Reviews by funny_character

I think this is incredibly cool, and that Patti Smith is incredibly cool. But I think I definitely need to spend more time with it. Let's get the easy stuff out of the way. Patti Smith is an incredibly cool woman with an incredibly cool aesthetic who was making like New York proto art-punk with the noise cellist (John Cale) from The Velvet Underground. This is a list of attributes that gets you pretty far with me. She was early enough to the game that she was still piecing punk together from constituent components. There's a focus on poetry and intricate songcraft and avant-garde influence that couples with more conventional punk touchstones here to create something that feels just as singular as the stuff from bands like The Stooges and The Velvets that came out a little earlier. I will admit, I haven't gotten fully to the bottom of it, but Patti Smith does end up somewhere a little different than those two bands. The least punk stuff on Horses ends up in a bunch of strange, occasionally sad little nooks. Redondo Beach is a *really* early incorporation of dub into punk, and Birdland is lengthy and fascinating. But my initial favorites are songs like Gloria: In Excelsis Deo, Free Money, Break It Up, Land, and Elegie. There are moments when these songs just *are* punk, but in a way I'm not sure anyone else has really duplicated. Horses kind of became a stepping stone on the way to the more generally accepted punk sound, so it feels more like a moment where it's components are in transcience than a settled sound. And so it never really got *fully* emulated. I will also say, that even on a first listen, these songs are *so* good. It really is the moment to moment simplicity combined with the intricate full pictures. It's also Patti Smith's lyrics (which I have *absolutely* underdiscussed) as well as her performances. It's also a very particular tension that runs through this album. Like the seasick intro on Elegie (my favorite of the less punk cuts). I can already tell that this is gonna grow on me like Dylan does. I *will* be back. It's undigested, and there are a couple songs I haven't figured out. But most of this is still just fantastic.

I think this album is kind of good, but **deeply** flawed, but I do think that to even approach this, you kind of have to tackle the phenomenon that Eminem is. I have so many thoughts about this and about the particular way in which it annoys me a little bit that I kind of don't even know how to start. I think there's a disconnect between Eminem, his fans, and the negative reactions to his work, and I've really been trying to get to the bottom of it for a while now. I think the thing is that on The Marshall Mathers LP, Eminem is really pushing against the conservative purity culture of the 2000's. At a time when politicians and the larger cultural hegemony tried to push US society to embrace traditional values, and happy families and God Fearing Americans. Eminem is one of the many who felt the dissonance between that and a life of poverty, broken families, substance abuse etc. And I think the thesis here is kind of "Why are you complaining about my violent little poems when we bomb people in the Middle East", "Why are you accusing me of being homophobic, when you're trying to push queerness out of society". And in a world where this album ends up as a cult classic, I think maybe it works better. But the problem is kind of that this ended up selling millions and millions and millions of copies. Eminem's technique here on a social level is pretty much to lash out indiscriminately. He takes shots at politicians, radio, The Grammys, his family, his ex, gay people, his label, rap culture even. So while he isn't exactly punching down, some strays end up going down. And because of how society is structured, those are the only people that really got hurt by this album. For example, I am queer, and I honestly do not think Eminem is homophobic. And I think that on some level, his use of slurs and occasional focus on the queer community is his own weird, imperfect way of trying to include us in his band of outcasts, flying in the face of "polite" republican society. But he uses the language of homophobia, and that, coupled with his insane popularity and audience of teenage edgelords added fuel to a culture of homophobia. And I think he ultimately exacerbated the problem of anti-queer sentiment in the US. Because the thing is that he had an audience of white teenagers eating out of the palm of his hand. And this is an audience that could just connect with his because they were at a time in their lives when lashing out at everyone and everything in response to feeling socially wronged is just the thing that you do. Lets face it, the highschoolers listening to Eminem weren't saying "hmm, I see, Eminem's usage of the word "faggot" hurls the beliefs of white America back into it's own face while including queer folks among his army of those wronged by this culture", they were saying "Dude, I also think it's cool to say slurs because gay people are gross". And I honestly just wish he was more honest about it. I also wish he was more honest about the fact that a lot of his popularity is an Elvis situation, where a majority white audience could only stomach Black art when coming from a white face. Let's be honest, even if you love this album, *that* is why it sold so well. It's a situation where I can see what he's doing, and I kind of get it. But I just don't think he executed it well on some level, especially since I'm living in the cultural aftermath of it. As for the album itself, the beats are good, Eminem has a great flow, and at his most earnest moments, he has some interesting content here. But I think some of his voices are annoying, I think the mixture of edgy, tongue in cheek, and earnest results in some really off moments, I think his singing usually sucks, and I think that any feature here trying to "do the Eminem thing" has aged badly. For example, the Bizarre feature on the otherwise good Amityville is fucking *terrible*. And even though it's a really interesting song, the tone issues are the worst on Kim. I understand it's a character portrait kind of, but Eminem can only really write from the perspective of people who are sort of just him on some level. So the song about killing his ex sits weirdly. Weirder still because of the theatrics and the jarring difference between Eminem screaming his brains out, and the hokey acting from "Kim". I like it on some level, but it comes across as ugly in a really odd way. Especially when surrounded by some much goofier songs. And there are all kinds of weird instances of Eminem putting his foot in his mouth here. I have some real problems with this album. And it has a lot of good too. But I just don't know if I can personally go higher than a 2 on this.

