1995

1995 was a bit more balanced, with not as many legendary albums. This was a tough year, because a lot of bands got popular out of nowhere and put out albums with 5 or 6 good songs (Alanis Morisette owned 1995), but, at least to me, the rest of their albums weren't worth listening to. Most of my runners-up and the albums that fought with them for a spot (like No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom) were basically what those 5 songs meant to me and how much I liked them, while ignoring the others. It's weird to do that, but as you'll see by my 3rd spot, some albums can have an entire half of them be "just whatever" while still being legendary in my book. 

Oasis- What's The Story Morning Glory?: I'm guessing most of my readers would put this WAAAY higher, but frankly, I never really got that into it. The hits are all classic, and I originally put this much higher, but I had to be honest- other than the hits and "Hello," I never really cared about the rest of this album. The hits though... Damn.

Jars Of Clay- Self Titled: Yup! Jars of Clay. Deal with it. This is completely over the top religious music, but once you get past that (if you can- I could), there are some great songs on here with fantastic vocals that I reaaally liked singing along with (and singing acapella with a friend in high school). The end of "Worlds Apart" can be rough to someone who cringes from religion, but it's a beautiful song.

Goo Goo Dolls- A Boy Named Goo: Half of this is flat out terrible, based on their bassist's need to sing (they've finally pretty much stopped letting him sing songs), but the half with Johnny Rzeznik show the early signs of what would soon be a hit machine. "Name" still gets to me- it's one of my favorite songs ever.

311- Self Titled: A lot of this is hard to listen to nowadays, but enough still works or works through reminiscing that this still gets a runner-up spot. I think they got WAY better when they started incorporating more melody and reggae sounds rather than the white-boy rap on this, but some of the songs on her are classics- from the obvious "Down" to the (I'm assuming) fan-favorite, "Purpose."

Green Day- Insomniac: This may be the most obvious example of a lazy, "we just put out a huge album" strike-while-the-irons-hot, phoned-in album I've ever heard. It's absurdly short, very few songs are memorable, and it definitely showed a band trying to get something out fast that probably wasn't their best work. But it says a lot for Green Day's songwriting, as this is still better than a lot of what came out in 1995. 

10. White Zombie- Astro-Creep 2000: Songs Of Love, Destruction And Other Synthetic Delusions Of The Electric Head 

The cover and layout of this album perfectly describes the album- mean metal filled with everything in the world they felt fit, from samples galore to weird sounds, to crazy lyrics to dance beats. This is THE White Zombie album, and the best thing Rob Zombie has ever done- it's the last time he made music that was consistently heavy while still being catchy. Sure, his monotone vocals get old after awhile, but the music doesn't. Although some riffs are sometimes boring and repetitive, this album is pretty much riff city, with a dance party thrown in- songs usually build enough to work. It's like Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails realizing they love clubbing. To 90's reference it, it's hard to not Beavis-headbang while Butthead-dancing to it. I listened to it a lot on bus rides to JV basketball games to get pumped up. Sadly, after this album, Rob Zombie pretty much ran out of ideas and eventually switched to being a bad director. But, thanks for this album Rob.

Best songs: "Electric Head: The Agony) Pt. 1," "Super-Charger Heaven," "More Human Than Human," "Blur The Technicolor," "Blood, Milk And Sky"

9. Red Hot Chili Peppers- One Hot Minute

This was the worst Red Hot Chili Peppers album in an otherwise fairly flawless 15 year block (starting with Blood Sugar Sex Magik and ending with the newest one), but it's still good enough to get the number 9 spot on my list. The problem is that it's pretty inconsistent and weird to the point where it at times feels forced. They also had the fact that MTV/radio played the singles so much I never want to hear them again for the rest of my life (at least "Aeroplane") going against them. But when the different sounds worked, they worked very well- from the intense rockers ("Warped") to sunny pop songs ("My Friends") to creepy stoner funk ("Falling Into Grace") to an odd but effective solo song by Flea, "Pea, " the album works- just not as good as any of their other albums (or at least the albums featuring John Frusciante (which could easily be argued are the only true RHCP albums) 

Best Songs: "Warped," "Aeroplane," "My Friends," "Pea," "Falling Into Grace," "Transcending"

8. Nine Inch Nails- Further Down The Spiral

Going against my own rules again, I have to feature this Downward Spiral remix album, because, in what I would soon learn is true Trent Reznor behavior, Nine Inch Nails' remixes are more often than not entirely different songs. This collection took the dark hopeless nihilism of The Downward Spiral and well, went further down the spiral. The 3 part "Art Of Self Destruction" and "Eraser" remixes are lessons in production- what you can do to already creepy songs if you're a crazy genius. The sounds are distorted and digusting, and right when they're verging on being solely background/mood music, fragments of the original song make their way in, reminding you that you are in fact listening to a remix album. The best song ("At The Heart Of It All") is a building bit of evil that relies on a distorted drum and bass loop and Inception-like doom horns/synths/HAARP sounds to create a soundtrack to falling, well, fine- I'll go there again- further down the spiral.

Best songs: "Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)," "Art Of Self Destruction (Part One)," "Eraser (Polite)," "At The Heart Of It All"

7. God Lives Underwater- Empty

The first time I heard "All Wrong" on 94.3 WCYY, I freaked out. I instantly loved everything about it and had to wait to hear it again a week later to finally find out who it was. This band mixed driving and catchy alternative rock with industrial/techno sounds and wrote melodic songs with nasal and airy vocals in the vein of Layne Staley's (Alice In Chains). Of all of the bands trying these sounds, this is probably my favorite attempt, right down to the awesome cover and even more awesome band name. Stabbing Westward was really good too, but these songs had more variety and this album is pretty consistent all the way through, save for a few mistakes ("Fool"). I used to sing these songs with a friend in high school hallways (I wonder why I wasn't more popular?) and it was pretty awesome to find out that a recent co-worker loved this album, prompting me to revisit the hell out of it last year. Although the abundance of techno sounds dates this quite a lot, the songs still work because, well... they're good. "All Wrong" is one of the best alternative rock songs to come out of the 90s, and "Weaken" remains one of the better examples of techno, beautiful melodies and super evil riffery somehow working together to create a fantastic song.

Best songs: "Still," "All Wrong," "Empty," "No More Love," "Weaken"

6. Faith No More- King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime

I got this on tape the day I got on a bus to take me to a plane and off to Washington D.C. with my entire 8th grade class. It's impossible to listen to it without thinking of that bus ride, and it's impossible to listen to the beautiful country ballad "Take This Bottle" without thinking of my super emo nights listening to it when I went to bed in a hotel room, thinking about Alisa Young, the girl I had a crush on at the time. But reminiscence aside, this remains my second favorite Faith No More album. I'd argue that it has the most variety of all the albums, while maintaining the most consistent songwriting. Every song is catchy, and whether the song is a standard rock song ("Get Out"), a disgusting exercise in screaming/being ridiculous (still one of my favorite FNM songs, "Ugly In The Morning"), being beautiful in a grand, musical-esque way (the wonderful "Just A Man," which took me years to realize the perfection of), or whatever the hell genre of music "Evidence," "Star A.D." or "Caralho Voador" were, everything worked through the strength of their songwriting and Mike Patton's endlessly awesome vocals. This album proved Faith No More could do anything they wanted well, and it makes me forever sad that they don't exist anymore. This doesn't get the credit it deserves, both as a great FNM album, and a great rock album in general.

