1001 Albums Summary

Listening statistics & highlights

169
Albums Rated
3.07
Average Rating
16%
Complete
920 albums remaining

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

2010
Favorite Decade
Soul
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Perfectionist
Rater Style ?
8
5-Star Albums
4
1-Star Albums

Breakdown

By Genre

Top Styles

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

AlbumYouGlobalDiff
Endtroducing.....
DJ Shadow
5 3.34 +1.66
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kanye West
5 3.4 +1.6
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
5 3.47 +1.53
To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
5 3.64 +1.36

You Love Less Than Most

AlbumYouGlobalDiff
The Wall
Pink Floyd
2 4.13 -2.13
The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
Pink Floyd
1 3.1 -2.1
Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
2 3.73 -1.73
Birth Of The Cool
Miles Davis
2 3.64 -1.64
The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett
1 2.61 -1.61
Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan
2 3.48 -1.48
Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
3 4.45 -1.45
Metal Box
Public Image Ltd.
1 2.41 -1.41
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
2 3.41 -1.41
Blue Lines
Massive Attack
2 3.39 -1.39

5-Star Albums (8)

View Album Wall

Popular Reviews

Fromohio by fIREHOSE

Pretty solid tunes, dug the bass work.

Tapestry by Carole King

Here's another album that I was more familiar with than I realized. Just one really well written, well performed song after another. Thumbs up.

1-Star Albums (4)

All Ratings (169)

Foo Fighters by Foo Fighters
Dec 23 2025

Love this album, it’s an all-time fav for me. It gets overshadowed by TCATS because that one had bigger hits, but I love the rawness and energy of this one.

Grace by Jeff Buckley
Dec 24 2025

Top-tier vocal performance, but some of the songwriting isn't great and the album as a whole feels too long. Still an enjoyable listen with some high highs.

Rage Against The Machine by Rage Against The Machine
Dec 25 2025

Has held up really well and still hits hard. Very formative for me, musically

Dec 26 2025

I think I’d heard like 1-2 tracks from this one before but had never heard of this as an album and was unaware of its status as a classic. Really solid!

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins
Dec 29 2025

Besides the fact that some of the Pumpkins’ best work is on this one, the stylistic range between the tracks is just staggering. There are a good number of tracks that I could do without, (the album’s final stretch is borderline terrible), but you have to respect the creativity.

Guero by Beck
Dec 30 2025

Pretty solid mid-period Beck album although I think it’s maybe Beck’s 4th or 5th best. Sounds like he wanted to do ‘Odelay’ again.

Back to Mystery City by Hanoi Rocks
Dec 31 2025

I haven't listened to a ton of actual 80's glam metal stuff like this; I didn't hate it but I was hoping it would be sillier/trashier/catchier or something.

Moondance by Van Morrison
Jan 01 2026

Enjoyed this one more than I expected to. Lots of fun to sing nonsense lyrics along with.

Ray Of Light by Madonna
Jan 02 2026

I think this is objectively a pretty solid album (although it is EXTREMELY of its time and the songwriting isn’t anything spectacular for the most part) but it turns out I just find Madonna’s overall corniness and self-importance too big of an obstacle to enjoy her music.

Pornography by The Cure
Jan 05 2026

Somewhere out there, there's a universe where I don't hate Robert Smith's voice, and am a huge fan of The Cure.

Graceland by Paul Simon
Jan 06 2026

Wasn't feeling this one at first, but it grew on me a lot by the end. I think my appreciation for Vampire Weekend helped me out here.

american dream by LCD Soundsystem
Jan 07 2026

'Oh Baby' is a great start to the album but I feel like it was kind of downhill from there. I've never been a fan of James Murphy's talk-singing thing, and most of these songs are just soooo loooong. I haven't listened to LCD Soundsystem's earlier albums in a long time, but I remember them being a lot more fun; maybe I'm misremembering though.

Pieces Of The Sky by Emmylou Harris
Jan 08 2026

Classic country has never been my thing, but this was fine. Reminded me of stuff I’ve heard from Dolly Parton from around that era.

Jan 09 2026

I've always respected Talking Heads more than I actually like them, for the most part. I cannot in good conscience give this less then 4 stars because it's so unique and interesting to listen to, but I will say that little here would rank among my favorite TH songs.

Dusty In Memphis by Dusty Springfield
Jan 12 2026

Really enjoyed this one. First ‘new to me’ album from the list that I went back and listened to several times.

Songs From The Big Chair by Tears For Fears
Jan 13 2026

Great songwriting, great production. The singles still hit even though I’ve heard them a thousand times.

Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned
Jan 14 2026

Decent UK punk that wasn't as down-the-middle as the first couple of songs suggested.

