Way back in February of 2005 my buddy Warren was asking for music recommendations to fill his Nomad. Yes, he bought a Nomad. You remember those things, more space than an iPod and totally took over the mp3 player market…oh, right. Never mind. Anyways, he only wanted three albums (this was 2005 and even with a giant Nomad, space was at a premium) and I came back with what follows. Overall, I think it holds up well. I’ll follow this piece with an update.
Jeez, what's with the trick question? Top 3 could mean anything...all time? This month? This year? Last year? This decade? Last decade? I refuse to give a serious answer until you pose a serious question. So here are my top 3 non-serious albums for you to go buy immediately, if not sooner.
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet (actually quite serious, one of the best sociopolitical albums of all time -- a must have)
Ned's Atomic Dustbin - God Fodder (Brit-pop, double bass guitar, hit single Kill Your Television, not a single skipper on the whole CD)
The The - Dusk (If you like Johnny Cash, this might intrigue you -- more blues than country influence. Also British).
and now for the rest of the stuff you should have
Ash - Trailer (The best rock band you've never heard of. This is their first album. Their second album was called 1977 because they're huge Star Wars fans. That's gotta be worth something.)
Billy Bragg - Don't Try This At Home (Socialist brit-folk-rock -- you'll love it Warren. Seriously awesome raw guitar playing though)
Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust (First and best album -- another must have)
Descendents - Everything Sucks (Must have punk rock)
Electrafixion - Burned (Formed Echo and the Bunnymen members doing something a little more rock and roll and a little less foppy haired british 80's pop)
Frank Black - Teenager of the Year (Former Pixies front man. Easily a top 10 all time for me)
The Get Up Kids - Red Letter Day (only an EP, but some amazing indy rock)
The Housemartins - Now That's What I Call Quite Good (best of from one of the best bands from Hull ever - everything from drinking to gospel, you might think they were Irish...)
Inspiral Carpets - Revenge of the Goldfish (another top 10 all time, brit-pop)
James - Best of James (brit pop)
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking (must have)
Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic (must have brit surf-pop/shoegazer)
Knapsack - This Conversation is Ending Starting Right Now (driving punk-pop out of Davis initially)
Leftfield - Leftism (one of the best "dance" albums ever, although it's not the crap dance you're used to hearing 'Yall ready for this' samples in. 10 top all time)
Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (one of the best "industrial" albums ever)
Operation Ivy - Energy (pretty much everything this Berkeley punk band ever did on one CD -- great stuff)
Pixies - Surfer Rosa/Come on Pilgrim or Doolittle or Trompe le Monde (One of the best rock bands to come out of the US)
Reel Big Fish - Why Do They Rock So Hard? (great pop-rock-ska)
Sheep on Drugs - One for the Money (hard to describe duo from the UK, technically "industrial" but much more fun)
Therapy? - Troublegum (often overlooked Irish hard rock band)
Underworld - Underworld 1992-2002 (famous for the ending song in Trainspotting 'Born Slippy Nuxx 1995' also on the Trainspotting soundtrack which is a great one)
Violent Femmes - Add It Up '81-'93
What would I drop off?
- Electrafixion
- Get Up Kids
- Inspiral Carpets
- Knapsack
- Reel Big Fish
- Sheep on Drugs
- Therapy?
To be clear, I still love these albums, but they were important to me at the time and not so much today. Everything else though...I think I nailed it.