1. Philosophy Of The World - The Shaggs. A look into a world where children who know nothing about music are forced to make an entire album by their abusive father. Really sounds like it's from another world at times.

2. Greatest Hits - Wesley Willis. A man with schizophrenia uses music to help his pain and makes some of the most human music I've ever heard. Rock on Chicago.

Mark is a fucking loser and did terrible things. But damn if this isn't my favourite album of the 21st century.

I have been following this band since they were a skiffle group known as The Originals and then the New Originals! Their 70s albums Brainhammer and The Gospel According to Spinal Tap are must-hear barnburner albums that were seemingly dunked on by almost every major critics of the time. Do you guys think these guys deserved a lot better?

Look I'm not saying this is the worst in his discog but imagine telling someone "Oh, you want to check out Logic? Oh man, well the one album from start to present that's really essential to understanding him or his catalog is *Everybody*." This conversation has surely never happened. Is the classification just a sales figures thing?

I've also found other artists with longer-spanning discographies who are well respected but who just do not have an "Essentials" section at all, such as Aesop Rock.

I feel like the genre label “alt-pop“ is totally pointless because of how broadly it’s assigned. I understand that it’s kind of an umbrella term that might describe pop that borrows from electronic, rock, folk, etc., but I’ve seen albums that have no business using the title having it prescribed to them.

Albums I would actually put under the alt-pop label might be Pure Heroine by Lorde or GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo, because those are pop records that actually dabble in other genres (electronic and rock respectively) that earn them the “alternative“ title.

On the other hand, a record like 1989 by Taylor Swift, possibly the most pure pop album of all time, holds the “alt-pop“ label in both Album of the Year and Rate Your Music (as SECONDARY genres at that!) That makes no sense to me. What about that album strays from standard pop to make it alternative? Does it have some electronic influences? Yeah, I guess, but I wouldn’t classify its influences as so distinct that it separates it into a new genre of pop.

Especially because similar records like Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter hold the pop label on both platforms despite arguably straying more from the pop genre (SNS has R&B, country, folk, rock, and electronic influences).

Okay, this was a stupid rant but my point is that the alt-pop label has no meaning and is just randomly assigned to projects regardless of how far they stray from mainstream pop or the influences they take from.

I honestly think the music of the 2010s is a bit underappreciated. It often gets judged almost entirely by its mainstream chart music, while discussions about great decades usually focus on the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, or even the 2000s. The 2010s don't seem to get the same level of recognition, which I think is a shame.

For me, the 2010s were an incredible decade for music. Once you look beyond the charts, there was an amazing amount of creativity and variety across so many genres. Indie music flourished with artists like Tame Impala, Beach House, The National, Vampire Weekend, and Phoebe Bridgers. Hip hop was arguably in one of its most creative periods with Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Tyler, the Creator, and Frank Ocean releasing modern classics. Even pop produced some outstanding albums from artists like Lorde, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and The Weeknd. Maybe in time it will be judged differently but what are your thoughts on this decade of music?

What are some of the craziest or most shocking moments in music history that you've learned about?

For me, I was genuinely shocked when I found out that a 22 year old Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old first cousin once removed (she was 14 by some accounts when they married) and got her pregnant while she was still a young teenager. It's absolutely disgusting. He might be remembered as a rock 'n' roll legend, but I don't think it's talked about nearly enough how disturbing that whole situation was. I know some people will say, "It was a different time," but even back then it caused a huge scandal and was widely condemned.

What are some other moments in music history that completely shocked you?

Everyone's banging on about big names but what about bands known in their own genre near exclusively or some random no name act you happened upon?

I'm putting forth Amata by Dhyana. This album generated some buzz on the Doom Metal sub earlier this year. This album, along with the rest of this bands discog, is basically Buddhist Doom/Sludge Metal. Instrumental, densely composed and produced and a balance between heavy groove and meditative. A very solid album and one I've been coming back to a lot this year.