I know that Brian Eno gets his flowers, but it's still wild just how good he was at art in the 70's. All it took was a brief stint in Roxy Music, and he delivered us this. Here Come The Warm Jets is a combination of Glam-rock and Art-pop, and when it came out, I really think it was a pretty singular accomplishment. And honestly, most of the stuff that later sounded like this had Eno involved as well. Pre-Ambient 1 Eno is such a cool snapshot in time to me, because it very much has the ambition and exploration and basis in experimental music that is at the forefront in his later work, but it is deeply grounded in pop music. On Here Come The Warm Jets, it almost comes together like ancient Shoegaze, where pop sugar is coupled with really daring and unusual sounds. For example, I think the title track is one of the greatest songs ever, and it is really just defined by one melody played on some mysterious instrument that definitely *is* either a guitar or synth. But the tone achieved on said instrument sounds more like an aircraft taking flight than anything. Baby's On Fire also has a lot of really strange soundscapes. And the end of Dead Finks Don't Talk is *insane*, the last 25 seconds of this song may actually have been three or four decades ahead of what anyone else was doing in pop music at the time. I also think the songs themselves here are *fantastic*, Eno is kind of an underrated writer, and the stuff here is proof of that. To be honest, my thoughts on this one aren't particularly well-organized. You've kind of just gotta listen to this. Eno constantly pits glam-pop perfection against really extreme sound ideas and keeps it together with a unique tone that's both playful and kind of disquieting. Here Come The Warm Jets, in 2026, still kind of sounds like it's from the future.

I get why some of the noisy albums on here are so universally hated by the users of this website; I usually don't agree, but I get it. But honestly, I think this album is an absolute blast. I consider myself a fan of Liars, I've listened to this album before, and I *will* listen to it again. This thing is so colorful and fun, and kind of weirdly intense. The textures are abrasive and crunchy and fascinating and they just massage the weirdest little nooks of my brain. Every instrument is treated like percussion (sort of) and it ends up giving the album a strange sort of propulsion, where everything slithers along at a moderate tempo, but with seemingly infinite energy. Everything just has so much impact. I also think there's more melody here than people give Liars credit for. I think, of all the albums on this list, it's most similar to Wonderful Rainbow by Lightning Bolt (one of my favorite albums of all time), in that both have really catchy, fun, colorful songs. But to appreciate them, you have to meet the band where they are. Liars isn't gonna unfuck the insane synth tone in There's Always Room On The Broom just so the melody can speak more clearely, but you just have to accept that, and appreciate the melody that's there regardless. And, in time, you may learn to relish in the insane noise this album is caked in. I call music like this (stuff that's approximately electronic, but obscured by noise and lo-tech sounds, another good example is Black Dice) "cave man electronica, it kind of sounds like these sounds are the result of ancient humans playing with alien technology. And if you can see the appeal in that, then you're like half way there. The lyrics are also really fascinating, and I think the way this album comes together makes sense. It's about witches, and I think it sounds like it, but just not in a conventional way. It's spooky, but it seems to have invented it's own doorways into being spooky. I think this is just fantastic, stuff like this is why I love music the way that I do.

