Would be interesting to see your curated Top 20 Albums of All Time. Do not have to be in any particular order, but these have to be your definitive, life changing, musical odyssey albums that you cannot live without. Music that has shaped and molded who you are as a person. Music that still feels fresh and new to you even after 10,000+ listens. These are albums that EVERY single track on them is awesome in your opinion, and it is a sacrilege to skip a song. Explanations are not necessary, but are definitely welcome to help. Try and not duplicate a band more than once, difficult I know as I could put all of Floyd, Depeche Mode, Kanye and Radioheads albums on my list, but try and focus on the single GOAT from a specific band. Here is mine in no particular order. 1) Violator - Depeche Mode 2) The Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd 3) In Rainbows - Radiohead 4) Hot Fuss - The Killers 5) Discovery- Daft Punk 6) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West 7) American Dream - LCD Soundsystem 8) Dark All Day - Gunship 9) Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral 10) Arcade Fire - Funeral 11) Outkast - Speakerboxx / The Love Below 12) David Bowie - Low 13) The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds 14) Weezer - The Blue Album 15) Toadies - Rubberneck 16) The Beatles - Let It Be 17) Dr. Dre, The Chronic 18) Frank Ocean - Nostalgia, Ultra 19) Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 20) Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
This is wildly inaccurate, but these are the first 20 that popped in my head. Tried to keep it one album per band for variety. Radiohead - OK Computer Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Beck - Sea Change Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel Jesus & Mary Chain - Darklands Beatles - Revolver Flaming Lips - Soft Bulletin Nirvana - Nevermind Soundgarden - Superunknown Cure - Disintegration Beach Boys - Pet Sounds De la Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising Gza - Liquid Swords Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisted Pulp - Different Class My Bloody Valentine - Loveless Velvet Underground - Velvet Underground Neil Young - After the Gold Rush Echo & the Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Chris Thile - Not All Who Wander Are Lost Joni Mitchell - Blue Beatles - Abbey Road Wrens - Meadowlands Joanna Newsom - Have One On Me Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? Edan - Beauty and the Beat Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot GZA - Liquid Swords Radiohead - Hail to the Thief Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra - Who Is This America? Sigur Ros - ( ) Shangri Las - Myrmidons of Melodrama Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks Juana Molina - Un Dia Richard Thompson - Mirror Blue Decemberists - Hazards of Love Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland MC5 - Back in the USA Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
I probably couldn't come up with just 20. So I'll go with my top 5. 6 and beyond (for more than 20) would sit in a pile of equal awesomeness. (my list is very heavily 80s and early 90s oriented, obviously) 1. Tears For Fears - Songs From The Big Chair 2. Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill 3. The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me 4. The Smiths - Meat Is Murder 5. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero HM Sir Mix-a-Lot - Swass HM2 Fugazi - 13 Songs
Really in no particular order. Just what came to my head and trying to keep it to one per artist... 1. Black Crowes - Amorica 2. Avett Brothers - Magpie and the Dandelion 3. Sublime - 40 oz to Freedom 4. Tom Petty - Wildflowers 5. Wilco - A.M. 6. Uncle Tupelo - Anodyne 7. Alice In Chains - Jar of Flies 8. Band of Horses - Everything All the Time 9. The Beatles - Let It Be 10. Delta Spirit - Ode to Sunshine 11. G. Love & Special Sauce - G.Love & Special Sauce 12. The Gourds - Dem's Good Beeble 13. Houndmouth - Little Neon Limelight 14. Matisyahu - Live at Austin City Limits Festival 15. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - self titled 16. Quees of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf 17. Soulhat - Good To Be Gone 18. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga 19. The Traveling Wilburys - Volume 1 20. Singles Soundtrack
Year Zero is supremely underrated. I was struggling with putting TDS above The Fragile. NIN has some many damn good albums.