Best Songs: "Get Out," "Ricochet," "Evidence," "Ugly In The Morning," "Take This Bottle," "Take This Bottle," "King For A Day," "Just A Man"

5. Everclear- Sparkle And Fade

I bought this because I really liked "Santa Monica" and wanted more. Let's be honest here- 75% of Everclear songs are pretty much exactly the same. But something about this album just stuck with me, and although there are clunkers, it's generally all good. Stop and go riffing mixed with Art Alexakis' completely unique voice mixed with absurdly catchy hooks- how could you go wrong? Although not as catchy or strong as So Much For The Afterglow and held back somewhat by serious topics making lyrics feel sometimes lame, I liked the whole album, but have mostly stuck with the 5 or 6 that original struck a chord with me. With time, they sound even better. The key one of these is "The Twistinside," and I can't listen to it without thinking about my father. My dad and I have always had a small collection of songs that we used to listen to on long drives to Celtics games or to and from college. "The Twistinside" became one of those, with its odd beginning evolving into a full on air guitar/mouth guitar rock out at the end that still gives me shivers today. My dad always loved the lyrics and felt they worked pretty perfectly for rides to college- "Gotta get ready for the real world, yea, gotta grow up." The song showed what Everclear was capable of, and sadly, they never quite lived up to the power and uniqueness of it, but this album still launched a career of lots and lots of great songs.

Best songs: "Heroin Girl," "Santa Monica," "Strawberry," "Heartspark Dollarsign," "The Twistinside"

4. Foo Fighters- Self Titled

In the wake of Kurt Cobain's death in 1994 and the inevitable end of Nirvana, Dave Grohl was probably pretty sad and confused as to what to do with his life. Instead of doing nothing or becoming the drummer of Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers (had no idea about this- just read it on wiki), he did the first of many things that make him a personal hero of mine- he went into a studio 5 months after Cobain died and recorded every instrument on an album full of songs he had been secretly writing. Hype exploded and nowadays I may have been cynical, but then, I pretty much watched the video for "I'll Stick Around" in pure awe. Holy crap, I thought. He can sing and play guitar?! And he is that good? Holy crap. I was blown away and after the song was played another 400 times on MTV (another thing that makes him a personal hero is his sense of humor and pure awesome, which would be fairly consistently shown in their videos), I got the album and was blown away for the entire thing. The songs were like Nirvana, but more complicated, more melodic at times with his sunny harmonies, and at times heavier and even more headbangy (like in "I'll Stick Around" and "Watershed"). I used to wonder what these songs would have sounded like as Nirvana, but now I don't care (although now that I type that, it would be interesting)- they're perfect as they are, and the variety of these songs while every one of them manages to still connect with me shows that although Kurt Cobain was a fantastic songwriter, they really missed out by not having Dave contribute more. Foo Fighters' career further solidifies that, but they have still yet to replicate the perfection of this and their second album, which will be written about soon. 

Best songs: "This Is A Call," "I'll Stick Around," "Big Me,""Alone+Easy Target," "For All The Cows," "X-Static," "Watershed"

3. Radiohead- The Bends

I feel weird having this album not be higher because of just how much I love "Fake Plastic Trees," "High And Dry" and "Streep Spirit (Fade Out)." I've been saying "Fake Plastic Trees" is my second favorite song for about 10 years now (you'll have to wait for number 1), and the strength of those as well as about half of this album makes this album pretty important to me (and the reason why it's ahead of albums that are, as a whole, better). The other songs just aren't strong enough though. This is one of the best examples of an album being carried by half of it- none of the songs are bad, but the better ones are light years ahead of the lesser ones. I usually only listen to about half of this album and even made a mix of the best from this mixed with the best from OK Computer (it's amazing). While Radiohead still had some of their brit rock that dominated Pablo Honey, they discovered the sound that I feel they did best- melancholy melodies, and flat out sad and beautiful songs. The first single was "Fake Plastic Trees," and featured Thom Yorke sitting in a shopping cart in a supermarket filled with unhappy people. I hadn't really heard a band focus so much on sadness and melodies like this before, and for someone who loves sad music, this was mindblowing. This album is overflowing with memories of high school. I learned how to play some of the songs when I got into guitar, I sang songs in the halls with different people, and mixtapes with the hits dominated my car rides to and from school and many, MANY art classes. The sadness of the songs made the girls I liked more beautiful, and my teenage angst more important. And to this day, these songs still hit me the same way and bring up the same feelings. Why couldn't you stay this way, Radiohead? 

Best songs: "High And Dry," "Fake Plastic Trees," "(Nice Dream)," "Just," "Bulletproof... I Wish I was," "Black Star," "Street Spirit (Fade Out)"

2. Deftones- Adrenaline

My favorite Deftones album switches quite often from this to Around The Fur to White Pony. This one usually wins though, as it's arguably the most consistent and heavy. I found Deftones shortly after Korn, around the same time as Limp Bizkit. I heard Around The Fur first, and was immediately pretty excited about them. They were heavy and nu-metal-ish, but had a ton of melody, both in memorable guitar lines and Chino's creepy, nearly always minor-key vocals. His scream sounded truly painful, and his spastic spit-filled raps were pretty awesome too. Some of the songs on this sound a little too much alike, but this is such a good headnod, moody album- not super moshy or angry, just kind of cool in its heaviness- a sound Deftones would come to fully embody and often perfect in the 17 years since this. I think the best songs to illustrate the perfection of this album are "Bored" and my favorite, "Birthmark." Both start creepy and cool with quiet minor singing, slowly evolve into high pitched and long-held choruses of just a few words, and eventually explode into extremely heavy headbangers with Chino screeching like a lunatic. Some people would call this formulaic. I call it perfect aggressive music. All the heaviness of this album (except for "7 Words" and "Engine No.9") is earned through building melodies and creepiness. And best of all, this album isn't even close to dated- they were doing things no other bands were doing then, and they're pretty much in the same boat now.

Best songs: "Bored," "Root," "7 Words," "Birthmark," "Engine No. 9"

1. The Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie And the Infinite Sadness

This album hasn't meant as much to me as some of the others on this list, but I feel weird putting it anywhere else on the list for the sheer amount of good songs on it. A 28 song album that my extremely critical "if I don't like a song, it's gone" self felt had only 3 duds says a lot. 25 songs that are either great on their own or work perfectly with the flow of an album? That's impressive. And what's truly the most impressive is that this is a double disc album, and it's just that- an album. It's not a collection of songs from a band who wrote too many songs and couldn't trim the fat like a lot of double albums represent, it's a band at its all time creative peak, putting 25 songs together to form a cohesive album where all the songs, as drastically different as some of them are, work together perfectly. To truly understand how ridiculous The Smashing Pumpkins were at this time, they were able to put out a boxed set with 33 B-sides from the same recording sessions (The Aeroplane Flies High), and the majority of those songs are pretty solid, and some, like "Cherry" and the title track are good enough that I think they should have been on Mellon Collie. 

There are hits all over this album, but for me, some of the non-hits were what made me love this. Songs like "Love," (especially the solo) "To Forgive," and "We Only Come Out At Night" are nearly as special to me as the best of the hits- "1979," (how could anyone not like that song?) "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "or "Thirty-Three." This album also features one of the best openings ever. The gorgeous and yes, melancholy title track into the astonishing "Tonight, Tonight" works so well that although the variation of the rest of the album is its strength, I kind of wish the whole album was as magical as those two songs. This may not mean as much to me on a personal level as some of the other albums on this list, but it's the best album of The Smashing Pumpkins' career, one of (if not THE) best double albums ever, and truly a masterpiece in a time when Hootie And The Blowfish dominated the radio (sorry, hootie (don't worry, I had the album too)). 

