Perfect album front to back.
A departure from what I expected.
80's-defining rap. The godfathers.
My God. To think this & Blue dropped the same year is insane.
Never been a fan. Hard to ignore their impact on 80's & 90's metal/rock and roll.
Is this metal? Bardic metal? Psychedelic bardic metal? Progressive psychedelic bardic metal? Prog-psych-bardcore? Fun listen, not my particular cup of tea.
You can hear them figuring out their sound. A strong early effort.
Oh, I just realized I really like T. Rex.
A more mainstream DJ Shadow? Great album regardless.
Pioneers of lofi/trip hop. Features by TRICKY, Shara Nelson, Horace Andy, et al. fill out this album beautifully. Inspired to do a 90's trip hop deep dive.
Seminal rock. Solid listen front to back.
Peak 90's instrumental hip-hop. You can hear NoW in current 21st century lofi .
Absolute music royalty. He manipulates and bends genres to his will. Classic listen.
What is there to say that hasn't already been said thousands of times. Hit after hit after hit. They're almost inhuman.
This band has always confused me. They're fine.
So glad I'm finally exploring her catalog. I was aware of Tori Amos since my adolescence - I just assumed she didn't write music for me, so I never sought her out. Now that I am a (slightly) wiser man, I can absolutely respect and enjoy her music. Lilting vocals, expressive pianos, and brooding lyrics define Amos's sound, and it's omnipresent on this album.
How do they keep writing perfect albums?
Pixies walked so Weezer could run. It is apparent on this record. The drums, the clean-dirty-clean guitars, the emotionally vulnerable lyrics...while no Surfer Rosa or Doolittle, Bossanova is an important step in The Pixies' sonic journey.
Such a powerful voice. A tragic loss.
A very okay record.
Proto-punk? I shamefully admit to not listening to MC5 before now. This, in spite of their names and influence all over my favorite hardcore and punk bands. Their energy is off the charts - I can only imagine what it would have been like to witness in person.
Hendrix flexes his ability to pair groovy licks with psychedelic lyrics. Another classic.
A punch in the mouth of an album. You can feel the rage from Love through her lyrics and vocals.
Classic 90's/00's NYC rap. Conscious, alert, aware.
A peculiar little record. More synth heavy than I was expecting.
For opening the album with one of the all-time great pop songs, the rest of the album left me underwhelmed. I could hear the impact I know it had upon release; a lot of it doesn't stand the test of time, in my opinion.
Really fun and raucous album. Clash meets Stiff Little Fingers with a fuck-you attitude.
Just a delightful instrumental album.
One of the great Americana albums of all-time. The Boxer still stands as one of the greatest songs ever written (IMO), and no lulls to speak of throughout the rest of the record.
A fun listen. Classic Frank Black chaotic rock and roll.
Wow. For a hip-hop fan, I let this album slip by me way too long. Flash bends genres to his will throughout this record - disco, funk, R&B - so much inspiration beget so much more for decades. Fantastic album.
Holy. The rhythm section of Alphonse Mouzon (drums) and Jaco Pastorius (bass) is one of the better two-headed monsters I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. A seminal jazz fusion record.
A pleasant surprise from a band I'd never really sought out.
Signature Prince. Playfully bending R&B, funk, rock, and gospel to his will.
It's hard to listen to this album without separating the appropriation of black music. You can't have this album without it; you really can't have a lot of 60's/70's rock & roll without it. So while it was an enjoyable listen, the co-opting of black culture and music leaves it with a sour taste in my mouth.
Nick Drake + Harry Nilsson + T. Rex. A whimsical pioneer that pushes the boundaries of 70's rock and roll. A really fun listen.
Lauper walked so Courtney Love could run. I couldn't help but hear the influence throughout this album. I honestly liked it more than I expected.
Damn. Another classic rock group I slept on. Listen to this with the top down driving the PCH.
Never been a big fan of Neil Young, but this album was a pleasant surprise.
The fact this was NOT a yacht rock album is disappointing on its surface. A layer deeper, I found this album to be milquetoast. It dabbled in genres without fully committing to any, and that ultimately left me somewhat underwhelmed. Wilson's lyrics and vocals are interesting, however.
I'm not crying, you're crying. The soft guitars, the angelic harmonies...a fitting way to honor Dolly by being assigned this album.
I had literally never heard of this band before yesterday. A fun psych-rock album at the height of the British invasion. Too bad they got lost in the shuffle, it would seem.
The vocals take some getting used to, but the music is classic 80's synth-pop. Fun listen.
What a pleasant surprise. In a time of synth and bubblegum pop, the Stone Roses ushered in the 90's with a unique Brit-pop/alternative album full of influences. You can hear the Beatles' sway on the band through their catchy harmonies and chord progressions.
Wow. In a time of big hair, pageantry, and pop, Minutemen said no thank you and ground out a pedal-to-the-floor double album of 80's punk. With no song clocking in longer than 3 minutes (2 minutes, 57 seconds, to be exact), DNOTD hits you in the face from track 1 and doesn't stop until the album does.
I am biased, as I was raised on a cassette of Al Green's greatest hits, but there is zero room to deny Green as one of the great vocalists in American music history. Every note is sung with the emotional weight each lyric carries. Whether he is gushing over how in love he is or lamenting a heartbreak, Green adds layers of pathos over the smooth, gospel-inspired R&B composition of his studio band. I defy anyone to pick a lull on this album.
