Sac's Top 125 Albums of the Last 25 Years

[Saccopoo]

In mirroring Spin's recent list, here's mine:

The Cult – “Love” (1985)
Tom Waits – “Rain Dogs” (1985)
Dire Straights – “Brothers in Arms” (1985)
Tears for Fears – “Songs from the Big Chair” (1985)
Kate Bush – “Hounds of Love” (1985)
The Smiths – “Meat is Murder” (1985)
The Jesus and Mary Chain – “Psychocandy” (1985)
Pre-Fab Sprout – “Two Wheels Good” (1985)
John Mellencamp – “Scarecrow” (1985)
Slayer – “Reign in Blood” (1986)
Robert Cray - "Strong Persuader" (1986)
Run-DMC – “Raising Hell” (1986)
Paul Simon – “Graceland” (1986)
Metallica – “Master of Puppets” (1986)
XTC – “Skylarking” (1986)
The Smiths – “The Queen is Dead” (1986)
Bon Jovi – “Slippery When Wet” (1986)
Peter Gabriel – “So” (1986)
Megadeth – “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?” (1986)
Depeche Mode – “Music For the Masses” (1987)
Guns and Roses – “Appetite for Destruction” (1987)
John Hiatt – “Bring the Family” (1987)
The Cure – “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” (1987)
U2 – “The Joshua Tree” (1987)
Sonic Youth – “Sister” (1987)
New Order – “Substance” (1987)
Prince – “Sign of the Times” (1987)
REM – “Document” (1987)
The Smiths – “Strangeways, Here We Come” (1987)
Jane’s Addiction – “Nothing Shocking” (1988)
Public Enemy – “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” (1988)
NWA – “Straight Outta Compton” (1988)
The Pixies – “Surfer Rosa” (1988)
Enya – “Watermark” (1988)
Sonic Youth – “Daydream Nation” (1988)
Tracy Chapman – “Tracy Chapman” (1988)
Cowboy Junkies – “The Trinity Sessions” (1988)
Nine Inch Nails – “Pretty Hate Machine” (1989)
Faith No More – “The Real Thing” (1989)
De La Soul – “Three Feet High and Rising” (1989)
Beastie Boys – “Paul’s Boutique” (1989)
The Cure – “Disintegration” (1989)
The Stone Roses – “The Stone Roses” (1989)
The Pixies – “Doolittle” (1989)
Tom Petty – “Full Moon Fever” (1989)
Soundgarden – “Louder Than Love” (1989)
Social Distortion – “Social Distortion” (1990)
The Black Crowes – “Shake Your Money Maker” (1990)
Garth Brooks – “No Fences” (1990)
My Bloody Valentine – “Loveless” (1991)
Massive Attack – “Blue Lines” (1991)
Primal Scream – “Screamadelica” (1991)
Nirvana – “Nevermind” (1991)
Pearl Jam – “Ten” (1991)
Metallica – “The Black Album” (1991)
Matthew Sweet – “Girlfriend” (1991)
U2 – “Achtung Baby” (1991)
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Blood Sex Sugar Magic” (1991)
De La Soul – “De La Soul is Dead” (1991)
Smashing Pumpkins – “Gish” (1991)
Fishbone – “Reality of My Surroundings” (1991)
Pavement – “Slanted & Enchanted” (1992)
REM – “Automatic for the People” (1992)
Los Lobos – “Kiko” (1992)
Pantera - "Vulgar Display of Power" (1992)
Rage Against the Machine – “Rage Against the Machine” (1992)
k.d. Lang – “Ingenue” (1992)
The Orb – “U.F.Orb” (1992)
Lyle Lovett – “Joshua Judges Ruth” (1992)
The Melvins - "Houdini" (1993)
Bjork – “Debut” (1993)
Nirvana – “In Utero” (1993)
Tiamat – “Wildhoney” (1994)
Portishead – “Dummy” (1994)
Jeff Buckley – “Grace” (1994)
Green Day – “Dookie” (1994)
Live – “Throwing Copper” (1994)
Ben Harper – “Welcome to the Cruel World” (1994)
Oasis – “Definitely Maybe” (1994)
Tricky – “Maxinquaye” (1995)
Oasis – “What’s the Story Morning Glory” (1995)
Alanis Morissette – “Jagged Little Pill” (1995)
Radiohead – “The Bends” (1995)
Beck – “Odelay” (1996)
Tool – “Aenima” (1996)
DJ Shadow – “Endtroducing” (1996)
Steve Earle – “I Feel Alright” (1996)
16 Horsepower – “Sackcloth & Ashes” (1996)
Sublime – “Sublime” (1996)
Radiohead – “OK Computer” (1997)
Shania Twain – “Come on Over” (1997)
Air – “Moon Safari” (1998)
Lucinda Williams – “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” (1998)
Massive Attack – “Mezzanine” (1998)
Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over the Sea” (1998)
The Beta Band – “Three EP’s” (1998)
Refused – “The Shape of Punk to Come” (1998)
The Flaming Lips – “The Soft Bulletin” (1999)
Moby – “Play” (1999)
Radiohead – “Kid A” (2000)
PJ Harvey – “Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea” (2000)
Coldplay – “Parachutes” (2000)
Goldfrapp – “Felt Mountain” (2000)
Opeth – “Blackwater Park” (2001)
Daftpunk – “Discovery” (2001)
The Strokes – “Is This It?” (2001)
The Shins – “Oh, Inverted World” (2001)
Wilco – “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” (2002)
Jurassic 5 – “Power in Numbers” (2002)
Johnny Cash – “American Recordings IV: The Man Comes Around” (2002)
The Flaming Lips – “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” (2002)
The White Stripes – “Elephant” (2003)
OutKast – “Speakerboxxx” (2003)
Michael Franti – “Songs From the Front Porch” (2003)
Radiohead – “Hail to the Thief” (2003)
Arcade Fire – “Funeral” (2004)
Green Day – “American Idiot” (2004)
The Killers – “Hot Fuss” (2004)
LCD Soundsystem – “The Sound of Silver” (2007)
The National – “Boxer” (2007)
Blonde Redhead – “23” (2007)
Okkervil River – “The Stage Names” (2007)
Iron & Wine – “The Shepards Dog” (2007)
Animal Collective – “Merriweather Post Pavilion” (2009)
Florence & the Machine – “Lungs” (2009)

