30 Favourite Album Artworks I Own

Originally written: 27/04/08


Hi! This note was thrown together in a very short time, and although I worked really hard on it, it is not perfect. The reason why I say this is because I don’t claim to have the albums with the greatest artwork in the world. There are so many great covers out there that represent the music behind them in such original ways, and so many lists put together by critics, that I would never pretend to have all the answers. That is why I was careful to clearly state that these are my 30 Favourite Album Artworks I Own. All this means is that I looked through my (beautiful pride and joy of a) collection and narrowed it down to the 30 works you see here.

And I know that the three or so people reading this will go “well, who gives a fuck?”

Me! I give a fuck! I think 90% of people on facebook write notes for themselves above and beyond anyone else, so :P However, if you like music or if you scroll down the list and see an entry that looks interesting or you recognize, read it! You may actually learn something...

ALSO NOTE: If you can't see the cover's too well in this note... google it! Or wiki it! It'll be worth it, trust me. Ok, here goes something:


30. Patti Smith - Horses (1975)
Credit: Robert Mapplethorpe
Simple yet effective using natural lighting, the record label wanted to make many changes to the image, including airbrushing out Patti's moustache, which she refused. This reflects the punk-rock attitude of the entire album, which you have to hear to fully understand the “fuck-you” approach Patti Smith had, the “Godmother of Punk”. Notice the horse pin on her blazer. Most definitely a classic.


29. Dry Kill Logic - The Darker Side of Nonsense (2001)
Credit: The Collective
I hang my head in shame whenever I look over my collection and see it's diseased by late 90's/early 00's Nu Metal, but I refuse to let that deter from how cool some of the artwork was from this era. And in all fairness, Dry Kill Logic aren't bad per say, just not very... good. And while the music is far from nonsensical (instead rather quite ordinary) the title and the cover are matches made in heaven. To prove my point, and this is very important, this is the ONLY album I have EVER purchased in MY LIFE based on the cover art alone. I hadn't heard a damn thing, but the image on the shelf just begged to be bought. This is risky, but at the time, I wasn't dissapointed. Regardless of what I think now, it is quite amazing that one can be hypnotized to the point of spending R100+ (as it was in those days) for a small square picture. It achieved what every album cover attempts to achieve, and for that I will always recognize those disfigured characters as being quite remarkable.


28. The Deftones - Saturday Night Wrist (2006)
Credit: Frank Maddocks
Deftones covers are dodgy at best, and generally, I find them very unappealing. But their latest album (and most recent released album on this list) hit the nail on the head. To me, if you had to personify Deftones music, it would be a beautiful female figure. Because it is my experience with beautiful female figures that they bite. And that's what this album does, it's experimental and sound-scapey-ish, like a dream within a dream within a nightmare, which is the same feeling I get when I look at this piece. From what I gather, the images are from the film Roxana, which is about a proto-feminist character who carries out actions of prostitution for her own ends of freedom. So thats nice.


27. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
Credit: Bob Defrin
It's not visually appealing, but gets the message across loud and clear, as Pantera do. I remember a story (that unfortunately I can't find to reference) that the poor guy getting smacked up did it for $10 - $100 a pop, and got the fist in his face many many times (my faulty memory recalls numbers as high as 30) to get the perfect shot. He was a fan and was honoured to get his faced pummeled for Pantera. Apparently the fist you see is Phil Anselmo's, the singer. Like the cover, there are no pretty moments in the music itself either.



26. Norma Jean - Bless the Martyr and Kiss the Child (2002)
Credit: Asterik Studios
I love this album. The sound, the rawness, the song names, the title all work as an original unit, and yes, the cover plays a big role of it. It's just one of those pictures that leap at you. The yellow colouring is what makes it, so eery, a little kid with a sadistic smile, something that could easily be passed for a satanic death metal band even though Norma Jean are Christians to the 'core. The old-school feel is all over the album and is a nice achievement for something that was fairly low-budget. Sadly, this was the only album of theirs to feature singer Josh Scogin, who left to form The Chariot who never got as good as this, but still beat the fairly-common metalcore sound Norma Jean became.


25. The Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
Credit: Simon Larbalestier and Vaughan Oliver
Great references to all the lyrics is what makes this a great visual representation. "Gouge Away" is interpreted as a spoon with hair in it, the bell with teeth in it is a reference to the line "it shakes my teeth". And, ofcourse, the monkey on the cover with the numbers (if man is) 5, (and the devil is) 6, and (then God is) 7 goes hand-in-hand with "Monkey Gone to Heaven". Coincidentally, the monkey with the halo is the reason why Frank Black chose to change the album's name from the original idea: "Whore". He said it would seem too "anti-Catholic". Yeah, maybe.


24. Otep - Sevas Tra (2002)
Credit: P.R. Brown and Wendy Dougan
Wow, this band came and went. No matter, this is not a note about the music, and while Otep bore me to tears, this is a damn cool cover. It's great cos it features the whole band on it without becoming cliché, I mean, there we have the lead singer INSIDE the fkn belly of the Shiva type monster. Plus the whole thing is cardboard that folds out into other interesting pieces with a little hand written booklet stashed inside. And I guess when you name your album "Art Saves" backwards, you gotta put your money where your mouth is.


23. Nirvana - In Utero (1993)
Credit: Robert Fisher & Kurt Cobain
Although not as controversial as Nevermind, In Utero was still quite out there. Featuring a transparent anatomical manikin with angel wings (also used on the tour) on the front cover, this was just the front. The back was piece Kurt called "Sex and woman and In Utero and vaginas and birth and death", which includes fetuses and body parts lying in a bed of orchids and lilies. The cd itself was a photo of Frances Bean's nanny, a cross-dresser. Not to mention the album's original title was "I Hate Myself & I Want to Die", so it was pretty pushing. Go Kurt go!


22. Paul McCartney & Wings - Band on the Run (1973)
Credit: [Unknown]
Not only unarguably one of the best post-Beatles solo projects, the cover is very noteworthy. It features the Wings members plus six other celebrities including Liverpool's World Light-Heavyweight boxing champion John Conteh and Hollywood actor Christopher Lee (you may remember him as Saruman in Lord of the Rings) all dressed as convicts caught in the spot-light of the prison search. It was parodied for the Dreamworks animated film Madagascar.


21. The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation
(1994) Credit: Stuart Haygarth
It's difficult to find any special facts or even any information at all about this cover, but I guess that makes it all the more special. That is to say, there is no gimmick here, no fancy bullshit, it's just a really cool picture that makes you want to hear the album, I mean, just look at it! It's appealing as fuck. Definitely the best artwork for any release by this band.


20. The Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines of God (2000)
Credit: Vasily Kafanov
Just looking at this cover does not do the album justice whatsoever. But looking through the booklet itself which looks worn, burnt and even includes a coffee stain represents this album perfectly. It has been said that the artwork loosely explains the concept of the album, which I find very confusing, but it is said to be heavily symbolic, and wikipedia points out that it references themes of alchemy, chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art. It's all very medieval looking and was nominated for the Best Packaging Award at the Grammy's. I like it, ehyuk.


19. Joanna Newsom - Ys (2006)
Credit: Benjamin A. Vierling
The reason why I am so fond of this cover is that when I look at it, I hear the music. It looks like a book, it reads like a book, it sounds like a book, it's pretty much a book. It's filled with amazing lyrics telling stories of mythical creatures in a folklore manner which has wooed almost every critic under the sun. Even it's title is a reference to the mythical city of the same name, built in the Douarnenez bay, and then swallowed by the ocean. It's a modern day epic lullaby, a full package of perfection and some parts are even raised so that you can physically feel the picture's outlines. As a whole, this album restored much faith into modern music for me, it's magical, and if you suddenly feel frustrated that you haven't hear it... you should.


18. KoЯn - Follow the Leader (1998)
Credit: Todd McFarlane
Todd McFarlane is the shit. One of my favourite comic book characters of all time is Spawn, who was created by this man. And his toys are well beyond the line of duty (http://www.spawn.com). So despite this album almost single handedly creating the Nu Metal plague of 1999, it is solid, and the cover work is just oh-so stylish. So stylish, in fact, that the hit single "Freak on a Leash" was inspired by it, and Todd animated the scene to life in front of our very eyes. And then it won the Best Short Form Music Video Grammy of 2000, which at the time was huge thing for any Metal Sub-Genre band to achieve.


17. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)
Credit: Storm Thorgerson
The Mars Volta always rock the party with their artwork. And you know you can trust Storm Thorgerson as his name appears on this list a few times as himself and as a part of the Hipgnosis team. And besides being a massively-innovative debut album from one of the most talented bands on our planet, this cover is a great image to symbolize one falling into a coma and getting lost in a world within your head, which is exactly what this album is about. I don't feel like going into that again, but if you are interested, read my note on concept albums to see what it's all about. Or alternatively, just look at the cover, because even the densest of admirers can say "duh, that looks nice".


