Chad's Top 50 Albums

Update!

2007-01-19T08:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks for stopping by my old blog. This blog was active from July - early December 2006. It represents my 50 favorite albums at that time.
Rather than updating the old blog I'll just say that there are some albums that would now make this that didn't make in several months ago. Those being:
The Decemberists - TIE between all full length albums (Castaways and Cutouts, Her Majesty The Decemberists, Picareque, and The Crane Wife). I can't help it - I love them all.
Death Cab for Cutie - The Photo Album.

Please visit my new blog :

The Figurehead

#1 - The Cure - Disintegration - 1989

2006-12-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

This is recorded beauty. This is an album that has been with me, been a part of me ...for so long now. The lush sounds contained on this album take you to another place - somewhere apart from the hum-drum of everyday life. Picture yourself somewhere in the English moors, freezing rain falling from above, and memories like dreams haunting your every thought. I'm sooooooooo Goth! Seriously though, I did spend hour upon hour listening to this album and moping about something or other. I apologize for considering The Joshua Tree for the top spot. I feel so foolish and beg for your returned respect and admiration. I appreciate the firestorm of feedback that yesterday's mistake created. Sometimes we forget who we are. It took you, my friends, to remind me.

Key Tracks: All of them except perhaps, Lullaby.

#2 - U2 - The Joshua Tree - 1987

2006-12-06T13:45:00.000-08:00

This is a masterpiece. I get the same feelings from The Joshua Tree that I get from The Unforgettable Fire, but they are even stronger. I spent alot of nights lying awake in bed at night listening to this album on headphones when I was a teenager. Visions of who I wanted to be flooded my thoughts and kept me awake. The Joshua Tree kept me company. Now, in my 30's, this album can take me back to that place in my heart and mind where I can look at myself in the mirror with honesty about who I am - who I wanted to be - and ultimately who I will become.

Key Tracks: the entire album

#3 - U2 - The Unforgettable Fire - 1984

2006-12-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

This album feels like being 16. I was starving to death (literally) and experiencing heart problems from severe electrolite imbalances. All of this to serve the end purpose of becoming a state wrestling champion in the future. I remember shivering in my parents basement, skin and bones, but strong from hard work. It snowed heavily that Christmas; I walked through the snow wearing a wool black trenchcoat while listening to this album over and over. This is what it felt like to be 16, hungry and resolute in my decision making.

Key Tracks: all of them ...especially A Sort of Homecoming and Bad.

#4 - TIE - Nirvana - Nevermind (1991) / In Utero (1993)

2006-11-29T13:44:00.000-08:00

What can be said about Nevermind that hasn't already been said 1000 times? It changed music as we knew it...blah blah blah. I suddenly wanted to be a sad slacker in a flannel shirt. It was with 1993's release of In Utero that my feelings about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain changed. With Nevermind I was simply obsessed with the music and the image, but didn't really think about the fact that this guy...Kurt Cobain...really meant the things he was saying. Gen X wanted to believe he was a voice for us, but didn't really want to believe that his issues were real. It was supposed to just be a metaphor. When I listened to In Utero the truth about Kurt became painfully obvious. He was hurting and as bad as I wanted to be that way too, it just wasn't true. I was a happy middle class kid without a clue how it felt to be him. Nirvana did to it's audience with In Utero what Faith No More did to it's audience with Angel Dust. They lashed out against their sudden commercial success. In Utero isn't as slick as Nevermind; it's mysterious, darker, and above all else - sadder.

Key Tracks: all of them

#5 - Faith No More - The Real Thing - 1989

2006-11-28T10:28:00.000-08:00

You won't find this album ranked this high on many (if any) other lists. I hated the song Epic when I first saw the video on MTV. Mike Patton was so different from anything that was going on in music and to be honest, I just didn't get it. I was hanging with a bunch of kids who played this album constantly though and I began to see that there was something special about FNM and Mike Patton in particular. Within a few months of first hearing this album I was seeing FNM live at Starwood Amphitheatre in Nashville (opening for Billy Idol). That was my first concert. By the time Patton was finished I was lifetime fan. I was listening to bands like The Cure, INXS, and the Violent Femmes at that stage, so adding FNM to my musical repertoire really changed the way I heard experimental music.

