Greatest Albums By Year

Also Check:

• Best Rock Albums Ever

• Best Albums by Genre

All records rated 7/10 or higher (or occasional 6.5's if I feel like it)

1956

• 1. 1. Modern Jazz Quartet: Fontessa || cool jazz, third stream

     2. Charles Mingus: Pithecanthropus Erectus || hard/post-bop, avant-garde jazz

     3. Horace Silver: Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers || hard bop

     4. Jimmy Giuffre: Clarinet || chamber/cool jazz, third-stream

     5. Erroll Garner: Concert By the Sea (live) || stride, bebop/swing

1957

1. Thelonious Monk: Brilliant Corners || hard bop

2. Yusef Lateef: Jazz Moods || hard/post-bop

3. Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus || hard bop

4. George Russell: Jazz Workshop || hard/post-bop

5. Art Pepper: Meets the Rhythm Section || cool jazz

6. Herbie Mann & Bobby Jaspar: Flute Soufflé || cool jazz

1958

• 1. 1. Blue Mitchell: Big 6 || hard bop

     2. Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else || hard bop, cool jazz

     3. Max Roach: Deeds Not Words || hard/post-bop

     4. Miles Davis: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (soundtrack) || cool, modal, dark jazz

     5. John Coltrane: Blue Train || hard bop

1959

1. Charles Mingus: Ah Um || post-bop, cool jazz

2. Miles Davis: Kind of Blue || modal/cool jazz

3. Art Blakey: Moanin' || hard bop

4. Sun Ra: Jazz in Silhouette || hard/post-bop

5. Dave Brubeck: Time Out || cool jazz

1960

• 1. 1. Max Roach: We Insist! Freedom Now Suite || avant-garde jazz

     2. Jimmy Giuffre: Western Suite || cool jazz, third stream/avant-garde

     3. Tina Brooks: True Blue || hard bop

     4. Miles Davis: Sketches of Spain || third stream, modal jazz

     5. Joe Meek: I Hear a New World (1991 archival) || space age pop, psychedelia

1961

1. Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz || free jazz

2. Joe Harriott: Free Form || avant-garde jazz, post-bop

3. Charles Mingus: Presents (live) || avant-garde jazz/third stream, post-bop

4. John Coltrane: My Favorite Things || modal jazz, post-bop

5. Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth || hard bop

1962

• 1. 1. Charles Mingus: Oh Yeah || hard/post-bop, avant-garde jazz

     2. Art Blakey: Mosaic || hard/post-bop

     3. Max Roach: It's Time || avant-garde jazz

     4. Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds || hard bop

     5. Oliver Nelson: Afro/American Sketches || post-bop, big band

     6. Dexter Gordon: Go || hard bop

     7. Benny Carter: Further Definitions || bebop, swing, big band

1963

1. Charles Mingus: The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady || avant-garde jazz, third stream

2. Joe Harriott: Abstract || post-bop, avant-garde jazz

3. Art Blakey: Ugetsu (live) || hard bop

4. Jackie McLean: Let Freedom Ring || post-bop

5. Jimmy Giuffre: Free Fall || avant-garde/free jazz

6. Joe Henderson: Page One || hard bop

7. Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift For You || Christmas music, traditional pop, soul/R&B

1964

• 1. 1. Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch || avant-garde jazz

     2. Albert Ayler: Spirits / Witches and Devils || spiritual/free jazz

     3. Grachan Moncur III: Evolution || post-bop/avant-garde jazz

     4. Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder || hard bop

     5. Jackie McLean: Destination Out || post-bop

1965

• 1. 1. Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited || folk-rock

     2. John Coltrane: A Love Supreme || spiritual jazz, modal, avant-garde, post-bop

     3. Grachan Moncur III: Some Other Stuff || post-bop, avant-garde jazz

     4. Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage || modal jazz, hard/post-bop

     5. Grant Green: Idle Moments || hard bop

     6. Monks: Black Monk Time || garage rock

     7. Bob Dylan: Bringing It All Back Home || folk-rock

     8. Who: My Generation || garage rock, pop-rock

     9. Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man || folk-rock, pop-rock

     10. Donovan: Fairytale || chamber folk

     11. Vince Guaraldi: Charlie Brown Christmas (soundtrack) ||Christmas music, cool jazz

1966

• 1. 1. Bob Dylan: Blonde On Blonde || folk-rock, garage soul

     2. Love: Da Capo || psych-rock, baroque pop

     3. Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa): Freak Out || experimental/psych-rock

     4. Beach Boys: Pet Sounds || baroque-pop

     5. Rolling Stones: Aftermath || blues-rock, garage rock

     6. Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow || psych-rock

     7. 13th Floor Elevators: The Psychedelic Sounds || garage rock, psych-rock

     8. Bob Dylan: The Royal Albert Hall (live, Bootleg Series 1998) || folk-rock

     9. Byrds: Younger Than Yesterday || psych-pop, folk-rock

     10. Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil || post-bop

1967

• 1. 1. Velvet Underground: Velvet Underground & Nico || art rock, chamber pop

     2. Red Krayola: Parable of Arable Land || experimental rock, psychedelic

     3. Leonard Cohen: Songs of Leonard Cohen || chamber folk

     4. Don Cherry: Symphony for Improvisers || avant-garde/free jazz, post-bop

     5. Pink Floyd: Piper at the Gates of Dawn || psych-rock

     6. Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced || psych-rock, hard/blues-rock

     7. Doors: Doors || psych-pop, blues-rock

     8. Jefferson Airplane: After Bathing at Baxter's || psych-rock

     9. United States of America: United States of America || psych-rock

     10. Doors: Strange Days || psych-pop, blues-rock

     11. Kaleidoscope: Beacon From Mars || psych-rock, folk-rock

     12. Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa): Absolutely Free || experimental/progressive/rock opera

     13. Archie Shepp: Mama Too Tight || avant-garde/free jazz, hard bop

     14. Captain Beefheart: Safe As Milk || blues-rock, psych-pop

     15. Rolling Stones: Between the Buttons || garage rock, psych-pop

     16. Cream: Disreali Gears || psych-pop, blues-rock, jam band

     17. Frank Zappa: Lumpy Gravy || musique concrete/sound collage, modern classical, experimental

     18. Beach Boys: Smile (2011 archival) || psychedelic/baroque pop

     19. Love: Forever Changes || prog-pop, folk-rock, psych-pop

     20. Dr. John: Gris-Gris || New Orleans R&B, psych-rock/soul, zydeco

     21. Bonzo Dog Band: Gorilla || psych-pop, music hall/vaudeville/cabaret

     22. Pearls Before Swine: One Nation Underground || chamber folk, psych-pop

     23. Tim Buckley: Goodbye and Hello || psych-pop, folk-rock

     24. Traffic: Mr. Fantasy || psych-pop, folk-rock

     25. John Fahey: Requia || american primitivism/solo guitar

     26. Byrds: Notorious Byrd Brothers || psych-pop, folk-rock

     27. Animals: Twain Shall Meet || psych-rock

     28. Bob Dylan & the Band: Basement Tapes (bootleg until 1975) || folk-rock

     29. Incredible String Band: The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion || psychedelic folk

     30. Country Joe & the Fish: I Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die || psych-rock

     31. Buffalo Springfield: Buffalo Springfield Again || folk-rock, psych-pop

     32. Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding || country-rock

     33. Beatles: Sgt Pepper || psych-pop

1968

• 1. 1. Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa): We're Only In It For the Money || psych-pop, experimental rock, sound collage

     2. Velvet Underground: White Light/White Heat || art rock, noise/garage rock, psychedelic

     3. Van Morrison: Astral Weeks || jazz-folk

     4. Grateful Dead: Anthem of the Sun || experimental/psych-rock, jam band

     5. Silver Apples: Silver Apples || psych-rock, electronic

     6. David Peel: Have a Marijuana || folk-punk

     7. Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland || psych-rock, blues-rock, jam band

     8. Silver Apples: Contact || psych-rock, electronic

     9. Kinks: Village Green Preservation Society || psych-pop

     10. Leonard Cohen: Songs from a Room || chamber folk

     11. Rolling Stones: Beggars Banquet || blues-rock, garage rock

     12. Cream: Wheels of Fire || blues-rock, psych-pop, jam band

     13. MC5: Kick Out the Jams || garage/hard rock

     14. Pink Floyd: Saucerful of Secrets || psych-rock, prog-rock

     15. Bonzo Dog Band: The Doughnut in Granny's Greenhouse || psych-pop/rock, vaudeville/music hall

     16. Doors: Waiting for the Sun || psych-pop

     17. Johnny Cash: At Folsom Prison (live) || country-rock

     18. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Bayou County || blues-rock

     19. Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield & Steve Stills: Super Session || blues-rock, jam band

     20. Band: Music from Big Pink || folk-rock, country-rock

     21. Big Brother & Holding Company: Cheap Thrills || blues-rock

     22. Moody Blues: In Search of the Lost Chord || psych-rock, prog-pop

1969

1. Miles Davis: Bitches Brew || jazz fusion/funk, psychedelic

2. King Crimson: In the Court of the Crimson King || progressive/psychedelic rock

3. Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica || experimental rock, blues

4. Van Morrison: Moondance || jazz-pop, country-rock

5. Pharoah Sanders: Karma || spiritual jazz

6. Neil Young: Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere || folk-rock, jam band

7. Colosseum: Valentyne Suite || prog-rock

8. Amon Duul: Phallus Dei || psych-rock, avant-prog

9. Stooges: Stooges || garage rock/proto-punk, psychedelic

10. Grateful Dead: Live/Dead || jam band, psych-rock

11. Tim Buckley: Happy Sad || jazz-folk

12. Miles Davis: In a Silent Way || modal jazz

13. Robbie Basho: Venus in Cancer || american primitivism

14. Band: The Band || country-rock

15. Beatles: Abbey Road || pop-rock

16. Who: Tommy || rock opera

17. Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa): Uncle Meat || experimental rock

18. Frank Zappa: Hot Rats || jazz-rock, avant-prog

19. Tim Buckley: Blue Afternoon || jazz-folk

20. Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water || folk-pop

21. Can: Monster Movie || krautrock

22. Blind Faith: Blind Faith || blues-rock, jam band

23. Grateful Dead: Aoxomoxoa || psych-rock, jam band, folk-rock

24. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Willy and the Poor Boys || blues-rock

