These songs are nostalgic for me, but feel very old fashioned for the times. This was not new and fresh music in 1984.
For instance: comparing "My Hometown" with REM's "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville." They both came out in 1984, they are both country-tinged rock songs about sleepy towns. But one is musically looking forward and the other is looking backwards
I am not the audience for this. I have never been into gangsta rap (I was a senior in high school when this came out, so I am generally familiar). But it never spoke to me. If I wasn't listening to it for this challenge, I would not finish it.
What I have learned:
1. Dre is a badass and owns guns
2. Dre hates women but thinks they should shut shut up and fuck him
3. Dre hates his former NWA bandmates and thinks they should be sucking his dick
4. Dre is (at least at the time) friends with Snoop Dogg (who's music I am somewhat more familiar with)
Nothin' But a "G" Thang is the only song I recognize (It's like this and like that)
Listen to this has made me realize I enjoy listening to the nostalgic hits off 'Can't Buy a Thrill" but that I don't actually like Steely Dan. It's not a bad album and I can see how it was doing something interesting at the time it came out. But it is just not for me.
"Paper Tiger" is the standout. Other than that, this is too sad and sleepy for me
Although I know quite few of the song on this album simply because they were everywhere in the late '90s, I have never listened to the whole album. I considered Radiohead too pretentious at the time and I just couldn't get into them. I have now realized it was the fans, not the band or the music that sucked. I really liked this.
I am not at all familiar with this album. I've never even heard of the band before. Overall, I liked it. But I don't see myself returning to it. It was pleasant, but didn't make a connection.
I like U2. Under a Blood Red Sky was one of the first CDs I bought when I was in middle school. Unforgettable Fire was just about a perfect album. But this? This is a band that is afraid of taking chances. It feels genetically engineered to make 35 year old white women feel good while driving to Starbucks. Front loading the album with the singles seems like an admission that no one is expected to listen to the whole thing.
I don't know Spanish enough to follow the lyrics, but my overwhelming feeling listening to this is sadness. A lot of the music sounds like it should be happy, but it just isn't. Good background music for dinner, but too sad to listen to at work.
I like The Smiths a lot. And I liked the first 1.5 albums Morrissey put out after the Smiths broke up. But with every passing year farther away from Johnny Marr he just gets more insufferable. This was still fairly early in his solo career, but it is still just boring.
The Who was a big part of the music of my childhood. They are clearly amazing musicians but I was just never that into them. I don't dislike The Who, but listening to this does not make me want to listen to more. "Substitute" is my favorite from this album.
I don't listen to a lot of jazz, but this was good to listen to today in the rain. I can see myself coming back to this in the future.
"Move Any Mountain" is the only song I know off of this. And because I was a teenager in 1990, I still remember most of the words. I've never listened to the whole album before and overall it was fine. "666 Edit" and "Make It Minimal" were kinda annoying, but other than that it was good background music. Not something I need to revisit.
This isn't a genre I'm into. I can tell why other people like this record, but it's not for me. Positives: the lyrics were complex and often funny; the production was very good. Negatives: a lot of songs were very repetitive. "Numbers" was my favorite song.
This album is so 2014 it's painful. I'm not a fan of this era. Generally, unoffensive background music. But then the vocals come in with that breathy/nasally thing and it is just so irritating. It's not just this band, it's that whole era of alt-folk. Also, this sounds extremely over-produced.
I thought I was going to like this one. I know "Life's What You Make It" and "It's My Life" (not on this album but it's the only other Talk Talk song I know) and will happily sing along if they come on in the car.
But listening to the whole album has forced me to ask myself: do I actually like it? And the answer is "no," I just have nostalgia for being 12.
The only reason I can see for telling someone they need to listen to this is to remind them of how fucking dour and depressing the mid-80s actually were.
One of my favorite bands of all time. Not my favorite of their albums, but still 5 stars.
Listening to this right after Talk Talk "The Colour of Spring" it's weird to see they are only 1 year apart. They are both lyrically depressing and dark, but with DM the anger cuts through and pushes for action.
It's kinda cheesy when I think about it critically, but "Sacred" is one of my favorites off this one.
I know some of these songs, but the shorter radio edits. Listening to the whole album makes me like the band less than I used to. My ears feel numb, like I'm trying to block it out as static. Jam bands are just not my thing.
A challenging listen. As a '90s art school girl, I feel pressured to like this, but it feels like homework. I admire the artistry and the risk-taking, but most of this is just unpleasant. There is a reason non of these songs became hits. I like some Kate Bush, but not this album. I guess I'm just not cool enough.
This might be my hottest take yet: this is fine.
I was a kid at the height of popularity of this album, but just could never get into it. I get why it's popular, but I find it empty and overproduced. As an adult when I gave Michael Jackson another chance I discovered I really like Off the Wall. I would give that 5 stars. But Thriller is just not something I need to listen to.
I like this more than I thought I would. But I think I'm supposed to take it seriously and I just can't do that. Dramatic crooning telling me the plot of an Ingmar Bergman film is just kinda silly. So I like this ironically but I won't be listening again. I can see it being used in a deliberately anachronistic film soundtrack.
I've heard the title track before, but I don't think I've every listened to the whole song, never mind the whole album. I liked it, very smooth. But is this a concept album about sex or just a very repetitive album? It's only a half hour long, but none of the songs really stood out for me. It started, was 30 minutes of very similar music, then ended.
This is the best 2018 had to offer? I gave up around song 5.
