76. Hum - Downward is Heavenward (1997)
What a fantastic way of doing shoegaze Hum achieves on this album. Hum was one of those bands that should have been big... but... gave up? Broke up? Don't know for sure. They had one radio-hit with the song, "Stars", which is not on Downward is Heavenward - and after failing to make any headway with that gem... they disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle of great bands. Hum's distorted riffs and clever lyrics (usually about space) made them truly standout from their mid-late 90's peers. If the Smashing Pumpkins and The Catherine Wheel had a row late one night after getting smashed at a pub - Hum would be their beautiful, beautiful mistake. Make sure to give Hum a listen. I really want to put them higher. I see this placement as a future regret, but I think I am making the right choice.
Check out: Green To Me, Apollo, If You Are to Bloom (read lyrics when listening to this)
75. Big Black - Songs About F*cking (1987)
Auditory havoc. Roar. Festering Blister of Semen pus. All things that could describe this raunchy, loud, incredibly inventive album. Big Black's flagship album (arguably of course) was a great outlet for my anger somewhere in between 8th grade - 10th grade. Heard it from some stoner neighbor of a good friend of mine. The story of its existence in my life is rather unspectacular - typical, in the garage and it came on kind of thing. I tried to go buy it and couldn't (thanks Mom) when she saw the cover she nearly shat her stockings. So, like the good little child of the internet age is wont to do... I downloaded it and burnt it to a CD (as this was before iPods came along). The insane guitar sounds produced on this album is only part of the reason you should have listened to it by now... I mean, it sounds like the band took a portable recorder, strapped it to their guitars and did a concert in the 7th circle of Hell. The lyrics are not suitable for children. Please... do not try this at home.
Check out: L Dopa, Kitty Empire, He's a Whore
74. The Books - The Lemon of Pink (2003)
This is one of those albums that forced me to change my definition of "music". One has to sit back and appreciate it for the music it is making, rather than the music that it
IS - if that makes any sense. Creative and simple sampling mixed in with relatively unadvanced electronic/folk stylings make this album a very lush... spacious sounding album that makes absolutely great background music. Think... Animal Collective on Ritalin.
Check out: Take Time, The Lemon of Pink I and II, Tokyo
73. The Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
I'm not going to waste my breath defending the Monkeys from the backlash of that INSANE media hype they got when they released their debut album here. What I will say is; that the Monkeys delivered a beautifully fresh, garage rock revival album right when I needed something to quench my White Stripes fix. This was right after the Stripes released Get Behind Me Satan - and I had played that album until I knew it better than the sound of my mother's voice. I needed something similar, but different. And the Monkeys were there. Now, they were/are not the new Blur, Oasis, Pulp, or whatever that NME hoped they would be... but damn, this is just fun, dance music. Someone called this a "modern classic" on some other forum... and while I'm not sure you can say that yet without some time passing... I know that the Winter of 2006 was the season of the Arctic Monkey.
Check out: Mardy Bum, and all of the other singles that came off of this bad boy.