Top albums
Zeke--Death Alley
When you put this CD on, it immediately punches you in the face. One of the greatest opening songs on an album ever, and the rest ain't bad either. This album is not only one of my favorites, but it's also significant as it really rejuvenated my love of Motorhead and introduced me to whole rock thing--Supersuckers, Gluecifer, etc.
Danzig--Lucifuge
I can't say much about it, other than it's a masterpiece. Every song is powerful, the vocal performance has never been matched, and the booklet unfolds into an upside down cross.
MC5--Back in the USA
Albums rarely hit me anymore. I am a new MC5 fan, just a few months old, but I've listened to this album more than any other since high school. The songs are well written, executed precisely, and the whole thing flows nicely. There is not a bad tune on here and is one of the few albums I can listen to multiple times in a row.
Rollins Band--The End of Silence
One of these has to be a Rollins disc...I picked this one because this was the turning point of the band from a hardcore band to a "genre bending" band. The music is all over the place, it is extremely intense, the vocal delivery is perhaps Rollins' finest.
Iron Maiden--Live After Death
This one was tough to pick...it came down to this, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, or Brave New World...all strong albums, but Live After Death has to win. The band played the best songs off of their early albums and since they recorded four shows and spliced it together to sound like one show, you have the best performances of the best songs right here...as much as I prefer live albums that are just one show, this one has to take the cake. I'm hoping they do a box set of "The Complete Live After Death" where they have every show in its entirety.
Elvis--That's The Way It Is (reissue, triple disc set)
There is so much Elvis out there that it's hard to assign a favorite to one. My favorite Elvis era is early 1970s and this captures him in the studio, on stage, and in the rehearsal room. All aspects are covered here with a beautiful layout and impecable sound.
Anthrax--Stomp 442
I think this is their worst selling album, which is a tragedy. Every song annihilates...not a bad song on here, not a mediocre song on here...if they were to do a tour where they only played Stomp 442 in its entirey, I'd take a week of vacation and follow them around. Heavy as hell--this the their best album and one of the greatest ever recorded. Even the mellow closing song, "Bare" is phenomenal--I enjoyed Sound of White Noise, but this is the album that sold me on 'thrax.
Kiss--Destroyer
This is the one that had the most "hits" if you will. Most of the early Kiss stuff I am a big fan of, so it's tough to choose one. This can easily be substituted with Alive, or Hotter Than Hell, Kiss, Dressed to Kill, etc. They certainly didn't invent "the show" aspect of live music but the grand carnival display that many rock shows have, well, thank Kiss for that.
James Brown--Star Time
Yeah it's a box set and not an album, butI don't care. James Brown is the man and no album or "best of" can really give you a strong idea of the man's career. This is lacking a few songs that are important, but it's the best you can get. Funky, political, funny, and just a lot of fun.
Bands
Manowar
I could be in the worst mood and throwing on Manowar will make me chuckle. I think most of the people who hate the band take them way too seriously--they're a fun band that has moments of hilarity in just about every song they've done.
Misfits/Danzig
I have to cheat here and cite all three as one--The Mifsits are my all time favorite band. Short, simple, fun songs about horror flicks that you can sing along to. Danzig is one of the first bands I ever really got into--unfortunately he put out two albums that are somehat lackluster (5 and 6.66, although 5 has grown on me). Why not Samhain? The production on the CDs is poor enough that I can't really enjoy them--a really solid remix/remaster job is necessary but it will never happen with the box set being out already.
Slayer
They're Slayer. I don't know if this needs elaboration. Brutal songs, consistently excellent songwriting (not so much on Diabolous, but no band is perfect) and generally great recordings (except South of Heaven).
Deicide
I love the fact that this band is so incredibly pissed off, so brutal, yet the songs are so catchy. You can listen to their new album three times and you'll be able to growl along. I think they're on their seventh album at the time I'm writing this and just about every single song they have is about why Christianity is wrong, why Christians are morons, or why Satan is wonderful. That's almost 100 songs--be impressed.
Black Flag
I am a sucker for Rollins era Black Flag. In fact, I could take or leave the pre-Rollins stuff...in fact, I think Damaged is good, but it has nothing on In My Head or Loose Nut. Many people think I'm quite the fool for saying so, but I think Black Flag really morphed into one of the greatest bands in history towards the end. Maybe it was the struggles within the band personnel? I don't know. And, to those who say Rollins ruined the band--look at who wrote the songs, why blame Rollins for stuff Ginn wrote?
Iron Maiden
Dianno was good, Blaze was good, but Bruce is the quintissential metal singer. The song writing is brilliant. The artwork defines metal. The stage presence is amazing. Personality wise--I met the band at an in-store and I interviewed Janick for about 15 minutes--all class acts, polite, courteous, friendly gentlemen. I loved the band before meeting them, after meeting them my respect increased dramatically. Dance of Death is a great album that shows that even after 25 years they still have it.
Guns N Roses
GNR is THE first band I really got into. Appetite blew my mind when I got it on tape in the second grade. A few years later I found Lies at a garage sale for 50 cents. When Use Your Illusion 1 and 2 came out I got them for my birthday and wore out Illusion 1. Perhaps it's more nostalgia than anything, but GNR still sticks with me to this day as one of the best bands ever.
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