411 Top 100 Albums: 80 to 71
Posted by Tim O'Sullivan on 07.30.2007
Have you heard the “rumours” about who has made this ten? One Click Away
Welcome to 411 MANIA.
Welcome to 411 MUSIC.
Welcome to week three of this feature.
Welcome to the most tedious intro of 2007 thus far.
Day Three shall begin in 3…..2…..1…….
PART THREE
Guns N' Roses - Use Your Illusion I & II
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #2 (Use Your Illusion I)
Billboard 200: #1 (Use Your Illusion II)
Singles:
"November Rain" Billboard Hot 100: #3 Mainstream Rock: #15 Top 40 Mainstream: #19
"Don't Cry" Billboard Hot 100: #10 Mainstream Rock: #3
"You Could Be Mine" Billboard Hot 100: #29 Mainstream Rock
"Live And Let Die" Billboard Hot 100: #33 Mainstream Rock: #20
"Yesterdays" Billboard Hot 100: #72 Mainstream Rock: #13
"Civil War" Mainstream Rock: #4
"Estranged" Mainstream Rock: #16
"Knockin' On Heaven's Door" Mainstream Rock: #18
"Pretty Tied Up (The Perils Of Rock & Roll Decadence)" Mainstream Rock: #35
Rutherford: Could an album have more pressure and hype than this one? How do you follow up a bona fide classic? By releasing enough music to confuse everyone long enough so they don't really think about it too much. Like most modern double sets, it would have been better served as a single disc, but considering the lack of musical output this band has, we should be thankful for the amount of music on these two albums. Too many highlights to mention them all, but if you can't see the genius in "Estranged" then you have no musical vision.
Melchor: A pure rock and roll spectacle and one of only a handful of reasons why many still give a damn about the impending Chinese Democracy. The Use Your Illusion set ran the gamut of every emotion in the book and, with the exception of some filler and some ego-stroking here and there ("Get In The Ring", I'm looking right at you), took people on a trip. In the cases of epics such as "Coma" and "Estranged", that could be taken in more ways than one. For its faults and foibles, remember that this is the same set that produced "November Rain" and "Locomotive", among many other nearly-iconic rock songs.
Mitch Michaels:The Spaghetti Incident? really sucked, no doubt, but it was the recording of Use Your Illusion that truly broke up Guns N' Roses. Tensions were high as Axl Rose and Slash fought over a direction for the band, causing this album to take over three years to complete. The result of the fighting was a mix of driving hard rock and epic balladry that has become known as the pinnacle of overblown hard rock excess. And we love it for that. Sadly, nothing lasts forever.
O'Sullivan: Dear Red Hot Chilli Peppers, this is how you produce a two-disc album. Seriously, this is exceptional stuff from the Motown legend, with "As" and "Knocks me off my feet" my personal favourites. Its too low in the countdown for my liking, but better here than nowhere at all.
Phil Watts, Jr.: What can be said about a two and a half disc album that is so incredible, with back to back classic material, that even if you cut the fat you STILL need two and a half discs to cover it? How about, "This album is WAY TOO LOW in the countdown!", that's what. (And yes, the double disc album did come with a little 7" record with more material on it!)
Rutherford: Stevie Wonder was the funky Boy Genius of the Motown label and this was his musical statement. This is what soul music really is (don't get me started about what "soul" music is like today) and, even when shifting into musical laments, you still can't help but hear the joy Stevie takes in creating music. Just a wonderful listening experience and a great example of an album that tells a story.
Foo Fighters - The Colour And The Shape
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #10
Canadian: #8
Singles:
"Everlong" Mainstream Rock: #4 Modern Rock: #3
"My Hero" Mainstream Rock: #8 Modern Rock: #6
"Monkey Wrench" Mainstream Rock: #9 Modern Rock: #9
"Walking After You" Modern Rock: #12 Adult Top 40: #35
Rutherford: Dave Grohl showed the world two things with this album: 1) That he was no longer bound by the legacy of Nirvana and 2) You can make commercial rock and roll and still retain your integrity. Chock full of hooks and melody, Grohl proved himself as a musician and a songwriter, rattling off a slew of rock radio classics coupled with the rock hard production of Gil Norton. With this, you have the album that gave hope to guitar rock post grunge.