Key Tracks: Epic, Falling to Pieces, Zombie Eaters, The Real Thing, The Morning After

#6 - Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes - 1982

2006-11-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

I was talking on the phone to a cheerleader from my high school. She and I were dating at the time. The year was 1990; That's when I found out the horrible truth about who and what I was. In the background she could hear this album playing and asked what it was. I told her and she her reaction caught me off guard. "Are you alternative?" she asked almost in disgust. "I don't know," I said. "What's that mean?" She explained that alternative people listened to college music and that's what I was doing and it was weird. I loved the Femmes. That relationship was short lived. This 1982 release is a master piece of teenage angst vield in poppy folk punk melodies. When I was young these songs made me want to run through the streets like a maniac to express something...something, anything...being a teenager is such a weird thing. This album tells that story perfectly.

Key Tracks: the entire album, although like a true "alternative person" I don't listen to Blister In The Sun that often. I leave that to the posers.

#7 - Jimmy Buffett - A1A - 1974

2006-11-16T14:30:00.000-08:00

A masterpiece recorded in the year of my birth - 1974 - in my hometown - Nashville, TN. I know some of you are shocked to find a Buffett album this high on a list of albums that has also included hardcore punk and Goth. The truth is, this album is probably closer to who I really am...and certainly who I want to be. That album cover is how I perceive myself. My own time in the islands in my mid-20's is the time in my life that shaped what I want my future to look like. That picture of Jimmy is me, watching my wife and kid (s?) play on the beach after a long day of writing and casual beer sipping. If you're "too good" to listen to Buffett...you take yourself and life way too seriously...or not seriously enough.

Key Tracks: A Pirate Looks at 40, Trying to Reason with the Hurricane Season, Migration, Tin Cup Chalice

#8 - The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me - 1987

2006-11-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

I was 13 when this album was released; it was my first Cure album and they've been my favorite band ever since. An oversized full wall poster of Robert Smith resided on my bedroom wall, dorm room walls and apartment walls every day after I acquired Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. After years of being a huge Cure fan this album stands out as an enigma of style wherein the band meanders from melancholy to frantic bliss to angry bleakness. The lyrics of "How Beautiful You Are" adorned my high school English folder: "You want to know why I hate you? Well, I'll try and explain..."

Key Tracks: Just Like Heaven, Catch, How Beautiful You Are

#9 - REM - Document - 1987

2006-11-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

My personal memories of this album are of skateboarding after dark in the fall. I thought I'd let my friend BT, who is the biggest REM fan I know, write the bulk of this post though:
It’s every music lovers dream. Go to college. Start a band. Get a great local following. Get signed to a cool independent label. Make some cool independent albums. Then make a master piece that launches you into “superstardom”. This is the story of REM. The album that launched them was Document (recorded in Nashville, TN at Sound Emporium Studios). Following the successful release of Document, on the independent label IRS, Warner Brothers signed them to the largest record contract (at the time) in history. As a huge REM fan (for over 20 years now) this could be my favorite REM album. The key to this album was cleaning up the bands sound, without sacrificing their enigmatic tendencies.
http://doanepaper.com/blog/category/bts-50-greatest-albums/

Key Tracks:

Finest Worksong, Welcome to the Occupation, Exhuming McCarthy, The One I love, King of Birds.

#10 - Radiohead - The Bends - 1995

2006-11-03T13:23:00.000-08:00

Although most folks regard Ok Computer as Radiohead's masterpiece, The Bends has always been my personal favorite. I appreciate the progression the band makes between The Bends and Ok Computer, but I'm more impressed with the progression between Pablo Honey and The Bends. Street Spirit (Fade Out) is another "all time great" song. I love the line "Row's of houses all bearing down on me, I can feel their blue hands touching me." So haunting.

Key Tracks: High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit (Fade Out)....the entire album really.

#11 - Faith No More - Angel Dust - 1992

2006-10-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

This album was a like a punch in the stomach following FNM's breakthrough with "The Real Thing". The pop crowd that latched onto that breakthrough album was forced to decide if they could really handle FNM's ecclectic styles, especially with Mike Patton now influencing the bands direction more than before. I loved it. This is one of two tapes that went with me to wrestling camp at the University of Iowa in the hot summer of 1992. Angel Dust is a sonic assault upon the senses best enjoyed through headphones; Patton's ever present mumblings that lie beneath the surface are both frightening and hilarious.
Key Tracks: Caffeine (written while in the midst of a multiday experiment of sleep and food deprivation..existing solely on "Caffeine"), Midlife Crisis, Jizzlobber, etc...

Midlife Crisis live:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IfmgoIc8N5k

#12 - The Sundays - Blind - 1992

2006-10-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is the sound of a cool fall day, hiking up to a water tower on a hill surrounded by trees with leaves blazing in orange, red, and yellow to smoke Benson and Hedges cigarettes. This is the sound of wearing shirts with paisely designs and your dads dress shoes while discussing Dead Poet's Society. "Blind" is another album that epitomizes the term "atmospheric" when it comes to alternative music. In heaven the angels will sing like Harriet Wheeler. Her's was the first voice I actually had a crush on.