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by Saccopoo

In mirroring Spin's recent list, here's mine:

Refused – “The Shape of Punk to Come” (1998)

Refused has some 2nd reunion tour dates in 2015. I liked this album a lot when it came out. I hope the Shape of Punk to Come isn't round as tickets to the Chicago show are $32 and I'm always hesitant to see older bands that suddenly reappear. Small-ish venue show so it could be cool. Debating tickets.

[rico]

Sac has really good taste in music, IMO.

[Deberg_1990]

Oasis getting sum luv!

[DMAC]

meh

Gimme 125 little known albums.

[DJJasonp]

Very solid list.....some comments:

Gish (pumpkins) was great.....but siamese dream was a tad better (IMO)

No chemical brothers? (Exit planet dust).....that should be there before the trendy pick of daft punk's '01 offering.

Would add Pulp "a different class" as well.

Someone else commented on massive attack choice.....and i concur.

Well done list though!

[Pitt Gorilla]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

Very solid list.....some comments:

Gish (pumpkins) was great.....but siamese dream was a tad better (IMO)

No chemical brothers? (Exit planet dust).....that should be there before the trendy pick of daft punk's '01 offering.

Would add Pulp "a different class" as well.

Someone else commented on massive attack choice.....and i concur.

Well done list though!

Daft Punk was trendy?

[BigMeatballDave]

****ing Bon Jovi – “Slippery When Wet” but no Def Leppard 'Hysteria'?

**** you.

[Saccopoo]

I'll have to think about the last five years and see if I don't amend this list. I've been really busy with work and I'm behind on my listening by about two years. Kinda been slacking in terms of my musical appreciation. As well, the internet has exploded with a lot of new artists and styles and shit. Music is a busy, chaotic thing right now as they move from hard copy materials (CD's) to the new formats of FLAC, DSD or whathaveyou that give one a better sound than the poor MP3 defacto choice of the last decade or so.

Oh, and Def Leppard's "Hysteria" absolutely sucks. It's a pure product of Mutt Lange (who is incredibly effective at what he does, but making or attempting to make a megahit album is what he does) and a direct attempt at dominating the charts with poppy rock schlock.

It's predictable and repetitive with horrible songwriting and every element in the production process was engineered with one thought - to make every song a hit. They took "Pyromania" and turned it into a studio production project. Each aspect of the production process was incredibly controlled.

