It's embarrassing to admit, but I've never listened to this album in its entirety. After just coming off the ending of Stranger Things, this album scratched the nostalgic itch I have been craving throughout my newfound existential crisis of middle-age-hood. God damn if this story isn't the most perfect representation of suburb life, and had it been made in between 1991-1995, it would have been my teen anthem. I can't believe I slept on this before, perhaps it wasn't the right time for me, but I'm obsessed. The only thing I can see being a problem, because it is my first album, it sets the bar really high.
Fantastic! I listened to this one in my high school classroom today, and while there's usually arguments over who picks the songs for the day, this one played in its entirety without any skips or complaints. It transcends generations. If I had to choose a favorite song, I'd go with "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing", but "Living For The City" had the whole class dancing.
Not for me, but I can see how people would connect to this album. The lyrics are nice to read. I prefer his music from the 2000's.
Separate art from artist and this album is great.
One of my absolute favorites of all time. Favorite songs are "Pump it Up" and "This Year's Girl".
I rated it a 3 for nostalgic purposes, Biggie's flow, and I understand it's cultural significance, but it hasn't aged well and the skits are too much now that I'm a lot older and shock value is less appreciated in my music. Favorite song is "Gimme the Loot".
Favorite songs are "Veinte Años", "Amor de Loca Juventud", and "La Bayamesa". As a New Orleanian, I'm tickled to hear how Cuban music has inspired some of the great jazz I grew up on; the song "Orgullecida" could be something I'd hear in a club by my house. I'm so glad I got this album on a Saturday so I can give it multiple listens in a day!
Favorite songs are "Ain't the Devil Happy" and "Come Clean". In the 90's, my high school friends were obsessed with Wu Tang and Nas, and we would drive around the southern suburbs on our way to the country club bumping east coast rap in the new cars our parents bought us. There was something alluring and provocative in this transgression; it was defiant, it was cool, and it was culturally necessary. I'm so surprised I've never heard of Jeru the Damaja before, or maybe I did at a catered pool party and just don't remember, but this is so freaking good I already know I'm bumping this in the school pick up line or on my way to hot yoga and day drinking margaritas tomorrow. Also, the album is short, not weighed down with unnecessary skits and collaborator shout outs, so it gets right to the point and I appreciate that.
I have to be in the right mood to listen to this all the way through, but it's a great album.
This album was easy to listen to, but it was also a bit boring in some parts. I can't think of a stand out song, but it wasn't bad overall, so that's why I give it a 3.
Wow. I skipped this one last week because I've always chalked up Hendrix to Boomer nostalgia...like, how great is this guy, really? So, today, Sunday, I caught up on the albums I skipped because it's a spring cleaning day. Got MJ and Yeezus, both 3s, ugh, need something great... move on to Hendrix...holy freaking shit! Mind blown. 5/5
Favorite songs "Little Wing" and "If 6 was 9", but really the whole album is added to my catalog now. What a freaking delight! I love this project!
Nice to revisit a classic album from my teenage years. Hearing it open with "Freak Scene" still gives me goosebumps. 5 stars in 1990, and 5 stars today.
I don't remember ever listening to this album before, but it reminds me of childhood. Summer BBQ, my dad and uncles playing basketball, my mom and aunts tanning, all us kids riding our big wheels in the street and this album playing out a car in the neighbor's driveway. Even though this album is not usually what I listen to, it captures a moment in time for me and Im glad I can hear it and appreciate it now. It's really good music and I will be adding this to my collection.
Nice background music. Very chill. I can understand why some people would rate this a 5, because it evokes a period in the 90s when this kind of music was peeking into mainstream territory. I think there are better Massive Attack albums, though, so I'll give it a 3.
I feel fortunate to get this album on a lazy Sunday morning. What a great start to my day, and one of those unexpected surprises from something Ive never heard before. Lots of great songs, but "Courting Blues" is my favorite.
Relistening to this since the 90's was a treat. Kicked off that whole pop punk thing. Clean harmonies, angsty lyrics, fun time all around, what's not to love?
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
DUN
DUN
DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN CHA!