School's Out by Alice Cooper
Jan 15 2026

I was kind of ready to hate this, and while it wasn't really my thing, I respect it for being a lot more varied than I was expecting. I liked the songs that were more laid back more than the 70's hard rock stuff.

Remedy by Basement Jaxx
Jan 16 2026

Not bad by any means; definitely a little forgettable though, and it probably doesn't help that I already listen to a fair amount of music in this vein that is more up my alley. The best songs here struck me as a not-as-good Daft Punk.

Stardust by Willie Nelson
Jan 19 2026

The words that kept coming to mind as I listened to this were 'pleasant' and 'sleepy'. I listened to it early in the morning, but I think it would work better as a winding-down-for-the-night sort of listen.

The College Dropout by Kanye West
Jan 20 2026

Hell of a debut. Miss this scrappy, up-and-coming version of Kanye so much. This is almost hard to listen to, knowing where Kanye has ended up. That said: this is undoubtedly a great album but I forget how hit and miss it is.

21 by Adele
Jan 21 2026

I was kind of excited to check out some Adele deep cuts, but unfortunately most of this album just didn’t do anything for me. You can’t deny her voice, but I didn’t think anything of the non-single tracks came anywhere close to the actual singles.

Jan 22 2026

This is going to sound INCREDIBLY STUPID but I never realized how west coast g-funk Tupac was. I've never listened to more than one of his songs at a time and I guess most of my focus is on his unmistakable voice/cadence. Anyway, this was pretty good even though I've never really been a Tupac guy.

Jan 23 2026

Man, I was turned off by this one almost immediately. It just sounds like someone told her to sing in all caps all the time. It sounds like she looks around the room and says 'listen to this, 'y'all' before every take. I will say that the production is pretty fantastic and that I would have had a hard time placing the time period that this came out. Anyway, this felt like a real endurance test and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses
Jan 26 2026

This was an interesting listen; I think I had only heard a little over half of it before but the half that I had heard as been burned into my brain. I've never been a huge fan of GNR but you have to respect how fully-formed of a debut this is. I can't imagine how this crazy would have sounded back in 1987.

At San Quentin by Johnny Cash
Jan 27 2026

Great performance, great energy. I like that they kept the stage banter in there as part of the recording.

The Madcap Laughs by Syd Barrett
Jan 28 2026

I've never been a Pink Floyd fan, so I didn't have that as a jumping off point for this album. I also wasn't aware of the mental health stuff surrounding the creation of the album until after I was done listening, and maybe the context makes these songs more interesting in a way, but I could not wait for it to be over. This just came off as a bunch of tossed off screwing around to me and I kind of hated most of it.

Trio by Dolly Parton
Jan 29 2026

Not really for me, but it's inoffensive enough that it was a pleasant listen, and the harmonies were pretty top notch.

Moss Side Story by Barry Adamson
Jan 30 2026

This was pretty cool; kind of a dark jazzy detective movie soundtrack-type of thing. Some pretty cool sections here and there.

Heroes by David Bowie
Feb 02 2026

I’m giving this 3 stars because I can appreciate it on an artistic level, but God help me, I just don’t think I’ll ever be able to stand David Bowie’s voice.

A Love Supreme by John Coltrane
Feb 03 2026

God help me, I just don't like this kind of jazz.

Lam Toro by Baaba Maal
Feb 04 2026

I don't think I've ever listened to this type of music for more than a couple of minutes. This wasn't unlistenable or anything but I will say that if I was a quitter this would have been my first DNF.

Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette
Feb 05 2026

Here’s another classic album that I had never heard all the way through. I thought that the quirks of Alanis’ voice would get super annoying over the course of the album, but that part ended up being fine.

Dummy by Portishead
Feb 06 2026

I listened to Portishead quite a bit in college, and always preferred the second album to this one. I haven’t listened to either album all the way through in probably 25 years, but I’ll have to go back and give that second album a listen there’s no freaking way it’s better than this one.

Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits
Feb 10 2026

Music that sounds this 80's is always going to have a bit of an uphill climb as far as my enjoyment of it, but I found most of these songs to be pretty boring even outside of how extremely 80's they sounded. I recognized 'Walk of Life' - that song is pretty good; I had no idea what that song was called or who it was by before I listened to this. Also: I was surprised to find out that these guys are British

New Boots And Panties by Ian Dury
Feb 11 2026

Thirty seconds into this one I thought 'oh man, this is going to be super annoying', but it ended up being kind of charming and fun. I don't think I would have enjoyed it that much if the singer didn't have a hilarious cockney (I think?) accent.

