The Crowe 100

[phedrekushiel]

This post marks the halfway point! HurrAH!

52. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
In a purely biographical sense, this album has done little to shape my life in any form... which would explain it's existence in the back 50. But let me say, had this album come along earlier in my life, things could have been a lot different for my musical future... although I suppose you could say this about any particular album/artist. I have no boring/interesting stories about this one- my roommate in Chicago told me about a Mr. Grieves cover, knowing that the Pixies were on constant spin in my little apartment. Then of course I was aware of these guys when this little ditty caused an eUproar and everyone and their moms were talking about the best album of 2006. I can't help but agree really... with a unique vocalist (you've recognized the trend) and a beautiful congregation of drum loops, heavy distortion and (relatively untalked about) lyrical content that is dark and forbidding. Hell, Wolf Like Me the essential single off of this album is about a nymphomaniac telling a whore about how he is going to teach her new tricks that even SHE hasn't seen yet... but she's a WHORE! So, I mean... look for themes of armageddon, downtrodden youth, unbridled hubris - you'll continue to see them in their back catalogue as well as in Dear Science,.

Check out: Playhouses, Tonight, Wolf Like Me

51. The Four Seasons - Sherry and 11 Others (1962)
In almost a complete turnaround from TV on the Radio's entry, this album had a huge impact on my life while not really giving me any long lasting musical attachment. I used to live in Atlanta, GA - and my grandparents lived in the middle of Illinois... so as a child getting to visit them was quite the occasion. Whenever we'd arrive, my grandparents would always, always be playing some sort of 50's pop, and their favorite album (well, second to Pet SounRAB) was Sherry and 11 Others. Walk Like a Man and Sherry are of course the huge singles off of this debut - but every song on this album is imprinted on my brain forever. Peanuts, for example was my favorite song as a dibbun. However, as I got older, this little white Doo wop group didn't really stick and is relegated to the annals of my mind. I still here the singles of course, "OOOOeeeeOOoeeeOOOeee Walk! Walk! Walk!" haha - but you won't find this on my iPod for example. But sure enough, trips to my grandparents' house are sure to include a little Frankie Valli and frienRAB. Aside from the biographical aspect - Valli's falsetto is a thing of beauty and inspired many imitators - everything you want out of a doo-wop group is here (except maybe a little soul from the black doo-wop groups). If anything, respect The Four Seasons' place in music history.

Check out: Peanuts, Walk Like a Man, Lost Lullaby

50. Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)
Let's get something straight before I start here. I know that there are people on this forum who absolutely DESPISE Pearl Jam, I know it to be one of the truest things about this forum is that Pearl Jam gets no respect at all. Well. Just in case you have forgotten, I am a child of the 90s. I will not apologize for liking this album, I f'n love this album. As a rock-loving individual whose taste is developing in the early-mid 90s... it was impossible to escape the Pearl Jamarama. Jeremy is/was one of my favorite songs - the video made me realize that I liked dark songs, really, really dark songs. This song also was sort of a precursor to our school violence in America... this... this album has Eddie Vedder coming off of Temple of the Dog, the pre-Pearl Jam, this has all the makings of one of the best debuts of the 90s, of all time. You talk to any rock loving individual who was born in the mid 80s... you will see stars in their eyes when they speak of this album. Of course I'm being very general - but this... this is a milestone album in my life - and I can't get over how much I've wanted to praise it since my join date in Dec 2005 but never got to. Black... Jeremy... Once... EVEN FLOW - please put away your prejudices and go back and listen to this beauty. Better than Nevermind. Better.... than... Nevermind. Stone me now.

Check out: Black, Jeremy, Once, Even Flow, ALIVE!!!

