My thoughts on albums everybody has already heard.(recommendations accepted)

Cafe Society
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I am looking for suggestions, so please leave yours for me to “review” if you like. Also, please add yours if you had similar experiences.

I grew up rather musically clueless. I listen to no popular music, or really any music at all, until I was about 16. At that age…and remember I had no musical exposure, I discovered **Meat Loaf and Whitney Houston.
**
:hangs head in shame:

Anyway, within a year, I had moved on to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Stone Temple Pilots. This was in 1994-95.

And from there, I have evolved my own way and like my own things.

So, I thought I would go back and listen to popular albums that I have heard of, but had never heard.

Anyone else ever do this? If so, please share.

Note: I actually did a “Beatles” listen around '97 due to their HUGE fame, but otherwise missed everything pre-dating about '94 or so.

So far, I have these thoughts:

**Metallica - Ride the Lightning ** - Did I pick right? I decided to go with the album I remember seeing the cover of and thinking was cool.

Review: Well, it has about 3 good songs on it. Those are:

Ride the Lightning(awesome!) - Love this one, what a great solo/instrumetnal part.

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Wow, that is a cool metal song. These young(at the time) guys were pretty cool. I’m keeping this one in my playlist.

Fade to Black - I had no idea Metallica did slower songs. Neat and kinda cool.

Otherwise, I was not a huge, huge fan. However, I can acknowledge that for the time, this was a cool metal album.

U2: The Joshua Tree

I had heard of this one. I think my brother was into it because of his girlfriend(who he married). I had never heard any of it, unless it was in the background of a movie or something.

My review: 2 good songs.

I still haven’t found what I’m looking for - Gosh, this is either a great song, a song that gets stuck in my head, or both. I find myself leaning towards “both”, as I love it and its meaning.

With or Without you: If I was aware of U2’s songs, I thought this and the “looking for” were the same song. Still, it’s pretty cool. Catchy and memorable.

Overall? Not a great album, but with a couple great tracks and some other filler stuff.
What else pre-1994 or so should I listen to and review? I am an entirely open-minded guy and have zero prejudices…well, I don’t think rap or country are my thing, but I’ll try anything.

I was raised very conservative and my parents still listen to pretty much nothing popular at all. They probably haven’t heard 1 Metallica or U2 song, for example. Oddly enough, we watched movies and TV. I think it is reflective of my parents’ personality more than “sheltering” us as kids.

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And, yes, I get teased at work for having no idea what they are talking about when they reference music or bands. I just stare and kind of try to look like I agree…but they have figured it out at this point. :slight_smile:

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The one U2 album to have in your collection is Achtung Baby. Their best.

Get a few classics, like Revolver by the Beatles, Sticky Fingers by the Rolling Stones (a tad more accessible vs. Exile), Off the Wall by Michael Jackson (much better vs. Thriller), What’s Goin’ On by Marvin Gaye, Zep 2 or 4, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, Who’s Next by the Who, etc…

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I’ll add it to my queue, so to speak.

I assume most folks have one major album that is their “darling” or favorite. Remember, I have heard the Beatles albums.

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“London Calling” by the Clash

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Are you looking for stuff from a more current time period? Like say, the last 5 - 10 years?

Stuff like Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix by Phoenix, and Vampire Weekend’s self-titled first album are both great, consistent, listenable recent albums. Adele got super-popular for good reason - her album 21 is excellent.

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Oh, and for a deceptively-huge album that most folks won’t claim to have listened to but really have, I would go with Get Born by Jet. It sounds like a combination of the Stones and AC/DC - you’ll immediately recognize Are You Gonna Be My Girl from the first iPod commercials (the ones with the people silhouettes against the neon backgrounds). That song is still getting used regularly in commercials - same with another couple of tracks. Consistently great songs; incredibly great-sounding guitars - just very listenable top to bottom…

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A little Beatles- and Stones-heavy for my tastes, but here’s a list I’m working my way through:

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We aren’t supposed to admit to liking this album? Crap, I’ve consistently given it as one of my favorites. There goes my street cred.

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No - that’s not what I meant (although some folks do seem to feel that way - not that I care). I just mean that other than the Apple song, most folks don’t realize how much they have heard of this album.

The guitar sounds on Cold Hard Bitch, when everything kicks in are just…wonderful. I don’t know why it is so hard for modern recordings to capture that urgent, raw guitar sound, but they get it here in spades…

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Nah, I think anything pre-95 or so is about what I’m thinking. That was my musical-dark-ages and I have no idea(for the most part) about anything from then. I was born in '78, for the record.

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Well, I stand by Get Born by Jet. How about Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins and Dookie by Green Day?

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Heard them, due to the timely nature of their major rise in the public eye. Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day were kind of along with the bands I listed(Chains, Nirvana, etc.).

