Motown sound. Burke has a powerful voice, and some of the songs really showcase how emotive he can be. There’s definitely some late 50’s/early 60’s garbage pop songs here too. The notables are Cry To Me, Goodbye Baby, If You Need Me, Someone To Love Me, He’ll Have To Go.

Very experimental with instrumentation already on this album which is their debut. Very funk sounding guitars and syncopation. Lyrics don’t seem as heightened as Byrne will become as a lyricist but the themes are still present. Musically the album has a stripped back sound, even with the experimental instrumentation the album doesn’t feel over produced, but almost diy it lofi in character. Reminds me of David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane album. Psycho Killer is the hit on this album. Other notables include Uh Oh Love Comes To Town, No Compassion, The Book I Read, First Week/Last Week, and Pulled Up.

Quintessential 80’s synth/power pop. Major chord sounds. Energetic. Displays Cyndi Lauper’s tremendous vocals. Some of the songs that would otherwise be very good suffer from too much synth over production - see All Through The Night and Witness. Girls Just Want To Have Fun is the smash hit as well as Time After Time. Other notables include Money Changes Everything and She Bop.

DS-1/Big Muff powered, grungy, hard alt rock. Vocal delivery derived more from punk rock presentation as opposed to more melodic vocal styles of popular grunge and alt rock bands of the late eighties/early nineties. Turnover is a strong start to the album. Repeater (the song) reminds of Rage Against The Machine, although several years earlier. Tom Morello definitely heard this song. Other notables include Brendan #1, Merchandise, Blueprint, Two Beats Off, and Shut The Door. Honestly the whole album is pretty good, not a bad song really - probably helped by the fact that some songs are only a couple minutes long and lead into one another well. Really enjoyed this one.

Real banger here. One of my favorites from the early nineties. Every song is good. This is an excellent start to finish listen. Pop-punk masterpiece. Welcome to Paradise, When I Come Around, and Basket Case were all huge hit singles. My other favorites include Burnout, Longview, Sassafras Roots, F.O.D. Again, every song is good and this is a great album to listen straight through.

Stir It Up is the hit on this album. Filled with songs I hadn’t heard before. Definitely has a familiar Bob Marley sound and songwriting themes. Many songs feel a bit repetitive. Besides Stir It Up no other songs really stand out. The album is an easy listen, but not a lot of stellar songs. Not the first Bob Marley album I’d introduce a new listener to.

Song 2 is the hit of the album. Huge late nineties hit. The first half of the album has that late nineties alt/indie pop rock sound - a notable shift from the early to mid nineties as we transition into more Britpop influenced radio songs. The second half of the album is a little harder sounding - more like Godsmack-ish - heavier distortion effects on guitar, more use of noise. There’s a lot of influences on this album - Sex Pistols, Oasis, Velvet Underground/Lou Reed all come to mind. Other notables include Country Sad Ballad Man, Death of a Party, Look Inside America, Movin’ On.

5 songs, including some multi-part long sets. Black Sabbath is the hit, The Wizard I was also familiar with. Interestingly they released a second album this same year, Paranoid, featuring many of their biggest hits. This had to be shockingly different from anything releasing at the time, 1970. Apparently the album was critically panned, but very commercially successful. Considered to be the first heavy metal album. Beside Black Sabbath and The Wizard the only other radio length song (although Black Sabbath is >6 minutes) is Wicked World. The guitar tones are excellent and Tommy Iommi shines throughout along with Ozzy’s powerful vocal ability. Led Zeppelin influence possibly - they were contemporary so hard to say but this is some overlap with Zeppelin’s harder songs. Not surprising considering these tones were achieved mostly with the same gear - super cranked Marshall amps (because Fender amps were not available in the UK - an interesting history in the tones coming out of the UK in this period) and Les Paul guitars. Solid album.

Chugging kind of hard clipping overdrive is the predominant tone. Several hits on the album including Gimme All Your Lovin’, Got Me Under Pressure, Sharp Dressed Man, and Legs. Lyrically pretty shallow material. Feels like a cross between southern rock and Van Halen tonally. 80’s upped with synths and big reverb. Otherwise, very bluesy and a bit repetitive. Other notable songs include I Need You Tonight.