Key Tracks: I Feel and Wild Horses

Wild Horses video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p_CDuyw4nRE

#13 - Superchunk - Foolish - 1994

2006-10-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

This is the sound that defined my understanding of the "indie" scene back in the early 90's. At that time I thought all indie rock came from Chapell Hill, NC. Superchunk went back to their roots on Merge records after a brief relationship with major label record making. This is a great upbeat breakup album (upbeat and breakup not usually being found in one place). Mac McCaughan (singer/guitarist) and Laura Ballance (bassist) were in the process of dissolving their own romance amidst the recording of "Foolish". The albums tone is hinted at by Laura's sinister cover art. You can hear the tension on the album and it works great. Driveway to Driveway has reached anthemic levels in my personal pantheon of rock songs. This is another album I used to rock on my walkman during college art class. Still one of the best live shows I've seen too.
Key Tracks: The First Part, Driveway to Driveway, Waterwings,

Performing "The First Part" live on Conan:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ry6_7oX9nkc

#14 - Death Cab for Cutie - TIE - Plans (2005) / Transatlanticism (2003)

2006-10-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Another tie here. It's hard for me to say one of these albums is better than the other. They sound more like a double album to me, Plans being an extension of Trans. That's not a bad thing. Ben Gibbard writes the most heart wrenching songs since Robert Smith. Thank God I'm happily married, because these are breakup songs that cut deep. Only the newness of these albums keep them out of my top 10. I think eventually both albums will be among my very favorite. I can already rank DCFC as one of my top 5 favorite bands of alltime. That's serious business for a music junky like me! Great band that never disappoints.
Key Tracks (Plans): Soul Meets Body, Summer Skin, I Will Follow You Into the Dark, Crooked Teeth, What Sarah Said
Key Tracks (Transatlanticism): Title and Registration, The Sound of Settling, We Looked Like Giants

Performing "Title and Registration" live on Austin City Limits:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=J6JV5-vZR1E

#15 - Smashing Pumpkins - Gish - 1991

2006-10-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

I remember telling my friends in high school that these guys were the next Jane's Addiction. Little did I know at the time that Billy Corgan would eventually make this band a staple of mainstream rock. Gish arrived only months before Nirvana's Nevermind (both produced by Butch Vig). Even Corgan's terrible lyric writing couldn't drag Gish down. Don't look to connect here, just enjoy the shear bliss of fuzzed out electric guitars. I was never a fan of their work post Siamese Dream, but for 2 albums Smashing Pumpkins rocked hard.

Key Tracks: Siva, I Am One,

#16 - Fugazi - Repeater - 1990

2006-10-09T14:09:00.000-07:00

I was 16 when I saw Fugazi at 328 Performance Hall in Nashville. That was an event; everyone I knew (who was punk or alternative) was going. I arrived wearing a tshirt, blue jeans, and combat boots. By the time it was over I had no shirt and one leg remaining on those jeans (and the boots of course). That night was transforming. There was so much built up angst in that room. We wanted answers and we wanted them NOW, so we pushed and shoved, kicked and stomped, and sang along with Fugazi. This is what anti-establishment was/is all about. "You are not what you own!" To this day, when I question my place in the world, I turn to Repeater and swear I won't be controlled by someone elses idea of the American Dream (nevermind my 2300square foot house, 2 cars, and Pier One/Pottery Barn furnishings.
Key Tracks: All of 'um

(seriously, when I watched this video I thought this was the same show I was at in Nashville.)
"Waiting Room" from 13 Songs:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SGJFWirQ3ks

#17 - World Party - Goodbye Jumbo - 1990

2006-10-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

I first heard this album in an open field near a marina on a summer day. A friend had a boom box with four speakers...each had a letter painted on it: L.I.F.E. From those speakers I was introduced to Karl Wallinger's masterpiece of ecclecticism. There are definate Beatles influences at work here, but the former Rocky Horror Picture Show musical director certainly adds his own musical genius. Goodbye Jumbo just makes me feel good and brings back memories that are as varied as the albums songs themselves.
Key Tracks: Way Down Now, Put the Message in the Box, And I Fell Back Alone

