Though I’m not a huge New Order fan, the opening track alone predicts the sound of rave culture. It's an interesting listen that earns an automatic two stars purely for its place in pop history. Add 2 more for All the Way and we get a 4 star rating.
Drawn in strictly by the cover art, this was my introduction to Pink Floyd, and the music instantly blew me away. There simply isn't a single bad track on this album
While I prefer Doolittle, this album lays the blueprint. You can hear their massively influential 'loud-quiet-loud' dynamic taking shape beneath the punk noise and pop hooks, and Kim Deal nearly steals the show with 'Gigantic'.
A phenomenal debut that helped launch the entire Madchester scene. I love that they leaned into the rockier side of that era's sound, and the historical ripple effects from their legendary Spike Island concert will be felt on albums to come later I'm sure!
Oh. My. God. I’ve heard about The War On Drugs, but never actually heard The War On Drugs before. I am so glad this came up on here. A fantastic album from start to finish.
What can you say? It’s The Eagles. You either love em, or hate em.
This album restored my faith in hip-hop when the genre was feeling bloated. Every track is a sample-heavy stroke of genius. Do yourself a favor and check out the deluxe edition—especially Cut Chemist’s remix of 'The Number Song'
Maybe it’s genius and I’m just too lowbrow to get it, but I found these songs incredibly boring. Getting through this album felt like a chore. Not for me.
I’m stealing parts of to reviews cause they explain this album better then anything I old ever say.
You remember that kid from your floor freshman year with the guitar? This is what he makes when he’s in his 40’s, after a trip to India in which he thinks he’s found some life-changing revelation while talking to the first yogi he can find. He’s not deep, he’s not insightful, and he’s certainly ignorant. Oh and he paid for the trip to India with the money from the divorce settlement.
This music would be at home in a Starbucks Putumayo collection cd. One star for basic musical competence. Zero stars for the songs, arrangements, production, and lack of taste.
The album where U2 truly became U2. The first four songs are bonafide hits—making it a five-star record on their own—and the rest of the album absolutely holds its own. An amazing start-to-finish effort.
Wow! Johnny Winter brought out the absolute best in Muddy and the band here. It's blues at its finest, and the inclusion of a revamped 'Mannish Boy' makes it an instant classic.
I avoided Steely Dan for years because I dislike jazz-rock, but this album is great. It features 'Dirty Work,' a song that instantly reminds me of childhood family road trips. For the nostalgia alone, it gets five stars.
This album is exactly what amazing sex sounds like. Maxwell is probably an honorary uncle to dozens of kids because of this record—I know I've definitely used it as the soundtrack to a date or two!
Is it as scary as it was back in the 70’s? No. Can you feel the venom that was being thrown at contemporary society? Most definitely. So full of punk rock energy that it’s bursting at the seams. It’s not often that you can say you listened to history changing. You can with this record. And that’s what makes it essential.
I started listening to Kendrick after the Super Bowl announcement, and wow. It’s new-school hip-hop, but with just enough old-school flavor to keep an older listener like me hooked. A phenomenal album.
Ugh. Just ugh. Bad blues based rock that’s been done a lot better before & since.
Was there a better or more prolific hip hop band in the 90’s then the Wu Tang Clan? 9 members & every one of them put out an individual album! Method Man may get all the commercial play, but the Gza/Genius proved his name with this masterpiece.
Hailed as the DJ to the coolest dance party that you weren’t invited to, LCD Soundsystem were another band that I heard of, but never actually heard. So I was excited to hear this album.
And it is good, it really is. If I’m miraculously at the party & wouldn’t be mad at the music I was hearing. But, it feels like there’s something missing, something I can’t quite explain. All I know is, I listened to it once, if it was on somewhere else I’d listen to it again, but I’m not going to seek it out anytime soon.
Everyone goes through a Pink Floyd phase; I ended up loving them. The Wall is an incredibly ambitious concept album, made even better by the fact that it birthed so many massive singles.
Ever see a painting and think that it does nothing for you & then someone tells you it’s only because you don’t understand the technique & where the artist was coming from & all these other things. So you go &!find out everything & then look at it again and…it still does nothing for you?
For years I couldn’t stand the argument, that “If you just knew the theory behind Modal Jazz, it would be so much better” So I finally went & found out about modal jazz and…I still can’t stand jazz.
And that’s the problem, to me you shouldn’t need to understand music theory, or the history of music, or anything else to listen & decide whether you like something or not. Just my opinion.
Anyway, is John Coltrane one hell of a saxophonist? Yep, are all these guys technically superior to everyone else in this list of albums? Yep. Do I personally think it’s any good? Nope.
I couldn't get into this at all. I wanted to with it's subversion of the authoritarian dictatorship that was happening in Brazil at the time. But I just couldn't. Too bad as I think it probably is a very important record.
A classic by the last true great Hip Hop artist. Hip Hop went down hill (fast!) after this. I could listen to this album over & over. To use one of 50’s lines: I love this album like a fat kid love cake!
One of the few albums that I can give a 5 star rating to because of 1 song. Yes, Love Her Madly is on here, yes Riders on the Storm cones close. But both of those pale in comparison to the dark menacing beauty that is LA Woman. The Doors were never better than on that one song. Combined with the oter hits, they reached their full potential on tbis album.
Singer /Songwriters seemed to be a dime a dozen in the 70’s. And, quite frankly, I can’t stand most of them. It’s just some whiny dude whining about how lonely & depressed he is cause he can’t get laid. Boo hoo. And to top it all off I can’t stand Nick Drake’s voice. The instrumentals were nice though.
I wasn’t expecting much. But came out of it pleasantly surprised. A very good folk rock record. And the title track is now added to my favourites.
Like almost every teenager, I discovered Bob Marley right around the time my friends started smoking dope. While I didn’t partake in the extracurriculars, I was absolutely thrilled by what I was hearing through the speakers. Reggae is a great genre in its own right, but it was Marley's undeniable pop sensibilities that elevated his music and made his songs truly incredible. A brilliant introduction to an unforgettable sound.
Everything about this album is perfect, from the Nudie suits to the cover of 'Do Right Woman.' This is exactly what real country rock—or as Gram Parsons called it, 'Cosmic American Music'—should sound like.