25. It's a Beautiful Day: It's a Beautiful Day || psych-rock, prog-rock

26. Nick Drake: Five Leaves Left || chamber folk

27. Santana: Santana || blues-rock, psych-rock, jam band

28. Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority || jazz-rock, prog-pop

29. Sly & the Family Stone: Stand || funk, psychedelic soul

30. Sun Ra: Atlantis || avant-garde jazz

31. Pink Floyd: Ummagumma || progressive/psychedelic/experimental rock

32. Jefferson Airplane: Volunteers || psych-rock

33. Kevin Ayers: Joy of a Toy || Canterbury scene/psych-pop

34. Isaac Hayes: Hot Buttered Soul  || soul, funk

35. Deviants: Deviants || garage, acid/psych-rock

36. Allman Brothers Band: Allman Brothers Band || blues/hard rock

37. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Green River || blues-rock

38. T Rex: Unicorn || psych-folk

39. James Taylor: Sweet Baby James || country-rock, folk-pop

1970

• 1. 1. Soft Machine: Third || psychedelic, jazz fusion, progressive/experimental rock

     2. Third Ear Band: Third Ear Band || instrumental folk, drone, world music, jazz

     3. Amon Duul: Yeti || psych-rock

     4. Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa): Weasels Ripped My Flesh || experimental rock

     5. Nico: Desertshore || chamber folk, goth

     6. Lol Coxhill: Ear of Beholder || avant-garde/free jazz, Canterbury scene

     7. Robert Wyatt: End of an Ear || jazz fusion/canterbury scene, psychedelic

     8. Don Cherry: Mu ||free jazz, avant-garde

     9. Peter Green: The End of the Game || instrumental psych-rock, jam band/jazz-fusion

     10. Kevin Ayers: Shooting at the Moon || Canterbury scene/psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, experimental

     11. Mothers of Invention (Frank Zappa): Burnt Weeny Sandwich || experimental rock

     12. Stooges: Fun House || garage rock, art punk

     13. Creedence Clearwater Revival: Cosmo's Factory || blues-rock

     14. Neil Young: After the Gold Rush || folk-rock

     15. Black Sabbath: Paranoid || goth, stoner/hard rock

     16. Nucleus: We'll Talk About It Later || jazz-rock, psych-rock, prog

     17. Joni Mitchell: Ladies of the Canyon || folk-pop

     18. Tim Buckley: Starsailor || psych-pop, folk-rock

     19. Tim Buckley: Lorca || chamber folk, psych-folk

     20. Exuma: Exuma || psych-folk, calypso

     21. Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother || psych-rock, prog-rock

     22. Nick Drake: Bryter Layter || chamber folk

     23. Syd Barrett: Barrett || psych-pop, folk-rock

     24. Comus: First Utterance || progressive folk, psychedelic

     25. Kraftwerk: Kraftwerk || krautrock, experimental, electronic prog

     26. Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath || goth, stoner/hard rock

     27. Pharaoh Sanders: Black Unity || spiritual jazz

     28. Janis Joplin: Pearl || blues-rock

     29. Cat Stevens: Tea for the Tillerman || chamber folk

     30. Guru Guru: UFO || krautrock, heavy psych

     31. Yes: Yes Album || prog-rock

     32. Grateful Dead: Workingman's Dead || country/folk-rock

     33. Bob Marley & the Wailers: Soul Rebels || reggae

1971

• 1. 1. Faust: Faust || krautrock, experimental/progressive

     2. Can: Tago Mago || krautrock, experimental rock

     3. Aphrodite's Child: 666 || prog-rock

     4. Captain Beefheart: Mirror Man || blues-rock, jam band, psych-rock

     5. Nick Drake: Pink Moon || folk

     6. Yes: Fragile || prog-rock

     7. Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers || blues-rock, country-rock, garage rock

     8. John Fahey: America || american primitivism/solo guitar

     9. Led Zeppelin: Led Zeppelin IV || hard/blues-rock

     10. Neil Young: Harvest || country-rock

     11. Kraftwerk: Kraftwerk 2 || krautrock, electronic prog

     12. Amon Duul: Tanz der Lemminge || psych-rock

     13. Gong: Camembert Electrique || psych-rock, jazz-rock, prog-pop

     14. T Rex: Electric Warrior || glam rock

     15. Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything || pop-rock

     16. Joni Mitchell: Blue || folk

     17. Who: Who's Next || hard rock

     18. Deep Purple: Machine Head || stoner/hard rock

     19. Leonard Cohen: Songs of Love and Hate || chamber folk

     20. Black Sabbath: Master of Reality || stoner/hard rock

     21. Doors: L.A. Woman || blues/hard rock, pyschedelic

     22. Sly & the Family Stone: There's a Riot Goin' On || funk, psychedelic soul

     23. Jethro Tull: Aqualung || prog-rock, folk-rock, hard rock

     24. Funkadelic: Maggot Brain || funk-rock, psych-rock

     25. Allman Brothers Band: At Fillmore East (live) || blues rock, jam band

     26. Marvin Gaye: What's Going On || soul

     27. King Crimson: Islands || prog-rock, jazz-rock

     28. Caravan: In the Land of Grey and Pink || Canterbury scene/prog-rock

     29. Cluster: Cluster || space ambient, electronic prog, krautrock

     30. Gil Scott-Heron: Pieces of a Man || soul, jazz-funk

     31. Soft Machine: Fourth || Canterbury scene/jazz fusion

     32. Alice Cooper: Love It to Death || glam/hard rock

1972

• 1. 1. Popol Vuh: Hosianna Mantra || neoclassical new age, krautrock/psych-rock

     2. Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street || blues-rock, country-rock, garage rock

     3. Neu: Neu || krautrock

     4. Yes: Close to the Edge || prog-rock

     5. Roxy Music: Roxy Music || glam rock, prog-rock

     6. Matching Mole: Matching Mole || prog-rock, jazz fusion, psychedelic

     7. Miles Davis: On the Corner || jazz-funk

     8. Can: Ege Bamyasi || krautrock

     9. Klaus Schulze: Irrilicht || electronic prog, ambient

     10. Joni Mitchell: For the Roses || folk-pop

     11. Charles Mingus: Let My Children Hear Music || third stream, experimental big band, avant-garde

     12. Hawkwind: Doremi Fasol Latido || psych-rock

     13. Deep Purple: Made In Japan (live) || hard rock

     14. Soft Machine: Six || jazz fusion, avant-prog

     15. Allman Brothers Band: Eat a Peach || blues-rock, jam band

     16. Tangerine Dream: Zeit || ambient, electronic prog

     17. Alice Coltrane: World Galaxy || spiritual jazz, avant-garde, third stream, psychedelic

     18. Stooges: Raw Power || garage rock

     19. Curtis Mayfield: Super Fly (soundtrack) || soul, funk

     20. Randy Newman: Sail Away || piano rock

     21. Frank Zappa: Waka / Jawaka || jazz fusion/rock

     22. Keith Jarrett: Expectations || jazz fusion, post-bop

     23. Blue Oyster Cult: Blue Oyster Cult || hard rock

     24. T Rex: The Slider || glam rock

     25. Faust: So Far || krautrock, experimental

1973

• 1. 1. Gong: Flying Teapot || prog-rock, jazz-rock, psych-pop

     2. Faust: Faust IV || krautrock

     3. Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells || prog-rock, new age

     4. Todd Rundgren: Todd || art pop, psych-rock

     5. Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle || folk-rock, jazz-rock

     6. Can: Future Days || krautrock

     7. Neu: Neu 2 || krautrock

     8. Todd Rundgren: A Wizard / A True Star || art rock, progressive pop, psychedelic/experimental

     9. Herbie Hancock: Headhunters || jazz fusion/funk

     10. King Crimson: Larks' Tongues In Aspic || avant-prog-rock

     11. Nico: The End || chamber-folk, ambient, goth

     12. Faust: Tapes || krautrock/experimental rock

     13. New York Dolls: New York Dolls || garage rock/proto-punk

     14. Lou Reed: Berlin || glam rock, rock opera

     15. Roxy Music: For Your Pleasure || glam rock

     16. ZZ Top: Tres Hombres || blues/hard rock

     17. Return to Forever (Chick Corea): Light as a Feather || jazz fusion

     18. Kraftwerk: Ralf & Florian || krautrock, electronic prog

     19. Robert Fripp & Brian Eno: No Pussyfooting || ambient, drone

     20. Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon || progressive/art rock

     21. Gong: Angel's Egg || prog-rock, psych-rock

     22. Joni Mitchell: Court and Spark || folk

     23. Richard & Linda Thompson: I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight || folk-rock

     24. Klaus Schulze: Cyborg || electronic prog

     25. Steely Dan: Countdown to Ecstasy || pop-rock, jazz-rock

1974

• 1. 1. Residents: Meet the Residents || experimental, zolo

     2. Robert Wyatt: Rock Bottom || prog-rock, jazz-rock, psych-pop

     3. Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain || new wave, synth-pop

     4. John Cale: Fear || art pop, glam rock

     5. King Crimson: Red || prog-rock, psych-rock

     6. Kraftwerk: Autobahn || electronic prog

     7. Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks || folk-rock

     8. Miles Davis: Get Up with It || jazz fusion (jazz-funk-rock), avant-garde, ambient

     9. Clearlight: Clearlight Symphony || prog-rock

     10. Todd Rundgren: Utopia || prog-rock

     11. Miles Davis: Big Fun || jazz fusion, psychedelic

     12. Herbie Hancock: Thrust || jazz-funk

     13. Popol Vuh: Einsjäger & Siebenjäger || neoclassical new age, krautrock/psych-rock

     14. Dadawah (Ras Michael): Peace and Love || reggae, dub/psychedelic

     15. Heldon: Électronique Guerilla || electronic prog

     16. Cluster: Zuckerzeit || electronic prog, krautrock, space ambient

     17. Randy Newman: Good Old Boys || piano rock

     18. Harmonia: Musik von Harmonia || electronic prog, krautrock, space ambient

     19. Mike Oldfield: Hergest Ridge || prog-rock

     20. Robin Trower: Bridge of Sighs || blues/hard rock, psych-rock

     21. Vivian Stanshall: Men Opening Umbrellas Ahead || psych-rock

     22. Yes: Relayer || prog-rock

1975

• 1. 1. Lou Reed: Metal Machine Music || noise, drone

     2. Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert (live) || ECM style jazz, post-minimalism