Step In The Arena by Gang Starr
Feb 12 2026

Early hip hop like this tends to not age well, but I still found this to be pretty enjoyable. I'd say the beats have held up better than the bars. When I was a kid I somehow went from MC Hammer to NWA, but I think something like this would have been a better middle ground.

Stankonia by OutKast
Feb 13 2026

This is their mountaintop album as far as I'm concerned. You could definitely trim the fat in a couple of places, but for the most part it's solid all the way through with some really high highs. 'B.O.B.' remains untouchable, and I'm still blown away every time I hear how Andre 3000 is able to rap over the beat on '?'

Revolver by Beatles
Feb 16 2026

Possibly my favorite front-to-back Beatles album. I'm not a huge Beatles fan or an expert by any means, but I think of this as the album where they were really starting to get creative but before they got kind of bonkers (for better or worse). This was kind of their sweet spot in terms of overall quality as far as I'm concerned.

Cloud Nine by The Temptations
Feb 17 2026

I dug this; very fun and breezy. Not a lot of surprises stylistically if you’ve heard their bigger songs, but it was a good time.

All Mod Cons by The Jam
Feb 18 2026

Sounds a lot like The Clash to me, who I've never liked. I'm just not a fan of this sort of sound, especially with this dude's vocals.

Tank Battles by Dagmar Krause
Feb 19 2026

It feels weird to hate on this because it's so far out of my wheelhouse, but wow, this was a rough listen.

Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt
Feb 20 2026

Lots of weird sections, some parts that were really cool. My favorite parts were the instrumental sections - some of them brought to mind Radiohead and early post rock. Not really what I'd call enjoyable, but definitely interesting.

Home Is Where The Music Is by Hugh Masekela
Feb 23 2026

I don't have the jazz vocabulary to describe why this is a lot more appealing to me than the John Coltrane albums that I listened to a couple of weeks ago, but I think part of it is that there is a level of chaos and dissonance that can push a lot of jazz into the ‘not for me’ zone.

Aladdin Sane by David Bowie
Feb 24 2026

I dug this one more than 'Heroes', I think it's a little less experimental maybe, and Bowie isn't singing with his Extreme Bowie Voice this time.

Feb 25 2026

The cringy parts of this album haven't gotten any less cringy over the years, but I found it to still be a really entertaining listen beyond that. I know a lot of people don't like the 'lyrical miracle' aspect of Eminem's music, but I don't mind it.

Beautiful Freak by Eels
Feb 26 2026

This was a nice listen. I had always heard that this was an underrated semi-classic; it didn't blow me away or anything, but I think I would have been really into it if I had discovered it around the time it came out.

Talking Heads 77 by Talking Heads
Feb 27 2026

I didn't like this one quite as much as MSABAF but it was cool to hear what Talking Heads sounded like on their first album.

Surrealistic Pillow by Jefferson Airplane
Mar 02 2026

Never listened to these guys before; I don't know why I always assumed that they were more 70's southern classic rock. Pretty solid listen; I dug how varied it was. Also I never knew that these guys were responsible for 'Somebody to Love' and 'White Rabbit'.

Live At The Regal by B.B. King
Mar 03 2026

Pretty enjoyable for the most part; I'm not a big blues guy so more than a couple of songs like this will get old fast to me. The live setting/energy does give this a big boost.

What's Going On by Marvin Gaye
Mar 04 2026

Here's another all-time classic that I'd never heard all the way through. I didn't dig the slower songs like 'Save the Children' nearly as much as the more upbeat ones, but this thing is just gorgeous front to back. Absolutely love the overall vibe.

Solid Air by John Martyn
Mar 05 2026

Had never heard of this guy, but I thought it was a good listen. Very soothing blend of folk and blues. The instrumentation/production in particular stood out to me.

Homework by Daft Punk
Mar 06 2026

This album has never totally clicked with me, which I think is largely because of how it compares stylistically to 'Discovery', one of my favorite albums of all time. I think I'd like this a bit more if I could 'Men In Black' the rest of DP's discography from my brain.

Come Away With Me by Norah Jones
Mar 09 2026

Maybe a liiiiiitle more boring in places than I remember, but still a very pleasant listen. Probably more like a 3 1/2 star for me these days.

Birth Of The Cool by Miles Davis
Mar 10 2026

As someone who just does not like fast, swing-y jazz, I unfortunately have to put this one in the 'not for me' pile.

The Undertones by The Undertones
Mar 11 2026

Ramones, if they were 20% more polite and British

Metal Box by Public Image Ltd.
Mar 12 2026

Musically grating, awful vocals, annoyingly repetitive, way too long. A pretty miserable experience overall.