16. A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step (2003)
Credit: Dean Karr
I was excited enough about this release after owning their debut for a while, but when I saw the cover, it just jumped at me. It's beautiful in an unorthodox way, and really clicks with the music itself. I speculate (although it is possible that I am wrong) that the model's name is Tanya and she is the same women scrounging around in the dirt collecting insects in the fantastic video for "Weak and Powerless". Simple but so effective, a part of this perfect album. I suggest looking up Dean Karr himself, his work is stunning and has made covers for Marilyn Manson, Iron Maiden, The Goo Goo Dolls, Chris Rock and so many more, as well as music video's for Cypress Hill, Billy Talent, Queens of the StoneAge and home-grown boys Seether.


15. Cradle of FIlth - Cruelty and the Beast (1998)
Credit: MEZ
Cradle of Filth always ROCK with their covers. That is, of course, if you are into hot chicks being mutilated with religious symbols everywhere. This specific cover might make you roll your eyes, thinking it is just another pointless attempt to shock people, and you may be right. Except for the fact that what you are looking at ACTUALLY HAPPENED. That lady in the bath of blood is playing the role of Elizabeth Bathroy, a countess who believed that the blood of virgins kept her young. She did horrible things to these kiddies, and yes, one of them was bathing in their blood. If you want to know more, look at my note on concept albums, or go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory . The point is that, yes, it IS shocking, she IS hot, and it feels like you WANT to be turned on but something inside of you just won't allow you to be. This all coupled with it being an awesome album with a true story, gives this entry and artwork that little extra "yeah".


14. Muse - Black Holes & Revelations (2006)
Credit: Storm Thorgerson
At first glance it may no seem like anything special, but allow me to enlighten you. The red surface of the shot is supposed to be the planet Mars, specifically, the area Cydonia (where the famous face on Mars is) and the four men are the Knights of Cydonia, the same name as the 11th track on the (very impressive) album. Matthew Bellamy has also stated that the guys represent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mentioned in the Christian Bible, chapter six of the Book of Revelation. He went on to say that "the horses [on the table] are miniature in size to emphasize the fact that the horsemen have outgrown them". Which I think is very smart and much like most of Muse's recent work, very apocalyptic. Storm Thorgerson is a genius and has worked on superb projects for Pink Floyd and The Mars Volta, amoung many others.


13. Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
Credit: Robert Fisher
There isn't too much I could say about this that you don't already know, as this is one of the most recognizable album covers for undeniably one of the most important alternative albums of the 90's. It's inspiration came when Kurt and Dave Grohl were watching a program on underwater births, and mentioned this to Robert Fisher who went and found some stock photography on the subject. Most of the examples were deemed to graphic by Geffen Records, so they settled on a photo of a baby swimming. However, the company which owned the image was charging $7,500, so instead they got a photographer friend, found three-month-old Spencer Elden and took the photo on their own for a much more reasonable $200. The fishhook/dollar was added later. Ofcourse the label freaked a bit, already preparing versions with the little penis airbrushed out, but Kurt put his foot down, and would only agree to the censorship if the genitalia was covered with a sticker that read "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet paedophile." And ofcourse, today, Spencer Elden has one of the most famous dicks in the world. And I'm sure it's a great pick-up line if there ever was one.


12. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine (1992)
Credit: Malcolm Browne
As one of the most (if not THE most) politically active bands of the 90's, it is only fitting that Rage Against the Machine's ground-breaking debut album reflected this accordingly. It shows the monk Thích Quung Ðuc protesting President Ngô Ðình Diem's administration for oppressing the Buddhist religion. He did this by pouring 5-gallons of gasoline on himself and setting himself on fire in Saigon in 1963. He never moved, never made a sound, until he burnt to a human crisp. The Buddist clergy made a circle around him, preventing anyone getting to the man. Journalist Malcolm Browne won the 1963 World Press Photo of the Year for this image.


11. Red Hot Chili Peppers - One Hot Minute
(1995) Credit: Mark Ryden
I admit, I am biased about this one, for two reasons. The first is that Mark Ryden is one of my all time favourite artists EVER (look him up, you will adore him the same) even if this isn't his best work. The second is that I own a limited edition version of this album I just so happened to stumble upon, where the girl playing piano ACTUALLY PLAYS THE PIANO. You move it around and she MOVES! It’s nuts, ask me to show you some time. Anyways, it is a widely known fact that this isn't the Chili's best work, but their artwork is often hit or miss for me (Stadium Arcadium cover sucks!) and this is, most definitely, a hit.


10. GlassJAw - Worship and Tribute (2002)
Credit: Mick Haggerty
For those of you looking at this cover for the first time are probably thinking that it looks really shitty and that I have no taste. Not true! The main attraction of this is that you are in fact looking straight through the cover onto the CD, which is shaped like a record. This is not the first album to do this (Superunknown by Soundgaren was almost a decade earlier) and is probably is not the first album to even make use of a see-through cover, but frankly it's the only one I have. What's cool about it is that the record/cd appears to sit on a record player, and when it is opened, the styli and needle appear to rise off the record, allowing you to pluck it off the table. This is all nice and dandy but it would be useless if there wasn't a PC enhanced section on the cd itself with the lyrics, credits and even some video's. Seems some people agree with me as this album was nominated for the Best Album Art Grammy in 2003, but lost to The Dixie Chicks.... What?


09. SlipKnoT - Iowa (2001)
Credit: t42design and M. Shawn Crahan
Maybe it isn't you thing, and maybe this album is regarded as the band's weakest work, but there is no doubt that by the time SlipKnoT's sophomore was ready, they had made enough money for RoadRunner Records to allow them to pretty much do what they wanted. And while I am a big fan of the goat theme itself (an obvious reference to Satanism, eek) that's hardly enough to get it on the list. The real gimmick is the shine, it is almost like a foil where you can literally see yourself behind the goat if you look. The inside is also something to be impressed by, see-through paper with all the lyrics and lots of creepy pictures of the band throughout. And as someone who has seen this band live twice, let me assure you, that there is a scary presence when nine full-grown men tower above you with masks on.


08. Marilyn Manson - Mechanical Animals (1998)
Credit: Joseph Cultice
Where to begin? First of all, this cover caused kak, Wal-Mart wouldn't stock it, and Japan called for it to be edited. Not because Manson had tits mind you, it's because he has 6 fingers on one hand, and Japanese folks don't like deformities. The original image had nipples, but that was edited out because it would be too far (?). But wait, there's more. You can actually remove the cover, reverse it, and you have a brand new cover. That's because the album itself is presented to be written half by Alpha (the lonely alien with boobs) and half by Omega (a glam rockstar addicted to drugs). Further more, and probably the coolest part, is that the casing is a light blue. Within the cover there is illegible yellow and blue text around, and when viewed through the blue cover, the blue text disappears (much like those red and green glasses you had when you were a kid) to reveal additional phrases and lyrics. Another interesting fact Manson revealed is that Johnny Depp currently owns the alien suit.


07. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
Credit: Kosh and Iain MacMillan
This is one of the most famous and perhaps the most imitated covers of all time, which is fitting because to this day this album still gets cited by many critics as "the best album of all time". Released when The Beatles were on the verge of murdering each other, this was their final recorded album and so one of the final shots taken of the whole band together. Still not convinced? How about the fact that it has been parodied by The Shadows, Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers and even Paul McCartney himself? What, you want more? Ok, how about the fact that tourists flock to Abbey Road everyday to mimic the cover themselves almost 40 years after the original shot? Further more, a webcam has even been set-up so you can watch people doing it, over here: http://www.abbeyroad.co.uk/virtual_visit/webcam. Does that do anything for you?


06. Radiohead - Kid A (2000)
Credit: Stanley Donwood and Tchock (Thom Yorke)
Radiohead cover's are... strange. Which, in the case of an album like Kid A, is just perfect. The coolest thing about Radiohead is that the team extends well beyond the 5 members, as they have worked with Nigel Godrich as the producer since before The Bends, and Stanley Donwood as the artwork-man since The Bends. This gives them a great understanding of what it is they are all attempting to achieve. Kid A was a reflection of the war in Kosovo in winter of 1999, made as an oil painting and creating the sharp texture with knives and putty, and then digitally modified and pixilated all over to look like it does. Just open up the fucking thing, pages fold out of nowhere, including weird sketches on tracing paper. Not to mention the hidden-booklet featured in the casing underneath the Cd (UK version only), it's enough to make even the artiest of us go "huh?" If God was an album, he would be Kid A.


05. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1974)
Credit: Hipgnosis and George Hardie
There isn't too much to be said about this cover, except that even if you don't know who Pink Floyd are, there is a 99.9% chance you'll recognize it. This is because this album has spent well over 1,500 weeks on the Billboard Top 200 and is the 20th highest selling album of all time. The thought process behind the art isn't clear, but it has become a symbol for the band, even being recreated in recent tours with a 3d light version of itself, which is just fucking beautiful, look here. Not to mention there was NO title on the sleeve which was a bold move for the time.


