Top 200 Albums of All Time: U2

War: U2 (1983)

U2 changed with War. It is the moment the band became overtly political. Whereas their previous works focused on the spiritual and youth, War made them activists. U2 wanted to be the Clash. In 1983, they made the first foray into their hero’s territory.

The Joshua Tree: U2 (1987)

U2 loves America. The Joshua Tree is part rock album and part sociological examination of the U.S. The album portrays the band’s love of America, but also criticizes some elements of the country. It is America through the eyes of four Irishmen. The Joshua Tree is as close to social science as music can become.

Actung Baby: U2 (1991)

U2 can be pretentious. This pretentiousness almost ended their career. In 1991, U2 reinvigorated themselves in Berlin and released Actung Baby. The four decided to embrace celebrity culture, consumerism, and lightened up. The end result is a brilliant reinvention that embraced alternative rock, classic rock, industrial, and Euro influences.

All That You Can’t Leave Behind: U2 (2000)

Once again, U2 had to reinvent itself. The “Discotheque” video from 1997 nearly destroyed the band. Refusing to destroy themselves, U2 returned to their 80s form with All That You Can’t Leave Behind. With the album’s release, Bono claimed U2 was reapplying for “best band in the world.”

No Line on the Horizon: U2 (2009)

After experiencing wild success in the 2000s with their return to form, U2 experimented again in 2009. No Line on the Horizon incorporated Middle Eastern influences into the record, which sold “only” five million copies. The band was disappointed with album sales which may indicate another “return to form” in the offing.

Top 200 Albums of All Time: Artists beginning with "C"

At Folsom Prison: Johnny Cash (1968)

Johnny Cash wanted to perform at a prison. Record company execs hated the idea, so it percolated until changes at Columbia opened the door. Cash, June Carter, Carl Perkins, and the Tennessee Three put on two shows in January, 1968. The resulting live album was a smash hit and spawned a second prison album, At San Quentin.

Key Tracks:

Folsom Prison Blues
Cocaine Blues
25 Minutes to Go
Jackson

American Recordings: Johnny Cash (1994)

In 1994, Johnny Cash returned to relevance after years in the wilderness. Metal and Rap producer Rick Rubin approached Cash hoping to produce the album. At first, Cash demurred, but eventually relented. It proved the perfect match. Rubin engineered Cash’s return to a stripped down, darker sound. The end result was the most unlikely and amazing musical comeback in history.

Key Tracks:

Delia’s Gone
The Beast in Me
Redemption

Cheap Trick: Cheap Trick at Budokan (1979)

Japan loved Cheap Trick before the states. The band decided to record a live album for their Japanese fans over two nights, but the songs made it onto American radio. Thousands of imported copies of the Budokan album sold in the United States before it was released domestically. The surprise hit broke Cheap Trick in the U.S. and led to a sequel album in 1993 which included the remaining songs from the shows.

Key Tracks:

I Want You To Want Me
Surrender
Ain’t That A Shame

The Clash: The Clash (1977)

While disco reigned and rock appeared dead,  The Clash released a high powered punk album that followed on the heals of The Ramones. The band followed the Ramones formula with short, fast songs. However, they added a political component raging against unemployment, capitalism, racism, and commercialization. The band later expanded their music to become “the only band that mattered.”

Key Tracks:

White Riot
Complete Control
Career Opportunities
London’s Burning

London Calling: The Clash (1979)

The Clash dramatically expanded their musical stylings with London Calling. They incorporated ska, pop, soul, jazz, reggae, and rockabilly into their vision of a post apocalyptic world. The album’s themes surrounded drug use, unemployment, racism, adulthood, and the pressures of modern life. It encapsulated late seventies London and the failure of socialism….although the band viewed it as the failure of capitalism.

Key Tracks:

London Calling
Brand New Cadillac
Clampdown
The Guns of Brixton
Train in Vain

No Jacket Required: Phil Collins (1985)

Ok, I know what you’re thinking…why is Phil Collins on this list? Answer is simple. No Jacket Required best represents the mid-80s pop scene. Phil Collins was omnipresent during this period. In fact, Collins joked that he was tiring of himself. The album’s title derives from an incident at Chicago’s Pump Room. Collins was denied entry because he lacked the proper attire. The album spawned four major hits and accompanying videos. Despite his reputation, not all the songs on the album were fluffy pop. For example, “Long Long Way To Go” is a politically charged work that was never released as a single and features Sting on backing vocals.

