Plug's 50 albums you should own

[Plugpoint]

This is gonna be a bit different to most of the previous lists cos a lot of people who frequent this forum seem to listen to a lot more metal than me lol.

I'm not too good at describing albums so I'm posting links to my favourite tracks along with each one. Might get around to adding descriptions for the last 20 at some point but with exams coming up it seems unlikely. Hope you all like it :)

 

1. mewithoutYou - Catch For Us The Foxes

I'm a massive, massive fan of mwY and I could've picked any of their albums, but this one's probably my favourite. I don't even know how to describe what genre it falls into - maybe post-hardcore, maybe indie - but Aaron Weiss' spoken lyrics are stunning. Normally religious lyrics have me reaching for the skip button but his lyrics are so intense that you don't need to be religious in the slightest to appreciate them.

Favourite song:

 

2. Paramore - brand new eyes

I played this to death when it first came out because I wasn't too keen on my friends and evidently nor was Hayley. Two years and several hundred plays later I've still not got bored of it. This would be placed a bit lower down but when this was released I went and had a look at what bands Paramore listen to, and they introduced me to the majority of the bands on this list.

Favourite song:

 

3. Death Cab For Cutie - Plans

Other people might prefer Transatlanticism but this is the one that first got me into Death Cab. It reminds me of summer cos it's so chilled.

Favourite song: Brothers On A Hotel Bed

 

4. Radiohead - Kid A

Asking someone to pick their favourite Radiohead album is like asking a parent to pick their favourite child. Whilst I love OK Computer and In Rainbows (and all their other albums) this just edges it. If they play a gig near me this year my life will be complete.

Favourite song:

 

5. The National - High Violet

Their singer's so miserable, but in a good way. This was my favourite album of 2010 by a long shot and I still love it. If you like depressing indie you'll love this album.

Favourite song:

 

6. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity

Clarity's very different from most of Jimmy Eat World's albums, but it's a definite fan favourite. I was lucky enough to get to see them play this album (and Bleed American) start-to-finish last summer and it's even better live than it is on record. Just Watch The Fireworks gives me chills every time I hear it.

Favourite song:

 

7. The Get Up Kids - Something To Write Home About

STWHA is arguably the best and most influential emo album of all time. And not the Daily Mail "depressed kids wearing eyeliner" emo - this is emo music how it was meant to be. This album has inspired pretty much every punk/emo album released in the last ten years.

Favourite song:

 

8. Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Conor Oberst's released a lot of great albums, most of which have been under his Bright Eyes moniker, and I'd say this is his finest piece of work to date. You've probably heard First Day Of My Life before, especially if you live in the UK cos it was in the Halifax adverts (I think?) not too long ago. If you like this then I'd also recommend Fevers & Mirrors.

Favourite song:

 

9. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

There's not much I could say about this album that hasn't already been said. Morrissey's lyrics are, of course, brilliant, and intertwine perfectly with Johnny Marr's guitar hooks. Plus I'd say the opening line of Bigmouth Strikes Again (Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking when I said I'd like to smash every tooth in your head/Oh sweetness, sweetness I was only joking when I said by rights you should be bludgeoned in your bed) has to be one of the greatest opening lines of all time.

Favourite song: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

 

10. Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

Every Brand New album's different but this is probably their most mature one. I don't really know how else to describe this album haha.

Favourite song:

(at 3:15 in this link Vince, the guitarist on the right, does something pretty special - worth a watch just for that. Album version of the song

)

 

11. Paper Route - Absence

Paper Route are relatively unheard of, but I think they're great. They mix electronic bits into their music so if you like MuteMath or The Postal Service chances are you'll like these.

Favourite song: Enemy Among Us (couldn't find a decent YouTube clip so I've linked to a sound-only version)

 

12. Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary

If you think emo music consists of bands like My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy, give this a spin. If this was released now I don't know what genre it'd fall into cos bands like that have changed (and in my opinion ruined) emo. Like The Get Up Kids, this band has influenced every punk/emo album from the last decade. Plus Nate, their bassist, went on to join Foo Fighters.

Favourite song:

 

13. blink-182 - blink-182

If you haven't already listened to this album I don't know what to say. The best album by one of the best bands of the last decade. Plus they're one of the few bands who didn't get worse after reforming.

Favourite song:

 

14. The Beatles - Rubber Soul

Halfway between their early rock'n'roll stuff and their later more experimental sound, this is the perfect Beatles album. It was a toss-up between this and Revolver, but Rubber Soul includes In My Life, which I consider to be the greatest Beatles song of all time.