I wish I could better articulate what the tangible differences between blues, blues rock, and what I think could be called "electric blues" is. Because I don't really like "blues rock", but I do like the blues, and I do like "electric blues", which I kind of just think of as blues with an electric guitar, but "Blues with an electric guitar" is also getting awfully close to a way that one *could* describe rock and roll, sometimes. But regardless, Hard Again by Muddy Waters came out in 1977, which feels downright modern for an album on which someone is truly, honestly, earnestly playing the blues. Not rock and Roll, and not Blues Rock, there *is* an electric guitar though. And what that electric guitar does to The blues is pretty magical. The ultra-emotive vocals of traditional blues are here, and the relatively simple riffs and song structures are here too. But the electricity here means that the guitar can finally cry as convincingly as the Bluesman himself. On top of it, those simple riffs I mentioned end up really chunky, and honestly kind of heavy on these songs. Blues Rock just doesn't have the raw power that this sort of stuff occasionally exerts. Somehow I've gotten this far without really talking about Muddy Waters himself. He's got some incredible charisma here. Keeping stuff on the rails, and audibly relishing in it when stuff goes off into jammy territory sometimes. When I looked this up, I was surprised that this stuff was actually recorded in the late 70's. Muddy Waters was getting old, and frankly, this music sounds like it should've come out before 1955. But I attribute that to his history. To put it simply, the man *knew* how to play the blues and he had the decades to prove it. I really thoroughly enjoyed this. There are some fantastic, powerful songs here, and Muddy Waters is an incredible well of charisma that holds it together.

It's always interesting to see albums that are functionally post-punk which came out near the beginning of punk itself. Even though Marquee Moon came out in 1977, it is a daring expansion on punk in a way that is pretty incredible and very exciting. Television makes it to some of the same places as later era Joy Division and Wire. Television has maintained the simplicity of punk on a moment to moment basis. But the broader arcs of their songs are dense and explorative. The aesthetic on this album is kind of stilted and angular, and it combines with the slightly abstract songs to create a really compelling, enveloping, and oftentimes anxious atmosphere. Songs like the title track, Torn Curtain, Venus and Elevation are among the greatest from the post punk scene. They are snakey, tense, and creatively assembled songs. The other 4 are often good, but they don't quite capture the same magic. And it doesn't bring the album down a ton, but it adds up a little. I see a little of what gets this album to be considered nearly perfect by so many people, but I just don't think it fully makes it there. Although, what is here still stands incredibly strong, with some truly unique and astonishing moments.

Within the context of Björk's discography, a lot of people talk about Medúlla as though it is completely inscrutable. And I don't think that's fair; I will admit that Medúlla is pretty viscerally weird, but at the end of the day, the songs here have a pretty similar form factor to Vespertine, it's mostly just the arrangements that are different. Although, it also wouldn't be honest to downplay what these arrangements are. Medúlla is largely a cappella, and executed with singing, beat-boxing, growling, breathing, throat-singing and other extended techniques. As far as I can tell, the only non-voice parts are some synths and some electronic drum-work. This results in a genuinely experimental album, but Bjork never completely leaves conventional musicality in the dust either. This is still art pop, and if you can acclimate to the sounds, it's still relatively accessible. It isn't like Bjork made a free jazz record or something here. If you enjoy Bjork's other albums that are in a more abstract space, then a lot of the alien beauty on those albums is still here. I do think the limitations here do result in a slightly weaker batch of songs than on something like Vespertine or Vulnicura though. But Bjork executes Medúlla's concept with a lot of poise and grace, and if you are willing to wade through a *little* bit of confusion, it is an extremely rewarding experience.

