A List

My buddy posted his to top 20 albums on his blog. He asked me to come up with a list as well. Here's my list with the comments from his blog. I posted it because I wrote it. And maybe there's something you, dear reader, may want to check out. Please remember, I'm no Chuck Klosterman.

Jeff, you asked for it so, being me I gave you my 25 with the cheesy iTunes store commentary. I swear if you asked me tomorrow, I'd give you a different list. Without further ado.

1. Alice In Chains – Dirt – An album about addiction. Makes you feel like you walked out of a crack house.

2. … And You Will Know Us BY The Trail of Dead – Source Tags & Codes – If there’s a studio album that can capture the energy of a live performance this is it.

3. Black Flag – Damaged – The sound of the streets before we listened to hip-hop.

4. Black Sabbath – Paranoid – A band on fire. War Pigs is timeless. Planet Caravan is surprising

5. Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction – Where did this come from? I didn’t know when it came out. I do know now.


6. John Coltrane – A Love Supreme – I try not to use the word genius. It’s overused. But this is genius.

7. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin – I love them all. I chose this one because it’s the closest to their roots. Not that I don’t really believe that Robert Plant digs The Lord of the Rings.

8. Metallica – Ride The Lightning – Even dirtbags need heroes. Not a bad song in the bunch. Die by my hand!

9. N.W. A. – Straight Outta Compton – If these guys played punk, they would have been Black Flag.

10. Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral – A total buzzkill. And I mean that in a good way. It's sonically delicious.

11. Nirvana – Nevermind – Is this album overrated? Probably. Is it awesome? No doubt.

12. The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready To Die – It just grooves and touches your inner mack daddy. An MC with skills riding Puffy’s samples for all they are worth.

13. Pixies – Doolittle – I could have picked any one of the first three albums. This one is probably the best from top to bottom.

14. The Police – Ghost In The Machine – My favorite album by my first favorite band.

15. Portishead – Dummy – I’d never heard anything like. And to be honest, I haven’t heard anything like it since.


16. The Pretenders – Learning To Crawl – An odd choice. But it really is a great album. I promise. Give it a listen.

17. Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back – Back when hip-hop was about more than bling and bitches. PE always made you think.

18. Queens Of The Stone Age – Songs For The Deaf – I don’t know how these guys aren't the biggest band on earth. This is the most even thing they’ve made.

19. Slayer –Seasons In The Abyss – 42 minutes of fury. Sometimes being groundbreaking is overrated. Sometimes you just need to master your craft.

20. Sleater-Kinney – The Woods – Let me be sexist for a moment. These chicks rock. And this album rocks more than any other chick album.

21. Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream – A perfect album for a perfect time of my life.

22. Sonic Youth – Sonic Nurse – Noise rock is cool. Sonic Youth pulling to together a melodic album is a surprise. I could listen to it any time.

23. The Stooges – Fun House – Raw Rock n’ Roll. How many people have ripped this off? Might as well lisyen to the real deal.

24. Van Halen – Van Halen – Sounds like junior high. The soundtrack for stinky fingers and bare breasts.

25. Wu-Tang Clan – Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) – RZA produced. A plethora of quality MCs. An alternate to taking one of the many great solo albums to come after. This. RZA, GZA, Method Man, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Ghostface Killa. Wow.