Early 70’s R&B with some funk thrown in too. That Lady is the biggest hit from the album. Some of the funkier songs feature heavy use of phaser and/or envelope filter style guitar effects. The lead singer is good. He’s not Marvin Gaye or Al Green, but he’s solid. There’s some Temptations influence for sure. Pretty much think of the post-Motown Temptations, KC and the Sunshine Band, Grand Funk, Curtis Mayfield - the Isley Brothers are minding of touching all of those sounds. Other notable songs include Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight, You Walk Your Way, What It Comes Down To, Summer Breeze, The Highways of My Life and the Sunshine (Go Away) (SQ-Quad Mix). A lot of the remixes at the end of the album are better than the original recordings.

Enjoyable listen. All in French. Apparently the album is about a middle aged man in love with a 14 year old girl? Probably doesn’t land as hard today lol. The sound of the album is great and singer has an entertaining delivery. Parts of the album felt like they could be a Radiohead song even. I enjoyed the whole album, would have to listen through it again to pick any particular songs, but they do all flow easily into each other.

Has that early 70’s easy listening vibe, think Eagles or Jackson Browne of the era. Chicago may be the best comparison - bigger band with horns, piano driven etc. Has some 70’s colloquial language in the lyrics that feels corny today. Honestly I think all the lyrics are pretty saccharine. I’m not sure why this album would be in the list, it doesn’t feel special to me. Ricki Don’t Lose That Number is the hit in the album. Other notables include Parker’s Band - only due to the guitar solo at the beginning.

Paul Simon is an all time great songwriter, so this album is a treat. Graceland, Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Feet, and You Can Call Me Al are some of my favorite Paul Simon tracks. Just listen to any Paul Simon you can - a master of lyrics and tempo. Other notables from the album include The Boy In The Bubble, I Know What I Know…at this point I’m just going to list every song on the album. The whole album is great. Every song is great. This is the kind of album that makes you thankful to be alive and in awe of human creativity.

Nice music to listen to while working. Reminds me of the YouTube lofi music craze of today. Has some R&B vibes and obviously electronica. Reminded of some Radiohead productions. Inner City Life makes me think of Flight of the Conchords. Notable songs include Saint Angel, State of Mind, This Is A Bad, Sea Of Tears, A Sense Of Rage, Adrift, You And Me.

Billy’s voice and vocal delivery remind me of Elvis Costello. Has a modern folk rock/alternative sound that I appreciate. Some of the songs are political commentary in nature, but the lyrics are a little too on the nose to be inspirational - they come across as a little trite. The album also contains covers of old folk songs. Notable songs include Greetings to the New Brunette, Levi Stubbs’ Tears, Sin City, Deportees, The Tracks of My Tears, A Nurse’s Life is Full of Woe.

Very Beatles-y. Ranges from 70s pop - think Neil Diamond - to pretty straight blues. Again, stays very Beatles-y throughout. Nilsson has a very nice voice and delivery. Coconut is the only song I was really familiar with due to its use in liquor ads recently, although that usage doesn’t do the song justice. Without You is the hit from the album - I can hear Paul McCartney performing this ha. Other notables include Gotta Get Up, Driving Along, Early in the Morning, Coconut, Let The Good Times Roll, Jump Into The Fire.

Stevie Nicks is one of the most expressive vocalists of her generation. I gravitate immediately to every song she’s the lead on, the other songs not so much. A lot of the songs have a Fleetwood Mac sound, there’s some that feel almost like a song the Band would produce. Notable songs include Over And Over, Sara, What Makes You Think You’re The One, Storms, Sisters of the Moon, Angel, Brown Eyes, I Know I’m Not Wrong, Hi Honey, Beautiful Child, Walk A Thin Line, Never Forget.

New Wave sounds. Reminds of other bands like The The, The Smiths, New Order. Great arrangements, feels big but not over-produced - meaning the production makes sense, there’s nothing jarring. I need to give another listen to pick out particularly notable songs from the album, but I enjoyed two full play throughs. One of my top genres, so I’m excited to find this album for this first time!