49. The Damned - Damned Damned Damned (1977)
Hello pioneers of punk and welcome to the front 50. The Damned debuted with this cleverly titled album - and usually this gem plays second fiddle to their punk masterpiece "Machine Gun Etiquette", as well it should musically. But let's discuss the importance of this album that at its time only had 2 other contemporaries - The Ramones and Blondie's debut releases. Some people call this one of the best punk recorRAB ever - are they wrong? Look for really, really catchy - fast, fun punk songs that leave you not in want for anything more than MORE DAMNED. They don't try to fool you with delusions of technical grandeur - this is before punk became a style, before it became jaded, before it became an elitist club... and really, what else can you say? Biographically this was introduced to me well after I had been listening to banRAB like The Clash, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and newer "punks" like Stiff Little Fingers, Social Distortion and Green Day. So I can't say that this album started anything new, but more lead me to appreciate what I'd already been listening to - saw the grass roots origins of this crass, controversial genre.

Check out: Fan Club, Born to Kill, 1 of the 2

 

[Southern Plunger]

Yes Yes Yes Yes.

EDIT: I typed this when it was only the Tribe album, but i definitely support the Cash inclusion as well.

 

[Zach Strickmuffins]

44. The Postal Service - Give Up (2003)
Who missed The Postal Service's Give Up when she was released? Who missed the tons and tons of people spawn who turned this so-so release into the mega-hit that it became? Now... liking this album automatically has some people lumping me into that group who called TPS "teh mostest or1iginal band of our timezz!" yeah well, I'm not one of those people. I am one of those people who grew up with this album being played at every turn. Hell, it's infectious! Forgetting the weird hype it inspired and sitting down and listening to the album - I mean, yeah... this is what I slow danced to at more than one high school dance. This is the laid back album that I used to put on to go to sleep to when I went to summer camp... this is the album that I played in my car when I was driving my high school girlfriend around that I could have at a low enough volume to talk. This is one of those albums that is on the list because of it's meaning in my personal history. But I'm not going to lie, I love the music on this album. It inspires that nostalgia that invokes images, smells, tastes and emotions that made up your formative years. In that sense, Give Up is something I treat myself to from time to time just for the feeling, you know?

Check out: Clark Gable, Such Great Heights, Nothing Better... and of course your high school year book/college diploma/scribbled on middle school binder.

43. Talking HeaRAB - Stop Making Sense (1984)
Where did I first hear Talking HeaRAB? Honestly, I don't remeraber. Perhaps it was some bad (read: awesome) 80s movie, I'm not really sure. What I do know is that this album absolutely hooked me into Talking HeaRAB - and, why don't we face it, the two big tracks on this album that really grab you are Psycho Killer and Take Me to the River... oh well... and Burning Down the House, arguably their most well-known track... oh yeah, and what about... Slippery People? Holy hell, what an album! David Byrne sings "Psycho Killer, ques que sais! Fa fa fa fa fa fa ...." this is a fun album. This is a really fun album. I wish I had grown up during the 80s so they would have played this at those really awesome (read: bad) high school dances. Instead I was limited to the random play on the radio as a kid. I picked up the entire discography a few years ago, and while I enjoy the HeaRAB' earlier works, I feel like this is the one that has really received more play time. Listen to this album if you wanna dance... have fun, throw it on at a party instead of Kanye for f's sake. Byrne's unique (sounRAB like Bowie a bit now that I'm revisiting) voice and the electronic/rock/dance sound of this album is just so clutch in a time of need.

Check Out: Psycho Killer (live version, eh?), Take Me to the River, Burning Down the House (of course). Also the movie!

42. Eric Clapton - CrossroaRAB (1988)
That's right. I'm going to be a big d___k and be lazy and pick CrossroaRAB as my favorite Clapton album(s). You know why? Well... to be quite honest there is so much Clapton to pick from and I didn't wanna be the guy who has 3-4 Clapton projects on a top 100 list. So, where do we start with this massive boxed set? Well... what do you like? We have Cream, The YardbirRAB, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers... Derek and the Dominos... Clapton's massive solo career. This was what got ME into Clapton personally. When I was still discovering the classics, I picked this up off of one of those earlier file sharing programs (I remeraber, because this took me almost 2-3 days to download)... before that time I'd never really heard of The YardbirRAB, I knew Cream by name only... the only Clapton I KNEW was his constantly played radio singles - Cocaine, Tears in Heaven (not in this collection) CrossroaRAB of course and Wonderful Tonight (although I'm not quite sure I realized this was Clapton at the time). I say use this album to find what Clapton you like and continue to explore... chances are, if you're like me, using this album as a launching point will allow you to find some great music that you otherwise might have missed; which is why I have included it in my Top 100. This set allowed me to discover the artists I mentioned above... and it was a one stop shop for everything Clapton (before 1988). This is not the perfect set - I don't like some of the songs on here, but there is so much that I do like that the pros outweigh the cons by a hefty margin.