04. David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (1974)
Credit: Guy Peellaert
You might look at this and say "sure, it looks pretty good, but it's not THAT amazing". Well, that's because you aren't seeing the bigger picture, and I urge you to look here.
and You may notice that David Bowie becomes a man-dog hybrid, flashing you his penis. RCA Records freaked and quickly airbrushed the genitalia out of the gatefold, but a few copies did manage to slip out into circulation making them among the most expensive record collectibles of all time, as high as thousands of US dollars being spent for a single copy. Luckily the progressively desensitized nature of the public means that modern cd issues leave the David-doggie's penis intact. It's also great because the entire album is based on George Orwell's classic novel 1984, one of my favourite books of all time, and so the fun doesn't end at the artwork alone. Then Bowie released "Young Americans" and it sucked.


03. The Beatles - The Beatles [White Album] (1968)
Credit: Richard Hamilton
At first glance, the artwork appears to be extremely bland and perhaps only included because I am a Beatles fanatic. Allow me to change your mind there. First of all, this followed the amazingly detailed "Sgt. Pepper" cover [see below] and was in huge contrast to it. Second of all, the first 5 million copies (or something) were numbered with Serial Numbers, so the first printed would have the number "1" on the cover, the second would have the number "2" and so fourth. Which means if you get number "1" (which Ringo owns), you could make a pretty penny. To give you an example, number 7 is currently (as I type this) for sale on eBay for $9,000. And finally, the cultural impact was massive, it has been parodied by such heavy weight names such as: Metallica; Jay-Z; Weezer; They Might Be Giants and Prince. And of course, it's a fucking good double album if there ever was one, even going so far as to talk Charles Manson into murdering people.


02. Velvet Underground & Nico - Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
Credit: Andy Warhol
You've seen it before, even if you can't remember where. Designed by one Andy Warhol (maybe you've heard of him) the Cd versions we buy today loose the point a bit. Sure, it's iconic, and much like the music, definitely gives off that "what the fuck" vibe. But the original LP versions are where the magic happened. Look closely at the top of the banana, you will notice the words inviting you to "Peel slowly and see". On the original pressings, that’s what people did, and to their surprise, the banana skin peeled off, revealing a naked unskinned banana. Of course, then rumours started to fly that the sticker was laced with LSD. Which might have been a good idea to boost the terrible initial sales, which took decades to recover, eventually becoming accepted as the classic it deserved to be.


The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Credit: Peter Blake
This is it. This is THE cover of all covers. Yes, it's The Beatles, ok, I know, try forgetting about that for a second and listen to what I am saying. First of all, The Beatles themselves became a brand new band, the Lonely Hearts Club Band, complete with new names and uniforms, mustaches and... well... LSD. Behind them you will notice a lot of people [I beg you to go and find a larger version to understand], and this is where the fun begins. Included inside the album is the names of each one of those people, meaning you can research and learn about a lot of individuals you knew nothing about. People you may recognize on the cover would be Marilyn Monroe, Oliver Hardy, Aleister Crowley, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, William S. Burroughs, Bob Dylan, Marlon Brando, and yes, even wax models of The Beatles themselves during their mop-top days. Even more impressive is that this was the FIRST EVER album cover to have the lyrics on it, and it even included a cut-out mustache and badge just so you can become your own Sgt Pepper. EMI freaked out because at the time it was about 100 times more expensive than any other cover ever made at £2868, which even in these days is a pretty disgusting amount of cash. It paid off tho, as this album and it's cover paved way for many album's to come. It was so good in fact, that it sent Beach Boy Brian Wilson into a deep depression because he felt he just could not compete with The Beatles anymore. The artwork won the Grammy for Best Album Cover in 1967, as well as winning the Album of the Year and Best Engineered Album among many others. Rolling Stone magazine did a massive article recently on the top 100 album covers ever, this was number 1. Similarly, the magazine ran an article on the best 500 albums ever, and this was, once again, number 1. It is safe to say that everything about this album changed music forever, even studio's around the world had to learn new stuff just from what was achieved on this album. And of course, the artwork has been parodied by such names as Frank Zappa, Devendra Banhart, Pearl Jam, and even The Simpsons, despite it's complexity. In my opinion, the greatest album ever made, by the greatest band that ever lived, The Beatles, amen.


And that's it, please leave comments to tell me how wrong I am, how right I am, or what your favourite album cover is, because it turns me on. Thanks for reading!

HONORABLE ALBUMS I DON'T OWN but would've included:
Tool - 10,000 Days
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (its got a freaking zip on it!)
The Cars - Candy-O
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Carly Simon - Playing Possum
Frank Zappa - Weasels Ripped My Flesh
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Panda Bear - Person Pitch
Ohio Players - Honey
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My Top 10 Fav Concept Albums

Originlly Written: 29/10/07

For the life of me I can't remember when I was first introduced into the intense world of concept albums. I have a feeling it may have been Marilyn Manson's typtch that turned me on to this crazy way to enhance your product and in doing so, present an album in such a unified way as a solid story. But regardless when or what it was, it changed everything for me. Suddenly, every album I recorded at home had to have an elaborate underlying theme even when I really didn't want to. It stuck with me, and my obsession for them has grown and grown as time has gone on, now seeking out and collecting as many as possible, as well as researching to find the best of the best. And that is why I am writing this note, to pass on some of the knowledge I have accumulated thus far.

But for those who are unsure what I am on about, here is a quick definition of what a concept album really is. Basically, it's exactly what it sounds like. An album with a concept, "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical", yes thanks wikipedia. The difference here is that the majority of standard album's consist of a group of unrelated songs, while concept albums take on the ambitious task of (instead of using songs as separate pieces of work) using the entire album as a single massive entity.

It is just another example of value for money and bringing art into music over and above the necessary. And it gets me wet. So without further adieu, here are the top 10 best concept albums I own (and by own I mean, I actually own them, not downloaded, this is important because with concept albums the cover artwork generally plays an important role). Note that the order is based on the concepts themselves and not the overall album:



10. Frank Zappa - Freak Out! (1966)
Concept: It was Zappa's "satirical attitude based on his unique perception of American pop culture". It's a very loose concept, some songs steering off the topic a bit to go off about love and what-not (actually a very good break-up album) but it is important because it was also Zappa's debut. His body of work grew to an apoloclyptic size, and it has been argued that his entire catalogue could be viewed as one unifying concept, filled with characters and hilarious situations (this album introducing Suzy Creamcheese who became a staple part of his collection on the albums Absolutely Free, Mothermania, We're Only in It for the Money and Uncle Meat).
While Beatle scholars bare teeth and clench fists arguing that Sgt Pepper was the "first ever rock concept album", Paul McCartney himself blushed and admitted that Pepper was his attempt at "Freak Out!" (and ofcourse The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds", another possible concept album that came first). Zappa then parodied Sgt Pepper with his somewhat better album "We're Only in it for the Money".



09. The Who - The Who Sell Out (1967)
Concept: While the songs themselves are unrelated, the idea was for the record to sound like a radio station that played nothing but Who songs. It came complete with jingles and adverts written by Radio London Jingles. After this album, The Who were sued left right and center from not only the company who's jingles they used, but all the products they mentioned without permission (like Heinz Baked Beans, Odorono, Medac, Coke-a-Cola etc). The title and the artwork go together nicely with the band using oversized versions of products as if they were using their name to sell them (aka, Selling Out). The whole album is quite hilarious actually.
It is with much shame that I admit that The Who have a much better concept album which I do not own, and if I did would no doubt be a much higher entry. The album "Tommy" is a staple of any concept collector which I haven't come into contact yet, and as a result, I felt compelled to at least have something from The Who here. With interesting characters and a great storyline which was turned into a film starring Pete Townshend and Elton John, the only thing I can say is: doesn't someone want to buy this for me??
(Please note: I now own Tommy)



08. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Concept: a fake band of new characters each represented by a Beatle, supposed to be their way of "touring without touring". It's an album which was meant to show a band holding a concert with an audience of people they admired, all of which are featured on the groundbreaking artwork, definitely my favorite cover (and album) of all time.
No other album has been argued over as much by concept collectors. While some fight viciously that this is the first real rock concept album ever, other people say it is not even applicable for the term. Originally the idea was one of uniting all the songs, each member becoming a new persona, but they only got as far as Ringo becoming Billy Shears (as he was introduced on the second song "With a Little Help from My Friends"). From there, the idea dies off and the songs do not connect to eachother, except for the second to last song which was a reprise of the first track, which became a huge center point of argument for those fighting for the inclusion of this as a concept album. I am on that side, the focus being that they did become a fake band for this release, completely shedding their mop-top pop days and growing mustaches, wearing funky clothing and venturing deep into the psychedelic artsy sound-orgy side of their personalities. This is their magnum opus and, if nothing else, brought the term "concept album" to attention of other artists as well as the media, and definitely changed people's thinking into what an album could be.