20 is tough off the top of my head. So, no particular order Nation Of Language - "A Way Forward" PIL - "9" Ramones - "Rocket To Russia" Tori Amos - "Little Earthquakes" The Doors - "LA Woman" New Model Army - "Thunder and Consolation" Garbage - "2.0" Joy Division - "Substance" (yes I know it's not technically an album because it's a compilation..sorry) Beatles - "Abbey Road" The Smiths - "Meat Is Murder' Eric Clapton - "Unplugged" 10,000 Maniacs - "Unplugged" Natalie Merchant - "Tigerlily" Depeche Mode - "Violator" The Crickets - "The 'Chirping' Crickets" The Cure - "Head On The Door" Stryper - "Soldiers Under Command" (sorry, not sorry) Suicidal Tendencies - "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow" Siouxsie & The Banshees - "Through The Looking Glass" REM - "Reckoning"
think I'm in the same boat coming up with 20, but let's see what happens 1. Born to Run - Springsteen 2. Damn the Torpedoes - Tom Petty 3. Making Movies - Dire Straits 4. All Things Must Pass - George Harrison (not counting the third record here. ) 5. Bringing Down the Horse - The Wallflowers 6. Strange Magic (Greatest Hits) - ELO 7. Look Sharp - Joe Jackson 8. Point of Know Return - Kansas 9. Bat Out of Hell - Meat Loaf 10.The Circle Game - Tom Rush 11. Lonely Runs Both Ways - Alison Krauss 12. Night Moves - Bob Seger after that I'd probably have to return to Springsteen and Tom Petty to round out a top 20. Honorable mention goes to the Beatles Red and Blue albums in terms of "life-changing-ness," but they no longer feel like albums I can't live without
This is tough so here are my choices. The ranking is just to keep track of how many. 1. Quadrophenia - The Who 2. Who's Next - The Who 3. Moving Pictures - Rush 4. Permanent Waves - Rush 5. Weld - Neil Young 6. Sex Love and Rock and Roll - Social Distortion 7. Reckoning - REM 8. Tim - The Replacements 9. Fishbone - Fishbone 10. Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy 11. London Calling - The Clash 12. Blues for Salvador - Carlos Santana 13. And Out Come the Wolves - Rancid 14. The Highwaymen - The Highwaymen 15. At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash 16. Within a Mile of Home - Flogging Molly 17. Blackout - Dropkick Murphys 18. Rocket to Russia - The Ramones 19. Shotgun Willie - Willie Nelson 20. Some Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds Beach Boys - Today! Beach Boys - Smile Eminem - Eminem Show Dr. Dre - 2001 2Pac - All Eyez on Me Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd - The Wall Killers - Hot Fuzz Weezer - Blue Album Weezer - Pinkerton The Cars - The Cars The Cars - Heartbeat City Billy Idol - Rebel Yell Matchbox Twenty - Yourself of Someone LIke You Michael Jackson - Bad Michael Jackson - Dangerous Michael Jackson - Thriller Prince - Purple Rain Soundtrack Cranberries - No Need to Argue
I'm happy to see several lists including Pet Sounds. The word is getting out more and more, but it's amazing how many people simply have no idea that the Beach Boys are so much more than oldies surfing and cars act.
It is said that The Beach Boys heard The Beatles "Rubber Soul" album and thought that they would never be able to make an album that good. It was their complete motivation. The result was "Pet Sounds". Subsequently, The Beatles heard "Pet Sounds" and thought that they would never be able to make an album that good. It was their motivation. The Result was "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band." Funny how that worked.
Pretty impossible for me to come up with 20 and next week at this time, I may have a completely different list but here’s my crack at it: Pink Floyd - Animals Bob Marley - Exodus Wire - 154 Gang of Four - Entertainment! Neil Young - After the Goldrush Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town Miles Davis - In a Silent Way John Coltrane - My Favorite Things Captain Beefheart - Lick my Decals Off, Baby Sun Ra - Space Is the Place Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass Harry Nilsson - Nilsson Schmilsson Siouxsie and the Banshees - Scream Parliament - Mothership Connection Pixies - Doolittle Wipers - Youth of America The Byrds - The Notorious Byrd Brothers Lee “Scratch” Perry - Super Ape Radiohead - OK Computer Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion This list does not include artists such as Sigur Ros, Wilco, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Sunny Day Real Estate, Otis Redding, Dinosaur Jr, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Sparks, OMD, Can, Frank Zappa, Hawkwind, Horace Silver, King Tubby, Public Image Ltd, Joy Division, Interpol, The Strokes, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, The Band, Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Bathory, Magma, Curtis Mayfield, Genesis, Cream, Allman Brothers Band, Yes, King Crimson, The Who, The Cure, The Fall, and Led Zeppelin to name just a few honorable mentions.
I've listed albums with which I can just push play and enjoy every single song (in no specific order): Rush - 2112 Rush - Exit.. Stage Left Rush - Permanent Waves Rush - Moving Pictures Pick Floyd - The Wall Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd - Animals Pink Floyd - The Final Cut Roger Waters - The Pros & Cons of Hitchhiking Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral Nine Inch Nails - Broken The Cure - Disintegration Soundtrack - Risky Business Soundtrack - Gladiator Soundtrack - Rain Man Soundtrack- One Upon a Time in the West Soundtrack - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Enigma - MCMXC a.D. Duran Duran - Rio