Classic Rock at its finest. Overblown guitar solos that seem to take 10 minutes, lyrics about Cars, Girls & Excess. Perfect. And of course the chords that every beginner guitarist learns in Smoke on the Water. Absolute must listen.
The best way I can sum up this album is to say that Air is the perfect name for this band as that’s what the music sounds like. Like the soundtrack to an old 70’s Romance film. Very good background music or to chill out with when the party’s winding down.
When I first heard about Violent Femmes it was in comparison to They Might be Giants & Ween. Two bands that I did not like (I’ve since softened on Ween though). So I never listened for a long time. What a mistake! So awesome & all acoustic too.
If I could give this a 10 out of 5 stars I would. And if you don’t get why, then I have to say you probably don’t like Rock N Roll!
I’m not a big fan of Van the Man. But I must admit, Moondance is a really good album. One of those ones you can put on & just chill out to.
Metallica truly put the 'h' in thrash metal. My 18-year-old self gave this a 5/5 and played it on repeat. My 51-year-old self loves 'One' but can't keep up with thrash anymore and gives it a 3/5. I'll split the difference and give it a solid 4.
Before this record, my exposure to Nick Cave was pretty much limited to 'Red Right Hand' and a handful of other tracks. But this album proved to be an outstanding way to dive deeper into his work. It beautifully showcases his incredible range—delivering everything from sprawling, epic tracks and concise pop tunes to poignant love letters and, of course, his signature meditations on death and loss. It was such a compelling listen that it immediately inspired me to go back and explore his entire back catalogue. A masterful introduction.
I dunno. I assume this has some historical significance, like it was the precursor to the rave culture in Britain. But every song sounds exactly the same to me & because of that every one bleeds into the other. Boring, boring, boring.
Typical British 60’s Folk Rock. Pretentious & boring.
I love this album, sometimes that's hard to say. With six of its nine tracks becoming massive radio singles—and the title track serving as a cultural event all its own—it stands as the absolute finest example of pure pop perfection. It is the undeniable reason he was crowned the King of Pop. I know there is a dark shadow hanging over his legacy with everything that came to light later on. My personal way of navigating it is to separate the art from the artist, reminding myself that those events came after this era. I completely understand why some people refuse to make that compromise, but I grew up with these songs. It's simply too difficult to turn off that lifelong connection and stop enjoying the music.
Being told an album is an eccentric artist's 'most accessible' is usually a red flag, and Here Come the Warm Jets proves it. Eno’s unconventional methods might inspire greatness in bands like U2, but left entirely to his own devices, his music is just weird
Meticulously paced, the album trades instant anthems for a mature, soul-slamming journey. Spirited tracks like 'Empty Room,' 'We Used to Wait,' and the glorious, Blondie-esque 'Sprawl II' make suburbia feel positively electric. Meanwhile, quieter moments on 'Wasted Hours' and 'Suburban War' reveal a subtler, Neil Young-inspired simplicity. The Suburbs feels like the Y generation's Dazed & Confused—serious but not preachy, cynical yet whimsical. Ultimately, it requires patience but rewards you with Arcade Fire's most triumphant, enduring, and beautifully sentimental album.
Nebraska is Springsteen's raw, unflinching vision of the dark underbelly of America. The album is populated by desperate characters who are anti-heroes at their absolute best, and full-blown criminals and murderers at their worst. It is an absolutely brilliant and deeply haunting stripped-down masterpiece.
I want to like jazz. I really do. I’ve had the genre explained to me and been told exactly what to listen for, but I just can't seem to connect with it. Sometimes I feel like maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to appreciate the form, because to my ears, it often sounds like every musician on stage is playing a completely different song at the exact same time. I fully recognize and respect that the players are technically super proficient, but despite acknowledging their undeniable talent, I just can't get into it. A respectful, but firm, pass.
The first metal album I ever heard, and proof that British metal has a sound entirely its own. Between the overblown vocals, over-the-top guitar solos, and lyrics straight out of a B-level horror movie, I absolutely love it. Plus, you just can't beat Eddie!
I mean, it’s Black Fucking Sabbath! What else really needs to be said? If you don’t like this, there is a very good chance you simply don't like rock 'n' roll. An absolute, uncompromising essential.
Imagine the absolute best of 60s blue-eyed soul and girl-group pop flawlessly brought into the 2000s. Mark Ronson's masterful production truly sets this album apart, but it’s that unforgettable voice that makes the record so iconic—it simply wouldn't be a classic without it. Everything about Amy Winehouse, right down to her signature look, managed to be perfectly retro yet entirely modern at the same time. It is a genuine tragedy that her demons won out in the end; I would have loved to hear what she had to offer us next.
I really tried listening to Solid Air, and I genuinely tried to like it. But in the end, it just sounds like yet another folk singer from the UK doing his typical folky thing. It completely fails to stand out and is, quite frankly, boring beyond belief. A hard pass.
The Pixies' massive influence on '90s alternative music truly starts right here with Doolittle. They managed to take everything that worked on Surfer Rosa, fill it in with vibrant color, and make it far more accessible—all without compromising their signature sound. It is a masterclass in the 'loud-soft-loud' dynamic, flawlessly layering hard, abrasive guitars over what is essentially bubblegum pop. Just listen to 'Here Comes Your Man'; it has such a classic pop sensibility that you'll swear you've heard it a hundred times before. Black Francis clearly had more weird hooks and incredibly catchy melodies than he knew what to do with, resulting in a perfect, massively influential record.
While Talking Timbuktu features Ry Cooder as a guest musician, unfortunately—for me, at least—that is about all it has going for it. I'll be the first to admit that I'm just not really into 'world music,' which is probably the main reason this album just didn't grab my attention. Despite Cooder's involvement, it simply wasn't a match for my personal taste.
More World music that admittedly I don't really get, so probably shouldn't even judge. Not my cup of tea.
Bowie mix? Iggy mix? The latest remaster? It's wild how much debate surrounds how this record should sound, but the real testament to its greatness is that no matter which version you put on, it still completely fucking rocks. (For the record, I went with the remastered Iggy mix.)