Helm: I contend, though the genre appears to have died years ago, that Foo Fighters is one of the last great true rock bands left . . . and The Colour and the Shape is why. While their first self-titled album seemed to be nothing more than a Dave Grohl vanity project – he recorded virtually the entire album himself -- The Colour and the Shape stands as Foo Fighters' true debut as a fully realized band. Featuring fast-paced rockers ("Monkey Wrench," "New Way Home") alongside guitar-laden anthems ("My Hero," "Everlong"), The Colour and the Shape, as crazy as it sounds, could easily reside alongside some of the great arena-rock albums of the 70's with its power and style . . . and that's a compliment.
Mitch Michaels: The Foo Fighters' debut wasn't really more than some Dave Grohl demos, but his way of combining alt rock angst and pop melodies was enough to make hits out of a few tracks there. On Colour And The Shape, Grohl begins to really experiment with a band, and the result is far more energetic. Hits like "Hero" and "Monkey Wrench" are results of this, exploding on the radio with a driving arena rock urgency that caught rock fans by surprise. By the time you get to the beautiful "Everlong", possibly the Foos most beloved song, it's all just gravy.
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #2
Singles:
"Closer" Billboard Hot 100: #41 Mainstream Rock: #35 Modern Rock: #11 Hot Dance Music/Club Play:#29 Hot Dance Music: #29 Canadian: #5
"March Of The Pigs" Billboard Hot 100: #59 Hot Dance Music: #5
"Hurt" Modern Rock: #8
"Piggy" Modern Rock: #20
Rutherford: What an amazing second act this album is. Trent Reznor shocked the world with Pretty Hate Machine, but most assumed he was a passing fad until they got an earful of this diamond. Dense, majestic, dire and celebrated, he blasted away all perceptions of what industrial music was and could do.
Melchor: Who knew a concept album about self-destruction and suicide would become such a smash? Reznor already proved his pop industrial chops with Pretty Hate Machine and his penchant for rage and despair with Broken; this just blew the concept wide open. And with such a drive and groove, how could it not? Forget about the radio staples that have been driven into the ground for a moment and go back to listen to "Mr. Self Destruct" and "Eraser" again and see why very few people have ever captured the feeling of being emotionally lost and ready to throw in the towel like Reznor did here.
Mitch Michaels: With its strange sounds and distortion, The Downward Spiral is probably the most unlikely album to nearly make it to #1. However, thanks to the genius of Trent Reznor, it did, shining a national spotlight on the industrial metal genre in the process. This brooding album wasn't afraid to revel in the muck and mire of the human psyche and it's as wonderful as Nine Inch Nails is dark. NIN's commercial pinnacle still stands as innovative today.
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #1
Singles:
"1979" Billboard Hot 100: #12 Mainstream Rock: #1 Modern Rock: #1 Top 40 Mainstream: #10 Adult Top 40: #30 Hot Dance Music/Club Play: #17 Hot Dance Music: #47 Hot Digital:#54
"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" Billboard Hot 100: #22 Mainstream Rock: #4 Modern Rock: #2
"Tonight, Tonight" Billboard Hot 100: #36 Mainstream Rock: #4 Modern Rock: #5
"Thirty-Three" Billboard Hot 100: #39 Mainstream Rock: #18 Modern Rock: #2
"Muzzle" Mainstream Rock: #10 Modern Rock: #8
"Zero" Mainstream Rock: #15 Modern Rock: #9
Rutherford: It's hard to deny how good this album is, but with around 30 songs on it you, would have to assume Billy Corgan would at least pump out enough classic songs to make it worth your while. While I do think this would have made a killer single disc that would have gone down as one of the classic albums of all time, you can't argue with the fact this is an amazingly consistent album that swings between musical genres almost at will.
Wright: There's a lot of negative things you can say about Billy Corgan, but you have to give him credit. When he gets it right, he writes magnificent songs and there's no better example than this album. Transcending genre, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness has amazing moments of punk, hard-rock, symphonic pop and lo-fi indie, which somehow manages to work together due to the sheer quality of the material. The obvious criticism is that had the band trimmed some fat and merely put out a 1-disc album they could have produced the album of the decade. but as a 2-disc collection, it's still a fine piece of work.
