Sometimes it’s astounding that so many good melodies lived inside Ray Davies’s head.

I love the sound of young people inventing their own sound. This album is really great. Highly influential, moving, catchy, raucous… it’s awesome

Not bad. Repetitive. Didn't seem to add much or build upon anything. Not for me.

Some good stuff, but overall it is just a generic pop record.

Some classic songs on this one. Half the album is pretty catchy, the other half is pretty forgettable. Track listing flow is pretty all over the place.

I was very excited for this album. But I found it painfully boring. The hits are honestly great, but there is a reason they were the singles. The rest of the album is very repetitive. Every time I thought they were going in an interesting direction with the song, they'd just basically stop and go back to the same old repetitive part. Really disappointing. I can't ever see myself voluntarily listening to this entire album again.

Biased because I’ve been a Doors fan for years. This is not my favorite by them, but certainly a strong record with a lot of interesting tracks. Jim’s voice is sounding great and the flow is solid. The band is super tight as always.

Never heard this one before. Really wonderful singer/songwriter stuff. Reminds me of sitting around making music with my friends. Simple, catchy, insightful. My biggest issue is the flow. I would have picked a different track listing.

Always an enjoyable listen.

Overblown. Pretty sloppy guitar work to boot. The Dead are certainly a band worth remembering, but this album does not stand the test of time in my opinion. Maybe this captures their live sound, but based on this recording I'll probably opt to stay home.

I will give it credit for ambition, but Todd Rundgren has an album where he did the exact same thing back in 1985.

Some good stuff. Some forgettable stuff. Probably wouldn't listen to most of it again voluntarily but I understand why it is noteworthy. Probably didn't need to hear it before I died compared to some of the stuff left off this list.

Never heard this record before. Will absolutely be listening again. Really raw sound. Some catchy stuff, some noisy stuff. Really good listen.

Track 1 lost me around minute 14... Some good stuff in the back half, but it is really nothing special. Didn't need to hear it before I died.

Yeah… this album is fine

Never listened before. Listened to it 3 times in one day. Excellent mix of disco, R&B, funk, and pop. Really great record.

Some absolute bangers on this one. It suffers from being way too long. But it is certainly important in its genre.

An excellent collection of songs by Paul here. One of the best post-Beatles albums.

Some very nice harmonies and a few catchy tunes. But for the most part this is background music. It may encapsulate a time and place, but this album is probably a sleeper for most. It's fine. Not bad but not amazing. Probably did not need to hear this before I died.

This album was absolutely beautiful. A quick listen. Haunting vocals. This is the kind of shit I'm looking for with this list. I will definitely return to this record time and time again. Really wonderful stuff.

Kinda one note all the way through. I agree with others: it sounds like a musical you don’t want to watch/listen to.

I fucking love the smiths. Every song on this album is great

Phenomenal

Overall I enjoyed it but it didn’t blow me away

Sometimes it’s astounding that so many good melodies lived inside Ray Davies’s head.

Morrissey is such a boner but damn can he write a pop song. Andy Rourke is one of the best bass players of his time. I love this shit.

If you’ve listened to Oasis, Blur, and Third Eye Blind, you’ve already listened to Shack. Pretty generic Britpop. Nothing special.

Perfect jazz fusion. Great hooks, excellent musicianship.

Not bad by any means. Great voice, I love the sax work. Just kind of one-note. Every song sounded kinda the same. But very well produced.

Very cool, chill sound. Just kind of one-note throughout. But amazing, trippy production.

Reminded me of shopping at KMart in the 90s. Completely inoffensive. Very nice Autumn morning music. But kind of one-note and unexciting.

Fine. Completely inoffensive. Not sure I needed to hear it before I die. This list has a surprising amount of bossanova.

I’ll give it credit for ambition. But I found this to be a pretty unemployable listen. Maybe in 1994 this would have been considered edgy, but I found most of it to be pretty juvenile. By “Heresy” I was actively rolling my eyes. Maybe if Trent Reznor had been, like, 16 when this came out I could understand the praise. But the lyrics were pretty lame for the most part. Seems like he is trying a bit too hard to piss off the social conservatives. I am far from socially conservative, and I found a lot of this album to be pretty cringy. And the Sharon Tate connection is honestly pretty gross and in really bad taste. Knowing the backstory of the album’s recording made the listening experience even more uncomfortable. If that is what Mr. Reznor was attempting with this album, I would say he has succeeded.

