My Top 200 Albums Of All Time (2020 Update)

Life During Quarantine Time has produced something like 12+ hours of music listening time around our apartment, each day, every day. Which is a lot, even by my own extreme standards. To fill the daily jukebox, I’ve been buying plenty of new music, as I do, but also taking a lot of spins through old favorites, some that pop up reasonably often, some that lie in wait for years before I remember to slap them on the (virtual) turntable.

Digging through the back catalog reminded me that it’s been awhile since I’ve updated my running list of most-loved albums, so let’s remedy that situation today. As I’ve noted for background before, I’ve been keeping lists of my favorite albums since the very early ’70s, when I was a grade school Steppenwolf fan. My tastes have evolved dramatically over the years (though I still like Steppenwolf), so I review and update this list periodically, dropping things that haven’t aged well, and adding new things that excite me and seem to have staying power.

For many years, this was a “Top 100 List,” but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve felt entitled to expand the roster beyond the century mark, since I’ve listened to a whole lot more music now than I had when I was younger. I also used to exclude “Greatest Hits” and other compilation or live albums, but I’ve gotten less uptight about that, too, since for some artists, their best work may have appeared on singles that only saw long-form release in the form of “Best Of” collections.

So here’s the update, in alphabetical order by artist name. Maybe you’ll be reminded of some old favorites and give ’em some nostalgia spins. Or maybe you’ll find something new to rock your home world. Or maybe you’ll just sigh and wonder what the hell goes on in my head to produce an all-over-the-place listing like this. It’s all good. As is the music.