Best songs: "Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness," "Tonight, Tonight," "Zero," "Bullet With Butterfly Wings," "To Forgive," "Love," "Thirty-Three," "1979," "We Only Come Out At Night"

1994

1994 was a good year for music. This was the hardest year so far to put stuff in order. Solid variety plus realizing that I was putting albums I listen to now and kind of cringe at higher solely because of how much they meant to me at the time made this tough. This was definitely a year of me saying "no mike, you just want to put that on the list because everyone else has it on there," like with Nas' Illmatic. It's widely regarded as one of the best rap albums ever, but at the end of the day, I only really like 6 of the 10 songs on it, and there were 14 other albums that were better that year. This is getting harder, but much better. First, runners up because I refuse to admit that I'm really just doing a top 15 rather than a to 10: 

Nirvana- Unplugged In New York: The main reason this isn't in the top 10 (since we all know it's incredible) is that I'm only doing it for studio albums and even though the best songs on this were covers/not on other releases, it's still a live album. But it's definitely too good to not give credit to. 

Offspring- Smash: Over the years, Dexter Holland's voice, much like the band itself, has gotten a bit stale and annoying, so most people forget how awesome of an album this is. There really isn't a bad song on it, and it has more variety than we all remember. The fact that they dominated everything that year wasn't a fluke.

Marilyn Manson- Portrait Of An American Family: This is the 3rd album I heard by Marilyn Manson, so going from really dark and heavy stuff back to something a bit more comical like this was weird. But this album is much better than I ever thought it would be back when the only thing I knew of Marilyn Manson was seeing early hot topic goth kids wearing his shirts. This is goofy and circusy at times, but there are definite Manson classics all over it. 

Gang Starr- Hard To Earn: The other "best rap album ever" of 1994, and I think it's much better than Nas. Every song is great, there's crazy variety and Guru's incredibly cool voice makes every song very easy to listen to. I barely listen to what he's saying- this album is all about head nodding for me. Definitely one of my favorite rap albums ever. 

House Of Pain- Same As It Ever Was: The title track was the song my 7th grade basketball team ran out to, followed by Rage Against The Machine and Beastie Boys. I'll always think of that when listening to this- that, or how many times this album still gets put on when I'm going anywhere with Rich and Josh, my current rommates. Everlast sounds so badass on this whole album, and every beat is incredibly catchy. A very underrated album.

10. Shellac- At Action Park

The same friend who told me about Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Polvo and Sunny Day Real Estate also got me hooked on this gem. Thank you, Colin. I have yet to really hear a band who sounds like Shellac. Formed by mega huge engineers Steve Albini and Bob Weston, they made sounds unlike anyone else. They made vintage guitars and recording equipment sound like homemade guitars and amps, and the very John Bonham-esque drums sound unlike most other recorded drums too. But the heart of this was the riffs. The songs can be painfully repetitive at times, but when the riffs kick in, they made me instantly go back to when I was a kid, making horrible distortion sounds with my mouth. I still play "Boche's Dick" on guitar all the time, and wish my guitar sounded as cool. I'm quite good at air guitar and air drums for this album too. This is a perfect combination of post-rock weirdness and metal, and it immediately struck a vintage, post rock chord with me.

Best songs: "My Black Ass," "A Minute," "Boche's Dick," "II Porno Star"

9. Stone Temple Pilots- Purple

In a year of ridiculous variety, this was one of the only hangers-on from the grunge era. And that's because STP changed a lot with this album. Not only did Scott Weiland suddenly have a higher, less grunge voice, but they wrote warmer, prettier songs. And it worked. The uniqueness of "Vasoline" and "Pretty Penny," the faster, more melodic grunge/alternative rock of "Unglued," and "Army Ants," added to the beauty and immediate stuck-in-your-head-foreverness of "Interstate Love Song" and "Big Empty" made this Stone Temple Pilots' (in my opinion) best album by far. It's the best Scott Weiland has sounded, and it seems to be their most hooky, most focused album. That makes it a classic in my book.

Best Songs: "Vasoline," "Lounge Fly," "Interstate Love Song," "Pretty Penny," "Big Empty," "Unglued"

8. Blink-182- Cheshire Cat

This album moved spots on this list about 10 times. In the end, I had to be honest- no matter how much this album means to me in the history of my music love, the seven albums that beat it sound better in 2012. Giving this album an honest look, the songs are recorded horribly, every song has the same beat, the vocals and lyrics are a bit tough to take at times, and most of my love for it is based more on reminiscing rather than actually listening. This album has enormous significance to me. Before the days of mp3.com, working at a radio station, myspace, facebook, music blogs, "listeners also bought" on itunes, I was still the guy who always looked for and thankfully discovered new bands I loved long before anyone else. I used to buy 3 dollar "cut out" CDs (promos the store wasn't supposed to sell) from a horrible CD store in North Conway the 2 times a year my Mom and I would go on a shopping trip there. I would buy 5-10 CDs every time (whatever I had money for) based solely on the cover and the back. If it looked cool and like it might be good, it got my money. This was by far my greatest discovery. It led me to playing this album all the time in my friend's car, playing air drums to it in the hallways in highschool, and of course, for the "cool" factor, being 1 of 2 people in my whole high school who knew who Blink-182 was, being the only one who had a shirt, them being my first concert, and even meeting them at a CD signing at Bull Moose that attracted probably only 200 people. This was years before the world knew them, years before Travis Barker, and years before they got WAY better at writing songs- and by then, they were already my favorite band. Discovering them in such a random way definitely helped, but this album is still fantastic. 

Best Songs: "Carousel," "M+M's," "Touchdown Boy," "Strings," "Does My Breath Smell?" "TV," "Wasting Time,""Ben Wah Balls"

7. Green Day- Dookie

To anyone who remembers that far back, this album was ENORMOUS when it came out, and I was right there along with everyone else, watching the video for "Longview" every time it came on MTV. By the time "Basket Case" was on MTV every 40 seconds, I was starting to get sick of them. But then my brother got me the tape for my birthday and I realized that Green Day was capable of writing more than 2 good songs. Every song on this album, in fact, is fantastic, right down to the ridiculously stupid "All By Myself."Over the years, songs like "Coming Clean" and especially "She" have become my favorites, but go ahead and listen to this album if it's been a long time- you'll be very surprised at just how many songs you remember and how many are of high quality. So many drum fills, so much violent Billy Joe arm riffing, even my deaf friend liked them.  

Best Songs: "Long View," "Welcome To Paradise," "Pulling Teeth," "Basket Case," "She," "Coming Clean"

6. Sunny Day Real Estate- Diary

From the opening drum fills and explosions of riffage placed perfectly between distant chords and Jeremy Enigk's angelic voice singing confusing lyrics on "Seven," I pretty much instantly knew this band would become something special to me. It took me awhile to get into the rest of the album (some songs drag a bit for my tastes and I didn't always love his voice (he hadn't quite perfected it yet)), but this album absolutely deserves all the credit (or curses) it gets for helping to jumpstart the world of emo. I had really never heard a band do the whole sing/scream-a-huge-high-note-while-start-and-stop-riffing thing before, and these guys did it perfectly in "In Circles" and the absolutely perfect (and still one of the most beautiful songs I know) "48." Their lyrics were poetic and confusing, their songs long and epic, and every note meaningful and at times absolutely gorgeous and yes, EMO (tional) as hell. I also particularly love "Phuerton Skeurto"- the weird waltzy interlude of sorts, which I saw them open with at The Middle East in like 2004 (yes, I'm bragging). When the song should have ended, they instead had it explode into a full on rock song. It was soooo awesome. Thanks again Colin, you helped make some high-school-drama filled rides home even more meaningful.

