WHY?: So simple, yet so engaging. Alot of good songs are brilliantly written, but kinda boring. Not here madam, oh noooooo. The simple guitar technique of #LOW RUMBLE-HIGH-LOW RUMBLE-HIGH-HIGH# and all it's alterations are used here to great effect. They manage to take only 6 notes (C, C#, D, D#, F, F#) and 1 riff, add some crazy samples about America needing to wake up, and smush it into a 2 minute span of sound. Yet this song is still awesome and has one of my favourite song titles ever ("Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies"). Proof that less is more.
WHAT'S BAD ABOUT IT, HMM?: Repetitive chorus', and Robert Flynn can't sing very well. But that doesn't matter because it fits with the sound.
BEST SONG?: "I'm Your God Now" but others would say "Davidian", "Old" or "A Thousand Lies".
BEST BIT?: The intro to "The Rage To Overcome"
WHY?: Because everybody says it's the best album ever made, and I would agree to some degree. Just listen to it. Enough said.
WHAT'S BAD ABOUT IT, HMM?: There are too many classic Radiohead songs, so of course they can't all be on this album. That means you have to spend money on their other albums. Lousy brilliant songwriters.
BEST SONG?: Any of them except "Electioneering". They are all superb. Listen and believe, daddio.
BEST BIT?: The intro to "No Surprises". Or #In an intergalactic buuuuuuuuuuurst, I am back to save the uniiiiiveeerrrssssse#.
WHY?: Let's get this straight; they are better than Nirvana. This album is highly influential, and is the first CD I properly owned. Even though a friend gave it to me. Cos I told him about 1 song that I remembered. So he bought it. And he didn't like it. But I do, this is a great album, even if "Alive" was used on a tampon advert.
WHAT'S BAD ABOUT IT, HMM?: The annoying songs, like "Porch" and "Deep". They are good, but extremely annoying.
BEST SONG?: "Black" is one of the FINEST SONGS EVER WRITTEN.
BEST BIT?: That final lyric in "Black", my favourite lyric ever �)
WHY?: Because Alice In Chains are legends and this is their best album. It's not even necessarily grunge, it leans more towards a hard rock stylee. Before I had heard this album, the only thing by AIC I knew was "Man In The Box" ("I'm the man in the box/Here it is, mit dem shnake"). And as soon as I heard "Them Bones" from this album, I knew that I had to have it. And so I have it. Every song follows a sound structure, the heavy songs all have little solos or slow parts in them, and the soft songs always have a heavy part in them. Ironically the last song "Would?" is about a guy who died from a heroin overdose. Madcap.
WHAT'S BAD ABOUT IT, HMM?: Well, grunge was always a little boring and repetitive in places, and this is very evident here. "Angry Chair" is the same (good) riff and lyrics repeated about 10 times. Darn it Sally.
BEST SONG?: "Down In A Hole" is my favourite, but others would prefer "Rooster" and "Dirt".
BEST BIT?: The harmonic part midway through "Sickman". Or the fake ending of "Rain When I Die".
WHY?: Because it is probably one of the top 5 grunge albums of all time (along with Nirvana - Nevermind, Pearl Jam - Ten, Alice In Chains - Dirt and Screaming Trees - Dust). Plus, Chris Cornell can actually sing like... someone who can sing really well. All the songs on here are well written and catchy. Plus 2 of the songs are just a list of juxtaposed sentences ("Just because you can't see it/Doesn't mean you're blind" etc). It's good. Really good.
WHAT'S BAD ABOUT IT, HMM?: Did you love earlier Soundgarden? "Jesus Christ Pose" and "Outshined"? Well this is totally different, so you may not like this very much. Then again you might like it more. I did, even though "Jesus Christ Pose" has my favourite guitar part EVER. I think.
BEST SONG?: "Black Hole Sun" or "The Day I Tried To Live".
BEST BIT?: About 1 minute 14 seconds into "4th Of July". You know those mornings when you just don't wanna get up cos nothing seems worth it? If that could be warped into music, it would sound like this.
