The Top 100 Albums of All Time

Rules: Only one album per artist, which makes things a lot harder than it looks. No compilations or 'best ofs', which ruled out a lot of old blues/country/R&B artists. I own all of these, so if there are glaring omissions, perhaps you can hook me up. This was composed in under 45 minutes in dim lighting. About a third of these were released this decade, which means it's a great time to be alive I guess. The order can be argued on a couple of these, especially near the end (I spent most of my time on #90-100)... but for the most part I think I got everything that belongs. Feedback is encouraged.

1. The Beatles - Revolver
2. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
3. R.E.M. - Murmur
4. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
5. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
6. Radiohead - Kid A
7. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
8. Elvis Costello - This Years Model
9. Silver Jews - American Water
10. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
11. Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
12. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
13. Olivia Tremor Control - Black Foliage
14. Outkast - Stankonia
15. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
16. Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
17. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
18. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
19. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight
20. Weezer - Weezer (the blue album)
21. The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
22. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
23. The Pixies - Doolittle
24. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
25. Beck - Odelay
26. Mates of State - Team Boo
27. Grandaddy - The Sophtware Slump
28. Stereolab - Dots and Loops
29. The New Pornographers - Electric Version
30. Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn
31. Michael Jackson - Thriller
32. Wu Tang Clan - Enter the Wu Tang: 36 Chambers
33. Television - Marquee Moon
34. Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
35. The Strokes - Is This It (UK version)
36. Elliot Smith - either/or
37. U2 - The Joshua Tree
38. Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong With Love
39. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
40. Sleater-Kinney - One Beat
41. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
42. The Clash - London Calling
43. The Gossip - That's Not What I Heard
44. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Tyranny of Distance
45. Mirah - Advisory Committee
46. Hot Hot Heat - Make Up the Breakdown
47. Led Zeppelin - IV
48. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
49. Super Furry Animals - Guerilla
50. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
51. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
52. Cat Power - You Are Free
53. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
54. Bjork - Homogenic
55. Apples in Stereo - Fun Trick Noisemaker
56. Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
57. Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
58. Beulah - When Your Heartstrings Break
59. The Stooges - Raw Power
60. Madvillain - Madvillainy
61. Le Tigre - Le Tigre
62. Saturday Looks Good to Me - Every Night
63. Handsome Boy Modeling School - So... How's Your Girl?
64. Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
65. Beat Happening - Jamboree
66. Big Star - #1 Record
67. The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
68. Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
69. Kanye West - The College Dropout
70. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
71. The Fiery Furnaces - Gallowsbird's Bark
72. Galaxie 500 - On Fire
73. All Girl Summer Fun Band - 2
74. Mercury Rev - Deserter's Songs
75. Wire - Pink Flag
76. Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast
77. Flying Burrito Brothers - Guilded Palace of Sin
78. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
79. The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
80. Blur - Parklife
81. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
82. Dirtbombs - Ultraglide in Black
83. Slint - Spiderland
84. The Beta Band - 3 EPs
85. Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers
86. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
87. Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
88. The Black Keys - Thickfreakness
89. Nirvana - Nevermind
90. The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
91. Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow
92. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
93. Minor Threat - Complete Discography
94. Von Bondies - Lack of Communication
95. The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
96. Gang of Four - Entertainment!
97. Greenhornes - Dual Mono
98. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
99. Brendan Benson - Lapalco
100. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique

Caayble Guy!

I'm so pissed right now. Don't fuck with me, I will fucking kill you. I'm scowling so much that my forehead has disappeared. Since I started writing this sentence i'm on my third keyboard, the other two i've crushed to dust with my hands. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

This morning, saturday morning, I set the alarm. I set it for 7:55 am. The reason I did this is because today is cable day. Cable people from the cable company would be coming between the hours of 8 and 10 am and giving me espn. Sweet cable, I haven't had you for years. I don't need you, I can live without you, but i'd be nice to see you again, maybe catch a bite to eat, catch up on lost time and relive old memories, the good times....

The cable guys (2) came at 8:45. They went to the top floor to flip the magic switch that would give me cable. I set up the TV, licked my lips, and stared at it, waiting for it to go from stupid CBS to the TV guide channel or some shit. 15 minutes later one dude came down. His job was say "no sir" into his walkie talkie when the other dude asked "how bout now" every 10 seconds. the other dude came back down and told him to get something from the truck. the other dude pulling wires out of the wall, and asked if i had any other cable jack. I showed him to the bedroom, where he began pulling wires out of that wall. The one dude came back and came into my bedroom. He asked 'is that your guitar?' I said yes. He asked 'do you mind?' I said 'uh' and he picked it up and started playing something that a) sounded like crap and B) was too complicated for me to play. Then he asked 'do you have a pick?' and the other dude said 'here's one' as he looked on my floor. I should have said 'if you get the cable to work I will let you plug in', but I was getting annoyed.

