Category: 1-10
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10. Primal Scream – Screamadelica (1991)
With a band name and album title like those, I was firmly convinced I’d be in for another ride like Metallica or Back In Black. So when the opening two tracks turned out to be driven by acoustic guitars and a sampled drum loop respectively, it came as a surprise. I had no idea what…
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9. Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols (1977)
Where to start with this one? I don’t think there’s much point talking in detail about any track individually because, lyrics aside, they’re all quite similar. Certain songs, such as God Save The Queen and EMI seem strangely prescient in 2022. Others, like New York and Bodies, have aged very poorly indeed. Just like Back…
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8. Massive Attack – Blue Lines (1991)
At first listening, Massive Attack seems to be another band whose influence I’d been underestimating until now. The slick, sampled beats and minimal electronics sound both familiar and modern, despite the fact that the album (which I’ve never heard before) came out over 30 years ago. They specifically reminded me of some of the music…
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7. AC/DC – Back In Black
Back In Black, got off to a fairly strong start with Hells Bells, a song which has what I can only describe as an endearingly adolescent interpretation of Satanism as its central subject matter. The production values are good throughout, the sound of a rock band can be very satisfying when done right and this…
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5. Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (1959)
We’ve come to the first of two albums containing music which was on the GCSE or A-Level syllabus when I was studying for those particular exams. The other one is Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love, but that’s not until we get to number 46 on the list. If you’d talked to me in 2015, I…
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6. The Beatles – Abbey Road (1969)
Once again, I find myself compelled to write a little introductory paragraph prior to listening to the album, because the Beatles are so enduringly popular and I’ve never quite been able to understand why. I’ve been told many times about the cultural phenomenon that gripped the world in the 1960s, but it’s impossible to really…
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4. Bee Gees (and others) – Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Saturday Night Fever is a collection of 70s disco, all featured in the movie of the same name. Despite featuring on the album cover along with a very awkwardly posed John Travolta (it’s so weird, he looks like a Ken doll that was abandoned halfway through playtime), and being listed as the sole artist on…
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3. Metallica – Metallica (1991)
As I write this introductory paragraph, I have not yet listened to Metallica. To be perfectly honest, I’m not looking forward to it. My prejudices are telling me that it’s going to be the epitome of all the negative stereotypes I associate with the genre; mindless shouting noise with all the intelligence of a brick.…
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2. Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (1977)
Rumours is the first example, most likely of many, of the “oh, that’s who that’s by” phenomenon, where I finally learn the artist and proper title of a song I’ve heard in passing many times before. In this case, Don’t Stop was the cause. I’ve never paid much attention to it, and possibly never will…
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1. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Here we go then. My brother has always insisted that this is an amazing album, and if it’s good enough for the cover alone to become a pop culture icon in its own right then it must have done something right. For the first five minutes or so, I attempted to write as I listened,…
Nick Hoad 