Very well performed background music. Jazzy, but ultimately nothing exciting.

This album sounds like your neighbors decided to get drunk on the anniversary of Elvis’s death and have a drunken jam session. I totally understand why people don’t like this, but I also see any some people would love this. I appreciate the noisy, bluesy punk sound but still probably wouldn’t want these guys as my neighbors.

Very fine old-school country. You can certainly hear the Woodie Guthrie influence. He's even featured on the record. Some of it was quite funny as well (Boll Weevil, for instance). Probably won't revisit. But some nice porch-sittin' music.

The opening tracks is one of the greatest prog rock songs in rock history. Closer is also an amazing song. The three in the middle are fine, if not a little dragging.

A pretty fucken perfect record

Really beautiful music. Gave me chills sometimes.

Very nice jazz 👌

Beautiful voice. Varied style. Bonus point for being culturally significant.

An absolute fucking banger of a record. Completely drug fueled. I don’t agree with all the methods but how can you argue with the results?

A very good record full of ambition and big ideas. Great flow to the record as well. No real standout bangers and I most likely won’t revisit, but I probably know some people who would count this among their favorite records.

Pretty front loaded, 4 of the first 6 songs were major radio hits. That being said, Anthony Kiedis must be one of the least talented rock stars in the history of rock music. Thank Christ for Flea’s bass playing. Overall some catchy stuff here, but most of it is largely forgettable. I guess it sold a lot of copies tho…

First time listening to anything Wu-Tang aside from 36 Chambers. This was fantastic.

Maybe the Kinks best album. Ray Davis is awesome. Great concept album.

Badass guitar work, wild lyrics that combine filth with religious imagery, and some cool flute to boot. I love this record.

This was a really good album, true singer/songwriter stuff

I understand why this album would be considered important. Really great guitar work. “Bloodsucker” is the standout track for me. Unfortunately the organ ruins most of the songs whenever it shows up, even though I understand this was a popular sound at the time.

This album was fine. It does explore a few different styles. But it honestly did not stand out to me at all. Seems like a very generic album for the time period.

Great flow, great sound, at times it reminded me of a Robert Pollard album. I really enjoyed this one. Sounds like a bunch of friends cutting a record in their basement.

Generic Britpop. An overall enjoyable listen but nothing stood out to me at all. Probably will not revisit.

I expected this to be terrible. It wasn’t. It’s very British and very of-its-time, but I found it to be rather interesting and, at times, enjoyable. No real earworms but something tells me Dury accomplished exactly what he set out to with this one.

First two tracks really drew me in and made me think this was gonna be, like, a disco punk album. But for the most part the rest of the album is pretty boring and forgettable. A lot of other music from this time period sounds pretty similar and is much better than this. Overall, not a fan.

I appreciate this for what it is, but most of the songs were just way too long and repetitive for me to find this an enjoyable listen.

Overall this album is fine. But it’s pretty monotone.

A totally fine 80s album. But oh man is it an 80s album. Relentless synth, guitar solos, and vocal wailing from Roth. Overall an enjoyable listen. Some noteworthy, albeit repetitive, singles.

A total fine, unexciting album. I’ve heard this one a few times before and it has never done anything for me. Probably a good example of a fan base so pretentious I can’t take the product seriously.

The music of theater kids making their own terrible musical theater album

Like a modern day minimalist Brian Eno record. Not bad but kinda one-note throughout. Nothing memorable.

Crazy original and highly influential. Pixies are very cool.

Top notch instrumentals 👌

Def gets credit for being culturally significant, but each song is a droning 6 mins. It would probably like it more if the songs were half the length, but I also understand that is the cultural aesthetic.

Exactly what you would expect a New Order record to sound like. Nothing more, nothing less.

The perfect autumn record. A total hidden gem of the 60s. So many different styles explored and perfected. Excellent stuff all around. This one has earned its place in history.

I liked this more than I thought I would. You can absolutely hear the Byrds influence on this record. Really wonderful vocals and instrumentation.

Majority of the record is cover songs, including the 25 minute mostly instrumental opening number, so it loses points right there for that alone. Also, this isn’t really a psychedelic rock album. It’s a blues album that sometimes gets loud. Just because it’s fun to smoke pot while you listen to it doesn’t make it psychedelic rock.