Favourite song:

 

15. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

This was one of the first albums I ever fell in love with. 12 years on, it's still one of my favourite albums. Every last one of Eminem's career highlights is on this album: from the gloom of Stan (which I consider to be one of the best songs of all time) and The Way I Am to the more upbeat The Real Slim Shady. After waiting for over half my life I finally got to see Eminem last summer, and he was so good I couldn't talk about anything else for a week. A true legend.

Favourite track:

 

16. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

I can't believe Justin Vernon locked himself in a cabin in Wisconsin and recorded something this beautiful. Every track is superb. I saw them in November and had goosebumps for the entire hour and a half, so if you like them I'd recommend seeing them. Going to pick a favourite track that isn't Skinny Love...

Favourite song:

 

17. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

A concept album about Anne Frank doesn't sound like most peoples cup of tea but this is sublime. Aeroplane's kinda folky/indie, and so I can totally see why it wasn't that big at the time, but it's influenced everyone from Brand New to mewithoutYou.

Favourite track:

 

18. The Strokes - Is This It

Simply the best indie album ever recorded. And it sounds so effortless.

Favourite track:

 

19. Descendents - Everything Sucks

I'm not the sort of person to listen to this type of punk music, but Descendents are the best in their genre and easily accessible to people who listen to milder music. I get the impression more people like Milo Goes To College, which is a good album, but I personally prefer Everything Sucks.

Favourite song:

 

20. The Libertines - The Libertines

Forget all of Pete's media attention - this is one of the best British albums released in the last decade. I went to one of Gary's DJ sets last year and he left the DJ booth to dance with us for a good half hour despite my friend and I being off our faces, and he said they weren't reforming which made me sad. And we went to one of Carl's DJ sets about a year ago and he kissed us haha. They're so nice. Anyway, I love this album.

Favourite song:

 

21. Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?

My earliest memory is of sitting in the car with my dad aged about 3, singing at the top of my lungs to Roll With It. Every song on this album is the soundtrack to memories from different parts of my life and, although after about 20 years I can't help but skip Oasis songs when they come on my iPod, this is still one of my favourite albums.

Favourite track: Champagne Supernova

 

22. Viva Brother - Famous First Words

Oh, Viva Brother. You didn't make it easy for yourselves. Every interview portrayed them as arrogant, every song portrayed them as being cheap Oasis rip-offs. Nobody's ripped them off better.

Favourite song:

 

23. Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun

I struggled to decide on my favourite Sigur Rós album cos they're all beautiful nonsense. If you haven't listened to them before, their ambient, relaxed nature and Icelandic lyrics will probably have you screaming for the skip button but give them a chance - you won't regret it.

Favourite song:

 

24. Tegan and Sara - The Con

Tegan and Sara are twins from Canada with odd voices, but it works well with their music. Their last few albums have been amazing but this is my favourite just for Call It Off.

Favourite song:

 

 

25. City and Colour - Bring Me Your Love

I'm still amazed that an album like this could have come from a former member of Alexisonfire. His guitar playing is amazing, his voice is even better.

Favourite song:

 

 

26. Mew - Frengers

This band popped up on my Last.fm most played and I'd forgotten that they existed haha. This album's sweet though. I swear most European indie music's good and this is no exception. Their album No More Stories... (which has an exceptionally long title) is also worth a listen.

Favourite song: Comforting Sounds

 

27. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

Most people seem to prefer Funeral, and I can see why, but I love The Suburbs. Whether you like them or not, The Wilderness Downtown, their music 'video' for We Used To Wait, is definitely worth checking out.

Favourite song:

 

28. Weezer - The Blue Album

Rivers Cuomo's odd sense of humour and quirky guitar riffs work well together to create a nerdy masterpiece which is often considered one of the best albums of the 90s.

Favourite song: Say It Ain't So

 

29. fun. - Aim & Ignite

These guys - former members of The Format, Steel Train and Anathallo - sure live up to their name. I personally think this sounds a bit like the soundtrack to a West End/Broadway show, but mixing enough elements of rock music in to not be irritating show tunes. We Are Young might be their best single but Aim & Ignite is the best of their two albums by far.

Favourite song:

 

30. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

One of the best, most promising bands to emerge from Britain in the last decade. It's a shame they delved into the depths of 'recording the music we want to hear', but fortunately their debut is timeless.