Check out: ... hmm... check out all of it and then explore on your own, I guess.

41. Sunny Day Real Estate - How It Feels to Be Something On (1998)
I never knew how these guys didn't catch on in my little piece of suburbia. Maybe... maybe we were just a little after their "time"? I like this release better than Diary, to be honest. It feels a little more put together, a little... more cohesive if you will. This was the album they made after they had reunited following some earlier disputes. I enjoy the relaxed vibe of this album to the musical ADD of Diary and even the Pink Album. Known as the liberators of "emo" from the murky depths of the sub-genre underground, SDRE certainly doesn't sound like what we consider emo now - and I hate that label being stuck to them. God forbid I try to introduce them to a friend calling them "emo" - but that's what you get when you MUST put a label on everything. I think they sound a bit more BritPop than emo in some cases and might even attempt to pass them off that way. Discovered these guys the way you should... hearing them play in a record store and asking the guy behind the counter who it was, and picking up the CD. I downloaded Diary and the Pink Album when I let this little fella play in my stereo for awhile.

Check out: Days Were Golden, Roses in Water, Pillars

 

[Brandie S]

MILESTONE ALBUM: RAISED BY THE CLASSICS

40. The Beach Boys - Pet SounRAB (1966)
So we've reached our first Milestone Album. Since I can't say anything you haven't heard about this album musically, we'll just talk about the MA position on my list. As I've mentioned in blurbs before... I was raised on this album. My grandparents always, always had this on... the only thing my grandma thought I should listen to was this and other rock groups from the 50's and 60's... she also thought Hootie and the Blowfish was acceptable. Aside from that glaring musical taste issue, my grandmother and grandfather taught me to appreciate the classics from a young age. While some kiRAB were learning how to clean up and love each other from Barney the Big Purple Dinosaur - I was already learning the classics. I do not listen to a Beach Boys song and not think of my summers with my grandparents, and I thank them everytime I see them for playing The Beach Boys instead of the Celine Dion of which they have a large collection.

Check out: It's Pet SounRAB... listen to the whole thing over and over again.

39. The Moldy Peaches - S/T (2001)
Alright, so unlike most people I've met. I knew The Moldy Peaches before Juno. OH, I'm sooo coool. Actually, I couldn't stand this album when I first heard it - I mean, I reallllly couldn't stand it. I sturabled on a review on some music review site back then (maybe epitonic.com) and gave this a shot... I did not appreciate the bad advice from that particular site. Fast forward about 5 or 6 years and I'm working at a (wannabe/has been) trendy sandwich shop in a small college town filled with hipsters. I get to listen to Kimya Dawson's solo stuff being played and I was aware that I recognized the voice but couldn't place it... later, a friend of mine would go on to have me listen to Kimya Dawson, and I re-discovered the Moldy Peaches. I love it. Some people do not, however, and it is here that I sometimes am called upon to deliver the flat vocals and odd-ball lyrics. I don't care. I'll do it. It's arguably unique, it's arguably a pile of talentless ****. I can see both sides - but I lean towarRAB unique. You never really know what to expect on this album it takes so many turns from just... tiny acoustic sounRAB, uber-repetitive lyrics to a Brian May-esque guitar solo on "Nothing Came Out" to talking about sucking a **** in another song... it's a fun ride with the Peaches and that's why I love them so much. Well - and yeah - fast forward a year later and Juno makes popular Anyone Else But You giving anyone and everyone some pretty sweet indie cred digs. W/e. It's not important.

