(Note: Originally published at jericsmith.com, copyright 2005, J. Eric Smith. All rights reserved). Best of the Blockbusters, Part One: Setting the Stage I think it’s time to take on the third in our series of periodic music geek essays, structured head-to-head style, following in the footsteps of The Worst Rock Band Ever and Rock’s Greatest … Continue reading Best Of the Blockbusters: The Greatest (Popular) Record Ever

Note: This article was originally written in November-December 2013 as a serialized, ten-part feature. This post compiles all ten of the original articles into a single piece, running in the proper chronological order (e.g. the conclusion is at the bottom, not the top, as happens in blogs) to help avoid spoilers if you weren’t reading … Continue reading Great Out of the Gate: The Best Debut Album Ever (COMPLETE VERSION)

(Note: Originally published at jericsmith.com, copyright 2005, J. Eric Smith. All rights reserved). March of the Mellotrons: The Best Classic Progressive Rock Album Ever, Part One (Setting the Stage) Welcome to the fifth in our series of periodic music geek essays structured sports tournament style, with 64 worthy contenders slugging it out head-to-head for the … Continue reading March of the Mellotrons: The Best Classic Progressive Rock Album Ever

Note: This article was originally written in January-March 2014 as a serialized, twelve-part feature. This post compiles all twelve of the original articles into a single piece, running in the proper chronological order (e.g. the conclusion is at the bottom, not the top, as happens in blogs) to help avoid spoilers if you weren’t reading … Continue reading Let’s Take It to the Stage: The Greatest Live Album Ever (COMPLETE VERSION)

(Note: This article originally appeared on jericsmith.com, copyright 2005, J. Eric Smith. All rights reserved). Slaughtering the Sacred Cows? So here’s a thought for sequel to “Best of the Blockbusters” . . . instead of looking at the best of the commercially popular records (which are expected to be bad), how about trying identify the … Continue reading Slaughtering the Sacred Cows: An Abbreviated Look at the Most Over-Rated Records Ever

(Note: Originally published at jericsmith.com, copyright 2004, J. Eric Smith. All rights reserved). Introduction Guitar World‘s article about the worst rock bands of 2003 (they picked Limp Bizkit and Creed) got me to thinking . . . which band is the worst band in the history of rock and roll? Being a stats and numbers … Continue reading The Worst Rock Band Ever