‘Daydream Nation,’ Sonic Youth’s fifth record, is widely regarded as their best work. The album drew the attention of David Geffen Company Records, who signed the band on their following record, ‘Goo’ (#358). The album utilised unconventional guitar tunings and often resulted in extended jams with many songs extending past the 7 minute mark. Thurston Moore’s prolific songwriting, coupled with the length of the songs resulted in this record being released as a double album.

Featuring some of Paul Simon’s finest songs, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ was the fifth and final record to be released by the duo. It was recorded in two parts; session 1 in November 1968 and session 2 exactly a year later in November 1969. In the intervening year, Simon furiously wrote songs while Art Garfunkel took time out to act in the movie, ‘Catch-22.’ The film took longer than expected and the duo’s relationship suffered.

Following their earth-shattering commercial success with ‘Nevermind,’ and thanks to their ubiquitous mainstream success, Nirvana gained thousands of new fans, some of whom Kurt Cobain detested. In December 1992, they released ‘Incesticide,’ a compilation album of B-sides, demos and rarities and in the liner notes for that record, Cobain wrote “If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us — leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.”

‘The Harder They Come’ was a film that has been hailed as "possibly the most influential of Jamaican films and one of the most important films from the Caribbean". A crime film starring Jimmy Cliff, its soundtrack was even more influential than the film itself. It’s a compilation of Reggae tracks released between 1967 and 1972, with only the title track having been specifically recorded for the album. So what makes this album so great? Well, this is the record that introduced Reggae to the world.

Damn. What an album! ‘DAMN.’ was my #2 favourite album of 2017. After the release of his landmark album, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly,’ anticipation was high for the follow up record. Just under two years after the release of that record, Lamar dropped this album with one week’s notice. An album so considered and well thought out that it could be played forwards or backwards while retaining the narrative (Lamar would eventually release a version of the album with the tracklisting running in reverse order).

This album is a collage of sounds. A complete mix of samples, that I couldn’t even begin to break them all down. One of the mostly tightly produced Hip Hop records that I’ve ever heard. To give you an idea, the first track proper, ‘Brothers Gonna Work It Out’ jumps from Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ to George Clinton’s ‘Atomic Dog,’ with James Brown’s vocals injected in randomly and interspersed throughout the song, alongside Otis Redding, Sly and the Family Stone and even previous Public Enemy tracks. This doesn’t even scratch the surface.

Rod Stewart’s breakthrough album set off a chain reaction of #1 records for years to come. The album opens with the sounds of Ronnie Wood’s twelve string guitar on the title track. Micky Waller’s drums enter along with Stewart’s iconic voice. The song is a mildly sexist and casually racist song about a man travelling around the world sharing his experiences with different women.

Similar to his last entry, ‘Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul' (#448), Otis Redding’s third album, is made up mostly of covers, and once again he was backed by Booker T. & the M.G.’s (Booker T. Jones, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Steve Cropper & Al Jackson Jr.), as well as Isaac Hayes on the keys. But like that other album, Redding completely made these songs his own, so much so that at the time, that a journalist had accused the Rolling Stones of stealing ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ from Redding.

Life After Death,’ Notorious B.I.G.’s second and final album, is a direct sequel to ‘Ready To Die,’ his debut album. The album starts with the title track, which is a continuation of ‘Suicidal Thoughts,’ the third last song on that record. With this album, Biggie was just getting started. A double album, it was his magnum opus. It’s long, clocking in at 2 hours, but he had a lot to say. A good chunk of the record addresses his various feuds.

Another drastic drop. To be honest, I felt this album was ranked too high last time and this feels more right. I had never heard of Love before I did the last countdown. Firstly, upon my second listen today, I strongly recommend listening to this one in headphones. On my second listen I’m hearing so many things that I hadn’t earlier today. The album was released during the Summer Of Love. Ironically, despite its release date and the name of the band, bandleader, Arthur Lee didn’t subscribe to the idea of Flower Power at all. Lee was convinced he was about to die and these were his parting words.

This album was one of the most controversial records of the ‘60s, but not for any reason that makes sense in 2021. In 1964, Dylan met The Beatles for the first time at the hotel in New York. He gave them their first joints and in turn, they opened his work to rock ‘n roll. Dylan was famously an acoustic Folk musician whose lyrical content was more often than not political.

During the recording of his second album, ‘Sweet Baby James,’ Taylor was homeless and was forced to hop between Asher’s home and guitarist, Danny Kortchmar’s couch. To add to his woes, his childhood friend, Suzanne Schnerr, had committed suicide.

If drums are the heartbeat of a song and bass is the soul, this album is all heart and soul. My initial thought when listening to this was about how high the drums and bass were mixed. I wondered who the players were on the record as they were standouts for me.

A major jump for this record. To be honest, I had thought it had fallen off the list. Didn’t quite expect it to jump by 303 spots (incidentally, that’s the highest jump on the list so far and I can’t see anything surpassing that). Last time around I remember being surprised at first to see this on the list, but after listening, understanding why it was there.

On The Rolling Stones’ 10th album, there was a major shift in leadership. Group founder and leader, Brian Jones, was mostly AWOL due to his heavy drug use, leaving Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to take the reigns. During the mid-60s, while on their many tours in the US, Richards would collect records but never had time to listen to them. In late ’66 and early ’67 he decided to unwrap them and listen to what he had bought. This was the catalyst for the band to start writing songs about their version of America, inspired by these records.

Red Hot Chili Peppers had been kicking around the Hollywood music scene since 1983. Their music was a funky type of rap-rock with rapid-fire vocals delivered by Anthony Kiedis. The first four albums didn’t set the world alight but the band was happy to continue doing their thing. Founding member and guitarist, Hilel Slovak, sadly died due to a heroin overdose in 1988. The band recruited fan, John Frusciante to the group for their fourth album, ‘Mother’s Milk.’ The album had marginal success, especially in comparison to their previous three records. It was their fifth album, ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik, however, that was the major breakthrough for the band.

After Ice Cube’s acrimonious split with N.W.A. he immediately moved to record a solo record. The result was this, one of the most defining Hip Hop records of the ‘90s, in fact, of all time. Cube hooked up with The Bomb Squad, the production crew behind Public Enemy and together the put together an incredibly enjoyable record.

T. Rex’s sixth record saw a major shift in their sound from folk rock to a flamboyant new and more poppier sound, which would come to be known as Glam Rock. The genre is said to have been born when the band appeared on Top Of The Pops 5 months before the release of the record. Marc Bolan was adorned in glitter and satin. This pre-dated his close friend, David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character by a few months, a project that would help pioneer Glam Rock.

When it comes to riot grrrl bands, you cannot go past Sleater-Kinney. Perhaps the most prolific of all the riot grrrl bands, they have released 8 albums to date since 1994, but ‘Dig Me Out’ is by far their crowning glory. In a time when male bands were dominating, especially in genres such as Grunge, Punk and Rock, Sleater-Kinney released a record to rival them. This record broke down barriers for women in Punk music.

I’ve listened to this album so many times, but never actually listened to that extent. What a crazy story and an album that could only be released in 1969. The theme of ‘See Me, Feel Me,’ reoccurs frequently throughout the record, tying it together. The major hit on the record was ‘Pinball Wizard,’ which later became a hit for Elton John too. But this album is not about the hit, it’s about the sum of all its parts.