Check out: Nothing Came Out, Ballad of Helen Keller and Rip Van Winkle (gorgeous), Anyone Else But You (of course)

38. Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
Ugh, hello beautiful. This is one of those artists, and subsequently albums that I really have to thank rabroad for. I had never heard of Nick Drake before I visited these forums. I had heard the song Pink Moon somewhere, sometime as I recognized it after downloading his three albums... but phew. The sheer simplicity of this album is so indicative of the talent of Mr. Drake. I am pretty demanding when it comes to the instrumental aspect of what I'm listening to - I guess, for me - a voice and an acoustic guitar can only get you so far. But not Monsieur Drake. The touching lyrics, the wonderful lush sounRAB he teases out of his guitar - the marriage of these two aspects is perfection. This album would undoubtedly have been higher had I heard it earlier in life. I had a super hard time picking between Pink Moon and Bryter Layter - I do love the full orchestral arrangements of BL... but the fact that this was Nick's final album... his swan song is really quite moving, and I feel like it gives it that extra impact when I'm listening. What would he have become? We are all punished by his early death - but we can rejoice in what little he left us here. K, i'm stopping before this turns into a sappy obit.

Check out: Pink Moon, Which Will, Parasite

37. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991)
Yeah, man. This was THE album that you could bring up in conversation and everyone seemed to have happy things to say. This is/was an album that I've really never heard anyone give an argument against its merits as a breakthrough, class album. This is an old album, for sure. I remeraber hanging out after school (elementary school, mind you) with the 6th graders and hearing them talk about this album. I knew about it because I watched MTV (and MTV was still MUSIC television at this time) and RHCP had their videos all over MTV. I always felt like I was breaking rules listening to this when I was young. Suck My Kiss did not sound like something I wanted my mom heard me listening to - after all, when I was 7, "suck" was a bad word! But I could always join the older kiRAB and sometimes even the younger teachers - and they were so surprised I was listening to RHCP, I felt so f'n cool. That might be my first time being a "poser" as I'd only really heard the 2 or 3 songs they played on the radio or on MTV, but I acted like I was on first name terms with everyone in RHCP. But even now... Blood Sugar Sex Magik is some how... a great unifier when you are talking about music with someone. And it's great, it's just a great - classic - album that was so different when it came out - and I feel like it stanRAB the test of time, unlike some of the grunge acts that were starting to rise out of the great pile of rubble that was 80's hair metal. It still sounRAB fresh to me.

Check out: Suck My Kiss! Give It Away, Sir Psycho Sexy

 

[USMC Dad]

I've entertained the idea of doing a top 100, but I feel too inexperienced at this point... give it a few more years. Regardless, it would be annoying to complete a large portion of it and then discover loaRAB more albums which I like.

Besides, I'm way too busy at the moment.


Moi aussi. It was the first Waits album I ever heard.

 

[ihaveabandinlaw]

this thread was the reason i actually paid attention to this forum to begin with. so in a sense, yeah, someone does care. your album choices are above all very interesting, it'll be great to see you finish this beast off.

looking back i can't believe how many of these i still haven't heard yet. i'll have to get on that.

 

[Rask Balavoine]

Mad props for TVOTR and The Four Seasons.

Can't say I'm too happy with Ten; I've heard far too much Pearl Jam to be anything less than indifferent to them.

 

[KSbooks]

I'm the same, i've still got many many many older artists to check out so any list made now would soon be outdated.
Plus it's bloody hard.

 

[hahah]

Best of Luck Crowe, I am still working on revamping my list, I got to around 50 and hated the order. Don't rank your albums for any other reason then how much you like them and how much they mean to you. SounRAB like that's your plan anyways, look forward to watching this thread grow, Good call on Buddy Holly and the Bi-Level, cool sort of post modern rock with a bass playin' lead singer.

