i dunno, i just do not care about the Foo Fighters. this album played in it's entirety and it never make me lift my head to actually tune into what was playing.
After years of being a decent Coldplay fan I had started to become underwhelmed with them over the past couple of albums. Their hits had been excessively overplayed and their schtick had seemingly started to wear thin. Their albums had become less and less interesting as the seemingly pushed for a pop rock sound.
Despite being an OK album, A Rush Of Blood was a bit of a lackluster listen on my last revisit, so I went in with tempered expectations for Parachutes. I was pretty pleased how well Parachutes held up. It's a little simpler and holds a little more of the indie rock vibe that made Coldplay more alluring earlier in their career. Parachutes has a bit more of a glum alt rock sound that maybe worked better earlier in their career when it still felt fresh. Perhaps it was feeling more and more thin as they aged and continued to release albums in their signature vein. While Chris Martin is mostly an admirable frontman, his act had started to feel packaged as he became an aging rocker and more of a pop culture icon. All in all I was a mostly OK with Parachutes on the revisit.
3.10 stars
It may be sacrilegious for me to say as a Wisconsinite, but I absolutely despise "Blister in the Sun." It's this twee, commercial-core garbage sung horribly and overplayed to death since its release 40 years ago.
The rest of the album was all new to me, and it was fine, I guess. Like a lot of one-hit wonder bands, the other stuff is better than their one hit. Super lo-fi which is not usually my sound, but overall it reminded me of Neutral Milk Hotel, but not as good. Would not listen again, but defo not in "Incredible String Band" tier.
Never listened to Beastie Boys intentionally beyond the biggest hits before this project. Now after giving Paul's Boutique a 5 and getting this today, I feel like there's nothing else to say except I am a fan. Love the variety on this - the instrumentals in the back half, Q-Tip's cameo, along with plenty of standard Beastie Boys sound that I didn't realize how much I enjoyed.
I'm getting more out of this album with each listen, lots to love here but it hasn't hit the sweet 5 star point yet, pretty sure it'll get there with time.
I never really listened to Missy Elliott but I thought this was very good. Production was excellent, features were pretty good, although used in an old school way, and vocals were good. I liked it more than I thought I would. Better than that mumble crap they make today that's for sure.
Reminds me of car rides with my mom as a kid! Take it easy and Peaceful Easy Feeling are classics. I also discovered Nightingale on this listen.
Doesn't quite have the 5 star juice, but is comfortably a 4 star record.
I guess I just don't get it.
I don't know why we have so many Nick Cave albums on here. Is he interesting? At times. Murder Ballads was ambitious and intriguing, a worthy inclusion. That said, he is very far from great.
Want proof? He is revered by a good amount of critics (mainly English), as evidenced by having 5 albums on this list. And yet, here in the States, he has had one album that has sold more than 100k copies. One. That's incredibly hard to accomplish.
Is he a complicated artist that is just misunderstood in the US? Perhaps. Or maybe, just maybe, he's a relatively uninspiring/bad signer, who is a lackluster song writer. Some examples, just from this album:
"We'd buy the Sunday newspapers and never read a single word."
"I don't believe in an interventionist God but I know, darling, that you do."
"In a colonial hotel, we fucked up the sun and then we fucked it down again."
He's incredibly trite throughout this record. Him trying sing layers about a "twinkling cunt"? Huh?
Worse yet, this collection of songs are very basic with zero real musicality to them.
The only bonus is that I've now burned through more than half of his albums on this countdown. Only two more to get rid of.
While he hasn't supplanted Amy Winehouse as my least favorite artist on this countdown, I realize now I would rather listen to her than him. At least Amy had an excellent voice and talent, even if she totally wasted both. This dude is predominantly just a waste of time.
BuT iT's CuLtUrAL aPpRoPriATiOn!!!!!111
Does anyone fucking think on here? Does anyone know what they're talking about? Does anyone know anything about music?
There's a certain type of idiot on here (and in life) that hears something like Graceland and sprints, whistle in mouth, to declare Paul Simon guilty of "cultural appropriation." These are the people who were hall monitors in high school and continue to look for infractions anywhere and everywhere in life.
According to these assholes, Paul Simon didn't collaborate with musicians in South Africa, he only extracted their music and their culture. And they constantly ignore (or don't want to bother to look) that the music that's on this album shined a light on artists like Barney Rachabane, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Hugh Masekela and Clifton Chenier. They don't want to take a minute to understand that this album brought these artists some notoriety and that these artists were appreciative. They don't want to admit, by these artists accounts, that the album was a joy to make.
