100 Favorite Albums of All-Time (Numbers 90-100)

To get this blog jumpstarted again, I decided to list my Top-100 Favorite Albums with a quick blurb about each one. To hopefully keep people interested, they are going to be posted every couple of days in installments of ten instead of all at once.




(There may be  a few unrelated posts in between)

Also, keep in mind these are my favorites albums. Some are so close. Even #85 has only a very slight edge over #98, #45 over #30, #10 over #1.

There are a few rules I set: 

1- There can only be one album per band. I would love to have multiple Beatles, Lemonheads, Descendents, and more albums but that would not leave enough more favorites to be included. 

2- No compilations or live albums. Only studio albums. No Minor Threat's "Complete Discography" or Buzzcocks "Singles Going Steady" sometimes pop up on these lists, although those band's studio albums may make another appearance on the list. Unfortunately (spoiler alert) The Rolling Stones are not on the list. There isn't a whole album I like by them. Most of the time I will reach for one of the "Hot Rocks" compilations. 

3- Only full albums. No "Extended Plays" (EPs). One of my favorite releases is Straight Ahead's Spirit of Youth 12" but it is only a few songs so can't be included (Although you can read my thoughts on it here)


Thank you for taking the time to read through these. I encourage anyone else to do a 100 Favorite Albums list of their own. Feel free to follow my rules or instill your own. We may never have this much time available again.


100 - The Strokes - Comedown Machine (2011, RCA) - I always describe this album as someone told the band to write a soundtrack for a modern movie that takes place in New York City in the 1970s. Each song has a sense of swagger I could picture a character strutting through Times Square when it was still gritty, ready to pull off some shady deals and street fights. There is even a song titled "Partners in Crime". I'm not sure why so many fans and critics repeatedly pan this album. I even heard it described as a contract filler. Singer Julian Casablancas shows more range on these songs than on any other of their albums. "One Way Trigger" was probably my most played song of the 2010s.

99 - Rip-Offs - Got a Record (1994, Rip-Off)- When Jon Von left the Mr. T Experience I was pretty upset. At the time the band was one of my favorite acts. Only now their sound became a lot thinner and the few songs Jon sang added a little variety to the band's repertoire. I was very happy to see him re-emerge in the RIP.-Offs with Greg Lowry from Supercharger, another band I had recently discovered. The Rip-Offs weren’t pop/punk like MTX though. They were a severely stripped-down garage band with just the right amount of lo-fi production. They also had this whole "criminal" motif going on. When they played live they would wear stockings over their heads like a bank robber, This was long before Masked Intruder was a twinkle in any punk rocker's eye.

98-China Drum - Goosefair (1996, Mantra Records) - I always give a little extra respect when their drummer is the lead singer. Even more when the band is as fast as the UK’s China Drum. Not many bands can keep the almost buzzsaw tempo and hooks going over 14 songs. Think a whole album of melodic Husker Du-style songs but each one catchier than the one before it. If you can try to get a physical copy because the Streaming versions don’t have their cover of Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights”

97- Iceage - New Brigade (2011, What's Your Rupture) - For a long time I severely disliked the Danish band Iceage's first album. Something about it just rubbed me the wrong way. I think it may have derived from a very sloppy live set I saw of theirs online. Over a period of time, the album grew on me. There is definitely a Christian Death influence going on but I also hear an early Cure one too. Iceage put out one more noisy album in You're Nothing. (Read my review here). Then they tried (unsuccessfully) to turn into Nick Cave. Proceed with caution on the last two albums

96- Nada Surf - Proximity Effect (2001, Barsuk). I know I've said it in this blog as well as other places many times before but I believe Nada Surf may be one of the most underrated groups out there. So many people automatically think their almost gimmicky hit "Popular" when they are mentioned when in fact Nada Surf has been putting out great melodic indie-pop albums since this 2001 release. Proximity Effect contains some of the best time changes I've heard on an album before. Something that would become a signature on the band's albums all the way up to today. (Read my review of one of them here). 

95- feedtime – Suction (1989, Aberrant/Rough Trade) I'm not sure if it still does but Rolling Stone Magazine's last page used to have all the latest music charts. Among those charts, each month the magazine would pick a different college record store and show their top 10 sellers. Reading these charts is where I first heard of at least two artists on the lists, Australia's feedtime being one of them. One of the things that first caught my attention when I did manage to locate a copy was that it was produced by Butch Vig who I knew from his production of bands like Killdozer, Laughing Hyenas, Die Kreuzen, and a few others (He had yet to produce that huge album that we all know) but that was all the info supplied on the tape. Playing it I was floored. More growly voice, a grungy drone than almost any other band I had heard up to that point but also mixed with some blues. I have to admit the previous album Shovel may be a little better but I did not have that total element of awe of hearing something new when I found a copy of it a few years later. Luckily for everybody Suction, Shovel, the self-titled debut, as well as the covers album Cooper-s are now available together as “The Aberrant Years” on Sub Pop Records.  

