Favorites: Albums
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#101: 1000 Hurts (2000)
Artist: Shellac
Touch and Go Records
Operating completely devoid of commercial compromise, Shellac's 1000 Hurts is a stunning monument to tension, release, and pure analog audio engineering. Boasting the bleak, sarcastic tagline "There are no pure moments of pleasure" printed right on the back, the album delivers on that promise with a stark, menacing minimalism. Steve Albini's signature aluminum-neck guitar tone slashes through the mix like a razor, perfectly locked into Bob Weston's thick, lurching bass lines and Todd Trainer's punishing, metronomic drum work. Because the band explicitly treats the recording studio as an honest documentary tool rather than a place for digital manipulation, the sonics here are breathtakingly real—you can practically hear the room breathing between the notes. Anchored by the venomous, darkly hilarious intensity of tracks like "Prayer to God," it is a brilliant, abrasive, and completely essential document of post-hardcore mastery.
#102: Red (1974)
Artist: King Crimson
Island / Atlantic Records
Operating on the absolute brink of collapse, the 1974 iteration of King Crimson stripped their sound down to a core trio and delivered an apocalyptic, proto-metal masterpiece. Robert Fripp, John Wetton, and Bill Bruford essentially weaponized progressive rock on Red, trading in airy fantasy for terrifying, aggressive dissonance. The instrumental title track is a masterclass in heavy, grinding tritone riffage that predates doom metal, perfectly anchored by Wetton's monstrous, distorted bass tone and Bruford's dizzying, polyrhythmic jazz chops. But the album's ultimate triumph is the closing track, "Starless." Arguably the single greatest achievement in the entire prog-rock canon, it slowly mutates from a gorgeous, mournful Mellotron ballad into a frantic, terrifyingly tense free-jazz-metal climax. It is a brilliant, uncompromising swan song for the 1970s era of the band, capturing a muscular, forward-thinking heaviness that would profoundly influence the alternative underground decades later.
#103: From Beneath the Streets (1987)
Artist: Token Entry
Positive Force Records
While the late-1980s New York Hardcore scene is often remembered for its heavy, aggressive breakdowns and intense tough-guy posturing, Token Entry offered a brilliant, high-velocity antidote. Emerging from the hardcore-rich borough of Queens, the band operated with a frantic, undeniably positive energy that made them absolute legends of the CBGB Sunday matinee era. Released in 1987 on Kevin Seconds' Positive Force label, From Beneath the Streets is a relentless, skate-friendly sprint of a record. It captures a band entirely uninterested in scene politics or intimidation, focusing instead on blistering speed, tight musicianship, and the pure, communal fun of a chaotic punk rock show. Decades later, it remains a mandatory, exhilarating listen for anyone looking to understand the full, dynamic picture of classic NYHC.
#104: Heaven Tonight (1978)
Artist: Cheap Trick
Epic Records
Arriving just a heartbeat before their legendary live album in Japan turned them into global icons, 1978's Heaven Tonight stands as Cheap Trick's definitive studio masterpiece. It is the ultimate distillation of their genius formula: seamlessly grafting the pristine, infectious pop melodies of The Beatles onto the muscular, overdriven guitar crunch of The Who. The album is forever immortalized by "Surrender," an untouchable, fist-pumping anthem of teenage rebellion that famously reveals the parents are actually cooler than the kids. But beyond the hits, tracks like the menacingly heavy "Auf Wiedersehen" and the psychedelic title track prove exactly why the record became a holy grail for future hard rock architects like Nikki Sixx. Rick Nielsen's heavy riffing and Robin Zander's flawless vocal delivery essentially wrote the blueprint for how to make hard rock incredibly catchy without sacrificing a single ounce of its swagger.
#105: Songs for Swinging Larvae (1981)
Artist: Renaldo and the Loaf
Ralph Records
Operating completely outside the boundaries of conventional pop music, British duo Renaldo and the Loaf delivered a masterpiece of bedroom avant-garde with 1981's Songs for Swinging Larvae. Finding a natural home on The Residents' legendary Ralph Records, Brian Poole (Ranaldo Malpractice) and David Janssen (Ted The Loaf) utilized razor blades, tape loops, and wildly detuned acoustic instruments to construct an incredibly dense, surreal sonic landscape. The album straddles a brilliant line between childlike playfulness and genuine, creeping menace. With bizarre, processed vocals and off-kilter, shifting time signatures on tracks like "Is Guava a Donut?," it shares the same uncompromising, alien theatricality of their labelmates while carving out its own distinct brand of eccentric tape-splice genius. It is a wildly creative, deeply unsettling, and completely essential listen for anyone fascinated by the outer limits of DIY experimentalism.
