100 Favorite Albums Part 1: #100-76

100) Our Lady Peace- Live
I was never an overly big fan of OLP. Kinda think of mainman Raine Maida as a bit pretentious (he named himself Raine for God's sake), tries a bit to hard to be the hipster, artsy guy and is basically a poor man's Bono. But I have to give credit where it's due, I do like alot of OLP's material. My wife is a huge OLP fan and has all the albums. So I played this one day and found I REALLY like it alot. Still not into alot of their studio albums, but this one really clicked with me. This version of "Innocent" is escpecially cool.

99) Nekromantix- Return Of The Loving Dead
Psychobilly (punk and rockabilly mashed together) at it's best! Great songs and cool image (the guy plays a standup bass made from an old wooden coffin.....awesome).

98) Run DMC- Raising Hell
If this album doesn't make you want you wear Adidas sneakers, a Kangol hat and sport a gold chain, then you're dead inside.

97) My Chemical Romance- Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
Not a big fan of the genre they are considered to be a part of (emo), but I love this album. Infectious energy throughout, some pretty relentless playing happening and some really cool songs. I play this one alot in the car. "Thank You For the Venom" features some pretty tight metal riffs and licks.

96) Primus- Frizzle Fry
I've always dug Primus. It seems to be you either love or hate these guys. Every album is good but I enjoy this one the most. Seems like once they got past this album and the next, Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, they became a little too aware of how clever they were and you could almost hear them trying to force the eccentricity into the music. Thus the albums, in my opinion, became much more spotty in terms of brilliant moments. But Frizzle Fry is from a time when the brilliance was equally distributed across an entire album.

95) Marilyn Manson- Antichrist Superstar
This is still a killer album. I wish Manson could recapture some of it's spark and record an interesting record again. This was his peak and what he'll be remembered for. Not a bad album to be your legacy.





94) Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral
Anger, rage, depression, anguish, self loathing...Trent Reznor was somehow able to make a really f*****g good album from all that. BTW, cool footnote: this album was recorded in the Sharon Tate house (where the Charles Manson murders took place) before it was torn down.





93) AC/DC- Back In Black
This album is so popular, it's almost cliche' for it to appear on Favorite Album lists. But there's a reason it's always there: it's that good.

92) Public Enemy- Apocalypse '91
Remember when rappers actually had something to say? Important things? Public Enemy were scary as hell, had a message and were going to make sure the people who needed to hear it heard it. Rappers like Chuck D are a dying breed. And oh yeah, this is what Flavor Flav did BEFORE he was a reality TV embarrassment.

91) Black Label Society- Hangover Music Vol. VI
All BLS albums are pretty much the same...loud, downtuned riffs with Zakk Wylde catterwauling all over them before he then plays his typical Zakk Wylde licks all over them. But this album is different. It's more acoustic based and let's Wylde's songwriting and singing talents actually come through.

90) Blink 182- Dude Ranch
I've always loved this album by the Blink guys. It was the one right before they really broke big and became a pop punk radio band and lost their teeth. I don't care much for the albums that followed this one, but this one had enough balls, aggression energy and good tunes to make me remember them in a good light.

89) Pink- I'm Not Dead
Always liked her. Not sure why....maybe it's the fact that she could probably take me apart in a knife fight turns me on. But it's most likely her voice. I've always thought she really gets overlooked as a singer because of her image as a crazy troublemaker. I've heard her do some Joplin covers and they're incredible. She has a legitimate set of pipes. This album she steps away a bit from the dancier side of her sound to more of a rock thing, which she really shines at. I'd love to hear what she could do in front a gritty, sleazy rock band.

88) The Cult- Sonic Temple
The Cult have always been badassed. This album has always been badassed. It will always be badassed.

87) Rage Against The Machine- Evil Empire
"Bulls On Parade" guitar solo. 'Nuff said.

86) Prince- Purple Rain
The title track is one of my favorite guitar moments ever.

85) The Misfits- Earth A.D.
Everything that made the Misfits good is on this album. If you don't like this album, you don't like The Misfits.

84) Alice In Chains- Dirt
People say grunge killed rock n roll. Rock n roll at that time was Warrant, Winger and Faster Pussycat. So I say good riddance. Albums like this one from AIC grabbed those glammers by their pretty, permed locks and shoved them face first into the Seattle mud. It was a huge breath of fresh air. That is of course until EVERY band started trying to sound like they came from Seattle. But this album is one of the greatest from that era.

83) Creedence Clearwater Revival- Greatest Hits
Who doesn't like CCR? Put on this album and tell me you can't feel the swamp juice between your toes and smell the cypress trees. With feelings like that being conjured up, it's no wonder I felt betrayed when I found out John Fogerty was from suburban California and not the Bayou. But the music is so good you forgive him.

82) New York Dolls- New York Dolls
The band responsible for the birth of glam music. Love it or hate it, these guys deserve all the credit or the blame, depending on your stance. An essential, landmark album.

81) Bloodhound Gang- Hooray For Boobies
Big, dumb stupid fun that entertains me to no end.

80) Tenacious D- Tenacious D
See above.

79) The Sword- Age Of Winters
One night I was in Tower Records (remember those?) and they had this playing on the store system. I bought it that night. Songs about flaming swords, wood nymphs and mystical beasts set to guitars and drums so thick, heavy and meaty you don't feel like a dork for listening to music about flaming swords, wood nymphs and mystical beasts.

78) Fugazi- Repeater
The poster children for the DIY punk movement in D.C. A damn, damn, damn fine album. There's still nothing like it. It still sounds "alternative" today.

77) Strapping Young Lad- Strapping Young Lad
There are very few lead guitarists in thrash that I like. I'm a huge fan of lead guitar in other forms of music, but it never seems to work in thrash. Thrash metal to me has nothing to do with lead playing and everything to do with the power of the pumping, galloping riff with the onslaught of machine gun drums behind it. Devin Townsend's Strapping Young Lad strips it down to just that: no aimless, pointless lead noodling to deter from the pummeling, twisted assault of a tighter than a Chinese-foot-binder's-shoe elite metal rhythm section featuring Gene Hoglan on drums.

76) Iggy Pop and The Stooges- Raw Power
When the Kid Rocks, Eminems and Insane Clown Posses of the world get ya down, put this album on and be reminded that it once meant something special to be from Detroit. And this is one of the reasons why.