I'm using the following guidelines Norbizness set for himself:
- One album per artist.
- No greatest hits packages, compilations, or boxed sets.
- No artists that would make me look hip or cool.
- I must own the LP, CD, or cassette tape of every one of these entries. No mp3s.
Has anyone noticed that I spend more time talking about myself in these lists than I do the actual music? I'm narcissistic. I suck.
Here's 55-41:
55. Various Artists The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)For those of you have been following my list up to now, you'll notice that I hold Rocky Horror in higher esteem than Led Zeppelin IV, London Calling, and The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. That probably tells you all you need to know about my taste in music.
I realize there are two camps when it comes to Rocky Horror: those who H-A-T-E it and those who absolutely adore it. I can't see how anyone cannot love tracks like Rose Tint My World, The Time Warp, and my personal fave, Sweet Transvestite. Yeah, it's cheesy as hell, but it's so much fun. The lyrics kick major ass and the music jumps back and forth seamlessly between genres.
I have long desired to play the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter on stage. Not only is it a great role but I'd get to wear a corset for most of the time I'd be on stage.
Ella says that's the only reason I got into music in the first place: the opportunity to wear dresses in public without too many repercussions (Yes, I was AlternaPoseur Boy who wore dresses when I performed live. Loooo-zer.).
54. Snatches of Pink Dead Men (1989)Snatches of Pink hailed from Chapel Hill, NC. But everyone in Chapel Hill hated them. At the time, the Chapel Hill hipsters wanted alternative music. SOP played in-your-face rock 'n' roll, more akin to the Rolling Stones than college radio.
But damn, they were badasses. And I pity those who didn't get a chance to see them in their prime. My favorite tracks are Bed Of Nails, Midway, and Witch Dance.
When I was a college DJ, they had a copy of Deader Than You'll Ever Be, a live EP that Snatches of Pink recorded at CBGB. I tried to play their cover of Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World every chance I got.
BTW, if anyone has access to their debut CD, Send In The Clowns, and would like to sell it to me or burn it for me, I'd be your best friend forever. I have a warped cassette version, but it's almost unlistenable.
53. The Moldy Peaches The Moldy Peaches (2001)This album is as lo-fi as you can get. At times, it sounded like it was recorded in someone's living room (which I truly believe it was; at one point, you can hear a phone ring and the girl giggles while she's singing the rest of the song). The lyrics were immature and neither one of them could sing. But those aren't necessarily bad things in my book. Favorite song: Who's Got The Crack.
52. Liz Phair Whip-Smart (1994)And while we're on the subject of singers who can't actually sing...
Nothing on this disc approached the greatness of Exile In Guyville's Fuck And Run. But since this is a countdown of albums and not singles, I have to give the nod to Whip-Smart. This album was just catchier and more fun. Favorite tracks: Dogs Of LA and the radio staples Whip-Smart and Supernova.
I tried to stay with you, Liz. I bought whitechocolatespaceegg and loved about half of the disc. But then I bought Liz Phair. You lost me on that one, trying to sound like Avril Lavigne. It reminded me of soccer moms that dress like their teenaged daughters. 2005's Somebody's Miracle could have been the best music you ever recorded. But I'll never know.
51. Queen A Night at the Opera (1975)Bohemian Rhapsody. You're My Best Friend. Death On Two Legs. The Prophet's Song. What else can I say? Freddy Mercury was a god.
50. Pulp Different Class (1995)Jarvis Cocker has one of the sexiest voices in rock 'n' roll. He is also an amazing lyricist. While the album boasts many great songs such as I Spy, Disco 2000, and Sorted For E's & Wizz, the two that stand out the most for me are Mis-Shapes and Common People (which is one of the coolest songs ever). Mis-Shapes should be an anthem for every alienated, misfit teenager everywhere (despite the fact this song came out when I was 25, I could still relate).
49. Run DMC Raising Hell (1986)This is the album that brought rap music to Middle America, thanks to the Aerosmith cover Walk This Way. But this album was so much more than the aforementioned single nestled in filler. It also included My Adidas, Peter Piper, Raising Hell, You Be Illin', Dumb Girl, and It's Tricky, my personal favorite. While most of this album sounds old school as hell and doesn't really hold up musically in comparison to rap that's put out today (or even rap that was put out five years after its release), it's a classic that deserves to be mentioned in the Top 5 Rap Albums Of All Time.
