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Along with Matchbox 20's "Yourself or Someone Like You" and Natalie Merchant's "Tigerlily", I believe that if you are to visit any used CD store or thrift store or garage sale in America, you will find at least two copies of Monster.

Any internet music listicle that reps "Grace Kelly With Wings" is okay by me.

If you would've found me listening to "Who Will Cut Our Hair" on my Discman back in 2003 and told me that, eleven years in the future, the Unicorns would be playing three shows at the Barclay's center, I would've said, "Awesome. I KNEW they'd become the biggest band in North America." And then I'd say, "WTF is the Barclay's Center?"

I hear they're forgoing effects pedals and will distort the bass guitar purely through spite.

This really goes without saying by now, but holy shit can Dave Grohl pound a drum.

Count me among the fervent. 16 year old me would've lost his mind over the idea that Failure would release new music 17 years later, but here we are. My mind is not quite lost, but I'm happy to hear them recording again. And it sounds about right considering where their paths led them through the years. I'll take it.

But also it's not, at all.

It's like Remission meets Night Ranger. I'll take it.

Good find. Beautiful song. It sounds very 'On The Water,' but probably would've been one of the best (of not THE best) song on that record. Maybe they thought it already had too much mid-tempo stuff?

I'm a huge fan of their records, have sworn for a while that Samuel Herring has one of the most powerful voices in music today, but I'd never seen them perform before. I don't even think I've seen a photo of them before. Whatever I was expecting from Herring, it was not Jive Dancin' Marlon Brando. Holy shit. Amazing to see somebody actually give a damn.

I'd like to get a sense of what people currently age 20 and under think of "Loser." Because, you're right, for our generation, there's almost no disconnecting it from its 'cultural moment.' It is 90s Zeitgeist As Looped Slide Guitar and Breakbeat.

What I love about the Roots in their current position is that they're bringing integrity back to the idea of a studio band; simply being a group of professional musicians without the need to follow the rules of "Record>tour>break>record>tour>break." You have to go back a couple decades, but you had the Funk Brothers, the Wrecking Crew, the M.G.s. Pure talent, pure class, pure integrity, and no need to try to become stars. The fact that they turn around and play with all these different acts on any given night, never pandering, and never sinking down to some lowest common denominator TV sidekick band schlock, and then say, "hey, let's record an album as Elvis Costello's backing band." I love it. They're just on the cutting edge of realizing there's no "right way" to do it.

I think every lame duck Weezer album of the last 10 years has had one brief teaser moment that leads someone to say it "bears a distinct Pinkerton vibe — i.e. it sounds a lot better than anything Weezer has released in a long time." And then you're stuck with the rest of it.

I'm having a hard time getting past the Dirty Projectors similarities here. But at the same time, I think I like it quite a bit more than most Dirty Projectors tracks. What's a boy to do?

Mark Kozelek and Mark Eitzel are the Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton of gloomy indie rock.

I'm just thinking about that song right now, not even listening to it, and suddenly my heart is racing and I want to go out there and fight a cop.

I love the Walkmen. They've got gems all over their catalogue. Pure class from day 1. And yet I still think everything else they've recorded pales in comparison to "The Rat."

Holy cow yes. I didn't realize I missed the Olivia Tremor Control as much as I apparently do, because this is scratching that itch, and then some.

I have a running theory that Future Islands' singer (haven't bothered to look up his name) could front a band in any chosen genre--be it soul, country, metal, whatever--and absolutely pull it off. Love his voice, love the choices they make in their music, love it all. And I'd be willing to bet nobody in that video will ever be caught dead listening to a Future Islands album.

How about a metal band that innovates by doing something new? Building riffs and structuring chords in a way nobody else has done yet? Combining rhythm and melody and countermelody (and aggression?) in a way that is unique to that set of artists/musicians and progresses metal's spirit while sounding entirely fresh? It seems to me that most of the bands that are getting all this attention are simply combining some other genre into heavy metal. Deafheaven is essentially doing cookie cutter post-rock and adding some black metal blast beats and vocals. Yeah, the record sounds good, but I can't listen to it and separate their own voice from their influences. Alcest is playing Slowdivey shoegazey dream pop. Beastmilk is adding some distorted guitar to post-punk. It's all derivative of something else, but because it's metal guys doing it, suddenly it becomes groundbreaking? I'll probably catch hell for this, because I'm not a gargantuan metal fan and I'm posting a comment in a forum of metal fans, but I haven't experienced any metal truly NEW since I heard Mastodon's "Remission" back in 2002. It was metal, clearly, but it was like nothing I'd ever heard. Funny enough, they slowly started adding some classic metal elements over the years, but they still stand entirely on their own. Not that I want or expect a new Mastodon to enter the ring every year, but I want something other than "...-inspired black metal" to get me excited about the genre.

That's the best song Sigur Ros has put out in a decade!

I know Shearwater is liked and respected, but I feel like they should be HUGE. Rook was an absolute monster album, flawless front to back, Animal Joy was nearly as good (Golden Archipelago a nice palette cleanser at the very least), and these covers are all nice pieces. I don't know, maybe their style isn't en vogue these days or something. Either way, I'd put these guys up with just about any other band recording right now.