There is truly a smoky, world-weary wisdom that You Want It Darker is utterly steeped in. It's the strange magic that happens during the exceedingly rare, perfect storm which happens when one of the finest songwriters ever lives to be older than most people ever will be, while staying active in the music industry with a consistent level of quality *while* maintaining most, if not all of his lucidity, charisma and warmth. The only other thing out there that's really like this is arguably Johnny Cash's American series. But on American 4, Johnny Cash was still just a comparatively spry 70. On You Want It Darker, Leonard Cohen is *82*. Frankly, these songs still have a level of quality and emotional core that would be fitting of his early 70's peak era. His lyrics still contain genuinely novel insights, told in language that is equally simple and poetic ("I wish there was a treaty between your love and mine", "I was fighting with temptation, but I didn't want to win"). He reflects on legacy, and death and old flames, and what remains of love. There are songs here where he's basically giving the listener a pat on the back to comfort *them* in the shadow of his imminent leaving: that level of self-awareness and internal peace is *absolutely* wild. And, he still manages to release some of his best *ever* songs here. You Want It Darker, Leaving The Table, Treaty, and Traveling Light are all breathtaking, essential Leonard Cohen songs. And the rest aren't far behind. And while Cohen has never been celebrated for his performances in the same way he's been celebrated for his songs, his deep, dark, *smokey* vocal presence here really needs to be heard. I didn't think I liked this album this much, but seeing myself write about it has kind of convinced my that this is a 5 for what it is. I do have Cohen albums I prefer, but the fact that he released one of the top 5, *maybe* top 3 albums of his career *this* late is truly incredible.

This kind of feels like the last moment of The National's career where they still seemed like they could have been remembered as a really interesting band. After this, it feels like too much of their early identity had been lost, and even on the last few songs here, it kind of felt like they were running out of steam a little. But for the first approximately 3/4ths of this album, there is some pretty cool stuff. High Violet has a couple of things to keep it feeling above most indie rock. It has cool vocals, it has a baroque atmosphere. But, in my opinion, this album is set apart from the pack mostly by it's lyrics and percussion. The lyrics are kind of doing a very poetic thing in a way that conjures up the Midwestern United States through imagery that almost verges on magical realism. My favorite lyrics here are probably on Bloodbuzz Ohio. And the percussion here is, compared to the rest of the band, extremely high energy. The chaos of these drums really adds an exciting through-line to the album and makes (especially the first half of) High Violet pretty exciting. The songcraft here is also pretty high in general. All in all, High Violet is an interesting flash from a band that I think had the potential to be a lot more. But it still exists as a cool moment in modern music history.

A large part of me truly thinks that it has never been harder for me to care about Taylor Swift than it is right now. Her classic hits have been inescapable for years. Her recent hits are (largely) not that good. The Eras Tour was on the tip of everyone's tongue for a while. But she's also had some really obnoxious recent antics(like her insane private jet habits and the cheat code she found to win all charts forever by completely ruining the vinyl record market). And the bow on it all is her relatively recent relationship with popular American Football player Travis Kelce. This changed the paradigm. Previously, Taylor Swift was unavoidable in spaces devoted to music, and some real world environments. But the Travis Kelce developments have placed her at the center of USA sports culture. Which compounds with her musical presence, meaning that there are parts of The U.S. in which she has become *truly* omnipresent. Things have quieted down a little within the last year. But, there were periods in the prior 2 or 3 years in which I would learn things about Taylor Swift *Every* *Single* *Day* for weeks on end. This all has exhausted most, if not all of the time, energy, and good-will I had set aside for one Miss (soon to be Mrs.) Swift. Going Back To 1989 and listening to it as the singular thing that it is, and not as a small (but vital) facet of Taylor Swift (who is really more of a culture than a person at this point) is truly difficult. *Despite* the fact that I *intimately* know nearly half of this album. Which happened because this came out during a particular, formative period of my life, during which I would hear these songs in grocery stores, on TV, and on the radio in nearly any car I happened to be in. Of the 13 songs here (on the original release of 1989), I recall that Blank Space, Style, Shake It Off, Bad Blood, and Wildest Dreams were completely inescapable. And frankly, there could have been more I forgot. In fact, this was such a hit machine, that I really think it may have laid the blueprint for a good 3-4 years of pop music. Listening to this now, I'm surprised that I found most of these songs to still be very listenable. Some of them are certainly overplayed. But, the incredible amount of polish here, coupled with some of the most imminent pop songs ever means that listening through this *is* enjoyable. This is a great album, insofar as an album can be a collection of good songs. My personal favorites are Wildest Dreams, Style, and Out Of The Woods. Style is built around a cool guitar part and a huge chorus. Wildest Dreams has the best atmosphere on the album, it feels pillow-y and the approximate color of orange creamsicle, which works for me. And Out Of The Woods has a really odd cadence that feels completely singular, almost stilted, and that kind of feeling put on an ultra-pop song is unique. On the other end, Shake It Off and Bad Blood are at least a little annoying. But most of this album has good melodies on tight pop songs, and it largely works. While I don't really care about the phenomenon that Taylor Swift is, I kind of do see how this album was so successful, and why it is beloved to so many.

