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Esquire's "75 Albums Every Man Should Own"
By Esquire's own admission, their list of "75 Albums Every Man Should Own" is incomplete, but that still hasn't stopped them from taking on the task. I'm not really sure what the criteria is, but the albums on the list suggest an introspective look at the male experience over what would sound good at a football stadium, although some albums fit the bill (I'm looking at you AC/DC). It's a pretty decent list of records, but I wish that Esquire could have went more into depth as to why I, a man, or anybody for that matter, should own Kiss' Destroyer.
The list (in alphatetical order):
AC/DC - Highway to Hell
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Beethoven - Symphony No. 5
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
James Brown - Live at the Apollo
Jeff Buckley - Grace
Buena Vista Social Club - Buena Vista Social Club
Bill Callahan - Woke on a Whaleheart
The Cars - The Cars
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western
Cody Chestnut - The Headphone Masterpiece
Vic Chestnutt - Left To His Own Devices
The Clash - Combat Rock
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen
Sam Cooke - Night Beat
Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom
Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain
Drive-By Truckers - Brighter than Creation's Dark
Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place
Marvin Gaye - What's Goin On
The Grateful Dead - American Beauty
Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Jimi Hendrix - Band of Gypsys
Iggy Pop - Lust For Life
Joe Jackson - Look Sharp!
Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
Kiss - Destroyer
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
Luna - Penthouse
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 5
Bob Marley - Catch a Fire
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Minor Threat - Out of Step
Mississippi John Hurt - The Best of Mississippi John Hurt
Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly OST
Nas - Illmatic
Willie Nelson - Phases and Stages
Nirvana - Unplugged
The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Pearl Jam - Ten
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
Pink Floyd - Animals
Pixies - Doolittle
Pulp - This Is Hardcore
Radiohead - The Bends
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
Ramones - Road To Ruin
Otis Redding - The Dictionary Of Soul
Slick Rick - The Great Adventures Of...
The Rolling Stones - Aftermath
Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
Bruce Springsteen - Darkness of the Edge of Town
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Taj Mahal - Take A Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home
Talking Heads - True Stories
Television - Marquee Moon
The Temptations - Gettin' Ready
The Travelling Wilburys - The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1
Ike and Tina Turner - Workin' Together
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground and Nico
Tom Waits - Small Change
The Who - Who's Next
Wilco - Being There
Hank Williams - The Unreleased Recordings
Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
Neil Young - Harvest
And before you guys get your boxers all twisted up, Esquire also added a list of 30 more albums that just missed the cut:
Beck - Odelay
Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight
The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The Cure - Disintegration
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
The Doors - The Doors
Four Tops - Reach Out
Green Day - Dookie
Buddy Holly - 20 Golden Greats
Michael Jackson - Thriller
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 1
Joy Division - Closer
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls
My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
Elvis Presley - The Sun Sessions
The Pretenders - The Pretenders
Prince - Purple RainRed Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
R.E.M. - Murmur
Anything by Little Richard
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the BullocksThe Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits
The Stooges - The Stooges
Jackie Wilson - Mr. Excitement!
U2 - The Joshua Tree
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
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Why would a man need to own a Green Day album?
Mike
MUSIC LIST! LET'S ARGUE!
Big ups to putting Bowie on this, but Ziggy isn't even the best Bowie album. That's Low. Followed by "Heroes," "Station to Station," and "Lodger," followed by Ziggy. That is all.
Also, if I only have 21 of these albums, does that make me a girl. Or a girly man? I have no idea.
I can take a stab at the Kiss Destroyer question - because Chuck Klosterman was probably involved with this list, and the man loves some Kiss if I remember correctly
More importantly, how come there wasn't a complementary list for women? I imagine Liz Phair was added to call guys on their bullsh*t, but why would you not split the list up? Maybe they thought it would just end in nothing but Joni Mitchell and Kathleen Hanna albums? I realize it's a men's mag, but still, pretty sad discrepancy.
There are three Volumes of James Brown Live At The Apollo. I don't think the editors at Esquire have ever actually listened to any of them.
Etchasketchist
The lack of Steve Earle on the list negates any validity it could have had.
ooooooo.. someone brought up Bowie talk!
Ziggy is my favorite and I know it's the typical favorite to have. But it's probably more because of the Ziggy persona, which really shouldn't count and all. I really don't know if Low comes next for me. It's a toss up between Low and Hunky Dory for #2. Then Station to Station, then Heroes, then another toss up between Lodger and Scary Monsters, then maybe go back to Space Oddity or Aladdin Sane, then I wanna put Let's Dance in there. I think my Bowie obsession makes me a girly man.
oh yeah.. and how can this list exists without any Public Enemy? Shame on them!
This list doesn't even deserve to call itself manly without the inclusion of some Muddy Waters.
@ Ivanmitchell: Yeah for Mannish Boy at least.
@ mikeburr: the lack of Chris Partlow on Steve Earle's albums is enough to negate him from this list.
This is a pretty clever list. The inclusion of the Bill Callahan album is pretty under the rader, too under the radar in fact to not seem a little like a blind stab at indie cred. They should have picked a Smog album, that might have been less translucent.
However, I will give them credit for going with Phases and Stages over Red-Headed Stranger. They're both classics, but I think Phases could stand for a little more attention. And for picking Old Quarter to represent Townes, much more fitting than the studio albums.
I own 30 of the top 75. Does that mean I'm only 2/5 of a man?
It could be worse, you could be 28 percent of a man like me.
Deadwood is better than the Wire.
Pfffft. As if.
I would submit that those shows are just two very different types of perfection.
What does pfffft mean? Are you losing air?
puff puff give.
puff puff give.
I have 20 records on that list.
Nice to see Pulp in there.
I think Death From Above 1979 should be in there.
And
NWA - Straight Outta Compton
Public Enemy - Fear Of A BLack Planet
AND SOME KINKS!
Antonio Carlos Jobim - Wave
What about Thin Lizzy?
No.
I was scoffing at the notion that Deadwood was even in the same solar system as the Wire as far as good TV shows go. Deadwood is good, but not even close.
talking heads- true stories : really??
kman
Where is Madman Across the Water?
Where is Bad Company Debut?
Where is Boston?
Where is the Eels Beautiful Freak?
Where is Steely Dan Aja?
Mark from FL