94- Dillinger Four – Midwestern Songs For the Americas (1998, Hopeless)- Before Midwestern Songs Dillinger Four put out a few 7's that were unbelievable. Songs were a combined urgent, poppy, heavy, and hooky in a way no band had really done before. Three singers singing and shouting their hearts out. They also had some of the best lyrics you could sing along with and song titles that kept the music interesting. When I read they had signed to Hopeless, at the time more of a straight pop/punk label, I was worried they would lose some of the edge that made them so great. Boy was I wrong. The thirteen songs on this album are all perfect. The hooks are still there, even more bountiful than the singles. Plus the classic pop culture samples between each track really frame each song perfectly. 

93- Supernova – Ages 3 and Up (1992, Amphetamine Reptile) – The label AmRep has a logo that says “Amphetamine Reptile: Noise” but on Supernova's album it is changed to “Nice”. This is because Ages 3 and Up is 19 very poppy, hook-filled songs, very far removed from the mostly more abrasive bands on the label's roster. Supernova also possesses a very strong Sci-fi theme. No time to get too into it but check out their Wikipedia page. I saw them twice in one day, both show they wore different forms of space attire. You may also remember Supernova's song “Chewbacca” from the movie Clerks.

92- Ceremony – Violence Violence (2006, Malfunction) Ceremony is now more of a post/punk sounding band. Their last album while being very good is in more of a Wire/Devo/Gang of Four sound. But they did not always sound like that, Over the past 12 years or so their sound developed but back in 2006 they were one of the heaviest hardcore bands out there. Their songs were short, loud, and angry. Just short of power violence. The whole album is just a little over 13 minutes long (20 if you get the CD . which includes the Ruined EP) is the perfect length for the onslaught. Violence Violence also has a cover of one of my favorite hardcore songs “Pressures On” by the D.C. Band Red C.
(I reviewed a couple other Ceremony albums here and here.)

91- Guns 'N Roses – Appetite for Destruction (1987, Geffen) An album that really needs no introduction. Every song is a classic, while so many of their contemporaries have only a handful of good songs on each album. I think there is only one other album of this genre on this list, but it's a lot further down the line. 

90- The Kills - Keep On Your Mean Side (2003, Domino) -I think the British/American duo The Kills had been around for at least a year before I learned the American half of the group, singer "VV" was Alison Mosshart. Her previous band Discount was a favorite of mine. When I bought Keep On Your Mean Side instead of the pop/punk of Discount I found a stripped-down minimalist blues-influenced sound with Alison's voice a hell of a lot more mature than they had been in the past. I was pretty floored. The album has gone on to be one of my favorite releases from 2000-2010.

Stay Tuned for 89-80

Audiolore's TOP 20 Best Hardcore/Punk Records of All-Time

 A few years back Rolling Stone magazine posted an article  "40 Greatest Punk Albums of All-Time" and of course everyone tore it apart. (The article is here). Soon everyone online was posting and blogging about their picks. One of my favorites was this one by Tim Sommer.

Of course, I wanted to join in. The only problem was I had no computer at the time. So my list was assembled, reordered, and had bands added and omitted over and over again in my head but was never typed out anywhere. By the time my computer was up and running, the Rolling Stone article and all its following angry rebuttal posts were long gone. My picks had never been considered,

Then a little while ago while at the gym each day I watched and re-watched a bunch of documentaries about hardcore/punk acts, scenes, etc. Soon that list from a couple years ago was back in my head. I figured why not just put it out there now. The only difference is I am focusing more on the "hardcore" side of punk here. 

As ridiculous as it may sound. when I make lists like this I give myself rules. The big one is "No Compilations" (I am looking at you "Minor Threat  Complete Discography!). Everything has to be an individual release of new music. 

Second Rule: Albums. EPs, and Singles are eligible to be on the list.

Also, just to make the list a little more interesting, I omitted some really obvious ones.


