Mate got me onto this scheme so let's see if I stick it out. Pretty decent first shout to be fair, I was dreading Captain Beefheart or some shite. This is where MJ goes stratospheric, the 2nd of one of surely the best trilogies ever. Sold quite well, they tell me. As an MJ fan as a kid in the 80s (bedspread the lot), I had this and Bad on vinyl so this is obviously all very familiar. Yet somehow I still laughed out loud walking down a busy street at the throwaway "Yer a vegetable!" line. There'd be complaints these days. The production is lighter than you'd remember at times, quite tinny in parts. But that only serves to raise the profile of the two monsters Beat It and Billie Jean, obviously both stonecold classics. And every other song here has been sampled by someone somewhere along the line. I was expecting to be writing here that The Girl is Mine is trash, but nah even that's good, let's face it. Human Nature has always been a personal favourite, invoking a dreamy nocturnal Manhattan skyline vibe (he moves from referencing vegetables to apples here). The tracks are indisputably in the correct order, like all great albums should be - the unappreciated closing track ending us in style. So yeah, a classic and must be one of the best albums of the era. Bad nonce, though. High Point: Eddie Van Halen letting rip in the middle of Beat It Low Point: Disgusting sex noises in PYT

Mate got me onto this scheme so let's see if I stick it out. Pretty decent first shout to be fair, I was dreading Captain Beefheart or some shite. This is where MJ goes stratospheric, the 2nd of one of surely the best trilogies ever. Sold quite well, they tell me. As an MJ fan as a kid in the 80s (bedspread the lot), I had this and Bad on vinyl so this is obviously all very familiar. Yet somehow I still laughed out loud walking down a busy street at the throwaway "Yer a vegetable!" line. There'd be complaints these days. The production is lighter than you'd remember at times, quite tinny in parts. But that only serves to raise the profile of the two monsters Beat It and Billie Jean, obviously both stonecold classics. And every other song here has been sampled by someone somewhere along the line. I was expecting to be writing here that The Girl is Mine is trash, but nah even that's good, let's face it. Human Nature has always been a personal favourite, invoking a dreamy nocturnal Manhattan skyline vibe (he moves from referencing vegetables to apples here). The tracks are indisputably in the correct order, like all great albums should be - the unappreciated closing track ending us in style. So yeah, a classic and must be one of the best albums of the era. Bad nonce, though. High Point: Eddie Van Halen letting rip in the middle of Beat It Low Point: Disgusting sex noises in PYT

Day 2 of my 1,000 albums challenge and I've struck lucky with another classic! The debut offering from one of my favourite bands. Once is a perfectly serviceable opener but gives no indication of what is to follow with Evenflow, Alive and later Jeremy and Black which delivers four great standouts hard to match among any rock album, let alone the grunge era. These are dark and morbid tales of relationship breakdown, homelessness, child suicide and the father Eddie Vedder never met, yet are so powerful and heartfelt they have translated to become stadium classics. There may even be more well rounded Pearl Jam albums to follow as they aged gracefully, but the high points of this simply get better with age and 30+ years on holds up in a way a lot of their peers do not. Most of the album tracks became anthems too, with Release a personal fave. Classic. Listen loud. Best bit: Tough one. I'll go with the outstanding layered vocals and moans as Jeremy builds to a crescendo and then finally fades out. Worst bit: Why Go feels a bit 'by the numbers' and maybe more in keeping with Vs. than Ten

I've been really lucky in the first 3 albums that have come up for me! Pulp are a band who milled around relatively unknown for 15 years and then got huge in 1995 when the Britpop scene exploded. Meaning my 15 year old self was all over this and it remains one of the albums I've heard the most. Disco 2000 and Common People are well known by everyone in Britain and continue to get radio play to this day and those of that era will also be familiar with 'Sorted for Es and Wizz'. But throughout this is just great. Imagine the actual concept behind writing 'Something Changed', an underrated masterpiece. Underwear and I Spy are also bangers and there's not really anything here that let's you down. Holds up well. Best bit: Maybe the bit where I Spy really gets going, a vindictive narrative of a jealous freak. Ask me another day it'll be different. Worst bit: Pencil Skirt is slightly throwaway but serves its purpose as the breather between Mis-Shapes and Common People.

My 4th album of the challenge and the first one I had not previously listened to. I've always quite liked what I'd heard of from Steely Dan (classics like Reelin' in the Years etc) so was optimistic for this. A bit in two minds on first listen. Musically it's great, like jazzy and funky, and the guitar playing is outstanding. Rikki Don't Lose That Number is the only one I was familiar with from radio play. From a pure song perspective though, there wasn't a huge amount that gripped me, maybe it would take further listens.. Didn't seem to pull together as a coherent piece. Best bit: Track 5 instrumental is ace Worst bit: Can't say the title track did it for me. In fact I found it unintentionally amusing.

So this is the first and only Crosby Stills & Nash album. Was expecting to like this a bit more. Marrakech Express was the only song I was already familiar with, but honestly found this a bit boring. Surprising given I normally like these guys in other enterprises, but here the vocals really seemed to grate on me. Might take another listen or two but I probably wouldn't go again. It would get better when Neil Young arrives. Best bit: Lady of the Island is a sweet song Worst bit: Nothing stands out as inherently bad, all just a bit dreary

Rap finally got me. OK the only thing I really know about Nas is 'If I Ruled The World' and that he is generally fairly critically acclaimed. Sorry, I may not exactly be the target demographic here but I found this pretty atrocious. I listened to it right through and nothing stood out. I assume it's supposed to be edgy, but just seemed a big whine to me. Avoid.