I'm pretty consistently impressed by just how consistent the 90's trip-hop scene seemed. I don't think I've heard something out of it that I thought was less than good honestly. And I'm sure that some of it is that the best stuff has inevitably floated to the top over time, and I also don't think the genre ever became *particularly* saturated. But regardless, the scene had a *lot* of good stuff. Maxinquaye is an album that I have managed to largely avoid until now. I did give it one listen in the background of a social setting, and I wasn't particularly impressed. But, giving it my complete attention, this is pretty great. This captures the nocturnal, skeletal, moody vibes of the genre's best. And it has it's own personality. This has a more organic sound than Massive Attack. And it's a little more stark than Portishead. The aesthetic here is tied together by great melodies and really emotive singing perfomances, and the full package is a fantastic listen that really puts you into a place and a mood. I do also like the sensuality here, but there are a couple of moments that almost read comically. Regardless of some minor complaints here, this comes together really well. The atmosphere is cool, the songs are cool, and the performances are cool. I'm probably gonna revisit this at some point, great stuff.

I * love* this album. Doolittle is a lot of things: the blueprint for the 90's, a successful commercial break-through, even a punk album (kind of). Doolittle is a like a 2D spectrum defined by points at "alternative", "pop", and "punk". And over the course of 15 incredible songs, throughout a brisk, and incredibly aesthetically pleasing, 38 minutes and 38 seconds, this entire spectrum is pretty much fully explored. Debaser, Wave Of Mutilation and Monkey Gone To Heaven are alt-rock perfection. Here Comes Your Man and La La Love You are delightfully catchy, sugar-coated pop songs. And Tame and Crackity Jones are jangle punk explosions. And a lot of the spaces in-between end up as anxious art-pop on songs like No. 13 Baby and There Goes My Gun. Honestly, some of the coolest songs here are where Pixies find weird little nooks of their sound that really hit out of no-where and tie in super nicely. Mr. Grieves pulls off some dub influence, and Silver pulls off some noisy acid country. As a whole, the disparate sounds here work as a coherent sound. And it's because of a couple things. Firstly, the performances here are amazing. These songs are carried by a real manic energy. And the song lengths generally keep low, which leaves you wanting more. And then, the vital completion of this hat trick is that each song gives you a *little* of what the previous song did. Until, at the end of things, when Gouge Away grinds along just long enough to leave you satisfied. This whole album is pretty much perfect. There's pop sugar, alt jangle, and punk fire. And Pixies have the finesse to take their sound to the stratosphere and execute everything here to an *incredible* level.

I accidentally deleted the review I wrote for this, so I'll just say that this list has far too much Elvis Costello. And, I still can't discern any particular arc for Costello's career, so the fact that this feels so similar to everything else doesn't have me optimistic here. But, honestly this is my favorite from him so far. A lot of these songs are pretty enjoyable, many rock pretty hard too. And I still like his lyrics. But the aesthetic still isn't for me, and the whole album is like a 3. But, that's higher than I expected. Maybe I'm learning to love Elvis Costello. But maybe this is just exceptional. Maybe we'll learn in time.