When I was a college radio DJ, everyone was raving about Lucinda Williams as alt-country emerged. Being a 'punk idiot' at the time, I completely ignored it—what a massive mistake. Her voice is uniquely suited for this genre, and her storytelling simply sucks you in. A track like '2 Kool 2 Be 4-gotten' is so vivid you can practically smell the stale beer and hear the bad bar conversations. Every time I hit play, a whole new story unfolds.
Only the greatest bands can make an 'odds and ends' double record sound this fresh. Zeppelin delivers a masterpiece that flawlessly blends their signature blues-rock with psych-rock and funky R&B grooves. They hit hard right out of the gate with 'Custard Pie' and never let up. Even as someone who usually skips instrumentals, 'Bron-Yr-Aur' is simply too good to ignore. From finally finding a home for the track 'Houses of the Holy' to fully realizing their Middle Eastern influences on the epic 'Kashmir,' it’s another absolute classic from the ultimate classic rock band.
Another double album, another absolute classic! 'Love's in Need of Love Today' kicks off a 90-minute opus of personal discovery and sonic experimentation. While a few experiments inevitably miss the mark across that massive runtime, the ones that hit—like 'Sir Duke'—manage to feel simultaneously nostalgic and futuristic. Stevie's social conscience shines brilliantly on tracks like 'Pastime Paradise' (which will instantly ring bells for any '90s hip-hop fan—hello, Coolio), before he closes things out with a sumptuous, gospel-influenced trip back to the dance floor. A truly great record.
A full decade ahead of its time. Everyone wanted another Licensed to Ill, but the Beastie Boys had other plans. It’s a flawless celebration of everything hip-hop can and should be—from the funkily weird samples and killer DJ work to the seamless mic-passing, all topped off with their signature comedy.
What was the first CSN album missing? The toughness of Neil Young. He brings the essential guitar chops and rock pedigree, though he still knows exactly when to soften the edges, like on 'Helpless'. The signature harmonies are all still intact, but the hippie-dippie stuff rightfully gets pushed to the background in favor of a much-needed rock edge. Cap it off with 'Woodstock'—a classic anthem celebrating one of history's greatest festivals—and you have an absolute masterpiece.
Courtney Love is a divisive figure and a tour de force, but I personally love her work and consider this her absolute magnum opus. It's a defining album of the grunge era, effortlessly pairing monster hooks with a pure punk-girl manifesto. The shadow of Cobain's death will always hang over it, but that context only makes it more powerful as a retroactive snapshot of their marriage and mutual struggles. 'Miss World' remains one of the bleakest, hardest-rocking songs I've ever heard. A perfect snapshot of where alternative music was, and exactly where it was heading.
Phil Spector may have been a terrible human being, but his 'Wall of Sound' truly created 'little symphonies for the kids.' This is by far the best Christmas album ever made, anchored by Darlene Love's 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)'—the greatest holiday song ever written, and one that absolutely no cover version has ever managed to touch.
Critics may hail this as a fragile masterpiece and a poignant document of an unraveling artistic genius, but it should really just be called complete crap. There isn’t a single redeeming quality to be found here. The playing is simply out-of-tune garbage, and the lyrics are incredibly stupid and amateurish.
Hüsker Dü’s secret weapon was hiding incredible melodies beneath punk chaos, but with Sugar, Bob Mould flips that formula to incredible effect. The seeds he planted earlier had finally blossomed in the '90s alternative scene, making this album a quintessential testament to that entire wave. Do yourself a favor and grab the deluxe edition—the extras are every bit as good as the official tracks.
Strap on your Viking helmet and get ready to rock to 'Immigrant Song'! But it's not all heavy riffs; the acoustic guitars and folksy sounds beautifully expand Zeppelin's repertoire, highlighted by the stunning ballad 'Tangerine.' When your supposedly 'weakest' track ('Celebration Day') could easily be any other band's crowning achievement, it tells you everything you need to know about how incredible this record is.
Released in the '90s but unfortunately still entirely relevant today. You can hear the aftermath of the LA riots all over this record, and the anger and vitriol spilling out of Cube's rhymes are completely justified. Just when you think it's all guns, murder, and mayhem, 'It Was a Good Day' drops in to offer a welcome five-minute respite before throwing you right back into the fire.
It's not often you get to listen to an album and hear an entirely new genre forming in real-time. But you do here—this is the exact moment trip-hop wa
A loosely defined concept album about a preacher on the run after murdering his wife and her lover. With simple arrangements and minimal instrumentation, it feels like sitting around a campfire listening to someone tell interconnected stories. It works perfectly—and having 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain' is reason enough to own the record all on its own.
Three years after Massive Attack brought trip-hop to the masses, Portishead delivered the genre's next defining moment. I absolutely love that the obscure, scratchy '60s samples are actually the band's own arrangements—pressed to vinyl, literally skated on to weather them, and then resampled. Beth Gibbons' voice is simultaneously haunting and sexy, floating over lush strings that sound like the soundtrack to an obscure James Bond film only the coolest people have ever seen
The originals are getting better & the energy is there for sure. Beatlemania is only a few years away at this point. The songs may not be challenging, but really what's wrong with a pop record? Absolutely nothing.
An absolutely stunning record full of massive, epic songs exploring the intersection of the church and commercialism. The first four tracks are so incredibly well done that I usually just hit repeat and almost forget about the rest of the album. I saw them open for U2 once, and Bono described them less as a band and more as a 'musical circus'—which perfectly sums up their entire sound.
This album would be a classic for the first four tracks alone! Not much I can say really. A stone cold classic that should be in everyone's collection.
Funk at its finest. If any band ever truly embodied the hippie ideal, it was Sly and the Family Stone—an integrated lineup of Black and white, male and female musicians showing everyone how it’s done. Every time 'I Want to Take You Higher' plays, I get a stupid grin on my face and want to dance, which is a real problem because I absolutely cannot dance
Personally, I think Thriller is better. But you can hear how Quincy Jones & Michael Jackson were already starting to get away from disco/r&b & embrace pop. Something they would perfect a few years later.
Bring on the funk-punk! Rick Rubin's production really helped the band find their focus, trading the heavy metal guitars of their last record for excellent, funky melodic riffs. They're still completely obsessed with sex—who else could scream 'That mouth was made to suck my kiss!' and get away with it?—but then they reveal a softer side with 'Under the Bridge' and suddenly become global megastars.