07. The Mars Volta - De-Loused in the Comatorium (2003)
Concept: A character named Cerpin Taxt tries to kill himself by overdosing on Morphine and ends up on a surrealistic journey through his comatose mind, eventually coming to the end where he has the option of dying or living, and he chooses to die. It is based on Julio Venegas, a poet and musician who knew the band and tried to kill himself by shooting up rat poison. He went into the said coma, did awake and then jumped off a building. Funny enough (or not funny at all) this album featured a sound-manipulator named Jeremy Michael Ward who died one month before this was released from a Heroin overdose, at age 27, becoming a lesser famous member of the 27 club.
This was The Mars Volta's massive and critically acclaimed debut, a band who rose from the already majorly influential band At the Drive-In. Although I don't agree or disagree, this is still hailed as their best work to date. A small book has been released explaining the lyrics.



06. Marilyn Manson - Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) (2000)
Concept: The final installation and prequel to the extremely intelligent and researched Tryptch, which also consisted of Mechanical Animals and Antichrist Superstar. Any given of these 3 could be included here for their own unique contribution to the story, but I chose this one because it does seem to be the most thought out.
It goes like this: Antichrist Superstar (IIV) focuses on a boy who is born and grows up in a world he doesn't understand. He starts to reject the Christian morals and the celebrities on TV. He stands against it so hard that he eventually becomes somewhat of a prophet and then ultimately another product, worshipped by the very people he despised and becoming exactly what it was he was rejecting. He shoots himself in the end. Mechanical Animals (15) took the perspective of the two sides of this person's rise to fame, Alpha as the introspective alien who is confused and scared at the level of his success, while Omega was the typical Rockstar. But Holy Wood put an interesting twist on everything, pointing out the martyrdom of JFK and John Lennon, and how Jesus was the first celebrity, all of who's violent deaths made them icons of American Culture, placing his character (called ADAM on this release) among those. Full of references to the columbine massacre (which Manson was almost solely blamed for despite absolutely no connection), the number 6, guns, God and the government, it is a very tight and aggressive concept despite not being my favorite of Manson's. Parallels to The Wall, Downward Spiral and Ziggy Stardust are all evident, and when you are familiar with Manson's techniques, you can see that he was greatly inspired by those records and definitely took parts of them to form this. A book and movie were set to be released but he ran into obvious problems by using non-fictious characters in the storyline.



05. Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (2007)
Concept: The story is still unfolding and tells of the year 0BA, the beginning of the end of the world in an alternate universe, which still references the Iraq War and 9/11. It's strongly political and talks about Natural Disasters and Global Warming, the government releasing mind control drugs into the market, and basically everything going to shit. It's kind of difficult to truly explain what is going on, but a movie is coming out and I suggest you keep an eye on this page: http://www.ninwiki.com/Year_Zero_Research
Although Downward Spiral is hailed as NiN's best work and is a story itself, this is the most important concept album of our time and has redefined the very nature of concept albums. The promotion was no less than astonishing, kids were finding USB drives in the bathrooms of NiN's concerts, with tracks or some static which, when put through a spectrogram, revealed information. Similarly, binary code on t-shirts were being cracked by computer nerds and even the disk itself (which was black) turned white when heated up, and revealed further binary code. These codes led to websites and phone numbers, and when used, the concept started to reveal itself, and continues to do so, people still frantically searching for another key to the story. It was really above the line of duty for Trent Reznor to pull out a product like this (especially after the disappointing With Teeth) and the music stands up for itself. It is almost guaranteed to spawn thousands of replica's and similar promotional techniques, and I don't mind. Trent, you innovative genius.



04. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars1972)
Concept: The world is ending in 5 years and the world is distraught. Only an alien rock-god can save us with music, and he comes down from Mars to do just that. However, he gets so wrapped up in the rock 'n roll lifestyle of drugs and promiscuity, he looses his head and dies. Damnit.
Bowie is the king of changing persona's and more so, has released such elaborate concept albums that he admitted that he nearly lost his mind at times, forgetting who he was supposed to really be. However, none are praised as highly as this album and it is a definite contender as one of the greatest most influence albums of all time, particularly in the concept field. Bob Marley named his son after this character, and he has been referenced in works from Def Leppard and The Smashing Pumpkins. And much like most these entries, it doesn't rely on it's concept alone, it's a damn good collection of songs, never steering too far away from the storyline, except for covering Ron Davies' "It Ain't Easy". Notice the similarities between this album and Manson's Mechanical Animals, an almost direct rip-off.



03. Cradle of Filth - Cruelty and the Beast (1998)
Concept: Retelling the true story of the Hungarian "blood countess" Elizabeth Báthory. When young virgins began to go missing, rumors started to surface that the countess living in the giant castle in the center of the village was a vampire, drinking the blood of these girls. The truth wasn't far off, hundred of virgins were brought to her castle where she would torture them by burning and mutilating their bodies, starving them, freezing them, biting them and sticking needles into them. She would end them off by draining their blood so that she could take a bath in it. She believed that it preserved her youth. She was found guilty and was under house arrest in the castle until her death.
Despite the shoddy production (which I actually love) this is my favorite Cradle album. With such an awesome original factual subject matter, which prompted me to research this crazy lady further, how could I resist awarding it such a high position? And CoF are never shy of conceptual work, their 2003 Damnation and a Day is another would be top contender with the story of St. Lucifer's fall from heaven. Wicked stuff.



02. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come for Free (2004)
Concept: An ordinary Geezer looses £1000, meets a girl, takes ecstasy and thinks he saw his new girl kissing his friend, complains about his broken TV, gets in an argument with girl, learns about the affair and starts to blame his friends for his missing money. The real gem is the final track where there is a double ending. On the first half he gets drunk and loathes everyone, calls the TV repairman and thinks the guy is trying to rip him off, and they end up having a brawl in his kitchen. In the second half, it rewinds with an alternate closer. His friend that made out with his girlfriend comes over to try and help him fix his TV as a peace offering. In the back he finds the £1000. The Antagonist has a party celebration where he reflects and concludes that his friends are good people with their own problems and his life isn't as bad as he had made it out to be.
What should be obvious here is that there isn't some massive epic story trying to convince us something, with cryptic lyrics and out-of-this-world characters. It is a word for word account of a seemingly ordinary day in comparison to all the other entries, from ordering take-outs and losing his place in the line when he spots a pretty girl, to returning a DVD to the store and realizing he left the disk at home. That's the beauty of the Streets in the first place, Mike Skinner is not hiding anything and not trying to be something that he's not. It's an everyday simple story full of humorous moments and, like The Street's sound in general, a really fresh down-to-earth style.



01. Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)
Concept: Pink, our protagonist, is going insane. His father was killed in World War II, he was smothered by his mother and was oppressed at school. He becomes a famous rockstar and starts to loose it, building a mental wall around himself for protection and to go insane behind. He is forced to keep doing shows despite his deteriorating state, eventually spiraling to the point of believing he is a fascist dictator and his concerts are Neo-Nazi rallies. He then goes on mental trial in his own chaotic head and the judge orders him to break down the wall.
Just holding this album in your hands gives you an epic feeling, from the name to the cover to the chunky packaging, you know you are looking at something a little beyond your average project. It's a double album worth of songs which, like most of Pink Floyd's work, details insanity so finely that just by listening to it, you feel like you might be loosing it yourself. That is why I don't enjoy Pink Floyd whatsoever, it is too much for me, a bad trip, but still so incredibly talented one can't deny their genius/insanity. I recommend to anyone to watch the movie, it's so well done, arguably the best album-to-movie ever done, and really injects new life into the concept. Undoubtedly one of the biggest inspirations to many conceptual albums afterwards, like The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails and Mansons Tryptch, it's position is unchallenged.


Not Quite:
A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Bjork - Medulla
Coheed and Cambria - The Second Stage Turbine Blade
Fantômas - Delìrium Còrdia
Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
Gorrilaz - Demon Days
Greenday - American Idiot
Mastodon - Leviathan
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Pete Johnson - Pete's House Warmin'
The Residents - Not Available
The Smashing Pumpkins - Machina/The Machines of God Follow @LegoTrip

My Top 30 Rock Gawds

Originally Written: 25/10/07
Disclaimer: I don't care what you say, the emphasis is on the word "MY" not "THE" so it is an opinion thing. However, all "Masterpieces" are based on ratings above 80% on http://www.rateyourmusic.com, which is the greatest music website in the world, check it out, I don't agree with everything, but it's a damn good place to start.

Prayer: Dear Lord, please give me the charisma, the stage presence and the utter insanity of any given one or combination of the following. Amen.