Favourite song:

 

31. At The Drive-In - Relationship Of Command

Favourite song:

 

32. Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Angles

Favourite song:

 

33. Jack's Mannequin - Everything In Transit

Favourite song:

 

34. New Found Glory - Hits

I only picked their greatest hits because I don't know their individual albums well enough to pick one lol

Favourite song: Hold My Hand

 

35. The Postal Service - Give Up

Favourite song:

 

36. American Football - American Football

Favourite song:

 

37. The Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I

Favourite song:

 

38. The King Blues - Save The World, Get The Girl

Favourite song:

 

39. Jay-Z - The Black Album

Favourite song:

 

40. Saves The Day - Through Being Cool

Favourite song:

 

41. Refused - The Shape Of Punk To Come

Favourite song:

 

42. Coldplay - Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends

Favourite song:

 

43. Sufjan Stevens - Illinoise

Favourite song: Chicago

 

44. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Favourite song:

 

45. Nirvana - Nevermind

Favourite song:

 

46. Taking Back Sunday - Louder Now

Favourite song:

 

47. Wolf Am I - Lead The Way

Favourite song: Glasgow Seven

 

48. The Honorary Title - Scream And Light Up The Sky

Favourite song:

 

49. Say Anything - ...Is A Real Boy

Favourite song:

 

50. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Favourite song:

[Swiller2]

Pretty good list so far. Out of curiosity is there any relevance to the order you are listing them in? Or is it just a list?

[Plugpoint]

Pretty good list so far. Out of curiosity is there any relevance to the order you are listing them in? Or is it just a list?

Thanks! At the moment I'm just going through my top artists on Last.fm and posting my favourite album from each one, but I'm sure that'll change a bit as I go further down and get to all the crap bands I haven't listened to in a few years haha.

[Bows]

KID A - Radiohead.

 

Fantastic choice.

[Hedgehog]

<3 sdre and mew

 

Gotta start listening to them more

[Plugpoint]

Given this a bit of an update - changed the order around and added 10 new albums. I'll add the next 20 in the next day or two. Hope people like it :)

[Hedgehog]

I figured you might like some of this stuff:

 

 

[champion]

2indie4me

[Plugpoint]

I figured you might like some of this stuff:

Thanks! I've been meaning to listen to Mineral for ages but I always get them mixed up with Braid :-#

 

 

And Champion, I figured it might not be to everyone's taste haha.

[Diesel]

A lot of stuff here that I listen to. I'll check out the stuff I haven't heard since we seen to have fairly similar taste.

 

Nice list.

[Plugpoint]

I've finally finished my list :D Haven't bothered with descriptions for the last 20 cos I'm too tired, and I doubt I'll find time in the next couple of weeks, so this'll have to do.

 

p.s. thanks Diesel! And nice signature haha.

[redhaloguy]

No It's all Crazy it's all false it's all a dream it's alright? That was my favorite of MewithoutYou's albums.

Also, why is Sufjan Stevens so low on the list, his music is so fantasticly great.

At least you put In the Aeroplane over the sea on there.

[Plugpoint]

No It's all Crazy it's all false it's all a dream it's alright? That was my favorite of MewithoutYou's albums.

Also, why is Sufjan Stevens so low on the list, his music is so fantasticly great.

At least you put In the Aeroplane over the sea on there.

I was limiting it to one album per band, otherwise my top four would all have been mwY albums. I do like It's All Crazy but it's my least favourite album of theirs.

And I don't listen to Sufjan Stevens that much for some reason, will have to give him a listen later today.

[Kalphite]

This is probably my favorite list out of all of the ones that have been posted so far.

[Plugpoint]

Thanks Kalphite! Glad you like it :D

[MuffinMaddy]

I was scrolling through your songs, thought I didn't know any of them and looked a few of them up, but I jumped out of my seat literally when I saw 'Stan'

It's one of my all time favourite songs too. It's a rap that actually has a meaningful story behind it, as melancholy as it might be.

It just always makes me pause and think as it finishes.

[1_man_army]

Interesting and eclectic list, there's a few albums on there I might look up now.

 

Anyone who can put The Smiths, Eminem and The Libertines on the same list is fine by me :thumbup: .

[Plugpoint]

People always seem surprised that I listen to Eminem... tbh I'm more surprised that I love Girls Aloud. Massive guilty pleasure but they're SO GOOD. I just like listening to something different once in a while cos I get bored pretty easily.