#106: 1981: The Year In Seven Inches (1984/1993)
Artist: The Teen Idles, S.O.A. (State Of Alert), Government Issue,
and Youth Brigade
Dischord Records
Serving as the Rosetta Stone for Washington D.C. hardcore, 1981: The Year in Seven Inches (originally issued on vinyl as Four Old 7"s on a 12") is a vital, breakneck documentary of a scene being built from the ground up. In the early 1980s, Dischord Records was operating as a completely independent, DIY operation, pressing small runs of singles that sold out immediately. To keep the music (and at the time it was first released in 1984, the label) alive, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson compiled those foundational, out-of-print EPs into a single release. The result is an explosive snapshot of punk history. It features the incredibly influential, straight-edge genesis of The Teen Idles; the snotty, high-speed aggression of Government Issue; the tight, focused attack of Youth Brigade; and the very first recorded output of a ferocious young frontman named Henry Garfield — soon to be known to the world as Henry Rollins — leading State of Alert (S.O.A.). It is an unfiltered, lightning-in-a-bottle archive of teenagers completely rewriting the rules of underground rock.
#107: Hex Enduction Hour (1982)
Artist: The Fall
Kamera Records
Operating under the heavy assumption that his band was completely falling apart and this would be their final statement, frontman Mark E. Smith threw absolutely everything at the wall for 1982's Hex Enduction Hour. By treating the album as a definitive swan song, The Fall achieved a breathtaking level of uncompromising, abrasive freedom. Utilizing a massive, two-drummer lineup, the rhythm section locks into relentless, hypnotic, and thundering grooves that perfectly anchor Smith's biting, cynical, and famously cryptic Northern English poetry. From the jaw-dropping, controversial opening provocation of "The Classical" to the sprawling, mesmerizing crawl of "Hip Priest" (famously utilized years later in The Silence of the Lambs), the record is an hour of pure, unfiltered post-punk genius. Fortunately for music history, the album's critical triumph convinced Smith to abandon his plans to disband, ensuring The Fall would continue their prolific, utterly unique reign for decades to come.
#108: Too High to Die (1994)
Artist: Meat Puppets
London Records
After spending over a decade as one of the most brilliant and deeply weird bands in the American underground, the Meat Puppets finally secured their mainstream breakthrough with 1994's Too High to Die. Coming off the massive cultural boost of playing alongside Nirvana on MTV Unplugged, brothers Curt and Cris Kirkwood, along with drummer Derrick Bostrom, delivered a flawless distillation of their signature desert-punk sound. Driven by the massive, undeniably catchy rock-radio hit "Backwater," the album proves that their unique blend of ZZ Top-style boogie, country twang, and psychedelic wandering could be molded into genuine pop hooks. Yet, for all its platinum-selling accessibility, the record remains incredibly weird and authentic to their SST roots, featuring stellar, winding guitar work on tracks like "Violet Eyes" and an updated, hidden-track version of their classic "Lake of Fire." It is a triumphant, sun-baked classic of the '90s alternative boom.
#109: EVOL (1986)
Artist: Sonic Youth
SST Records
Arriving in 1986 as their debut release for the legendary SST Records, EVOL is the sound of Sonic Youth discovering their definitive identity. Serving as the vital bridge between the terrifying no-wave dissonance of their early EPs and the indie-rock majesty of Daydream Nation, the album is a masterpiece of dark, brooding tension. The secret weapon here is the recruitment of drummer Steve Shelley, whose propulsive, motorik beat finally provided the band with a reliable engine, allowing Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, and Lee Ranaldo to fully explore the hypnotic, chiming possibilities of their severely altered guitar tunings. From the whispered, late-night paranoia of Kim Gordon's "Shadow of a Doubt" to the sprawling, masterful sonic decay of the closing track "Expressway to Yr. Skull" (famously praised by Neil Young as one of the greatest guitar tracks ever recorded), it is a cinematic, deeply unsettling triumph that completely redrew the boundaries of alternative rock.
#110: Faith (1981)
Artist: The Cure
Fiction Records
If Seventeen Seconds established The Cure's signature atmospheric chill, 1981's Faith saw them diving headfirst into a deep, grey fog of spiritual and existential mourning. Serving as the middle chapter of Robert Smith’s definitive "Gloom Trilogy," the album largely abandons traditional rock dynamics for a slow, minimalist, and intensely somber soundscape. The production is famously cold and cavernous, with Simon Gallup’s prominent, melodic bass work acting as the primary melodic engine while Smith’s guitars provide ghostly, shimmering textures in the background. From the funeral-march pace of the opening track "The Holy Hour" to the crushing, hopeless finality of the title track, the record is a masterclass in sustained mood and restraint. It is a deeply personal, meditative document of loss and fading conviction, proving that sometimes the quietest moments in music can be the most devastatingly heavy.