An hour later they left. I didn't have cable, but they gave it to everyone on the floor for free.

So, no watching the badgers beat michigan today. Oh well, i'm sure it wasn't that thrilling, i've seen the badgers beat michigan hundreds of times.

There are other events of today, particularly of this evening, which have made my mood sink even further. I'm too pissed to get into it today, but it involves: my favorite cousin who i haven't seen in 15 months, a ramada inn in burr ridge, IL, a ten year high school reunion of a complete stranger, a restaurant called 'max and erna's', the silent treatment, and the rest of that bottle of jack daniels.

Tonite, on a very special 'Props'

Let's imagine you are a young, single male. Average looking, and of average intelligence. Perhaps even below average. Now imagine that the hottest, most perfect woman in all the land suddenly takes a liking to you. You begin dating and eventually become a couple. She seems to genuinely enjoy being in your company, and you simply can't get enough of her. You should be the happiest you've ever been. But... you just have this nagging feeling in the back of your mind, this tiny thought that makes your stomach crawl, that you don't deserve her, and at any moment she will come to her senses and walk out the door and you'll never see her again.

That is how I feel about the show Arrested Development. It is everything I ever dreamed of and more. Each episode contains oh-so-many laughs, and more quick references than an episode of Family Guy written by Vladimir Nabokov. Nothing is dumbed down. Season one has been on DVD for awhile, that's how I got into it, and Season two comes out in a couple weeks. Season three began on Monday, but only 4 million people watched, and the annual cancellation rumors have already begun. I don't want the show to be on for 16 decreasing in quality seasons, and already we're on the verge of passing another of my all-time favs, SportsNight, in number of episodes. But I'm not ready for the ride to end. Give me six or seven solid seasons. Seinfeld started slow at first too, you know. Maybe people will come around. Maybe the DVD sales will be enough to keep it on a few more years. But, maybe, maybe even soon, she'll walk out the door tomorrow, and you'll never see her again. I don’t see you crying, robot. You taste these tears. dot com

Republicans review Kanye West's new album, Late Registration, on amazon.com

Kanye's new album is pretty decent, not as good as the first, but certainly worth a listen. These are actual comments found on amazon.com.

One star - by Misterjaw "The meanest shark in the Pacific, EGOTCHA!"
I am sick of these praises for this knuckleheaded dumbcuff rapper Kanye West whom is a Puff Daddy or Huff Mama facsimimile. However, this dumbo is a racist! He degraded white people left and right since last year. First off, he made fun of Gretchen Wilson for winning Best New Artist. She had a hard upbringing and vilst I don't like her music, at least she can sing and such. This fool on the other hand was raised in a middle class family and uses a gangsta look to make himself look good when it makes him look silly dilly! Then he bashed Dick Clark after his defeat and threatened to boycott all award shows! Then he cried race card when Maroon 5 won a Best New Artist Grammy. Not only that but this yo-yo took his opportunity on the Hurricane relief telethon to put down the media for depicting black as evil when in fact the ones on TV were a few bad apples. Then he claimed0 President Bush was a racist instead of using his brief media time to build up the hope and happiness of the victims in the Gulf region. That shows you dumbcuff Kanye has an agenda. That agenda is: Do what is best for Kanye and make lousy albums that don't make me work hard and have dumbcuff friends like Jay-Z and such band together to cry America is racist which is hogwash. DON'T BUY THIS ALBUM or I'll yell EEGOTCHA!!

One star - Loch Ness Monster (Cedar City, Utah)
Question of the year: Do people buy this because they like the so called "Music" or because they want to be popular? I tell you what, it's the latter of the two. This album has absolutely not musical inventiveness and is so boring to listen to. After listening to one song on this album, I just said "forget it." It's basically just Kanye talking with a bunch of drums beating in the back. WOW! What talent that must take. You know I can talk when I have my car radio on too but I'm not going to go out an make an album because I have that talent. Seriously people, you don't need to buy this to be cool. It's more cool to be original and have your own taste in music. If you happen to like something someone else likes then great, but you don't need to like something just because everyone else has it. Not only that but Kanye West took his opportunity on that hurricane relief concert to put down President Bush instead of using his brief media time to build up the hope of the victims in the Gulf region. That shows you Kanye has an agenda. That agenda is: Do what is best for Kanye and make lousy albums that don't make me work hard and get a bunch of people to advertise the hell out of it and make me a lot of money. Shame on that. DON'T BUY THIS ALBUM!

One star - C. Harlan
One word that describes this little boy....racist. Good job stirring up hate and creating stupidity. Kanye West, Michael Moore, and Bill Maher need to get a room together since they get off on Bush so much and love making your money doing it. I would rather invest my money in used toilet paper than buy this crap. Here's my Rap song that describes this hate: Do not buy. Will not buy. Would have never bought. Kanye West, Michael Moore, and Bill Maher can suck my _________.