#18 - Jane's Addiction - Nothings Shocking - 1988

2006-09-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Thinking about this album in it's heyday makes me think of the good ole days (yet again), when something could really grab you as different. Nothings Shocking was the original metal-alt/rock. Maybe it was the "parental advisory" sticker on the cd, maybe it was the album cover itself, maybe it was the album title, or maybe, just maybe we were seeing genius at work at it's peak. They gave us just two studio albums, but Jane's Addiction, if but for a short time, felt like the greatest band on the planet. And yeah, I had this album cover on a tshirt. I still can't believe my mom let me out of the house in it...it eventually disappeared from my dresser. On a side note: I came back to this album for long summer in the late 90's while living on Seabrook Island, SC. I'd listen to it while on my way to Folley Beach to surf with the boys: the songs Up The Beach, Ocean Size and Summertime Rolls were essential on those days.
Key Tracks: Ocean Size, Jane Says, Mountain Song, Pigs in Zen

Unfortunately, I can't find any live footage or video footage of the band that doesn't include naked women on stage.

#19 - Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks: Here's the Sex Pistols - 1977

2006-09-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

For a 16 year old full of questions and subsequent anger this album is what it's all about. Never Mind the Bollocks takes you back to 1970's England (or late 80's Hendersonville, TN); you can hear the anarchy hanging in the air like stale cigarette smoke. The Sex Pistols were punk rock; their song structures lean heavily on pop though, making Never Mind the Bollocks accessible even today to youth culture. The Sex Pistols planted a bomb of disallusionment with this. If you don't know The Sex Pistols...you know nothing! Get a mohawk, pierce yourself with a safety pin, and do the pogo!!! Piss off!!!
Key Tracks: God Save the Queen, Anarchy in the UK, Submission, Holidays in the Sun

Anarchy in the U.K.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=_BvLCv90gGQ

#20 - Bob Marley - Legend - 1984

2006-09-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

In alot of cases music is only for entertainment or is a parody of what it can be in the hands of a true genius. The work of Bob Marley was more than that. He was one of those few genuises who used music as a vehicle for greater causes. He and his music advanced humanity by exposing social injustice and glorifying the beauty of life at once. There is a message of love and unity that abounds in his life and music. Jah Mon! Dis Punk rocka feels love ja mon.
Key Tracks: No Woman No Cry, Three Little Birds, Get Up Stand Up, I Shot the Sheriff, Redemption Song

#21 - Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine - 1989

2006-09-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

My first copy of "Pretty Hate Machine" was a dubbed tape given to me by an albino Goth in high school Spanish class circa 1990. She called it "industrial music" and I had no idea what she was talking about. I discovered that this new industrial music was Depeche Mode on a roid rage. Those were the good old days of alternative music when something could still sound new and exciting. I've seen NIN a few times live and it's always gets my testosterone pumping.
Key Tracks: Head Like a Hole, Down In It

Performing "Head Like a Hole" live at Voodofest in New Orleans:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ldPG_CawIdo

#22 - The Cure - Pornography - 1982

2006-09-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

Just look at that album cover! "It doesn't matter if we all die," is how Pornography opens. This established The Cure as the true masters of doom and gloom. It means something when you say that this is easily the Cure's darkest and most haunting album. It immerses you in a murky place of desperation; Robert Smith has confessed to being on the verge of suicide when these songs were written. Sometimes I wish I had never discovered this album personally. I could easily put it in my top 5 albums of all time, but I won't let myself admit that (I just did I think). If you've never heard this album, do yourself a favor and discover the things that you repress in order to function daily (or stay away from this album and live a happy life). Good grief this album is dark! Where did I put my copy of The Turn of The Screw?
Key Tracks: One Hundred Years, The Figurehead, A Strange Day, Cold

Performing "100 Years" and "The Figurehead" on English TV in 1983 (weird band lineup)
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7cBp8S_bhGQ&search=cure%20robert%20smith%20simon%20gallup%20perry%20bamonte%20roger%20o%27donnell%20jason%20cooper%20music

#23 - Dinosaur Jr. - Green Mind - 1991

2006-09-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

This album was recorded almost entirely by J. Mascis himself following several extremely turbulent years with band mates Lou Barlow and Murph. Murph plays drums on 3 tracks while Barlow is completely absent. This is music to turn up loud on a fall day. I remember listening to it in 1991 (or was it 1992) during the early parts of my high school year. The air was turning cooler, high school politics were taking form, girls were choosing sides, and a few punk kids were listening to Dinosaur Jr. It was unlike anything I'd heard and was much different from what the people I had grown up with were listening to at the time.
Key Tracks: The Wagon, I Live for That Look, Water

Performing "The Wagon" live at Reading Festival:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p4PqVBOca_8