01. John Lennon (1940 - 1980)
"Half of me thinks I am a loser, the other half thinks I am God Almighty."
Masterpieces: [with The Beatles]: A Hard Day's Night (1964); Help! (1965); Rubber Soul (1965); Revolver (1966); Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967); Magical Mystery Tour (1967); The Beatles (1968); Abbey Road (1969) [solo]: John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band (1970); Imagine (1971)
Justified: I feel I am John Lennon reincarnated, I know this seems a little crazy, but I am busy compiling the evidence for that note, so be patient before judgment. Synonymous with Rock God. Part of the biggest band in history. Ability to write poppy number 1 hits and Avant Garde pieces which changed music. Everybody has to love him or they are not worth my time. Politically active. Conspiracy theories run wild still to this day over his death.



02. Jim Morrison (1943 - 1971)
"I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops, points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then — whoosh, and I'm gone... and they'll never see anything like it ever again... and they won't be able to forget me — ever."
Masterpieces: [with The Doors]: The Doors (1967); Strange Days (1967); LA Woman (1971)
Justified: No frontman before or after had the stage presence of the Lizard King. A member of the 27 club.



03. David Bowie (1947 - present)
"I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, 'Fuck that. I want to be a superhuman'"
Masterpieces: Hunky Dory (1971); The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972); Aladdin Sane (1973); Station to Station (1976); Low (1977); "Heroes" (1977)
Justified: Writing pop songs beyond the formula. Changing his persona more times and much better than Madonna ever could.



04. Bob Dylan (1941 - present)
"I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet."
Masterpieces: The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963); The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964); Another Side of Bob Dylan (1965); Bringing It All Back Home (1965); Highway 61 Revisited (1965); Blonde on Blonde (1966); John Wesley Harding (1967); Blood on the Tracks (1975); The Basement Tapes (1975); Desire (1976); Time Out of Mind (1997)
Justified: So many masterpieces over so many years. Unarguably one of the greatest lyricists to ever grace our ears.



05. Kurt Cobain (1967 - 1994)
"I use bits and pieces of others personalities to form my own."
Masterpieces: [with Nirvana]: Nevermind (1991); In Utero (1993); MTV Unplugged in New York (1994)
Justified: The reason why I picked up the guitar. Started and destroyed the Seattle Grunge movement. Glamorized depression, heroin and suicide. The face of Generation X. A member of the 27 club. An interesting conspiracy theory surrounds his death.



06. Freddie Mercury (1946 - 1991)
"I'm so powerful on stage that I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man."
Masterpieces: [with Queen]: Sheer Heart Attack (1974); A Night at the Opera (1975)
Justified: Flamboyant performer and almost oblivious to what went around him on stage. A voice better than almost all other entries. A genius composer. A proper legend.



07. Paul McCartney (1942 - present)
"Somebody said to me,'But the Beatles were anti-materialistic.' That's a huge myth. John and I literally used to sit down and say, 'Now, let's write a swimming pool'."
Masterpieces: [with The Beatles]: A Hard Day's Night (1964); Help! (1965); Rubber Soul (1965); Revolver (1966); Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967); Magical Mystery Tour (1967); The Beatles (1968); Abbey Road (1969) [solo]: Ram (1971)
Justified: Continues a successful solo career. Member of The Beatles. Holds so many world records it's disorientating. Refreshingly optimistic.



08. Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977)
"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."
Masterpiece: Elvis (1956)
Justified: The King. Come on now, I don't need to justify this.



09. Morrissey (1959 - present)
"That's why I do this music business thing, it's communication with people without having the extreme inconvenience of actually phoning anybody up."
Masterpieces: [with The Smiths]: The Smiths (1984); The Queen is Dead (1986) [solo]: Vauxhall and I (1994)
Justified: Partnership with Marr only second to Lennon/McCartney in my opinion. My favorite lyricist of all time. Pessimistic and melancholic, introspective and clever, self loathing and self worshipping. Still running a successful solo career.



10. Bob Marley (1945 - 1981)
"I love the development of our music, that's what I really dig about the whole thing. How we've tried to develop, y'know? It grows. That's why every day people come forward with new songs. Music goes on forever."
Masterpieces: Soul Revolution (1971); Catch a Fire (1973); Burnin' (1973); Natty Dread (1974); Exodus (1977)
Justified: God of Reggae. Spread love and peace and awareness of the benefits of marijuana. Considered a prophet of the Rastafarian religion. Not 'Rock' per say, but he still rocks.



11. Jimi Hendrix (1942 – 1970)
"I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes."
Masterpieces: Are You Experienced? (1967); Axis: Bold as Love (1967); Electric Ladyland (1968)
Justified: Pioneer of psychedelic rock. Generally agreed as the greatest guitarist of all time. Part of the 27 club.



12. Joe Strummer (1952 - 2002)
"Yesterday, I thought I was a crud. Then I saw The Sex Pistols and I became a king and decided to move into the future"
Masterpieces: [with The Clash]: The Clash (1977); London Calling (1979)
Justified: Member of the greatest most talented popular punk band of all time. Liberal rather than Anarchy. Politically active. Just really fucking brilliant.



13. Frank Sinatra (1915 – 1998)
"I'm not unmindful of a man's seeming need for faith; I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniels."
Masterpieces: Songs for Young Lovers (1954); In the Wee Small Hours (1955); Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956); A Swingin' Affair! (1957); Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely (1958); September of My Years (1965)
Justified: The real first pop star. Academy Award winner. One the earliest recordings of a concept album.



14. Ozzy Osbourne (1948 - present)
"Sharon gave me these two doves, told me to go into the conference room and throw them up in the air. I did that, but one of them didn't fly...so I picked it up, bit its head off and threw the body towards all the suits around the table...hoping they would, you know, see the funny side."
Masterpieces: [with Black Sabbath]: Black Sabbath (1970); Paranoid (1970); Master of Reality (1971); Vol 4 (1972); Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973); Sabotage (1975); Heaven and Hell (1980) [solo]: Blizzard of Ozz (1980)
Justified: Complete mad man, lives up to reputation. From being declared a Satanist that will lead your kids to suicide, to a house hold name comedy act on The Osbournes. Biting heads off animals and murdering cats. Yep, the real deal.



15. Thom Yorke (1968 - present)
"It's always confused the living shit out of me that people can shag to our music. This one girl comes up to me, she shags to Paranoid Android. How?"
Masterpieces: [with Radiohead]: The Bends (1995); OK Computer (1997); Kid A (2000); In Rainbows (2007)
Justified: Modern day music hero. Read my note on Radiohead.



16. Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)
"You can't always write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say, so sometimes you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream."
Masterpieces: Freak Out! (1966); Absolutely Free (1967); We're Only in It for the Money (1968); Uncle Meat (1969); Hot Rats (1969); The Grand Wazoo (1972); Over-nite Sensation (1973); Apostrophe (') (1974); Roxy & Elsewhere (1974); One Size Fits All (1975); Zappa in New York (1978); Joe's Garage (1979); You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 1 (1988); You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 (1988); The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life (1991)
Justified: Timelessly weird without substance abuse. Multi instrumentalist in many genres. 57 studio albums. Never commercially successful yet phenomenally influential on the underground.



17. Mike Patton (1968 - present)
"I got one entire song from fortune cookies. On another one, I took words from different Frank Sinatra songs and pasted them together. Another one, I was just driving around and there was a piece of paper on the ground, so I stole it."
Masterpieces: [with Faith No More]: Angel Dust (1992) [with Mr Bungle]: Mr. Bungle (1991); Disco Volante (1995); California (1999) [with The Dillinger Escape Plan]: Irony Is a Dead Scene (2002)
Justified: True use of voice as an instrument. Own record label to produce countless works, much more than one a year. Member of so many bands it's daunting. Has achieved commercial success and a huge cult following. Collaborates with the biggest names. Pioneer of Nu metal which he rejected before it was cool to reject.



18. Iggy Pop (1947 - present)
"I stare at myself in the mirror and I think, 'Wow, I'm really great-looking.'... I think I'm the greatest, anyway."
Masterpieces: The Idiot (1977)l; Lust for Life (1977)
Justified: Godfather of punk. Insane stage antics like cutting himself up and rolling in peanut butter. Said to invent the stage dive.



19. Anthony Kiedis (1962 - present)
"Chemistry is beautiful and important to any musical endeavor, and it's also impossible to figure out or force it."
Masterpiece: [with Red Hot Chilli Peppers]: Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Justified: One part and co-founder of a massively talented and commercially successful modern day band. John Frusciante means more to me, actually. Original style. Read Scar Tissue if you are lacking respect.



