i’m not gonna bother finishing mine tbh. it was taking too long. the most recent one is canon. they showed their work.
It's a special record filled with songs that seems to still resonate with folks as early as in their late teens/early 20s
Most of this site came from emo. Dramatic songs about heartbreak and complicated relationships. Literally what Rumours is.
yeah, of all the high performing albums on this list, rumours is one of the least surprising, and I'm on the record on this site and others with how I feel about it lol
There were four albums in the top 50 I hadn't heard in full before. Rectifying that today. The first: Motion City Soundtrack: Commit This To Memory. I've heard and enjoyed the main tracks for 15 or so years, own My Dinosaur Life on CD and have also listened through all of Even If It Kills Me, and have watched the band for a couple of enjoyable festival sets. No idea why I never dived into this album before. I guess I never knew this was The One, more beloved than the rest of the discography. It's pretty much what I expected, super enjoyable pop rock with a pop punk edge and interesting lyrics. It's a bunch of great MCS songs in a row. Will revisit for sure. The second: Say Anything ... Is A Real Boy I remember why I have never heard all of this. I just find it off-putting in a few ways -- very dramatic vocals, an overall air of self-importance, and melodies not really grabbing me. Some interesting lyrics for sure but marred by distracting clunkers (he's currently yelling "I'll kill myself" repeatedly). I will persevere but this one just seems like a "had to be there" right-age-right-time kind of album. I missed it in the moment and now I'm 30, married with kids etc I just don't reach for this kind of music a lot anymore. Next up: Thrice's Vheissu and The Format's Dog Problems
Commit This to Memory and Dog Problems are great. Vheissu has its moments. Is a Real Boy (and Say Anything in general) is not for me.
In the top 50 I have not heard The Black Parade or After Laughter edit: Wait no, I’ve heard After Laughter
Okay so I have finished ... Is A Real Boy (including the bonus tracks on Spotify) and I kinda get how it pokes fun at genre tropes but I feel like it comes out more grating than the kinds of records it's trying to diminish. (Maybe not all of them, but the worst of the mall-emo bands are so irrelevant and memory holed now that this aspect of ... Is A Real Boy seems virtually pointless.) My review: For all the time spent talking about sex, the album is very mastubatory.
I was not a MCR fan when the album came out, but coming back to it like a decade later, that album is pretty amazing. Ambitious. Musically adventurous. A fistful of their best songs all in one spot. Gothy, theatrical greatness.
Looks like out of the Top 50, I just have to listen to Everything in Transit and Purple Rain. Out of the Top 100, London Calling, Blue, Graceland, Is This It, and Brave Faces Everyone.