Top 25 Albums of All Time Part V: #10-6

And I return! Sorry this took so long, I have a life to live.

10. Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness



Apparently there was a summer when my family was on vacation and my father played this CD a lot. I have no recollection of that, but perhaps it was that early influence that made the album stand out to me. It’s epic in ever way. Duration, songwriting, arrangements, music videos, presentation, everything about this album is incredibly epic. But while some pieces of music that are as grand as this fail because the quality of the music gets caught up in the concept, Corgan and crew flourish in it. And the best part is that while it does swoon through emotions with string sections and acoustics, it can just as easily turn around and kick your ass with its rock tracks. And while “1979” and “Tonight, Tonight” are mainstream almost to the point of being played out, they still hit exactly at the right spot sonically every time. While Billy Corgan has sort of lost his writing edge in the post-Zwan era Pumpkins, it’s good to know I can always go back to Mellon Collie and enjoy utter brilliance.



9. Devo- Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!



There was a time in my musical life when I would listen to and pretend to enjoy everything that was weird or abnormal. Some of the stuff I actually dug, some of it I bumped because it was different and most of the time had some musical merit. For a little while I thought Devo, and specifically their debut, fell in the latter category. I don’t know when it was when this album went to bizarre to great, but it was a pretty quick change. Maybe it’s because Devo combines some elements of progressive rock with the straightforwardness of punk, or maybe it’s because of the bizarre lyrics and themes but I really do love me some Are We Not Men? This is an album that downright turns a lot of people off to the non “Whip It” sound that Devo had before they got popular, but it certainly has made me appreciate them a lot more.



8. Red Hot Chili Peppers- Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magik



While many of the bands that I have already mentioned on this list and will mention as the post goes on are consideremd my favorites, the Chili Peppers really aren’t. Just like every musician (bass players especially) there is that essential period of time when one falls in love with RHCP, and with some they stick, but with me everything following their breakout is just sort of weak. Their work prior was good, but aside from a few tracks on Mother’s Milk, none of it was particularly memorable. And the stuff after BSSM is good, but it lacks the raw power and vigor that BSSM has. But coming back to the point, Chili Peppers made a great album that change the face of popular music. Hair metal dominated the 80’s and grunge and pop punk prevailed over most of the 90’s but the Chili Peppers really made it acceptable to be weird and funky and still be able to make money. They didn’t play to conventions and they clearly loved what they were doing (or the drugs made them love it). BSSM has some classic tracks like “Suck My Kiss” “Under the Bridge” and “Give It Away” but it also has a lot of great groove based songs that go under the radar like “Mellowship Slinky in B Major” and the title track. Every few months I arbitrarily try and tell myself the Chili Peppers are too mainstream ans sellout for my taste, and then I hear a track off this album and just get schooled. They were awesome. They aren’t so much anymore, but this album makes me wanna pick up my bass and just jam.



7. Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique



There are some albums that really mark a radical change in the way music is looked at, and in my opinion, if it wasn’t for Paul’s Boutique, acts like Girl Talk and Super Mash Bros. would be without a job. The Beasties created a sonic atmosphere unlike any other following their one note debut, it shows growth on all fronts by the group. Lyrically it’s good, but the Beasties have never been considered top tier lyricists as much as they have been admired for their creativity. I can rap along with them and just have a good time, and they don’t seem to care about not challenging the world, so why should I? And the beats are just so cool, they sample so much stuff, but it’s not like modern mash-up artists where the samples make the art, here they add a foundation to the crazy lyrics crafted by the Boys. If there was an album that brought me from being a casual hip-hop fan to hardcore one, it is this without question.



6. The Beatles- Let It Be



NOT Sgt. Pepper! NOT Abbey Road! NOT Revolver! Number six on my list? Am I crazy? Yes. Let It Be is one of the first 2 CD’s I ever purchased, and for the first few years of having it, I never really listened to it. I skipped to the title track and “Get Back” and turned it off. Then, in my post puberty classic rock phase I dusted off the disc and popped it in, and it fit. It fit every mood. I remember driving around post breakups during high school with this album and feeling like there was hope for me yet (THERE STILL IS DAVE, HANG IN THERE!) and there were times when I just felt like hearing some great tunes and I’d put this on and get that. While every Beatles album has a resounding effect on me, as they should with most listeners, Let It Be is the one the evaded me in my youth, only to come back ten fold when I gave it a second chance. And did I mention “Get Back” is easily in the top five Beatles songs for me? Dare I say it is the best?!