It was exciting until I remembered I can't stand Axel Rose's voice and I don't want this in any of my personal playlists. Still, it's got some great songs and it made quite the impression on 10-year-old me back in the day so I'll give it a 4.
Mr. Brownstone is my favorite song on this album.
This dance music can be fun, but I'm more into interesting lyrics in my music and this is just repetitive. It's not bad at all, but not my cup of tea.
Not his best. Crafty, for sure, but College Dropout remains his best. Yeezus is mixed beautifully, but it's lacking anything mind blowing, which is what I expect. "Blood on the Leaves" is exquisite.
There's no doubt this album was a banger in 1987, but the bar was set soooo high with Thriller, in today's world, it's mid to me. Tons of MJ music better than Bad, like pre-Thriller jams, and I think this is the moment he started to lose relevance.
Favorite songs are "Dirty Diana" and "Smooth Criminal", but they're not great enough to pull my rate from a 3 to a 4.
I don't understand jazz. There's just too much going on at once, it really amps up my ADHD and I shutdown. I tried but I just can't. Also, Miles Davis abused women. I'll give it a 2 because it's not the worst thing I've ever heard, but I know I don't ever want to listen to this again. Perhaps if it wasn't 90 minutes long, it would be more accommodating.
Grateful Dead always makes me smile. I do prefer the studio albums to the live ones, though.
Wow, that's a lot of WAHHHHHHHHHH screaming. It's perfect if that's your jam. I was gifted my mom's old record collection years ago, and this was in the pile. I don't remember ever hearing it, but as a child I drew crayon mustaches and eyeglasses on the faces and my mom got mad. So, I guess that was my first experience with Deep Purple. There's no doubt it rocks and it was very influential for the musicians I would end up loving in the 90's. Also, it is unrelenting, like seriously, it just starts off like a cannon and keeps going to the end. Solos and fast drums and WAHHHHHH! It's not my cup of tea, but I appreciate the talent.
I bet if I was a teen in 1976, I would've loved to see this show with a boyfriend. It's not a bad live performance at all; Frampton is consistent for the hour and 17 minutes and the sound is awesome. It is hovering between a 3 and 4 for me, technically, but I will choose 3 because I'd only ever listen to these songs in bars, and I don't go to bars anymore.
I've never listened to Led Zepplin before aside from background jukebox music in bars. Everyone told me this would be the album I would like best because I like a lot of indie rock. I dunno. I just can't get into it. It gets a 3 from me because it's still great background jukebox bar music.
Oh boy something incredibly awesome to break up all the classic rock I've been given lately! I wasn't allowed to listen to this back in the 80's, not because of the language or subject matter, but because the "N" stood for the "N" word, and my parents hated that word. So you best believe I bumped this album in my car all day today and enjoyed every second of it. Sorry Mom and Dad, but not sorry and I promise I didn't say the "N" word when singing along but substituted "brother" and "neighbor" instead. Some of the tracks sound like that great house party music we loved to dance to back then and "Fuck Tha Police" just goes as hard now as it did then. I can't love this enough.
Couldn't give this one a 5 because it felt a little too preachy about God at times, but it's a whole-ass vibe. I loved this era of hip hop in the 90's.
Absolutely lovely voice! I am surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did.
I think these ratings boil down to generational gaps. I hear "Scorpio" and immediately want to put on my roller skates or imagine Ozone breaking it down. Does it sound dated? Absolutely. And I am here for it.
I wish I was there to see this live at the Apollo. The screams! The big band! The energy! How amazing would that be?
I love how campy the lyrics are! Fun stuff! I wish I could hear this in 1973 and watch the old folks' heads explode.
It's not bad at all, but not anything I would purposely feel like listening to. I appreciate Mr. John's talent, but maybe this album dragged on a little too long, or maybe I just liked Madman better, I dunno, but I gotta give it a 3. That rating feels wrong. My heart says 3. But I think I've been conditioned for years and years to believe this is album is a masterpiece, so I feel guilty I don't love it more. I guess it's just like that sometimes.
Africano is a whole ass vibe and I am here for it.