So without further delay. here is my picks for: 

The 20 Best Hardcore/Punk Records of All-Time

19 -Monster X - To the Positive Youth 7” (Gloom Records) - Albany’s Monster X was a band that played good straight-edge hardcore with grindcore vocals. Maybe the only band to successfully pull this off. To The Positive Youth is a 7" single composed entirely of covers of classic youth crew and straight edge songs, It may seem strange that I would include an EP of hardcore cover songs (two of which are off of other releases on this list) but it is that good with many of them rivaling the originals(Available on Youtube here )

18 – Crucial Youth – Posi-Machine LP (1988, New Red Archives Records)- A funny thing happened when New Jersey's Crucial Youth tried to release a hardcore parody record: They actually produced a good hardcore/punk album. Even though the 21 songs on Posi-Machine cover such topics as how caffeine is bad ("Caffeine), the importance of brushing your teeth ("Positive Dental Outlook"), the importance of having a balanced diet ("4 Food Groups"), or many other lessons, the album also contains some of the best hardcore riffs and wide ranged vocals I have ever heard on any punk record. (Still available through New Red Archives Records, with a few of their singles and "Crucial Yule" and on most listening platforms. Here it is on YouTube. Prepare to be informed)

17-Life Sentence – S/T LP (1986, Walkthrufyre Records) – Life  Sentence's sound was not too different from the strict regimen hardcore sound of California's Uniform Choice, but with a definite Chicago punk grittiness ala The Effigies or Naked Raygun. A lot of fans think the band tried to write more complicated songs and maybe went a little metal on their second album No Experience Necessary (which I surprisingly found in a clearance section at Borders) but I don't really hear too much of a difference. Well, except that the songs are not quite as good. (Available on YouTube here or for download at the Blogged and Quartered website Here)

16- I Hate You - Prime Directive 7" EP(1997, Punk Uprising Records)- When the band was around I never really got a straight answer or found real evidence that this Philadelphia band was really a militant or a joke/satire band. But this 10 song 7” EP (Yes just a 7”) has some of the best riffs and best lyrics about anti-smoking, drinking, drugs, etc. I never got the chance to see them live but I heard a lot of their shows ended up pretty bloody (Available as part of their Discography compilation on Apple Music, Spotify, the band's Bandcamp here)

15-Four Walls Falling - Culture Shock LP (1991, Jade Tree)- Perfect mixture of hardcore and SoCal style skate rock. Awesome hooks, a few solos, and on-point sociopolitical lyrics. I never really got the hang of skateboarding but I always thought this album would make the perfect soundtrack for it. Their next album Food for Worms was a serious departure in sound, so proceed carefully. I saw a reunion show they did in College Park circa 2000. Everyone was very surprised they played songs off of it. (Available from Jade Tree Records, all listening platforms, and YouTube here)

14 – Beyond – No Longer At Ease LP (1989, Combined Effort Records)- I never thought I could like a band that uses slap bass. It's just a little bit but there is some on this album. For a long time, the  Long Island band Beyond's material was very hard to find. I never even actually heard the band until a song of theirs ("Vitality") ended up on a  compilation of NYHC bands. Then in 1997, Some Record reissued No Longer at Ease and I finally got the chance to hear the album in its entirety. Very good NYHC with a lot of breakdowns. The only thing is, like the band's name implies, they just took it a little beyond the genre, adding elements of metal There is even some funk in the form of that slap bass. Singer Kevin Egan would go on to the 1.6 Band, drummer Alan Cage would go on to Burn and Quicksand, bassist Tom Capone would go on to Quicksand, and guitarist Vic DiCara would play in Inside Out (with some guy named Zach De La Rocha) and 108. Available from Revelation Records, on all listening platforms, or on YouTube here.

13 - No For An Answer - You Laugh 7” (1988, Revelation

Records) - NFAA was very fast, almost to the point of being grindcore. Plus singer Dan O’Mahoney wrote ( and still does in his present bands) some of the best straight edge, no drugs, and don’t drink and drive lyrics out there. They would slow down significantly on their debut album Thought Crusade but still retain the same topics in their lyrics. This EP's "Without A Reason" was covered on the Monster X 7: EP listed before (Available from Revelation Records, all listening platforms, and YouTube here)