     3. Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here || prog-rock, pop-rock

     4. Queen: A Night at the Opera || prog-pop, glam rock

     5. Vangelis: Heaven and Hell || electronic/symphonic prog

     6. Patti Smith: Horses || art rock

     7. Neu: Neu 75 || krautrock

     8. Brian Eno: Another Green World || art rock

     9. Bruce Springsteen: Born to Run || heartland rock

     10. Neil Young: Tonight's the Night || country/folk-rock

     11. Brian Eno: Discreet Music || ambient/minimalism, neo-classical

     12. Bob Dylan: Desire || folk-rock

     13. Popol Vuh: Das Hohelied Salomos || progressive, psych-rock

     14. Aerosmith: Toys in the Attic || hard rock/glam metal

     15. Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger || country

     16. Dictators: Go Girl Crazy || proto-punk/hard rock

     17. Todd Rundgren: Initiation || prog-pop

     18. Neil Young: Zuma || folk-rock

1976

• 1. 1. Penguin Café Orchestra: Music from the Penguin Café || chamber/progressive folk, new age

     2. Television: Marquee Moon || post-punk/new wave, psych-rock

     3. Neil Ardley: Kaleidoscope of Rainbows || jazz fusion, third stream

     4. Joni Mitchell: Hejira || folk-rock, jazz-folk

     5. Ramones: Ramones || punk rock

     6. Patti Smith: Radio Ethiopia || post-punk, art rock

     7. Mort Garson: Mother Earth's Plantasia || electronic prog

     8. David Bowie: Low || glam rock, art pop

     9. Tom Petty: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers || heartland rock

     10. Jean-Luc Ponty: Imaginary Voyage || jazz fusion, psychedelic 

     11. Modern Lovers: Modern Lovers || proto-punk, garage rock

     12. Stomu Yamashta, Steve Winwood & Michael Shrieve: Go || prog-rock, jazz fusion

     13. Warren Zevon: Warren Zevon || country-rock

     14. Aerosmith: Rocks || hard rock

     15. Jaco Pastorius: Jaco Pastorius || jazz fusion/funk

     16. Upsetters: Super Ape || dub/reggae

     17. Rush: 2112 || prog-rock, hard rock

     18. Cerrone: Love in C Minor || euro-disco

     19. Boston: Boston || hard rock, AOR/power-pop

     20. Al Di Meola: Land of the Midnight Sun || jazz fusion/rock, Latin jazz, classical crossover

1977

• 1. 1. Suicide: Suicide || synth-punk, industrial

     2. Talking Heads: 77 || new wave

     3. Throbbing Gristle: Second Annual Report || industrial, experimental, ambient

     4. Clash: Clash || punk rock

     5. Brian Eno: Before and After Science || new wave

     6. Ramones: Rocket to Russia || punk rock

     7. Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks || hardcore punk

     8. Chrome: Alien Soundtracks || industrial, art punk, psych-rock

     9. David Bowie: Heroes || experimental rock, art pop

     10. Richard Hell: Blank Generation || new wave, art punk

     11. Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy || pop/country-rock

     12. Wire: Pink Flag || post-punk

     13. Kate Bush: The Kick Inside || art pop

     14. Giorgio Moroder: From Here to Eternity || electro-disco

     15. XTC: White Music || new wave/post-punk

     16. Van Halen: Van Halen || hard rock/glam metal

     17. Alan Parsons Project: I Robot || prog-pop

     18. Residents: Fingerprince || experimental, minimal synth, art pop

     19. Lou Reed: Street Hassle || glam rock

     20. Patti Smith: Easter || post-punk, art rock

1978

• 1. 1. Residents: Not Available || experimental, minimal wave, operetta/cabaret

     2. Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance || new wave/post-punk, experimental rock

     3. Jon Hassell: Vernal Equinox || tribal ambient, new age/drone, avant-garde jazz

     4. Brian Eno: Music For Airports || ambient, new age

     5. Talking Heads: More Songs About Buildings and Food || new wave/post-punk

     6. Pere Ubu: Dub Housing || post-punk/new wave, experimental rock

     7. Devo: Are We Not Men || new wave

     8. X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents || punk rock, new wave

     9. Throbbing Gristle: D.o.A. || industrial, experimental, ambient

     10. Paul Winter: Common Ground || new age, chamber jazz

     11. Wire: Chairs Missing || post-punk

     12. Stiff Little Fingers: Inflammable Material || punk rock

     13. Negative Trend: Negative Trend (EP) || punk rock

     14. Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove || funk rock

     15. Public Image Ltd: First Issue || post-punk

     16. UK: UK || prog-rock

     17. Cars: Cars || new wave/pop-rock

     18. Elvis Costello: This Year's Model || new wave/pop-rock

     19. Magazine: Real Life || post-punk/new wave

     20. Captain Beefheart: Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) || experimental rock

     21. Kraftwerk: Die Mensch-Maschine / The Man-Machine || electronic/synth-pop

1979

• 1. 1. Chrome: Half Machine Lip Moves || experimental/art punk/noise-rock, industrial, psych-rock

     2. Pop Group: Y || post-punk, funk-rock, experimental/no wave, dub

     3. Pere Ubu: New Picnic Time || post-punk/new wave, experimental rock

     4. Residents: Eskimo || experimental, ambient, program music

     5. Germs: (GI) || hardcore punk

     6. Public Image Ltd: Metal Box (aka Second Edition) || post-punk

     7. Tuxedomoon: Half Mute || post-punk, minimal wave, jazz fusion, goth

     8. Neil Young: Rust Never Sleeps || country-rock, hard rock

     9. Teenage Jesus & the Jerks: Teenage Jesus & the Jerks (mini) || no wave/noise-rock

     10. Tom Petty: Damn the Torpedoes || heartland/pop-rock

     11. Talking Heads: Fear of Music || new wave

     12. Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures || post-punk, goth-rock

     13. Clash: London Calling || punk-pop, new wave

     14. Gang of Four: Entertainment || new wave

     15. Raincoats: Raincoats || post-punk

     16. Wire: 154 || art/post-punk

     17. This Heat: This Heat || experimental/post-rock

     18. Pink Floyd: The Wall || rock opera, hard rock

     19. Young Marble Giants: Colossal Youth || post-punk, indie-pop, minimal wave

     20. Swell Maps: A Trip to Marineville || post-punk

     21. Lydia Lunch: Queen of Siam || post-punk, no wave

     22. Throbbing Gristle: 20 Jazz Funk Greats || industrial, minimal synth, dark ambient

     23. Crass: Stations of the Crass || post-punk

     24. Tom Verlaine: Tom Verlaine || art rock, new wave

     25. Rush: Permanent Waves || hard rock, prog-rock

     26. Fleetwood Mac: Tusk || soft rock

1980

• 1. 1. Pop Group: For How Much Longer || post-punk, funk-rock, experimental/no wave, dub