Best Songs: "Seven," "In Circles," "Song About An Angel," "Phuerto Skeurto," "Grendel" 

5. Korn- Self Titled

If anything perfectly illustrates my taste in music, it's that Korn is sandwiched between Sunny Day Real Estate and Built To Spill on this list. No wonder the radio station hipster snobs didn't know what to do when the freshman in the Limp Bizkit shirt asked if they had heard of Pop Unknown or Cross My Heart. Me discovering the world of emo and indie rock all happened towards the tail end of me loving nu metal- the years that I discovered things are a bit off compared to the years they came out, but I loved both types of music at pretty much at the same time. I finally checked Korn out (after seeing the shirts a bunch and hearing so much about them) by listening to "Twist" off their second album at a listening station in Strawberries (wow, how dated was that sentence?) and I kind of instantly loved them for how disgustingly horrible yet somehow catchy and likeable they were. I didn't check out this- their self titled album, until a year or so later, and was a bit turned off at first, as it is a much more serious album. I'm the rare Korn fan who puts this 4th on my list of best Korn albums, but it has classics all over it- riffs you remember instantly, Korn freakouts that somehow never cease to get me pumped up, and that weird, murky creepiness that embodied their sound. It's hard to define how super detuned guitars, muddy, distorted and flat-out messy riffs mixed with awfully recorded slap bass, screechy high notes, hip hop/311-funk rap beats all with a singer who switched sometimes awkwardly between sounding like James Hetfield and a little girl, screaming about getting beat up in high school and freaking out at the end of the album to the point of legitimately crying for a few minutes= good music, but it somehow worked. To the high school loser in me mixed with the part that would eventually find and love even grosser, even heavier music, this just stuck a chord. I can't really explain it. It's real, it's heavy, it's catchy, and it's just... gross. And it rules. I think over time, rather than citing the classics, I feel like "Lies" perfectly embodies the hideousness of this album- it's a perfect song for Korn detractors to shake their heads at in confusion, and the perfect one for me to listen to while smiling back, unable to explain why it's good: "Listen to how horrible that riff is!" I'll say, and we'll both be confused.

Best songs: "Blind," "Ball Tongue," "Need To," "Clown," "Faget," "Shoots And Ladders," "Fake," "Lies" 

4. Built To Spill- There's Nothing Wrong With Love

There's certainly nothing wrong with this album OH! Although my favorite Built To Spill album (and the first I heard- thanks Colin) is Perfect From Now On, this one is nearly as good. The songs are short, simple rock songs with just enough weird harmonies and messy solos to be a true Built To Spill album. From the first "oh, this is Built To Spill" vocals, this album flows perfectly from simple and catchy pop rock ("Big Dipper") to odd and complicated ballads ("Cleo") to the maybe-not-intended-to-be-so-sad "Twin Falls" to the perfect indie rock gem "Distopian Dream Girl." It ends with a ridiculous (and fake) preview of new songs to come. Everything is great, and the very low key production fits its mood perfectly. The songs also fit Doug Martsch's voice the best of most of their albums. "Car" is a perfect example of how much a singer's voice makes a song. If Built to Spill had kept writing songs this instantly memorable, they probably really would have exploded, but I guess even the best bands run out- you can only write so many perfect songs. 

Best Songs: "In The Morning," "Reasons," "Big Dipper," "Car," "Cleo," "Twin Falls," "Distopian Dream Girl"

3. Ween- Chocolate And Cheese

It feels odd to put such an unbelievably stupid album so high in my rankings, but not only have I listened to this album more than most on this list, I can probably recite nearly every note too. Somehow over time, these songs, no matter how odd or stupid, have grown to mean something to me. This was a standard go-to in long drives in the backseat of my parent's car, playing the tape until it pretty much wore out. This is a perfect example of cohesiveness through differentiation. In small words- every song sounds completely different and that makes it work perfectly as not only a complete album, but as an album I always want to listen to all the way through (except usually skipping "Joppa Road" or the god awful "Candi.") What has stuck with me the most over the years though, are the ballads, or at least the songs with a lot more melody than stupidity. Although "Baby Bitch" was an instant favorite (that still brings up memories of a girl I liked when this came out), "Beunas Tardes Amigo," "Don't Shit Where You Eat," and especially the summery "What Deaner Was Talking About" have grown to be instant singalongs every time I listen to them, and at least "Deaner" has become a go-to song to messily play on guitars whenever my friend Pog and I get together. I never would I have thought a band I decided to check out because a friend in 6th grade told me they recorded a song based on a guy throwing up (still don't know what song that is)- and that I randomly got from BMG without hearing a single note- would end up being such a classic that still sounds great 17 years later. I truly lucked out with this one. Fun fact- my 10th grade English teacher made me a mix tape of the best songs off their albums before this one, and I ran into him at a show when I finally saw Ween 3 years ago/15 or so years after he made me that tape. What an awesome teacher.

Best songs: "Freedom Of '76," "I Can't Put My Finger On It," "Baby Bitch," "Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?" "Buenas Tardes Amigo," "What Deaner Was Talking About," "Don't Shit Where You Eat"

2. Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral

I think that if I'm honest, this album may have been my biggest influence on songwriting. My favorite thing to do when creating music is writing layers, whether it be 1 guitar line over another, or 15 layers of guitar, keyboard, strings, vocals, etc. I'm fairly good at it, but it's also a curse, because I don't know when to stop. Despite this album being filled with most of Nine Inch Nails' best work, the standout to me is, and always has been "Eraser." It starts with what sounds like brain-dead people trying to make music out of blowing through straws, and over 3 and a half minutes, it builds to a huge crescendo of creepy as hell guitars and weird sounds over a towering beat. A new layer is added every measure, and I can honestly say that most of my early recordings of experiments in emo were directly influenced by that. Ever since hearing that song, I wanted to recreate the idea. 

This masterpiece should influence every musician- I can't think of a better example of mood dominating an album. The production tricks, the weird sounds, the overall terrifying eerie-ness of the whole thing is instantly recognizable as Trent Reznor's work, and it makes this album what it is. That it was recorded in the house Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson Family and created mostly by one person in lots of solitude and on lots of drugs shouldn't be surprising. Sure, it will be remembered for "Closer" or "Hurt," but I think it deserves its level of classic greatness for its other songs- the symphonic simplicity of "A Warm Place," everything about "Eraser," the dynamics of "Reptile," the production brilliance of "The Downward Spiral" (acoustic guitars over creepiness building to a huge explosion of rock, completely muted and in the distance, with the piano line from "Closer" playing over it), to the utter brilliance of what I just recently started to appreciate: "The Becoming." There is so much going on in this song that every part of it's building awesomeness rules, but I particularly like the "ahhh ahhh" vocals over acoustic guitar breaks, and what may have realistically been the first double bass breakdown I ever heard. 

This album is one of the darkest, most nihilistic things I've ever heard, and it's about a man spiraling out of control and eventually killing himself. And it's AWESOME.