12- Gray Matter - Take it Back LP (1986, Dischord Records) - This often overlooked DC punk band's singer Jeff Turner writes some of the best hooks in all the bands he’s been in (he was the singer of 3, the short-lived band who did that song “Swann Street” people know and so many bands cover). The band featured two ex-members of Iron Cross Dante Fernando (also partial owner of the Black Cat in DC) on drums, Mark Haggerty on guitar, and Iron Cross roadie Steve Niles on bass. It's pretty ironic since Gray Matter's fast semi-melodic punk is so far removed from the hardcore street punk of Iron Cross. I only got to see Gray Matter once and it was at the 9:30 Club Tenth Anniversary show where almost every DC band played one cover song. If anyone was there and remembers what song they played, please let me know. (Available on one CD with their follow-up Food For Thought from Dischord Records, all listening platforms, and YouTube here)

11- Born Against - s/t 7”(1990, Vermiform Records) The thing that separates Born Against from so many other hardcore bands of the era is you can still hear the influence of NYHC bands like Agnostic Front and Life’s Blood (a band some of Born Against's members has been in), but you can also hear some of the emerging newer hardcore punk sound coming out too. This mixed with singer Sam McPheeter's sarcastic lyrics made for a band that would soon influence so many bands for years to come. Even though they released many singles and an album or two, this EP is where everything gelled together perfectly. (Available as part of their Rebel Sound of Shit and Failure singles compilation on Apple Music or Spotify, or by itself on YouTube here)

10-White Flag - Wild Kingdom (1987, Positive Force

Records)– I always thought of LA's The Chiefs as a faster and harder version of The Descendents. Their album Holly West Crisis almost made this list. But on the other end of the spectrum, I always thought beginning on Wild Kingdom White Flag moved away from the hardcore sound of their previous albums and became a more glam Descendents. They also aren't afraid to show off their influences by covering The Beatles, Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, KISS, and The Saints alongside their awesome originals "Instant Breakfast", "Suicide King", and my favorite, "Butterfly Revolution".( Available on Spotify, but beware, the song titles and the tracks are all mixed up. Also available on YouTube here ).

9 -Life’s Halt - We Sold Our Souls for Rock in Roll 7” EP (1998, Youngblood Records)- Life's Halt was the perfect mixture of the youth crew Of Youth Of Today and the proto-power violence ( I think I just made up a new genre) of Infest. I saw them at the Sidebar in Baltimore, along with the almost equally great Carry On, circa 2000 and the urgency by every member the band on each song was just seriously out of control (It can be downloaded with the rest of their discography at the Blogged and Quartered website Here or listened to on YouTube here)

8 - Die Kreutzen - Cows and Beer 7” (1982, Version Sound) - The band's name translated to "The Cross" but they aren't a Christian

band. This EP  was recorded when the band was fast, rough, and very punk-sounding. Before singer, Dan Kubinski's vocals would reach out of this world levels on their debut album. There was definitely no sight of the college rock sound the band would produce just a few albums down the line. There also aren't any songs about farm animals or alcoholic beverages. The EP's title is more of a joke on what their home state of Wisconsin was known for. The original Version Sound release is $210 on Discogs (some records on this list actually go for tons more) but it is more affordably available tacked on to the end of their Gone Away CD (where they also do a great cover of The Germs'" Land of Treason") or by itself on Beer City Records. You can also listen on Youtube here)

7-Corrosion of Conformity - Six Songs with Mike Singing EP (1985, Caroline Records)-Eye for an Eye is an awesome album. Still my favorite of their full lengths. But singer Erik Eyker's vocals also sound just a little painfully uncomfortable. It’s probably the whole point but I think it was on the following release when Mike Dean took over vocals was where the band hit its hardcore/punk heights. You could hear the thrash of the next two albums (one with Mike singing, one without) broiling underneath (but thankfully not the southern fried stoner rock of 1994 and on C.O.C.) but to my ears Six Songs with Mike Singing is total hardcore/punk (You can find this EP tacked on to the end Eye for an Eye on Apple Music, Spotify, or can be listened on YouTube here)

6-Ill Repute – What Happens Next? LP (1984, Mystic Records)

– Super fast, awesome hardcore/punk out of Oxnard, California (Nardcore) with surprisingly positive lyrics. Most of the lyrics like the ones in "Sleep Walking", "Book and It's Cover" and "It's Not Gonna Happen to Me" deal with finding your own identity in the world. Available on all listening platforms, sometimes with the "Next" changed to "Then" and on YouTube here ). Be forewarned: starting with the 1994 album Big Rusty Balls the band became more of a rockin' melodic punk band. Still good stuff though

5-Last Rights 7” (1984, TAANG! Records) - Ex- Ex-Negative FX(Although I could be mixing up the order of the bands) and pre-Slapshot Boston band that was actually so much more than just a hardcore/punk band. Listen to the lead-off guitar on the first song "Chunks", later covered impressively by their fellow Mass, band Dinosaur  Jr. The band actually only played one show. This 7" EP was TAANG! Records second release. (Available with a few extra tracks and the almost as great Negative FX album on most listening platforms. Here it is on YouTube)