     2. Dead Kennedys: Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables || punk rock

     3. Pere Ubu: The Art of Walking || experimental, post-punk/new wave

     4. Public Image Ltd: Flowers of Romance || experimental rock, post-punk, goth

     5. Cramps: Songs the Lord Taught Us || punk rock, psychobilly/goth

     6. Soft Boys: Underwater Moonlight || post-punk, neo-pyschedelic

     7. X: Los Angeles || punk rock

     8. Throbbing Gristle: Heathen Earth (live) || industrial, krautrock

     9. Jody Harris & Robert Quine: Escape || no wave, electroacoustic improv

     10. Killing Joke: Killing Joke || industrial-rock, post-punk

     11. Talking Heads: Remain In Light || new wave

     12. Lounge Lizards: Lounge Lizards || avant-garde jazz, no wave

     13. Joy Division: Closer || post-punk, goth

     14. Van Morrison: Common One || chamber folk, blue-eyed soul, jazz fusion

     15. Brian Eno & David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts || instrumental new wave

     16. Bruce Springsteen: The River || heartland rock

     17. Suicide: Alan Vega/Martin Rev || synth-punk

     18. Penguin Café Orchestra: Penguin Café Orchestra || instrumental chamber-folk, new age

     19. AC/DC: Back In Black || hard rock

     20. Negativland: Negativland || musique concrete/sound collage, electronic

     21. Teardrop Explodes: Kilimanjaro || post-punk/new wave

     22. U2: Boy || post-punk

     23. Bauhaus: In the Flat Field || post-punk, goth-rock

     24. Rush: Moving Pictures || hard rock, prog

1981

• 1. 1. Gun Club: Fire of Love || punk-blues

     2. Flipper: Generic || noise-rock/art punk

     3. Glenn Branca: The Ascension || no wave/noise-rock, experimental rock, totalism

     4. This Heat: Deceit || experimental rock

     5. Fear: The Record || hardcore punk

     6. Black Flag: Damaged || hardcore punk

     7. Residents: Mark of the Mole || experimental rock

     8. Material: Memory Serves || jazz fusion, funk-rock, post-punk/mutant disco

     9. Einsturzende Neubauten: Kollaps || industrial, experimental/no wave

     10. Birthday Party: Prayers on Fire || post-punk/noise-rock, goth

     11. Bauhaus: Mask || post-punk, goth-rock

     12. Trio: Trio || post-punk, new wave

     13. Nick Mason: Fictitious Sports || jazz-rock, progressive, zolo

     14. R.E.M: Chronic Town (EP) || jangle-pop, alternative

     15. Jaco Pastorius: Word of Mouth || jazz fusion

     16. King Crimson: Discipline || new wave/art rock

     17. David Thomas: The Sound of the Sand || experimental rock

     18. Minutemen: Punch Line (mini) || post-hardcore

     19. Flesh Eaters: A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die || punk rock, psychobilly/goth

     20. Bad Brains: Bad Brains || hardcore punk, reggae

     21. X: Wild Gift || punk rock

     22. Tom Verlaine: Dreamtime || art rock, new wave

     23. Oingo Boingo: Only a Lad || new wave/zolo

1982

1. Diamanda Galas: Litanies of Satan || experimental, goth

2. Gun Club: Miami || punk-blues

3. Misfits: Walk Among Us || punk

4. DNA: On DNA (comp, released 2004) || no wave

5. Mission of Burma: Vs || post-punk

6. Yasuaki Shimizu: Kakashi || art pop, jazz fusion, dub, post-minimalism

7. Rip Rig & Panic: I Am Cold || experimental/jazz-rock, post-punk

8. Cure: Pornography || goth-rock, post-punk

9. Kate Bush: The Dreaming || art pop

10. Dead Kennedys: Plastic Surgery Disasters || punk

11. Michael Jackson: Thriller || pop-soul, dance-pop

12. Prince: 1999 || funk, dance-pop

13. Christian Death: Only Theatre of Pain || goth-rock, post-punk

14. Discharge: Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing || punk

15. Birthday Party: Junkyard || post-punk

16. Descendents: Milo Goes to College || punk

17. Minutemen: What Makes a Man Start Fires|| post-hardcore

18. Captain Beefheart: Ice Cream for Crow || experimental rock, blues

19. Pere Ubu: Song of the Bailing Man || post-punk/new wave, experimental rock

20. Front 242: Geography || electro-industrial

21. Wall of Voodoo: Call of the West || new wave

22. Laurie Anderson: Big Science || new wave/minimal synth

23. Borbetomagus: Barbed Wire Maggots || free jazz, noise

24. Tom Verlaine: Words from the Front || art rock, new wave

25. Robert Wyatt: Animals Film (soundtrack) || electronic prog

26. ZZ Top: Eliminator || hard/blues-rock

27. SPK: Leichenschrei || industrial, musique concrete

28. X: Under the Big Black Sun || punk, rockabilly

29. Lou Reed: The Blue Mask || art rock

1983

• 1. 1. Foetus: Hole || industrial rock

     2. Tom Waits: Swordfishtrombones || experimental/jazz-rock, blues, dark cabaret

     3. Violent Femmes: Violent Femmes || folk-punk

     4. Swans: Filth || noise-rock, industrial, sludge metal

     5. Butthole Surfers: Butthole Surfers (EP) || art punk, noise-rock

     6. Metallica: Kill 'Em All || thrash-metal

     7. R.E.M: Murmur || jangle-pop, alternative

     8. Birthday Party: Mutiny (EP) || post-punk

     9. Mark Stewart: Learning To Cope with Cowardice || dub, industrial

     10. Husker Du: Zen Arcade || post-hardcore, psych-rock

     11. Cocteau Twins: Head Over Heels || goth-rock, dream pop, post-punk

     12. Bad Brains: Rock For Light || punk, reggae

     13. Sonic Youth: Confusion Is Sex || noise-rock/art punk

     14. Gun Club: Death Party (EP) || punk-blues

     15. Einsturzende Neubauten: Zeichnungen des Patienten OT || experimental/no wave, industrial

     16. Birthday Party: Bad Seed (EP) || post-punk

     17. Rudimentary Peni: Death Church || punk

     18. Rip Rig & Panic: Attitude || post-punk, experimental rock, jazz-funk

     19. Alien Sex Fiend: Who's Been Sleeping in My Brain || goth-rock/post-punk, industrial

     20. David Thomas: Variations on a Theme || art rock, experimental rock

     21. Meat Puppets: II || alt-rock

     22. Replacements: Hootenanny || punk/garage rock, alternative

     23. Pretenders: Learning to Crawl || new wave, pop-rock

     24. Suicidal Tendencies: Suicidal Tendencies || punk

     25. Run-DMC: Run-DMC || hip-hop

     26. Talking Heads: Speaking in Tongues || new wave

     27. U2: War || post-punk

     28. Huey Lewis: Sports || pop-rock

1984

• 1. 1. Nick Cave: From Her to Eternity || punk-blues/post-punk, goth

     2. Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime || post-hardcore

     3. Diamanda Galas: Diamanda Galas || experimental, goth

     4. Replacements: Let It Be || punk/garage rock, alternative

     5. Butthole Surfers: Psychic Powerless || noise rock/art punk, psychedelic

     6. Nick Cave: Firstborn Is Dead || punk-blues, goth-rock

     7. Metallica: Ride the Lightning || metal

     8. Cocteau Twins: Treasure || goth-rock, dream-pop

     9. Swans: Cop || industrial, sludge metal

     10. Birdsongs of the Mesozoic: Magnetic Flip || experimental/progressive, electronic fusion, post-minimalism

     11. Prince: Purple Rain || pop-rock

     12. Husker Du: New Day Rising || post-hardcore

     13. Gun Club: Las Vegas Story || punk-blues

     14. Bruce Springsteen: Born in the USA || heartland rock

     15. Penguin Café Orchestra: Broadcasting from Home || instrumental chamber-folk, new age

     16. Scratch Acid: Scratch Acid (EP) || post-hardcore/noise rock

     17. Black Flag: Slip It In || punk

     18. Naked Raygun: Throb Throb || punk

     19. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers || funk-rock

     20. Flaming Lips: Flaming Lips (EP) || alt-rock, psych-rock

     21. Flipper: Gone Fishin || noise-rock/art punk

     22. Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground || folk-punk, goth-country

1985

1. Foetus: Nail || industrial, experimental rock

2. Tom Waits: Rain Dogs || jazz-rock, blues, dark cabaret

3. Sonic Youth: Bad Moon Rising || noise rock/no wave, drone

4. Metallica: Master of Puppets || metal

5. Dead Can Dance: Spleen and Ideal || neoclassical darkwave

6. Camper Van Beethoven: Telephone Free Landslide Victory || indie rock, alt-country, ska

7. Rites of Spring: Rites of Spring || post-hardcore

8. Replacements: Tim || punk/garage rock, alternative

9. Swans: Greed || goth rock, industrial

10. Camper Van Beethoven: II & III || alt-country, indie rock

11. Jesus & Mary Chain: Psychocandy || post-punk, dream pop/shoegaze

12. Meat Puppets: Up On the Sun || alt-country/alt-rock

13. Fetchin Bones: Cabin Flounder || cowpunk/alt-country/alt-rock

14. Flaming Lips: Hear It Is || alt-rock, psych-rock

15. Robyn Hitchcock: Fegmania || psych-pop, post-punk

16. Fall: This Nation's Saving Grace || post-punk

17. Smiths: Queen Is Dead || post-punk

18. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Freaky Styley || funk-rock

19. Anthrax: Spreading the Disease || hard rock

20. John Mellencamp: Scarecrow || heartland rock

21. Big Audio Dynamite: This Is || new wave

22. Black Flag: Loose Nut || punk rock

1986

• 1. 1. Big Black: Atomizer || industrial, noise-rock/post-hardcore

     2. David Thomas: Monster Walks the Winter Lake || chamber folk, experimental

     3. Nick Cave: Your Funeral My Trial || punk-blues, goth rock

     4. Swans: Holy Money || goth rock, industrial

     5. Butthole Surfers: Rembrandt Pussyhorse || experimental rock

     6. Coil: Horse Rotorvator || industrial, neo-classical darkwave

     7. Controlled Bleeding: Headcrack || experimental, drone, industrial

     8. Slayer: Reign In Blood || thrash metal

     9. Run-DMC: Raising Hell || hip-hop

     10. High Rise: II || garage rock, heavy psych, jam band

     11. Camper Van Beethoven: Camper Van Beethoven || indie, country-rock, psychedelic

     12. Nuclear Assault: Game Over || metal

     13. Sonic Youth: Evol || noise-rock, indie

     14. Henry Rollins: Hot Animal Machine || punk rock/post-hardcore

     15. David Thomas: Blame the Messenger || experimental rock, post-punk

     16. Diamanda Galas: Divine Punishment || experimental, post-industrial/ambient, goth

     17. Paul Simon: Graceland || folk-pop

     18. Flaming Lips: Oh My Gawd || psych-rock, art punk

     19. Diamanda Galas: Saint of the Pit || neoclassical darkwave, experimental

     20. Afrika Bambaataa: Beware || synth-funk, electro, hip-hop

     21. Cramps: Date with Elvis || psychobilly/surf punk, goth

     22. Husker Du: Warehouse || pop-rock, post-hardcore

1987

• 1. 1. Swans: Children of God || goth rock

     2. Sinead O'Connor: The Lion and the Cobra || art pop

     3. Guns N Roses: Appetite for Destruction || hard rock

     4. Nick Cave: Tender Prey || post-punk, goth rock, punk-blues

     5. Tom Waits: Franks Wild Years || jazz-rock, blues, rock opera

     6. Lubricated Goat: Plays the Devil's Music || art punk/post-punk

     7. Hugo Largo: Drum (EP)|| dream pop/ethereal wave

     8. Dinosaur Jr: You're Living All Over Me || noise-rock, indie

     9. Peter Jefferies & Jono Lonie: At Swim 2 Birds || experimental/post-rock

     10. Slint: Tweez || post-hardcore/post-rock

     11. Pixies: Come On Pilgrim (EP) || alt-rock

     12. Sonic Youth: Sister || noise-rock/indie

     13. Henry Rollins: Life Time || punk rock/post-hardcore

     14. Faith No More: Introduce Yourself || funk/rap metal

     15. Eric B & Rakim: Paid In Full || hip-hop

     16. U2: Joshua Tree || pop-rock

     17. Butthole Surfers: Locust Abortion Technician || experimental/noise-rock

     18. Bats: Daddy's Highway || jangle pop

     19. Pussy Galore: Right Now || noise-rock, punk-blues

     20. Prince: Sign o' the Times || funk-rock, dance-pop

     21. Lemonheads: Hate Your Friends || punk rock

     22. Sisters of Mercy: Floodland || goth-rock/darkwave

     23. Cowboy Junkies: Trinity Session || alt-country, slowcore

     24. Big Black: Songs About Fucking || noise-rock/post-hardcore, industrial

     25. Ralph Carney, Daved Hild & Mark Kramer: Happiness Finally Came to Them || experimental rock

     26. Live Skull: Dusted || post-punk

     27. Laughing Hyenas: Merry Go Round || punk-blues, noise-rock/post-hardcore

     28. Replacements: Pleased to Meet Me || punk/garage rock, alternative

     29. Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush the Show || hip-hop

     30. R.E.M: Document || jangle-pop, alternative

1988

• 1. 1. Sonic Youth: Daydream Nation || noise-rock, indie

     2. Pixies: Surfer Rosa || alt-rock

     3. Fugazi: Fugazi (EP) || punk rock/post-hardcore

     4. Ministry: The Land of Rape and Honey || industrial, electro-metal

     5. My Bloody Valentine: Isn't Anything || post-punk, shoegaze

     6. Godflesh: Godflesh (EP) || industrial, sludge metal

     7. Royal Trux: Royal Trux || noise-rock, punk-blues

     8. Jane's Addiction: Nothing's Shocking || hard rock/alternative, psychedelic

     9. Enya: Watermark || ambient-pop, new age

     10. Henry Rollins: Hard Volume || post-hardcore

     11. Rudimentary Peni: Cacophony || post-punk, experimental rock

     12. Foetus: Thaw || industrial rock, experimental

     13. Flaming Lips: Telepathic Surgery (CD version) || psych-rock, indie/alternative

     14. Rapeman: Two Nuns and a Pack Mule || noise-rock/post-hardcore

     15. Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions || hip-hop

     16. NWA: Straight Outta Compton || hip-hop

     17. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Wormed by Leonard || art punk/post-hardcore