If you listen to the songs individually, you say "That's a really good song." Taken as a whole, the album feels fake.

(Now, I do have another Mutt Lange mega-hit album on my list in Shania Twain's "Come on Over," but that has a much more harmonious feel to it while maintaining the "big" song concept. A later and more polished Lange interpretation of what he was attempting to do with Hysteria.)

[Third Eye]

I don't think I saw this when it was originally posted. Pretty solid list as far as my tastes are concerned with a few notable exceptions and curiosities.

While I personally prefer The Real Thing over Angel Dust, I'm curious how the latter didn't make it if the former did. Also struggling with Peace Sells, but no Rust in Peace which for my money is far superior.

Glad to see a little 16 Horsepower love, even though I enjoy Wovenhand a bit more as a band.

Somewhat surprised not to see Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros not included.

Don't even get me started on The Black Album, that's an argument that has been had far too many times.

[Saccopoo]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

I don't think I saw this when it was originally posted. Pretty solid list as far as my tastes are concerned with a few notable exceptions and curiosities.

While I personally prefer The Real Thing over Angel Dust, I'm curious how the latter didn't make it if the former did. Also struggling with Peace Sells, but no Rust in Peace which for my money is far superior.

Glad to see a little 16 Horsepower love, even though I enjoy Wovenhand a bit more as a band.

Somewhat surprised not to see Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros not included.

Don't even get me started on The Black Album, that's an argument that has been had far too many times.

Dave Edwards is terrific, and I do really enjoy his Wovenhand era. (Went to see him a year and a half ago when he was in town.) I do think "Sackcloth and Ashes is a more impactful album than any of the Wovenhand stuff, although not "better" in a sense of matured musicality as it relates to the artist.


Woven Hand Dirty Blue by Dagoba54

[DaveNull]

Good list. Interested to see what new music you would add (Random Access Memories, Black Messiah), what isn't really holding up over time (Play, Throwing Copper), and what was left off (The Chronic).

[SuperChief]

There's far more that I agree with than disagree with, but off the top of my head, I'd take out:

American Idiot
Power in Numbers
The Shape of Punk to Come
Gish
Boxer

...and replace them with

Siamese Dream
The Chronic
Toxicity
Alice In Chains: Unplugged
Blues Traveler Four

Just me, though! Good list!

[Easy 6]

Bon Jovi? good grief man... theres an awful lot to like on this list, but thats easily the worst pick of them all.

Janes Addiction was a great choice but RDLH should've been the pick there... its a much better album with a much more well defined sound.

The Cures Kiss Me x 3 is a good choice, I remember the ex wife trying to get me listen to it for a looong time... "what? man **** those guys, no thanks babe"... then I actually listened to it, was probably high at the time, and then it all clicked, loved it after that. Moody and atmospheric, wish I still had it.

The Cult, just like JA its a great band choice but totally wrong album... Electric is the one that defined their sound, still own that one.

The Black Album

Green Day anything and you had THREE choices from those jackoffs?

Love that first Strokes album.

Wrong choice for Coldplay, its either X & Y or ROBTTH.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by SuperChief

Siamese Dream

How did THIS album get left out, talk about groundbreaking, it makes Phil Spectors "wall of sound" look like a joke... still listen to this all the time.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Saccopoo

Oh, and Def Leppard's "Hysteria" absolutely sucks. It's a pure product of Mutt Lange (who is incredibly effective at what he does, but making or attempting to make a megahit album is what he does) and a direct attempt acharts with poppy rock schlock.

It's predictable and repetitive with horrible songwriting and every element in the production process was engineered with one thought - to make every song a hit. They took "Pyromania" and turned it into a studio production project. Each aspect of the production process was incredibly controlled.

If you listen to the songs individually, you say "That's a really good song." Taken as a whole, the album feels fake.

(Now, I do have another Mutt Lange mega-hit album on my list in Shania Twain's "Come on Over," but that has a much more harmonious feel to it while maintaining the "big" song concept. A later and more polished Lange interpretation of what he was attempting to do with Hysteria.)

This post is a massive pile of fail. Not only do you completely misunderstand the recording, editing and production process and fail to recognize I've the sheer brilliance of this record, you state that the song "suck", despite the fact they connected with tens of millions (if not hundreds of million) of people