ONE MORE TO GO! WHAT WILL BE ON THE LIST?! WHO KNOWS?! ME!

Top 25 Albums of All Time Part IV: #15-11

Guess whose back? No The Eminem Show won't be on this list...

15. Van Halen- Van Halen



My first concert was A Perfect Circle, but the first concert that I got really excited for was Van Halen. I remember having very little experience with the band, aside from what friends had played me, but thanks to a hookup from my father, I got really good floor seat tickets and my dad paid for half of them. With all of that being said, my preparation for the concert was the bands self titled debut and jeez did it prepare me well. I remember driving to the concert in my dad’s truck with the album blasting, and my dad just saying how it never stopped being loud and over the top. And that’s why it’s great. When it does cease on my favorite track “Ice Cream Man” it does so only to build it’s explosion that much more (my dad liked the song up until said explosion). The guitar work is obviously incredible, Lee Roth brings the frontman thing to new levels and Anthony and Alex Van Halen provide for a great backing section. A great pop rock album, regardless of what metalheads may say, it is pop through and through and I love it.



14. System of a Down- Hypnotize



Another album that came along at a great time for me. It was senior year, I was leaving on a plane for California in mere hours and I ran to Target to pick this up, import it onto my iPod and get it loaded and charged for the plane ride ahead. Now the first listen of this noisy chaotic mess of an album I was disappointed. I had listened to it’s prequel Mesmerize a hundred times and had fallen in love with it, but Hypnotize was almost too much. However, after listening to it several times, and having years and years of musical knowledge behind my back now (not to be a braggart, I just know a lot more about music now than I did then), I learned that the collective oddness of Hypnotize is truly the best effort that System of a Down brought to this day. They took a huge risk on a major label album and made a fantastically quirky metal album that does not translate easily to the masses, it’s pure genius in my mind. And while there are a handful of songs I downright dislike, as well as Serj Tankian’s over the top lyrics, I love this album as a whole. No doubt.



13. Queens of the Stone Age- Songs For The Deaf



I think second to Ocean Avenue, this was an album that I caught a lot of flack for listening to in high school, but unlike Ocean Avenue, most of the haters have grown into liking Josh Homme’s heroine induced desert rock wet dream. I got this album after hearing “No One Knows” on MTV2 back in the day and I instantly loved the way the rest of the album diverts from that sound, pretty much every track sounds at least a little bit different from the rest. And compared to much of music (and more than a few albums on this list) that’s a really good thing. Not to mention Dave Grohl behind the kit on this album is just an adrenaline burner, as he brings it hardcore. And this is the last album the Nick Oliveri played on before being kicked out of the band, so it really has a lot to say. To me personally it was the album that made me divert from the norm of the pop punk I’d been listening to almost exclusively up until that point.



12. The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Electric Ladyland



Why Ladyland over Are You Experienced? or even Axis? Simple. Because Ladyland is a mix of both of those two albums. To me Are You Experienced? will always be the Hendrix album that is beaten into every young guitarists head, as well as every classic rock radio station. It has more or less 90% of Jimi’s hits. Axis is a great album in its own right, but it just doesn’t have that zing factor, but Ladyland...it’s perfect. There are some really popular songs in “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and “All Along The Watchtower” on top of some great jams you’ll never hear on the radio. Jimi brought me into loving the guitar as an instrument, as I’m sure he’s done with countless players, and this album is just a wonderful showing of how great he can play without having that sellout factor that I feel like Are You Experienced? had.



11. Public Enemy- It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back



I was a senior in high school when I bought this album and everyone thought it was sort of a joke. Flavor Flav was at the peak of his fame on VH1 and the only hip-hop I had been listening to was the Beastie Boys. I remember playing this album and just being wowed by Chuck D’s presence. Flav does bring the charisma to the group, but Chuck’s words are tremendously impactful that they made, and to this day still make me feel like I am a black American suffering through the same things that Public Enemy is. Fast forward a few years later to a time when I had sort of put this album and PE on the back burner, and my at the time boss brought them up in conversation, saying “Have you heard ‘Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos’?” And it had been so long I said “I don’t think so,” and when he put that song on it hooked me right back in. Chuck D is my number 2 favorite rapper of all time, and Public Enemy as a whole is my number 3 favorite rap group of all time. And they make you party for your right to fight in a time when people were just fighting for their right to party.



Two more installments and this will all be done!