Respect for the punk rock mentality, the full commitment, and the true originality. But harsh and discordant to the point where I won't end up listening to it many more times.
Easy listening for music snobs. This album, along with their next few, is far better than their 90s slop, and it's a shame they'll be remembered for the latter. That being said, while their sound, writing, and production was original and innovative in 1983, it's been done a million times since by a million other bands. That's a testament to REM's influence, but influence alone doesn't carry an album for me.
Listening to Murmur, I was reminded of one of my favorite bands from the same era, one that also featured a unique and charismatic singer floating over bittersweet riffs on a jangly guitar. But The Smiths had a personality. There was dark humor, pathos, unrequited love, shifting English politics. Listening to this and REMs other college radio albums, I can't really tell what they're about or what they're wanting the listener to take away from the experience. Maybe it's just positive vibes and an hour of good company. Which is about all I got from this.
A landmark millennial LP that just never hit for this Xer. The three hit singles aside, as an *album* it leaves a lot to be desired - over half the tracks just feel like filler.
Lifelong metalhead. This is probably Maiden’s worst album, and is absolutely its worst pre-90s. It’s not even the best of the two featuring their original singer. Chintzy production, transparent and awkward songwriting, and Di’anno is a far inferior vocalist to Dickinson. The elements of what the band would become are there but any of the next 5 albums deserve a place on this list over this one (I peeked and their greatest did somehow manage to get included). Only a group of Very Smart critics would have picked this, probably because of its perceived influence on NWOBHM. But an album that someone unfamiliar ‘should listen to’ in 2025 should have something to offer that listener in 2025. You shouldn’t have to have a PhD in early British heavy metal to appreciate it.
One of the greatest albums ever, by a beautiful human and accomplished pickup basketball player. There are a handful of tracks that drag a little and keep it from perfection, but the peaks are as high as any pop music has reached.
Like seeing an old friend come up in my feed. Cave and his music is far too deep and intricate for me to sum up in a few sentences. If you like this, there are like a dozen other albums just as great, each with their own unique sound - start with Murder Ballads. Go read his responses to fan questions at Red Hand Files. And go see him live if you ever get the chance. His 2017 tour stop here was one of the best shows of my life.
Definitely an important album, probably their best, but not in the conversation for one of best of all time, even for rap. Chuck D and Flav’s flows and rhymes are super basic. The singular focus on their racial solidarity and commitment to not selling out is perhaps more positive messaging than what we have today, but some variety would have made this a better album. The production, heavy on turntables and samples, is great for what it is, but sounds very dated, unlike much of the hip hop that would come out just a few years later. So not quite a 5th star for me but it still belongs here.
Tom Waits if he were actually drunk instead of just pretending to be.
Second Springsteen album this week. I'm starting to hate factory workers.
I can’t listen to this without reflecting on what became of GNR in the years and decades after. We’re still kind of paying attention to these guys 40 years later off the strength of this one album alone, and really just off its three major singles. The rest of their discography is mediocre at best (UYI) and unlistenable at worst (everything else). While it obviously hits for a huge number of people, it just doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe spending my childhood watching the videos on constant MTV rotation desensitized me to their swagger and ferocity, or whatever.
Sounds like what would happen if Cut Copy, Trey Anastasio, and Devendra Banhart were trapped in a room together with only a guitar, a maraca, an ounce of weed, and a 2008 Macbook running Garage Band to get them by. While it is a little self-aware and pretentious for my taste, it’s not horrible and I appreciate the artistic effort.
Not even close to being their best work, but I checked and it's the only Husker Du on the list. Meanwhile we get to listen to a recording of every time Springsteen, Lennon, or Jagger randomly farted on a microphone. HD belongs here, this album does not. Check out Candy Apple Grey.
This album is the single, clearest marker of the end of metal's 80s heyday and the beginning of its 90s decline. Still, the "Enter Sandman" video was my entry to a lifetime of metal fandom, and the black album tour was my first big concert. Young Me, however, quickly moved to the more extreme subgenres and took every chance to shit on this album and call Metallica sellouts. Now that some time has passed, I appreciate this over-produced, carefully written hard-rock monstrosity for the special entity it is.
Listening to this feels like when I want nothing more than a hot fudge sundae for dessert and instead have to make do with a partially frozen slice of lemon meringue pie.