#24 - Calexico / Iron & Wine - In the Reins - 2005

2006-09-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

Although it's tough to include an album that's only a year old as one of my 50 favorites I can't pass this one up; I have, after all, spent many quite hours with it. You get the best of both Calexico's western desert sound and Iron & Wine's hushed story telling. The songs contained here are at once heart breaking and beautiful. There's heavy emotion here, the kind that draws you in to the story being related. This is the kind of album that inspires an artist to paint or a writer to write.
Key Tracks: 16 Maybe Less, Prison on Route 41, Dead Man's Will

#25 - Social Distortion - Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell - 1992

2006-08-31T13:26:00.000-07:00

Social D's "Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell" is punk rock letting it's rockabilly side hang out. These songs cover the pain and heartbreak of being a born loser, spending "99 to Life" in prison, and living on liquor, cigarettes, and rock and roll. Mike Ness takes his place as one of the few artists to accurately paint a vivid picture of constantly being behind the proverbial 8 ball in life.
Key Tracks: Bad Luck, Born to Lose, 99 to Life, Cold Feelings

#26 - Green Day - Dookie - 1994

2006-08-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

C'mon...you know you loved this album too. It was the quintisential mid 90's college album. Everywhere I went, from frat party to punk kids dorm room, I heard this thing. Green Day rocked and seemed to know it's roots despite their own pop tendencies. It was a perfect album for a generation of kids graduating high school into the "real world" of college and beginning to wonder about the reality of the American dream. As Billy Joe lamented about "being locked inside a world that's planned for you", so did the rest of us...and so does every generation of kids who think beyond pep rallies and high school sweethearts.
Key Tracks: Welcome to Paradise, Longview, Basket Case

#27 - Pixies - Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies - 2004

2006-08-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I swore after the best of the Dead Milkmen hit the list at #50 that I wouldn't include anymore "best of's". I have to go back on my word. It's just too hard to pick a single Pixies album. Black Francis, Kim Deal, and the crew laid the ground work for most of the alternative music that was to follow them. While the band broke up in 1992 it's hard to imagine the alternative rock explosion lead by Nirvana without the Pixies influence. The screaching guitars, the male/female vocal dynamic, the paranoid start-stop-start of song structure are all a part of what make the Pixies great!
Key Tracks: Debaser, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Gigantic, Wave of Mutilation, Here Comes Your Man.
Performing Monkey Gone to Heaven live:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wkjRqSw2aGk&search=Pixies%20live%20Caribou

#28 - Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - 1994

2006-08-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Here's another pioneer of the lo-fi sound that cleaned up it's sound (if for just one album) and reaped the benefits. Pavement's fragmented rhythm's and lazy vocals by Stephen Malkmus made these former indie rockers Gen X icons. I can still hear this album echoing through the breezeways of my dorm.
Key Tracks: Cut Your Hair, Gold Sounds, Range Life

#29 - The Cure - The Head on the Door - 1985

2006-08-24T08:58:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go...the first of several Cure albums that will dot this top 50 list from here on out. The Head on the Door was the Cure's first foray into diversifying their sound by adding more jangly guitars and middle eastern sounds. Eventually this experimentation would lead to their massive success on later albums. The gloom that makes them great remains here though, but this is a very different album from Pornography, Faith, and Seventeen Seconds. You might even be tempted to ... dance, sing along...or sulk in the corner with your worn out copy of Wuthering Heights. True fans choose the last option.
Key Tracks: In BetweenDays, Kyoto Song, Close to Me, A Night Like This

#30 - Pearl Jam - Ten - 1991

2006-08-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know it hurts for me to admit that this album is one of my 50 favorites. The truth is, there was a time when I loved this album. Who didn't? It was a grunge album rooted in hard rock with an angst ridden singer...so different from Nirvana's punk influenced sound, but they did stand together to change the face of music. I learned to hate Pearl Jam for one reason I think; a brainless radio DJ who thought it would be funny to play "Alive" by Pearl Jam right after he announced that Kurt Cobain had been found dead. I've come full circle with Pearl Jam and can finally listen again...12 years after Kurt's death.
Key Tracks: Once, Evenflow, Black, Jeremy

#31 - My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves - 2003

2006-08-21T08:20:00.000-07:00

This is rootsy jam, alt-country, indie rock that deserves to be played loud during happy hour at Gentlemen Jim's pub or TheBoro in my old college town of Murfreesboro. In the early 90's we spent hours shooting pool and feeding the juke box dollars to hear Skynard and Nugent while guzzling pitchers of beer and shots of "Jim's Joy Juice." That's what this album feels like to me...a slightly dirty, drunken good time. Despite it's dark and quite moments, you can forget the indie geek cliche when it comes to MMJ. These dudes are from Kentucky and know how to rock.
Key Tracks: Golden, Dancefloors, Mahgeetah, Just One Thing