The only song I knew going in was 'Walk on the Wild Side'—which honestly justifies the price of admission all by itself—but it turns out the rest of the album is fantastic, too. 'Perfect Day' is a beautiful, classic love song... written to heroin! You can also distinctly hear the influence of co-producers David Bowie and Mick Ronson pushing the record's sound heavily toward glam.
Some people still think the title track is a jingoistic rallying cry for 'the greatest country in the world.' Those people are either stupid, didn't listen to the lyrics—which clearly blast government policies—or a little bit of column A and column B. When I was younger, I couldn't find music that spoke directly to my life, but I found my dad in this record's blue-collar workingman's ethic. Now at 52, I've realized these songs aren't just about my dad anymore; they're about me. That's what truly amazing songs do: they transcend generations. The Boss made what is easily the best album of the '80s. I’d give it a 10 out of 5 if I could.
How much more praise can I possibly heap on Zeppelin? I still remember the first time I heard them—my jaw hit the floor and I just sat there completely gobsmacked by what I was experiencing. Even after all this time, there isn't a single boring second on this album. To me, this is the exact blueprint that all rock 'n' roll has been trying to copy ever since, and every single one of those other bands is still falling short.
I can just hear the conversation between the Robinson brothers now: 'I like the Rolling Stones, do you?' 'Yeah.' 'Well, I like The Faces, you?' 'Uh-huh.' 'Don't forget the soul!' 'Oh yeah!' 'We should form a band and make an album!' And so they did. The result is an amazing classic rock record that could have just as easily come out in the '60s as it did in the '90s.
I loved this album the moment I heard it. As much praise as Wyclef deserves—the Fugees were his vision, after all—the true star here is Lauryn Hill. Not only can she out-rap Pras and Wyclef, but she can sing, too, as proven by their massive hit 'Killing Me Softly.' This is also one of the very few hip-hop albums where I actually enjoy the skits. I know the Chinese restaurant bit hasn't aged well and is deemed 'problematic' today, but I don't care—it's still one of the funniest skits I've ever heard. 'Okay, this is a Chinese restaurant, but like Burger King, have it your way!'
The '80s are back! Or at least the sound is. The synths and swooshes are undeniably catchy, and 'Take Me Out' cleverly uses sniper imagery to describe a romantic encounter. The album has an underground, artsy vibe with just enough oomph to appeal to the masses without ever feeling like a sellout. It was a totally different sound than what was coming out of the radio at the time. I once heard that if you want a hit song, you name it after a girl—and voilà! 'Jacqueline' is an excellent addition to that tradition.
This album is exactly why I got myself into this 1001 Albums project in the first place: to hear something I’d never heard before and be absolutely blown away. My God, it's so good! It has pure punk rock structure and attitude, but then they decide to throw in... horns! Suddenly, it goes from a pretty cool punk band to a fucking awesome one. Punk purists be damned.
The debut album from the band that officially gave Britain its swagger back. Noel and Liam's constant fighting always threatened to derail them, but that volatile tension was just as much a part of their appeal as the actual music. And what music it is—a brilliant mix of their influences, especially the Beatles, forged into a massive sound that was entirely their own. Oasis knew exactly who they were and what they were about to become; I mean, the opening track is literally 'Rock 'n' Roll Star'! It's almost hard to believe they'd only get better from here.
When I was a kid, all I knew about Leonard Cohen was that—like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and (most of) The Band—he was Canadian. That was good enough for me; I didn't even feel the need to actually know his music. But then I got to university and was DJing when a tribute album came in. I knew nothing about it but started spinning it anyway, especially Don Henley's version of 'Everybody Knows.' That led me to this actual album, where Cohen's deep, barking voice boomed out of the speakers on 'First We Take Manhattan.' It was like nothing I’d ever heard before—not really singing, not really talking, but something uniquely in between. And the lyrics! The sheer imagery is beautiful and dark, sometimes incredibly sad, and occasionally quite scary. By the time 'Tower of Song' came on, I was completely floored. An absolutely incredible album.
This is Lauryn Hill's magnum opus—an album that not only changed the game, but completely shifted how women were perceived in both hip-hop and R&B. No longer restrained by Wyclef's vision, she could (and did) do whatever she wanted. Old school soul? Check out 'Doo Wop (That Thing)'. A devastating track about an ex-lover? Check out 'Ex-Factor'. Sharp sociopolitical commentary? Check out 'Every Ghetto, Every City'. Most artists spend their entire careers trying to make a record this great. Perhaps that's exactly why she never made another studio album: she knew it could never be topped.
This, along with Ministry's Psalm 69, defined exactly what industrial music could be for me. It's an appropriately named album, serving as a visceral document of Trent Reznor's descent into the hell he was experiencing—but also, somehow, his ascent back out. 'Piggy,' with its chaotic drumming at the end while Reznor just repeats 'Nothing can stop me now,' captures the very essence of the entire record. Perhaps Reznor said it best himself: a celebration of self-destruction in the form of a concept record that somehow became a worldwide hit. Side note: I remember thinking that if I could ever have sex while 'Closer' was playing, it would be absolutely insane...I was right.
I remember seeing the video for 'Devils Haircut.' Here was Beck walking down the street in a cowboy hat and leather jacket, boombox in hand. He looked like the absolute epitome of cool. I remember thinking, 'Well, the Loser finally grew up!' And that newfound swagger is perfectly reflected in the songs.
A few random thoughts:
I remember seeing the video for 'Jump' when I was a kid, and I thought David Lee Roth was so cool—I wanted to be just like him!
When I got older, a friend of mine pointed out the irony: 'Don't you think it's funny that they have one of the best guitarists in the world, yet their biggest hit is driven by a synthesizer?'
'Hot for Teacher' is every guy's fantasy writ large; it absolutely rocks, and the spoken-word breakdown features one of the best lines about school ever recorded: 'I don't feel tardy.'
And when David Lee Roth was accused of only writing about women, partying, and fast cars, he pointed out that the critics were wrong—he actually hadn't written about fast cars yet. 'Panama' was the glorious result.