Key Tracks:

One More Night
Don’t Lose My Number
Take Me Home
Long Long Way To Go

Elvis Costello & The Attractions: This Year’s Model (1978)

Elvis Costello mixed pop sensibilities with youthful angst on his second album. Instead of begging in typical whiney pop fashion, Costello tortures himself and seems to enjoy it. The album incorporated punk with pop sensibilities to create something different.

Key Tracks:

Pump It Up
Radio Radio
Night Rally

Disraeli Gears: Cream (1967)

Cream was the first true “super group” with Ginger Baker on drums, Jack Bruce playing bass, and some guy named Clapton rounding out the trio with his guitar. The band’s second album, Disraeli Gears, fulfilled promise the original merger of the three presented fans a year earlier. The album found Cream discovering their own style deviating away from the blues which brought them together. They indulged and jammed creating a psychedelic time capsule. On a side note, the album’s name derived from a slip of Clapton’s tongue. The guitarist was discussing bicycles with Ginger Baker and mentioned Disraeli Gears as opposed to derailleur gears. The band thought the slip hilarious and used it as their album title.

Key Tracks:

Strange Brew
Sunshine of Your Love
Tales of Brave Ulysses
SWLABR

Wheels of Fire: Cream (1968)

Cream followed Disraeli Gears with the double album Wheels of Fire. The first album contained new studio material. The second contained four live performances from the Fillmore recorded over three March evenings in 1968. The albums capture the band and its complex musical tastes as it includes blues standards, cynical political rock, eccentric pop rock bordering on prog, and psychedelic. Turmoil plagued the band throughout its lifetime and it split after one final album. That turmoil led to the creative tensions that gave birth to Wheels of Fire.

Key Tracks:

White Room
Sitting on Top of the World
Born Under a Bad Sign
Politician

Green River: Creedence Clearwater Revival (1969)

CCR may be the greatest American rock band of all time. They incorporated their influences and created a style unlike any other act. Green River demonstrates everything that made CCR great. The album included straight on rockers like “Commotion” and classics such as “Bad Moon Rising.” The most interesting tune, “Lodi”, is about a performer trapped in a small town and unable to raise enough money to escape.

Key Tracks:

Green River
Commotion
Bad Moon Rising
Lodi

Cosmo’s Factory: Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)

Cosmo’s Factory both encapsulated 1970 and remains relevant in the 21st century. The album seems as if it were recorded in the jungles of Vietnam. Yet, it also seems fresh in the Age of Terror. It is dark and foreboding while at the same time hopeful.

Key Tracks:

Travelin’ Band
Lookin’ Out My Back Door
Who’ll Stop the Rain
I Heard It Through the Grapevine

The 10 Greatest Albums of the 80s

Not in any particular order...

Thriller- Michael Jackson (1982): It's now fashionable to claim Off the Wall was better, but those folks are on crack. This was a monster that opened doors for black artists and changed pop music. Today's hip hop, pop, and rap are all influenced by Thriller. No Thriller, no Hip Hop and today's pop is different.

Purple Rain- Prince (1984): For a time, people asked "Michael Jackson or Prince?"

The Joshua Tree- U2 (1987): U2 went in a totally different direction than everyone else in the mainstream with Joshua Tree. It was a rejection of plastic modern society and is probably more relevant today than in 1987.

Raising Hell- Run DMC (1986): Rap comes to the suburbs. Blondie introduced it to white America, Grandmaster Flash brought the streets to MTV, but Run DMC brought Hip Hop to the forefront and legitimized it. Although MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice made it mainstream, Run DMC became the first to explode onto the scene.

Appetite for Destruction- GnR (1987): Like U2, Guns n Roses took popular music in a radical direction in 1987. Unlike U2's examination of America and modern materialism, GnR took a darker approach and examined the underworld in a way no had since Exile on Mainstreet.

Back in Black- AC/DC (1980): AC/DC somehow survived the death of Bon Scott and turned that loss into one of the greatest tribute albums ever.

Born in the USA- Bruce (1984): Just about every song on this album became a hit. Bruce became a phenomenon and the embodiment of America. No one bothered to listen to the lyrics of the title track...