This was pretty cool. Haircut 100 is kind of at the collision of Brit pop, early indie and funk. And these touchstone get the best songs here to a place that reminds me of Talking Heads and The Smiths. The jangly, funky take on indie generally works really well actually. I do think Haircut 100 are a little less interesting than either of the other bands I mentioned. But Favorite Shirt, Lemon Firebrigade, Kingsize, Milk Film and others are pretty great songs. I think the sound works best when the funk influence pushes things into a *slightly* manic place. The jittery sound on a lot of my favorites here *is* similar to a lot of what I love about Talking Heads. There are also some great sax parts, cool jazz influences, and some moody sections throughout that add a little depth. Although, despite this, I do think several songs kind of slip out of the anesthetic and get somewhere that's a little more vaguely indie flavored Brit pop. Snow Girl is a good example of a song I'm not crazy about. But the best songs here are cool enough that I am glad I listened to this.

If your favorite thing *ever* is a well crafted pop song, you'll probably love this. On Out Of The Blue, ELO occupy the same space as something like Boston or Steely Dan, where you have a band that has gotten their studio wizardry down to a science in a really incredible way. But they just keep using that studio wizardry to make the most clean-cut, sunny, and at times, almost generic sounding pop music possible. There are some moments where they play with cool effects, but even these aren't especially interesting, considering that the experimentation here is relatively tame, all things considered. Keep in mind that I didn't dislike my time listening to this per se, its just a lit of relatively similar sounding pop songs which are all well crafted, but which ultimately have little that really excites me or draws me in. Even Mr. Blue Sky, (and fun song, for sure) is never one I've ever really fallen in love with. Compound this with the fact that this is like an hour and 10 minutes long, and things start getting a little trying. I personally think that the runtime overstays it's welcome by quite a bit and that this would have been better as a tighter experience. I can only take so much pop that's *this* big and sunshine-y. While I don't hate this, I didn't really enjoy my time all that much.

Fela Kuti is a fascinating, extremely charismatic performer and figure. Well known for activism and being a pioneer of Afrobeat, Kuti's Live! Is a great document of what made him such a compelling performer. I wish I could better break down exactly what Afrobeat is, but I did like it on here. This album reminded me of jazz more than anything else honestly. Especially in the lengthy, possibly improvised compositions and palette. But regardless, Live! Is colorful, joyful, and appropriately full of life. These are the sort of songs I'd really need to spend some time with to get to their core (or it probably would've helped to be at this performance). But while I listened to this, I really enjoyed it and felt the infectious energy from the performances. I don't think I'm qualified to get super in-depth on this one, but I had a great time either way.

Jack Takes The Floor is fairly enjoyable, if not particularly explorative. Jack Elliott is a charismatic performer, and a talented musician, but this album consists almost entirely of Woody Guthrie covers and traditional folk songs, all played pretty straight. But his importance is chiefly in being the lesser discussed link between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan in a *very* direct way. It turns out that he is a vital component of the American folk music family tree. Woody Guthrie took Jack Elliott under his wing, and in turn Jack Elliott took Dylan under his own wing. Although, this *does* put Elliott in a really bad place in the broader arc of music history. He was mentored by one of the most influential, iconic, well-loved, and timeless songwriters ever. Then he helped usher in the career of another one of the most influential, iconic, well-loved, and timeless songwriters ever. This leaves Jack Elliott in an unfortunate limbo where he is a vital component of music history whose output isn't well-known for really expanding the sound of folk music. But he does need to get his flowers; as I said, Jack Elliott is a charismatic performer, a great interpreter of classic folk pieces, and a vital piece of folk history. And Jack Takes The Floor seems to be an album that showcases Jack Elliott's skills in an enjoyable way.