Great album. I wasn’t super familiar with Television, but this inspired a deeper dive. Every song is good. Probably closest to define the album as Punk based on the vocal delivery, riffs and hooks in a lot songs harkening back to 50’s and 60’s rock, but the album is even more than that. My favorite songs from the album are Venus, Marquee Moon, Elevation, and Guiding Light, but again every song is good.

Classic blues rock. Guitar has a horn-like quality on some songs and I’m not sure how it was achieved, but is probably just a cranked amp and a vintage Les Paul. Definitely an album that SRV listened to on repeat. Kind of amazing recording for being a live album from 1971. Really good album. My favorite songs from the album are Stormy Monday and Whipping Post.

Purely digital music. Reminds of Kanye West mixed with Dr. Dre. Lyrically more advanced. Really interesting concept album about gang violence, black poverty, material success fantasy - has a point of view and the lyrics and rhythms work well to advance the themes. Notables include Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe, The Art of Peer Pressure, Money Trees, good kid, m.A.A.d city, Swimming Pools (Drank), Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst, Compton.

Great album. Contains most of their biggest hits. Really displays the mix of talents and perspectives of the four members. Ranges from soft and sweet folk harmonies to Young fueled heavy blues guitar rock. Hit songs include Carry On, Teach Your Children, Helpless, Woodstock, Our House. Other notables include Almost Cut My Hair (for classic Young guitar).

Very theatrical, especially in the vocal delivery. Makes me think of Rocky Horror Picture Show for some reason. Musically interesting, but a lot of songs don’t land for me at all. There’s definitely some David Bowie influence here. Would I seek any of these songs out? No, not really.

Definitely one of my top albums from this decade, possibly all time for me. Every song is good whether a cover or a Nirvana original. Most of the Nirvana originals actually hit harder for me in this presentation than the original release album versions. Hard to pick favorites here, every song is worth consideration. Of the covers Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam and Man Who Sold The World really stand out.

Good album, interesting production - it has a live album feel even though it’s in studio. It’s like the Rolling Stones turned up a notch or two on the hardness scale. Iggy has a real Mick Jagger vibe at times. Down The Street, Loose, and Dirt are all great. All the songs are listenable, but the three mentioned above stand out to me.

Modern prog rock? I like Rush as much as the next guy, but this sounds a lot more like 80’s heavy metal guitar tones. Honestly not my thing. I don’t particularly enjoy the vocal delivery either. I’m not saying it’s objectively bad, this just isn’t for me. All the songs sound samey to me as well - hard to distinguish from each other because they all have the same energy. Kind of has that early 2000’s emo vibe. Would I listen to any of these songs again? No, probably not.

Great album. The first four songs are real bangers. The whole album is a good listen and has plenty to offer at 16 tracks. The Suburbs, Ready to Start, Modern Man, Rococo, City With No Children, Suburban War, Month of May, Wasted Hours, We Used to Wait are my favorites.

Industrial alt rock. Dissonant. Schizophrenia, Catholic Block, Pipeline/Kill Time, Tuff Gnarl, Cotton Crown sounds the best to me. Pretty good album, clearly influential to a lot of bands that would come after.

Interesting live album kind of shows off James Brown’s vocal chops and showmanship. The last three tracks are the only real song length takes in the album, the rest of the album is kind of live show filler type material. I’d rather just listen to a studio album.

Has more in common with Metallica than the Sex Pistols, Ramones, or the Clash. Motörhead comes to mind. Has that hard chugging guitar riff sound. Gotta Get Away, Come Out And Play, and Self Esteem were all big hits, especially the latter. Something To Believe In, It’ll Be A Long Time are ok songs. Generally, the lyrics are pretty sparse and trite for most songs. Self Esteem and Come Out And Play are kind of outliers in that way.

Great album. I was less familiar with the b sides on this album than any of their other albums after this, so it was a good opportunity to dive in. This feels kind of like the first “real” Radiohead album. Planet Telex, The Bends, High And Dry, and Fake Plastic Trees start the album off with a bang. Other notables have include Just, My Iron Lung, Black Star and Street Spirit(Fade Out). Every song is good and the album is a great straight through listen.