This album was fine. It is probably culturally significant, but overall I found it to be rather unexciting

I didn’t really enjoy this. Seems like a lot of other artists were doing the exact same thing, and much better, around the same time.

This is a very good album, but I fucken hate Axl Rose. I’m glad Nirvana killed hair metal.

This record is absolutely wild. You can tell the musicians are really having fun making this music. Opening track is heartbreaking, while other songs like “Back in Our Minds” actually made me laugh. A really great listen.

Super tight album with great songs. Reminds me of college.

The title track is one of the greatest American songs ever written. The rest of the album is very good as well, with an absolutely hauntingly beautiful closer.

A solid example of 90s alt rock. Some very catchy stuff but it really beats you over the head with the drug references.

A masterpiece. A major step forward for pop music.

A really wonderful, catchy, intimate record. Liz Phair doesn’t hold back. This is a very special album.

This album was fine, but I did find it a bit boring. And it does lose a point for being 100% covers. No disrespect to Mr. Nelson.

Fantastic

Really dense, introspective lyrics with some wild backing tracks. This one blew me away

A very good album with some catchy tunes, but by 1995 this was pretty well-worn territory. It does get some bonus points for the bass tone 👌

Starts off strong with Cornbread Moon. Unfortunately, that’s as musically ambitious as this album gets. After that, every song just sounds like a different version of a song you’ve already heard. Very generic country.

A very cool and fun entry in the Talking Heads catalogue.

I really wanted to give this a bonus point for genre-fusing. But this is not an album that should be celebrated. Everything that people say about the urban hip-hop community is more on display here than on any true gangster rap album I’ve ever heard. Openly advocating for murder, disgustingly misogynistic lyrics… this album is honestly pretty gross. Do Not Listen.

Probably a better album to take drugs and go dance to than to just sit down and listen to. That being said, it ain’t bad.

Really long, boring, and tedious

This album came out when I was in 8th grade and I remember almost every girl in my grade had a copy. Front loaded, but the back half isn’t bad and the front half is borderline incredible.

Elvis strikes me as more of a singles guy than an albums guy. This one is fine. I like the variety but it also feels poorly organized.

Very powerful 80s industrial rock

Classic Beastie Boys sound, but it’s nowhere near as innovative as Paul’s Boutique or as fun as License to Ill.

Some of the riffs are good. But I can’t stand the vocals. And the drums… all these blast beats… like, I get it… you can play fast…

Great melodies and lyrics. Pure and simple music 👌

This was better than I had expected, but it still didn’t blow me away and I probably didn’t need to hear it before I die.

I do understand the influence this album has had on guitarists, but this record just didn’t do much for me. Last track was pretty unnecessary, the album could have ended with Wild West End. Opening track is strong, but I’ve always found Sultans of Swing to be just an OK song.

Solid honky-tonk country pop. First track is pretty weird, really sets the stage for the album. I enjoyed this. A good album to listen to on a cold winter’s night.

Powerful performances here from the band. Janis’s voice is on full display. Adding the live elements are an interesting production choice, especially for the time period, but adds so much to the album since Janis’s voice really works best with a bar band/jam band vibe.

Solid 80s hip-hop but some of it hasn’t aged well. Still groundbreaking and a clear influence of what came next.

Just good-ass American music.

Absolutely blew me away! You can really hear how this influenced Bowie’s Berlin era. Really great stuff.

This one is tough… obviously Beck is an incredibly talented musician. And this album explores so many genres. Dust Brothers production is on point as always. This album has a super 90s sound while still managing to sound fresh today. But there is just something about Beck’s music… It’s like he listens to different genres and thinks “I could do that.” And then he does it, but it’s kind of the hollow, soulless version of whatever he’s emulating. His music is pretty catchy. Devil’s Haircut, New Pollution, and even deep cuts like Derelict and High 5 are total earworms. But Beck’s music makes me feel absolutely nothing and I never find his records to be very revisitable.

Musically, this album is very cool. You can easily hear how it was ahead of the curve on a lot of 2000s musical trends. Lyrically, however, I found this album to be really juvenile and uninteresting. Everything she is saying is fine, but it feels like she has said it all before at this point in her career. Most of the rhymes are low-hanging fruit and a lot of the themes are pretty predictable.

