Blainer93 - 30/50 George - 18/50 bradsonemanband - 31/50 Cody - 4/50 (wtf?) jorbjorb - 9/50 pepetito - 36/50 swboyd - 26/50 phaynes12 - 31/50 spyki - 27/50 ohthewater - 31/50 koryoreo - 20/50 ootypa - 28/50 alien sexist - 26/50 VanMastaIteHab - 28/50 inspectorkemp - 20/50 imthesheriff - 33/50 irthesteve - 44/50 stars143 - 38/50 paulo - 34/50 (my fave list so far) street spirit - 25/50 carpet elf - 21/50 daydream nation - 16/50 Craig Manning - 14/50 megt585 - 38/50 Borat 2 - 29/50 flask - 29/50
It's funny how lists can sort of solidify over time. Like, I don't think I ever really thought about an all-time favorite album list until my senior year of high school, after I'd really fallen in love with Born to Run. My top four has not changed since and I can't imagine the album it would take to crack it. I can definitely say that writing about Reunions and getting into the nitty gritty of why I find that album so moving was huge in convincing me that it's my second favorite Isbell record and worthy of a spot on this list.
Yeah I literally think it's impossible to make my top 5 now. That window of changing my life has closed. Doesn't mean there isn't stuff I LOVE that would make a top 50. But that absolute elite tier has to be kinda formative.
also do not love fleetwood mac a ton but also less willing to subject myself to criticism than pat lol
Even if you don’t love Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna is straight fiya. How could anyone talk smack on Edge of Seventeen?
Here’s a list. Lots of tough cuts, and the order is all over the place outside of the top ten or so. The toughest thing was balancing formative importance with how I think albums hold up now. 1. The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site 2. The Wonder Years - Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing 3. Mineral - The Power of Failing 4. The Hotelier - Home, Like NoPlace Is There 5. The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang 6. Jimmy Eat World - Chase This Light 7. The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour 8. The Graduate - Anhedonia 9. Jason Isbell - Southeastern 10. The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About 11. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity 12. Thursday - A City By the Light Divided 13. The Junior Varsity - Wide Eyed 14. Rilo Kiley - The Execution of All Things 15. The Format - Dog Problems 16. Laura Stevenson - Wheel 17. John K. Samson - Provincial 18. The Gaslight Anthem - The ‘59 Sound 19. Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces, Everyone 20. Bleachers - Strange Desire 21. Motion City Soundtrack - My Dinosaur Life 22. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run 23. Fun. - Some Nights 24. The Menzingers - After the Party 25. The 1975 - The 1975 26. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme 27. Counting Crows - August and Everything After 28. Regina Spektor - Begin To Hope 29. Thursday - War All the Time 30. Waxahatchee - American Weekend 31. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning 32. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger In the Alps 33. The Wonder Years - No Closer To Heaven 34. Gin Blossoms - New Miserable Experience 35. Hellogoodbye - Would It Kill You? 36. The Ataris - So Long, Astoria 37. Texas Is the Reason - Do You Know Who You Are 38. John Mayer - Continuum 39. The Promise Ring - Nothing Feels Good 40. Guster - Keep It Together 41. Anberlin - Cities 42. The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency and I 43. The Get Up Kids - Guilt Show 44. Relient K - Forget and Not Slow Down 45. Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz 46. Rush - Moving Pictures 47. Taylor Swift - Red 48. The Tower and the Fool - How Long 49. Joie de Vivre - We're All Better Than This 50. Ruston Kelly - Dying Star
Probably my favorite era of hip-hop. Atmosphere and Del really broke down a lot of walls for me when it came to the genre. I'm a little disappointed in myself for not including Seven's Travels, By the Throat, Bike for Three, or Full Circle. I guess I just haven't listened to them in a good amount of time. Gonna change that tonight.
Recently picked up that Guster album on vinyl and have been falling back in love with it. Lost and Gone Forever was on my long list for this, too.
I had both of those on my long list and this one won out because it was my introduction to the band, and “Amsterdam” is still my favorite song of theirs. The back of Lost and Gone is just about perfect though.
Jerry Blavat’s For Dancers Only would have made my top 5 in terms of quality/influence, but it’s not well known at all and a compilation, so I didn’t wanna put it in. I made an Apple Music playlist of all of the songs I could, and youtube links for the loosies not on there. RIYL: Motown/Soul. Enjoy! Here’s Jerry’s infamous Heat Wave intro:
No joke @OhTheWater, your continued advocacy for that comp is a heartwarming constant in an impermanent world.