#112: Dirge (2011)
Artist: Wormrot
Earache Records
When Wormrot erupted out of Singapore's vibrant underground, they didn't just participate in the global grindcore scene—they completely revitalized it. 2011’s Dirge is a breathtaking display of economy and violence, packing 25 tracks into a mere 18 minutes of pure, unadulterated sonic warfare. While the speed is often terminal, what sets the album apart is the surprising amount of groove and "crusty" punk energy buried within the chaos. Arif’s vocal range is legendary, shifting from guttural roars to glass-shattering shrieks with terrifying ease, all while backed by some of the tightest, most punishing drumming in the genre. Knowing the humans behind the noise — Arif and his then-manager/girlfriend, now wife, Azean — makes the album’s global success feel even more deserved. They are proof that with enough DIY spirit and raw, uncompromising talent, you can reach the absolute top of the extreme music world from anywhere on the planet.
#111: The Secondman's Middle Stand (2004)
Artist: Mike Watt
Columbia Records
Operating as both a harrowing medical documentary and a triumphant survival epic, Mike Watt's third solo album, The Secondman's Middle Stand, is a conceptual masterpiece. Following a terrifying, near-fatal illness in 2000 that nearly ended his life, Watt channeled the trauma of the sickness, the delirium of the fever, and the agonizing process of healing into a sprawling rock opera modeled structurally on Dante's Divine Comedy. Backed by his band The Secondmen, Watt made the brilliant, left-turn decision to forgo a traditional guitar player, relying instead on Pete Mazich's massive, swirling Hammond B3 organ and Jerry Trebotic's rock-solid drumming. The result is a heavy, churning, jazz-infused punk record that sounds unlike anything else in his vast catalog. Knowing Watt personally makes the unvarnished vulnerability of the lyrics hit with devastating gravity, but for any listener, it stands as a fearless, deeply moving testament to the indomitable human spirit.
#112: Dirge (2011)
Artist: Wormrot
Earache Records
When Wormrot erupted out of Singapore's vibrant underground, they didn't just participate in the global grindcore scene—they completely revitalized it. 2011’s Dirge is a breathtaking display of economy and violence, packing 25 tracks into a mere 18 minutes of pure, unadulterated sonic warfare. While the speed is often terminal, what sets the album apart is the surprising amount of groove and "crusty" punk energy buried within the chaos. Arif’s vocal range is legendary, shifting from guttural roars to glass-shattering shrieks with terrifying ease, all while backed by some of the tightest, most punishing drumming in the genre. Knowing a couple of the humans behind the noise — Arif and his then-manager/girlfriend (now wife) Azean — makes the album’s global success feel even more deserved. They are proof that with enough DIY spirit and raw, uncompromising talent, you can reach the absolute top of the extreme music world from anywhere on the planet.
#113: Flood (1990)
Artist: They Might Be Giants
Elektra Records
With 1990’s Flood, the New York duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh effectively proved that being "too smart for rock and roll" was actually a superpower. As their major-label debut, the album is a whimsical, hyper-literate explosion of eclectic pop that successfully smuggled accordion solos and songs about historical Turkish capital cities into the alternative mainstream. From the brassy, unstoppable energy of "Birdhouse in Your Soul" to the frantic, drum-machine-driven absurdity of "Particle Man," the record is a dizzying display of songwriting craft. What makes the album truly endure isn't just the quirkiness, but the underlying technical brilliance—Linnell’s melodic hooks are world-class, and Flansburgh’s genre-hopping production keeps the energy relentless. It remains the definitive entry point for a band that turned geeky curiosity into an absolute art form, proving that brainy, eccentric music could still command a massive, dedicated audience.
#114: Pinkerton (1996)
Artist: Weezer
Geffen Records
Few albums have undergone a more dramatic critical reappraisal than Weezer’s 1996 sophomore effort, Pinkerton. Initially dismissed as a messy, abrasive disappointment following the multi-platinum success of their debut, the record has since been canonized as a raw, foundational masterpiece of the emo and alternative rock genres. Rivers Cuomo famously stepped away from the quirky, power-pop polish of the "Blue Album" to deliver a self-produced, deeply confessional, and sonically jagged document of loneliness and romantic frustration. From the crunching, fuzzed-out frustration of "Tired of Sex" to the fragile, melodic longing of "Across the Sea," the album is defined by its unvarnished honesty and thick, distorted guitar textures. It is a brave, messy, and intensely human record that traded commercial safety for lasting emotional resonance, eventually becoming the most influential work in the band's entire career.
#115: 1999 (1982)
Artist: Prince
Warner Bros. Records
While Purple Rain may have provided the cinematic peak, 1982's 1999 is the moment Prince truly perfected the "Minneapolis Sound." A sprawling double-album masterpiece, it saw Prince operating as a one-man studio army, blending infectious pop hooks with a cold, robotic funk fueled by pioneering use of the LinnDrum machine. From the apocalyptic celebration of the title track to the sleek, synth-driven swagger of "Little Red Corvette," the record serves as the definitive bridge between the funk era and the digital future. Its legacy is so absolute that for many, the initial single-disc CD release was considered incomplete because it infamously omitted "D.M.S.R."—a essential seven-minute funk manifesto that perfectly encapsulated the record's rebellious, high-energy spirit. It remains a staggering display of virtuosity and production genius that remains just as influential over forty years later.