48. Adam and the Ants Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980)Sadly, when most people think of Adam and the Ants, they think of Goody Two Shoes or Strip. But their earlier stuff was so much better. The tribal drumbeats on this disc were simply amazing (they had two drummers at this point in their career) and were often coupled with guitar riffs that sounded like they were lifted from a Clint Eastwood western. Standout tracks include: Dog Eat Dog, the title track, Los Rancheros, Jolly Roger, and Antmusic.
47. Aerosmith Toys In The Attic (1975)Is there any stranger story than Aerosmith's? They were huge in the 70s, then dropped off the map due to various "problems," and then came back in the late 80s, more popular than ever even though the music was inferior (they owe their popularity to the mastery of the power ballad). Toys In The Attic contains such classic rock staples as Walk This Way, Big Ten Inch Record, and Sweet Emotion.
Steven Tyler is the master of the sexual innuendo. No one else comes close.
46. Mr. Bungle Mr. Bungle (1991)While Jarvis Cocker might have rock's sexiest voice, Mike Patton has its most powerful voice. I like to think that this album sounds like what goes on inside your head if you're truly insane. Musically, it sounds like a freak show. Lyrically, you have songs about sex with food (Squeeze Me Macaroni), pornography (The Girls Of Porn), and a departed pet (Stubb (A Dub)).
This album is very demented and I highly recommend it. Favorite track: Carousel.
45. Junkyard Junkyard (1989)Junkyard was a bluesy, southern rock band (kind of like a heavier version of the Black Crowes (in fact, when I saw Junkyard live, the Black Crowes were the opening act), the kind you'd expect to see playing at Patrick Swayze's Roadhouse. This album contained such great cuts as Hollywood, Simple Man (not a Skynyrd cover), and Hands Off, probably the funniest ballad of all time. This band deserved to be much more popular than what they were.
44. Billy Bragg Workers Playtime (1988)One day, I walked into a used record store. Rotting On Remand was playing over the speakers. I had never heard of Billy Bragg but instantly fell in love with his voice. I snatched up the CD immediately. Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards was one of the hidden tracks on my wedding CD.
43. The Who Who's Next (1971)Another classic album that everyone owns. So rather than bore you with stuff you already know, allow me to go off on a tangent that has nothing whatsoever to do with The Who.
You might think that working at a college radio station would give you the freedom to play anything you wanted. You'd be wrong. Every week, the station manager would leaf through the massive stacks of albums, select a bunch of them, and color-code them. Every hour, you had to play a certain number of "red" albums (the heavy-rotation stuff), "blue" albums (the medium-rotation stuff), and "yellow" albums (the classics; the low-rotation stuff).
I did a weekday shift with one of my friends (I also had a weekend shift where I was free of the chains of the color-coded albums). We were leafing through the pile of new albums on the station manager's desk picked out an album and held it high into the air.
Friend: Dude! Baby Got Back! (The song was just beginning to get play on the radio)
Me: Cool!
Friend: We can't play this.
Me: I know... But we've got to play this.
Friend: I know.
Me: If the station manager finds out, he's going to be pissed.
Friend: I know... But we've got to play this.
So, giggling like schoolgirls, we headed back to the booth and loaded the album. Sir Mix-A-Lot had just gotten through admitting that he liked large derrieres and could not speak untruths when the red light started flashing, alerting us that we had a phone call.
Me: Damn it!
Friend: What the hell is he doing listening to our show?
Me: At least someone's listening.
Of course, it was the station manger, screaming at us for playing the song. Oh well.
42. Soul Asylum Grave Dancers Union (1992)This is their breakthrough album, their sell-out album, the one that got them heavy play on MTV and Top 40 radio, and it was also their best. It was also the one that got frontman Dave Pirner dates with Winona Ryder (tasty!). Favorite tracks: Somebody To Shove, April Fool, 99%, and Without A Trace.
41. Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual (1983)People were so concerned about Ms. Lauper's appearance (Look, she's got orange hair! Look, she wears thrift-shop clothes! She's kooky!) that her music often got lost in the shuffle. Which is a shame, because the girl had pipes. There were so many amazing songs on this album: Time After Time, Prince's When You Were Mine, All Through The Night, and my favorite, Money Changes Everything.
And then she started messing around with Lou Albano and professional wrestling, which effectively killed her career. It was either that or that lame Jeff Goldblum movie.
Previously:
70-56
85-71
100-86