Best Songs: "Piggy," "March Of The Pigs," "The Becoming," "Big Man With A Gun," "Eraser," "Reptile," "Hurt"

1. Weezer- Self Titled (The Blue Album)

Any year where an album as legendary as The Downward Spiral is number 2- the number 1 had better be pretty damn special. This was a no-brainer- this was in my top 5 of all time before I even started college, and it's only grown in scope since then. 

I remember the day I got this- it was part of a 4 pack of CDs I got from BMG. One was Tori Amos- Under the Pink, and another was Live- Throwing Copper. I can't remember the other. Live was the sure thing, the others were gambles. I really liked "Undone (The Sweater Song)" when it first came out, and, along with the rest of the world (even though I didn't like it as much), loved "Buddy Holly." But could an album I knew very little about with a cover as awful as this be good? Pop rock songs with lots of distortion by dudes in sweater vests? Back in 1994, this was unheard of, and I really had no idea how this would turn out to be. The fact that my first favorite song on this ("No One Else") is the 2nd track and the first non-single I had heard says a lot. I instantly loved this album. A few of my friends did too, and I can remember singing parts of it with Matt Bianconi, a friend who I did lots of singalongs with (and helped introduce me to Modest Mouse). Literally, every song was instantly memorable, perfectly produced, fuzzy and driving, and sung with perfect harmonies. The lyrics were odd, they clearly had fun while recording, and they were weird nerds. And their name was WEEZER. I liked literally everything about it. "Say It Ain't So" instantly made its way on to every mixtape I made.

Throughout high school and changing tastes, this remained a classic, right up there with my other favorite albums. When my college roommate Jake loved it, it made me happy. When my instant-best-friend-because-of-his-music-tastes friend Nate loved it with a cult-like passion, it grew. When Shaun, the guy across the hall, loved it, the legend grew larger. We all respected the hell out of weezer and played it all the time. Apparently this was one of their favorite albums through high school too. 

What has followed in the last 13 years or so (holy crap) has been a slow Biblification of this album. This became the go-to at parties to make Jake freak out and destroy everything with violent air-guitaring. It became a song to make Voss freak out and slide across tables. It was THE album to put on when all of us were together and we wanted to rock out, singalong, or just instantly all be linked together in something magical. In recent years, weddings aren't allowed to happen if the DJ doesn't play some Weezer. Nearly every get-together has at least some weezer played. And for Thanxmas (our annual christmas party/celebration of awesome) one year, Hilton, Underhill, Pog and I even learned the entire album (save for "Only In Dreams" cuz it's long and we wanted to ROCK) and played it in its entirety IN THE GARAGE at Joe's house. It probably wasn't the best setting (as it was like 20 outside), and it wasn't exactly a perfect or necessarily memorable performance, but just doing that remains one of my favorite things I've ever done, and I loved every second of it. We may have sucked, but we played the hell out of that album. 

Even though my attachment to this album is mostly with that group of friends, most of the group of friends I currently live with generally place it in the top 5 or so of greatest albums ever. It's kind of a universal thing with this generation, and that rules. In fact, if you somehow don't like this album, I probably don't like you very much.

What makes me nearly tear up is knowing that with my little dysfunctional college family of friends- no matter how far apart we may move or how little we may see each other, this album will forever be OUR album. It will forever have a ton of memories attached to it, and it will only continue to mean more over the years. And on top of that, it's this old, and I'm not tired of a single song on it- and only in recent years have I truly understood the brilliance of "Surf Wax America," meaning I'm still finding things to appreciate about it! This is probably my third favorite album ever. Well done Weezer. 

=w=

Best songs: "My Name Is Jonas," "No One Else," "The World Has Turned And Left Me Here," "Undone (The Sweater Song)," "Surf Wax America," "Say It Ain't So," "Only In Dreams"

1993

Well that was a long break. Why? Because 1993 wasn't a huge year for music in my life. Rap dominated it, and while I clearly love the albums I'm about to list, there isn't much to say about some of them. I fell into a trap of feeling like I had to write a ton because I had done it before. SO, I'm gonna try to write less and actually get caught up, all the way to 2011 by New Years Eve 2012.

First, the runners up:

LL Cool J- 14 Shots To The Dome: I was too young for his earlier stuff, and everything after this was tame, radio friendly love rap. This had a perfect mix of everything, and some downright ghetto sounding stuff. "How I'm Comin'" is a rap classic in my book.

Green Jello- Cereal Killer Soundtrack: Such a stupid, weird album full of random songs, but somehow a classic. I used to listen to this on tape all the time. Sure, "Three Little Pigs" was a huge hit, but people who didn't give this album a chance missed out on classics like "Misadventures of Shitman."

The Breeders- Last Splash: "Cannonball" sold me on this album when I didn't really care about any music sung by women. But the songs are all great and I love the Deal sister's ethereal harmonies/production tricks. They just sound so spacey and awesome. 

Lords of The Underground- Here Come The Lords: In a year when I really embraced rap, this one was one of the first less known rap groups I discovered on Yo! MTV Raps. Listening now, the songs rarely change and Chief Rocka's vocals get old pretty fast, but this had catchy beats and relentless bass lines that kept my head bobbing for years. 

Phish- Rift: I wouldn't hear this for many many years, but it's a classic, and my 3rd favorite Phish album. Some of their better songs ("Rift") and some of their oddest/most annoying ("Lengthwise") make for an interesting listen and a great introduction to the world of Phish, as this was the second album I heard after Junta.

10. Wu-Tang Clan- Enter The Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers

I kind of didn't want to include this album since I didn't listen to it a ton and its inclusion on nearly every top whatever list from 1993 makes me feel like it's a bit overrated. And it is, but still- this is quite the album. Its sheer number of awesome rappers mixed with its absolutely horrid production and hilarious samples from Kung Fu movies make this quite the interesting listen. It honestly sounds like you just got dropped into the scariest ghetto imaginable, and a fight just broke out around you. This is battle rap, and for a white kid who grew up in the Maine woods, it's both terrifying and incredibly interesting. It  hits the spot perfectly for a guy who, for some reason, likes extremely mean gangsta rap. Method Man rules, and Old Dirty Bastard is hilariously challenged. 

Best songs: "Shame On A Nigga," "Can It All Be So Simple,""C.R.E.A.M," "Method Man," "Wu Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing Ta Fuck Wit"

9. 2Pac- Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.

2Pac would later become a legend- argued as either a violent chauvinist or street poet, and tragically killed by a driveby shooting. So many terrible and obvious cash- in albums have come out since his death that he either never died, or they just found a guy who sounds exactly like him. My brother became obsessed with him to the point where he wrote "2pac forever" on his track shoes and his AP art thesis piece was a 4 foot pastel drawing of him. I feel like this was 2Pac's best work, and all I think about when hearing it is drives to school in whatever grade I was in when this came out. Our ride to work played this, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre almost exclusively. This album was therefore a huge part of my high school experience, and even though today, some of it is forgettable or at least dated, "Holler If Ya Hear Me" and the other favorites still hit home as the driving anthems they were back then. It's no surprise that this started a seemingly never ending career for 2pac.