It is extremely difficult for me to figure out precisely how much cynicism is needed to properly digest The Sex Pistols' legacy. I just know for sure that the answer isn't "none". But the fact of the matter is that even if The Sex Pistols were kind of insidiously engineered by Malcolm McLaren to sell rebellion to angry youths as a product, The Sex Pistols also happened to be comprised of individuals who were genuinely angry and felt a need to lash out at society. Although, it was all part of the plan; The Sex Pistols had catchy songs, and even a few great ones. But their real success came from turning the band into a spectacle, and by then kind of bluffing about inventing punk, until it was true to enough people that it didn't matter. Sid Vicious was a violent, unstable lunatic, and Johnny Rotten later became an unprincipled, sell-out grifter. They pretended like they couldn't play their instruments. McLaren kept lying about inventing punk (even though Ramones had a full length out a year before this and an ocean away) then telling the truth about using it opportunistically, then making even *more* money off of the ensuing outrage. The band even lashed out at other entities within the scene, look at New York off of this very album. The Sex Pistols gained their legacy by shouting everyone else down, climbing up on their crucifix, and declaring themselves The Messiahs of The Punks. And they're already on the cross, so who are we to argue? Anyways, the legacy of The Pistols truly got signed, sealed and mailed when the spectacle devoured them completely, resulting in two events. Firstly, the band almost immediately collapsed. Second, Vicious and his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen both died under violent, slightly mysterious circumstances. He most likely killed her, then overdosed during the investigation. This all being said, whether or not I like it, this all contributed to The Pistols becoming one of the most influential bands of the punk movement; maybe one of the most influential bands ever. And it helps that the music is at least pretty good. This album is catchy, fiery, and provocative enough from start to end that it at least keeps me engaged. And there are several classics here: God Save The Queen, Anarchy In The U.K., Pretty Vacant, Holidays In The Sun. I do think that, even at this time, *lots* of bands were doing punk better though. The aforementioned Ramones had more raw energy, The Clash were more dynamic writers (and they actually, really stood for something). The Damned were better, X-Ray Spex were better. And if you're willing to go back a good few years, The Stooges were also better. That being said, Never Mind The Bollocks does stand on it's own. And even if I don't really like it, The Sex Pistols have their niche carved out forever. It could be argued that The Sex Pistols perfectly embody some truth about punk, but I still can't go higher than a 3 here. It's an enjoyable album that is completely inseparable from the complicated, ugly legend of the band that made it.

Rush is one of the only prog rock bands for whom embracing pop really worked. And despite being from the onset of the 80's, Moving Pictures is pretty universally considered one of the best Rush albums. Much like with Rush as a whole, I enjoy moving pictures, but I have some problems. Prior to this point, I think Rush had something of an identity crisis: I don't think they could ever fully reconcile Hard Rock Rush with Prog Rock Rush. This combo gave us a fair number of classics, but even in the 70's, Rush would occasionally end up kind of irritating. On Moving Pictures, Rush worsens this identity crisis by throwing some 80's pop into the mix. This means that Rush's sound could expand into their most direct and accessible incarnation yet, but with the occasional new and exciting form of irritating moment that we've never seen before. At the best, you get Tom Sawyer. Tom Sawyer has simple, hard hitting, and imminently enjoyable grooves, and it's enhanced by the occasional proggy flourish. You've also got Limelight, a song with a start I'm whatever on, and an ending I love. With YYZ Rush is on some pure prog, and it's a great reminder that they can just go at it, YYZ absolutely rips. I think the most unlikely success here is Vital Signs though. Rush's most dub inspired song at this point is honestly pretty awesome, and it's kind of shocking; I didn't think they had it in them. But at this album's worst, you have Red Barchetta, a fine song. But it is irritating. Rush's mix of prog, pop, and hard rock results in an excruciatingly literal ballad about a baffling dystopian future in which regular cars are outlawed. I know it's based on a short story, but this song also feels like Rush are combining nerd interest, cool guy interest and a misplaced whimsy to *deeply* irritating effect. In the middle you have Camera Eye, on which Rush try to stretch one of their pop songs to 11 minutes without really capturing me. And also, Witch Hunt has a cool atmosphere, but the meat feels insufficient, especially for a 5 minute long song. Ultimately, Moving Pictures is a pretty graceful path for Rush to take into the 80's, but there are a couple obnoxious missteps that kneecap the experience a little for me. That being said, there is still a pretty great album at the core here.

Conventional pop isn't exactly my world, but Madonna has some cool stuff here. I have my respect for Madonna, after all, she has her cool factor, she was even hanging around with folks in the New York no wave scene way back when. But I just didn't expect for the music to click as much with me. But it kind of did. She has a collection of really enjoyable pop songs here. There's still a skew towards New Wave that give the album a cool flavor, especially on Love Song. And I think the assembly, production and performances here are really artfully done. I guess there's maybe a little filler here, and it doesn't really speak to my aesthetic eye as strongly as some other 80's pop. But I definitely see that theres something here that's really worth celebrating.