4- Half Off - The Truth LP (1987, New Beginnings Records) – Southern California's Half Off has always been a slight mystery to me. Still to this day, I have never found a copy of this album "In the wild" and have had to rely on taped copies or mp3s found online. I have not had a chance to read any info on the insert. What I do know is the band does an awesome job combining the SoCal hardcore sound of bands like No For An Answer and Uniform Choice with the hardcore punk sound of Boston bands like Jerry's Kids. Surprisingly unlike other SoCal hardcore bands like Uniform Choice or Insted, the lyrics, sung by singer Bill Rubin (who would go on to the more metal Haywire) are not very positive at all and often critical of the hardcore/punk/straight edge scene. Especially on song #8 "Rain on the Parade", which on a side note is where the Pennsylvania band Rain on the Parade took their name from. (Available to listen to on YouTube here)

3-Straight Ahead - Breakaway 12”(1987, I Risk Records) - Hands down the best NYHC record. Only a little over 6 minutes in total but every second of it is taken up by perfect positive lyrics, gang vocals, and hardcore breakdowns. They even manage to throw in a few guitar solos. The band featured Craig “Ahead” Setari (Later Of Agnostic Front and Sick of it All) Rob Escaverria (later of Rest in Pieces and Helmet) and Armand Majidi (of Rest in Pieces and Sick of it All), although I am not sure if Armand played on this EP. Straight Ahead's song "Straight Ahead" is one of the covers on the Monster X single. (available on YouTube here or for download on the Blogged and Quartered website here)

2-Faith/Void - Split LP (1982, Dischord Records)- I have to admit

I listen to the Void side an awful lot more than the Faith side. I’ve actually worn out multiple copies on vinyl and compact discs. But that is because Void’s sound was so unlike anyone else. Total fast, blistering guitars. Inhuman vocals. They also happen to be from my hometown of Columbia, MD, so that made them even cooler. Faith is also very good hardcore. Not much of the more emo sound that would begin to come out on their following Subject to Change LP, where Minor Threat and (future) Fugazi frontman Ian Mackaye would take over vocals from his brother Alex and the band took part in creating a whole new genre as Embrace. (Still available from Dischord on CD with Faith's Subject to Change LP on most listening platforms or YouTube here. 

1 - Poison Idea - Feel The Darkness LP (1990, Vinyl Solution/American Leather Records) - More rockin’ than the Portland, Oregon band's earlier more hardcore stuff which makes most of these lists. They do manage to keep some of the Germ's influence. But the band finally got some good production. Songs like "Plastic Bomb", "Deep Sleep", "Gone for Good", well, pretty much all 13 of the tracks come bulldozing out of the speakers at you. The most powerful track on the album of course is song #3 "Just to Get Away". I always thought of the total "fuck the world" song as Poison Idea's signature song. The great news is after being unavailable for so long (not sure why because the last label it was on was Epitaph) TKO Records has brought it back in print and also made the album available on Spotify. You can also listen on YouTube here

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Coming Clean or Ten Bands/Artists I Wish I Liked More Than I Do

Most people know there are three major bands whose music I am not a fan of at all: Led Zeppelin, Rush, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I won't get into specifics about what I don't like about each band's music, although in the case of RHCP, it should be obvious, but after all these years I am secure in my feelings towards them.

There are however a couple bands and artists I am not secure in my feelings about. There are some bands and artists that for reasons such as being so influential or supportive to bands I do like, or bands that have overcome hardships to make good music, or even bands that just have an overall reputation of being nice guys. I just feel really bad about not liking their music.

Here are Ten of Them

Guided by Voices - the quintessential music geek band. I recently went through all their albums, eps, singles, etc on Spotify, from oldest to newest making a playlist of songs I liked. There ended up being 39 of them. 13 of them, from the Under the Bushes Under the Stars album. This is also the only album by them I have owned a physical copy of but even that was because I found a copy among a bunch of promos that were supposed to go to a much larger local chain store with initials K.M..39 might seem like a decent number of songs but too put it into little perspective Guided By Voices has hundreds of albums, eps, etc. So that's 39 out of about 400 songs.

