Favorites: Albums
1,000 albums I've already listened to many times, and I'm not dead yet...
#1: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
Artist: Sex Pistols
Label: Virgin (UK/Europe)/Warner Bros. (USA/Canada)
This is my favorite album of all time, plain and simple. It is the rock album I measure all other rock albums against because of just how incredibly solid everything is on it. The production is massive, the guitar tone is a relentless wall of sound, and there isn't a weak track to be found. I currently own a dozen different editions of it across various formats, ranging from my original Warner Bros. vinyl copy and an early UK Virgin pressing, to the 34th Anniversary box set. I even have the eight-track edition, which I dug out of a flea market crate back in 1986 for a single dollar. For me, this album is absolute ground zero.
#2: Revolver (1966)
Artist: The Beatles
Parlophone / Capitol
Calling them my "other four fathers" is really the only way to put it. If there is a blueprint for the modern recording studio, this is it. This is the exact moment they stopped being just a live act and started using the mixing desk as a completely separate instrument. The tape loops and studio manipulation on "Tomorrow Never Knows" practically lay the groundwork for decades of electronic music and experimental production to come. Beyond the studio trickery, the musicianship is completely airtight. Paul McCartney's bass playing took a massive leap forward here—the driving, overdriven bassline on "Taxman" alone is a masterclass in how to anchor a track while still playing a lead melody. It's a flawless record that completely rewired what pop and rock music could be.
#3: Psychocandy (1985)
Artist: The Jesus and Mary Chain
Blanco y Negro / Sire
There is a very specific kind of magic to this record. More than almost any other album, Psychocandy is the kind of record that instantly makes you want to plug right into a four-track and start making your own noise. Back in 1986, I was heavily rotating current punk alongside R.E.M., the Velvet Underground, and that legendary first Byrds album. Psychocandy somehow managed to slot perfectly into the dead center of all those disparate sounds. It took the jangly, 60s pop melodies of The Byrds, drowned them in the abrasive, feedback-drenched chaos of the Velvets, and delivered it all with a sneering punk ethos. It is an absolute masterpiece of beautiful noise that completely bridged the gap between pure pop and pure feedback.
#4: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
Artist: Elton John
MCA / DJM Records
When this monumental double album first entered my life, it was through my mother's copy on eight-track. It is a format I would quickly come to greatly despise compared to the fidelity and reliability of a good cassette or reel-to-reel as far as tape formats go, but the music itself was completely undeniable. Elton John and Bernie Taupin were at the absolute peak of their powers here, effortlessly jumping from glam rock stompers to cinematic, sweeping ballads. Because of the mechanical limitations of the format, that old eight-track edition actually had a slightly different track sequence than the standard LP. I listened to it so much that the altered running order became permanently burned into my brain, a fact I wouldn't even discover until I finally picked up my first CD copy in the late 80s. Regardless of the running order, it remains an absolute masterpiece of 70s songwriting.
#5: Double Nickels on the Dime (1984)
Artist: Minutemen
Label: SST
Since Watt is already holding down the low end on the Bassists page, it only makes sense to feature this sprawling masterpiece. Forty-plus tracks of pure, unadulterated "jamming econo." It perfectly blends punk, funk, and jazz without ever feeling pretentious. The bass tone is clanky and aggressive, D. Boon's guitar is jagged and brilliant, and George Hurley plays the drums like they owe him money. It's essential listening for anyone who thinks punk rock has to be limited to three chords.
#6: Chameleon (2004)
Artist: Whiteberry
Pot Artist/Sony Music Japan
This record is a perfect example of why the Japanese rock scene is so consistently great. Whiteberry might have started out incredibly young, but by the time they dropped Chameleon, their musicianship was absolutely air-tight. It’s packed with driving pop-punk energy, ridiculously catchy hooks, and the kind of high-octane guitar and rhythm work that immediately demands your attention. They had this brilliant ability to weave bright, melodic pop sensibilities right over the top of a genuinely heavy, driving rock foundation. It’s an absolute blast of an album that proves you can write massive, memorable hooks without sacrificing an ounce of instrumental punch.