Glam Rock/Hair Metal. This is what Spinal Tap is spoofing. One of the worst crimes perpetrated by the music industry in the 1980’s? Probably not the worst, but it’s up there. The lyrics have no coherent purpose, they’re as shallow as you can get. The music is energetic - I could see some of these songs on a workout playlist. The songs are super overproduced, the vocals are mostly indecipherable, the singer’s voice is not my cup of tea. Notable songs include Animal, Love Bites, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Hysteria, Love and Affection.

Punk Rock that has a rockabilly vibe. Every song on the album pretty much sounds the same. The lyrics are sparse and fairly trite. The singer’s voice has an affectation that makes it seem theatrical in a way. Fever is ok, the rest of the songs didn’t really do much for me.

A mix of Texas Swing and the worst of 40s and 50s pre-rock n roll pop music. Marty has a great voice and that helps carry some otherwise truly horrible songs - saccharine, little doggy in the window type stuff. Still connected to folk music traditions of storytelling through song. Also, from a time when all things were regional. Notable songs include Big Iron, The Master’s Call, El Paso.

Very Punk sounding but explores more production and instrumentation. Some places refer to this album as New Wave - I’d say it bridges a gap between 70’s Punk and 80’s New Wave. Notable songs include My Tulpa, Shot By Both Sides, Burst, Motorcade, The Light Pours Out of Me.

Electronic music - all the instrumentation sounds digital. Has a nice upbeat energy throughout most of the album. Pleasant and fun to listen to in the background. I enjoyed the album. Notable songs include Motion Sickness, How Do You Do, Don’t Deny Your Heart, Look At Where We Are, Flutes, Now There Is Nothing, Let Me Be Him, Always Been Your Love.

Debut album from The Strokes. Great album. Has a driving alt/indie guitar sound and interesting lofi vocal filter. All the songs are good. Enjoyed a straight through listen. Favorite songs The Modern Age, Soma, Barely Legal, Someday, Last Nite, Hard to Explain.

Great album. Born in the USA, Cover Me, I’m on Fire, No Surrender, Glory Days, Dancing in the Dark, My Hometown are my favorites from the album. Solid listen through - most songs are great, everything is listenable.

Motown sound. Burke has a powerful voice, and some of the songs really showcase how emotive he can be. There’s definitely some late 50’s/early 60’s garbage pop songs here too. The notables are Cry To Me, Goodbye Baby, If You Need Me, Someone To Love Me, He’ll Have To Go.

Early 90’s indie/alt rock. Theres a bit of a punk sensibility mixed in here too with the vocal delivery at times and the call backs to classic 60’s rock. Notables songs include Rock N Roll Star, Live Forever, Up in the Sky, Columbia, Supersonic, Cigarettes and Alcohol, Slide Away, Married With Children.

Classic Otis Redding album. He did write a few of these tracks, the others are popular R&B covers (except the Stones song). Displays his powerful and emotive voice. One of the best R&B singers of his era. The room reverb on albums of this era really adds to the overall sound. Notables songs include Change Gonna Come, Down In The Valley, I’ve Been Loving You Too Long, My Girl, You Don’t Miss Your Water.

Hawley has a very smooth, low voice that sounds great. This sounds like a pop album from the 60’s - think Burt Bacharach or even Neil Diamond or Tom Jones. Notable songs include Cole’s Corner, Just Like The Rain, The Ocean, I Sleep Alone.

Folk/Folk Rock. Lead singer Has kind of a Janis Joplin mixed with Joan Baez sound. The band as a whole has kind of a Byrds or CSNY feel. Enjoyable album. There’s a couple Dylan covers here. Notable songs include Who Knows Where The Time Goes, Dear Landlord, The Ballad of Easy Rider.

Kind of a contemporary jazz album? Enjoyable listen. Apparently conceived as a concept album for a film. Notable songs include Set The Controls For The Heart of the Pelvis, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Vibes Ain’t Nothing But The Vibes, Miles, The Big Bamboozle, The Sweetest Embrace.

Great album, one his best post-Beatles efforts. Imagine, Jealous Guy, Gimme Some Truth, Oh Yoko are big hits. Other notable songs include Crippled Inside, Oh My Love, How.