One star - James M. Wimmer "Hurmoth" (Vinton, VA USA)
I listened for close to 2 whole songs, but couldn't finish it. The music sucks, plan and simple. I'll stick my classical music instead of this nonsense! Plus, after listening to his comments regarding President Bush, I should've known that someone who needs an education can't sing.

One star - Nada "matrixtrilogy" (USA) - See all my reviews
Come on Kanyeeee!This some nasty stuff. Typical of what's happened to black music and the black community. Killing, biyaches and hoes, pimps, smoke da crack rock, rape rob and pillage, cap ya in da grill, get AIDS then spend the resta yo time complainin bout da white man, dawg. Kanyeee, can ya hum a few bars bout respectability, education, maybe a little birth control for da black community? How bout workin?? Able bodied black man spreadin he seed throughout da projects, promiscuous black welfare momma spittin out da kids for society to suppot. Education da white man's trick; we don do dat. Unejicated Kanyeeee complain Gawje Bush done like da black peeps. But Kanyeeeee dun say dat 67% of N.O. is black - dat over 1 million black folk and about 35% of dem be welfare mommas. Suckin off da gubmint teet - lazy, immoral folk. Black community today shameful before peeps like Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglass. Sullied dey names with disgusting behavior and trashy "music" like dis. Rap bout da above Kanyeeee or you just wanna ignore dat blacks creatin dey own problems. Bring back Diana Ross, Da Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, da great Al Green. Motown, we miss ya! Kanyeee, Snoop Stink Dawg, Ludricrop, all da same ole junk - nuttin new. Dis rap is crap, word up. Ya might wanna serve up a lil Black Eyed Peas though!!!!!

Summer Jamz '05

I know it's been so long, but I refuse to offer any apologies. Been busy, deal with it. Last night, for example, I tied a thermos to a kitchen chair with yarn, and then took a picture of it.

This weekend I'm going to Madison for a wedding. It will be my third consecutive weekend traveling to Wisconsin (1. camping labor day in new glarus 2. wedding in appleton) For this wedding M is the maid of honor. So we have to go to the rehearsal/dinner combo on friday, but after that I will enjoy our fancy hotel room with pool and watch college football on saturday. The wedding is late, and the reception at the hotel, so I can feign stomach pains and leave whenever I feel like it and order Pokey Sticks. Also plan on visiting old haunts (B-side records!) and possibly stocking up on cheap groceries. I will know a few people at the wedding, and M's dad, but nobody that's going to guarantee a good time. Unlike last weekend, which was the best time I've ever had at a wedding in years, if not ever. It seems like it's less fun for the people who are actually getting married, so count me out for awhile yet.

Yesterday after work I went to an Open House at an Insurance Company in the building taller than mine. There were games, like answering questions about insurance and then throwing a ball into buckets, bozo-style. There was also a drawing for ipods and portable dvd players. I won a slinky at the game, but no fancy electronics. I also had two beers and something large covered in chocolate. Being there for 30 minutes, I should have gotten 100 beers, it was so lame. Lame. Lame lame lame.

When I was on the golf team in high school my senior year, my golf coach (and freshman science teacher), upon realizing that I would not contribute anything to the team that year, told me he'd at least like to make me a respectable corporate golfer. I guess this means that I could go golfing with a bunch of suits and 'close deals' or whatever the hell I'm supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm there yet, unless 'close deals' means lose 23 balls. Granted, a few weeks ago was my first time in 5 years, but still. I hoped I'd have suddenly gained some ability over time not playing. Nope. Still horrible. Really horrible. I wonder if my own mother, who to my knowledge has ever touched a golf club, and is not very athletic (though she does do aerobics), could beat me at golf. I'd say there's about a 30% chance she could. My name should be golf slang for doing really badly. "How'd ya do on the links today, Frank?" "Awful, I was nicking them all over the place. Every other hole I was nicking myself silly."

Camping was OK, weather was nice. It's a lot different going camping with your girlfriend than going camping with 6 pals from high school. For one, the person who drinks the most is honored the next day. In the other, you get yelled at for puking on someone's birkenstock sandal. For one, everyone takes turns starting fires and cooking. But not in the other. In one, you whine to each other about not having girlfriends to bring camping, and in the other you wonder how many more daddylonglegs spiders you have to kill before you go crazy. Ironically enough, this was the first time I've been camping where there was a campsite filled with single, 20 yr old girls.

I think it's pretty weak to talk about this, but my fantasy football team is great. The Wyld Stallyns are the points leader after week 1 in both my leagues.

I'll write more, I promise.

Pay up or the Thermos gets it!