Top 5 Albums
I like making lists. Particularly top-ten style lists. I like the challenge of trying to focus everything down. With that in mind, here’s the list of my top 5 albums of all time.
5. Metallica - The Black Album
Metallica at their peak (before they turned into assholes). This was the stage in their career when the passion shone through into their music. A great cross-section of powerful vocals and balls-out rocking. Every song on this album is a keeper.
4. Nirvana - Nevermind
Instantly transports me back to my younger days. Seattle grunge at it’s finest. Cobain’s anguish is clear in his voice which always sounds on the edge of collapsing, and Grohl is just a fucking machine on drums. Listen to ‘Territorial Pissings’ and tell me they didn’t rock out.
3. Smashing Pumpkins : Siamese Dreams
Again another band that I love. I love the mix of quiet accoustic sections, leading into heavier, grungier guitar sections, and then into flights of orchestra behind Billy Corgan’s distinctive vocal style.
2. Rage Against The Machine : Rage Against The Machine
The self-titled album that was the soundtrack to my teens. This album is angry, political and powerful. There’s a certain state of mind where nothing will else do. Best played at a very loud volume.
1. Nine Inch Nails : The Downward Spiral (Deluxe Edition)
Even before the remastered deluxe edition (in 5.1 surround), this was my favourite album of all time. I have pretty much everything NIN have ever released, but this album is the best they’ve ever released. NIN are almost a genre unto themselves, but their closest genre would be industrial/electronica.
Looking at my music collection spanning over 10000 songs and a wide variety of genres, it’s strange to see the my top 5 albums all coming from the same genre and a similar era. There are so many albums that almost made the cut, but the selection was based on a mix of how much enjoyment I got from that album and what percentage of the songs on the album album were worth listening to.
As a curious aside, I’ve listed below the ones that were shortlisted for the top 5.
The Also Rans
Red Hot Chili Peppers : Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Pantera : Vulgar Display of Power
Faith No More : Angel Dust
Leftfield : Rhythm and Stealth
Helicopter Girl : How To Steal The World
Orbital : The Middle Of Nowhere
Ministry : Psalm 69
Kid Koala : Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Daft Punk : Homework
Portishead : Dummy
Mandalay : Empathy
Evanescence : Fallen
Jamiroquai : Dynamite
Soundgarden : Superunknown
Squarepusher : Big Loada
Front Line Assembly : Millennium
Annihilator : Set The World On Fire