Hearing 'The Promised Land' for the first time was like an affirmation that there really could be a higher power out there. You can hear the desperation of a man who fears he may have been forgotten in the three years it took this album to come out. You can also feel the anger in the playing, a direct result of Springsteen having to sue his old manager just to get his music back. The characters that appeared on his earlier albums are here too, but now they're older—though not necessarily wiser. They're still just trying to get by, and still making bad decisions that will haunt them.
Can you really give 4 stars to an album that only has one hit song? When it happens to be one of the funkiest songs ever put to wax, you sure can!
The former Black Francis proves what was always hidden under the noise of the Pixies. As much as I'll always prefer Doolittle, here the pop hooks are front and center while the rock is faster and heavier. If it were a single album instead of the double album it became, it would absolutely be a classic. Not that there's anything truly awful on the back half, it's just not quite up to the incredible quality of those first nine tracks.
I'll admit I stole this from Apple Music, but it perfectly sums it up: At the time, albums like Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill and No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom (and events like the all-female Lilith Fair tour) had brought a feminist edge to the mainstream. But Tidal is both angrier and subtler. Apple knows how to make herself ten feet tall ('Sleep to Dream') while also expressing how small society has made her feel ('Sullen Girl'). She sounds older than she is ('Shadowboxer'), but points out that sexual abuse has a way of making you grow up fast ('The Child Is Gone'). If she takes pride in her powers of seduction, it's only because it's one of the few she's allowed to exercise ('Criminal'). While Billie Holiday—a childhood influence—transformed her pain with laughter, Apple wields hers like a blade: discreet, but it'll cut you."
"Like a lot of people, this was my intro to gangsta rap. It sounded absolutely nothing like the hip-hop I was used to (mainly Public Enemy). The first three tracks are so deadly that they demand a 5-star rating on their own; the fact that the rest of the album can't quite live up to them just shows how far above and beyond they really were—and still are. You can hear everything change in those three songs. It was like a nuclear bomb going off, not only in the hip-hop landscape but in pop music in general. Nothing would ever be the same. They also show exactly what kind of lyricist Ice Cube is. Mix those lyrics with Dr. Dre's beats, and you get such an infectious sound that all of hip-hop started chasing it, but never quite caught it. At the time, did I get that most of the things they were rapping about were true? No. But man, it was scary and exhilarating to hear, and for most of us white suburban kids, it was an intro to a whole different world out there. Parents ignored this at their own peril, and by the time they started paying attention, it was too late. To paraphrase MC Ren: by the time they were paying attention, their whole fuckin' family was wearin' their t-shirts!
Political punk rock with a wonderfully twisted sense of humor to go along with it. A good political song makes you think, but a great political song makes you dance without even realizing you're hearing something political at first—until you listen to it again and again. 'Holiday in Cambodia' is a great political song!
Cosmo's Factory is so packed with hits that it feels like a greatest hits album unto itself. From Classics like 'Lookin' Out My Back Door' and 'Who'll Stop the Rain' to an untouchable cover of 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine,' the guitar work and songwriting are excellent across the board. After releasing three albums and touring relentlessly in 1969, CCR rolled into 1970 completely on fire—tight, locked in, and driven by John Fogerty at his absolute peak. I'm not sure if the term 'Americana' existed back then, but that's what I'd call it. It's not quite the country rock Gram Parsons was making, nor is it the standard San Francisco rock of the era. In fact, the first time I heard Creedence, I was convinced they were from the Deep South; finding out they were actually from the Bay Area was hilarious. A brilliant album.
The cover art for Aladdin Sane is so iconic that it deserves a star all on its own. Essentially 'Ziggy goes to America,' the album was written during Bowie's 1972 US tour, and it really shows. There's a distinct sense of paranoia and fear running through the record; it was his first time in America, and the things that freaked him out ultimately fueled some incredible music. Mick Ronson's guitar work is brilliant, driving standout tracks like 'The Jean Genie,' 'Panic in Detroit,' and 'Cracked Actor.' Bowie was still expanding glam rock here, proving just how great the genre could be—having already resurrected the careers of Lou Reed and Mott the Hoople by pushing them in the same direction. He was always on the cutting edge, anticipating what was next even before he decided to kill off the Ziggy persona. While the album cover might be more famous than some of the deep cuts, the writing and musicianship are top-tier.
While Parachutes was an intimate, almost soft-rock album, A Rush of Blood to the Head is exactly what Coldplay should have been: a majestic, big-sounding band. 'The Scientist' features one of my favorite lyrics: 'Nobody said it was easy / No one ever said it would be this hard.' This was Coldplay proving they could be massive, signaling a grand, arena-ready sound that bands like Arcade Fire would soon capitalize on. It's funny that they eventually stepped away from this style, but for a little while, they absolutely nailed it. I love big and epic music, and this album is exactly that.
Document is the sound of R.E.M. truly becoming R.E.M. They were more folk-rock beforehand, but this is where Peter Buck really found his signature jangle-pop guitar sound that would carry them forward. 'It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)' is just such a great song; I have no idea what Michael Stipe is talking about, but from what I remember him saying, it doesn't really matter anyway! Following that right up with 'The One I Love' gives you two back-to-back bangers. Those two tracks alone earn the album three stars, but the fourth star comes from witnessing the band transition into the R.E.M. we all came to love. They weren't quite at their absolute peak yet, but this was the crucial stepping stone before they signed to a major label just to prove they could do it without selling out.
The New York Dolls' self-titled debut album is the exact definition of the punky version of glam rock. I know punk hadn't officially started yet, but that dirty, trashy take on glam was fully formed right here. Johnny Thunders' guitar playing is just so sloppy, but so, so good all at the same time. Couple that with David Johansen's singing—he keeps that thick Staten Island accent the entire time, and it just makes the sound even better. To me, the New York Dolls are pure, unadulterated, trashy glam rock, and that sound is absolutely awesome. They were playing at great venues like Max's Kansas City, preceding punk rock, and yet completely defining what punk would eventually become.