20. GG Allin (1956 – 1993)
"I believe I am the highest power, absolutely."
Masterpiece: Eat My Fuc (1983)
Justified: God here we go. Shitty yet productive musician. The real deal, forget Manson and Ozzy. Defecated and urinated on stage. Got people to defecate and urinate on him. Cut himself up. Was born "Jesus Christ Allin". Beating up his crowd. Threatening suicide on stage. Going to jail often for things like rape and torture of prostitutes. John Wayne Gacy Jr (serial killer homosexual pedophile who dressed like a clown) painted a portrait of him. Died of overdose, naked and covered in feces, body was never washed and fans were invited to perform oral sex on the corpse, washing drugs down his dead throat with Jack Daniels. These are just a few highlights people.



21. Lou Reed (1942 - present)
"Why aren't I on the cover of Hip Hop Magazine? I never sung a note in my life. I was fucking rapping since '65."
Masterpieces: [with The Velvet Underground]: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967); White Light/White Heat (1968); The Velvet Underground (1969); Loaded (1970) [solo]: Transformer (1972); Berlin (1973)
Justified: A pioneer of new tunings, distortion and lo-fi. Recorded a double album made entirely of guitar feedback. Taboo subjects in songs became a trademark. Early connections with Andy Warhol and the Chelsea girls, most notably Nico who recorded songs on Velvet's debut.



22. Marilyn Manson (1969 - present)
"When all of your wishes are granted, many of your dreams will be destroyed."
Masterpieces: Antichrist Superstar (1996); Mechanical Animals (1998)
Justified: Huge concepts to albums. Known for his intelligence. Constantly evolving. Always in trouble. Scapegoat for columbine. One of the most controversial artists of our time. Painter. Writer. Film director. A ton of style.



23. Robert Plant (1948 - present)
"You know, people can't fall in love with me just because I'm good at what I do."
Masterpieces: [with Led Zepplin]: Led Zeppelin (1969); Led Zeppelin II (1969); Led Zeppelin III (1970); Led Zeppelin [IV] (1971); Houses of the Holy (1973); Physical Graffiti (1975)
Justified: He was in Led Zepplin. Jimmy Page deserves this spot just as much. Mystical lyricist, impressive range. Has been called the quintessential rock frontman. I believe he has channeled the Devil in some recordings.



24. Trent Reznor (1965 - present)
"The Grammys make me hate music, and certainly everyone in the ass-licking music industry."
Masterpieces: [as Nine Inch Nails]: The Downward Spiral (1994); The Fragile (1999); Still (2002)
Justified: One man band. Multi-instrumentalist. Discovered Marilyn Manson. Redefined concept albums in 2007.



25. Pete Townshend (1945 - present)
"I smash guitars because I like them."
Masterpieces: [with The Who]: The Who Sell Out (1967); Tommy (1969); Live at Leeds (1970) Who's Next (1971); Quadrophenia (1973)
Justified: Inventor of Rock Opera. Pioneer of smashing instruments on stage, blowing stuff up and major feedback. One of the biggest influence for the Punk movement.



26. Frank Black (1965 - present)
"The truth is that critics are by definition critical. That's their job."
Masterpieces: [with The Pixies]: Surfer Rosa (1988); Doolittle (1989)
Justified: Unconventional lyrical themes. One of the main (if not the main) contributors to the quiet/loud/quiet/loud clean/distorted/clean/distorted sing/scream/sing/scream formula.



27. Keith Richards (1943 - present)
"I looked upon myself, in a sort of romantic and silly way, as like a laboratory."
Masterpieces: [with The Rolling Stones]: Aftermath (1966); Beggars Banquet (1968); Let It Bleed (1969); Sticky Fingers (1971); Exile on Main Street (1972)
Justified: Unusual entry as not a frontman but decidedly more rock n roll than Jagger. Known for his innovative rhythm. Taken more drugs than almost every other rockstar yet lives. Snorted his father's ashes (he stands by this story whatever his publicist says). It has been said that besides cockroaches, he would be the only thing to survive a nuclear war.



28. Sid Vicious (1957 - 1979)
"I just cash in on the fact that I'm good looking, and I've got a nice figure and girls like me."
Masterpiece: [with The Sex Pistols]: Never Mind the Bollocks - Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
Justified: Couldn't play the bass or sing to save his live. Part of the most overrated album of all time (my opinion). Died of overdose while awaiting trial on the murder of his girlfriend, Nancy. Conspiracy theories run wild. True rock n roll, no matter for the music.



29. Steve Tyler (1948 - present)
"We believed that anything worth doing was worth overdoing"
Masterpieces: [with Aerosmith]: Toys in the Attic (1975); Rocks (1976)
Justified: Energetic performer. The Demon of Screamin'. Huge vocal range. Tyler/Perry one of the greatest partnerships in music of all time (Toxic Twins). His daughter is Liv Tyler.



30. Chris Cornell (1964 - present)
"When I was maybe nine years old, I listened to the entire Beatles catalogue, non-stop, for about a year, being a naive child, I didn't know who sang what song. I didn't know it was a different guy."
Masterpieces: [with Soundgarden]: Badmotorfinger (1991); Superunknown (1994)
Justified: Powerful vocalist. One of the very few true pioneers of the Seattle Grunge movement. Large body of work. Good looking bloke really.


Honorable Mentions: Madonna, Tupac, Eminem, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, James Hetfield, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen, Syd Barret, Billy Idol, Chuck Berry, Cat Stevens, Eric Clapton, I'm sure there is more Follow @LegoTrip

The Greatest Band of the 90'S/00'S

Originally written: 08/10/07

I KNOW NO ONE IS GOING TO READ THIS BUT I REALLY LIKE RADIOHEAD OK!?!? I WROTE THIS FOR MYSELF OK!?!??! NOT YOU!!!!!!! BWHAHAHA!

Like the 50's had Elvis. Like the 60's had The Beatles. Like the 70's had Pink Floyd and the 80's had The Pixies, it is so often asked, "Who was the band of the 90's?" and now as we reach the end of the first decade within the new millennium, "who is the band of the 2000's?"

Agree with me, disagree with me, I know the answer, and much like the bands I have just mentioned, it is unchallenged, and I don't care what you say. Yes, it's Radiohead. Now, as I type this I can imagine some heads nodding in agreement while others open their mouths, ready to blurt out why their favorite band is better, blah blah blah, shut up and listen, I have my reasons.

So lets start from the beginning shall we? One of the best-documented downfalls of any band is the "curse of the debut". It works like this: a band gets together, they write songs and they write songs. They perform shows and they perform shows. And then they get discovered by some label and are now in the great position where they can record their first album. So basically, or at least generally, we have a band with a shit-load of material and that is why so often a debut's work is much like a "Best-Of", they pick their top 10-14 songs and release a great album to much critical and commercial success, only to follow it up with a half-assed album put together in half the time due to pressures from the label, fans and fame. It's sad, but is to be expected.

But Radiohead, yes Radiohead, were so far from that. They got their hit single by the name of "Creep". This song hit number 7 in the pop charts and became and anthem for wrist-slitters around the globe, to the point of KoЯn covering the song in their embarrassing MTV Unplugged performance. This song was on their debut "Pablo Honey" and, unfortunately, overshadowed all the other songs quite drastically. So much so that on the U.S. release, the song was featured twice on the album, the bonus version being the radio edit ("so fucking special" became "so very special"). Their second single "Anyone Can Play Guitar" achieved minimal success, and then, they were labeled the worst of all musical labels: A One Hit Wonder. Another generic Pixies/U2 band, another bunch of depressed youngsters riding the grunge "I Hate Myself And Want to Die" trend, which in my opinion, was born and died in Seattle and everything else was just an aftershock.

I would love to meet those critics now.

My point is this: who else could possibly challenge Radiohead as the greatest 90's band? REM? Well, REM are specifically an 80's band, and although a MASSIVE influence on Radiohead (Thom Yorke going as far as to say "We've ripped off R.E.M. blind for years, you know-- amongst other people"), the main reason why I don't view them as a challenge is the same reason as I don't see Nirvana as a challenge. Hehehe, you knew that was coming, didn't you? The "N-" word, in fact, I am pretty sure 90% of people would automatically respond to the original question with that answer. Nirvana are the greatest 90’s band. Well, they were, no doubt, a phenomenon. Hell, I was caught in the whirlwind of their influence long before I even noticed who Radiohead were. That was the moment I said to myself "I want to be in a band"; the moment I said "I want to grow my hair long" (which I did the moment I got out of school), I mean, Kurt Cobain warped my fragile little pre-teenage mind: personal hygiene seemed to loose some importance, suicide and the junkie lifestyle was glamorized, I wanted to be that, a waste, and that’s a difficult thing to convince a generation to become. Luckily, I snapped out of this in time, but I still base a lot of my musical decisions on this band.

