Top 200 Albums of All Time: R.E.M.

Murmur: REM (1983)
Fans joked that Murmur should have been titled mumble. The album introduced the world to Michael Stipe’s cryptic and at times undecipherable lyrics and Peter Buck’s jangly guitar sound. The album helped kick off college rock and began the steady build to the alternative revolution of the early 1990s.

Key Tracks:
Radio Free Europe
Talk About the Passion
Perfect Circle
Pilgrimage

Document: REM (1987)
R.E.M. toyed with breaking through to the mainstream prior to Document. However, this album brought commercial success and a platinum certification. Despite the breakthrough with songs such as “The One I Love” and “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”, the band stayed true to itself with such tracks as “Welcome to the Occupation”, “Exhuming McCarthy”, and “Disturbance at the Heron House.”

Key Tracks:
Finest Worksong
Welcome to the Occupation
Disturbance at the Heron House
It’s The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The One I Love

Automatic for the People: REM (1992)
Out of Time made R.E.M. unlikely rock royalty. The band planned to follow up the folksy sounding multi-platinum monster with a rock album, but abandoned the project. Instead, they teamed with John Paul Jones to craft a subdued album based on mortality. The result, Automatic for the People, and its themes of lost youth and death, has stood up well over two decades and is one of the finest albums of the period.

Key Tracks:
Drive
Try Not to Breathe
Everybody Hurts
Man on the Moon
Nightswimming
Find the River

New Adventures in Hi-Fi: REM (1996)
After releasing their own “grunge” album with Monster, R.E.M. created perhaps the most underrated album in music history. Many of the songs were written and perfected while touring, which is perhaps why some of the tracks deal with travel. Interestingly, the album did not do as well as prior R.E.M. efforts. In hindsight, the decline of the record industry may have actually begun just prior to Napster and the download craze of the late 1990s.

Key Tracks:
Electrolite
Binky the Doormat
Bittersweet Me
E-Bow the Letter

Top 200 Albums of All Time: Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin (1969)
Led Zeppelin took blues-rock to another plain of existence. After the Yardbirds’ demise, Jimmy Page formed a new band to fulfill contractual obligations. The “New Yardbirds” performed Yardbirds standards, but also some new material. Following the tour, Page changed the group’s name to Led Zeppelin and the new material turned up on their first album. Interestingly, the album received poor reviews. Perhaps the poor reviews occurred because nothing sounded like it.

Key Tracks:

Good Times Bad Times

Babe I’m Gonna Leave You

Dazed and Confused

Communication Breakdown

Led Zeppelin II: Led Zeppelin (1969)
Led Zeppelin continued the themes on their debut with their second album. Their blues-rock continued to progress. Led Zeppelin II provided the blueprint for heavy metal acts which followed. It also marked Robert Plant’s emergence as a songwriter.

Key Tracks:

Whole Lotta Love

Thank You

Heartbreaker

Ramble On

Moby Dick

What Is and What Should Never Be

Led Zeppelin III: Led Zeppelin (1970)
Led Zeppelin expanded their musical parameters to include acoustic and folk music shocking fans and critics alike. As a result of their changing style, the album was savaged by some critics. However, it represents a band in transition and maturing.

Key Tracks:

Immigrant Song

Since I’ve Been Loving You

Gallows Pole

Led Zeppelin IV: Led Zeppelin (1971)
Led Zeppelin IV is probably the band’s most popular album. The album is not only known for its classic tracks, but also its lack of title. Each member designed a symbol for the cover. Sometimes fans call the album “ZoSo” for its symbol.

Key Tracks:

Black Dog

Rock and Roll

The Battle of Evermore

Stairway to Heaven

Misty Mountain Hop

Led Zeppelin: Houses of the Holy (1973)
Fans dubbed Led Zeppelin concert venues “Houses of the Holy”, so the band appropriated the term for their fifth album. The work included all original songs for the first time. It also marked a change as Zeppelin began to fiddle more and more with layering and other various production techniques.


Key Tracks:

The Song Remains the Same

Over the Hills and Far Away

Dancing Days

The Ocean

Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (1975)
This is Led Zeppelin’s greatest album. It included hard rock, funk, blues, acoustic, a ballad, and even eastern influence. The band threw everything into this album. Robert Plant argued that it represented the band at its most creative. Jimmy Page thinks it’s their best work.