     18. Galaxie 500: Today || psych-rock

     19. Metallica: And Justice For All || metal

     20. Sugarcubes: Life's Too Good || post-punk

     21. Cocteau Twins: Blue Bell Knoll || goth rock, dream-pop, post-punk

     22. Mary Margaret O'Hara: Miss America || alt-country, art rock

     23. Lounge Lizards: Voice of Chunk || jazz fusion, third stream, post-minimalism

     24. Michael Shrieve: Stiletto || jazz fusion

     25. Danzig: Danzig || hard rock, goth

     26. Bongwater: Double Bummer || experimental rock, psychedelic

     27. Mudhoney: Superfuzz Bigmuff (EP) || alt-rock/grunge

     28. Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime || hard rock, rock opera

     29. Ed Hall: Albert || noise-rock/post-hardcore

     30. Green River: Rehab Doll || grunge

     31. Fugazi: Margin Walker (EP) || post-hardcore

     32. Butthole Surfers: Hairway to Steven || psych-rock, noise-rock

     33. Dream Syndicate: Ghost Stories || indie rock

     34. Voivod: Dimension Hatross || prog-metal

     35. R.E.M: Green || jangle-pop, alternative

     36. Souled American: Fe || alt-country

     37. L7: L7 || punk rock

1989

• 1. Cows: Daddy Has a Tail || noise-rock, cowpunk

  2. Pixies: Doolittle || alt-rock

  3. Galaxie 500: On Fire || psych-rock/dream pop, slowcore

  4. Laughing Hyenas: You Can't Pray a Lie || punk-blues, noise-rock/post-hardcore

  5. Cop Shoot Cop: Consumer Revolt || industrial rock

  6. Mark Lanegan: The Winding Sheet || blues-rock

  7. Nine Inch Nails: Pretty Hate Machine || electro-industrial

  8. Stone Roses: Stone Roses || indie pop/rock

  9. Godflesh: Streetcleaner || industrial, sludge metal

  10. Cure: Disintegration || goth rock, dream pop

  11. De La Soul: 3 Feet High and Rising || hip-hop

  12. Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique || hip-hop

  13. Ween: God Ween Satan || noise-rock

  14. Fugazi: Repeater || post-hardcore

  15. Hugo Largo: Mettle || dream pop/ethereal wave

  16. Bats: Law of Things || indie pop/rock

  17. Pussy Galore: Dial M for Motherfucker || noise-rock, punk-blues

  18. 808 State: 90 || acid house

  19. Bongwater: Too Much Sleep || experimental/psychedelic rock, lo-fi

  20. Voivod: Nothingface || prog-metal

  21. Bad Religion: No Control || punk-pop

  22. Jesus Lizard: Pure (EP) || industrial, noise-rock/post-hardcore

  23. Camper Van Beethoven: Key Lime Pie || country-rock, indie

  24. The The: Mind Bomb || prog-pop

  25. Tom Petty: Full Moon Fever || heartland rock

  26. Dogbowl: Tit || psych-pop

  27. Boredoms: Soul Discharge || noise-rock

  28. Aerosmith: Pump || hard rock

  29. Jesus & Mary Chain: Automatic || pop-rock

  30. Helios Creed: Super Catholic Finger || psych-rock, noise-rock, industrial

  31. Daniel Lanois: Acadie || art/folk pop

  32. Fugazi: Margin Walker (EP) || post-hardcore

  33. They Might Be Giants: Flood || indie rock

1990

• 1. Royal Trux: Twin Infinitives || experimental/noise-rock/no wave

  2. Primus: Frizzle Fry || funk-metal

  3. Phish: Lawn Boy || prog-rock, jazz-rock, jam band

  4. Daniel Johnston: 1990 || indie folk

  5. Jesus Lizard: Goat || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  6. Ed Hall: Love Poke Here || noise-rock/post-hardcore, punk

  7. John Zorn: Naked City || avant-garde, jazz-rock, no wave, grindcore

  8. Pain Teens: Born In Blood || noise-rock/post-punk, industrial rock

  9. Ozric Tentacles: Erpland || space/psych-rock, progressive

  10. Ween: The Pod || psych-rock, alt-rock/lo-fi

  11. Dwarves: Blood Guts & Pussy (mini) || punk

  12. Marc Ribot: Rootless Cosmopolitans || avant-garde/no wave, jazz-rock

  13. Mazzy Star: She Hangs Brightly || dream pop/psych-rock, alt-country, slowcore

  14. Jesus Lizard: Head || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  15. Ride: Nowhere || shoegaze

  16. Codeine: Frigid Stars || slowcore

  17. Ice Cube: AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted || hip-hop

  18. Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet || hip-hop

  19. Black Crowes: Shake Your Money Maker || blues-rock

  20. Lush: Gala || dream-pop/shoegaze

  21. Silverfish: Fat Axl || punk

  22. Pantera: Cowboys From Hell || thrash-metal, hard rock

  23. Steel Pole Bath Tub: Tulip || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  24. Spongehead: Legitimate Beef || noise-rock/post-hardcore/art-punk

  25. Flaming Lips: In a Priest Driven Ambulance || alt-rock, psych-rock

1991

• 1. My Bloody Valentine: Loveless || shoegaze

  2. Slint: Spiderland || post-rock, emo/post-hardcore

  3. Dogbowl: Nuclear Cyclops Submarine Captain || psych-pop

  4. Type O Negative: Slow Deep and Hard || prog-metal, goth-rock

  5. Oxbow: King of the Jews || noise-rock/post-hardcore, punk blues

  6. Henry Rollins: The End of Silence || post-hardcore, alt-metal

  7. Lida Husik: Bozo || lo-fi/indie folk, dream pop, alt-rock

  8. Slowdive: Just For a Day || dream pop/shoegaze/ethereal wave

  9. Lisa Germano: On the Way Down from the Moon Palace || dream-pop, country-rock

  10. Unsane: Unsane || noise-rock/post-hardcore, sludge metal

  11. Jarboe: Thirteen Masks || experimental rock, neofolk, industrial, darkwave

  12. Cop Shoot Cop: White Noise || industrial rock, noise-rock

  13. Sonny Sharrock: Ask the Ages || avant-garde jazz, post-bop

  14. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Lonelyville || experimental/noise-rock, art punk, lo-fi/indie

  15. Nirvana: Nevermind || grunge

  16. Pearl Jam: Ten || grunge

  17. Mercury Rev: Yerself Is Steam || psych-rock, jam band

  18. Cul de Sac: Ecim || post-rock, psych-rock

  19. Melvins: Bullhead || stoner rock

  20. Fugazi: Steady Diet of Nothing || post-hardcore

  21. Swans: White Light from the Mouth of Infinity || post-punk, goth rock

  22. Steroid Maximus: Quilombo || jazz, avant-garde, industrial

  23. Spiritualized: Lazer Guided Melodies || dream pop, psych-rock

  24. Cypress Hill: Cypress Hill || hip-hop

  25. Hole: Pretty on the Inside || grunge, noise-rock

  26. Godflesh: Pure || industrial sludge metal

  27. White Heaven: Out || heavy psych-rock

  28. Nick Cave: Henry's Dream || punk-blues, folk-rock, goth country

  29. Mudhoney: Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge || grunge, indie rock

  30. Primus: Sailing the Seas of Cheese || funk-metal

  31. Ed Hall: Gloryhole || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  32. Pere Ubu: Apocalypse Now  (live) || post-punk, art rock

  33. Catherine Wheel: Ferment || shoegaze

  34. Primal Scream: Screamadelica || dance-pop, indie, psych-pop

  35. Pavement: Slanted and Enchanted || indie rock

  36. Daniel Johnston: Artistic Vice || indie folk/pop

  37. Drive Like Jehu: Drive Like Jehu || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  38. Girls Against Boys: Tropic of Scorpio || post-hardcore

  39. Paradise Lost: Gothic || death/doom metal

  40. Pixies: Trompe le Monde || alt-rock

  41. Swans: Love of Life || post-punk, goth rock

  42. Sarah McLachlan: Solace || folk-pop

  43. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Blood Sugar Sex Magik || funk-rock

  44. Neil Young: Arc || noise-rock/no wave, jam band

  45. Orbital: Orbital (Green) || techno

  46. Metallica: Black Album || alt-metal

1992

• 1. Red House Painters: Down Colorful Hill || slowcore, folk-rock

  2. Morphine: Good || jazz-rock, blues-rock

  3. Medicine: Shot Forth Self Living || shoegaze, noise-rock

  4. Jesus Lizard: Liar || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  5. Jon Spencer: Jon Spencer Blues Explosion || punk-blues, garage rock

  6. Rage Against the Machine: Rage Against the Machine || metal/hard rock

  7. Earth: Earth 2 || drone, stoner metal

  8. Orb: UFOrb || electronic prog, ambient techno

  9. Slowdive: Souvlaki || dream-pop, shoegaze

  10. Vampire Rodents: Premonition || experimental, industrial metal

  11. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Mother of All Saints || experimental/noise-rock, art punk, lo-fi/indie