They were easily the most Zeppelin-esque of the Seattle grunge bands. Soundgarden's secret weapon was Chris Cornell's legendary, wailing scream. To paraphrase the man himself on this very album: nobody sings like him anymore. Add in Kim Thayil's unforgettable guitar riffs, and it’s no wonder this record blew me away when it came out. The pummeling punk-rock aggression of Badmotorfinger is replaced here by more nuanced, mature songwriting. It leans heavily into '70s arena rock, embracing the verse-chorus structures and huge hooks of their heroes. 'Fell on Black Days' is an incredible track that deeply speaks to me; as someone who has battled depression, I understand exactly what Cornell was feeling. But 'Black Hole Sun' is their absolute coup de grâce—the ultimate representation of the band and Cornell's genius as an artist. It's a definitive track that people will still be listening to decades from now
Every band on this list is here for a reason, and 99% of that reason is because their albums are so good, or the songs are so incredible, that they influence other artists who hear them and think, 'Man, I want to make a song like that.' That's great, and that's exactly why they should be celebrated. Unfortunately, then you have a band like The Incredible String Band who play such a meandering, self-indulgent fucking mess. I've heard it labeled as 'psychedelic folk,' but it just sounds like pure garbage to me. If they are influencing anybody, whoever they influence, I do not want to hear them—because if they are anywhere near as awful as this band, they will be virtually unlistenable. One star, and that's only because I can't give it a zero.
The College Dropout is an amazing record. Kanye was the first to really take an old song, speed up the sample, and put that weird, high-pitched vocal underneath the rapping. It was jaw-dropping because nobody had heard anything quite like it before. Soon enough, everyone was trying to imitate it, but you have to give Kanye credit for doing it first. The guest rappers on here are all phenomenal, especially Jay-Z. On 'Never Let Me Down,' he drops that perfect line: 'Hov's a living legend and I'll tell you why / Everybody wanna be Hov and Hov's still alive.' The album captured hip-hop rubbing up against pop and somehow still working without destroying the core hip-hop element. This was the point where hip-hop was setting the trends, rather than just trying to follow them. Then you have 'Jesus Walks,' which is such a subversive song. While other rappers tried to be subversive by talking about drugs, guns, and violence, Kanye comes in and raps about Jesus. As he points out right in the track: 'They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus / That means guns, sex, lies, videotape / But if I talk about God my record won't get played, huh?' Of course, it ended up becoming a massive hit anyway. The only reason I can't give this a full five stars is because, well, Kanye went a little bit crazy later on, and that has to count for something.
God-tier street rap. That's about all you can really say. It features everyone who was anyone on the West Coast, led by the producer of producers, Dr. Dre. He mined every single bit of classic funk he could find—along with a few Zeppelin samples—and created that legendary G-funk sound. As his stepbrother Warren G (not his cousin!) put it, the rhythm is the bass and the bass is the treble. Of course, the most monumental takeaway from this album was the introduction of Snoop Doggy Dogg. It's our first time hearing him, and he sounds so raw and hungry. He gets right up in your face to show off everything he can do, and you simply cannot turn away; even when he's done, you're left wanting more. The album came out in December 1992, just months after the LA riots, and you can hear that tension all over the record—'The Day the Niggaz Took Over' is explicitly about the unrest. This is a rap record that is equal parts braggadocio and vitriol; they are mad at a lot of people, and rightfully so. What else can I say? Great record. There would be hip-hop albums that come close to being this good later on, but nothing would ever get better.
At Folsom Prison is a phenomenal live album. You can practically feel the sweat pouring off of Johnny Cash; you can see it on the album cover, and you can absolutely feel it in his performance. He is giving everything he has to this one concert. The crowd is eating it up—these are his people, and he knows it. The prison setting makes it all the more special, elevating it to the absolute Mount Rushmore of live albums, right up there with James Brown's Live at the Apollo, Cheap Trick's At Budokan, and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture (the famous Hammersmith Odeon show where he finally killed off the Ziggy persona). Every song is great, perfectly blending comedy, gospel, and dark tales. Naturally, the set features 'Folsom Prison Blues,' which boasts one of the toughest lyrics ever put to paper: 'I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.' You can have all the hip-hop braggadocio you want about guns and gangs; that one single line makes Johnny Cash sound tougher and meaner than all the rest combined—yet completely full of regret, which is exactly why he's singing it in Folsom Prison. It's just a brilliant album. Even if you don't typically like country music, every single person needs to listen to this record.
Growing up in Nova Scotia, you become inundated with Celtic-inspired music pretty damn quick. You get bands coming down from Newfoundland like Great Big Sea, or that Cape Breton sound with its heavy fiddle, like Natalie MacMaster. Honestly, if you're in a local pub and not hearing an acoustic guitar paired with an accordion or a fiddle, you're probably not in a Maritime pub. I loved it for a while, then went through a phase of hating it because it felt so typical. But as you get older, you naturally circle back to the stuff you loved growing up, and your search for those familiar sounds eventually leads you to The Pogues. I understand this music isn't for everyone—I think you almost have to grow up around it—but man, The Pogues do it better than just about anybody else. It is Celtic folk-punk at its absolute finest, and Shane MacGowan's voice is a chef's kiss.
On If I Should Fall from Grace with God, they expand their musical horizons way beyond just playing punky versions of traditional Irish folk tunes. You hear Spanish, German, Turkish, and even Middle Eastern flavors creeping in, and it's brilliant. That musical expansion alone is worth three stars. But then they include the absolute best Christmas song ever recorded. There are maybe three Christmas songs I’ll listen to year-round, and 'Fairytale of New York' with Kirsty MacColl is number one. It is the pitch-perfect holiday track—there simply isn't a better one out there. That song alone earns the other two stars. Five stars from me.
Urban Hymns is the swan song of Britpop. The movement had its day and was definitely on its way out, but if it was going to end with one album, they picked a great one to go out on. 'The Drugs Don't Work' and 'Lucky Man' are great songs and the whole record gives you a solid mix of psychedelic sounds and good rock tunes. But really, the album comes down to one massive single: 'Bitter Sweet Symphony.' If Britpop was fading into the sunset, this was the song that carried it there. In England at the time, it was the equivalent of a winning goal by David Beckham. It’s an incredible track, built on top of those glorious strings. I saw Richard Ashcroft opening for Oasis a couple of years ago, and he closed his set with it. When he sang, 'I'll take you down...' and then stopped, hearing 80,000 people scream back, '...the only road I've ever been down!' was absolutely breathtaking. That single alone is worth three stars, and with the other great tracks backing it up, this album serves as the perfect farewell to a specific time and place. It definitely deserves a nostalgic look back.
