I don't know man. I want to give this 4 stars because I enjoy and admire the intricacy and onslaught of it all in one way, but the fact it took me four days to get through this and it all just kind of blended together by the end makes me feel like I should not do that.
5 stars on the pretentious band name scale. Music itself started as a 3 and finished at a nice cool 2. Sounds like a lot of other British new wave bands, but without songs that sound like hits?
Some totes fine jazz! I will never disrepect the jazz flute. Why this album is on this list and not on the playlist of the lobby of an upscale independent living facility is for someone smarter than me to answer.
I love California, it's my home and my favorite place in the world. And given that I spent almost all of the first 34 years of my life in the gray of Ohio and the slush of NYC, California Dreaming to me is the greatest song ever written about California. Otherwise this is some dated stuff.
Don't think I've ever listened to the whole thing all the way through - honestly I think this is right up there with Thriller and Bad, which are both masterpieces. And I actually enjoy that it's more specifically within a single genre rather than those sprawling albums. MJ the man is complicated to put it very mildly, but this is basically a perfect album.
When I saw this pop up I was like, okay I've never really listened to the Hives. Then I squinted and also realized I've never really (at all?) listened to the Vines. I guess it makes sense that this is what rock critics at the turn of the century thought was a return to rock n roll. Seems all around pretty basic to me.
This did feel a little more maudlin and draggy than I was expecting but can't help it I still love it.
Back in 2002 I thought Coldplay was a pretty boring band. I changed my mind over the years but listening back to this I can see why I thought that. I'm less of a snob when it comes to music as I was back then, and much more open to "soft rock", but yeah still pretty boring.
I feel like I should have listened to this a little closer, and I plan to - her voice and delivery is off the chain obviously.
Can't say I could have told you anything about Janelle Monae before listening to this. Epic. Sprawling. Kind of weird. All very expertly done. All of which I very much approve of.
I really don't understand the Blue Cheer adoration by critics. Their muff was just bigger than the rest for the time? Hendrix, Zeppelin, and Sabbath were all in this time range and had like sweet songs, clever lyrics, good lyrics, and epic guitar playing, none of which I really hear here.
I remember hearing about Elbow in like 2002 on NPR. Today was the second time I've heard of them. Good on them for doing big early Genesis style music and having a real go of it. This seems better than Coldplay for whatever that's worth.
My colleague's research indicates this album was played in hip hair salons when it came out, which was in 1996. Which made me realize I can only remember maybe one haircut between 1995 when I graduated high school and 2009 when I got divorced, and that actually wasn't a haircut - I was waiting for a haircut near my law school in NYC in 2004 and the guy was absolutely blasting the the Chicago broadway soundtrack (or maybe Cabaret - it was the one where it kept saying "ALL...THAT...JAZZ") and I finally said fuck it and then left even though I really needed a haircut. Since 2009 I can account for pretty much every haircut. Weird, right?
I had never heard of this album before. Definitely have the highest respect for David Bowie as a musician, songwriter and general icon - his musicianship if anything is underrated. Some interesting moments and tunes on here, but a little jagged and intentionally pricky for my taste.
I was unfortunately checked out of current music for much of the 2000 aught's - partly because I was married to a person who had almost no interest in keeping up with music, and I partly blame living in NYC where there wasn't much in the way of alternative radio, and there was no extra money (or interest) for going out to shows - and so the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are exhibit A of the types of bands I was missing out on. This album is perfect pop-rock and I feel like a dummy for never having heard it. Better late than never.
Another big rock album from the aughts that I never heard until today, although of course familiar with a number of the songs. Well I was missing out. Great songwriting, and these guys do about as much as you can do with distorted guitar, bass, and drums as a trio can possibly do. I also often think of 2004 as the year time both kind of stopped and sped up for me, and how it feels like not that long ago. Yet it is. E.g. when I was a kid to go back 21 years was to go back to early Beatles and folk music, but somehow this happened over 21 years ago. If I had been in middle/high school at the time this came out there is a very high chance I would have rocked an American Idiot hoodie.
I've heard of this artist but never heard him. Now I have, and I have some advice for you. If someone you're romantically interested in expresses an interest in Devendra Banhart, I suggest you run because: 1) this person will very likely express a lot of very intense and rigid opinions on a wide variety of topics, with only marginal at best knowledge on the topic; 2) you will almost certainly be responsible for paying for essentially every cost associated with the relationship; and 3) sorry, but he/she's already cheating on you. Find someone who's into Van Halen or Sabrina Carpenter, or preferably both.