Sarah Vaughan's voice is amazing, the live recording is perfect, and the vibe is great. There is nothing wrong with this album, but I'm only giving this a 3 because I just really gotta be in the mood to listen to jazz standards. Surely if I were around back then, in a smokey bar with a drink in my hand, sitting at a table next to a dapper fellow, it would be a phenomenal experience to see this live.
Amazing album. It's just me and Willie sitting by a campfire, sharing a whiskey bottle as he sings me a story. It's so comfortable.
I've never heard this before and I think this is the best Springsteen I've heard so far. Sooooo dark and bare. Other Springsteen albums are so-so, but this is really great. So glad to experience this side of Bruce.
Fast and bulbous. I didn't really get it. It gets a 2 just for the album cover art.
This album is strange and sexy rock and roll. I'm instantly transported to the 60s while listening, but I wasn't born until the late 70s, so I have nostalgia for a time I never experienced. It's wild.
Wow, this album really surprised me.
Ugh. I enjoy some Lou Reed/Velvet Underground hits and other albums in small doses. This one is grating and insufferable, and I'm just not in the mood today.
I don't know much about The Band except for Fanny and her loads, so I had this idea the album would be some quasi hippy dippy southern rock knockoff bullshit. I mean, they're Canadian and Canadians are usually a couple years behind. Imagine my surprise when I realized this isn't the knockoff, this is the real deal that influenced my guilty pleasure crows from the 90's, like Counting Crows and Black Crowes...as well as all those classic rock gods my parents listened to on the radio. It's a solid album and it's why I adore this 1001 project.
#49 on the randomizer for me, but #1 in my heart.
I've not listened to much Rolling Stones in my life because my introduction to them was their 80s and 90s music, which I did not really care for as a young person. I sort of dismissed them as old people rock n roll. This album is definitely something I could get into, though. It's really bluesy, which is what I was in the mood for today, so I thoroughly enjoyed the Stones. I can't wait to tell my mom, she'll be so proud.
"Dear Doctor" and "Factory Girl" are my favs.
Make out music from senior year. Good times.
While I'm not the biggest R.E.M. fan, my favorite song of theirs, "Radio Free Europe", opens up this album and it made me excited to listen. I do recognize their impact on all of the college rock I would come to love.
This is wonderful from start to finish. People who give this 1 star must be fully dead on the inside.
I had a boyfriend when I was 15 who loved Sepultura while I loved the Lemonheads. I remember trying really hard to like this so I could fit into his world. It's really not bad and I can see myself listening to this if I need to hear something intense, but I don't think I'll be adding any songs to my personal playlists so it's a 3.
I've been to many a Texas BBQ and Bike Night to understand the cultural significance of ZZ Top. It's reliable, consistent, and inoffensive background music for gatherings. It was an easy listen on my work commute and kept me entertained.
Back in the 90's, all the cool college kids I looked up to listened to Velvet Underground. I thought there must be something wrong with me because I didn't think it was as great as they said it was. Now 30 years later, I still stand by my original opinions of the music. It's just ok. I'll give it a 3 because some of the songs spark nostalgia.
Shankar's album is one reason I do this project. The only thing I knew about the sitar before hearing this is the Beatles songs that incorporated the instrument or international movies with sitar songs. This album was something new and unexpected, and a true delight. I'll revisit "Dance Indra" and the Stones cover "Jumpin Jack Flash" again, for sure. "Raghupati" is my favorite.
Probably my favorite R.E.M. album of them all. I'm not the biggest fan of the band, at least not as big a fan as most people I grew up with, but this album is a solid 4. So much better than Automatic for the People, which was HUGE during my high school years and one I didn't really care for.
I mean, it's Ray Charles. It's not any of his best songs, but it kept me entertained.
This is good background music. I give it a 3 because it sounds like the perfect music for a 90's movie montage. And I do love the 90s.
Any Olive Garden veteran circa 1996-2005 knows most of these songs by heart. From the first verse, I had a brief moment of PTSD as I was transported to being in the weeds on a Friday afternoon juggling neverending pasta bowls, all you can eat soup and salad, and waters with lemon. After some internal reassurance and deep breathing, I remembered I am no longer working the OG FOH, and I relaxed enough to enjoy some Frank. And to all those old pearl clutchers who were determined to censor our music in the 80s and 90s, shame on you. "Makin Whoopee" is just scandalous you old biddies.