I don’t even know what to say about this one… I really respect Eminem as an artist. But goddamn this dude is angry. Some of these songs are incredible how raw and open and honest he is with the lyrics. But other songs are very gratuitous. Just like any other rap album, I’m sure this is a reflection of the world he was living in. But some of it hasn’t aged well at all. Half of this album is really wild and great, and the other half did literally nothing for me other than make me cringe. Probably could’ve been amazing if it was shorter.

I dig Neil Young but I’m not crazy about the orchestral pieces. Kinda wish they were just piano or solo acoustic songs.

Leonard Cohen brings all of his strengths as a novelist and poet to his songwriting. Very easy listening but the lyrics are so deep and powerful. The beauty in this album really lies in the emotions of the characters he is describing.

My only complaint is that a few of the songs are a bit repetitive and could’ve had a minute shaved off. Besides that, this was a very enjoyable listen.

I had to give this album multiple tries just to get through it all. Even the songs that “rock” are boring. I do respect the musicianship, and I respect the concept and scope, but this album did very little for me.

In Limbo and Morning Bell are both just fine in my opinion. Treefingers is also alright but it overstays its welcome. The rest is absolutely phenomenal.

Totally bloated. I can’t believe they recorded Soul to Squeeze during these sessions and decided to keep it off the record for all this other boring, generic white guy funk shit. I still love Breaking the Girl and Under the Bridge. Suck My Kiss has an amazing bass line but the lyrics are pretty gross. A decent chunk of songs could be cut off the record and you’d lose nothing. I’ve said it before: Anthony Kedis is so lucky he met Flea. But even the immaculate bass playing can’t save almost every song from turning into a snooze fest.

I only knew one Blur song prior to this. Very solid 90s Britpop. Pretty much every song is good or interesting in some way. Moves through a lot of different styles while still managing to sound cohesive throughout. This album is dripping with British influence, from the Beatles to the Who to the Kinks to David Bowie. You can hear it all.

There are two famous songs from this album, and there is probably a reason for that. The title track and Season of the Witch are both great folk/pop tunes. But the rest hasn’t really stood the test of time and I found the other eight tracks to be quite boring.

Not quite as good as some of Queen’s later masterpieces, but still a solid collection of mystical hard rock

The woman on the front looks just like Abed from Community.

Bjork’s debut is a beautiful collection of different styles. All of which are highlighted by her natural pop sensibilities and her unique vocal delivery. That being said, I will probably not be revisiting this one any time soon. Bjork’s music is a lot like Beck’s music for me… a lot of amazing things going on but none of them speak to me.

Really beautiful vocals, and there are some cool samples throughout. But the whole thing was just a bit too sleepy for me.

It’s cool that these guys had the opportunity to just sit around and make music with their friends for so long. That’s really the dream of any musician. Just waking up and making music all day. This is a solid collection of songs, but it is rather sleepy at times. Doesn’t quite stand the test of time other than as an artifact of a time and place.

Solid album. Very British.

No other way to say it: this is just too much. I love Peter Gabriel’s solo stuff, but this album is so prog-rock it almost doubles back to become regressive rock. Disc one does absolutely have some bangers on it, but disc two is a total slog. And I feel like towards the end of the double LP is really where you want to hold the listener’s attention.

I love the sound of young people inventing their own sound. This album is really great. Highly influential, moving, catchy, raucous… it’s awesome

Pretty boring Dad Rock. And I’m a fan of Dad Rock.

I’d give it a million stars if I could.

This album wasn’t bad by any means. But they sound like a band you’d hear live and think “wow, these guys are amazing!” So you buy their CD at the show, listen to it literally one time, and then it just lives in your car until you need some quick cash and you sell some of your CDs.

This was fine. Like every other Metallica album I’ve heard, it’s very long. But there are some shining moments throighout.

Shout at me more, Beastie Boys

A very solid collection of songs sung with amazing vocals.

The Smiths this is not

The two songs that everybody knows are far and away the best songs on this album. But they’re absolutely amazing.

Very well performed and hugely influential. But it was a bit too much for me. Every song that sounds like this kinda sounds the same to me.

I appreciate that the Byrds are highly influential, but they’ve just never done anything for me. I do like that most of their albums have a song about space. David Crosby has maybe the best song on the album with Tribal Gathering.

Really solid album. I know a lot of people think Pearl Jam peaked with this album but I really prefer their next few releases. This album almost sounds like a different band compared to their next five albums or so. But the first like 8 songs on this album are all really good.

Bowie’s first masterpiece. Certainly not his last.