Mitch Michaels: This is the first double album I'd ever even heard of. Sure, you could argue that not every track on this album was a keeper, but the discs flow so well that the clunkers act almost as pallet cleansers, getting you prepared for the next explosive hit (a la "Bullet With Butterfly Wings") or the next gorgeous genre-bender ("Tonight, Tonight"). Mellon Collie finds Billy Corgan really letting loose as a songwriter, indulging in his every influence with a band that can rock classical just as well as new wave/post-punk. The world is a vampire.
Soundgarden - Superunknown
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #1
Singles:
"Black Hole Sun" Mainstream Rock: #1 Modern Rock: #2 Top 40 Mainstream: #9
"Spoonman" Mainstream Rock: #3 Modern Rock: #9
"Fell On Black Days" Mainstream Rock: #4 Modern Rock: #13
"The Day I Tried To Live" Mainstream Rock: #13 Modern Rock: #25
"My Wave" Modern Rock: #18
Rutherford: After the misstep of their debut album, Soundgarden hit it big with their second, Badmotorfinger. Still, few had hope that they would be able to follow it up. They put doubters to rest and then some by releasing an album that just reeked of a band at the height of their powers. Every band member contributed songs and while the single "Back Hole Sun" garnered the most attention, it's songs like the meditative "Fell On Black Days", the slowgrind "Mailman", pop gem "My Wave" and the fantastically souped up title track that make this album work.
Tollah: The penultimate grunge album in my opinion, right after Pearl Jam's Ten. More metal than punk or indie, contains some of the best rock songs of the 90's, such as "Spoonman", "Fell On Black Days" and the title track.
The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #15
R&B/Hip-Hop: #3
Singles:
"One More Chance" Billboard Hot 100: #2 Rap: #1 R&B/Hip-Hop: #1 Hot Dance Music: #1 Rhythmic Top 40: #7
"Big Poppa" Billboard Hot 100: #6 Rap: #1 R&B/Hip-Hop: #4 Hot Dance Music: #1 Rhythmic Top 40: #12
"Juicy" Billboard Hot 100: #27 Rap: #3 R&B/Hip-Hop: #14 Hot Dance Music: #1 Rhythmic Top 40: #36
"Stay With Me" Rap: #1
"Warning" Rap: #1
"Unbelievable" Rap: #3
Phil Watts, Jr.: The mid-90's "King Of New York" elections were in full swing, with everyone from Nas to Jigga to Raekwon and Ghost competing for the crown, but despite all their efforts, Biggie and his debut album won by a landslide! The people still consider him the King of New York, even 10 years after his murder. This is one of the two Big albums I'll even acknowledge (this and 1/3 of Life After Death. The rest don't exist.)
Berry: This is East Coast hardcore rap at its finest. Chris Wallace's (aka Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls) narratives on New York street life would be hard to digest from almost any other rapper. Thankfully, his laid back, matter of fact delivery makes the album an act of realism rather than a sensationalized pastiche to street life (see: NWA Straight Outta Compton). Wallace has lived out much of what he flows on and, as such, he provides an informed look into lifestyles most of the public would rather turn a blind eye on. Features the hits "Warning", "Big Poppa", "Juicy" and "One More Chance".
Notorious B.I.G.'s debut is the album that made Sean Combs (aka Puff Daddy, P. Diddy) one of the most sought after producers in hip-hop. In the process, Combs' Bad Boy Records started squashing album sales posted by Suge Knight's West Coast label, Death Row Records. This set off the mid-‘90s rap wars, which led to the untimely deaths of Chris Wallace and his West Coast rival, Tupac Shakur.
O'Sullivan: One of the greatest to ever pick up the mic, and this was his finest hour. "Machine Gun Funk" and "Juicy" showcased true, five star hip hop, but it was "One More Chance" that really nailed me. Truly world class stuff from the great man.
Queen - A Night At The Opera
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #4
Singles:
"Bohemian Rhapsody" Billboard Hot 100: #2 Pop: #9 Mainstream Rock: #16
"You're My Best Friend" Pop: #16
Rutherford: No band made music like Queen and to be frank, no band ever really could. A band with no boundaries and the musical talent to back it all up, they created musical worlds full of sonic innovation that were like entering kingdoms. While it has been played to death now, when "Bohemian Rhapsody" come out, it showed a new way forward for music. Never had a pop song had three distinct movements shifting from ballad to opera to full blown rock. It's the centerpiece of one of the greatest albums ever and just to mention...the rest of the songs rule as well.