The Wall by Pink Floyd
Mar 13 2026

I genuinely tried to get into this even though I think Pink Floyd kinda sucks. I know that a lot of people like how expansive and epic it is, but a lot of it just felt meandering and overly grandiose and boring to me, particularly in the second half. I had forgotten about 'mother are they going to try and break my balls' though, which is pretty funny when sung in a British accent.

Ready To Die by The Notorious B.I.G.
Mar 16 2026

I don't know why I never got into Biggie Smalls growing up; this is great.

Born In The U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
Mar 17 2026

I realize that this is extremely backwards, but as someone who has never been into Bruce Springsteen, a lot of this just hit me like a dated, somewhat corny version of The War On Drugs. I’m sorry, I know that sucks. I’m uncultured.

Guitar Town by Steve Earle
Mar 18 2026

As far as twangy 80’s country rock music goes, I guess this could have been worse.

Floodland by Sisters Of Mercy
Mar 19 2026

This was pretty fun. I haven’t listened to a lot of stuff like this before, but I think my appreciation of Drab Majesty helped make this more palatable than it might have been.

Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones
Mar 20 2026

This was a pleasant surprise; I’ve never been a big Rolling Stones fan and was expecting this to be pretty straightforward blues rock, but it was more diverse and interesting than I thought it’d be.

Rumours by Fleetwood Mac
Mar 23 2026

Good stuff. I think my enjoyment of this would go up by like 20% if I listened to it a few more times and read up on all the interpersonal drama.

Surf's Up by The Beach Boys
Mar 24 2026

Kind of a mixed bag for me; yet another album on this list that I appreciated more than I enjoyed. I was surprised to see that this came out several years after Pet Sounds; I spent the whole album thinking this one was sort of a bridge album between their 'Surfin USA' days and their more experimental period.

Licensed To Ill by Beastie Boys
Mar 25 2026

I went through a pretty big Beastie Boys phase for a while there but never got around to listening to this. It’s definitely on the brash and grating side, but not as annoying as I was afraid it’d be.

Raw Power by The Stooges
Mar 26 2026

Pretty solid for the most part; Iggy Popp’s energy/performance was probably the standout for me.

Back At The Chicken Shack by Jimmy Smith
Mar 27 2026

Really dug this. Some really nice guitar work, and I’m always a sucker for a B3 organ. Will probably end up coming back to this one.

To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
Mar 30 2026

As a white, 46 year old dad, you can definitely trust my opinion on rap music, and my opinion is that rap music peaked here

Tracy Chapman by Tracy Chapman
Mar 31 2026

I think I liked Chapman’s overall vocal performance here a lot more than most of the actual songs. I found myself wishing that a lot of these songs were like 20% slower and sadder. I think my actual score would be a 2.5, but I'll round up to a 3 because 'Fast Car' is good

Immigrés by Youssou N'Dour
Apr 01 2026

The vibes were good, but the repetition made for a somewhat boring listen IMO.

Blue Lines by Massive Attack
Apr 02 2026

I've never listened to Massive Attack before this. To my uninformed ear, I think this must have been incredibly ahead of its time in 1991, but sounds pretty dated to me in 2026. I think the vocals/lyrics in particular don't help - every time Tricky was rapping it made me think of Flight of the Conchords.

Fromohio by fIREHOSE
Apr 03 2026

Pretty solid tunes, dug the bass work.

Sea Change by Beck
Apr 06 2026

I feel like this album strikes a nice balance of being sad but not gloomy or self-pitying. I would put this firmly over Beck's other more laid back albums.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek & The Dominos
Apr 07 2026

There are some solid tunes here, but like 75% of this just sounded like wanky blues dad stuff to me. No way did this need to be an hour+.

Oxygène by Jean-Michel Jarre
Apr 08 2026

For my money, there’s a fine line between vintage synths that sound charmingly retro and ones that sound dated and corny, and unfortunately I found a lot of the lead synths on this album to be the latter. I did like this album overall.

Apr 09 2026

I was hoping that more of this would be more fun, upbeat stuff along the lines of Freedom 90 and Faith, but this album was pretty mid-tempo ballad heavy, which I found to be kind of a drag.

Low-Life by New Order
Apr 10 2026

Not too shabby. I've listened to very little Joy Division/New Order and I expected this to be darker, but it was a lot dancier than I was thinking it'd be. I can see where a lot of later bands pulled inspiration from this.

Green by R.E.M.
Apr 13 2026

I can never put my finger on what it is about R.E.M. that is just slightly off-putting to me. Similar to The Cure, I wonder if I’d enjoy this a lot more with a different singer. I think it also doesn’t help that the Atlanta alt-rock station that I grew up on played R.E.M. to death.

