[Album] If you made a list of 5 albums that are REQUIRED LISTENING

In no particular order:

Radiohead - OK Computer

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:6fd8vwxya9xk

Quote:

It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)."

Herbie Hancock - Headhunters

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:avotk6axlkrk

Arp's, blowin' on jugs... as the liner notes on the CD release indicate, hip-hop has its roots in this kind of stuff, and I can see things like TCM also having their roots in this type of tunage. Best cover art ftw?

Tori Amos - Boys for Pele

Perhaps it's because I never listened to a lot of harpsichord music back in the Dark Ages (I was too busy dodging the Spanish Inquisition and the Black Plauge?) but I think this album truly pushes not only the boundaries of songcraft for Amos, compared to all her other works, but also the boundaries of sound. She tries so much on this album.

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:jtk0ikljbb39

Quote:

Highly ambitious, challenging, idiosyncratic, and confounding, Boys for Pele expands on the more experimental and progressive tendencies of Under the Pink. Amos frequently discards traditional song structures and employs wide-ranging, eclectic instrumentation in her music, while her lyrics seem to grow even more obscure, giving the album a very impressionistic feel.

Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...0:qns9keft7q7n

When one man can take an instrument and play it like it's not meant to be played and like no one else can, that is required listening right there my friends.

Quote:

...it's the tightest, most song-oriented representation of their jaw-dropping, one-of-a-kind style.

Mudhoney - March to Fuzz

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p...6dsa9qgb23g~T1

Quote:

their indie-scene success laid the groundwork for the movement that would (briefly) make Seattle, WA, the new capital of the rock & roll universe; and they took the sweat-soaked and beer-fueled mixture of heavy metal muscle, punk attitude, and garage rock primitivism that would become known as "grunge" to the hipster audience for the first time, who would in turn sell it to a mass audience ready for something new. Though Mudhoney never scored the big payday some of their old-running buddies did, their importance on the Seattle scene cannot be underestimated, and their body of work -- big, loud, purposefully sloppy, a little bit menacing, and even more funny -- has stood the test of time better than their well-known colleagues.

Ah, the sweet, sweet fuzz, like none other. Mudhoney are "the grandfathers of grunge," and they pass their wisdom down to the next generation on this compilation album.

Jam it back in, in the dark.