1001 Albums: A Retrospective, with 610 Down

28 Jul, 2025

A couple years ago, my friend Wyatt texted me and told me he was listening to 1001 albums. Naturally, I asked for more details. He had signed up for a website that generated one album a day, Monday through Friday, for you to listen to and give a ranking from 1 through 5. Before he could finish explaining this to me, I was already making an account. This was right up my alley.

I've always liked to think I have a diverse taste in music. My family tells me it comes from my dad. In high school, he carried around a mixtape featuring Van Halen, Hank Williams, Parliament-Funkadelic, and Beethoven, among others. I'm not sure how much of that came out in my upbringing, since when I was a kid we listened almost exclusively to country music, church hymns, and my mom's 80s favorites, but it could be something in the genes. Either way, I've always prided myself on my willingness to try out any genre. Even if it's a sound I don't naturally care for (see: electronic music, extreme metal), I can find something to appreciate. I saw this album generator as a test of my open-mindedness, and I was gonna pass it.

Flash forward to today and I'm 610 albums into the project. At the start, I wondered if I'd end up quitting a few weeks in, but now I wonder what I'm going to do with myself when I finish it. Listening to the album of the day has become as normal to my routine as weekly work meetings on Wednesday or tacos for dinner on Tuesday.

You might be asking yourself: what albums are these? Are they any good? Who decided what's on the list? Well, imaginary interrogator, I'm glad you asked.

The generator takes its picks from the gigantic book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It's edited by Robert Dimery, a British music critic who's worked for Time Out and Vogue, though I think the picks are made by a larger group of critics. Six editions of the book have been released: 2005, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2018, and 2021. With each new edition, changes have been made, with a few albums being dropped and a few recent releases being added. The generator includes every album that's ever been in any edition of the book, though, so the total number you have to listen to in order to finish is actually 1089. A little false advertising, but I can forgive it.

Are the albums good? Yeah, more often than not. My average rating out of 5 is currently a 3.2, so it's safe to say I've liked more than I've disliked. Of course, your opinion will vary based on your taste. The list is mainly composed of older music: only 29 of the 610 albums I've listened to (or 5%) have been from 2010 or later. Only 106 (17%) have been from the 21st century.

I think this only makes sense, since the list is as much an account of music history as it is a judgment of what the "best" music is. Still, if listening to a bunch of 70s rock albums sounds like torture to you, I wouldn't try this at home. That being said, if you want really old stuff, you'll also be disappointed. The list's oldest album is Frank Sinatra's In the Wee Small Hours from 1955, so it's focused on modern popular music; no Bach or Brahms to be found.

My biggest criticism of the list is a lack of diversity. I don't mean that there's too many white guys (though there are a lot of them), but rather that something like a quarter of the list is made up of random British rock bands you've never heard of. People who are really into music will always struggle with their reputation for trying to look "cool" by listening to the most obscure stuff they can find, and that reputation is not helped by the hundred-plus bands on here with names like the Super Furry Animals and The Teardrop Explodes.¹

Anyway, I've probably told you enough general info. As for my takes, here are some of my standout albums and artists (for good and for bad) from the list so far. When I finish the list, I'll come back with a new post to see if any of my thoughts have changed.

Best album: What's Going On by Marvin Gaye

Seeing as Rolling Stone also named this the best album of all time in their 2023 list, I should probably feel a little boring or cliche for picking this. I don't. If you've never listened to it, go do it.

Worst album: Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg

This actually might be a harder pick than the best album, because there are some serious stinkers on this list. I very seriously considered Duck Stab/Buster & Glen by the Residents (don't ask), as well as Locust Abortion Technician by the Butthole Surfers (you really don't wanna ask). I decided to pick based on what I'd least want to listen to again, and the answer had to be this.

The curious thing is that this is not the worst-sounding album I've heard from the list. Apparently, Serge Gainsbourg is considered a titan of pop music and a brilliant songwriter in his native France. The songs were boring and they're all in French, but if I hadn't known any different, I probably would have given it a 2/5 and forgotten about it.

Doing a little reading about this album informed me that it tells the story of a 40-something man's relationship with a 14 year old. Yeah. That's a no from me, dawg.

Best album I'd never heard before: The Last of the True Believers by Nanci Griffith

I will always have love for country music. It's the sound of my childhood and the sound of home. Of course, I will never deny that there is a lot of corny, obnoxious, and flat-out bad country music out there, so whenever somebody comments that they "like every genre, except country," I don't get too offended.

I would get offended if anyone trashed this album, though. Released in 1986, it's an understated and gorgeous collection from an Austin singer-songwriter I'd somehow never heard of.² I've been hunting thrift stores for a physical copy; if you know of any leads, drop me a line.

Artist I failed to understand: Sonic Youth

Announcing myself as uncool here. Sonic Youth are a huge underground band from the 80s with a whopping five albums on the list. We've gotten three of them and I've kind of hated every single one. In the environment of the 80s, where mainstream music was all about loud fashion and giant production, I can understand the appeal of a raw, stripped-down band who didn't care about being polished or professional. My contention is that the Youth don't really care about sounding good, either. All that said, I still haven't gotten Daydream Nation, which is supposed to be their best album, so my eyes are still open I guess.