Power In Numbers by Jurassic 5
Apr 14 2026

Solid beats, solid bars, nothing that really blew me away. Similar to how I felt about EPMD’s album on this list, I think I would have enjoyed this album a lot more if I’d listened to it back when it came out.

Young Americans by David Bowie
Apr 15 2026

Out of the three Bowie albums on this list that I’ve listened to so far, this one has been my favorite. I don’t think Bowie’s voice will ever be my cup of tea, but I dug the funk/soul influence on this one.

The Fat Of The Land by The Prodigy
Apr 16 2026

I appreciate the dumb, brash energy of this album. I miss this era of electronic music.

Thriller by Michael Jackson
Apr 17 2026

This is a 5 even though ‘The Girl is Mine’ sucks

Dire Straits by Dire Straits
Apr 20 2026

This was fine; nothing about it really stood out to me other than ‘Sultans of Swing’.

Blonde On Blonde by Bob Dylan
Apr 21 2026

The songs themselves are fine - I didn't even mind the harmonica that much - but the eccentricities of Dylan's voice were a real killer for me. It started to feel like he was singing like that just to annoy me personally.

Lazer Guided Melodies by Spiritualized
Apr 22 2026

I'm a little surprised at the low-ish ratings for this one; I can see how people would find it a bit repetitive and meandering, but I dug the spread out, spacey vibe for the most part. I think it sounded relatively modern to have come out in 1992.

The Sounds Of India by Ravi Shankar
Apr 23 2026

Somewhat predictably I have to hit this one with the 'Not For Me' stamp, but I thought the intro/explanation bits were sort of cool.

Ocean Rain by Echo And The Bunnymen
Apr 24 2026

This is more like a 2.5 for me; I generally don't like this sort of 80's new wave sort of thing, but this one was OK. It was weirdly just kind of non-descript. I actually went back and listened to it again because it didn't really stick with me at all on first listen.

Garbage by Garbage
Apr 27 2026

I was a pretty big fan of Garbage's first couple of albums in the 90s but haven't listened to this one in probably 20+ years. I went back and forth between wanting to give a 3-star and 4-star rating for this; at the time it was a pretty novel, catchy blend of styles/sounds, and Shirley Manson remains a very compelling front woman, but there are some real clunkers among the deep cuts, and a lot of the lyrics were pretty cringy even back when this came out. I settled on 4 stars because I always appreciate a confident, guns blazing debut like this.

The Band by The Band
Apr 28 2026

A couple of decent tunes, but a lot of this ranged from boring to actively annoying to me.

Electric Prunes by The Electric Prunes
Apr 29 2026

This felt like fairly down-the-middle 60’s psych rock until it became super goofy/corny in the second half.

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake by Small Faces
Apr 30 2026

This was the most aggressively British thing I've ever heard; holy SMOKES. Impossible to not picture Burt the chimney sweep while listening to this. Also, I refuse to believe this was only 38 minutes long.

Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens
May 01 2026

Very pleasant sounding; kind of the platonic ideal of this sort of singer-songwriter-y folk stuff.

Lady Soul by Aretha Franklin
May 04 2026

Really great. Loved the performances, loved the energy. Aretha's voice and charisma are top-tier.

Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin
May 05 2026

I went through a HUGE Zeppelin phase back in college and ended up kind of burning myself out on them, so it's tough to try and listen to this with fresh ears, but even so, it's insane how stacked this album is. An easy 5/5.

Giant Steps by The Boo Radleys
May 06 2026

I dug the first song on this one but it was kind of downhill from there unfortunately; just kind of in one ear and out the other after a somewhat promising start.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
May 07 2026

I remember trying and failing to get into this one back when people were going bonkers over it during the pandemic. My opinion of it hasn’t changed; I respect the experimentation and I think Fiona Apple has a really great voice, but so much about this album is so off-putting to me that I can’t really enjoy it.

May 08 2026

Some cool moments mixed in with some very weird bits, but most importantly, there's "Honey, get hip - it's time to unzip / To unzip, zip-a, zip-a zip! Whipee!"

Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis
May 11 2026

As I've mentioned in several other album reviews: I'm not a big jazz guy, but the vibes and the musicianship on this album are pretty undeniable.

Miriam Makeba by Miriam Makeba
May 13 2026

Really great voice; probably my favorite 'world music' selection that I've listened to on this list so far.

Sign 'O' The Times by Prince
May 14 2026

Minus points for being a bit overstuffed and having some pretty dated production, but I still enjoyed this more than I expected to. I've never been a huge Prince appreciator, but he was obviously quite talented, and he was trying some stuff here.