  12. Slowdive: Blue Day || shoegaze

  13. Kyuss: Blues for the Red Sun || stoner rock

  14. Dr. Dre: The Chronic || hip-hop

  15. Goats: Tricks of the Shade || hip-hop, rock opera

  16. Jon Spencer: Extra Width || punk-blues, garage/noise-rock

  17. Alice In Chains: Dirt || grunge/alt-metal

  18. Cows: Cunning Stunts || noise-rock, cowpunk

  19. Flaming Lips: Hit to Death in the Future Head || psych-rock, alt-rock

  20. PJ Harvey: Rid of Me || punk-blues, alt-rock

  21. Sonic Youth: Dirty || noise-rock, indie

  22. Lida Husik: Your Bag || lo-fi/indie folk, dream pop, alt-rock

  23. Arrested Development: 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life || hip-hop

  24. Damon & Naomi: More Sad Hits || dream pop, slowcore

  25. Cop Shoot Cop: Ask Questions Later || industrial rock, noise-rock

  26. Pain Teens: Stimulation Festival || post-punk, industrial rock

  27. Scorn: Vae Solis || industrial metal

  28. Fugazi: In On the Kill Taker || post-hardcore

  29. Tom Waits: Bone Machine || blues-rock, dark cabaret/goth-country

  30. Babes In Toyland: Fontanelle || grunge

  31. L7: Bricks are Heavy || grunge, pop-rock

  32. Swirlies: Blender Tongue Audio Baton || indie rock, shoegaze

  33. Lemonheads: It's a Shame About Ray || acoustic rock, power pop

  34. Built To Spill: Ultimate Alternate Wavers || indie rock

  35. Pigface: Fook || industrial rock

  36. Magnetic Fields: House of Tomorrow (EP) || indie pop

  37. Circus Lupus: Super Genius || post-hardcore/noise-rock

  38. Dogbowl: Flan || psych-pop

  39. Dazzling Killmen: Dig Out the Switch || post-hardcore/noise-rock

  40. Royal Trux: Royal Trux || garage rock, punk-blues

1993

• 1. Liz Phair: Exile In Guyville || alternative/indie rock

  2. Red House Painters: Rollercoaster || slowcore, folk-rock

  3. Morphine: Cure for Pain || jazz-rock, blues

  4. Smog: Julius Caesar || lo-fi, indie folk

  5. Stereolab: Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements || shoegaze, prog-pop

  6. Six Finger Satellite: The Pigeon Is the Most Popular Bird || noise-rock/post-hardcore, industrial rock

  7. Vampire Rodents: Lullaby Land || experimental, industrial metal

  8. Tindersticks: Tindersticks || indie rock, chamber-pop

  9. Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream || grunge, dream-pop/psych-rock

  10. Unwound: Fake Train || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  11. Nas: Illmatic || hip-hop

  12. Girls Against Boys: Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby || post-hardcore/noise-rock

  13. Wu Tang Clan: Enter the Wu Tang (36 Chambers) || hip-hop

  14. Neurosis: Enemy of the Sun || prog-metal, post-hardcore, industrial

  15. Mark Lanegan: Whiskey for the Holy Ghost || blues-rock

  16. Pain Teens: Destroy Me Lover || noise-rock/post-punk, industrial

  17. Mazzy Star: So Tonight that I Might See || dream-pop/psych-rock, alt-country, slowcore

  18. Mercury Rev: Boces || psych-rock

  19. Lisa Germano: Happiness (4AD version) || dream pop, chamber-folk

  20. Unsane: Total Destruction || noise-rock/post-hardcore, sludge metal

  21. Nirvana: In Utero || grunge, noise-rock

  22. Mentallo & the Fixer: Revelations 23 || electro-industrial

  23. Breeders: Last Splash || indie rock

  24. Caspar Brotzmann: Koksofen || experimental rock, industrial

  25. KMFDM: Angst || industrial metal, electro

  26. Lida Husik: Return of Red Emma || lo-fi/indie folk, alt-rock

  27. Marilyn Manson: Portrait of an American Family || industrial metal

  28. Bjork: Debut || art pop

  29. Snoop Dogg: Doggystyle || hip-hop

  30. Swervedriver: Mezcal Head || shoegaze, hard rock

  31. Type O Negative: Bloody Kisses || prog-metal, goth rock

  32. Primus: Pork Soda || funk-metal

  33. Trumans Water: Spasm Smash XXXOXOX Ox and Ass || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  34. Elliott Smith: Roman Candle || indie folk

  35. Seefeel: Quique || ambient techno/dub, shoegaze

  36. Ed Hall: Motherscratcher || noise-rock/alternative

  37. Spongehead: Curb Your Dogma || noise-rock/art punk

  38. Henry Rollins: Weight || post-hardcore

  39. Guru: Jazzmatazz || hip-hop/jazz rap

  40. Phish: Hoist || indie, jam band, jazz-rock

  41. Juliana Hatfield: Become What You Are || alt-rock, indie

  42. Afghan Whigs: Gentlemen || grunge/alt-rock

  43. Pavement: Crooked Rain Crooked Rain || indie rock

  44. Belly: Star || dream pop

  45. Frank Black: Frank Black || indie rock

  46. Hammerbox: Numb || grunge/alt-rock

  47. Tori Amos: Under the Pink || art pop, piano rock

  48. Alice In Chains: Jar of Flies (EP) || grunge/acoustic rock

  49. Today Is the Day: Supernova || noise-rock/post-hardcore, sludge metal

  50. Brainiac: Smack Bunny Baby || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  51. Tool: Undertow || alt-metal

  52. Scorn: Colossus || industrial metal

1994

• 1. Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral || industrial metal

  2. Magnetic Fields: Charm of the Highway Strip || chamber/synth-pop, alt-country

  3. Rodan: Misty || post-rock, noise-rock/post-hardcore

  4. Fear Factory: Demanufacture || industrial metal

  5. Bardo Pond: Bufo Alvarius || psych-rock

  6. Lisa Germano: Geek the Girl || dream pop, slowcore

  7. Today Is the Day: Willpower || noise-rock/post-hardcore, sludge metal

  8. Azonic: Halo || drone/ambient, psych-rock

  9. Portishead: Dummy || trip-hop, jazz-pop

  10. Drive Like Jehu: Yank Crime || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  11. Soundgarden: Superunknown || grunge

  12. Lycia: Burning Circle and Then Dust || goth rock

  13. Skylab: #1 || trip-hop/downtempo, ambient, electronic psych

  14. Bark Psychosis: Hex || post-rock, slowcore

  15. Shellac: At Action Park || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  16. Korn: Korn || nu metal

  17. Pearl Jam: Vitalogy || grunge/alt-rock

  18. Tortoise: Tortoise || post-rock

  19. Stereolab: Mars Audiac Quintet || shoegaze/dream pop, prog-pop

  20. Sky Cries Mary: This Timeless Turning || psych-rock

  21. Low: I Could Live in Hope || slowcore

  22. Beck: Mellow Gold || indie/alternative

  23. Magnetic Fields: Holiday || synth-pop

  24. Kyuss: Welcome to Sky Valley || alt-rock/stoner

  25. Green Day: Dookie || pop-punk/alt-rock

  26. Soul Coughing: Ruby Vroom || jazz-rock, alt-rock, experimental

  27. Brainiac: Bonsai Superstar || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  28. Denison / Kimball Trio: Walls in the City || jazz-rock, avant-garde

  29. Jon Spencer: Orange || punk-blues, garage rock, noise-rock

  30. Cherubs: Heroin Man || noise-rock/post-hardcore, sludge

  31. Common Sense: Resurrection || hip-hop

  32. Laughing Hyenas: Hard Times || punk-blues, noise-rock/post-hardcore

  33. Jeff Buckley: Grace || alt-rock

  34. Thinking Fellers Union Local 282: Strangers From the Universe || art punk/experimental rock

  35. Bedhead: What Fun Life Was || slowcore

  36. Cows: Orphan's Tragedy || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  37. Jesus Lizard: Down || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  38. Dazzling Killmen: Face of Collapse || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  39. Neil Young: Sleeps with Angels || folk-rock, garage rock

  40. Boredoms: Chocolate Synthesizer || noise-rock

  41. Medeski, Martin & Wood: Friday Afternoon in the Universe || jazz fusion

  42. R.E.M: Monster || jangle-pop, alternative

1995

1. Fugazi: Red Medicine || post-hardcore

2. Foetus: Gash || industrial rock

3. Jarboe: Sacrificial Cake || goth rock, chamber-folk

4. Polvo: Exploded Drawing || indie rock, emo/post-hardcore

5. Sepultura: Roots || nu metal

6. 16 Horsepower: Sackcloth 'n' Ashes || goth/alt-country

7. Alanis Morissette: Jagged Little Pill || pop-rock, alternative

8. Morphine: Yes || jazz-rock, blues-rock

9. Six Finger Satellite: Severe Exposure || post-hardcore, industrial rock

10. Don Caballero: 2 || post-rock, post-hardcore

11. U.S. Maple: Long Hair in Three Stages || noise-rock/post-hardcore

12. Cul de Sac: China Gate || post-rock, psych-rock

13. Roy Montgomery: Temple IV || post-rock, shoegaze/ambient/new age

14. Unwound: Future of What || noise-rock/post-hardcore

15. Magnetic Fields: Get Lost || indie pop

16. My Dying Bride: The Angel and the Dark River || doom/goth metal

17. Fugees: The Score || hip-hop

18. Geraldine Fibbers: Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home || alt-country/rock

19. Smog: Wild Love || lo-fi/indie rock

20. Primus: Tales From the Punchbowl || funk-metal

21. 5ive Style: 5ive Style || post-rock

22. Roy Montgomery: Scenes From the South Island || post-rock, shoegaze/ambient/new age

23. Lida Husik: Joyride || indie folk, jangle pop, alt-rock

24. KMFDM: Nihil || industrial metal, electro

25. Garbage: Garbage || indie pop, grunge

26. Enya: Memory of Trees || ambient pop, new age

27. Ed Hall: La La Land || noise-rock/post-hardcore

28. Smashing Pumpkins: Mellon Collie || grunge, dream pop

29. Vampire Rodents: Clockseed || experimental, industrial metal

30. Sonic Youth: Washing Machine || noise-rock, indie

31. Eyehategod: Dopesick || stoner/hard rock, metal

32. Spiritualized: Pure Phase || dream pop, psych-rock

33. Oxbow: Let Me Be a Woman || experimental/noise-rock, post-hardcore

1996

• 1. Tortoise: Millions Now Living Will Never Die || post-rock/progressive, minimalism