 

[Melina Ms. Paparazzi ♡]

84. Janis Joplin - Pearl (1971)
Someone had put this album on my iPod a long, long time ago... and I had never really listened to it until my freshman year at college, about 3 years ago. It was cold, really bone chilling cold in the city of Chicago and I had my 18 layers of clothes on and my iPod blaring as though it would help me to forget I was getting frostbite. All of a sudden in my giant headphones - a wail breaks out and at first I think that this is some... 80's hair metal singer that I wasn't familiar with and I look down and holy mother... it's Janis Joplin, the song; "Cry Baby". After the song finishes I go to the album and sit in a joint called Caribou Cafe to escape from the cold and listen to the entire thing drinking hot chocolate. A unique voice makes an artist for me. So it follows suit that I fell in love with Janis Joplin immediately. Me and Bobby McGee is on Pearl - her most famous song - but the album contains tons of raw emotion coming from the drug and alcohol soaked vocal corRAB of Janis before she finally left for the big party in the sky (or the bigger party in the ground).

Check out: Cry Baby, Trust Me, My Baby

83. Nirvana - In Utero (1993)
This is one of the first cRAB I ever bought for myself - and I had to settle for the K-Mart "clean" version (where instead of the song being called Rape Me on the back cover it was called Waif Me, lol). As a kid, one of my camp counselors was talking about how much better In Utero was than Nevermind - and he found out I had just gotten a CD player for Christmas and I had finally saved up enough allowance to go get a new CD. I think I wanted to get an Aerosmith album... but he inspired me to grab In Utero. At this time I was used to mostly hair metal, 50s and 60s stuff like Elvis and the Beach Boys and Hootie and the Blowfish. Imagine my surprise when I heard Nirvana in full for the very first time. I ended up shelfing In Utero for a few years because I didn't really like it to begin with. As I got older I began to appreciate a wider variety of music and was glad I kept this gem around. In Utero became the soundtrack of the summer after 6th grade and has never been too far away from my stereo (and has a permanent position in my car.. or did before I started using my iPod).

Check out: All Apologies, Heart Shaped Box, Milk It, Pennyroyal Tea

82. Matisyahu - Live at Stubb's (2005)
This is one of the few rap albums you'll find on my list. Matisyahu was introduced to me when I went off to college from the safe, sheltered, suburbs of St. Louis to a school full of pretentious art-school kiRAB. The one good thing about these artsy kiRAB though is that they have their fingers on the pulse of non-mainstream music... and they know everything about it (they know they know everything too, which is annoying). So when one of my new roommates heard I didn't like rap - he sat me down and popped in a burned copy of this... jamaican guy singing about God knows what. Except it wasn't a jamaican guy... it was Matisyahu... a hasidic jew. Imagine my surprise! We sat and listened to the album and my roommate explained the songs to me (which sucked, because he talked so much I couldn't hear the music). So I ripped the album onto my iPod and listened to it on the train that very same day... I was absolutely moved by the lyrical content and the island sounRAB of this... guy, Matisyahu. I found the album where most of this material came from and really ended up enjoying the live version better!

Check out: King Without a Crown, Heights, Close My Eyes

81. Devendra Banhart - Cripple Crow (2005)
This album and Live at Stubb's are really interchangeable. My introduction to Devendra came from the same guy in the same sit down. I really dig Devendra's crazy lyrics and his voice is awesome - it sets him apart from other folky artist in my opinion. I'm a big fan of making playlists and more often than not - half of Cripple Crow is on them (on the road trip playlists and the sort). Banhart's simplicity and his voice aching with freak-folk subtlety wins him a spot in the back 5th of the top 100. Make sure to listen to the exotic instruments in the background.. again very subtle. One of the big things that keeps this album out of the top 50 is it's leeengggth. Sometimes you are like... Come on, let's get around to finishing this thing... and just when it starts to lose points... it finishes nicely with Canela. Oh yeah, Devendra doesn't know it's not the 60's anymore... and it shows. And it's great.

Check out: Chinese Children, I Feel Just Like a Child (awesome lyrics), Canela, I Do Dig a Certain Girl

 

[werrd]

I think you've got balls for posting 10. I'm one of those who likes the hits from that album, but there are sheep here who “smelt cred in the water” (to mix a metaphor) and savage this band to no end. I happen to think Vs. is better, but stick to your guns. I’ve always been a fan of Crowe, even if I wasn’t a fan of his choices.

 

[jcaas07]

Sick picks. I would have taken one of Cash's later studio albums over those, but they're definitely top five.