Dookie - classic

Siamese Dream - a few good tracks for sure. Love Billy Corgan’s voice. Love this track off their “new” one. Maybe their best track since the early 90’s.

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A lot of people tell me “I don’t like Andrew Lloyd Webber. except for Jesus Cheist Superstar.” A classic.

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I don’t know if you are supposed to, but I know I did NOT like this album or band. From all I listened to they were not that talented musically, and they never captured the image/legend status that AC/DC (the band they are trying to be - to me) had.
To OP: You need to approach this whole thing a little more systematically. Get your basics down. Have you tried classical? Jazz? Hip Hop? Pop?

You are currently working your way through rock, it appears. Get those basics too - start with Elvis, Buddy Holly, etc etc to find out what started it all, move on to Beatles, Stones, and get a feel for a Pop Rock band. From there Rock split into a million pieces. You can take the high road and venture into Progressive Rock, if you like intricate musical instruments with a typical lyric involving as large as life problems, or you can take the low road with punk rock, which has a lot of emotion, energy, and typically has some politics in it. But even that isn’t a start, it’s just the lens through which I see music.

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You really should get The Stone Roses self-titled album, Definitely Maybe, by Oasis, and a few other Britpop gems.

I’d insist on Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, but they never got mainstream, other than when Billy Corgan lifted their sound for the Pumpkins :wink:

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A few rock albums that are top to bottom classics:

  • Meatloaf’s Bat out of Hell
  • self titled Boston album
  • and for Metallica I’d listen to the Black album

There are many more, of course…

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I’m on the other side of this fence. I pretty much don’t know any music from post mid-90s. I’ve heard of most of the bands I think, and might know a song here and a song there, but music just suddenly stopped being relevant for me once I got married and had kids. I didn’t have time to keep up. I would say that music since then sucks, but that’s opinion, and certainly not fact.

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Man, there’s just tons of music out there; you’re going to get a hell of a lot of suggestions!

Ride the Lightning is a good Metallica album, but based on your reaction, I’d recommend their Black Album. Yes – this is the one for which their fans accused them of “selling out”, but what it really is is simply a more melodic take on the metal sound. It’s a departure from their earlier sound to be sure, but not (in my opinion) to the detriment of it (You might have heard “Enter Sandman” at some point, and “The Unforgiven” is another cool slow song.)

I’ll second Get Born by Jet; great classic rock sound done well. Their subsequent albums weren’t quite up to the same level, unfortunately (although “K.I.A.” from Shaka Rock is pretty catchy).

For classic rock, the aforementioned Stones, Zep, Floyd, and Who albums are a great start. I would add Aerosmith - try the Greatest Hits 1973-1988 collection for a decent representation of their early stuff, and move on to Permanent Vacation if that whets your appetite.

Let’s see, for another modern band with classic rock style, try the Black Crowes: Shake Your Money Maker. Standout tracks: “Twice as Hard”, “Jealous Again”, and of course the Otis Redding cover “Hard to Handle”.

If you’re into Texas blues/rock at all, you must listen to some Stevie Ray Vaughan; there were only four studio albums made before his untimely demise, but start at the beginning: Texas Flood. Standout tracks: “Love Struck Baby”, “Pride and Joy”, “Rude Mood”.

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IMHO, hugely popular albums that still hold up (I will exclude the Beatles):

Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street (My favorite album of all time and I’m not really into nostalgia. Just undeniably great blues/rock)
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy (Too ‘commerical’ for a lot of grunge fans, but I love it)
Weezer - Blue Album (Following in Elvis Costello’s footsteps in ‘nerd rock’. Smart lyrics with rockin’ music)
White Stripes - White Blood Cells (For my money, ‘Fell in Love With a Girl’ is a top 10 of all time rock song. Jack White is immensely talented and it’s all on display here)
Led Zeppelin - IV (Pretty much the high water mark for rock anthem rock and roll)
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (This wasn’t a massive hit, but it was big enough that they made a movie about it. Amazing album all the more amazing for the route it took to get made)
Paul Simon - Graceland (This sort of middle-of-the-road pop stuff isn’t normally my cup of tea, but the work here is so amazing that it has become one of my favorite albums. Kind of the crest of the ‘international sound’ wave)
Cake - Fashion Nugget (The Distance was a decently-sized hit, but I love the whole album. Eclectic soudn with horns and kind of talky/rap delivery. Unique.)
Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious (Another band that got decently, but not hugely, popular. Modern punk with tons of attitude)
Tom Waits - Mule Variations (Okay, this wasn’t a big hit, but everybody who loves music should give Tom a try. He’s a ‘love or hate’ thing, but you should at least be aware of him. He’s hugely inluential)
Bands I only know from their ‘best of’
ABBA - Gold (Pretty much the, er, gold standard for pure pop wonderfulness)
The Band - Greatest Hits
Creedance Clearwater Revival - Chronicle