Murmur- REM (1983): While pop music was heading in multiple directions during the eighties including hair metal, new wave, hip hop, and some groups which defied categorization (Huey Lewis was played on rock stations that would follow Heart of Rock n Roll with Led Zeppelin), R.E.M. ushered in the alternative movement. Murmur represented an attempt to get back to basics and bring fresh rock n roll back to an audience.

London Calling- The Clash (1980): The west appeared on the verge of utter collapse in the late seventies. High unemployment, stagnant economies, and disheartened populations wanted to go to the disco. London Calling reflects the postwar apocalypse that hit during the seventies. Despite the coming ice age and sun zooming in, the album ends on an uplifting note with "Train in Vain."

Synchronicity- The Police (1983): Synchronicity made the Police the biggest band in the world. The album and its songs was omnipresent from summer of 1983 and into 1984. "Every Breath You Take" is one of the songs that defined the eighties.

The Ten Most Conservative Songs of all Time

Bodies- The Sex Pistols: The Sex Pistols sing about dying babies in this anti-abortion song.

Coming to America- Neil Diamond: Neil Diamond expresses a very Reaganesque message of America being that shining city on a hill providing inspiration to the world.

Don’t Tread on Me- Metallica: Metallica ties themselves to the American Revolution. During that period, one flag featured a snake ready to strike with the words “Don’t Tread On Me” underneath. The song includes many conservative messages such as “liberty or death”, “love it or leave it”, and “to secure peace is to prepare for war.”

I Can’t Drive 55- Sammy Hagar: Hagar rails against the nanny state and its desire to run every aspect of our lives.

Rock The Casbah- The Clash: Joe Strummer wrote this after the Ayatollah clamped down on rock music in Iran. The song was co-opted by American troops during the First Gulf War and was re-interpreted to mean “bomb the Middle East.” Ironically, Strummer was a committed leftist that despised war.

Small Town- John Mellencamp: Mellencamp is not a conservative. However, Small Town represents the cultural divide between left and right. While the left controls urban areas, the small town remains conservative.

Stormtroopin’- Ted Nugent: Unlike Mellencamp and Strummer, Nugent is a right winger. Uncle Ted warns about big government and provides the real rationale for the 2nd Amendment.

Taxman- The Beatles: Beware of the Taxman. He’ll tax the heat, your car, and even your feet. The government knows what is best, so don’t ask where the money goes!

We’re Not Gonna Take It- Twisted Sister: Since the left tends to like government, it tends to be more institutional than the right. When the left revolts, it tends to be against themselves. When the right revolts, it’s against the left, the government, the system, and the machine.

Won’t Get Fooled Again- The Who: Pete Townsend wrote this in reaction to the sixties. In his view, he felt that we won’t be fooled again by those left wing hippie tools. The song was played at Bush headquarters on election eve 2000.

#12 The Clash

The Clash were among the first wave of British punk that emerged in the mid-seventies. Their first album, The Clash, was an instant smash and propelled them to stardom. They were different than their punk brethren in two major ways. First, they were neither anarchists nor nihilists. Instead, the incorporated leftist politics into their music. Second, they branched out beyond punk and included Ska, Reggae, Funk, Hip Hop, and Rockabilly into their music.

All the these elements were in place by their third album, London Calling. This post-industrial apocalypse is considered the greatest album of the eighties. It also opened the American market up for The Clash. By 1983, they were one of the biggest bands on Earth, toured with The Who, played Shea Stadium, and were considered “The Only Band that Mattered.” Inner tensions eventually broke the group apart and they were done by the mid-80s.

After the breakup, Mick Jones formed the successful band, Big Audio Dynamite. In 2008, Jones formed Carbon Silicon. Joe Strummer struggled with the breakup, did some movie work, and eventually returned to music with Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. Rumors of a Clash reunion began around 2000. In 2002, the band was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and considered reuniting to celebrate. However, Strummer died of an undiagnosed heart condition in 2002.

Rock n Roll Moment: The band demanded the record company offer the 3 album Sandinista! be offered at a fan friendly price.

Essential Clash:
The Clash (1977)
London Calling (1979)
Sandinista! (1980)

The Clash’s Top 10:
Complete Control
Career Opportunities
White Riot
English Civil War
London Calling
Train in Vain
The Guns of Brixton
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
Rock the Casbah
Know Your Rights