#7: Damaged (1981)
Artist: Black Flag
SST / Unicorn Records
Since Greg Ginn is holding down a spot on the Guitarists page and Chuck Dukowski is doing the same on the Bassists page, it’s only right that the album where their playing helped define an entire genre sits squarely in the Top 10. Damaged isn't just a punk record; it is the definitive blueprint for American hardcore. The addition of Henry Rollins brought a visceral, tightly wound intensity to the vocals, but it’s the instrumental attack that truly makes this album a masterpiece. Greg Ginn's guitar lines are frantic, jagged, and heavily distorted, sounding like they are falling apart and putting themselves back together in real-time. Underneath all that chaos, Chuck's blunt-force bass tone acts as the bulldozer driving the entire track forward. It’s an unrelenting, physically exhausting record in the absolute best way possible, and the undeniable crown jewel of the SST legacy.
#8: Serotonin II (2019)
Artist: yeule
Bayonet Records
There is something incredibly special about the world Nat built on this record. It’s a masterclass in glitchy, ethereal electronic production, blending ambient textures with dream-pop in a way that feels intensely personal and futuristic all at once. The synthesizers are lush but deliberately fractured, and the vocal processing adds a beautiful, haunting layer to the entire project. It perfectly captures that late-night, wired-but-dreaming headspace, standing as a truly stunning piece of electronic music from a brilliant artist.
#9: Zen Arcade (1984)
Artist: Hüsker Dü
SST Records
If Damaged was the blueprint for American hardcore, Zen Arcade was the album that proved hardcore bands could do absolutely anything they wanted. Releasing a sprawling, emotionally complex double-concept album about a runaway teenager was completely unheard of in the punk scene in 1984, but Hüsker Dü pulled it off brilliantly. The interplay between Bob Mould's thick, buzzsaw guitar tone and Grant Hart's frantic, crashing drums is legendary, but it's the songwriting that makes this a masterpiece. Underneath the blistering speed and layers of distortion, they were hiding some of the most heartbreaking, perfectly crafted pop melodies of the decade. It expanded the vocabulary of punk rock overnight and essentially laid the groundwork for the entire alternative rock explosion that followed.
#10: Best! Morning Musume 1 & 2 (2001 / 2004)
Artist: Morning Musume
Zetima
Combining two "Best Of" volumes into a single slot might seem like a technicality, but in my collection, they are one singular experience. I consider them a single album because I bought them together in the exact same order from CDJapan right as my interest in the group was really starting to sprout. Experiencing them back-to-back provided the absolute perfect snapshot of their most iconic eras, packed with massive, undeniable hooks and brilliantly arranged vocal performances. Beyond just being a flawless collection of Japanese pop music, the first volume holds a very specific piece of trivia for physical media nerds: Best! 1 is the only Morning Musume album to ever receive an official vinyl pressing. Together, these two discs are the ultimate cornerstone for my love of J-pop.
#11: Crush (2014)
Artist: 2NE1
YG Entertainment
Kicking off the next tier of the list is an absolute masterclass in Korean pop music. The fact that I got turned onto this group by Mike Watt of all people is still one of my favorite pieces of personal musical crossover trivia. He is a massive Minzy stan, while I’ve spent years veering back and forth between CL and Park Bom. Bias struggles aside, Crush is just a relentless, high-energy record. It perfectly blends massive pop hooks with heavy, forward-thinking electronic production. It has the pure, unadulterated attitude of a punk record, but channeled entirely through synthesizers and undeniable vocal performances. It's the album that truly kicked the doors open for my love of K-pop, and it remains a completely flawless, front-to-back listen.
#12: London Calling (1979)
Artist: The Clash
CBS / Epic
If there was ever an album that proved punk rock wasn't just a rigid, three-chord template, it is London Calling. This double LP is an absolute masterclass in tearing down musical boundaries. The Clash took their raw, aggressive energy and seamlessly filtered it through reggae, rockabilly, ska, and R&B. It completely blew the doors off what a punk band was "allowed" to do. Beyond the incredible songwriting and Joe Strummer's snarling vocals, Paul Simonon’s dub-heavy basslines on tracks like "The Guns of Brixton" bring an incredibly deep, rhythmic groove to the entire record. From the iconic Pennie Smith cover photo of Simonon smashing his bass to the hidden final track, it is a completely undeniable piece of rock and roll history.