Another album I had heard in pieces over the years, but never in one sitting. I can understand the adoration of this band and album, and again, it's hard to listen to without the obvious inspiration/appropriation of black music. Jones's drumming shines, Plant's lyrics and vocals are on point, Page's licks are smooth, and Bonham's bass fills out the Zeppelin sound in a defining way.
I read the term "minimalist punk" to describe this album and instantly seethed with jealousy I didn't think of it first. Byrne & co. were/are famous contrarians, so it comes as no surprise to hear this early work from them and share in their sense of defiance towards the status quo.
There's only one Sade. One of the best debut albums of all-time. And it's not even my favorite Sade album (Love Deluxe). The epitome of less is more.
The line between professionalism and playfulness is fully blurred on Aja. For every whimsical guitar lick or keyboard riff, there is an equally weighted and thoughtful chord progression. The lyrics are both cheeky and heavy. Fagen's vocals shine on tracks like Peg and Deacon Blues. Why the Eagles had such a beef with Steely Dan, I'll never know.
Cocteau Twins walked so Chappell Roan could run.
In a year that also gave us Endtroducing, this album also set a standard for 90's mainstream techno.
THE political activist rap of the 80's and 90's. Chuck D's conscious lyrics, Flava Flav's hype, Terminator X's insane chops and samples fill out one of the landmark hip-hop albums of all-time.
DJ Shadow blazed a lot of new trails with this record. Lofi, ambient, instrumental hip-hop...We wouldn't have the ethereal hip-hop production we have today without this album.
In a time of clean, radio-friendly pop music, Sonic Youth was a middle finger to the music culture.
The harmonies and chord progressions from the Everly Brothers still resonates today. I had always loved "Cathy's Clown" when it came on the radio growing up; I didn't know I was missing out on some other great tracks.
A mellow mix of 90's house techno and Indian music. A fun, if not a tad repetitive, album.
Nina Simone's timber and raw emotion in her vocals never wains or ebbs; Simone carries the weight of each lyric with her. Few vocalists pack such a punch with their delivery.
Early Coldplay >>> Any other Coldplay. What a debut album.
At a certain point, this record became good background music for my morning. Unfortunately, that doesn't say a ton in regards to the substance of the album and they way it (didn't) capture my attention. A fun effort, if not a little flat and self-indulgent at times.
Albums like this are exactly why I signed up for this service. It would have taken me years to come across this organically; listening to it yesterday helped me realize what an important piece of art this album is to hip-hop. You can hear the influence on every track - a seminal album.
A little out of my zone, genre-wise. Still a fun and recognizable sound from the late 90's/early 2000's. Some great vocal performances as well.
Seminal album. I still don't like their dig at Steely Dan, and yet this is a "classic rock" band I actually enjoy.
I can't believe I slept on this album for almost 30 years. Amazing record. Shirley Manson is one amazing lyricist and singer.
I do love this album. As a follow up to Attack & Release, they definitely had their sound locked in. One of the premier bands of the late 00's/early 2010's.
If you asked my father, "Stones or Beatles?", he would have said Pink Floyd. If you asked him "Zeppelin or The Who?", he would have said Steely Dan. While not my particular cup of tea, the clean production and mellow sounds of Fagen/Steely Dan/the yacht rock era shines through on this record. While I prefer the duo of Fagen and Becker.
I can't say I liked this album. I can say I respect it and could hear why people would like or love this album. The sound was unique as a whole, though I got Britpop vibes throughout. The vocals were, at times, rough. Again, I appreciate the unique sound. This was ultimately not in my wheelhouse.
The Who are an exception in my enjoyment of classic rock. The Who are loud. They're rock and roll in every sense of the phrase. A very enjoyable listen.
Elvis Costello was my first concert. I loved it, and yet I never really explored his catalog. This album was phenomenal from start to finish. The 70's protopunk sound gets honed on this record. Costello's vocals shine with emotion, while his lyrics are brutally honest. I love the sound captured on this album.
A perfect album. Prescient, groundbreaking, immaculate.
I spent this entire album wondering if I was wrong in disliking it. Even now, I wonder what got this album on this list.
Jazz was always a genre I was interested in, but never explored. This album was a taste of what I've been missing out on - at times, angry, visceral; other moments were soft, tender. I know next to nothing about Charles Mingus, and I still felt what he was saying through his music. You don't need to know the history of jazz to feel it in your heart and soul. You just need to be open to it.
A surprising listen from an otherwise faded-into-obscurity 90's band. Nothing earth-shattering, nothing terrible.
An usher for the 80's sound that was soon to come. I can imagine Faithfull's influence on Kate Bush, Bonnie Tyler, and other distinct experimental pop stars. While not to my particular tastes, I can understand the love and adoration for this record.
I found myself warming up to this album a lot as it progressed. Really snappy 80's Brit-pop with sharp lyrics and unique vocals.
Whoa. I hate I'm just now discovering Captain Beefheart - I can imagine a teenage version of myself getting his weed-addled mind blown by this record. A phenomenal listen. The weaving in and out of musical lanes, the absurdity, the organized chaos of it all...it's an album that's greater than the sum of its parts.