  2. Lisa Germano: Excerpts from a Love Circus || dream-pop, indie folk

  3. Swans: Soundtracks for the Blind || post-rock, goth, ambient

  4. Neurosis: Through Silver in Blood || prog-metal, sludge, industrial

  5. Belle & Sebastian: If You're Feeling Sinister || chamber folk, dream pop

  6. Vas Deferens Organization & Brad Laner: Transcontinental Conspiracy || psych-rock, electronic

  7. Laika: Sounds of the Satellites || trip-hop, dream pop/psych-rock

  8. DJ Shadow: Endtroducing || instrumental hip-hop

  9. Vas Deferens Organization: Saturation || experimental, psych-rock

  10. Today Is the Day: Today Is the Day || noise-rock/post-hardcore, sludge metal, industrial

  11. Ghost: Lama Rabi Rabi || psychedelic folk/rock

  12. Dirty Three: Horse Stories || post-rock, instrumental slowcore

  13. Tool: Aenima || alt-metal

  14. Stereolab: Emperor Tomato Ketchup || prog-pop, indietronica

  15. Belle & Sebastian: Tigermilk || chamber-folk, dream-pop

  16. Unwound: Repetition || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  17. Modest Mouse: This Is a Long Drive || midwest emo, indie rock

  18. Bowery Electric: Beat || shoegaze, trip-hop, post-rock

  19. Dr. Octagon: Dr. Octagon || hip-hop

  20. Bardo Pond: Amanita || psych-rock

  21. Screaming Trees: Dust || grunge/alt-rock, psychedelic

  22. Orbital: In Sides || ambient techno, IDM

  23. Fishmans: Long Season || prog-pop

  24. Soul Coughing: Irresistible Bliss || jazz-rock, alt-rock

  25. Smog: Red Apple Falls || folk-rock, slowcore

  26. Fatboy Slim: Better Living Through Chemistry || big beat, acid breaks/house

  27. Cibo Matto: Viva La Woman || trip-hop, art pop

  28. Brian Jonestown Massacre: Thank God for Mental Illness || country/folk-rock, psychedelic, indie

  29. Brainiac: Hissing Prigs in Static Couture || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  30. Lamb: Lamb || trip-hop

1997

• 1. Built To Spill: Perfect From Now On || indie rock/midwest emo, post-rock

  2. Amon Tobin: Bricolage || jazzstep, IDM/downtempo

  3. Storm & Stress: Storm & Stress || experimental/math rock

  4. Acid Mothers Temple: Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso UFO || psych-rock, jam band, noise-rock

  5. Laddio Bolocko: Strange Warmings || noise-rock/post-hardcore, post-rock

  6. Radiohead: OK Computer || indie/art rock

  7. Today Is the Day: Temple of the Morning Star || avant-garde metal

  8. Godspeed You Black Emperor: F♯A♯∞ || post-rock

  9. Yo La Tengo: I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One || dream pop, indie rock

  10. Hash Jar Tempo: Well Oiled || instrumental post-rock/drone, psychedelic

  11. Geraldine Fibbers: Butch || alt-country/rock

  12. Bjork: Homogenic || art pop

  13. Modest Mouse: Lonesome Crowded West || midwest emo, indie rock

  14. Electric Wizard: Come My Fanatics || stoner metal

  15. Edith Frost: Calling Over Time || alt-country, indie folk, slowcore, dream pop

  16. Unwound: Challenge for a Civilized Society || noise-rock/post-hardcore

  17. Oxbow: Serenade In Red || experimental/noise-rock, punk blues/post-hardcore

  18. Spiritualized: Ladies and Gentlemen || dream-pop, psych-rock

  19. Bardo Pond: Lapsed || psych-rock

  20. Chumbawumba: Tubthumper || dance-pop

  21. Ladybug Transistor: Beverley Atonale || indie pop/rock

1998

• 1. Tortoise: TNT || post-rock, jazz fusion, instrumental

  2. Eels: Electro-Shock Blues || indie pop/folk

  3. Neutral Milk Hotel: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea || indie folk/rock

  4. Add N To (X): On the Wires of Our Nerves || electronic prog, electroclash

  5. Six Organs of Admittance: Six Organs of Admittance || prog-folk, ambient

  6. Tribes of Neurot & Walking Timebomb: Static Migration || post-rock, industrial, drone, ambient

  7. Lisa Germano: Slide || dream pop, chamber folk

  8. Mercury Rev: Deserter's Songs || psych-pop

  9. Lauryn Hill: The Miseducation || neo-soul, R&B, hip-hop

  10. Edith Frost: Telescopic || alt-country, dream pop/psychedelic folk, slowcore

  11. Dalek: Negro Necro Neckros || hip-hop, industrial

  12. Air: Moon Safari || downtempo, ambient pop

  13. Duster: Stratosphere || lofi/indie, slowcore, emo/post-hardcore

  14. Massive Attack: Mezzanine || trip-hop

  15. Built to Spill: Keep It Like a Secret || indie rock

  16. Black Tape For a Blue Girl: As One Aflame Laid Bare by Desire || goth

  17. Meshuggah: Chaosphere || technical thrash-metal/djent

  18. Gastr Del Sol: Camofleur || experimental/post-rock, chamber folk

  19. Dirty Three: Ocean Songs || post-rock, instrumental slowcore

  20. Boards of Canada: Music Has the Right to Children || IDM/downtempo

  21. Soul Coughing: El Oso || alt-rock, indie rock

  22. Fatboy Slim: You've Come a Long Way Baby || big beat, acid breaks

  23. Arab On Radar: Rough Day at the Orifice || post-hardcore, no wave

  24. Gorguts: Obscura || technical death metal

  25. Don Caballero: What Burns Never Returns || post-rock, post-hardcore

  26. Mark Lanegan: Scraps at Midnight || blues/folk-rock, alt-rock

1999

• 1. Boredoms: Vision Creation Newsun || psych-rock, progressive

  2. Sigur Ros: Ágætis byrjun || post-rock

  3. Red Stars Theory: Life in a Bubble Can Be Beautiful || post-rock, slowcore

  4. Hash Jar Tempo: Under Glass || drone/post-rock, psychedelic

  5. Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile || industrial metal, ambient

  6. Mos Def: Black On Both Sides || hip-hop

  7. Sleep: Jerusalem / Dopesmoker || stoner/doom/drone metal

  8. Low: Secret Name || slowcore

  9. Papa M: Live From a Shark's Cage || post-rock, instrumental slowcore, post-minimalism

  10. Yume Bitsu: Yume Bitsu || post-rock/drone, shoegaze

  11. Magnetic Fields: 69 Love Songs || indie pop

  12. Arab On Radar: Soak the Saddle || post-hardcore, noise-rock/no wave

  13. 5ive Style: Miniature Portraits || post-rock

  14. Eminem: Slim Shady LP || hardcore hip-hop

  15. Acid Mothers Temple: Pataphisical Freak Out Mu || psych-rock, jam band

  16. Slipknot: Slipknot || nu metal

  17. Prince Paul: A Prince Among Thieves || hip-hop

  18. Roy Montgomery: 324 E. 13th Street #7 || psych-folk

  19. Mindless Self Indulgence: Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy || electroclash/industrial rock, nu metal

  20. U.S. Maple: Talker || noise-rock/post-hardcore

2000

• 1. Animal Collective: Spirit They're Gone Spirit They've Vanished || neo-psychedelic, experimental rock/noise pop

  2. Eminem: Marshall Mathers LP || hardcore hip-hop

  3. Spring Heel Jack: Disappeared || electronic/drum and bass, avant-garde/nu jazz

  4. Godspeed You Black Emperor: Lift Yr Skinny Fists || post-rock

  5. Sunn O))): Flight of the Behemoth || drone-metal, post-rock

  6. Outkast: Stankonia || hip-hop, funk

  7. Low: Things We Lost in the Fire || slowcore

  8. Anaal Nathrakh: The Codex Necro || black metal, grindcore

  9. Electric Wizard: Dopethrone || doom/stoner metal

  10. Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious || garage-rock, dance-punk

  11. Deftones: White Pony || alternative/nu metal

  12. Morphine: The Night || jazz/blues-rock

  13. Cursive: Domestica || emo/post-hardcore

  14. Aesop Rock: Float || hip-hop 

  15. Bohren & der Club of Gore: Sunset Mission || dark jazz

  16. Evanescence: Origin || alt-metal, goth, industrial

  17. David Grubbs: The Spectrum Between || folk-rock

  18. Lou Reed: Ecstasy || art rock

2001

• 1. cLOUDDEAD: cLOUDDEAD || experimental hip-hop, ambient

  2. Toby Dammit: Top Dollar || electro

  3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Yeah Yeah Yeahs (EP) || garage rock

  4. Xiu Xiu: Knife Play || art pop, experimental rock

  5. Cannibal Ox: The Cold Vein || experimental hip-hop

  6. Solex: Low Kick and Hard Bop || indietronica, art pop

  7. Strokes: Is This It || indie pop, garage rock

  8. Khanate: Khanate || drone metal

  9. Notwist: Neon Golden || indie

  10. Tool: Lateralus || prog/alt-metal

  11. System of a Down: Toxicity || nu metal

  12. Converge: Jane Doe || metalcore

  13. Unwound: Leaves Turn Inside You || indie rock, post-hardcore

  14. Cult of Luna: Cult of Luna || post-metal, sludge

  15. Angels of Light: How I Loved You || country-rock, goth

  16. Seconds: Y || post-punk/new wave, post-hardcore/noise-rock

  17. Spring Heel Jack: Masses || electronic, avant-garde jazz

  18. Venetian Snares: Doll Doll Doll || breakcore/drum and bass, post-industrial

  19. Matmos: A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure || glitch, IDM, electroacoustic

  20. Lightning Bolt: Ride the Skies || noise-rock, math/brutal prog, instrumental

  21. White Stripes: White Blood Cells || garage/indie rock

  22. Wolf Eyes: Dread || experimental/noise

  23. Puppetina: Piewacket || experimental, folk

2002

• 1. To Live and Shave in LA: The Wigmaker in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg || noise/experimental

