Somebody was asking about 'perfect albums' the other day. And I mentioned this as an album that is not the best album ever but does what it sets out to, flawlessly. And it's from 1990.
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Green Day - Dookie
Nirvana - Unplugged
Soundgarden - superunkown
NiN- downward spiral
Beastie Boys- Ill Communication
Weezer - blue album
Sugar - File under easy listening
One of the best concerts I ever saw was a double headliner of Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth, in a small venue (Michael's 8th Avenue, in MD) in 1992. So after Beastie Boys had already hit it big.
Perfect album has to be Pretty Hate Machine by NIN, but Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Bous is a really strong contender. SO many amazing albums though! Pixies Doolittle, Cure's Disintegration...
I turned 16 in 1991. Impossible to choose one. And this first page cuts off great albums by Pixies, Metallica, Matthew Sweet, Public Enemy, RHCP, Tom Petty, Black Sheep, Temple of the Dog, etc etc
I don't know if there's such a thing as a perfect album. But the prompt suggests Tears for Fears' *Songs from the Big Chair*, which strikes a great balance between obvious hit singles and interesting and exploratory deep cuts. Of the latter, this is my favourite.
It makes me so happy to see this here! Hadn't listened to it in ages. I'm pretty sure my best friend is the only other person I know who has any idea who American Hi-Fi are. We used to listen to this album together all the time as teenagers, it brings back many memories.
Oh my goodness it’s so lovely to find other people who loved the album too! It was always one of my favorites that no one else seemed to really be that into
and yeah, i know he's bi, and i get it, and i don't fault them for it
but the people i went to high school with, who sang along gleefully to every word, straight, should not have been shouting "kill all the fags" and that's not green day's fault but also not my favorite
I think 73 was better: Aladdinsane, Dark Side of the Moon, Quadrophenia, Selling England, Berlin, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Brain Salad Surgery, Tales from Topographic Oceans, Tubular Bells, Space Ritual, Lynyrd Skynrd, Larks Tongues in Aspic, Houses of the Holy, etc...
For me, the period from 1965 to 1975 produced more amazing rock, pop, folk, soul, etc music than any time before or after. Mind you, that is the music I grew up with from childhood until I was 20. That sort of thing sticks with a person and shapes them, I think.
I expect that's broadly true but I didn't really get into metal until my 50's. I expect I should add that punk and metal both help with my tinnitus - unintelligible lyrics so no thinking required and wall of noise to block everything else out.
I think I was already an outlier before I hit those ages, and what I did own that was then current, I never bothered to replace w/CD with the one exception of Appetite for Destruction. Not Tone Loc, not Aerosmith's revival, not Tragically Hip, not Cowboy Junkies.
Interestingly for me, I had older friends, so with one group I would listen to psychedelia, prog rock, another group was led zep, Sabbath, Bowie, Reed, another, early punk, and my cousins would be glam rock.
And then there was 1971. Another year full of amazing music; Tapestry, The Yes Album, Miles' Jack Johnson, The Inner Mounting Flame, Mud Slide Slim, Sticky Fingers, Led Zep 4, Meddle, What's Going On, Every Picture Tells A Story, Blue, Stormcock, Surf's Up, Who's Next, Tago Mago, In Search Of Space
I spent way too long on this but it has to be Kid Cudi: Man on the Moon for 2009.
Honourable mentions to Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Its a Blitz, Florence & the Machine - Lungs, The XX - XX, The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die and I hate to say it but Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend.
Thanks. This was fun and now I created a playlist of all the albums I listed so I can re live when I was young and smarter than everyone else ever and also had the best music taste ever . . . (And endless money to buy Cds that sit in my basement now haha)
How do I choose between Grace Jones - Nightclubbing, or U2 - October, or the Ramones, or The Go-gos, or OMD, or The Cure, or The Police? It was a truly wonderful year.
I see a fellow 81er. And yes, it was astounding. If pressed I'd lean toward Moving Pictures by Rush with a sentimental nod to Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
Huh... Never thought about it before, but I was 16 in '77 and that was a *great* year for music.
My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
Rumours Fleetwoood Mac
Lust for Life --Iggy Pop
Aja - Steely Dan
Never Mind the Bollocks - Sex Pistols
Heroes by Bowie
Leave Home - The Ramones
Talking Heads-77
"Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan are very particular in their choice of musicians... Jay Graydon said that Becker and Fagen brought in seven or eight guitarists to try the solo on Peg, and worked him for about six hours until he got it right." ~Songfacts
Donald and Walter were cerebral mo'fos. It shows in their lyrics and their music. Was one of the reasons they were such a pain in the butt to work for as a session musician... they knew *exactly* what they wanted to hear, and god help you if you couldn't get it for them... LOL.