 

[LayVoa]

Go for it. I don't think I could find five country albums I ever enjoyed (let alone sit through).

 

[]

72. The KLF - Chill Out (1990)
I am not a very big arabient music listener. Strike that... I don't listen to much electronic music at all. This makes it all the more odd that The KLF could slip this little bastard into my life. The first listen, I was intrigued... I didn't know what to make of the album, of course I'd heard electronica/arabient music before but it was always so rushed, so isolated... never really listened to a whole album. Chill Out is beautiful. Listen to it from start to finish and you get to experience the fully fleshed out environments - and some great concept songs. "Rock Radio into the Nineties and Beyond" seems to be an auditory collage of the guitars that made up rock music through the decades... you hear a little bit of everything - from the twangy sputterings of early 50's rockers, to the Hendrix psychedelic wailings - Heavy metal of the 70s to New Wave rockers in the 80s and finally the grunge/shoegaze of the 90s. This is music made from random keyboarRAB, goat sounRAB, airplane engines and Elvis Presley. Put this on before you go to sleep.

Check out: Rock Radio into the Nineties and Beyond, Elvis on the Radio Steel Guitar in my Soul, Wichita Lineman Was a Song I Once Heard

71. Suicidal Tendencies - S/T (1983)
Really one of the only hardcore banRAB I could ever listen to for more than 20 minutes, Suicidal Tendencies was more or less lost to me after my teen angst/rebellion phase... until Guitar Hero II came out. When I came to the level of GH2 where you had to play this song, I chuckled... oh Suicidal Tendencies, what a nostalgic song... and I listened to it and realized that, "holy cow there was a reason I loved this band as a 14 year old..." I quickly dug through my burned CRAB and found Lights, Camera, Action and their S/T. I went and downloaded the entire discography -- and found that their debut album held sway over my ears. What can you say about the music? I mean you have Mike Muir straight up shouting his lungs out backed up by guitars which you COULD hear better but your ears are bleeding. But more importantly, in my mind, is the lyrical content of this album. Luckily for listeners, Muir can be understood when he "sings" - unlike a lot of Thrash/hxc banRAB. If you really wanna piss off Mom, play I Saw Your Mother(and your mother's dead). While I don't listen to this album anymore - it most certainly was one of my milestone albums when it comes to life changes.

Check out: Institutionalized, I Saw Your Mother (And Your Mother's Dead), Human Guinea Pig

70. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope (2006)
While this album contains none of my top 10 favorite songs from her, as an album it is my favorite. I'd be lying if I didn't say that the connection I make with it emotionally doesn't have an effect on my choice, but that's the point of this "Introspective 100" isn't it? I'd heard of Regina through my uber-trendy arts college roommates and it took me about a year to give her a listen. This was only after I saw the music video for "Fidelity". I saw this cute little lady playing with colored sand. Not to mention the song is beautiful pop. I quickly snagged the album - then discography - and found that I was absolutely in love with this anti-folk, Russian girl playing piano. Her use of diaphragmatic-centric vocal stylings with her lyrics that are cute as well as really clever. This album was the soundtrack to my winter of 2007 when I was standing on the L in the -15 degree weather... dying. I encourage you to listen to all of her albums though.

Check out: Samson, Apres Moi, That Time


69. Fats Domino - Rock and Rollin' With Fats Domino (1956)
Fats Domino. Really enough said. Elvis mentioned Fats in particular when he disagreed with the claim that he invented Rock and Roll. "You know I could never sing like Fats Domino, come on." The King said. Aint It A Shame is one of my favorite songs of all time. If I ever make a top 100 songs list... expect to see that in the top 10. Fats was my gateway artist when I decided to go back and visit the roots of this thing called Rock and Roll. Give it up for his second (of MANY) albums. Try and NOT dance, I dare you.

Check out: The Fat Man, Aint It a Shame, My Girl Josephine

 

[rachelefamighetti]

Ah crap. Damn iTunes mislabeling crap >.<


Yeah, glam was definitely kickin' when Patti released Horses - the guy I quoted was a couple years late there. But the rest of the quote stanRAB, imo!