Since Dave Mustaine is a former member of Metallica, it's impossible not to compare the bands. And, technically, Megadeath is better in a lot of parts. But those parts just never quite add up and Megadeath is always the slightly goofier version of Metallica. He's great at playing guitar. He's not so good at writing songs that sound different from each other.
My sister was a big Paul Simon fan. I don't really recognize any of these songs. I can see why he was popular, but I'm just not into this kind of folk music.
A classic. World Leader Pretend is probably my favorite on this album. There are a few on this, like Wrong Child and Hairshirt, that I'm not a big fan of. But overall a 5/5 album.
This continues to be a genre that just doesn't resonate with me. When I compare it to Dr. Dre's The Chronic, that I listened to a week or so ago I notice a few things: 1) The production on this is much more simplistic. 2) Although they are angry at the world, NWA seems to be having fun together 3) The songs do a good job of being different from each other, but they all seem to be rather monotonous within themselves. I can see why people like it, but it is not for me
I remember liking this when it came out, but never listen to it anymore. It's impressive for only 2 band members, but rather simplistic for the same reason. And I realize I really don't like Jack White's voice; it's all screech on this record. It makes sense that "Fell in Love with a Girl" was their breakout hit because the speed and power obscures these drawbacks, but many of the songs here are much slower and highlight the lack of instrumental harmonies and untrained vocals.
I know "Gotta Get Up" from season one of "Russian Doll." "Without You" sounded vaguely familiar. I know "Coconut," of course, but I never considered it a real song. I mostly know it from the Muppet Show version (which really leans into the racist accent by adding "African" visuals).
This was not an album for me. I liked "Down" and that was about it. Most songs ranged somewhere between "fine" and "annoying."
Bouncing between 3 and 4 on this one. Some songs are classics, some are annoying. It's interesting now, in the age of autocomplete, to hear a pop star reaching to hit a note.
I know Season of the Witch, of course. And I recognize Sunshine Superman. This isn't my usual type of music and I was leaning towards a 3, but the quirky lyrics, bouncing between Arthurian legends and DC Comics, push it up to 4 for me.
There were some fun songs on this. But at 2+ hours it wore out its welcome long before the end. GhettoMusick was probably my favorite, but I'm not sure now if that's just because it was at the beginning. But I liked the techno vibe.
I grew up listening to a lot of these. It's fine. Nothing I need to listen to again.
Never have I been more appreciative of disco. I did not like this. Very derivative of other acts, much of it was trying hard to be the Beatles, one song ("Marley Purt Drive") was a straight up ripoff of The Band's "The Weight." Then there were the orchestral backed numbers. None of it worked for me.
It's probably been 25+ years since I've listened to a Bauhaus album in full. They can be a bit heavy. But I listen to individual songs often. "The Passion of Lovers" off this album is a favorite. I also like "Kick in the Eye." And then, just in case anyone was taking them too seriously, they add a song named after themselves about a recipe for fishcakes.
Chaotic in a very 1971 kind of way. The guitar on the opening track is amazing, but the song is too long for me to call it enjoyable. This album - from the title, to the cover art, to the music - is meant to be confrontational and jarring. And it succeeds at that. It is technically complex and interesting. I just don't like listen to it.
I liked this more than I thought I would. I am familiar with a couple of these songs because I exist in the world, but I don't really listen to pop music. However, a lot of this is fun and the lyrics are good (not insipid like Kacey Musgraves). It would be 4 stars if she didn't sound like a robot. Way, WAY too much autotune. I listen to a lot of the '80s synth music this was inspired by, and autotune didn't exist when those songs were made. You could actually hear the human vocals above the synths. Maybe this is just "old man yells at clouds" but the robot sound strips out a lot of enjoyment in listening to music for me.
I should have listened to this while it was raining. This is a rainy nap album. I recognized "The Dolphins" from a cover, I think the "The The" version is what I'm most familiar with. I did not like the percussion on this original version. This was not an album for me.
I should be the target demo for this. My friends were certainly into it in 2001. But while I appreciate that Albarn wanted to do something different after Blur, it just doesn't work for me. I have repeatedly tried to get into Gorillaz over the past 25 years and OK is the best I can give it.
It's fine. I understand it is a classic of its genre, but not for me.
I like some Johnny Cash. I know this is a classic album, but it's kinda boring. I think the same song, repeated twice in a row, adds to that. I get why it was done for the live audience, but it didn't work for me.
With the album title and the opening bars of the first song, I thought this was going to be trip hop. But, no: nu metal. I can see how this album was important at the time, as it spans a few genres, but it isn't good.
This is very much a band still finding themselves. Technically, it is well made. But lyrically it is profoundly silly. Lyrically, they were clearly influenced by Led Zepplin and other late '60s bands obsessed with Middle Earth and folklore. Musically, it is more straightforward hard rock of the era. The inventiveness and weirdness that made Queen famous have not yet emerged here. It's not a bad album. And I can see how it is historically significant, but it isn't really special in any way.
Mostly forgettable 1960s pop-rock. The standout is "You Better Run," a song I had only previously heard as the Pat Benatar cover version. It has a power the rest of the album lacks. One extra star for that one.
Meh. I know "Love the One You're With" because I was born in 1974 and it was all over the radio in my childhood. I don't know if I like it or if I'm just familiar with it. The album is pretty boring, overall.
Nope. This sounds like background music in a Rankin Bass xmas animation. But goopier. I get that this was groundbreaking in its day for genre-bending. But I do not enjoy any of the genres involved here.
There seems to have been a lot of effort put into this for not much product. Most of it was mixed so low I could hardly hear it, then there would be a loud part that made me turn it down further.
It was OK.