Best Songs: "Holler If Ya Hear Me," "Last Wordz," "Strugglin," "Keep Ya Head Up," "I Get Around," "Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z," "5 Deadly Venomz"

8. Smashing Pumpkins- Siamese Dream

 I first heard The Smashing Pumpkins along with the rest of the world, with the video for "Today." I didn't care much for Gish, and Mellon Collie... will always be my favorite. This album is carried 100% on the strength of the hits, as well as the amazing "Mayonaise." Every song is drenched in psychedelic  feedback and layers of guitar, and the ballads are instantly catchy and wonderful. I still don't really like Billy Corgan's voice, but he certainly had a unique one. Looking back on this album, my memories go straight to what "Mayonaise" meant to me (I even quoted it on my senior page in the yearbook ("No more promise, no more sorrow, no longer will I follow. Can anybody hear me? I just want to be me"- ahhh teenage angst)), or what "Disarm" always makes me think of- the second to last episode of the Shield, with Shane staring off into the sunset, contemplating the horrible thing he's about to do and remembering the innocence they all once had. Shivers. 

Best songs: "Today," "Rocket," "Disarm," "Mayonaise," "Cherub Rock"

7. Lenny Kravitz- Are You Gonna Go My Way

I liked "Are You Gonna Go My Way" a lot and always turned the TV up when the video came on. It was fun, the riff ruled, and it was catchy as hell. It wasn't until I decided to borrow (and eventually steal) the full CD from my brother when I realized that that song was just part of a masterpiece of fusing funk and 70's rock in a time when neither were popular- all into something amazing. The production even sounded like it was 20 years old. The true gems of this are when the strings kick in at the end of "Believe" and turn an otherwise quiet funky rock song into a beautiful epic, and the entire 7 minutes of "Sister"- from acoustic strumming flowing into wah pedal blues soloing, to Lenny cry-singing, to a huge hook and ridiculous soloing. What a song. While the album is a bit hit or miss, it's still quite a cool and unique album full of great songs.

Best songs: "Are You Gonna Go My Way," "Black Girl," "Is There Any Love In Your Heart" "Believe," "Sister"

6. Counting Crows- August And Everything After

I wouldn't appreciate this album until a solid 14 years later. At the time, I tried to dislike it, but just couldn't deny the catchiness of "Mr. Jones." Who was this weirdo with crappy dreads hopping around in a video singing about guitar colors? Then "Round Here" came out and I admitted that sure, they had a few good songs. Years later, after falling in love with "A Long December,"I finally checked the whole album out when I was old and somber enough to appreciate it. What a quiet, sad, rainy day album full of solid songs. Some take a long time to hit home, but once they do, they stay with you. It's not an album of catchy singalongs, and it's absolutely not a happy album. It's more of a mood album that just has a weird little magic to it that's hard to define. I mean, it OPENS with "Round Here." If this had come out at the right time in my life, it probably would have been a HUGE part of my musical life. Instead, it's something I quietly respect from afar and listen to every now and then when it fits my mood, which again, is usually sad while it's raining outside.

Best songs: "Mr. Jones," "Round Here," "Anna Begins," "Rain King," "A Murder Of One"

5. Ice Cube- Lethal Injection

This is another one that my ride to work, Cory, played endlessly. I will forever think of riding to high school and being blasted in the head with his car's absurd bass, the thumping beat of "Cave Bitch" kicking my ass at 7 in the morning. At first, I just liked the evil sounding angry stuff, but over time, I grew to appreciate nearly every song on this, specifically the party anthem of "Bop Gun (One Nation)"- which would also be my first true introduction to George Clinton and P funk. The music is perfectly produced, Ice Cube sounds great- mean when he needs to be, smooth and cool when he needs to be. This and The Predator made him my favorite rapper in the years when rap dominated my life. Not only is this is a perfect example of 90's gangsta rap, but it also stood the test of time. It still sounds fantastic today.

Best songs: "Ghetto Bird," "You Know How We Do It," "Cave Bitch," "Bop Gun (One Nation)," "Down For Whatever"

4. Cypress Hill- Black Sunday

This was one of the first ten CDs I bought, and my first one with a parental advisory sticker, when my parents finally allowed me to buy such "filth." I, along with the rest of the world, enjoyed "Insane In The Brain," and was intrigued by how unbelievably dark and evil the cover was. I had heard some of it in Cory's car, and listened to samples before I bought my used copy at Bull Moose, but had no idea just how awesome of an album it was. Somehow a cartoonish voice mixed with classic guitar sampling and huge bass mixed with mysterious creepiness and a completely over the top obsession with weed made for great music. Like the other rap classics from the early 90's, this is extremely varied, yet has a perfect flow and commonality to it. I was sad I couldn't blast this in my room (so as not to offend my parents), but boy was I happy that they finally let me hear swears so I could own such an awesome album.

Best songs: "I Wanna Get High," "Insane In The Brain," "Hits From The Bong," "A To The K," "Break 'Em Off Some"

3. Snoop Doggy Dogg- Doggystyle

This came out shortly after Dr. Dre's The Chronic, and at first, I didn't like it as much. I felt like it was more poppy, less mean, had more singing, had more of that g-funk influence, etc. But through Cory and my brother incessantly playing it, it grew on me like crazy, and now that I'm older and don't only want to listen to mean gangsta rap about killing people, I think I like this better than The Chronic. It captures perfectly that Death Row Records sound that either just ran out, or nobody has been able to capture since Dr. Dre disappeared off the face of the earth. There's not much else to say- everyone who liked this back then still has this album, and everyone recognizes it as the classic it is, right down to the bits in between songs. What they may not appreciate as much as me though, is just how awesome of a beat "Gzs And Hustlas" has. Go listen right now- it's so good.

Best songs: "G Funk (Intro)," "Gin And Juice," "Tha Shiznit," "Murder Was The Case," Who Am I (What's My Name?" "Gzs And Hustlas"

2. Nirvana- In Utero

Whether 1993 was clearly a big year for rap in my tastes, or those albums just stood the test of time better than some of the one hit wonders of those years, I'm not sure. But Nirvana was still dominating the world, and even though this lost the top spot of 1993 and is a lesser album than Nevermind, it's still a classic. How could it not be? It's less polished, not as obviously poppy, produced with the drums incredibly loud, and weirder (from songs called "Rape Me" to Kurt Cobain's obsession with birth), but every song is still immediately catchy and work to form not only a varied and classic album, but a great send off (as this was their last album). It wasn't as consistent as Nevermind, but "Heart-Shaped Box" and "Rape Me" are easily some of their best songs ever, and "All Apologies" still gives me chills for being the maybe-meant-to-be, maybe-not goodbye letter I see it as. This album makes me think of the Christmas morning I got it, and still gives me the weird feelings it did back then. It's an odd, unsettling combination of driving rock, sad melodies, and small bits of weird in just good old fashioned classic songwriting. And it's fantastic.

Best songs: "Scentless Apprentice," "Heart-Shaped Box,""Rape Me," "Dumb," "Milk It," "Tourettes," "All Apologies"

1. Pearl Jam- Vs.

At the time, In Utero probably would have been my choice for album of the year. But over time, I've realized that my semi-obsession with Nirvana may have influenced my opinion. The truth is, after getting both of these albums for Christmas that year (what a year!), this is the one I listened to more. And it's the one I appreciate more now. It's the best Pearl Jam album in my opinion, and the last one that I really cared about (Vitalogy has some classics, but it's not consistent enough to really work as a full album). It's extremely varied- from straight forward alternative rock ("Go") to radio ballad singalongs ("Daughter") to rippers (yes, rippers ("Blood")) to weird songs that shouldn't be as good as they are ("Rats") to "Rearviewmirror," a song that at the time was just another good song on a good album, but over time has become my favorite Pearl Jam song. Great guitar line, solid chorus, building flow, etc. It's just great. The whole album flows perfectly- it really is a band at the top of their game putting out a classic album. 