#13: Duty Now For The Future (1979)
Artist: Devo
Warner Bros. / Virgin
Getting into Devo right on the precipice of their mainstream explosion is a brilliant way to discover them. This was my very first Devo album, picked up when Freedom of Choice was already out, but right before "Whip It" completely took over the world. It serves as the ultimate gateway into their philosophy of de-evolution. Musically, it’s a fascinating, weird transitional record that perfectly bridges the gap between the spastic, nervous punk energy of their debut and the polished synth-pop that would soon make them massive. The tracks are angular, cynical, heavily synthesized, and incredibly smart. It proves definitively that Devo were never just a novelty act; they were brilliant, subversive musicians who were genuinely predicting the mechanized future of rock and roll.
#14: Fun House (1970)
Artist: The Stooges
Elektra
My introduction to this absolute monster of a record didn't actually come from hearing it, but from reading about it. When Henry Rollins named Fun House as one of his top favorite albums in a 1985 essay for Spin magazine, it immediately sent me on a holy grail hunt. The search dragged on for years, finally coming to an end when Elektra released the very first CD edition of the album in 1988. It was more than worth the wait. Since Ron Asheton already holds a spot on my Guitarists page, it’s no surprise this album made the top tier. It captures The Stooges at their most dangerous and primal. The combination of Asheton's massive, fuzzed-out riffs, the unstoppable rhythm section of Scott "Rock Action" Asheton (drums) and David Alexander (bass), and Steve Mackay's frantic, screeching saxophone -- all influenced by Iggy Pop listening to "a lot of jazz and a lot of funk" at the time the album was being written, per the liner notes of the incredible 1970: The Complete Fun House Sessions box set -- creates a thick, menacing groove that practically bleeds through the speakers. It is the ultimate proto-punk masterpiece.
#15: Wild Planet (1980)
Artist: The B-52s
Warner Bros.
While their groundbreaking debut often gets the lion's share of historical attention, Wild Planet stands as the absolute peak of the original B-52s quintet. It takes the quirky, thrift-store surf-punk of their first record and hones it into a relentlessly tight, incredibly infectious dance-rock masterpiece. A massive part of that sonic upgrade came from Kate Pierson ditching her Fender Rhodes keyboard bass for a Moog synthesizer, giving the low end a thick, rubbery, and aggressive bite that perfectly anchored the rhythm section. Over the top of that unstoppable groove, Ricky Wilson drops jagged, completely unorthodox guitar riffs, while Cindy, Kate, and Fred deliver their brilliant, chaotic vocal interplay. It is a flawless album that proves you can be brilliantly weird while still laying down undeniable pop hooks. (HOT TIP: If you come across the Mobile Fidelity edition of this album, grab it -- it's the best sounding version of the album, surpassing even the CD.)
#16: softscars (2023)
Artist: yeule
Ninja Tune
With Nat Ćmiel making a second appearance in the absolute highest tier of my list, it is safe to say their work resonates with me on a massive level. If Serotonin II built a brilliant, atmospheric electronic world, softscars takes that foundation and aggressively wires it through jagged alt-rock guitars and crushing shoegaze textures. It perfectly bridges the gap between my love for heavy, fuzzed-out six-strings and intricate, forward-thinking synthesizer production. This record is raw, vulnerable, heavily distorted, and beautifully melodic all at once. It is an absolute triumph that completely cements yeule as one of my favorite artists making music today.