It may seem like I have dug a hole for myself here, but there is one word that applies to Radiohead like no other band of our time, a word that could be applied to the Pink Floyds and The Beatles. Progression. Nirvana and REM never pushed the boundaries, especially in Nirvana's case, it's very rare that you will find a song of theirs that doesn’t follow the four-chord format, the "verse-chorus-verse" formula (which they mocked themselves in a song with that exact title) and further more, their trademark "soft-heavy-soft-heavy" sound, which Kurt admitted was a complete shameless Pixies rip-off, who are the band I would actually credit the most when it comes to the real beginnings of grunge.

The progression of Radiohead is no short of incredible. In fact, incredible is too subtle of a word; I am so familiar with the bands massive body of work and yet am still in awe of their ability to move forward. Pablo Honey means very little to me, I ignore it, but what came next destroyed all preconceptions beyond even the harshest of critic’s imagination. Baby, you've got "The Bends".

Now, I have friends who swear by this album, and many hailing it as their best work (including a poll a few years back where many of the British public voted, and secured it's position in those charts as "the greatest album of all time") and sure, it was a massive leap into a sound that Radiohead themselves were going for. Instead of the post-grunge feel of Pablo Honey, we were introduced into the art rock side of things. The Observer called it one of the "50 albums that changed music" and was ranked 110 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 greatest albums of all time". And if you look around at the Travis', the Muses, the Coldplays, you can see why. It is safe to say that of all Radiohead's catalogue, this is the one that has been ripped off the most, and never that well I might add.

Q Magazine rated The Bends as the second best album of all time in the years 1998 and 2006. And in all fairness, it didn’t deserve to be in the top spot. Because the top spot was owned by Radiohead as well. Their follow-up. Their masterpiece, OK Computer.

Now, even this album I can't really tell if it is my favorite. But it is the most highly acclaimed, by a long way. Consider this: http://www.rateyourmusic.com (the greatest music site in the world hands down) is a site where you, me, everyone in the world can play critic and rate any album in existence. So what you get is an average score on an album based on thousands of people’s opinion and so it is, in essence, the real popular opinion above all the shit you read in magazines. So when an album is not only rated the best album of "1997" but also of the 90's all together (http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/1990s) ... well, you start to get some idea what I am on about. In fact, as I am typing this, it is currently number 9 album overall (http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/all-time). It won a well deserved Grammy for "Best Alternative Music Album" and was nominated for "Album of the year" but lost to Céline Dion. Er... 'nuff said? In fact, just about any worthwhile "best album" list will include this entry, and close to half of them will place it in the upper-section of the top 10.

The reason for this is not lost on anyone who has heard it, and is the same reason why I place them above Nirvana, the word: progression. Comparing Nirvana and Radiohead is like comparing The Sex Pistols and The Beatles. Now, I find Sex Pistols to be the most overrated garbage ever to be even considered as a "masterpiece" so maybe this isn't fair, but the message is there. Sex Pistols "gimmick" as it were was the anti-studio trickery, anti-complex compositions, simplistic raw under-produced anti-commercialism kind of style, as is Nirvana. And there is nothing wrong with that. But it doesn't represent the times it was made in whatsoever. That is to say that the style of Nirvana could've easily been made in the 60's, it was a guitar, a bass, drums, vocals, and was not given the time to be polished. I mean, sure Nevermind was a slick record (and just for interest sake, was in fact named after Sex Pistols "Nevermind the Bollocks" just to justify the similarities further) but it was still a bad representative of the 90's. Once again, this is not a bad thing, it's a very good thing, but it was not progressive and won't be looked back on as "the album that defined the 90's" because it is not miles apart from what was being achieved in decades before.

Whereas The Beatles (in particular: Sgt Pepper) defines the (year/decade/MILLENIUM) of it's creation because it pushed the limits of what the studio can do. An album as a separate work of art, something that was (for it's time) impossible to recreate live. Self-indulgent without alienation and completely destroying all that came before and creating one hell of a challenge for anything that came after it. Maybe that's not what you look for in music, and I am not claiming that this is all I look for either. But an album is a product is an art piece, and I'd be a fucking idiot if I spend my money on something that took a month or two to create over something that took a few years, because ultimately, this is when the artist gives a fuck about you, the consumer.

I could go on forever about Ok Computer, but what it comes down to is that it blew apart the competition once and for all and secured Radiohead as one of the most important acts of all time. While British acts where scrambling themselves together trying to still get their heads around The Bends, Radiohead had already leaped 10 steps further, and while bands like Muse make a very good carbon copy of the Bends, no band has ever even copied Ok Computer yet, they couldn't, they would make an ass of themselves. It's been 10 years, but listening to these tracks still sound ahead of their time (excl. Fitter Happier, a real pity of a track that used a "text-to-speech" program which was innovative for it's time, but now is unfortunately, a cliché).

So at this stage, what does a band that rewrote the rulebook do? Well, this is Radiohead, they rewrote it again. And boy, did they rewrite it. It was the ultimate progression, while MTV addicts were still bobbing their heads to The Bends and having a confusing time with Ok Computer, Kid A was released and even the biggest fans of the band echoed together... "huh?". Some called it "commercial suicide" and a "contract breaker", basically an album thrown together to get them out of their relationship with Parlophone, Capitol. This wasn't a rock record, it was an electronic soundscape and divided fans, everyone positive it was destined to fail.

It didn't. Of course it was hard to swallow and as a result, did not achieve the commercial success of its predecessor. But Radiohead were not after that, they had done that, they were an art band and were challenging themselves and everyone else. They took a calculated risk, as I am sure releasing another "Ok Computer" would've been the easier, safer option, in the long run, it was only now that they were truly a part of history, innovators and masters of the trade. It took a while, but people started to get it, it was nominated for the best album Grammy once again and won the Grammy for best-engineered record for 2001. It still fights for the top position of the entire 2000's according to rateyourmusic (http://rateyourmusic.com/charts/top/album/2000s) never dropping out the top 5, and now justifying my point that maybe, just maybe, this is the best band we've got for 2 decades running (the only other band I can think of for the 2000's would be Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but that’s a different story). Kid A also went on be called "the best album of the past five years" by Pitchfork Media and Stylus Magazine separately. This may be my favorite Radiohead album. I'd like to see Nirvana or REM do something like that.

Admittedly, and sadly, the general consensus was that it had begun to decline. One year after Kid A, Amnesiac came out. It was brilliantly nicknamed "Kid B" by fans, mainly because these songs were from the same sessions as Kid A, but were deemed not to fit the overall sound of the album. The band urged fans to treat this as a separate album, but what we got was a somewhat disjointed and erratic offering, and although not as progressive as their album-by-album pattern went, it was unbelievably even more challenging than anything they had done before. Even some of the most die-hard fans were confused and some rejected this as rushed and the least accomplished of all their releases. Me? Well, when it comes to music, not only am I up for a challenge, I thrive on them.

It took a lot of sitting down time and careful analysis until I got it. And I got it. It is what it is, ignore what the band say, this is the scraps from Kid A, but Radiohead have never written a bad song, as any collector of their extensive b-sides will tell you. It's a trip, a difficult trip, but a solid album nonetheless. I mean, "Pyramid Song" has got to be one of the best songs ever written. It was just another view into genius, a well produced effort, which sounds like nothing else on this planet, and without being completely copied note for note, will never be reproduced again.

However, the band felt the backlash from fans and critics it seems, and 2 years later in 2003 we got their next album "Hail to the Thief". The experiment here was speed, to record as fast as possible rather than spending countless hours on each track like they had done in the past, nearly killing each other in the process, it has been said. This album is definitely the only one in their catalogue that does not apply to the term "progression". If anything, it was a mix of Kid A and Ok Computer, the guitars were back and the electronics still ran strong. It was a lot more accessible and straightforward, less overdubbing, but still by no means cliché. Once again, they suffered because of it, NME's James Oldham saw it as "a good rather than great record", and Alexis Petridis of The Guardian called it "neither startlingly different and fresh nor packed with the sort of anthemic songs that once made them the world's biggest band."

There was a time I would've agreed, but this album has grown on me and it saddens me to hear all the negative responses. People that are comparing their albums to past releases are always going to set themselves up for disappointment, the real idea here is that this album still whips the majority of anything out there, hands down. It is also the longest Radiohead release yet.

And that is why I pain where I hear Thom Yorke complaining that of all their records, this is the one he was least happy with, even stating that he wished he "had another go at it". I wish he didn't listen to the criticism and looked at this album as just another awesome part in their almost flawless journey.

I think, besides my excessive use of the word "progressive", an almost synonymous word that can apply to what they do is "innovative". And it was their innovations that lead me to write this essay. I have wanted to for a long time, but with their recent activities hitting the news, it gave me the tiny bit of inspiration I needed to write this proud worship of my favorite modern band. Some of you know what I am talking about.

"The Day That Music Died" has been a term applied to many moments in music, the most notably and famously used would be the tragic plane crash which killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson, Jr. However, the term has cropped up again now in association with the up and coming Radiohead's album "In Rainbows". Despite having the worst name and worst cover in their collection, and despite whatever it is the album sounds like, already their innovative ideas are unlike any done before, once again, people gasping "they can't do that... can they??"