Crocodiles by Echo And The Bunnymen
May 15 2026

Honestly, could probably just copy and paste my review from the other Echo and the Bunnymen album for this one

May 18 2026

This is so perfect as a coda to Nirvana's run as a band; the comparison I saw somewhere to Nirvana playing Kurt's funeral has always stuck with me. I always wonder what the legacy/reception of this album would be if Nirvana had gone on to have a longer career, but in the words of Kanye West: I guess we'll never know.

Hot Fuss by The Killers
May 19 2026

This is one of the many albums on this list that makes me with the rating system used half stars. The first half of the album had me thinking 'oh yeah, this is an obvious 4' but then then the second half feels like they’d already used up all of the magic.

I'm Your Man by Leonard Cohen
May 20 2026

This sounds like music made by a cool guy who had a cool speaking voice and had people tell him that he should try his hand at singing, but he didn't really want to.

Murmur by R.E.M.
May 21 2026

Enjoyed this one more than I did the last REM album on this list, although I felt like it did get pretty same-y in the back half.

The Gilded Palace Of Sin by The Flying Burrito Brothers
May 22 2026

Sometimes the 'keywords from reviews' section takes the words right out of my mouth: 'decent, fine, guitar, harmonies'. Also: 'guys'

The Stone Roses by The Stone Roses
May 25 2026

I liked this well enough but was disappointed that none of the songs were nearly as good as ‘I Wanna Be Adored’, which was the one song from the album that I’d already heard.

Horses by Patti Smith
May 26 2026

I imagine that your enjoyment of this album comes down to how much you enjoy Patti Smith's whole deal. I wasn't a fan. If I had listened to this without knowing what it was and you told me that this was PJ Harvey before she got good, I would have totally believed you.

Morrison Hotel by The Doors
May 27 2026

I enjoyed this more when it sounded closer to classic blues rock and less when it sounded like The Doors

Bryter Layter by Nick Drake
May 28 2026

I remember checking out ‘Pink Moon’ years ago and being mostly bored by it, but I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Maybe I’m just in more of a Nick Drake time in my life right now, I don’t know.

Jun 01 2026

My takeaways: -Ice Cube was clearly the standout member here; sucks that he split from the group after this one -It's wild how much better Dr. Dre's beats were by the time he made 'The Chronic' -Eazy E always sucked -I never realized until just now that N.W.A.'s logo is missing the period after the A. I refuse to believe that this was done on purpose

Tapestry by Carole King
Jun 02 2026

Here's another album that I was more familiar with than I realized. Just one really well written, well performed song after another. Thumbs up.

Odelay by Beck
Jun 03 2026

The amount of genre-hopping and the growth from his last album is impressive, but considering the rest of Beck's discography, I've always thought of this as kind of bridge album that he made before he got really good.

White Light / White Heat by The Velvet Underground
Jun 04 2026

Apparently I made the mistake of listening to this one without whatever drugs you're supposed to be on if you want to enjoy it

Can't Buy A Thrill by Steely Dan
Jun 05 2026

This one made me say 'oooh, nice' out loud several times while listening to it. Huge gulf here between album art and album quality.

Rio by Duran Duran
Jun 08 2026

The only Duran Duran songs I'd ever heard before listening to this were 'Rio' and 'Hungry Like the Wolf', but the rest of this album was more or less exactly what I expected from what I knew about those two songs. Solid hooks, really fun, synths that were just on the right side of being too cheesy to hold up very well. You could tell me that any of these songs were radio singles, and I would believe you.

White Blood Cells by The White Stripes
Jun 09 2026

Not my favorite White Stripes album, but I’ve always thought of this being the one where they were in their purest form. ‘Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground’ is a pretty incredible leadoff track.

Marcus Garvey by Burning Spear
Jun 10 2026

I’m vacationing at a beach right now, so if there was ever a time for a reggae breakthrough, this is it. Unfortunately, this is another in the series of almost objectively good albums in a genre that I just don’t like.

90 by 808 State
Jun 11 2026

Pretty solid stuff; I dug this more than I thought I would. Kind of crazy that this came out in 1989.

Highway to Hell by AC/DC
Jun 12 2026

People always make fun of AC/DC for making the same song over and over, but while I was listening to this album I tried to imagine an alternate universe where they experimented with disco beats, or maybe power ballads, or tried their hands at incorporating electronic elements. I couldn’t do it.

Jun 15 2026

This is the third (and probably my favorite so far) of R.E.M.’s albums that I’ve had so far on this list. I think I have a big enough sample size now to conclusively say that R.E.M. is good, I just don’t like Michael Stipe.

Fragile by Yes
Jun 16 2026

Pretty enjoyable for the most part. Decent ratio of parts that were cool to parts that sucked.