First time T. Rex listener, and this was the cool factor missing from my entire life. I feel so much sluttier listening to this, or happier, or slinkier, whatever I know there's a word for it and I now have to pause my list and go listen to everything T. Rex has. Like right now.
This is my project so I will base my ratings on straight nostalgia if I wanna. Listening to this album 40 years after it was made there is a glaring revelation: yes, it is cheesy.
But that does not negate the fact I remembered every word of every song and I felt something in my soul, albeit a bit of embarrassment mixed with the sort of wisdom that only comes with being able to laugh at yourself.
Ah, this album on any other occasion would be a 2 now, but there are 3 redeeming factors tied to personal nostalgia that bump it up to a 3.
1. My dad took me to a Bon Jovi/Skid Row concert when I was 11 years old. They played a lot of these songs and it was the coolest thing I ever experienced up to that point in my life. He bought me a concert t shirt, which I still have, and I wore it to school the next day and the other 6th graders were in awe.
2. "Never Say Goodbye" was often used as a couples skate when I was that same age. I remember wanting to be a teenager so badly just so I could experience the good times I would someday reminisce. I would see the teenagers hold hands and skate to this song while I was waiting on the wall for the dumb 6th grade boys to skate around and ask me to skate. It broke my heart in a good way.
3. "Wanted Dead or Alive" is just a great song among the cheese. In fact, Jon Bon Jovi is much better as a cowboy than this spandex mess. I prefer that Young Guns 2 soundtrack to any of his other music.
Anyway, this album IS 1986. It is cheesy now, but back then it was really something great.
Let it be known I don't care anymore if I'm not cool enough to get Sonic Youth.
I am not angry and 15 years old trying to get the attention of the skaters in the parking lot by blasting "Kissability" or "The Sprawl" from my dad's car. I'm not a freshman art student trying to fit in to the art crowd. I am not that indie darling or that hipster or too cool for school.
I am almost 49 years old and I have a shit ton of fucking anxiety and I take Pepcid for my bad stomach and drink Metamucil for regular poops. I have a teenage daughter who sometimes hates me and I work in a public 6-12 school and I live in a world of screaming and complaining and crying and brain rot and constant bullshit so my cortisol levels are always raised, my jaw is permanently clenched, I don't sleep well, I have daily panic attacks, and my heart has palpitations on top of palpitations. Daydream Nation is just too dense, inaccessible, and demanding; like a 7th grade classroom, I just can't deal with this loud shit right now.
I don't enjoy being hit with a wall of noise when I turn on a song. No real melody, no singing, just straight noise that makes me feel panicky and old. And while I do enjoy some Sonic Youth hits, like "Dirty Boots", "100%", and the Cypress Hill colab "I Love You Maryjane", I know now most of it is garbage. In fact, a lot of it sounds like the sound that the garbage truck makes outside my house at 6am. Screeching and squeaking and motorized and the monotonous hum of the back of the truck compressing this week's neighborhood trash. And that's ok. Let it be known I don't like Sonic Youth and I turned off Daydream Nation during the second song when this enjoyable project turned into something offensive and meaningless to my ears. I then pressed play on the remaining tracks until the wall of noise happened on each one so I could feel like I didn't give up completely. Just fucking noise. And it's not that I dont appreciate loud music or chaotic music; Sepultura was loud and fast but it was pretty. It's just that damn ZHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZZZZZHHHHHHHHHH...
I think it was mostly hive mind mentality that convinced a lot of us that this band was the shit back in the 80s and 90s; there's no way I REALLY enjoyed any of this, is there? Maybe it's the fact they're just so New York so they must be cool. Ugh. I'm over it and I'm being honest with myself for the sake of this list of 1001 albums I must hear before I die. Nah. I can die without this one. Now, they get a 2 from me because it's not ALL noise and I understand their significance in shaping the music of my youth. I want to save my 1 star for the worst thing I have ever heard, and this is not it. I just don't particularly like it.
It's not a bad album at all, but not better than Innervisions or Key of Life. It's more lovey/"easy listening" than the others, and I prefer something a little more funky.
