*This might just take me a full year to finish. I have to apologize to all for this, some of you might not care, some of you might have, at one point, cared. And some of you will never see this. One of the problems I've had is that I keep listening to more and more music like one would expect a music lover to do... and I keep discovering things that well deserve to be on this damn list. I can't very well go back and change something that I haven't even finished yet. So we'll make do.
32. Jane's Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual (1990)
Between this and JA's earlier and just as important release "Nothing's Shocking" it really came down to which songs I like to listen to most, though I discovered both albums at the same time and listened to them in tandem. So, when did I discover JA? Late in my middle school days or early in my high school days, I attended what was then a mid-size venue, cross nation tour called "Lollapalooza". Tickets were $15-20 and you usually got to see some 5-6 bands of note. I went to this particular Lolla to see Incubus and the newly formed Queens of the Stone Age. My favorite memories of this particular Lolla are when Audioslave (also brand new at the time) performed a cover of the White Stripes' new single "Seven Nation Army", watching The Donnas put on one hell of a show and seeing/hearing for the first time Jane's Addiction. Perry Farrell, the lead singer of JA, is famous for being ultra eccentric and having a unique voice - and hell he puts on a good show, too. Of course Navarro was in his consummate rock star stance (which he rarely moves from, tbh). I've seen JA in concert more than any other group simply due to those Lolla performances and they STILL put on a hell of a concert- I recently caught them in KC with NIN (who sucked, play "Closer" you ****s, noone wants to hear a synth solo for 10 minutes) and they were exactly as I remember them over 7 years ago.
Check out: Stop!, Been Caught Stealing, and Three Days
31. Aerosmith - Rocks (1976)
Unghhhhh, yessssssss. If you think of the movie Armageddon when you think of Aerosmith; please shoot yourself. In lieu of suicide, go pick up/download/youtube this album immediately. I just can't talk about it... "Back in the Saddle" is one of the most badass songs that came out of the 70's and really... did Aerosmith fall out of the saddle at this time? Hell no. They had previously released (their masterpiece) "Toys in the Attic" - I like "Rocks" better because I had it on vinyl first. Simple as that. Aerosmith has since... fallen out of the Saddle. Come on boys, "Pink"?
Check out: Back in the Saddle, Home Tonight, and if Rock Band hasn't made you sick of Last Child yet, live it, learn it and love it. I do.
MILESTONE ALBUM: GROWING UP A CHILD OF THE 90'S
30. No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Our next milestone album is important because at the ripe age of 9 my mom wouldn't really let me listen to anything new. When we'd ride around places it'd be oldies or you know, Poison (not that I was complaining). But around that age is when kiddos started talking about stuff they heard on the radio which I didn't really listen to. My mom hated the stuff on the radio and thus, again, back to the Poison and Elvis. However, and I won't claim I remember the exact time and date of this event - one day my mom heard "Just a Girl" on one of our local alternative stations (when alt meant something) and we ended up listening to that station quite a bit. Of course when Mudhoney or Nirvana started blasting we'd go back to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and that'd be the end of it. My mom bought me this album (pretty much for her) around this time (on cassette) and it became a staple for long car rides where we couldn't agree on something. She even has it on her iPod (next to Rascal Flatts ffs.) Anyway, this is what got me listening to the "cool" radio stations, and allowed me to start garnering my own taste.
Check out: eh, the singles to be honest. The rest is mostly filler.
29. Echo and the Bunnymen - Heaven Up Here (1981)
Yes, you wanker, I like this album better than "Crocodiles" - now sod off. I always get strange reactions from people who (well, one, who have heard of E&BM - a rare thing) listen to Echo. I think Crocodiles was pretty standard - and this album's overall atmosphere is beautifully depressing - and this is a cliche way to describe this album, but it's true and simplistic so why fix what's not broken? And ugh, it's so much better than their "easily accessible" pop drivel. Many people disagree with me when I say this, but this just smacks of proto-shoegaze -- you start thinking of music as a physical liquid force rather than the instrument names given to them by the distant. I tend to wax faux-poetic, I apologize.
Check out: Over the Wall, Heaven Up Here, Turqoise Days