Following the highly acclaimed, yet commercial failure of debut record, ‘Surfer Rosa,’ English producer, Gil Norton was brought on board to create a record with perhaps a bit more “commercial appeal” than the previous Steve Albini-helmed record (a producer that’s been mentioned a few times on the list, know for his noisy approach to production). The result was two of the band’s highest charting singles, ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ and ‘Here Comes Your Man.’

Springsteen’s seventh record begins with the a striking piano chord played by the late Danny Federici, with Max Weinberg and Roy Bittan immediately coming in with the drums and synthesizer on the off-beat respectively. Within the first second you know it’s an E Street Band record, a sound in stark contrast to Springsteen’s previous record, the solo effort, ‘Nebraska’ (#150). Springsteen had written and recorded this song during the ‘Nebraska’ sessions. It was originally a slightly faster acoustic Blues song (yes, really! It’s featured on the release, ‘Tracks,’ if you care to listen). Often mistaken as a flag waving song, it was actually about the hardships veterans faced after returning home from war, specifically the Vietnam War, in this case.

This album completely leap-frogged over The Velvet Underground’s other two entries compared to their original places in the list. Their self-titled album was their first without John Cale, and first to feature Doug Yule in his place. Following the experimental record, ‘White Light/White Heat,’ Lou Reed had decided that at the risk of becoming a one-dimensional band, their new album would be more of a straightforward Rock album.

Often considered by critics as their artistic peak, ‘Physical Graffiti,’ is the sixth album by Led Zeppelin in as many years. It’s just astounding to think that the band was still managing to output such a volume of music in such a short space of time. Originally intended as a single album the band had recorded 8 songs which spilled over into 3 sides of an LP. Instead of cutting the tracks, many of which ran over 6 minutes, the band decided to add an extra side, making it a double album, by using outtakes from previous sessions and albums.

With ‘The Slim Shady LP’ at #352, I expressed that that album was a problem for me due to Eminem, or rather, his alte ego, Slim Shady’s lyrics. On this, his third album, he’s still at it. Although, it starts off with a message to the likes of me and others “Slim Shady does not give a fuck what you think.” Fair enough. On ‘Kill You’ he raps about raping his own mother before threatening to kill her “Bitch I'ma kill you! Like a murder weapon, I'ma conceal you.” There’s the lyrics about Christiana Aguilera “Shit, Christina Aguilera better switch me chairs/So I can sit next to Carson Daly and Fred Durst/And hear 'em argue over who she gave head to first.” There’s the lyrics about JLo “Longer than the rumor that I was stickin' it to Christina/‘Cause if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz/It'd be Jennifer Lopez and Puffy, you know this/I'm sorry, Puff, but I don't give a fuck/If this chick was my own mother, I'd still fuck her with no rubber/And cum inside her and have a son and a new brother.” Just doesn’t sit right, whether it’s Eminem rapping about it, or his fictional alter-ego.

On this record, Blondie finally come into their own. Their third record topped the charts in the UK and hit #6 in the US. On this record, production duties were taken over by the Australian-born, LA-based producer, Mike Chapman. Bringing a completely different approach to previous producer, Richard Gottehrer, Chapman managed to harness a different, more hard sound for Blondie. He definitely brought out the ferocity in Debbie Harry, who was initially cautious over working with him; Blondie was New York, Chapman was LA. After she played him an early cut of ‘Heart Of Glass,’ Chapman was impressed which put Harry at ease.

Jeff Buckley is one of the most tragic artists of our time. This was probably one of the new albums that I bought completely on recommendation without hearing one song. A friend had been telling me for years how amazing he was. Eventually, I found the album on an overseas trip and bought it. It only took about 2 listens to make it into my favourite albums of all-time list. Buckley’s voice was arresting and unique. Since I’ve heard many imitators, but no one that could sing quite like Jeff Buckley.

One of the most remarkable new artists of the past 10 years, Frank Ocean presents us with his debut album, ‘Channel Orange.’ “The best song wasn’t even the single,” croons Ocean on ‘Sweet Life.’ That’s true, to an extent. This album has such depth that the best songs aren’t JUST the singles. Ocean rose to prominence with the Odd Future Collective, before going solo, first with a mixtape and then this album.

“There's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes.” The first line in the chorus of ‘Sam Stone’ stopped me in my tracks. What an incredible lyric. Its vivid imagery and sombre reality that invoke feelings of such sadness and pathos really sum this album up in 11 words. John Prine was a storyteller, not just a singer-songwriter. His songs, and the songs on this album in particular, tell stories of real, everyday people.

Following his first ever #1 record, ‘The River,’ Springsteen decided to change how he approached records. Previously he would take the bones of a song to the studio and flesh it out there, often slowing down the recording process. This time he decided to fully write the songs, record demos, which he’d present to the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, love-making, legendary E Street Band. He acquired a 4-track cassette recorder and one Winter night, 3 January 1982, Springsteen sat down and managed to record 15 songs. The music on the demos was sparse.