Golden live on Austin City Limits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXpJpRdhMS0

#32 - Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory - 1995

2006-08-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

Brit-pop at it's best. The constant drama between Noel and Liam Gallagher is one of the things that makes Oasis such an endearing band...that and their in your face cockiness about thier talent. What's the Story Morning Glory is another album that transcends musical tastes and social status. If you don't like the songs "Wonderwall" "Champagne Supernova" and "Don't Look Back in Anger"....well, then, there's just something wrong with you. All of my personal memories are very vague and "soggy". I was 21 and enjoying college life to it's fullest.
Key Tracks: Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova, Don't Look Back in Anger

#33 - Radiohead - Ok Computer - 1997

2006-08-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I can hear the gasps now; "Ok Computer at #33 and not in the top 5????" The fact is that this is a great album and is probably the standard by which all others are judged when it comes to art/experimental rock. I loved the album (that's why its on the list), but I made no real personal or emotional connection with it. This the beginning of Radioheads foray into experimental sounds and textures. It's genius work to be sure, but I like my Radiohead a little more straightforward, so don't expect to find anything post Ok Computer on the list.
Key Tracks: Subterranean Homesick Alien, Exit Music (for a film), Karma Police

#34 - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik - 1991

2006-08-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

This album defined the legendary career of the Chili Peppers. It rocks...its funky...it's loaded with testosterone. "Under the Bridge (video still above)" reached almost anthemic proportions for my generation. I remember that song transcending all status levels and clics in high school; everyone loved it, along with "Give it Away".
Key Tracks: Under the Bridge, Give it Away, Breaking the Girl, Suck My Kiss

#35 - Frank Black - Teenager of the Year - 1994

2006-08-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Despite not finding critical success on this, his 2nd solo release, Frank Black crafted a whimsical masterpiece that became a precursor to much of modern musics varied sound. Teenager of the Year isn't a Pixies album, but it has moments that rock just as hard. This is a fun album fit for any occassion. I used to listen to it on headphones (via cassette) during my 2-dimensional design class in college. My professor freaked out when he found it in my supply box. Why you ask? Because I wasn't sharing it with the entire class. He played it on the classroom jambox from that point forward.
Key Tracks: Headache, Whatever Happened to Pong?, Space is Gonna Do me Good

#36 - The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - 2002

2006-08-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

"Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" is the perfect blend of pop sensibility and vanguard experimentation. Only The Flaming Lips could craft such an epic about robots developing human emotions and a young girl battling their emminant take over. This is one of the few albums that I can listen to year-round. The songs are bright enough for a summer cookout and complex enough to spend a winter evening brooding over. I knew this album was special when Karen (my wife) even confirmed that she liked it, start to finish...that's usually a hard sell.

Key Tracks: Fight Test, It's Summertime, Do you Realize??, All We Have is Now

#37 - Arcade Fire - Funeral - 2004

2006-08-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know this isn't the actual album cover for Funeral, but I like this picture of the band as I think the photo gives you a good idea of what the music sounds like. Arcade Fire is the epitome of the new flourishing Canadian music scene. Funeral is an intense emotional foray into the soul of mankind exposing our weaknesses and our beauty all at once. I was mesmerized by this album upon first listen; I had heard nothing like it. What sets Funeral apart is the fact that it is different, but doesn't come across as pretentious. Blake and I share the opinion that this album is best listened to in the late fall when bonfires burn somewhere in the distance, bats fly just overhead, and the summer has breathed its final gasp succombing to the grip of winters chill.

Key Tracks: Neighborhood #1, Crown of Love, Rebellion (Lies)

#38 - Dr.Dre - The Chronic - 1992

2006-08-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

The album that changed the face of hip hop and rap forever; The Chronic brought gangsta rap to the mainstream with smooth tracks like "Nothin' but G thang" and "Let Me Ride." While Dre's MC skills are undeniable and his production skills even better, it was the emergence of his laid back side kick, Snoop Doggy Dogg that made this album a classic. The Chronic didn't turn my suburban friends and I into gangsta wannabes. It did, however, provide us with a soundtrack for such rites of passage moments like spring break, senior trip, and graduation night.
Key Tracks: Let Me Ride, Nothin' But a "G" Thang,

#39 - Modest Mouse - The Moon and Antarctica - 2000

2006-08-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

On their major label debut with Epic, Modest Mouse cleans up their lo-fi production a bit. The songs themselves are more haunting than ever before though. These are songs are fit to serve as a soundtrack for a late night drive home. I've always tended to opt for this album after dark when it's loneliness and melancholy are most welcome.
Key Tracks: Alone Down There, The Stars are Projectors