Key Tracks:

Houses of the Holy

Kashmir

Ten Years Gone

Top 200 Albums of All Time: "J" Artists

Off the Wall: Michael Jackson (1979)


Off the Wall has become a trendy pick amongst critics for MJ’s greatest work. The album signaled Michael Jackson’s move away from Motown and included funk, disco, pop, soul, jazz, and soft rock influences. Off the Wall had been forgotten as music fans wanted to forget the seventies and in the wake of Thriller’s success.

Key Tracks:

Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough
Rock With You
She’s Out of My Life

Thriller: Michael Jackson (1982)

For a time, Thriller was omnipresent. Michael Jackson continued his exploration of the same musical influences present in Off the Wall. With Thriller, he really puts his stamp on pop culture and music. Additionally, Jackson broke down racial barriers through MTV with hit after hit. “Beat It” and “Billie Jean” still receive radio airplay nearly 30 years later and the title track has become a Halloween anthem.

Key Tracks:

Beat It
Billy Jean
Thriller
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

Billy Joel: The Stranger (1977)

Billy Joel broke through with The Stranger. His previous four albums achieved little-to-moderate success. The album is filled with classic tracks and four singles charted.

Key Tracks:

Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)
The Stranger
Just the Way You Are
She’s Always a Woman
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Elton John (1973)

Elton John did not plan to record a double album. However, he and Bernie Taupin wrote enough material for two albums. The record uses nostalgia for maximum effect. The most memorable works all harken back to simpler time whether its childhood or young adulthood.

Key Tracks:

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleed
Candle in the Wind
Bennie and the Jets
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961)

Robert Johnson died in 1938. In 1961, Columbia released sixteen tracks that had been on 78. Throughout the sixties, blues grew more popular particular with the British Invasion acts. As the decade progressed, his works were covered by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin.

Key Tracks:

Cross Road Blues
Terraplane Blues
Traveling Riverside Blues
Hellhound on My Trail

British Steel: Judas Priest (1980)

1980 was a very good year for metal. Judas Priest was in the middle of the action with the release of British Steel. Scott Ian claimed the album defined heavy metal because it eliminated the blues influence that permeated and influenced the genre from the late sixties. On top of this, the album included the iconic and genre defining songs “Breaking the Law”, “Living After Midnight”, and “Metal Gods.”

Key Tracks:

Breaking the Law
Living After Midnight
United
Metal Gods

Greatest Guitar Riffs of the 60s

I did not put these in any order. This period was the heyday for guitar rock. These are the best riffs in my opinion...

Whole Lotta Love- Led Zeppelin

Satisfaction- Rolling Stones

Purple Haze- Jimy Hendrix

Sunshine of Your Love- Cream

Day Tripper- The Beatles

Jumpin’ Jack Flash- Rolling Stones

You Really Got Me- The Kinks

Voodoo Child- Jimy Hendrix

Black Dog- Led Zeppelin

Roadhouse Blues- The Doors



Pinball Wizard- The Who

Wipe Out- The Sufaris

All Along the Watchtower- Jimy Hendrix

Revolution- The Beatles

Miserlou- Dick Dale

I Can’t Explain- The Who

Fortunate Son- CCR

My Generation- The Who

All Day and All of the Night- The Kinks

Paint it Black- The Rolling Stones

Greatest Albums of the 1970s

Not in any order...

Dark Side of the Moon: Pink Floyd (1973)

What’s Going On?: Marvin Gaye (1971)

Born to Run: Bruce Springsteen (1975)

Exile on Mainstreet: The Rolling Stones (1972)

Innervisions: Stevie Wonder (1973)

Led Zeppelin IV: Led Zeppelin (1971)

Who’s Next: The Who (1971)

Rumours: Fleetwood Mac (1977)

The Wall: Pink Floyd (1979)

Quadrophenia: The Who (1973)