Artist I most learned to appreciate: Bruce Springsteen

Really, really announcing myself as uncool here. I've never been much of a Bruce fan, probably because my dad never really liked him and so the classic rock education I received from my dad never included him. In the middle of Born in the USA, though, I learned to fully embrace my identity as a white boy. Yes, I learned to love the Boss. Tramps like us, baby, we were born to run, et cetera.

Most over-represented artist: Kings of Leon

Remember the Kings of Leon? No? They did, uh, "Sex on Fire." Still not ringing a bell? Yeah, you're not alone. Kings of Leon were a Southern(?) rock band in the 2000s who must have been big with the critics of that time, because they've got three frickin' albums on this thing. We've gotten one and I did not like it. I'm not excited for the next two.

I mentioned how some albums get removed in subsequent editions, and these guys are also an interesting example of that. I guess ol' Robert Dimery came to his senses, because if you pick up the latest edition of the book, the Kings of Leon are nowhere to be found. This gives them the unique status of being totally wiped from the current book but wildly over-represented on the generator.

Most surprising exclusion: Garth Brooks

Continuing the country music theme... where is Garth? He was the best-selling artist of the 1990s and arguably the biggest name in music for years, but he has no albums on the list. I'm not sad about it, since Garth refuses to share his music on any streaming platforms (except Amazon, who he has an exclusive deal with) and I don't like him all that much. Still, his lack of presence sticks out. Of course, this matches well with how irrelevant Garth has become in the modern musical world. Seriously, dude, just get on Spotify.

Favorite genre: Samba

The generator calculates your ratings for each album and tells you how high your ratings are for different decades, regions of origin, and genres. Therefore, this isn't a subjective call, but the website telling me that my favorite genre of music is samba. This is based on only 5 albums classified as samba, but I have given them an average rating of 4/5, so I get the logic.

My favorite genre of music isn't samba, but I think this is a side effect of how certain genres are over-represented on the list and others are under-represented. There are only a few samba albums, all of which I've heard are high-quality (see Getz/Gilberto, Jazz Samba, and Tanto Tempo). Meanwhile, the giant glut and variety of rock music makes it almost impossible for plain ol' "rock" to be someone's favorite genre.

Least favorite genre: Shoegaze

This one might actually be accurate. Shoegaze involves lots of guitar effects, echoes, loops, and an emphasis on atmosphere over melody. As someone who likes simple songs with good melodies perfectly fine, I don't know if I'm in the target audience here. I did give high ratings to bands like Beach House and the Jesus and Mary Chain, but others like Deerhunter and My Bloody Valentine were not my cup of tea.

Most interesting album: 69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields

Yes, this is actually 69 songs long. Yes, they are all songs, and they are all about love. Some of them might sound more like experiments than songs, and a lot of the "love" is not what I would consider love, but it meets the criteria of its title.

69 Love Songs is an extremely ambitious album but also an extremely humble one. It spans an insane runtime and a bizarre number of genres, from pop to rock to ballads to country to jazz to everything in between, but there's a very quaint vibe to the whole thing. The singer is monotone and vocally limited, the band keeps it simple if you're being kind and can barely play if you're being mean, and most of the songs don't run past a couple minutes. I wouldn't say I liked it, but it is a singular experience that I would never have gotten without the album generator.

Most magical album: Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band

Until you've experienced the Captain, any attempt to describe him simply won't do. Foppish concepts like "key," "rhythm," "melody," and "harmony" don't exist in the Captain's world. He and his Magic Band operate on a different plane from the rest of us, and that plane is beyond the ken of the average listener. Listening to the Magic Band and surrendering yourself to their genius is something like taking off the foolish trout masks we all wear in everyday life and embracing our humanity in full. They are, in a real way, the freest musicians you'll ever hear.

What was that? Do I like the album? Oh Lord, no, I gave it a 1 out of 5. I saw a YouTube commenter describe it as "the sound of a band trying to perform while falling up the stairs," and I couldn't agree more. I only made it through half the album, and that half was agonizing. Do I regret it? Absolutely not.

Conclusion

If you're interested in trying this thing out for yourself, head to 1001 Albums Generator and make yourself a profile. You can even invite some of your friends along and form an album-listening group. I would invite you to squad up with me and Wyatt's group³, but it would become more of a 401-album-long list if you did that, and I'd hate to deprive you.

Have my horizons been broadened by this project? Honestly, I'm not sure. The majority of my 5/5s have been albums I've already heard, and I haven't found many of my biases or pre-conceptions being overturned.⁴ Still, if you're a music lover who's looking for a way to hear more stuff, I recommend it. If nothing else, you get a shiny badge on your profile at the end, and who doesn't love those?

I'll be back in a couple years to tell you how the rest of the list went. Let's hope I've got something to say in the interim.