April 14th, 2008
14. Marshall Crenshaw, Marshall Crenshaw (1982)
After kicking around New York as a songwriter and Beatlemania cast member, Marshall Crenshaw kept his Lennon glasses on and became guitar-pop's brightest hope with the release of his 1982 debut. Steeped in reverb and cooing background harmonies, Marshall Crenshaw was a throwback to doo-wop and mid-'60s West Coast pop, though songs like "Cynical Girl" and "I'll Do Anything" also had enough post-new-wave edge to keep any fan of Talking Heads and The B-52s happy. Crenshaw's second album, Field Day, was almost as good, in spite of the heavy-footed Steve Lillywhite production, but the albums that followed over the next 25 years have largely had one good song surrounded by a lot of filler—just like the bands Crenshaw loves.
15. Boston, Boston (1976)
Recorded in a basement by a band that preferred the confines of home studios to smoky nightclubs and concert halls, Boston's debut album produced a string of album-rock hits: "More Than A Feeling," "Hitch A Ride," "Rock And Roll Band," "Peace Of Mind," and so on. According to guitarist/engineering wizard Tom Scholz, Boston's label released the 1978 follow-up album Don't Look Back before he'd gotten the sound just as he wanted, so in the years since, Scholz essentially stepped away from the hitmaking game, periodically re-appearing with another Boston album that nobody cared about.
16. Wu-Tang Clan, Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
It's hard to overstate the importance and influence of Wu-Tang Clan's iconic 1993 debut Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) on hip-hop and pop music as a whole. Offering infinitely more than just a radically new sound and image, Wu-Tang Clan gave listeners an entire B-movie world to get lost in, complete with an elaborate kung-fu-based mythology and a sprawling cast of larger-than-life characters, from deranged court jester Ol' Dirty Bastard to charismatic anti-hero Method Man to enigmatic mastermind RZA. The aftershocks of Enter The Wu-Tang's revolutionary fusion of blaxploitation atmospherics, gutbucket soul, and kung-fu exoticism can be felt throughout hip-hop even today, in the work of acts as dissimilar as Kanye West, Mobb Deep, and MF Doom. Wu-Tang Clan's subsequent albums have been full of great moments, from the messy, sprawling, and overstuffed Wu-Tang Forever to its ODB-free last album, 8 Diagrams, but nothing the group has done since has come close to recreating the wall-to-wall greatness of its legendary debut.
17. The Sugarcubes, Life's Too Good (1988)
The Sugarcubes—better known as the Icelandic band that launched Björk and left a bunch of other people in the dust—started off remarkably strong with Life's Too Good, introducing the singer's incredible voice and pixie-like weirdness to the world via "Birthday" and "Deus." They stuck around for two more albums before Björk ascended, but neither came close to the goodness of Life's Too Good.
18. Supergrass, I Should Coco (1995)
Supergrass is still around and making excellent albums—in fact, it's perhaps the most consistent outfit born of the mid-'90s Britpop boom. But something about its 1995 debut, I Should Coco, sets it above the rest. Rarely has such deft, immaculate, and even subtle songcraft been wed to an all-out frenzy of pure punk fury. Zooming along breathlessly, the then-teen trio mashed an instinctive love of David Bowie, The Jam, and Buzzcocks and into a shaggy, scruffy ball of fun that celebrates everything from juvenile delinquency to, um, adult delinquency. As solid as Supergrass' subsequent output has been, it has definitely evened out as the band has grown older and wiser. But I Should Coco stands as one of the great spontaneous eruptions of unfettered youth in pop history.
19. Snoop Doggy Dogg, Doggystyle (1993)
Snoop's career-making guest appearances on Dr. Dre's The Chronic worked hip-hop heads into such a fever of excitement and anticipation over his solo debut that he probably could have released an album of didgeridoo solos and still gone platinum. When Snoop's smash-hit debut Doggystyle finally hit shelves after numerous delays, it almost lived up to the hype. Snoop can always be counted on for great singles, but Doggystyle boasts a cohesion and consistency otherwise missing from the marijuana enthusiast's ferociously uneven oeuvre, thanks to Dr. Dre's fussily perfectionist production and a supporting cast of Death Row role-players (Daz, Kurupt, Lady Of Rage, Nate Dogg) who thrived in guest spots, but floundered in the harsh glare of the solo spotlight. In the winter of 1993, Doggystyle brought a tantalizing taste of the eternal Southern California summer to a thankful hip-hop nation.
20. Sunny Day Real Estate, Diary (1994)
In a way, Sunny Day Real Estate never got a proper chance to top its 1994 debut, Diary, which pretty much defined emo at the time. But instead of being whiny, Diary is dramatic, dynamic, and passionately introspective, and though it isn't head and shoulders above the rest of the group's catalog, it's still the clear winner. But that's hardly a surprise, since the Seattle quartet was imploding while recording the 1995 follow-up LP2, an album they didn't bother to name or design artwork for. A reunited SDRE offered a pair of albums, though neither quite hit the mark: 1998's How It Feels To Be Something On is unfocused and occasionally proggy (and not in the good way), while 2000's The Rising Tide wins points for combining disparate elements: Eastern-inspired drones, vocoder, and pop influences. But neither is ultimately as satisfying as Diary.
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