#40 - TIE - Sister Hazel - Somewhere More Familiar (1997) / Cravin Melon - Red Clay Harvest (1997)

2006-08-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's impossible for me to seperate these albums from one another for a number of reasons. They were both released in 1997 and it's likely that I bought them very close to each other. Stylistically they are very similar as well; both are Americana Southern Rock (Hazel from FLA and Melon from SC) infused with huge amounts good fun. There are no downers to be found on these albums making them both perfect for summertime and hanging with your friends over beers. These albums represent a period in my life when I learned to enjoy my life to the fullest; after all, it's too short to spend all of your time listening to depressing tunes. My wife and I listened to these albums nonstop when we lived on a small island off the coast of Charleston, SC - so many great memories.
Key Tracks:
Sis Hazel: Starfish, Just Remember, Happy, Look to The Children
Cravin Melon: Sweet Tea and Come Undone

#41 - Misfits - Walk Among Us - 1982

2006-08-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

"Mommy!!!????....Can I go out and kill tonight?" Any album that contains that lyric (or shout) must be included in a 50 favorite albums list. This is the album that saw the Misfits find their niche in the punk scene. The seminal zombie punk outfit sang about vampires, martians, zombies, 1950's horror flicks, and even decapitation. What 15 year old punk wouldn't find this stuff awesome? Walk Among Us is an essential part of any old school punk collection.

Key Tracks: I Turned into a Martian, Vampira, Hatebreeders, Skulls, and Astro Zombies.

#42 - Sonic Youth - Dirty - 1992

2006-08-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

The one time darlings of the indie scene, Sonic Youth stepped out of that box by enlisting Butch Vig to produce their 2nd major label release - Dirty. While Vig's mix cleans up the Sonic Youth sound (much the way he did for Nirvana on Nevermind), the music and uncompromising indie attitude of these pioneers still shines through. The fact is, these are seriously "cool" songs written by a "cool" band...and they are easy to listen to thanks to their new cleaner sound. I remember always feeling very hip and in the know for listening to Thurston Moore and crew.
Key Tracks: 100%, On the Strip, and Chappel Hill, and Drunken Butterfly.

#43 - Depeche Mode - Violator - 1990

2006-07-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

This breakthrough for Depeche Mode was a breakthrough for electronic music in general, expanding upon and legitimizing the synth pop bubblegum of the 1980s. . There was something that felt like the month of October about this album for me. It was cool, bordering on cold, but more accessible than some of its dreary predecessors. I can still see Dave Gahan wandering about the dark and misty cliffs (somewhere in England presumably), dressed in a black overcoat singing "all I ever wanted, all I ever needed, is here in my arms. Words are very uneccessary, they can only do harm."
Key Tracks: Enjoy the Silence, Personal Jesus, Policy of Truth

#44 - Live - Mental Jewelry - 1991

2006-07-28T11:46:00.000-07:00

This debut album was typical of the young disaffected youth who grew up in the 80's. While at times the angst of this album feels adolescent (they were just out of highschool at this time), the musicianship and outstanding vocals make it a classic. When I saw the video for Pain Lies on the Riverside I had to do a double take to make sure I didn't know these dudes personally. They looked like every private school kid I knew at that time.
Key Tracks: Pain Lies on the Riverside, Operation Spirit, Good Pain

#45 - The Smiths - Best...- 1992

2006-07-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Fronted by famously melancholy crooner Morrissey, The Smiths enjoy legendary status in the U.K. This album offers a nice sampling of the sadness tinged pop songs that The Smiths were masters of creating. Most of these songs have jangly pop hooks, but still carry that grey English dreariness. I had a tshirt with Morrissey's face on it in high school. Some art dork commented while on an Art honor society field trip that he was "impressed" that I would know who Morrissey was. I guess the logic was...you can't play sports and still know good music.
Key Tracks: Stop Me if You Think You've Heard This One Before, Girlfriend in a Coma, How Soon is Now, Panic, and Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want.

#46 - Snow Patrol - Final Straw - 2004

2006-07-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the first somewhat new entry on the top 50 list. There is something about the name of the band combined with the cool ambience of the songs themselves that, as a long time fan of bands like The Cure, I couldn't resist. The album wanders somewhere between melancholy and an unfulfilled urge to be a pop record. Thank God they resisted that urge, albeit just for this one album. Their latest release doesn't live up to the promise offered by Final Straw. The song "Run" is one of the best songs, by any band, I've ever heard.
Key Tracks: Spitting Games, Run, Chocolate, Grazed Knees.