#17: Beyond The Valley of 1984 (1981)
Artist: Plasmatics
Stiff America
It has always killed me to hear people write off the Plasmatics as rudimentary musicians or just a visual shock-rock gimmick, because this album completely proves that accusation is absolute bullshit. The musicianship on Beyond The Valley of 1984 is undeniable. You have Richie Stotts and Wes Beech laying down a brilliantly complementary twin-guitar attack, while Jean Beauvoir drives the low end with some genuinely amazing bass lines. Throw in ex-Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith stepping in as a session player, and the sheer talent in the room is off the charts. It's a ferociously tight, heavy record that seamlessly bridges punk and metal. I love it so much that my original Stiff America pressing has been played to the point where it is currently in desperate need of the wood glue cleaning treatment just to get the grooves back to fighting shape. (I have the 1998 Plasmatics Media CD and the MVD vintyl reissue to hold the fort until then.)
#18: Ai no Dai 6 Kan (2004)
Artist: Morning Musume
Zetima
Following up the Best! compilations from earlier on the list, this record holds a massive sentimental place in my collection. After spending the bulk of 2004 fully diving in and catching up on their extensive back catalog, Ai no Dai 6 Kan was the very first Morning Musume studio album I actively pre-ordered. The anticipation of finally being caught up as a fan and waiting for a brand-new CD to arrive in the mail (especially from Japan in this case) is a thrill every dedicated music nerd knows. But beyond the music itself being a fantastic snapshot of their evolution, this specific disc acts as a perfect personal time capsule. It was in heavy rotation, frequently spinning in the car right around the time I first started dating Tara. Having those undeniable J-pop hooks permanently intertwined with the beginning of my relationship with my wife makes this an absolute lock for the top 20.
#19: Metal Box / Second Edition (1979)
Artist: Public Image Ltd
Virgin / Island
Whether you experienced it first housed in a literal film canister as Metal Box, as 60,000 people -- 50,000 in England and 10,000 in North America as an import item -- did, or in its traditional double-LP pressing as Second Edition as I did, this album represents a monumental, seismic shift in post-punk history. Tracking down those early PiL records was a serious commitment in junior high in 1981-82 — dropping a hefty $12.98 a pop back then on domestic doubles and pricey imports was a heavy investment, but it paid off instantly. John Lydon completely stripped away whatever was left of traditional rock and roll, leaving behind a dark, expansive void. The true anchor of that void is Jah Wobble. His impossibly deep, dub-heavy basslines provide the pulsing heartbeat beneath the screeching, metallic shards of Keith Levene's avant-garde guitar and synthesizer work. It is a dense, menacing, and claustrophobic groove that still sounds completely futuristic decades later.
#20: Evangelic Girl Is A Gun (2025)
Artist: yeule
Ninja Tune
To officially cap off the top 20, it is only right to bring my idol crush-turned-friend back into the rotation. While Serotonin II built a pristine electronic world and softscars aggressively introduced heavy alt-rock and shoegaze, Evangelic Girl Is A Gun is the brilliant, jagged fusion of both those eras. Having picked this up on cassette as well as the usual CD and vinyl, I can confirm the analog warmth perfectly complements the album's mix of grunge-heavy guitars and glitchy, ethereal vocal textures. It is a remarkably brief record, but it hits incredibly hard, right down to the way the final track, "Skullcrusher," pulls the rug out from under the listener with its famously abrupt ending. It is a completely undeniable statement from front to back.
#21: Crowd Control (1981)
Artist: MX-80 Sound
Ralph Records
Kicking off the next tier of the list is a true underground gem that perfectly captures the magic of mail-order music discovery. The catalyst for picking up this specific record was hearing the track "Why Are We Here?" on a Ralph Records sampler EP. That sampler ended up being a massive gateway drug for my collection, prompting me to order Crowd Control right alongside albums from Tuxedomoon, Fred Frith, and the classic Frank Johnson's Favorites compilation. MX-80 Sound was always the perfect outlier on the Ralph roster. While their labelmates were busy completely dismantling pop music, MX-80 was filtering complex, avant-garde noise and deadpan humor through a genuinely heavy, driving rock attack. The combination of Bruce Anderson's frantic, blistering guitar work and Rich Stim's monotone, cynical vocal delivery makes this an absolutely essential piece of American post-punk history.