What I played to death back then on top/What I think is perfect now on the bottom
(BTW, some ridiculously good albums that year: Laurie Anderson’s Big Science, Peter Garbriel’s Security, Bad Brains’ first LP), Duran Duran’s Rio, among others)
Motörhead, by Motörhead is sublime, but the Hawkwind live version just before Lemmy 'left' the band is bluesy, and worth a listen. 'Physical Graffiti' by Led Zeppelin is right up there. And I wasn't 16 when they came out, but I was when I discovered them, so it counts...
If you weren’t so street-cred I’d think this was a data-mining trick and I’d say ‘Cambridge Analytica’ but in truth, ‘Another Music In A Different Kitchen’.
There’s certainly a decent bit of that but I if I’m being honest some years are just objectively shittier than others. 1999, for instance. Or much of the mid/late-mid 2010s. I feel bad for those 16 year-olds.
All are in the Pantheon of Music Industry History
They were great surely cause they initiate dozens of thousands other bands to try to make the same or better
i was member of one of these bands
I can't remember any that weren't flawed, and most were awful... checking apr 85->apr 86, bleagh. Maybe Brothers in Arms, but that was far from perfect.
I was unfortunate enough to hit the start of the worst 3-4 years of music right at age 16.
Early 80’s perfect albums are worth breaking your brain over. Get some Ginko Biloba and start the repair work. You can do it. Put on some of this music, that works, too. 😎👍🏽
Comments
but there's really no contest.
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Green Day - Dookie
Nirvana - Unplugged
Soundgarden - superunkown
NiN- downward spiral
Beastie Boys- Ill Communication
Weezer - blue album
Sugar - File under easy listening
All perfect in their own way
Guessing you're American, over here we had Blur and Oasis starting out as well.
My year is nominally 1993, but the year I spent being 16 was 1994. 1993 is almost bizarrely devoid of *any* album for me.
I can't choose. I have all of these.
Yes, I'm old.
So long ago, and we're STILL not a Rythym Nation. 😮💨 We're Letting Janet down!
Paul's Boutique is still a favorite of mine.
Zen Arcade
Meat Puppets II
And that's just the best three on SST from 1984.
https://youtu.be/YOY_aqkUTxY?si=7V84YJ3_WrrQpHDr
Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
We Can't Dance by Genesis
Of more import though, Tracy Chapman's first album came out when I was 14.
i guess it's hard to complain about American Idiot except it was wicked overplayed for a while.
also ha i'm older than you
and yeah, i know he's bi, and i get it, and i don't fault them for it
but the people i went to high school with, who sang along gleefully to every word, straight, should not have been shouting "kill all the fags" and that's not green day's fault but also not my favorite
Fleetwood Mac- Rumors
Alan Parsons Project- I Robot
Poison - Bell Biv DeVoe
Wasn’t a popular kid, not a popular adult 🤣
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/best-1993-albums/
Our music preferences are established in our teens/early adulthood
Ozzy Osborne: Blizzard of Oz
https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/albums_by_year/albums_1991.html
I give you 1991
Honourable mentions to Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Its a Blitz, Florence & the Machine - Lungs, The XX - XX, The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die and I hate to say it but Calvin Harris - Ready for the Weekend.
My Aim Is True - Elvis Costello
Rumours Fleetwoood Mac
Lust for Life --Iggy Pop
Aja - Steely Dan
Never Mind the Bollocks - Sex Pistols
Heroes by Bowie
Leave Home - The Ramones
Talking Heads-77
Fascinating how scientific he is about it.
(BTW, some ridiculously good albums that year: Laurie Anderson’s Big Science, Peter Garbriel’s Security, Bad Brains’ first LP), Duran Duran’s Rio, among others)
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Super ae
They were great surely cause they initiate dozens of thousands other bands to try to make the same or better
i was member of one of these bands
Just a fucking deluge of excellent music in the first half of that decade
But 16 year old me would probably say this is the perfect album (I still know all the words) https://open.spotify.com/album/1vbpW28Od2ATmVyAZ0QZ3j?si=-OQWZCiyRVquhrin5GlGng
The first one is: Massive Attack - Mezzanine
The second one is: Cake - Prolonging the Magic
I still hum the tune quite often!
It’s okay to not be okay because you will be okay <3
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Honorable Mentions:
In Utero - Nirvana
Gentleman - Afghan Whigs
Pablo Honey - Radiohead
Transmissions from the Satellite Heart - The Flaming Lips
What a year
I was unfortunate enough to hit the start of the worst 3-4 years of music right at age 16.
Dirty Mind, Prince
Remain in Light, Talking Heads
Me Myself I, Joan Armstrading
"wholey fuck it was an amazing year for music"