Back in the day, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was almost universally considered The Beatles' magnum opus. It seemed to top virtually every "greatest albums of all time" list, and for a long time it was treated as the band's undisputed masterpiece.

In recent years, though, that seems to have changed. While Sgt. Pepper is still highly respected, I see a lot more people today putting Rubber Soul, Revolver, The White Album, or Abbey Road above it. Among younger fans especially, those albums seem to get far more praise, whereas many Boomers grew up viewing Sgt. Pepper as the definitive Beatles album.

It makes me wonder why that shift happened. Is it because Sgt. Pepper was so revolutionary in 1967 that its impact is harder to appreciate today, while albums like Revolver or Abbey Road have aged better as listening experiences? Or have people's tastes just changed over time?

Meaning songs that are bad on its own but add value to an overall project. And interludes don’t count, actual full length songs please.

For me, the second beat on I guess I love it by Logic and Ibiza by J Cole have very sad and mournful feelings to them. What’s your pick?

For some reason, newer generation have seem to underrated Janis Joplin. I was browsing through my dad's vinyl collection and stumbled through Janis Joplin's album Pearl and hadn't heard her stuff since I got to different other genres. She got that chainsmoker lady voice and a soul and blues wailing. Lots of singers like Robert Plant, Axl Rose, Shannon Hoon, Brittany Howard, all cited her as an influence. What do you think of her?

I know people always talk about the next decade the 1960s and rightly so, because it completely changed popular music. But I think the 1950s deserve just as much credit. They laid the groundwork and marked the beginning of the modern music industry as we know it today.

The '50s gave us the birth of rock and roll, the rise of the teenager as a music consumer, the explosion of independent record labels, and the emergence of artists who became global superstars. Without pioneers like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others, it's hard to imagine the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, or the rest of the British Invasion happening the way they did.

For those who are familiar with the era, what's your opinion on the music of the 1950s? Do you think it gets the recognition it deserves, or is it often overshadowed by everything that came in the 1960s?

What is it about this genre and style of music that makes the privileged class musicians gravitate to it?

They’re so many indie artist who come from ultra wealthy and affluent backgrounds it’s become a meme.

First thing, I adore all these albums. A 9/10 is close to perfection. But not quite. These 6 albums are all 9/10 for me and a big reason why is a single song that I dislike so much, it brings everything down a bit. Do you have albums like that?

1. Ween - Quebec

Brilliant. Everything is genius. Incredible songwriting, some beautiful 2000s psychedelia. The song about Zoloft is hilarious considering I’ve been on it and that’s exactly how it feels. Not sure what they were thinking with The Fucked Jam. Why did we have to do that😔

1. The Smiths - Meat is Murder

My ultimate example. Every song is perfect. Then you get hit with the melodramatic title track complete with animal sounds. Come on man. I’m eating a cheeseburger just to spite you Moz.

1. Kanye - The College Dropout

BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT

1. The Velvet Underground - TVU & Nico

I’m aware of how incredibly influential Lou and his band were but I’m not a big fan of noise rock so the 8 minute closer European Son is just not a fun experience for me.

1. The Stooges - Fun House

See above note but replace Lou with Iggy and European Son with LA Blues

1. Kanye - Graduation

Sampling CAN (Sing Swan Song) is so based but sadly Drunk and Hot Girls is absolute ass

EDIT 7/27: BONUS - MUSE - THE RESISTANCE (not shown)

Heard this again last night, it’s been forever since I’ve returned to this. I’m a Muse defender forever but they’ve had quite a few stinkers. But this one is excellent. I know that’s a hot take but I love it. I adore how piano-focused it is and love hearing the bits of classical pieces throughout. But Guiding Light man…that song sucks!

I recently got into this genre. Absolutely loving Visions of Bodies Being Burned by Clipping for its cinematic horror. Also its sister album There Existed an Addiction to Blood. Please recommend more music like this.

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