It's the late '60s in San Francisco, and you're in a band playing exactly what everyone else is playing: acid rock. It was essentially just the blues turned way up to 11, distorted, and played in a gritty, garage-rock kind of way. So how do you distinguish yourself from everybody else? You get one hell of a frontwoman—a singer who can convey more emotion in a single word than most can manage in an entire song. That singer is Janis Joplin. Janis really knew what the blues were; for her, they were a long, lonely, sad, and desperate road to self-destruction. Nowhere is that more exemplified than on this album. 'Piece of My Heart' is the track everyone knows, and it's an undeniable classic, don't get me wrong. But if you want to hear a phenomenal song that showcases absolutely everything Janis Joplin could do, listen to their cover of Big Mama Thornton's 'Ball and Chain.' That track just has everything in it. Great record.
This was another record that I had never heard of before, which is exactly why I wanted to tackle this list in the first place—to discover something new. The Zutons are definitely different. I don't really know what it is about their sound that I like so much. There's certainly some Merseybeat in there, and I love their use of horns, saxophone, and other unique elements. If you asked me to pinpoint the exact reason I really like this record, I don't know if I could give it to you. I did find out that if you like The Zutons, you'll probably like The Coral, so that's another band I'm checking out now thanks to this list. Four stars, maybe simply because the sound managed to completely surprise me.
Lust for Life perfectly bridges the gap between the dark experimentation of The Idiot and the raw power of the Stooges. It’s a faster, much more upbeat rock album than its predecessor, yet far more introspective than anything he did in his early days. He's got a great backing band behind him here (featuring the Sales brothers anchoring the rhythm section); are they as dangerously punky and thrilling as the Stooges? Not even close. But they are a razor-sharp rock and roll band, and that is exactly what Iggy needed at this point in his career. With David Bowie producing again, it becomes a truly great album.
The title track is an amazing anthem where you can hear Iggy maturing a bit, famously vowing to stay away from liquor and drugs in the lyrics. Then you have 'The Passenger,' another phenomenal track that ironically leans right back into dark, nocturnal decadence, which is a pretty funny contrast. As reviews from places like AllMusic have noted, if The Idiot was the cerebral sound of Iggy being resurrected, Lust for Life was his aggressive, extroverted return to pure rock and roll. Just a great album.
The first time I heard Enter the Wu-Tang, I was actually a little late to the party; it had already been out for a while. I had drifted away from hip-hop for a bit because I found the genre was getting boring, bloated, and just sounding the same as everything else. And then I heard this. These Staten Island boys, who famously renamed their borough Shaolin, completely ripped up the rulebook. The gritty production, the martial arts samples, and having that many completely distinct MCs all battling for the mic made it sound so incredibly raw and hungry. It was the exact opposite of the bloated music I had grown tired of—it was exactly the jolt of energy I needed to pull me right back into hip-hop. 10 out of 5 stars
I can't stand Morrissey. I hate his voice. It drives me batty. To be completely honest, I just can't listen to Smiths songs. Not even Johnny Marr can save them for me. And it's not because of Morrissey's political stances. I'm not one of those 'shut up and sing' people; if an artist wants to put their politics into their music, go right ahead. I have no problem with that. It's simply that his songs bore me to tears, and his voice just grates on me. I'd say I wish I liked it, but honestly, I don't even wish that. I just plain don't like it. I wish I could give a deeper review, but it really just boils down to this; I can't stand Morrissey.
God, it almost tortures me to do this, but Blue is another record I just can't stand. I know she's from Canada, so I feel like I should like her, and I have tried my absolute hardest. I've listened to Blue multiple times, always trying to listen harder to see if I can finally catch whatever it is everyone else hears, but I just don't. When she wants to write a great pop song, she can—just look at 'Big Yellow Taxi.' And when other people interpret her work, it's amazing; I love the Nazareth version of 'This Flight Tonight' from this very album.
I know that practically every artist of the '70s loves Joni Mitchell. James Taylor, Graham Nash, Leonard Cohen. Neil Young loves her. Even Led Zeppelin, one of my top five bands of all time, worshipped her. (Robert Plant and Jimmy Page were massive Joni fans & wrote 'Going to California' for her,)
I wish I could like her, but I just don't. Maybe it's the jazziness—I've tried to get into jazz, and it just doesn't work for me. Or maybe it's just her voice, the way she changes octaves and uses those weird vocal inflections. All of those things combined just make me go, 'eh.' 'River' is on here too, which has basically become a Christmas standard, and it's actually pretty good. But my final review boils down to this: Joni Mitchell's Blue is a great record to a lot of people. To me, it's just meh.
This album starts off with an absolute bang. Despite its title, 'Big Exit' instantly draws you in, and the rest of the record never lets go. Harvey joins a long line of London artists totally mesmerized by New York, using that energy to inspire an amazing record. I had heard of her but never actually listened before—I'm so glad this popped up. A fantastic album.
Muse makes the dystopian future we all seem to be heading towards feel like it will at least rock. The final three tracks perfectly showcase their incredible musical versatility—Middle Eastern strings? Check. Mariachi horns? Check. Twangy guitars? Check. Top it all off with Matt Bellamy's fantastic voice, and you've got a phenomenal record.
It seemed like every mom in my neighborhood owned this record! These three women make beautiful harmonies sound completely effortless, and 'Wildflowers' is an instant classic. My only criticism? There simply aren't enough songs featuring Emmylou Harris.
Bryan Ferry's voice is fucking annoying. Which maybe I could get over if the songs weren't just as shitty as his voice!
Whenever I hear 'Hells Bells' now, I immediately think of Trevor Hoffman and that magnificent bullpen entrance. That song alone would strike fear into opposing batters. I've heard all these tracks so many times on classic rock radio that it feels like they've been around my entire lifetime. 'You Shook Me All Night Long' is such an absolute classic that it deserves its own 5-star rating!
When I was a kid, one of the first memories I have is of my mom sitting at my grandma's kitchen table, her headphones on, with the extra-long cord running to the stereo. I have no idea what she was listening to, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was Tapestry. I have to give 2 stars for that hit of nostalgia alone. Carole King's voice isn't anything to marvel at, but her songwriting? That's another story entirely! And just when you think she's doing covers with 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' and 'Natural Woman,' it turns out—nope, she wrote those too. 'It's Too Late' is the 'Irreplaceable' of its time.