The biggest enemy in modern music is downloading and file sharing (if you are a downloader, please, stop reading now and shoot yourself in the head, you are not a true supporter of the industry, you do not deserve to read this, you do not deserve to even listen to music because you think your entertainment is a free right, it's not). I would love to see how Nirvana would have handled this, Kurt Cobain escaping just in time before the chaos began, although I am sure he wouldn't care, he had Heroin after all.

So what is a band to do? In Radiohead's case, having just fulfilled their contract and unsigned, they are the first to ever apply the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" technique. And sadly, when it comes to piracy and the desensitized nature of the general public to this method, you can't beat ‘em. So they took the next step.

"How much? Seriously How Much?" the website prompts you (http://www.inrainbows.com). What? You mean... I decide how much I pay for the new Radiohead? Yep, that’s what is happening, from October the 10th. Fuck overpriced cds and fuck the fight against piracy, Radiohead have laid down their guns. You pay whatever you want, if it's nothing, it's nothing. However, if you want the physical cd, you can wait until December the 3rd, where it will be issued with a bonus cd with new material. Needless to say, the media is in frenzy, this is unheard of, and proves that even though it is their 7th album, they still have a fair amount of tricks up their sleeves. I for one am in awe and jump in my seat every time I type their name into Google news, no band that still exist does this for me.

So in conclusion, I ask you, do you challenge this as our number 1 band? Our Beatles? The band that people will remember in 50 years? In a 100 years? Nirvana got through 3 albums in their time (excl Incesticide which was a b-side album and Unplugged which was not new material), Radiohead progressed more in 3 albums than David Bowie. REM is a great rock band. Radiohead dabbled in so many different genre styles in the last decade and a half that when listening to Pablo Honey and Amnesiac back to back, despite being only separated by 8 years, sounds like completely different bands. And while the labels and bands throw their fists up to piracy, Radiohead had the brains to see it as a war already lost and have embraced digital distribution without limits, and prove that unlike so many of their counterparts, they are truly in it for the art and not the money.

Look, the point is this. We can all sit here and list our favorite bands, but who are we to decide what the "best" band is. Surely, as a general society, we all have a say. We can all find comfort in the underground and claim that we know the greatest band around, but it is not the individual that decides. It is everybody. Radiohead are critically acclaimed and commercially accepted, MTV loves to play them while art-scholars love to analyze it. It works on levels that the most uneducated listener to the most accomplished of musicians can appreciate. They are multi-platinum and have never sold-out, in fact, have done quite the opposite even when the odds were against them. And this, my friends, is why you can't argue with me. No other artist has embraced technology like this with this extent of success, and this is why it represents our generation above all else, Anyone Can Play Guitar, but to push the studio to the limits they have, to inspire so many b-rate versions of themselves without ever giving us something predictable, always maintaining originality and integrity, always remaining Radiohead, this is why, like The Beatles, I believe they have changed music for the better and will be remembered forever.

Knives out. Challengers? Follow @LegoTrip

My Top 100 Songs... EVER!

Originally written: 14/08/07

UPDATE: This list is TERRIBLE, but somewhat reflect my 2007 taste. Please don't judge me, it is out of date beyond justification.

NOTE: This is my list, not your list. Therefore, you might disagree with some of my choices. I don't care, but just so you know these were based on my own personal taste as well as the culture impact it had on music itself. For example, while entry 35 (Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit) is not my favourite Nirvana song, it lead fourth a mass injection of grunge into the mainstream and that is why it has been included rather than something like "Heartshaped Box" which I definitely prefer, and so fourth. Otherwise, please enjoy, any suggestion and comments will be considered but probably won't be effective.

THE LIST

001. Frank Zappa - Billy The Mountain
002. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
003. The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black
004. Simon & Garfunkel - Sound of Silence
005. John Lennon - Imagine
006. Led Zepplin - Stairway to Heaven
007. REM - Everybody Hurts
008. Tracey Chapman - Fast Car
009. Rodriguez - Sugarman
010. The Beatles - A Day in the Life

011. The Dillinger Escape Plan - When Good Dogs Do Bad Things
012. Johnny Cash - Hurt (Nine Inch Nails Cover)
013. Radiohead - Paranoid Android
014. The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
015. Paul & Linda McCartney - Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey
016. Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven
017. Nirvana - Oh Me (Meat Puppets Cover)
018. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows
019. Counting Crows - Colorblind
020. Lou Reed - Perfect Day

021. David Bowie - Changes
022. Eminem - Kim
023. Aerosmith - I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing
024. The Velvet Underground - The Black Angel's Death Song
025. Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
026. The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
027. Radiohead - Pyramid Song
028. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
029. Dick Dale & His Del-Tones - Misirlou
030. Foo Fighters - Walking After You

031. Prodigy - Breathe
032. The Doors- Alabama Song (Bertolt Brecht/Elisabeth Hauptmann cover)
033. Bob Dylan - Most Likely You Go Your Way And I Go Mine
034. The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
035. Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
036. The Pixies - Where is My Mind
037. Therapy? - Me vs. You
038. Carl Orff - O Fortuna
039. Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
040. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

041. The Who - Baba O'Riley
042. The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Time Warp
043. Korn - Daddy
044. Louis Armstrong - What a Wonderful World
045. Dolly Parton - Jolene
046. John Lennon - Working Class Hero
047. Pearl Jam - Last Kiss (Wayne Cochran & the C.C. Riders Cover)
048. Paul McCartney & Wings - Maybe I'm Amazed
049. Frank Sinatra - Kick in the Head
050. Michael Andrews and Gary Jules - Mad World (Tears For Fears Cover)

051. Patti Smith - Horses
052. Counting Crows - Mr Jones
053. The Clash - London Calling
054. Bobby McFerrin - Don't Worry, Be Happy
055. Pink Floyd - The Trial
056. The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out
057. The Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Otherside
058. Frank Zappa - Peaches en Regalia
059. Pearl Jam - Better Man
060. The Doors - Light My Fire

061. The Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
062. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze
063. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
064. Prince - When Doves Cry
065. Elvis Presely - I Can't Help Falling in Love With You
066. Norma Jean - Memphis Will Be Laid To Waste
067. Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
068. OutKast - Hey Ya
069. Candiria - Without Water
070. Bob Marley - Sun is Shining

071. The Mars Volta - Drunkship of Lanterns
072. Mr Bungle - Squeeze Me Macaroni
073. Peter Tosh - Legalize It
074. John Lennon - God
075. The Verve - Bitter Sweey Symphony
076. UB40 - Red red wine (Niel Diamond Cover)
077. John legend - Ordinary People
078. Lipps Inc. - Funkytown
079. Marilyn Manson - The Beautiful People
080. The Who - My Generation

081. Justin Timberlake - Cry Me a River
082. Portishead - Only You
083. Skunkanansie - Charlie Big Potato
084. Oasis - Wonderwall
085. The Beatles - Hey Jude
086. Britney Spears - Toxic
087. Foo Fighters - Big Me
088. Cat Stevens - I've Got a Thing About Seeing My Grandson Grow Old
089. Lenny Kravitz - If You Can't Say No
090. Fatboy Slim - Gangster Tripping

091. Alanis Morisette - You Oughta Know
092. Depeche Mode - Blasphemous Rumours
093. At the Drive-In - One Armed Scissor
094. Placebo - Commercial For Levi
095. Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl
096. The Deftones - Change
097. Harry Belafonte - Banana Boat Song
098. Bjork - Hyper-ballad
099. Muse - Plug In Baby
100. U2 - The Sweetest Thing


NEAR MISSES

101. Placebo - Nancy Boy
102. Nada Surf - Popular
103. CKY - 96 Quite Bitter Beings
104. The Smashing Pumpkins - Zero
105. SlipKnot - Prosthetics
106. Elton John - Candle in the Wind
107. Charles Manson - Look At Your Game Girl
108. Sublime - Wrong Way
109. Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
110. Mudvayne - Severed

111. Live - Lightening Crashes
112. Black Sabbath - Iron Man
113. Underworld - Born Slippy
114. Guns 'n Roses - Welcome to the Jungle
115. Beyonce - Crazy in Love
116. Metallica - One
117. Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe
118. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
119. Sneaker Pimps - 6 Underground
120. Madonna - Justify My Love


121. The Chemical Brothers - Hey Boy, Hey Girl
122. The Streets - Lets Push Things Forward
123. Snoop Dogg & Pharall - Drop it like its hot
124. The All Seeing I - The Beat Goes On (Sonny & Cher Cover)
125. Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
126. System of a Down - Chop Suey
127. The White Stripes - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself (Burt Bacharach and Hal David)
128. Frankie Valli - Grease
129. Gary Numan - Cars
130. Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made for Walkin'
131. New Order - Blue Monday Follow @LegoTrip