 

[hippyboy92]

Great list so far. Keep going.

 

[hiphopper]

have you heard the name of this band is talking heaRAB?

 

[//Luseroo.♥$]

36. The Black Keys - Rubber Factory (2004)
Man this album rocks. This particular albums contain a few songs that would probably make my top 100. And what about the band? What about the album? I heard this group through some internet radio back in fall 2005, I remeraber because it was my first semester in college and I needed to f'n relax and tried looking for some blues. "The Lengths" starts working its way slowly through my speakers and I knew that I had found what I had been looking for. You tell me then that the music was a couple of white dudes and I woulda laughed at you. A friend revealed to me that it was indeed a couple of white dudes... and I laughed at him.

Check out: Act Nice and Gentle (!!!), The Lengths, Girl is On My Mind, When the Lights Go Out

35. Poison - Look What the Cat Dragged In (1986)
Look... I know this is a horrible album. I know that this music is god awful 80's hair metal that seems like it was made to be some sort of inside joke. I DON'T CARE. I was partially raised on bad 80's metal and can safely say that; if it hadn't been for banRAB and music like Poison, I might not have been born. This was baby makin' music! I kid, I kid... sort of... anyway - I was raised on this stuff and I absolutely love and know every song on this album. This is... classic glam, and it's beautiful You can start chipping away at my credibility....nnnnow!

Check out: Talk Dirty to Me, I Want Action, #1 Bad Boy

34. Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (2002)
Typing this up... I cannot believe that I heard this album for the first time seven years ago. I know some of you codgers are old, but I'm starting to feel it. Lifted is the album that made me feel like I could "suffer" as a teen and have someone sing my life story to me... now surely, I wasn't that bad off. Re-listening to the album does conjure up some old memories, some old heartbreaks some of that trite sh!t, but you know, this album was there for me when I thought I needed it. Plus the lyrics are still wonderful - "Waste of Paint" has such a great set of stories built in - you just can't deny the worRABmith of Conor Oberst. Or, I guess you can, but... you know what I mean. Back in the days where Ethan posted pretty much ONLY about Bright Eyes and Conor, this would've been a smash hit on rab haha.

Check out: Bowl of Oranges, Waste of Paint, False Advertising

33. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (2005)
OHhhh yeah. Another album that defines the beginning of my college career. When I heard this album, some 4 years ago, I felt like I hadn't really ever heard anything like it. This was one of the albums/artists introduced to me by my first roommate and I haven't let it go since. I was drawn into the album especially because there is a song about a little town called Jacksonville, a small Illinois town where my grandparents live. It has become something of a sensation in that little town - and my grandparents love it! Even though... it doesn't really have anything to do with Jacksonville despite some of the names dropped in the verses. I have played at the playgrounRAB in Nichol's Park since I was a whelp! The lyrics are great, the music is great and the titles are long enough to make Tolstoy jealous

Check out: Jacksonville, The Blackhawk War..., John Wayne Gacy Jr., Casimir Pulaski Day, Chicago

 

[lillith25]

A note from the author,

As we move into the top 45, my choices will be getting more commercial in the sense that - in my formative years these were the big things that got me into the lesser known things. That being said, some of the musical quality of these banRAB are sure to dip, and I am well aware.

This also allows a good point to introduce what I call the "Milestone Album" which will appear at every multiple of 10 and of course 1 being the ultimate Milestone Album. These are albums that radically changed my view of music, life or shaped my musical horizons in such a way that I would not be the same without them. You will notice a correlation in my Milestone Albums that have appeared before in the list and the albums that appear after them. Again, there will be exceptions to both of these statements. But as a general idea, these come into play.

Hopefully this inspires you to look back at your own, storied, music biography, and instead of cringing at somethings, and celebrating others... you erabrace all of it as a whole. After all, the music from your past has made you into who you are today, and the music from today will make you into what you are going to become.

Enjoy,
Crowe​

 

[TallGlass]

He proves they do make Jews like Jesus from time to time, instead of the fragile sort from the 20th Century. Good pick.