The Fall is probably my biggest disappointment in not liking a band since they are so seminal and influenced so many bands I do enjoy. I tried the Guided By Voices Spotify trick and ended up with one song on the playlist: Their cover of The Kinks' "Victoria", which I knew I liked years ago when it was on 120 Minutes making me rush out to buy all those Fall albums I would later be sold back to the used record store. 

The Jesus and Mary Chain - I loved their feedback-drenched debut album Psychocandy since the first day I heard it after hearing the band on the Some Kind of Wonderful soundtrack. Unfortunately, I think the next two albums Darklands and Automatic were just the band trying to make more accessible versions of their debut. I honestly lost interest in them after that so I can't really comment of the next couple of records. But Psychocandy  (and the b-sides comp Barbed Wired Kisses) will always be in my regular rotation

Pavement - Their debut album Slanted and Enchanted is awesome (Surprisingly very influenced by The Fall too) I think I wore out multiple copies of the album. I was also lucky enough to see them on that tour and will always be happy I got to see them before they blew up. Except for that album and about half the songs off of the follow-up Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, I just can't get into them. They sound so...lazy and disinterested in what they are playing. I know that's kind of their thing but it's not mine 

Johnny Cash - The cat is really out of the bag for this one. I really like his
history and I made sure to visit Sun Studios when I was in Memphis. I think I even wore black for a year because I thought it was so cool he dressed that way. But when it comes down to it, the songs I like by him would take up half of a 90-minute cassette, with most of the songs recorded before 1960. I know his sound is supposed to be like the rhythm of a train or something but it's just a little to slow for me. When I listen, I just want to give him a little push. Those songs just make me want to give him a push to speed it up. Also, I really can't stand his version of "Hurt" 

New York Dolls - I may be the only person who prefers David Johanson in his Buster Poindexter persona over his work as vocalist for the New York City proto-punk/glam band. There is something about their sound that I just find too basic and kind of boring. David Sounds like a second-rate Mick Jagger (Although I have seen some early live footage where his voice sounds pretty powerful) and Johnny Thunders sounds so held back on guitar compared to what he would go to do in the Heartbreakers and (where I think he sounded the best) the short-lived Gang War. I think the New York Dolls fall under one of those bands if I had heard them when their first album came out (which was 6 months after I was born) I would appreciate them a lot more. Now I have heard too many bands influenced but also expanded on their sound. But there is always a chance my opinion may change. Johnny Thunders, with the Heartbreakers and solo, never really clicked with me until a few years ago. Now I listen to L.AM.F. and Gang War non-stop

Shudder to Think - Maybe as not near as a household name as the others on this list but growing up in the D.C.. area I always wanted to like the band more than I did. Their first couple of releases I like a lot. They still sounded punk but with a lot of melody. Kind of like a more melodic, less intense Rites of Spring. But by the time Get Your Goat came out the "groove" was gone and the herky-jerky "art-rock" had crept in. Over their next few albums, they were probably one of the best bands out there but they were still to arty and choppy for me. I saw them circa 1993 at Maxwells in Hoboken and all although they did play "Red House" off of  Funeral at the Movies, what I remember most of the show was singer Craig Wedron reciting poetry between each song, which held the whole audience in awe and me looking at my watch to see how much time we had left on the meter 

Gang of Four - My favorite Gang of Four album is 1990's Mall. If you ask most Gang of Four fans they will pan
this album. To be totally honest it really is not too special but I like it for nostalgic reasons, having been one of the first albums I purchased on a compact disc

Public Image Ltd - We recently saw a documentary on John Lyndon and his post-Sex Pistols band Public Image Ltd, or P.I.L. for short, at the TriBeCa Filmfest. Not only was the film pretty bad (it was a TrBeCa Filmfest movie after all) but it made me realize how uneventful the band's career has been. So many people rave and rave about how awesome their second album, 1979's Second Edition (also known as Metal Box). I've tried many many times over the years and although guitar player Keith Levine's and bassist Jah Wobble turn in awesome performances, I just can't get past John Lydon's voice. Although it was perfect for The Sex Pistols, it just doesn't fit this music.

The Residents - The way this band got their name is one of my favorite “how the band got their name” stories. Years ago the band sent out a demo tape to a record label. The return label didn’t have a name on it so when the label sent back the rejected tape they addressed it to “The Residents”. Unfortunately, that is all I like about the band. I mean I like the idea and history of the band. They’ve been around for 40+ years and no one knows their true identities because they wear those big eyeballs over their heads, which by the way seriously creep me out. But out of their zillion releases I can't bear one song. Someone told me once that that is the point. It's "Anti-Music). It;s supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. Why would you want to listen to something like that?