190n120: 30 Years of Music with Adam Johnson...Episode Twenty-Three: "The best way out is always through"

114. Tears For Fears - Songs From the Big Chair (1985)

Technically this is a suite, one long beautiful, soulful, rockin', emotional piece of music with an over-arcing theme. So you have to listen to the whole damn thing.

Lucky you.

113. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes (1983)

I'm not going to profess my love for this band, wallowing in the nostalgia of "finding a sound I could really identify with", or testifying that "these songs were written about me".

No.

I like this band. These are their best songs. Though not their best album, this one got me first.

The end.

Recommended Listening: Blister In the Sun, Kiss Off, Confessions, Good Feeling 

112. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (1988)

N.W.A. were the Black Sabbath of hip-hop, and that's how I've always digested their art. Heavy, hard, and head bobbing.

R.I.P. Easy E.

Recommended Listening: Straight Outta Compton, Fuck Tha Police, Gangsta Gangsta, Express Yourself, Dope Man

111. Guitar Wolf - Missile Me (1996)

Technically Guitar Wolf is just one man, but as a band they are a force of destruction. There are municipal codes written within the band's lifetime dedicated to their lives shows.

I know you have less than 30 minutes to kill today, so I'm going to recommend you listen to this whole thing. Each tune flies by pretty fast and loud, anyway; you won't miss the time.

Be sure to wear a neck brace.

110. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral (1994)

I didn't get into this album until the last ten years, so I don't have the same conceptional buzz most NIN fans tote. Good for Reznor, though, for creating a theme and sticking to it, I say.

This is one of those albums that keeps popping up in the higher numbers of the list. An experience from front to back within the rules of rock-and-roll; and boy does this mother rock.




Recommended Listening: Mr. Self Destruct, Heresy, March of the Pigs, Closer, Reptile