And these assholes just never want to acknowledge the most obvious point, that music has always been a conversation across cultures. Genres exist because cultures collide...rock music exists because of Black Americans. Elvis didn't appear out of thin air fully formed, he was drawing from Black gospel, blues and R&B. The Beatles were borrowing Chuck Berry riffs, girl group harmonies, basslines from Motown, American R&B, Indian sitars and the list goes on and on. Jazz is a mix of african rhythms, european brass band instruments, carribean influences and blues scales. Country is a blend of scottish and irish ballads, Black blues structures, mexican influences on Western swing and African banjo classics. Hip Hip was built on sampling funk, disco, rock and whatever else they could find.
But the "cultural appropriation" assholes never worry about nuance. As long as they can plant their flag on some moral hill, they'll ignore everything else. They'll ignore the musicians that wanted to work with Paul Simon, the breaking of a cultural boycott in an effort to collaborate on music and the positive feedback from everyone involved.
These "cultural appropriation" assholes have one argument, and it's this: Paul Simon shouldn't have made one of the best and most innovative albums of the 80s because it violates my sensitivities.
In doing so, these "cultural appropriation" assholes flatten the South African musicians into props for a moral lecture. And in thinking they're somehow protecting them, it reduces them to passive objects rather than creative artists who wanted to collaborate with Simon and brought the world some fucking awesome music.
The "cultural appropriation" assholes just ignore that music isn't pure and it's not supposed to be. Humans borrow from each other and cultures mix and to ignore it is to willfully ignore the way culture actually works. They want rigid boundaries when it suits them and they want rigid boundaries in art when art doesn't obey boundaries.
So fuck the cultural appropriation warriors, this album absolutely slaps. If you want to downgrade it for farty bass lines and lyrics you don't like, that's fine. But if you want to get on your high horse and write a review about "cultural appropriation" while ignoring all the music you've 5 starred on this site and think you're some sort of a fucking genius you might want to sit this one out.
I remember when this album came out. A bunch of white people were playing this in an effort to...I dunno, make themselves feel more culturally astute or some shit. It was weird.
I'm not saying this is bad music because it's not. It's actually quite good. Whoever's playing these instruments knows what they're doing, their voices are pleasant. And I know the most liked review for this album is some butthurt idiot whining about how if the fact that you can't understand what they're saying bothers you, than you're a racist or some shit. I'm not bothered by this, but fuck him.
Like I said, it's quite good, but I fail to understand what makes it significantly better than what I hear when I go to my favorite taco joint, though. I'm sure people could educate me, but I really don't care.
Glad I listened to it, probably wouldn't listen to it again...or at least until I get some ground beef, a packet of Taco Bell seasoning, mexican cheese in a bag, grocery store tortillas and make my kid some tacos one night.
Rolling Stone put this at 43 in their top 500 albums of all time. GTFOH. This album isn't even in the top 10 for 1991 let alone top 50 all time.
Or maybe this is brilliant and I'm just salty today.
-like a button down shirt had a bad dream and wrote an album about it.
-this band had themselves figured out from day 1. A fully formed, unique style in a debut album.
-file under "so square it's funky." A truly punk rock approach to r&b.
-no skips.
-really sounds like NYC in the late 70s, but also so influential you can hear a glimpse of what 80s new wave will be. Many people copied this sound, but no one did it as well.
-say what you will about Byrne, but the guy has no inhibitions on his voice.
-it would be hard to name a better rhythm section in rock music in the 70s.
A+ album title. It was so frustrating trying to get into the Damned in the US in the early/mid 80s as it seemed really hard to find their records. They were always super expensive imports so the only one I could get was an ep with New Rose, Neat Neat Neat and their other early, Nick Lowe produced bangers.
Not that I'm complaining, but it was that and that (awesome) Captain Sensible disco song "Wot?" and from just those things it was hard to get a sense of what The Damned was really about. Machine Gun Etiquette hung out there like a tantalizing, impossibly expensive import mystery. So I'm glad to finally catch up.
The first couple of songs could almost be Black Flag or Minor Threat. It's like a key missing link between British punk and American hardcore. I'm curious if this album was as directly influential on the first generation hardcore bands as it sounds.
I don't love the productions. Too much reverb, especially on the drums, is washing things out. This album would be more intense with less reverb.
Still, I liked it a lot and it will likely be a launching point for me to finally get into the damned Damned!
The Good: The Stones!!!
The Bad: Early Stones…
The Ugly: band-name album…
Dear Mr. Dimery,
Reading the rules you yourself imposed while creating this list, any album that is a greatest hits, or compilation album of any kind, is not eligible for this list.
Based on this criteria, the soundtrack to the Oscar winning movie Saturday Night Fever is not found on this list. Thus we are not exposed to listening to The Bee Gees opus majestus, which managed to do what few, if any, other artist managed to do, which is to have 3 songs simultaneously in the charts.
Listening to this album, a couple of things came to mind, primarily the fact that Mick’s voice was irritating as hell, secondly, where are the original songs? Why isn’t there a Chuck Berry album on the damn list? Or any of the other greats who influenced The Stones to even make music?