54-40: 54-40
AC/DC: Back in Black
AC/DC: Highway to Hell
Allison, Mose: Swingin’ Machine
Arab Strap: As Days Get Dark
Asian Dub Foundation: Rafi’s Revenge
Bauhaus: The Sky’s Gone Out
Bee Gees: Main Course
Beefheart, Captain and the Magic Band: The Dust Blows Forward
Birthday Party: Mutiny/The Bad Seed
Blacc, Aloe: All Love Everything
Bogmen: Life Begins at 40 Million
Bongwater: The Power of Pussy
Bonzo Dog Band: Keynsham
Bonzo Dog Band: The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse
Bowie, David: Low
Bowie, David: “Heroes”
Bowie, David: Lodger
Buggy Jive: The Buggy Jive Mix Tape
Buggy Jive: The B-Side
Burning Spear: Marcus Garvey
Bush, Kate: Hounds of Love
Butthole Surfers: Hairway to Steven
Butthole Surfers: Locust Abortion Technician
Camberwell Now: All’s Well
Cave, Nick and the Bad Seeds: Henry’s Dream
Chance The Rapper: Coloring Book
Chap: Mega Breakfast
Christian Death: Catastrophe Ballet
Chrome Hoof: Pre-Emptive False Rapture
Clash: Combat Rock
Clash: London Calling
Cleveland, Reverend James: Sings Songs of Dedication
Clutch: Book of Bad Decisions
Clutch: Elephant Riders
Clutch: Robot Hive/Exodus
Coil: Horse Rotorvator
Coil: The Ape of Naples
Collins, Phil: Face Value
Coup: Sorry to Bother You
Coup: Sorry to Bother You: The Soundtrack
Cramps: Bad Music for Bad People
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young: Déjà Vu
Culture: Two Sevens Clash
Dälek: Absence
Dälek: Gutter Tactics
Death Grips: Ex-Military
Death Grips: Government Plates
Devo: Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Dogbowl: Flan
Dogg, Snoop: BUSH
Dolenz, Micky: Dolenz Sings Nesmith
Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment: Surf
Dry Cleaning: New Long Leg
Dunnery, Francis: Tall Blonde Helicopter
Eagles: Desperado
Einstürzende Neubauten: Haus der Luge
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Tarkus
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Trilogy
Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Brain Salad Surgery
Eno, Brian: Here Come the Warm Jets
Eno, Brian: Another Green World
Eno, Brian: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Eno, Brian: Before And After Science
Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking
Fairport Convention: What We Did On Our Holidays
Fall: Hex Enduction Hour
Fall: The Real New Fall LP (Formerly Country on the Click)
Fall: Imperial Wax Solvent
Family: Bandstand
Family: Fearless
First Aid Kit: Stay Gold
First Aid Kit: Ruins
Fleetwood Mac: Future Games
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
Focus: Live At The Rainbow
Funkadelic: Maggotbrain
Gabriel, Peter: Peter Gabriel (III/Melt)
Gang of Four: Entertainment!
Gang of Four: Songs of the Free
Genesis: Duke
Genesis: Abacab
Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
Genesis: Wind and Wuthering
Good Rats: Tasty
Grateful Dead: American Beauty
Grateful Dead: Workingman’s Dead
Hall, Daryl: Sacred Songs
Hanslick Rebellion: The Rebellion is Here
Hitchcock, Robyn and the Egyptians: Element of Light
Hogg: Solar Phallic Lion
Hogg: Self-Extinguishing Emission
Human Sexual Response: Fig. 14
Human Sexual Response: In a Roman Mood
Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade
Jarre, Jean-Michel: Equinoxe
Jesu/Sun Kil Moon: Jesu/Sun Kil Moon
Jethro Tull: Songs From the Wood
Jethro Tull: Heavy Horses
Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick
Jethro Tull: Benefit
Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division: Closer
Juluka: Scatterlings
Kamikaze Hearts: Oneida Road
Kaukonen, Jorma: Quah
Keineg, Katell: Jet
Killdozer: Twelve Point Buck
King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black
King Crimson: In The Court of the Crimson King
Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum
Kurki-Suonio, Sanna: Musta
Lateef, Yusef: Eastern Sounds
Lateef, Yusef: The Complete Yusef Lateef
Lingua Ignota: Caligula
London, Theophilus: Bebey
Magma: Üdü Ẁüdü
McCartney, Paul: McCartney II
McCartney, Paul: McCartney III
Meat Loaf: Bat Out of Hell
Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime
Mitchel, Joni: For the Roses
Mitchell, John Cameron and Stephen Trask: Hedwig And The Angry Inch
Mos Def: The Ecstatic
Napalm Death: Time Waits For No Slave
Napalm Death: Utilitarian
Napalm Death: Apex Predator — Easy Meat
Napalm Death: Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism
New Order: Movement
New Order: Power, Corruption and Lies
Nyman, Michael: A Zed and Two Noughts (Original Soundtrack)
Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance
Phair, Liz: Exile in Guyville
Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon
Pink Floyd: Animals
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Presley, Elvis: Peace In The Valley: The Complete Gospel Recordings
Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet
Public Enemy: Apocalypse ’91 . . . The Enemy Strikes Black
Public Enemy: What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?
R.E.M.: Life’s Rich Pageant
Renaldo and the Loaf: Songs for Swinging Larvae
Replacements: Let It Be
Residents: Animal Lover
Residents: Demons Dance Alone
Residents: Wormwood
Richman, Jonathan: It’s Time For . . .
Richman, Jonathan: Ishkode! Ishkode!
Rolling Stones: Exile on Main St.
Rundgren, Todd: Healing
Run The Jewels: RTJ4
Sepultura: Roots
Shah, Nadine: Kitchen Sink
Shriekback: Some Kinds of Light
Simon & Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence
Snog: Last of the Great Romantics
Snog: Lullabies for the Lithium Age
Sparks: A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
Special A.K.A.: In the Studio
Steely Dan: Aja
Steely Dan: The Royal Scam
Steely Dan: Can’t Buy A Thrill
Steppenwolf: Gold
Stevens, Cat: Buddha And The Chocolate Box
Swans: Filth
Swans: Holy Money
Talking Heads: Fear of Music
Tastee, Gay: Songs for the Sodomites
Tazartès, Ghédalia: Diasporas
Television Personalities: Closer to God
The The: Soul Mining
This Heat: Deceit
Tosh, Peter: Mama Africa
Tosh, Peter: Equal Rights
Tracey, Stan Quartet: Under Milk Wood: Jazz Suite
Tragic Mulatto: Italians Fall Down and Look Up Your Dress
Tsukerman, Slava et. al.: Liquid Sky (Original Soundtrack)
Utopia: Utopia
Utopia: Swing to the Right
Various Artists: If You Can’t Please Yourself You Can’t, Please Your Soul
Various Artists: The Harder They Come (Original Soundtrack Recording)
Wailer, Bunny: Blackheart Man
Wall of Voodoo: Happy Planet
Wall of Voodoo: Seven Days in Sammystown
Wasted: We Are Already in Hell
Weasels: Uranus or Bust
Weasels: The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Who: Who’s Next
Who: Tommy
Wings: Band on the Run
Wings: Venus and Mars
Wire: The Ideal Copy
Xiu Xiu: Angel Guts: Red Classroom
Xiu Xiu: Girl With Basket of Fruit
XTC: Black Sea
XTC: English Settlement
Yes: The Yes Album
Young, Neil and Crazy Horse: re-ac-tor
Zappa, Frank and the Mothers of Invention: One Size Fits All
Zappa, Frank: Joe’s Garage, Parts I, II and III

One of my first musical obsessions. I played this 8-track to its breaking point. I also recall a big family argument after my grandfather asked my mother “Why the hell is that boy singin’ about ‘Goddamn the pusher man’?”