Best songs: "Go," "Animal," "Daughter," "W.M.A,""Rearviewmirror," "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town"

1992

1992 is a lot like 1991- Obvious classics at the top of the list, followed by a mishmash of genres and albums that are good for very different reasons that were hard to choose.

First, the runners up:

Da Lench Mob- Guerillas In Tha Mist: For someone entering a rap phase and in love with Ice Cube, this album is perfect. They all sound like him (one of them EXACTLY), the production is mean and relentless, and most of all, catchy. Plus, look at how badass these guys are!

Pantera- A Vulgar Display Of Power: "Mouth For War," "A New Level," and "Fucking Hostile" all rule- super heavy and angry with a southern feel and solos. The rest of the album doesn't hold up of course, but it starts out strong, and featured one of their best songs, "This Love-" a perfectly unnatural mix of balladry and metal. 

Tori Amos- Little Earthquakes: From Pantera to Tori Amos... I love my musical taste. There are some fruity parts on this, where she get a bit too indulgent and weird (and without any other instruments to help the songs, it doesn't work), but this also features some of her strongest work. "Silent All These Years," "Winter" and "China" are gorgeous.

Sublime- 40 Oz. To Freedom: "Date Rape," "Badfish," and "Smoke Two Joints" are the hits, but the rest of the album is solid as a whole- I originally felt it was boring after hearing their vastly superior self-titled album years later, but this has held up as a solid mix of reggae, punk, ska, and fun. 

Ugly Kid Joe- America's Least Wanted: A gimmicky band that ruled MTV and my 6th grade heart shouldn't have lasting value. But this somehow does. "Goddamn Devil," "So Damn Cool" "Everything About You" and their cover of "Cats In The Cradle" still hold up as great rock music, whether gimmicky or not. 

10. Polvo- Cor-Crane Secret

Other than maybe Sonic Youth, there really aren't any bands who sound like Polvo. I got this for my birthday in the same summer I was listening to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and No Doubt, and that couldn't be a weirder combination of music. This sounds like a bunch of people who built their own guitars and amps, tuned their guitars to the weirdest tunings possible, and invented their own way of playing, with the goal of creating the weirdest sounding songs they could. Everything is dissonant and weird, and harmonies don't make sense (but somehow do). The vocals aren't the best, but they tie the oddities into actual songs, and somehow it all works into their own sound. This is probably their best album- it's creepy sounding at times, sometimes melodic, and mostly weird- especially when you consider it came out the same year that Ugly Kid Joe were popular. 

Best songs: "Vibracobra," "Kalgon," "Bend Or Break," "Sense Of It," "Ox Scapula."

9. Nirvana- Incesticide

I didn't know until years after initially hearing this that it is an album of b-sides, which explains the unevenness of it all- that it could contain what I feel is one of Nirvana's greatest songs ("Aneurysm") as well as some of their worst ("Hairspray Queen"). Either that, or I didn't understand what b-sides were at the time. But it was Nirvana, and anything Nirvana was good at the time, and based on that and the reminiscent feel I get from hearing this, it stands the test of time. I also just found out that "Son Of A Gun" and "Turnaround" were covers, and "Molly's Lips"- one of the best songs on this- wasn't written by Nirvana. This is a great b-side collection though, and the unevenness and random feel of it makes it an intriguing listen. Every song is different enough, yet still is 100% Nirvana. And "Aneurysm..." oh "Aneurysm." Why were you never on an official album? You're sooo good. And you end with the longest collection of feedback noise I've heard. 

Best songs: "Dive," "Sliver," "Stain," "Been A Son," "Molly's Lips," "(New Wave) Polly," "Aneurysm."

8. Green Day- Kerplunk

Obviously, I first heard Green Day with 1994's "Dookie." Later, I was on a weird kick of owning a record player and for some reason bought this on vinyl. I remember playing super nintendo while playing this over and over again. It's poorly produced, Billie Joe still has a young snarly voice, the drum beats are pretty boring, but this album is full of what Green Day always did best- write simple, catchy, great rock songs. They hadn't hit their stride yet, and that's obvious with some of the throwaway tracks at the end, but "2000 Light Years Away" and "Christie Road" are as good as anything on "Dookie." And "Dominated Love Slave" is a fantastically stupid song that usually sticks in my head better than any of the real songs on here. 

Best songs: "2000 Light Years Away," "One For The Razorbacks," "Welcome To Paradise," "Christie Road," "Private Ale."

7. Ice Cube- The Predator

As with most of these older releases, I heard this after I heard the superior "Lethal Injection," but this one blew me away when I found the used tape at Bull Moose for $3.97. I have yet to hear a rap album with a better introduction and opening track. It's funky, sample heavy, and mean as hell. Once Ice Cube shows up and starts rapping, he's furious and violent and you know you're in for something serious . It's a perfect opening track, and it's only just the beginning. There are some major duds on here, but "Wicked" and "We Had To Tear This Motherfucker Up" maintain the mean badassery of Ice Cube, while the rest of the good songs are funky and more laid back. The biggest fault with this album is that he put out a remixed version of "Check Yo Self" with Das EFX AFTER this came out, and the original version is not very good. Oh well, I edit my albums in itunes, and boom- problem fixed. This album is awesome in general and still remains one of the better gangsta rap albums in existence. Oh, and it also has one of the most undeniably classic rap songs ever: "It Was A Good Day:" a rare moment of positivity and humor on an otherwise fairly brutal album. 

Best songs: "When Will They Shoot," "Wicked," "The Predator," "Check Yo Self," "It Was A Good Day," "We Had To Tear This Motherfucker Up."

6. Faith No More- Angel Dust

After my straight-up worship of their first album (well, second, but I don't consider Faith No More complete without Mike Patton), no album would be able to match up- and certainly not one as weird and all over the place as this. This is the album where Faith No More started experimenting a lot more. Patton showed his true voice and the many capabilities he has vocally, the band played metal, funk and soul in weirder ways, used cheerleader cheers (I HATE that song ("Be Agressive")), and threw some curveballs at us- I have no idea what genre "RV" or "Midnight Cowboy" fall into. A lot of this has to do with intense drug usage, but most was because Mike Patton was now part of the songwriting (which he wasn't before), and it truly showed a band finding their sound and strengths. "Midlife Crisis" was huge and deserved to be. "A Small Victory" followed. I wasn't in love with this at first, and it's still only my third favorite FNM album, but it is still fantastic, and just like "The Real Thing," light years ahead of mostly everything that came out in 1992.

Best songs: "Land Of Sunshine," "Midlife Crisis," "Smaller And Smaller," "Everything's Ruined," "A Small Victory," "Crack Hitler."

5. Ministry- Psalm 69

I remember seeing the videos for "N.W.O." and "Just One Fix" on MTV's 120 Minutes. They were a mess of news footage, creepy video cut throughout, and singer Al Jourgensen walking down the street, huge black hair and cowboy hat, being tough and scary. I found the music to be terrifying and flooring- industrial sounds, an unrelenting beat and riffage that crept into your head and didn't leave. The songs didn't change much- their heaviness and fury were based around staying in your head and slowly building to something more. This album was one of my first CDs, and it was all I ever could have wanted: no words on the cover, creepy multi-layered art, and dark, dark, dark. I felt cool to have something so dark and heavy. At the time, I didn't love all the noise (songs like "TV II" and "Grace" were experimental collages of noise and sound effects I was too young and ignorant to appreciate at the time), and I always thought "Jesus Built My Hotrod," although awesome, distracted from the bleakness of the album, but over time, I've grown to love every second of this album. And when the vocals kick in in "Psalm 69" after 2 minutes of choir singing, with screams of "drinking the blood of Jesus," it still kind of scares me. This album rules, and nothing Ministry would do afterward- nor what most industrial bands created after- would come close to it.