Melchor: I've said it before and I'll say it again - when you have an album on which the revered "Bohemian Rhapsody" is one of the worst tracks, you have a classic on your hands. Now, don't get me wrong - "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a treasure and still stands up as such to this day, but "The Prophet's Song" puts that bit of operatic overdubbing and bombast right to shame. Add those to the understated "You're My Best Friend", the hidden gems "'39" and "Good Company" and outright silliness like "Seaside Rendezvous", and what more can be said? Oh, I know - "God Save The Queen" is such a regal and pompous reading of a national anthem that I wish it was ours.
Tollah: One of the most inventive bands ever at their creative peak. The beauty of Queen is that their music is so unique, yet so accessible. Opener "Death On Two Legs" and "I'm In Love With My Car" are underrated gems, but pretty much every track on here oozes class.
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #1
Singles:
"Dreams" Pop: #1 Adult Contemporary: #11
"Don't Stop" Pop: #3 Adult Contemporary: #22
"You Make Loving Fun" Pop: #9 Adult Contemporary: #28
"Go Your Own Way" Pop: #10 Adult Contemporary: #45
Rutherford: This album kills me. Perhaps the most perfect example of when personal conflict and musical perfection meet. You can swing between meditative heartbreak ("Dreams") angry denial ("Go Your Own Way") blind hope ("Don't Stop") forgiveness ("Song Bird"), mental breakdown ("Gold Dust Woman") and the unbreakable bond between the ones you love to hate ("The Chain") and never get lost because what you are hearing is the truth told by the people living those songs. If you're game, hunt down the album outtake "Silver Springs" to hear what Stevie Nicks telling her first love in her life (guitarist Lindsay Buckingham) to go fuck himself sounds like.
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Rutherford: While XO had lush and lavish production and some sunny pop moments, its predecessor Either/Or is like the lo-fi acoustic brother that takes some serious dark turns. While not for everyone, if you enjoy the folk music of Nick Drake played by the spiritual brother of George Harrison, you will find endless moments of revelation on this album.
Wright:Well, well, well, I only voted for three of the albums that made the bottom thirty and two of them were by the finest songwriter Portland ever produced. There's a fairly obvious contrast between the two Smith albums on the list. Whereas its successor was the first one he released on a major label and features far more polished production and greater pop sensibilities, Either/Or is as much more lo-fi affair. However, for some reason I find it much more accessible. Maybe it's because I think the songs are stronger (save for "Pitsellah" and a couple from the eponymous album, almost all of my favourite Elliott Smith songs on are this record), but if you're looking for a maudlin acoustic album you need never look beyond this one.
Berry: Elliott's last record for an indie label is also his finest work and arguably one of the all-time greatest albums by a singer-songwriter. This is melancholy, visceral music from the heart of a man deep in the depths of substance abuse and depression. Not since Nick Drake in the early ‘70s had a musician so effectively pulled heartstrings with his real life woes as Elliott does here. Either/Or finds the soft-spoken guitarist breathily singing pages from his diary whilst playing all of the instruments to ensure control of his masterwork. Elliott's insistence on using multiple vocal tracks adds a haunting element to his tunes, especially now that he's passed on. While this music is smothered in hungover guilt and pained love affairs, a glimmer of hope exudes from Elliott's delicate guitar plucking and gentle vocals (especially on the optimistic closer, "Say Yes"). As we all know, the end of this tale was tragic, but thankfully he left the world this brilliant, beautiful album.
Credits
Creator / Host:Tim O'Sullivan
Sub Editors:Mitch Michaels and Brian Berry
List Counters:Tim O'Sullivan and Brian Berry
Disc Artwork:Scott Rutherford
Design and Production:Mitch Michaels
Writers who contributed lists: Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Berry, Scott Rutherford, Leonard Hayhurst, Tollah, Mitch Michaels, Morgan Marx, Ian Wright, Will Helm, Jared McGuckin, Frank Estrada, Matt Shoemaker, Scott Slimmer, Phil Watts Jnr, Dusty Godwin, Korry Hill, Jamie Buttineau, Marques Furumoto
Writers who contributed blurbs: Tim O'Sullivan, Scott Rutherford, Ian Wright, Will Helm, Mitch Michaels, Michael Melchor, Phil Watts, Jnr., Brian Berry, Matt Shoemaker, Tollah, Frank Estrada, Jason Chamberlain, Jesse Coy, Dan Marsicano, John Nagle
