First thing’s first… there’s already too many of these lists. Music is subjective and you should listen to it to find whatever emotion in the sounds you’d like. With that said, let’s get into it.

I find each new edition of a top100/300/500 list has something to say. I hope as mine rolls out you can see what I’m trying to communicate, but if you can’t I’ll openly tell you this: A LOT of records that get rated on these lists are simply not enjoyable listens, are exceptionally over-hyped by oldheads, and many genres get cast aside for far more “critically approved” sounds. Critics also love whoever “does it first” – well I REALLY care if someone does it better.

This idea has been in my head since Apple Music pushed out their top100. While their catalogue is aggressively fine, it’s lacking nuance, personality, and looks curated to create the discourse rather than actually pay homage to the artists and their works of art. There are some albums that are universally beloved, and many of them will be here (21 to be exact), but there is no reason for us to pretend that music made after 1992 is somehow worse than music made before 1981, or that an artist’s first album is their best just because it started the wave.

With that, this list will not be cataloging Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, or John Coletrane. I have immense respect for Davis and Coletrane, who have put out countless records that have stood the test of time (and pushed boundaries further than any limit) — but their addition to this project simply would feel disjointed. Listen to Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, Kind of Blue, Bitches Brew next time you’re bored. They’re all fantastic. For Dylan and the Stones, I find their music to be “the before times…” Yes, Highway 61 is absolutely fantastic, and you should listen to it. I will not be ranking it. Separately, I believe the Rolling Stones are the most overrated band in history who have put out some absolute masterpiece singles. Lastly, the Beatles & Johnny Cash will both be included. If you find that hypocritical, it’s cause it is. If you don’t like that, make your own list 🙂

There will be artists on here that are controversial, I am of the opinion that their music and art is a reflection of the times they made it in. Artists and records that are controversial for the sake of being controversial are excluded, but many may be controversial in retrospect. We should celebrate progressive works of art that vocalized the ideals we have now however, it’s hard to escape the fact that many bad people have made fantastic works of art.

Let’s get down to brass tacks now. My rating criteria is a mix of: influence, atmosphere, listenability, uniqueness, delivery, artist evolution, and genre mastery. An album that’s the best of it’s era, genre, trend, dripping in personality, or shows an artist turn key will be rated far higher than you may think. Keep this in mind if one album is rated higher than what you might expect in their catalogue. I am not without bias: I personally love dense albums that are only catchy after the 6th listen, quirky noises, grand and broad instrumentation, and albums you have to dedicate time to. I will be capping 2 entries per artist. I’ll start by posting 10 albums on July 8th, each with a short blurb or a paragraph about what makes it so special. All will be written by me, unless otherwise noted.

How to Listen: Music Formats 101

I get it, it’s the age of streaming. Everyone looks something up on Spotify/Apple music and that’s how we get our music these days. Many of the albums in this list will be from before everything was at our finger tips. Depending on the year, the way they were made and arranged was for the distribution format. I recommend you always snag a physical copy of the era, sit down in a room and do nothing but truly *listen* to the music.

VINYL: Pretty much anything before 1988 was pressed on wax. It’s still the (in my opinion) best way to experience music, as many music heads love the minor imperfections that translate onto vinyl. With the vinyl format, your albums are almost entirely 40 – 48 minutes long, with the singles, catchiest, or awe-inspiring songs being the first and last song on each side of the record. A ton of artists also pressed singles as the first/second songs on each side. Many times these albums were meant to be listened to in halves with air, space, and silence in between the flip. You might find albums that are “Double LPs” and these were quite literally, two records as one album with four sides of music. Albums like Queen’s Night at the Opera, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, The Clash’s London Calling, many Beatles records have very concrete vibe shifts depending on the side of the album you’re on and that tone shift is frequently lost through streaming. If you listen to any of these albums from 1987 or earlier, recognize this format.

CDs: Most music from the late 80s to the early 2010s was planned to be listened on a CD. Singles could be put anywhere on the album as you could easily skip to it, and album lengths could go up to 70ish minutes. Albums start getting longer, a little bit more bloated, and you’ll find some interesting ways to organize albums in this era.

Streaming: Many albums from the 2010s onward were frequently made with streaming in mind. This is where we end up with these absolutely massive 20+ song marathons, where artistic vision is cut in the name of streaming numbers. The biggest artists of this era chase new #1s by constantly releasing the same songs, re-releasing the same record, have unnecessary features, and pushing out the most bloated albums possible. It’s no coincidence this list will have albums highlighting “focused” projects in this era, as so many albums are quite literally a chore to get through.