Best songs: "N.W.O.," "Just One Fix," "Jesus Built My Hotrod," "Scare Crow," "Psalm 69."

4. Stone Temple Pilots- Core

Ministry had a better album as a whole, but the strength of the hits on Stone Temple Pilots' debut album pushed it ahead. These guys were enormous this year. They rode the coattails of Nirvana and Pearl Jam in being the next grunge band to come out, but they did it heavier and more fiercely than we had heard yet. The riff to "Sex Type Thing" is still one of the most mean riffs I've ever heard. Driving riffs, simple and powerful beats, and Scott Weiland's gruff and only-deep-on-this-album vocals (did his voice change or was he faking it on this?) create hit after hit on, in my opinion, their second best album (I think "Purple" was stronger). And in the middle of it all? Their first hint at how solid of songwriters they were with the immensely popular slow jam, "Creep." Remember when they played MTV Unplugged and he sang from a rocking chair? Yea, that was awesome. So is this album. Unfortunately, since it was thrown into the "grunge movement," it may be remembered as "just another grunge album," but it deserves more credit than that. This is just great rock music, plain and simple. 

Best songs: "Dead And Bloated," "Sex Type Thing," "Wicked Garden," "Creep," "Plush," "Crackerman."

3. Dr. Dre- The Chronic

It feels a little odd to have an extremely profane rap album at number 3 on a list of music that has hit me emotionally or meant something to me that transcended music itself, but this album is undeniably awesome, and I would argue that it's the best rap album ever made. This album dominated MTV and my morning drives to school (the guy who drove me loooved rap). Everyone knew Snoop Dogg's verse in "Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang," and everyone had watched the videos MTV played all day a thousand times each. What makes this album rule is 1, that it still sounds fantastic and relevant today, and 2, it's incredibly consistent- this is one of the few rap albums where even the skits are entertaining. Listening to this from start to finish is an experience in Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Korupt, and everyone else's lives in Compton. Dre pioneered a west coast sound that he would continue to use and refine over his next refuse-to-put-out-more-than-1-album-a-decade 20 years: the wirey shifting synthesizers mixed with simple beats and Parliament samples, used in either dark and intense gangsa rap or laid back and funky jams. And not only that, people forget that before he gave the world Eminem, he gave us Snoop Dogg on this. A classic, for sure. 

Best songs: "Fuck Wit Dre Day (And Everybody's Celebratin')," "Let Me Ride," "The Day The Niggaz Took Over," "Nuthin' But A 'G' Thang," "Lil' Ghetto Boy," "Bitches Ain't Shit."

2. Alice In Chains- Dirt

I remember getting this tape on the way home from school at Zayre's, during their going-out-of-business-sale. I had heard "Would?" and was intrigued, and it was cheap- why not? I sat on the edge of the couch in the living room while it snowed relentlessly outside (we may have had a half day from school because of the snow) and I pressed play. I remember being pretty much instantly floored. This was dark, evil stuff with some of the weirdest vocal melodies I'd ever heard and some of the darkest lyrics I'd ever read. They took the dark, minor bluesy riffs that Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath started and took them to a whole new level. Often the choruses kicked in with more major chords with an almost uplifting feel, but it always went back to dark, dark, dark. Listening to this now and reading that most of Layne Staley's lyrics were about the turmoil that heroin addiction was putting him through, coupled with the incredibly sad story of him slowly dying alone in his apartment (read his wiki page- it's horrible) makes this an even darker listen. But no sadness, just rock. This band created something special with this album, that sadly, they would never come close to again. This album is perfect- it's heavy and rocks throughout, but the incredible vocals of Staley and the unique melodies he and Jerry Cantrell sing throughout the album make it not just unique and awesome, but one of the bleakest, darkest and most ageless classics I own- even now, I still feel the power I first felt on that snowy day.  

Best songs: "Them Bones," "Dam That River," "Down In A Hole," "Rooster," "Dirt," "Hate To Feel," "Angry Chair," "Would?"

1. Rage Against The Machine- Self Titled

When I looked at what came out in 1992, I said "oh, simple, Alice in Chains- nothing will beat that" until of course, I got to this. This album was the first album I heard where a group so seamlessly combined rap and rock music, and it remains the best representation of the band who always did it best (sorry Limp Bizkit).

This was also probably the first time I experienced a "grower" of an album- the first time I heard Rage Against The Machine was seeing their video for "Freedom," and thinking it was bad- the verses were solid, but the screaming at the end was terrible. A few friends liked them, but I didn't see the hype. I later would hear The Crow Soundtrack, which included their song, "Darkness," which I instantly liked. After listening more and more, I decided to give this a chance and bought the tape in the mall one day. The cover of a monk on fire scared me, and their rap/metal sound for some reason made me uneasy- I was honestly worried that I had just bought something I wasn't ready for. I was like an old parent, confused at how a band could do what they were doing.

But for someone who instantly loved a band as odd as Faith No More, and who liked heavy music and rap equally, I don't know what I was thinking. This album was instantly incredible to me. I soon learned to appreciate his disgusting screaming- this was pure emotion and anger that I hadn't truly heard yet. I had never heard a band that cared so much about the things they care about. I had never heard a band stand for something and still rock so well. The sounds Tom Morello created with his guitar still impress me, and considering he was doing this stuff this long ago is pretty impressive. 

Zack de la Rocha was clearly a solid lyricist, but I was more into just how pleasing his voice was to my ears when he rapped or rarely sang- and at the same time, how painful yet awesome it was when he screamed. Hearing someone not screaming cleanly- someone really losing it and screaming with a pure, real anger like this was ugly and incredible. In hindsight, it's pretty clear to see where my movement into nu-metal and then later hardcore/metalcore, etc. started. It was largely started with this album. There's mosh-able parts, super head-bangy parts, parts to scream along with, parts to rap along with and groove- it has everything, and it's a relentless album. It doesn't let up. "Bombtrack" (which, no lie, I used as a warm up song for my JV basketball team- yes, we came running out to this song) is a perfect opener, "Killing In The Name" is the perfect scream- anger anthem, "Bullet In The Head" is a song that only gets better as it goes along (I used to always imagine it being used for a car chase scene in a movie, and the car would explode through a building and launch into mid-air when the song kicks in), "Wake Up" (which was used in The Matrix) was a perfect mix of minor, evil sounding riffing mixed with funk, "Fistful of Steel" has one of the most badass riffs I've ever heard, and "Freedom" was the perfect closer, which also had an ending feedback freakout rivaling Nirvana's "Aneurysm." 

Without Tom Morello or Zack de la Rocha, this band would have sucked. RATM was the perfect combination of a fantastic frontman and an even more fantastic songwriter- someone who could play neat sounds for rap music but wrote instantly memorable and rocking riffs better than anyone at the time. For 3 albums, he didn't miss- every riff was awesome. But this was the best, and it's no wonder that this remains the best combination of rap and rock ever, and still sounds incredible today. Please come back guys. Audioslave was really bad, and Zack, all your little projects are neat, but they're kind of boring. Come back Rage. America misses you. 

Best songs: "Bombtrack," "Killing In The Name," "Bullet In The Head," "Wake Up," "Fistful Of Steel," "Township Rebellion," "Freedom."