Beyond Skin by Nitin Sawhney
Jun 17 2026

I didn't dislike this as much as I thought I would from the first couple of tracks (there's definitey a variety of styles here), but for the most part I found this to be self-important, boring, and too long.

The Rise & Fall by Madness
Jun 18 2026

'Our House' is super catchy and fun but most of the other songs just reminded me of the theme song to 'Thomas the Tank Engine'

Hard Again by Muddy Waters
Jun 19 2026

Unfortunately I think bad/lame blues rock has kind of ruined good blues music for me. My brain recognizes that this is ‘good’ blues rock but it just doesn’t do that much for me. Part of it - and I know this is like criticizing water for being wet - is that like 2/3 of the songs on the album use the same standard blues chord progression, and over the course of a 45 minute album, it just gets super old IMO.

Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath
Jun 22 2026

My appreciation for this album (and Black Sabbath in general) is a 4 or a 5, but my actual anjoyment of this album was closer to a 3. I'm not a huge doom metal expert/historian or anything, but I do dabble a bit in that genre, and I like it a lot heavier and riff-ier than this. It is crazy to imagine what this must have sounded like back in 1970 though.

Disraeli Gears by Cream
Jun 23 2026

I know everyone likes to shit on Eric Clapton for being a boring hack, but I thought this was mostly fine. A lot more interesting than the Derek and the Dominos album on this list.

Jun 24 2026

I remember hearing 'Brimful of Asha' on the radio a few times back in the 90's and thinking 'wow, this really sucks'. Almost 30 years later, it turns out ‘wow, this really sucks’ sums up my thoughts on the rest of the album as well

Jun 25 2026

The inclusion of this (fairly catchy but mostly unremarkable) album on the 1001 albums list makes me wonder which other dance punk adjacent albums from this era made the list. If this album made it but, say, Bloc Party and Death From Above 1979 didn’t, that would make no sense. The author of this book has to be British, right?

Your Arsenal by Morrissey
Jun 26 2026

I know Morrissey the person kinda sucks but I thought this album was fine.

Bossanova by Pixies
Jun 29 2026

Really solid album. Giving this an 3 for now but I have a feeling it’d grow on me with repeated listens. Every time I listen to the Pixies, I wonder why they didn’t get bigger in the early 90s.

A Hard Day's Night by Beatles
Jun 30 2026

Very catchy and breezy - Only a couple of real standouts besides the two big singles, and it’s hard to not compare this to how much better the Beatles would get, but this was still a really nice listen.

Slanted And Enchanted by Pavement
Jul 01 2026

This one is kind of like Black Sabbath's S/T in that I appreciate it more than I actually enjoy listening to it it, and also that it is like ground zero for a lot of other music that I really like. I like the stuff that it inspired more than most of these actual songs. I dig this album a lot, but I always wish it was just a -bit- less rough around the edges in terms of the songwriting.

Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden
Jul 02 2026

Pretty fun stuff, although based on what I’ve heard of them, I get the impression that I’d enjoy their later albums more.

Endtroducing..... by DJ Shadow
Jul 03 2026

Looooove this album. Perfect music for chilling/driving at night. As revered as it is, I don’t think it’s a ‘hit you over the head’ sort of album , so I can see people going into it with high expectations and being let down.

Let's Stay Together by Al Green
Jul 06 2026

Hell yeah, love this sound. So smooth. I ended up listening to this one on repeat for a while.

Jul 08 2026

I didn't hate this but it ended up just feeling like this big tuneless mess. I finished listening to it a few hours ago and I can barely remeber anything about it.

London Calling by The Clash
Jul 10 2026

I’ve never been able to get into The Clash. I think it’s largely because of Joe Strummer’s voice. Some of these tunes are really catchy, but something about the whole vibe ends up being a bit off putting to me.

Doolittle by Pixies
Jul 13 2026

This is the one Pixies album that I had listened to front to back prior to making my way through the 1001 albums list. It’s a bit frontloaded in my opinion, but still a big step up from the debut.

Bitches Brew by Miles Davis
Jul 14 2026

In jazz music, there’s a high correlation between how chaotic the music is and how high it’ll rank on the ‘not for me’ meter. Improvisation is cool and everything but to my untrained ear, a lot of this sounded like a few musicians getting together and just playing whatever without listening to each other. I’m guessing that the inaccessibility is part of why some people like this.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash by The Pogues
Jul 15 2026

Sort of fun, I guess. This kind of music seems so inherently goofy to me that it seems unfair to dock it points for having pennywhistles and accordians and shit. I'd say it succeeds at being what it is.

The Scream by Siouxsie And The Banshees
Jul 16 2026

This is one of those albums where I can see where it was influential, but it didn't really do anything for me at all. I thought the yelpy vocals were particularly grating.