#22: Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980)
Artist: Dead Kennedys
Cherry Red / IRS / Faulty Products
This album has been through just as many bizarre variations as it has record labels. The physical media history of Fresh Fruit is practically a punk rock legal thriller (and a completist record collector's nightmare) in itself. It started right out of the gate with the first US IRS pressing, which featured a terrible orange-tinted version of the cover that Jello Biafra rightfully made A&M revert back to the iconic black and white. Beyond the artwork battles—including the many back cover variations that triggered the band's earliest legal troubles — the track sequencing was constantly getting butchered. My very first copy was a 1982 Faulty Products pressing that inexplicably shoved "Police Truck" right into the middle of Side One, while later Cherry Red pressings decided to tack "Too Drunk To Fuck" onto the end of the side. And the less said about that stupid, entirely unnecessary Chris Lord-Alge remix commissioned by the former band member partership (minus Biafra's approval or consent) a couple of years ago, the better. But beneath all the pressing chaos and label drama, the original raw recordings remain a razor-sharp, untouchable masterpiece of American political punk... 90% of which was composed musically soley by Biafra, no matter what his greedy ex-bandmates have claimed since then.
#23: Loose Nut (1985)
Artist: Black Flag
SST Records
While their earlier work rightfully holds a massive place in hardcore history, Loose Nut represents a completely different, incredibly heavy chapter for Black Flag. By 1985, the band had fully committed to a slower, sludgier, and more metallic sound, and this album is arguably the peak of that era. Since Kira Roessler is already featured heavily on my Bassists page, this record is essential listening. Her incredibly intricate, driving basslines provide the perfect anchor for Greg Ginn's increasingly complex, feedback-drenched guitar work. The rhythm section -- Kira and drummer Bill Stevenson, soon to return to the Descendents -- is tight and punishing, laying a massive foundation for Henry Rollins' intense, then-newly-melodic vocal delivery. It is a dense, unrelenting record that proves Black Flag was never content to just repeat themselves.
#24: Platinum 9 Disc (2009)
Artist: Morning Musume
Zetima
Making a well-deserved third appearance in the top tier of this list is an absolute masterclass of an album from what fans affectionately dubbed the "Steady 9" lineup. After years of constant roster turnover and the chaotic energy of graduations and new generations, Morning Musume finally locked into a stable, nine-member configuration (with Ai Takahashi and Reina Tanaka in the frontline) that lasted for a solid couple of years. That stability paid off in a massive way. Because they had the time to truly gel as a performing unit, Platinum 9 Disc features some of the tightest vocal arrangements and most confident, cohesive pop tracks of their entire career, including the P-Funk-esque grooves of "Resonant Blue" and the "You broke my heart so I'm going to rip your balls off" attitude of "Kanashimi Twilight". It is a brilliant snapshot of a group firing on all cylinders, proving exactly what happens when a lineup is given the room to breathe, mature, and perfect their dynamic.
#25: She's So Unusual (1983)
Artist: Cyndi Lauper
Portrait
Rounding out the first 25 and officially closing out page one of the list is a flawless pop masterpiece that holds the ultimate nostalgic weight. This era of Cyndi Lauper was the catalyst for my very first concert: Thanksgiving Eve, 1984, at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA, with The Del-Lords opening. I actually knew exactly what the setlist was going to be before she even hit the stage because almost two months earlier, I had taped a live broadcast off the radio when she was filming her "Money Changes Everything" video at the Summit in Houston, TX. (In a brilliant piece of underground music lore, I strongly suspect copies of my specific cassette recording wound up being pressed onto a bootleg CD years later. The dead giveaway? The bootleg lacks her encore perfomance of "What A Thrill," because I had left it off my 'master' copy; the tape had run out in the middle of the song when I was recording.) Beyond the incredible personal history, this album perfectly bridges new wave weirdness with absolute pop perfection. She's So Unusual is one of the greatest debut albums ever made, with no weak cuts to speak of -- "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", "She Bop", "All Through The Night", deep cuts like "When You Were Mine" and "Witness". But of course, the ultimate compliment to Cyndi's talent came not long after this album sold its' first few millions of copies, when Miles Motherfuckin' Davis covered "Time After Time" and gave the song its blessing as a New American Pop Standard that has gotten as many cover versions as "Yesterday" and "Hallelujah" ever since.