#47 - Weezer - Weezer - 1994

2006-07-25T14:22:00.000-07:00

On the heels of the angst of the grunge era this album was a welcome respite from all that doom and gloom. While still a touch lazy it seemed that Gen. X could produce an album that wasn't intent upon blaming it's childhood on it's current predicament (what predicament was that again?) While Kurt wrote about "missing the comfort in being sad," Rivers Cuomo wrote about Saturday morning television, his favorite rock bands, and riding a surf board to work. I wasn't into it at first. I made fun of Brisson for listening to the "R.A.'s" as I called them. Eventually, I was tired of the burden of being sad. These dudes looked like the guys in my college algebra class or the R.A. that lived down the hall and busted us for drinking beer in the dorm. In fact, after I cut my Cobain locks Brisson took to saying that I looked like a member of Weezer...must have been the shoes...or was Scott saying I looked like an R.A?
Key Tracks: Buddy Holly, Undone (The Sweater Song), and Surf Wax America.

#48 - Primus - Sailing The Seas of Cheese - 1991

2006-07-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here's where we reach the point where I have to remind you, the reader of this blog, that this top 50 list is my "personal 50 favorites." Where else would you find a Primus album listed among the 50 best. This is another album that makes me laugh. Les Claypool and Co.'s musicianship is undeniable, as is Claypool's sense of humor. I remember a cool fall evening in the early 90's; Moebes and I were at the high school track running and climbing stairs to cut weight. We ran into a group of cheerleaders from our school. One of them asked if she could hear what I was listening to...I obliged; "That...is like...so AWESOME," she gushed. She was right.
Key Tracks: Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, Tommy The Cat, Fish On

#49. INXS - Kick - 1987

2006-07-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

"Kick" was perhaps my first experience with true guitar rock. I was 12 or 13 in 1987 and growing out of things like Michael Jackson and Bon Jovi and into things like skateboarding and black tshirts. "Kick" is strong start to finish with no real weaknesses, hence the 4 Top 10 singles it spawned. For me, it was indeed a "New Sensation."
Key Tracks: New Sensation, Devil Inside, Need You Tonight, Mediate, and Never Tear Us Apart.

#50 - The Dead Milkmen - Death Rides a Pale Cow - 1997

2006-07-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

"The Ultimate Collection" of sophmoric humor mixed with punk rock. The Dead Milkmen made music that made me smile. The band formed in Philly way back in 1983. My high school wrestling team used to listen to the Milkmen in the locker room before practice everyday. Weird, huh? Kudos to Scott Brisson for rocking the Dead Milkmen nonstop in the dorm room back in 1994.
Key Tracks: Punk Rock Girl, Big Lizard in My Backyard, Bitchin' Camaro, Beach Party Vietnam, the list goes on and on...

A couple to grow on...honorable mentions we'll call them.

2006-07-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Turns out that narrowing down your 50 favorite albums is harder than I thought. I didn't want to duplicate too many artists, but the fact is I like The Cure, Nirvana, Faith No More, and U2 an awful lot.

So ... here are #'s 52 and 51 respectively just to get things warmed up:

#52 Drivin ' n' Cryin' - Mystery Road - 1989
I saw these guys numerous times in Nashville. It's good ol' beer drinkin, sing along, throwin' up, going home alone music. They don't do anything stunning or different and some of the rock riffs haven't aged that well, but the good songs are still good to this day. Crack a PBR, put your arm around your drinkin buddy, and sing it loud "I'm goin' straight to hell! Just like my momma said."
Key tracks: Straight to Hell and Honeysuckle Blue.

#51 Ween - Pure Guava - 1992
Umm...what can you say about this album besides "what the heck???". The first time I heard it I was cracking up. It reminds of the crazy stuff me and some buddies on my street used to record on an old four track recorder when we were kids. "I only wanted to laugh at the pumpkins..." Saw them live in the mid 90's doing their country stuff!
Key Tracks: Push th' little daisies, Play it off Legit, I Saw Gener Cryin' in his Sleep.

Why would I do this?

2006-07-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm not an industry guy. I don't write for a music mag like Spin or Rolling Stone. I just love music...always have. I was punk before punk was pop. I owned Bleach before Nevermind came out. An albino goth gave me a dubbed copy of Pretty Hate Machine in Spanish class telling me it was "something weird and new."

I'll have some friends helping me with guest commentary from time to time so that you get more than one voice and one opinion here. You get the new, the old, the punk, the folky lullaby stuff, a little bit of everything!

Ready to rock? #50 coming soon!