Another one of the few bands I'd never heard of going into this project, and another pleasant surprise! I usually don't like dance music because it gets boring and repetitive real quick, but if it's done right with a few added touches, that repetition can actually be quite enjoyable. Hot Chip seems to have found that exact sweet spot. I read an article recently that said Gen X is prone to nostalgia, and that definitely holds true with this record. The synthy swooshes and even the vocal style seem to bring me back to some specific place in my memory, especially on 'Let Me Be Him.' There's a brief passage in there that most people would probably pass right by, but it got stuck in my head and I had to figure out where I'd heard something similar. It turns out it reminded me of 'Tarzan Boy' by Baltimora! It was a nice little piece of brain candy that made the song that much more enjoyable.
Not as good as their first two albums, but Public Enemy's 'not as good' is most rap groups' 'great.' The songs don't have quite that same sense of bombast that was so prevalent before, but that's mainly because of sampling issues and Hank Shocklee handing over the production reins. Calling out the government over racist policies is Chuck D's forte, and he's still the absolute best at it here. As he famously said: 'Rap is the Black CNN.' Plus, you get the new version of 'Bring the Noise' with Anthrax, predating what Rage Against the Machine would be doing by a full year.
Californication is a more mature Red Hot Chili Peppers—though not too mature, considering they still worked 'fornication' into the title. Thank God John Frusciante is back; as much as I like Dave Navarro, he didn't belong in this band, and Frusciante's sweet guitar work here is some of the best I've ever heard. After seeing slower tracks like 'Under the Bridge' and 'Breaking the Girl' become their biggest hits, the band finally leaned into that formula, making the heavier stuff a rarity. A friend of mine noted at the time that the album was much slower and less effective when it tried to be heavy. Aside from the hard-hitting opener 'Around the World,' he was right—the slower-tempo songwriting on 'Scar Tissue' and the title track is where this record truly shines. Anthony Kiedis may not be the greatest lyricist, but he's a top-tier delivery man, and Flea is an absolute joy—one of the few bassists with an instantly recognizable signature sound.
I'll try to keep this simple: if you're tackling this 1001 Albums journey and you don't like The Beatles, you might as well quit right now. They influenced 90% of the other artists on this list. Abbey Road is just a fantastic album with too many good songs to count. From the opening groove of 'Come Together' all the way through the closing medley to 'Golden Slumbers' (I'm not counting the little 'Her Majesty' hidden track tacked on at the very end), it is a phenomenal record. Then, of course, you have the iconic album cover and the whole 'Paul is dead' urban legend, which I won't dive into right now, but it makes for a classic piece of music history. Five stars, easily.
By 1993, the mainstream was still inundated with the sound of what we were calling grunge. And then in 1994, Green Day released Dookie, and it was like a slap to the face. Here was an album that had hooks! It was catchy! It wanted to please! And it did the one thing that the grunge-era bands weren't doing: it brought humor to the angst. It's punk rock influenced by the Ramones, not the Sex Pistols. These are three guys who sound just as bored, lost, and uncertain about what the future holds as every one of their fans felt. It's guys whose anger is neutered by their own hilarious incompetence. It was everything punk rock should be and more. Three snotty punks playing music that spoke to a whole bunch of other snotty punks. They didn't come with solutions on how to handle life; it was more the sound of, 'Hey! We know what you're going through because we're going through it too. So let's at least dance while we do!
The thing I always remember hearing about Green is that as R.E.M.'s major-label debut, it served as a blueprint for all the alternative bands that followed. They listened to this album and realized, 'Oh wow, we can still do exactly what we want to do.' R.E.M. didn't change their core sound at all; they just put it out there and said, 'This is what we sound like, either you like it or you don't.' They were definitely still expanding their sound, but they proved you could make the jump to a major label without 'selling out'—which, of course, became the ultimate debate in the '90s.
Take tracks like 'Stand' and 'Pop Song 89.' Michael Stipe always referred to them as his 'Fruit Loop songs' because they were full of sugary-sweet pop goodness with no real intellectual nutritional value. But honestly, sometimes you just need that sugary-sweet pop goodness, and 'Stand' is a genuinely great song. Peter Buck is awesome on guitar throughout, and this was also the era where the band started swapping instruments around, with Buck even jumping on the drums for a track. It's a great album where you can clearly hear the progression toward what was coming on their next two records. You get these lively, fun pop songs backed up against brainy, sophisticated acoustic ballads. They would hone that exact formula to absolute perfection on Automatic for the People, but Green is the crucial stepping stone that got them there.
I had heard of Lupe before, but I had never actually listened to him, and now I'm quite miffed at myself for missing out. Growing up in the '90s, I used to hang out at the skate park—even though I couldn't skate—just because they always had the coolest punk rock and hip-hop playing. I would always think about how much fun it must be to actually ride, and the track "Kick, Push" is basically those exact thoughts writ large. The storytelling on this record is amazing, and the instrumentals definitely have Kanye West's fingerprints all over them. As someone else pointed out, it's like being able to listen to Kanye without the guilt of listening to Kanye. This is a very good album packed with tight rhymes that immediately makes you want to search out more of his work.
If I were carving my personal Mount Rushmore of hip-hop albums it would be Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Dr. Dre's 2001, and Ready to Die. Why? Because every single one of them completely changed the game in one way or another.
When it comes to Biggie, nobody before or since has ever blended gritty, street-level hustler narratives with massive, radio-friendly pop hooks quite like him. If you read retrospectives on sites like Rolling Stone, Spin, or Pitchfork, they universally point to Ready to Die as the definitive gold standard. It became the exact blueprint that artists like Jay-Z, 50 Cent, and virtually the entire modern rap landscape have been following ever since. Biggie is simply one of the greatest to ever touch a mic; his effortless, buttery baritone and masterful, multi-syllabic flow are absolutely undeniable.
I do have to acknowledge that Diddy played a crucial executive role in steering Biggie toward those massive crossover hits to get this record made. However, given his absolute, sickening fall from grace and the fact that he has been exposed as a truly crappy human being, historical production notes are absolutely the only credit I am ever willing to give him.