  2. Wilco: Yankee Hotel Foxtrot || indie pop, art rock

  3. Black Dice: Beaches and Canyons || neo-psychedelic, electronic, experimental

  4. Acid Mothers Temple: Electric Heavyland || psych-rock, jam band, noise-rock

  5. Califone: Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People || avant-folk, alt-country, psychedelic/trip-hop

  6. Low: Trust || slowcore

  7. Today Is the Day: Sadness Will Prevail || avant-garde metal, noise/experimental rock

  8. Books: Thought For Food || folktronica, psych-folk

  9. Interpol: Turn On the Bright Lights || post-punk revival, indie rock

  10. Animal Collective: Here Comes the Indian (aka Ark) || psych-rock, avant-garde, electronic fusion

  11. Tom Waits: Alice || piano blues, dark cabaret

  12. Godspeed You Black Emperor: Yanqui UXO || post-rock

  13. Add N To (X): Loud Like Nature || electroclash, synth-punk

  14. Cat Power: You Are Free || indie folk

  15. Agalloch: The Mantle || folk-metal

  16. Neko Case: Blacklisted || alt-country

  17. Múm: Finally We Are No One || indietronica

  18. Spring Heel Jack: Amassed || avant-garde jazz, electronic

  19. Nile: In Their Darkened Shrines || metal

  20. Boards of Canada: Geogaddi || IDM/downtempo

  21. Hunches: Yes No Shut It || garage/noise-rock, punk blues

  22. Acid Mothers Temple: Univers zen ou de zéro à zéro || psych-rock, jam band, experimental rock

  23. Sigur Ros: () || post-rock

  24. Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots || neo-psychedelia/hypnagogic pop

  25. Queens of the Stone Age: Songs for the Deaf || alt-rock/stoner

  26. Nels Cline: Instrumentals || avant-garde jazz/fusion

2003

• 1. Books: The Lemon of Pink || folktronica, sound collage

  2. Fiery Furnaces: Gallowsbird's Bark || indie rock, psych-rock

  3. Ralph Carney: This Is! || avant-garde jazz, experimental

  4. M83: Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts || electronic prog, shoegaze

  5. Dizzee Rascal: Boy in Da Corner || grime, UK hip-hop

  6. Broadcast: Haha Sound || art pop, psych/dream-pop

  7. Xiu Xiu: A Promise || art pop, experimental

  8. Pelican: Australasia || post-metal, sludge 

  9. Firewater: Man on the Burning Tightrope || art rock

  10. Cursive: The Ugly Organ || emo/post-hardcore

  11. Ponys: Laced with Romance || garage rock

  12. Boris: Feedbacker || drone/post-metal

  13. Pelican: Pelican (EP) || post-metal, sludge

  14. Rapture: Echoes || dance/post-punk revival

  15. Locust: Plague Soundscapes || noise-rock, metal/sasscore

2004

• 1. Meshuggah: I (EP) || progressive metal/djent

  2. Pan Sonic: Kesto (234.48:4) || post-industrial/electronic, experimental/power noise, ambient

  3. Orthrelm: OV || avant-garde metal, minimalism

  4. Arcade Fire: Funeral || chamber-pop, indie rock

  5. Dalek: Absence || industrial hip-hop

  6. Fiery Furnaces: Blueberry Boat || art-pop

  7. cLOUDDEAD: Ten || experimental hip-hop, indietronica

  8. Kanye West: College Dropout || hip-hop

  9. Joanna Newsom: Milk-Eyed Mender || chamber-folk

  10. Black Dice: Creature Comforts || neo-psychedelic, electronic, experimental

  11. Liars: Drum's Not Dead || indie/art rock

  12. Madvillain: Madvillainy || hip-hop

  13. Go Team: Thunder, Lightning, Strike || indietronica

  14. Boredoms: Seadrum / House of Sun || psych-rock, ambient/drone, hindustani

  15. Mastodon: Leviathan || prog-metal

  16. Isis: Panopticon || post-metal

  17. TV On the Radio: Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes || indie pop, electro-soul

  18. System of a Down: Mezmerize || metal

  19. Green Day: American Idiot || punk-pop, rock opera

  20. Das Oath: Das Oath || powerviolence/thrashcore

  21. Jesu: Heart Ache || post-metal, industrial, sludge

  22. Shit & Shine: You're Lucky to Have Friends Like Us || post-industrial, noise-rock, experimental

  23. Animal Collective: Sung Tongs || neo-psychedelia, avant-folk

2005

• 1. Fiery Furnaces: Rehearsing My Choir || art pop/indie, rock opera

  2. Sufjan Stevens: Illinoise || prog-pop, chamber folk

  3. Shit & Shine: Ladybird || post-industrial, noise-rock/sludge metal, psych-rock, sound collage

  4. Black Dice: Broken Ear Record || neo-psychedelic, electronic, noise/experimental

  5. Mars Volta: Frances the Mute || prog-rock

  6. Hella: Church Gone Wild / Chirpin Hard || math rock, electronic fusion, avant-garde

  7. Dalek: Untitled || symphonic hip-hop, ambient, industrial

  8. Acid Mothers Temple: Iao Chant From the Cosmic Inferno || psych-rock

  9. Kanye West: Late Registration || hip-hop

  10. Xiu Xiu: La Foret || post-industrial, avant-garde, indie folk

  11. Eels: Blinking Lights and Other Revelations || indie pop

  12. Andrew Bird: The Mysterious Production of Eggs || indie folk, chamber pop

  13. Sunn O))): Black One || drone-metal

  14. Gojira: From Mars to Sirius || death metal, progressive

  15. J Dilla: Donuts || instrumental hip-hop

2006

• 1. Shit & Shine: Jealous of Shit & Shine || post-industrial, noise-rock/sludge metal, avant-garde

  2. Joanna Newsom: Ys || chamber-folk, prog-folk

  3. TV On the Radio: Return to Cookie Mountain || indie pop, electro-soul

  4. Fiery Furnaces: Bitter Tea || art/indie pop, neo-psychedelic

  5. Cult of Luna: Somewhere Along the Highway || post-metal

  6. Subtle: For Hero: For Fool || experimental hip-hop, indie rock

  7. James Holden: The Idiots Are Winning || minimal techno/IDM

  8. Shit & Shine: Toilet Door Tits (mini) || post-industrial/noise-rock, sludge metal

  9. Fucked Up: Hidden World || post-hardcore

  10. Built to Spill: You In Reverse || indie rock

  11. Boxhead Ensemble: Nocturnes || post-rock, ambient

2007

• 1. Burning Star Core: Operator Dead Post Abandoned || drone/noise, neo-psychedelic

  2. Panda Bear: Person Pitch || ambient-pop, electronic fusion

  3. Have a Nice Life: Deathconsciousness || post-industrial, goth, post-punk/shoegaze, slowcore

  4. Battles: Mirrored || math-rock, prog-rock

  5. Nick Cave: Grinderman || garage rock, punk-blues

  6. Holy Fuck: LP || indietronica, krautrock

  7. LCD Soundsystem: Sound of Silver || dance-punk

  8. Baroness: Red Album || prog-metal

  9. Deerhunter: Cryptograms || neo-psychedelia/shoegaze, indie rock

  10. Between the Buried & Me: Colors || prog-metal

  11. Vampire Weekend: Vampire Weekend || indie pop

2008

• 1. Juana Molina: Un Día || folktronica, art-pop

  2. Midori: Hello Everyone Nice to Meet You We Are Midori || art punk, noisecore, j-pop, jazz fusion

  3. Vivian Girls: Vivian Girls (mini) || punk-pop, garage/noise-rock

  4. Dodos: Visiter || indie rock, psychedelic folk

  5. Blackie: Wilderness of North America || industrial/experimental hip-hop

  6. Sun Araw: Beach Head || neo-psychedelic, drone/ambient

  7. Micachu: Jewellery || indie/art rock

  8. Cut Copy: In Ghost Colours || electropop/new rave, neo-psychedelia

  9. Acid Mothers Temple: Journey Into the Cosmic Inferno || psych-rock, prog-rock, jam band

2009

• 1. Dan Deacon: Bromst || indietronica, neo-psychedelia

  2. Mi Ami: Watersports || noise-rock/no wave

  3. Antlers: Hospice || indie rock, rock opera

  4. These New Puritans: Hidden || post-punk, art rock

  5. Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport || psychedelic, drone, electronic prog

  6. Shit & Shine: 229-2299 Girls Against Shit || post-industrial, noise-rock, psych-rock/avant-garde

  7. Blues Control: Local Flavor || psych-rock, drone

  8. Yoga: Megafauna || dark ambient, drone, lo-fi, black metal, psychedelic

  9. Black Meteoric Star: Black Meteoric Star || acid techno

2010

• 1. Joanna Newsom: Have One On Me || progressive folk, chamber folk

  2. Janelle Monae: The ArchAndroid || contemporary R&B, progressive/art pop, neo-soul, funk

  3. Kanye West: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy || pop-rap

  4. Titus Andronicus: The Monitor || indie rock, midwest emo/post-hardcore, rock opera

  5. Soft Moon: Soft Moon || post-punk, synth-punk, goth, electro-industrial

  6. Grimes: Geidi Primes || ethereal wave, indietronica/synth-pop, neo-psychedelic

  7. Deerhunter: Halcyon Digest || indie rock, neo-psychedelic/dream pop

  8. M.I.A: Maya || industrial hip-hop, electropop/deconstructed club

  9. Big Boi: Sir Lucious Left Foot || hip-hop

  10. Midori: Shinsekai || art punk, noisecore, j-pop, jazz fusion

  11. Yellow Swans: Going Places || noise, drone

  12. Daughters: Daughters || noise-rock/post-hardcore, art punk

  13. James Blake: James Blake || art pop, alternative R&B, electronic

  14. Purling Hiss: Public Service Announcement || lo-fi, psych-rock

  15. Purling Hiss: Hissteria || lo-fi, garage/noise-rock, psych-rock

2011

1. Giles Corey: Giles Corey || slowcore, dark/avant-folk

2. Julia Holter: Tragedy || experimental, ambient-pop

3. Peste Noire: L'ordure à L'état pur || black metal, folk-metal

4. Death Grips: Exmilitary || industrial hip-hop

5. Andy Stott: Passed Me By || dub/ambient techno

6. Men: Leave Home || noise-rock/post-hardcore, garage punk

7. Julianna Barwick: The Magic Place || ambient, new age

8. War On Drugs: Slave Ambient || indie, folk-rock

9. Macintosh Plus: Floral Shoppe || vaporwave

10. James Ferraro: Far Side Virtual || vaporwave, MIDI/sequencer

11. Weyes Blood: The Outside Room || psychedelic folk, ethereal wave

12. Fucked Up: David Comes to Life || post-hardcore, rock opera