Famous live performance, especially since the Martin Scorsese documentary. Dylan is commanding on the microphone. He hammers the harmonica in the acoustic set with abandon. Interesting concession on this European tour where he did the first half of the show acoustic and the second half electric with backing band (the Hawks who would go on to become the Band). It’s a good live performance. Pretty much all of these songs are Dylan classics.

Has a lot of 80’s overproduction that at times interferes with the vocal delivery. Huge hall reverbs dominate everything. What’s Love Got To Do With It is the huge hit from the album. Album also has Private Dancer, Let’s Stay Together, and Better Be Good To Me which are well known songs. Other notables include Steel Claw and Rock N Roll Widow.

Great album full of some of their best songs. The album has the energy of a first album - it has desperation in the delivery. Tuesday’s Gone, Gimme Three Steps, Simple Man, and Free Bird are all classics. I Ain’t The One, Things Goin On, Mississippi Kid, and Poison Whiskey aren’t at the same level, but they are solid songs, well recorded and entertaining.

Early-mid nineties R&B music. Kind of has an Usher vibe - pretty similar to that 90’s r&b sound - Boyz II Men comes to mind too. Brown Sugar, Me and Those Dreamin Eyes of Mine, Lady, Higher are probably my favorites.

U2’s breakthrough album. The overall sound and guitar work are great - Edge is already a master at using ambient reverbs and stacking guitar parts in an engaging way. Bono has an incredible voice. The album sounds rich and full without sounding overproduced and without any of the instrumentation crowding other parts out. Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year’s Day, Two Hearts Beat As One, and Surrender are probably the best songs on the album. Other notables include Like A Song and 40.

Shoegaze from the source. Heavy, rhythmic fuzz driving the melodies. The vocal mix is quiet, it sits underneath the fuzz-fueled guitar rhythm. The album is really enjoyable to listen to straight through, each songs blends naturally into the next. Favorites include Only Shallow, Loomer, When You Sleep, I Only Said, Come In Alone, Sometimes, What You Want, Soon. Enjoyable listen.

Interesting album. I find a lot of Beatles albums lack cohesiveness or have big ups and downs as far as material goes and that is definitely the case here. On the other hand, it’s because they continually experimented with music and production in the studio. I’ll leave it up to you whether that makes for a good or bad album experience. Several hits on this one including Back in the USSR, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Happiness is a Warm Gun, Blackbird, Birthday, Helter Skelter, Long Long Long, Revolution 1.

Electronic music. Has a good vibe, easy to listen to while driving or doing any activity. The first track reminds me of an underwater scene, maybe even underwater Mario levels for some reason. I enjoyed the listen. Good to listen straight through as the tracks are like movements in one piece of music. I wasn’t familiar with this artist at all, but he’s apparently quite famous and pioneering in this genre. This is one of the best things of the 1001 albums list - finding gems like this that I would never have come across on my own.

I’m not a person who would have thought that Blur had two albums on this list - mostly because I’m unfamiliar with any of their work besides the eponymous 1997 album featuring Song 2. This album sounds more British if that makes sense - it seems made for that audience. Not unenjoyable as a whole - some songs are fairly pedestrian, but there are several worthwhile tracks. The melodies are good, the overall sound of alt rock distortion is there. Theres a lot of tremolo. Notable songs include Advert, Blue Jeans, Chemical World, Miss America, Resigned.

Dolly has a great voice and it shows on these songs. Having said that, the album is pretty samey - there’s a lot of steel guitar and fiddle going on. A lot of the songs are even in the same key and most are pretty simple 1-4-5 structures. Notables include Coat of Many Colors, My Blue Tears, The Way I See You, Here I Am.

Electronic music, reminds a lot of Daft Punk. Enjoyable listen. Favorites include Genesis, DANCE, Phantom II, The Party, DVNO, One Minute To Midnight.

I’m a big fan of the Grateful Dead. Do I need a 23 minute long version of Dark Star with several minutes of droning feedback in the middle? No. I understand the point of freeform improvisation, but an album delivers a song in a clear and concise way that gets the point across. Generally that’s my preference as a listener. There’s no song in here that I would rather listen to over the studio recording.

Electronic dance/pop music. I enjoyed the album overall. Favorite songs were Sparks, In Space, Remind Me.