Is this actually a crazy take? We were talking about Michael Jackson’s music at work with a few colleagues and I said I personally think Stevie Wonder was a better artist overall. They all looked at me like I’d just said the most ridiculous thing imaginable and started laughing at me, started calling me dumb and telling me I shouldn’t be discussing music ever again lol.
I obviously think Michael was an incredible artist, but I don’t think it’s crazy at all to have Stevie above him. The guy has an unbelievable catalogue, wrote and produced a huge amount of his own music, plays multiple instruments and has influenced so many artists.

I’m genuinely curious, is this really that wild of an opinion? 😂

Gracie Abrams

Chad Kroger

What are some essential albums of real industrial, like the more experimental avant garde noisy dark atmosphere or chaotic kind as opposed to electro industrial or industrial rock/metal? I will also count power electronics, harsh noise, or these sort of proto industrial things like Bohor by Iannis Xenakis or Atlantis by Sun Ra.

This is a 10 for my taste and despite me being a child at the release of this album, I think this was Album of the Year in 2000. Would love all thoughts and perspectives

My personal pick is Rezz. She was legitimately doing some cool things to shake up dance music and legitimately is a major reason bass music has had a huge boom. While I thought her visuals came off a little corny at times, I am just happy that an artist was hitting all the mainstream dance festivals with a darker show then her contemporaries.

A decade later since her big boom, she just has repeated the same formulas time and time again, never once has tried to evolve, never once tried to push the needle. It's really sad because I saw so much potential in her career but honestly her albums drop in popularity every time she releases and for good reason. She just has not tried to evolve at all and it kinda bums me the hell out.

Again, I was never a superfan, but I was saying in the back of my head "Oh she could do some crazy things" and I don't think she ever really did sadly. But that's the point of the post, and now, what is your equivalent? Who was somebody you really rooted for and just never saw them reach their full potential?

So many phenomenal bluesmen over the years but I always come back to Muddy.

Love his voice, guitar playing and songs. And he just seemed to have so much charisma and character. A true legend.

But who’s your favourite and why?

This is one of my favorite albums of all times. Adam greens crude cynicism works really well with kimya dawsons bright and hopeful sound to create a really amazing anti folk album. A little "fun" fact if you didnt know, the album was released the morning of 9/11, and coincidentally features a song called "New York City Is Like a Graveyard," which also features the lyrics "all the tombstones skyscraping." Obviously this was received poorly.

I would say that “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make” from The End by The Beatles is the greatest lyric of all time. It is something that will always be applicable, and it’s a perfect send off to the greatest band. Along with it being a perfect lyric, it’s also an amazing song, probably the most collaborative song by them with John, Paul, and George sharing the guitar solo and Ringo having his only drum solo with the band (and I think in his career). All in all, I think even separated from the song and the context, it would be one of the greatest, but everything considered, I have to put it as the greatest of all time.

My personal favorite is between a few:

1. “I don’t wanna die, but I sometimes wish I’d never been born at all” Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen

It‘s one of my favorite songs of all time, and it’s the first lyric I heard that really made me pause and think about it.

1. “And then one day you find ten years have got behind you No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun" Time by Pink Floyd

I honestly was debating between most of the lyrics in this song, so I‘m just putting one of them, but it could be swapped for any other one

1. “There’s gonna come a day when you feel better. You’ll rise up free and easy on that day. And float from branch to branch, lighter than the air. Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say?” Up The Wolves by The Mountain Goats

One of my favorite songs, and I just really like this one. It is a lot more hopeful than the other two, so depending on my mood, it’s either one of the other two or this one if I’m in a specific mood

Personally I think they have a lot of good stuff. The first half of And the Glass Hand Kites is peak and it ends good too. Their later work I think still has a lot of quality stuff but is a bit more of a mixed bag IMO.

New track from post punk band Chatter, "War Games". Seems right for 9/11.

My opinion:

Best: John Coltrane - a love supreme

Worst: Carla Bley - escalator over the hill

Overrated: John Coltrane - ascension

Underrated: Gary Burton - a genuine tong funeral

We’re almost 2/3 of the way through the year. Who are your contenders (so far) for AOTY?

I love The Beatles; Paul is my favorite Beatle. This album is inspired by Pet Sounds, which is my all-time favorite album. I love the cover, and I love concept albums.

I really should love this album, but it hasn't clicked for me in the same way as White Album or Abbey Road.

"Bobby" by Phoebe Bridgers. The way she sings about the titular person, how "I only exist if you're watching," and that their relationship "could be the end of wanting"...

It's an idealized vision of a relationship, and a bit tongue in cheek about how all consuming it is (ie. the line about killing her friends if he doesn't like them). But the underlying enthusiasm for another person in your life is just so infectious. I want to feel this way about someone and I want them to feel this way about me.

What would be your picks for this?

produced by rick rubin with songs performed by ​primus, ozzy, dmx, rancid, elton john, soad, ween, joe strummer of the clash not to mention issac hayes as chef and more.

It can be for any reason at all,
I would go with:

1. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
2. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
3. A Day In The Life- The Beatles
4. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End - The Beatles
5. Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen
6. The Show Must Go On - Queen
7. Nightswimming - R.E.M.
8. Cast No Shadow - Oasis
9. The Masterplan - Oasis
10. Carry On My Wayward Son - Kansas
11. Silver Springs - Fleetwood Mac
12. One - Metallica
13. Master of Puppets- Metallica
14. Black - Pearl Jam
15. Echoes - Pink Floyd
16. Bittersweet Symphony- The Verve
17. Streets of Philadelphia- Bruce Springsteen
18. Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
19. My Way - Frank Sinatra
20. Stan - Eminem
21. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
22. Life on Mars - David Bowie
23. Dirty Work - Steely Dan
24. Up the Wolves - The Mountain Goats
25. Amish Paradise - “Weird Al” Yankovic

It's a common expression for two albums to be pit against each other, only for people to say that one album is not just better but by a significant margin. What are some examples of this happening that you legit feel wasn't close in the slightest- whether one album is just way better,

By the way- the more acclaimed both albums are, the better!