Best riffs of the 1970s

Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple

Layla- Derek and the Dominoes

Iron Man- Black Sabbath

Heartbreaker- Led Zeppelin

Walk This Way- Aerosmith

Paranoid- Black Sabbath

Aqualung- Jethro Tull

Brown Sugar- The Rolling Stones

Running with the Devil- Van Halen

La Grange- ZZ Top

Cat Scratch Fever- Ted Nugent

Hey Hey My My- Neil Young

Money- Pink Floyd

Cocaine- Eric Clapton

Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love- Van Halen

Frankenstein- Edgar Winter

Stranglehold- Ted Nugent

Sweet Home Alabama- LS

In the Evening- Led Zeppelin

Echoes- Pink Floyd

My All-Time Grammy Awards

Best Vocals: Roger Daltrey: Love Reign O’er Me

Greatest Guitar riff: Smoke on the Water- Deep Purple

Greatest Guitar Solo: David Gilmour: Comfortably Numb

Greatest Bass Line: Another One Bites the Dust: John Deacon (Queen)

Greatest Bass Solo: My Generation: John Entwhistle (The Who)

Greatest Drum Performance: Moby Dick: John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)

Greatest Keyboard Performance: Light My Fire: Ray Manzerek (The Doors)

#6 Led Zeppelin

Led Zeppelin was not a metal band. They were a blues based classic rock band. Their interpretation of folk and the blues defined their music. Zeppelin did not limit themselves however. They also included rockabilly, reggae, soul, classical, Indian, Arabic, pop, Latin, and even country into their work. Then, they would take the music into new directions.

Zeppelin’s themes also separated them from the pack. Robert Plant’s interest in history and fantasy found an outlet in songs such as “Stairway to Heaven”, “The Immigrant Song”, and “Ramble On”. He brought a Medieval feel to the work. Guitarist Jimmy Page’s embrace of the occult has been overblown, but it fit into the band’s narrative and music, and complimented Plant's interests. Drummer John Bonham is second only to The Who’s Keith Moon amongst rock’s elite drummers. Bonham experiment and did things on the drums people are still trying to copy. Bassist John Paul Jones held the music together with innovative and time shifting bass lines.

Led Zeppelin experienced unbridled success throughout the seventies. They were the greatest band of the era and many critics place them behind only Stevie Wonder as greatest act of the seventies. During this period, “Stairway to Heaven” was released and is still considered by many to be the greatest rock song of all time. Additionally, they have sold over 200 million albums. Then, it ended. Like Keith Moon, John Bonham died young. Unlike The Who, Zeppelin broke up.

In 1982, Zeppelin released an album of out takes. They reunited with Phil Collins on drums for Live Aid in 1985. The performance was not released on the Live Aid DVD because the band felt their performance was substandard. Page and Plant reunited without Jones in the mid-90s for a pair of albums and tour. This was a point of contention between the three at the Rock n Roll Induction ceremony in 1995. In 2007, the band reunited once more for the Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert. Afterwards, rumors about a reunion tour went out of control. Plant shot them down and went onto Grammy success with Alyson Krauss.

Rock n Roll Moment: The Fish Story

Essential Zeppelin:

Led Zeppelin (1969)
Zeppelin II (1969)
Zeppelin III (1970)
Zeppelin IV (1971)
Houses of the Holy (1973)
Physical Graffiti (1975)

Led Zeppelin’s Top 10:

Whole Lotta Love
Heartbreaker
Ramble On
Immigrant Song
Black Dog
Rock and Roll
Stairway to Heaven
Kashmir
Houses of the Holy
In the Evening

#51 The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds produced three of the top 15 guitarists in rock history. They were the link between British blues and the psychedelic movement. They began with the blues and covered Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, and others. Their biggest hit was their third single, “For Your Love.” This was not blues. The move to pop caused Clapton to leave the group in protest. They continued with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

A band with two guitar gods can not survive. Beck was fired. Page continued on and like Beck, continued experimenting with new sounds. Everything they did was new at the time. They pioneered distortion, feedback, and fuzz tone. The band laid the groundwork for Led Zeppelin.

Rock n Roll Moment: This band produced Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton.

Essential Yardbirds:

Having a Rave Up (1965)
Roger the Engineer (1966)

Yardbirds Top 10:

For Your Love
My Girl Sloopy
Train Kept A Rollin’
Ten Little Indians
Smokestack Lightning
I’m a Man
Over Under Sideways
Down
New York City Blues
Happenings
Ten Years Time Ago
Heart Full of Soul