60. Social Distortion - S/T (1990)
Somewhere in my mid-teens, a buddy of mine played me a mix cd that contained a compilation of punk rock cover songs. Among this somewhat shoddy tracklist was Social Distortion's cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire". Sure enough, I heard it and fell in love. I was hooked. This album contains SD's most well known songs when it comes to the single value, but overall this isn't my favorite album as a cohesive unit (that belongs to White Light White Heat White Trash). However, this is another one of those albums that makes it onto the list for being a pretty big milestone in the growth of my musical tastes - as well as introducing me to SD and allowing me to discover some of their contemporaries. For being this high on my list, interestingly enough, this has probably received less play than some of the others... but the impact pushes Social Distortion's S/T all the way to number 60. Listen for the sounds that later, sh!te pop-punk groups would try to recreate.
Check out: Sick Boy, Ring of Fire, Story of my Life
59. Tom Waits - Bone Machine (1992)
I feel like if pirates of ye olde days past, The Earth Died Screaming would be their anthem. I mean, it's so much better than "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum". The opening track grabs you right away - you have Tom Waits' voice chanting in this gruff, rough voice of his and it's absolutely haunting. Then, just to reiterate the fact that this album is called Bone Machine, the sounds of hollowed bones clacking together is the background percussion. This is an album driven by lyrics - at some point feeling like more of a spoken word piece. Spoken by dying men and/or zombies. For me, this was my Tom Waits introduction and I prefer it over other stellar Waits albums like Rain Dogs and Swordfishtrombones et al. I do love Orphans though, probably my second favorite. This minimalism effort from Waits is really just a shining example of what strong lyrical prowess can get you. Within the music you can garner some bluesy efforts out of the eclectic drumming - sounds like... elephants playing a saxophone and trumpet? A mutant playing a kazoo? Lyrical content mostly about really fun things like homicide and death.
Check out: The Earth Died Screaming, All Stripped Down, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, Murder in the Red Barn
58. Patti Smith - Horses (1975)
A guy on rateyourmusic said something that I couldn't articulate better, or would rather not try to. He wrote:
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"'Jesus died for somebody's sins.....but not mine.' Now that is how you open an album. If it was a cry for attention, it's one that wasn't really needed. I can't begin to imagine how alien this must have sounded back in 1975. Before punk and before glam, here was an apparently androgynous figure reciting impenetrable beat poetry over music more basic, primal, and melody-free than anything that had gone before (save for The Stooges)."
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Primal is an understatement if it can be... I was introduced to Patti Smith in the winter of 2005, so not one of those lucky introductions in my child hood that I'm sure are becoming tiresome in my writeups, but anyway... I was in my Rock and Soul on the Radio class, another Chicago story, and my professor was showing us a clip of an old SNL skit starring Gilda Radner who was playing a character based on Patti. My professor goes onto talk about how important Patti Smith was, etc etc proto-punk etc etc... important album art bla bla... so I took it all in, not being a big fan of female voices in rock. Then I listened to Horses. And that guy is right... that opening line is a kick to the throat. It pulls you in. And you become aware of this cave-woman singing to you. This cave-woman is a poet, a real talented artist - it's the album that PJ Harvey probably listens to, hell any woman in rock or punk. And of course Horses appears on album lists all the time, so you are probably well aware of its important.
Check out: Gloria (better than the Van Morrison original JJJ!!!), Kimberly, Birdland, Redondo Beach
57. Low - I Could Live in Hope (1994)
I first heard low when their Things We Lost in the Fire LP dropped back in the early 00s. I also remember them being on a Spacemen 3 Tribute album I heard recently which is cool, because well.. the Spacemen 3 (also a sweet Mogwai cover and Arab Strap cover on that same album)... anyway. I decided to dig back in the catalog a little and I picked up Low's debut and was surprised how taken I was with this album. At the time I was really digging punk, so this was a little slower than I was used to. I think what got me was the great vocal harmonization between the husband and wife who head the group. The instruments are pretty minimal, rather simplistic all around - but it lends itself to the group nicely. Very solemn, sad... slow... beautiful without being pretentious like some groups who make this sort of music are wont to be. This was, in my own life, way before it's time when it came to my musical tastes - influenced a more informed me years later at the end of my teens.
Check out: Slide, Sunshine, Lullabye