It is a massive disappointment that I’ve had to waste 30 minutes listening to this, when I’d rather have been listening to silence…
1* out of massive spite
3.3
As ever, Rolling Stones continue to elude me. It's simultaneously an ok but very disappointing album, given it's acclaim. After one of the best album openers of all time (even the tone of those first notes, wow), it descends into some terrible country infused rock (it's no surprise that the Beatles worst output was when they tried to go all yank with Let It Be). After 5 or so pretty shit tunes, Monkey Man starts off with an excellent first 2 minutes, and then descends into a nonsense final 2 minutes of screaming about being a monkey. And finally closes with the incredible Can't get what you want. Such a confusing album. How can you make Gimme Shelter and not realise you need to build your album around this?! Baffling. I always think one year soon the Rolling Stones will click. But after trying for about 19 consecutive years I'm still waiting...
This is one of the best hip hop albums of the 90s; hood but not gangsta, laid back and spacious, smart and cool.
But the real reason we are all here is Lauryn Hill. She is the best rapper, the best singer and the coolest person in the Fugees. Her charismatic and confident presence this lifts this record from the merely good into the extraordinary. It's hard to think of any other rapper who has such a great flow and can sing like that.
To my mind, the covers are the weakest material on the album, and I never enjoy skits. But this gets five stars for the chance to hear Ms Hill. I'm waiting for her to release more records. One day, we hope, one day....
I can’t believe the top review for this record (as of Dec 2023) is from someone trying to use their PhD in Mathematics as justification for not liking hip-hop.
Weak.
Oh fuck yeah, now we're talking. Wait no, I swear I'm not being pretentious.
This is the lowest rated album on this site because I guess mostly people aren't very fond of German people smashing metal plates together - who would have guessed.
But halle-fucking-lujah, this is something this list needs more of. Albums that make you go "well, that was an experience and now I'm a changed man". Nobody is lying on their deathbed wishing they heard more crappy 80s post-punk or late 60s psychedelic rock. THIS is what we all deserve to be listening to as we embrace eternal oblivion.
I'm giving this a high rating not only because I genuinely really love it, but also to help Kid Rock move to his rightful place as the actual worst album on this list.
Together we can make a difference. Save the turtles.
Brings back vivid memories of when me and my mate Ray went on a trip to Dresden. We met this rotund goth in a bar, head to toe with tattoos and piercings, real filth and after a while took her into the disabled bogs for a spit roast. We were both pumping away in her with Napalm Death on in the background and her wailing "MEIN GOTT" at the top of her lungs. I remember spaffing all over her back just as Siege of Power kicked in. As i shoot over her, she takes Ray's cock out of her gob and says "do you want fries with that?" in a faux American accent. Anyway, we go outside and there's this gammy little geezer in a wheelchair sitting there furious, giving me daggers, because he's had to wait so long, so I lean into him and I go "I hope you have as much fun in there as we just did you little cunt".
Shit like this on the list is both refreshing and infuriating.
Refreshing because it is good, fun, interesting, and also not something I would regularly be exposed to! It's why I started this project and keeps me coming back.
It's infuriating because the fact that it is included here means that Robert Dimery, the original author of the 1001 albums list is aware that music like this exists. He's clearly aware that there is an entire world of music out there. SO WHY HAVE I LISTENED TO 200 80s BRITISH NEW WAVE ALBUMS AND 200 SCOTTISH ROCK ALBUMS FROM THE 90S??!!?
Back when I was in college, there was this dude who would come into the bar I worked at on a Friday night and play fucking 10 Neil Young songs in a row. He would also hit on girls by doing magic tricks. I remember how angry I got every time he made me listen to an hour of Neil Young because I was just trying to have a good time, and he fucking made me listen to this sad, soppy fuck who writes nothing but songs that sound indistinguishable from each other and never seemed to enjoy a happy moment in his entire like. Fuck that guy, and fuck Neil Young.
2/5
Back when I was in college I used to go to a bar and listen to Neil tunes and do magic tricks for women. There was a bartender there, he was the best. I loved that guy. Some of the best years of my life.
I really don't get rap, and I am completely aware of why. I'm a STEM guy, specifically a Ph.D. student in mathematics. Although my verbal intelligence is quite high, it's still about a standard deviation below my quantitative intelligence. Therefore, it should not be too surprising that I prefer melodies to lyricism, and that a genre based on the latter doesn't wow me. I know I'm pretty far out of step with public opinion on this one, but that can easily be attributed to the fact that hipsters with humanities degrees (i.e. extremely verbal-dominant people) are considered the ultimate arbiters of taste for some reason. (Side note: this also explains why prog rock is seen as being for losers.) Best song: Be (Intro), which had a decent instrumental part at the beginning. Everything else just sort of ran together.
Most 60's groups had three choices: copy the beatles, copy the beach boys, or sexually abuse minors. These guys changed the game and did all three- Four stars!