But also: 1. The Amazing - Gentle Stream 2. Mount Moriah - Miracle Temple 3. Vampire Weekend - Vampires of the City 4. Laura Mvula - Sing to the Moon 5. Rhye - Woman 6. Medicine - To The Happy Few 7. Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record 8. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories 9. These New Puritans - Field of Reeds 10. Whetever. I don't even like music.

Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie," as performed by music blog commenters arguing over their Best Albums of The Year list.

Oh, and lastly (not like anybody is even reading this), despite all that, I do think "Cherub Rock" is their best single song.

Also, I feel like Mellon Collie is almost entirely devoid of influence. It is 100% a Smashing Pumpkins album, and sounds like nothing other than Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness. Siamese Dream (and Gish), while still quite 'unique' sounding, still has a whiff of some of its contemporaries like Hum or Dinosaur Jr or Slint or My Bloody Valentine or Jawbreaker, whatever. Mellon Collie to me was SP melding completely into their own, which really only lasted for one glorious double album.

I know it's an unpopular opinion (although seeing other people say it here makes me think otherwise), but I think Mellon Collie is heads and shoulders better than Siamese Dream. Better songs, richer production, more variation, heavier, lighter, more aggressive, more melodic. More everything. And my god, it's one of the only double albums of its era that actually WORKS, front to back. I like Siamese Dream, but if I could only have one SP album for the rest of my life, I'd choose Mellon Collie without a second thought.

I'll add also that the Black Album, and its critical reception in serious music circles, reminds me of Dark Side of the Moon in a way. It's a slickly produced, gargantuan mega-hit that happened well after the band's creative genesis and appeals to the throngs of of 'unfavorables' (i.e. frat boys douche bags) that make the 'real' fans feel a little alienated. So it gets cast aside a little in favor of the earlier 'real' records (in this case, Ride the Lightning or Kill 'Em All, on in Floyd's case, Piper or Meddle), when in fact, if you really just sit and listen to it, it's a practically flawless and hugely satisfying piece of work. Really, it's an unbelievable feat that either band was able to come from where they came from and eventually created these huge, universally beloved records. We shouldn't be so fast to criticize them for it. Still: 1a. Master 1b. Justice 1c. Black 4. Ride 5. Kill 'Em All 6. Load (see comment above) 7. HUGE GAP 8. Death Magnetic 9. St. Anger

I've given up being ashamed of this a long time ago: I think Load is a very good album, and probably the most unfairly maligned records I've ever heard. I'm not saying it's their best or anything, but it's totally solid; it's just saddled with all the BS baggage that people brought to it. ReLoad, however, is junk.

The thing with the Bleeding Heart Show, when you really listen to it under scrutiny and judge it based on the merits of pure pop songwriting, is that it's a little disconnected and clunky. Yes, it's emotionally stirring, it's anthemic, it has some goosebump-inducing harmonies and some kick ass drumming, but solely as a song, it leaves a bit to be desired in a way that many, many other Pornographers (and AC Newman solo) songs don't. So I can understand how it might not make somebody's list. That said, it's at least in my top 5.

I LOVE Midlake's "Occupanther" album. I like the Courage of Others alright. That said, I feel like if your lead singer and main songwriter leaves the band, you maybe shouldn't try to continue as 'that band' anymore (unless you're Pink Floyd). What I've heard from this new album isn't bad, but it seems like an uncomfortable lie.

Ugh. Sorry to go all crabbypants there. As you were.

Stereogum's 38 Bands Nobody Will Give a Damn About 5 Years From Now, and 2 That Might Maybe Actually Pan Out.

Yeah, wait a second... "Rightfully met with sideways glances"??? Ouch!

Also, since it's received no love on this thread yet.... "Valerie Plame"! Holy cow, what a song. Sort of a knock off of "16 Military Wives," but better, IMHO.

Snark aside, I just have to mention that, having been a fan since their Hush Records days (at least the original release of Castaways and Cutouts), I think the best single song they've put together is "Grace Cathedral Hill." A lot of their more drama-school moments can get in the way of seeing how good of a songwriter Meloy can be on the most basic level, and "Grace Cathedral HIll" is simplicity at its best. Clearly whoever put this list together prefers their more 'epic' side, and that's fine, but in the end, I get way more out of their 2-3 minute pop songs than I do from their big adventure tales.

Getting this list right is an impossible task. And this one is impossibly wrong.

Agree with the comment above... ranking Oldham is an impossible task. No one will get it right (other than the fact that, yes, I See A Darkness is the best). However... Master And Everyone is absolutely better than 14. It's my #2 behind Darkness, actually. I get how it's not as dark or desperate as his other stuff, but I think song-wise it's really, really strong. But, yeah, 100 different people will come up with 100 different lists with Oldham.

Either way, there's no question that there's a MMJ phase 1 and phase 2. I can't empathize with the experience of anyone who jumped on board during the second phase... seems foreign to me. To be honest, you could scrap their whole catalogue, give me a couple hours of "Bermuda Highway" on repeat and I'd be happy.

I was going to argue that At Dawn ought to be #1, but when I really scrutinize it, there's a lottttt of filler on there. It has their highest peaks, but also drags. So in stead I'll go ahead and argue that It Still Moves should be #1. Everything after Z (which is fine) is a mess.