2112 by Rush
Jul 20 2026

I’ve always found Geddy Lee’s voice to be borderline intolerable in the Rush stuff that I’ve heard - it seemed a bit less shitty to me on this album for some reason, but it was still kind of a fly in the ointment to me here. The instrumentals were pretty solid.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Jul 21 2026

A couple of classics on here and a fair amount of non-essential filler tracks. I’ve never been a huge Tom Petty fan but I’m looking forward to checking out some stuff from later in his discography.

Pelican West by Haircut 100
Jul 22 2026

You know what? Hell yeah. I’m generally pretty cool on most new wave stuff from this era but this was a lot of fun. I think the sax/horns did a lot of the heavy lifting here.

Jul 23 2026

Enjoyed this more than I expected to; the vibes are extremely chill and borderline boring at times but I think it just hit me in the right mood.

The Next Day by David Bowie
Jul 24 2026

I have to imagine that this one gets by mostly off of 'Bowie mystique' or whatever. Even putting aside my dislike of Bowie's voice, the songwriting mostly seemed lackluster to bad.

Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake
Jul 27 2026

This was my second Nick Drake album; it didn't quite hit me like Bryter Layter but it is a really pretty, comfy album.

Mothership Connection by Parliament
Jul 28 2026

Enjoyed the vibe on this one but didn’t quite dig it overall as much as I was hoping to. I’m sure this is just me misunderstanding funk music but it seemed looser and more repetitive than I would have liked.

Ananda Shankar by Ananda Shankar
Jul 29 2026

I find the sitar to be a fundamentally annoying instrument. I liked this one more than the Ravi Shankar album on this list (due largely to the more modern touches, I’m sure), but it just wasn’t for me.

Sex Packets by Digital Underground
Jul 30 2026

According to the song 'Packet Man', one of the Sex Packets is for a minor. Be careful out there y'all.

16 Lovers Lane by The Go-Betweens
Jul 31 2026

This album sounded like diet Morrissey to me. Not bad at all, very pleasant-yet-unremarkable.

Lust For Life by Iggy Pop
Aug 03 2026

This was a lot stronger than the other Iggy Pop album on this list IMO; I was unsurprised to see that David Bowie had helped with the songwriting/arrangements.

The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
Aug 04 2026

I have lots of nostalgia, both because of its lyrical themes and because I listened to it quite a bit when it came out. I think it has aged a bit weirdly for a handful of reasons, but most of it still hits IMO.

Nowhere by Ride
Aug 05 2026

I’m a pretty big shoegaze enjoyer, so it’s cool to hear some of the really early stuff, especially stuff that came before Loveless. These guys sound somewhat similar to another more modern shoegaze band whose name escapes me at the moment. Glare, I think? Anyway, I enjoyed this more as a sort of history lesson, but it was still a good listen.

Caetano Veloso by Caetano Veloso
Aug 06 2026

Nice, relaxing vibes. I dug the guys voice but wished the vocals weren’t so ‘busy’, if that makes sense.

Shaft by Isaac Hayes
Aug 07 2026

Super smooth. This was in regular rotation for me in college as a ‘working/reading/studying’ album. The vibe is just perfect for what it is.

Aug 10 2026

I was big into mainstream big beat stuff like this in the late 90's - I remember buying this CD but never really clicking with it. I think a lot of the beats are kind of fun for a second but with a couple of exceptions (just the singles, probably), most of the ideas here don't justify the length of the songs. It's not bad by any means; even as of-its-time as this is, it's still enjoyable enough for the most part.

Odessey And Oracle by The Zombies
Aug 11 2026

60's British psych rock is really climbing the list of off-putting musical genres for me

G. Love And Special Sauce by G. Love & Special Sauce
Aug 12 2026

I mostly dug the 'instrumentals' or whatever you'd call them (although most of them were super repetitive), but found G. Love's whole vibe to be pretty insufferable, unfortunately.

Repeater by Fugazi
Aug 13 2026

Fugazi is a huge musical blind spot for me. I was pretty pumped to give this a listen but was bummed out almost immediately when I heard Ian MacKaye’s voice.

Among The Living by Anthrax
Aug 14 2026

For the first minute or so, I was like ‘oh man, is this gonna be awesome?’ and then the singer started singing. I think most early metal has aged pretty poorly, kind of like early rap. The rest of the album kept up the ‘fun instrumentals, corny vocals’ thing for the most part.

Perfectionist

Only 5% of albums received 5 stars. Average rating: 3.07.

Other

Album origins are grouped into three buckets: US, UK, and everything else. “Other” means the artists you rate highest are from outside the US and UK.