I'm very unversed in 1970s Peter Gabriel, and having heard The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and this on this list, I f'ing surrender and say yeah this is exactly what I want and need in my life, even if I'm not sure that's true. I have a love-hate relationship with prog rock - on the one hand, I love dudes just rocking out on some complicated shit, on the other a lot of it is quite boring and stupid - but having Peter Gabriel's voice deliver it is the perfect gravy to make it all go down. My five star ratings for this and The Lamb are less confident evaluations and more placeholders for me to go back and pick up on all this.
I bought a greatest hits Steely Dan CD in the closing sale of the Sunset Tower Records in 2008 and found it so boring. I think I had also heard Two Against One when it came in 2000 and found that extra boring. But Steely Dan finally caught up with me, and now I've elevated them to musical godz. This is my favorite of their albums and like a good middle aged semi-sophisticate, I listened to this on vinyl over the weekend and loved every moment.
When I worked in a record store in 1999-2000, we sold so many damn copies of this and I was amazed at how people of all races loved Eminem. I was really turned off back then by the misogyny and homophobia and just generally did not listen to this kind of thing. Still am turned off by it, but I (rightly or wrongly) don't necessarily feel as offended by it now - life has gone on and turns out there are things much worse than edgy lyrics. Never listened to this before, will likely never listen to it again, but it was an extremely compelling listen and I give it credit for that.
Five stars for Sweet Emotion, Walk This Way, and Toys In the Attic. One star for Big Ten Inch Record. Three stars for everything else. In the last several apartment buildings I've lived in, there is an elevator voice that says "going down" and 90% of the time I think of "going dow-ow-ow-own" from Love in an Elevator, and I think there's no higher honor for a band to be that eternally unavoidable in a listener's life.
There was a time in my early 20s where I felt it imperative to know and love everything with which Gram Parsons was associated. Which didn't really work out. But upon relisten to this, it's great. The Byrds are such an interesting and amorphous band. Not sure this is something I'd go back to over and over again, but I do love me some country rock and appreciate this seminal album on its own and for its contribution to the genre. Interesting coverage of this and Nashville's response in the Ken Burns documentary on Country Music.
Absolute classic. Bought this on (crappy) vinyl when I was 16 and am unhappy I don't still have it. My third favorite Neil Young album behind After the Gold Rush and Freedom. From start to finish, basically perfect. Can't think of a bad song on here.
At The Villages Florida they have outdoor speakers in all the public squares piping this type of music in constantly, relentlessly, and perpetually. Not the worst music and I’m sure I would have been into it at the time but then I would have heard zeppelin and Hendrix and would have been like f this.
Traveled 960 miles in a car today from LA to Portland with a 4 year and 2 year old in back and this was by far the 4 year olds least favorite album. A lot of interesting sounds on here but yes got a point, the vocals are pretty repetitive and annoying and not a ton in the way of killer hooks. Annoying trumps clever every time.
This has been a lot of Bob Dylan on this list and I assume that won't be changing. I just feel like Springsteen gives you everything Dylan does but with better singing, better songs, and a better band, but I do realize Springsteen wasn't around in 1966. An interesting historical album though.
Beatles bringing some real toxic masculinity there towards the end of this one. Not my favorite Beatles album. I can't imagine it is anyone's favorite Beatles album. I don't know what my favorite Beatles album is (maybe Let it Be just to be different) but it's not this.
This was absolutely wonderful, even catching up 4 days after Christmas. I love me some Ronettes and Christmas (Baby Please Come) may be the greatest Christmas song of the rock n roll era. I remember seeing a video of U2s version of it one Christmas morning on MTV waiting for my parents to wake up so we could open Christmas presents and they slept in so long we had to leave for Grandma's and didn't open gifts til the next day. Don't do that to your kids, folks. Not that you would. Also don't hate me for liking the U2 version better but maybe that's just trauma bonding.
I was excited to finally listen to Queens of the Stone Age. My excitement surely and steadily dropped as I listened more. Maybe they are doing something clever but in the end it's pretty dang boring.
I was feeling some very strong 5-star energy through the first half of this album. It's Tricky and Walk This Way are absolute classics. And Peter Piper and My Adidas are pretty great too. The Rick Rubin guitar on Raising Hell was interesting. But then we slid into Dumb Girl and some other clunkers. But there's nothing like that early Run DMC rock-rap mix.
