Esquire's The 75 Albums Every Man Should Own

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/music/best-albums-030909?src=rss

March 9, 2009, 12:01 AM

The 75 Albums Every Man Should Own

Kick off Esquire.com's Music Week with our unranked, incomplete, yet highly tasteful and informative list of the records your music collection requires. How many have you listened to?

Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce Springsteen
Phases and Stages, Willie Nelson
The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
Lust for Life, Iggy Pop
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie
Live at The Apollo, James Brown
What's Goin' On, Marvin Gaye
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Pavement
Illmatic, NaS
Dire Straits, Dire Straits
American Beauty, Grateful Dead
Out of Step, Minor Threat
Aftermath, The Rolling Stones
Paul's Boutique, The Beastie Boys
Led Zeppelin (I), Led Zeppelin
Imperial Bedroom, Elvis Costello
The Cars, The Cars
Being There, Wilco
Destroyer, KISS
The Bends, Radiohead
Gettin' Ready, The Temptations
Highway To Hell, AC/DC
The Dictionary of Soul, Otis Redding
The Headphone Masterpiece, Cody Chessnut
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Soundtrack, Ennio Morricone
Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan
Take a Giant Step/De Ole Foiks at Home, Taj Mahal
Catch a Fire, Bob Marley
MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana
Live at Oberlin College, 1966, Mississippi John Hurt
The Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1, The Traveling Wilburys
Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas, Townes Van Zandt
Woke On a Whaleheart, Bill Callahan
Rubber Soul, The Beatles
Velvet Underground and Nico, Velvet Underground
Workin' Together, Ike & Tina Turner
The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, Explosions in the Sky
True Stories, Talking Heads
This Is Hardcore, Pulp
Appetite for Destruction, Guns N' Roses
In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra
Sketches of Spain, Miles Davis
Combat Rock, The Clash
Road to Ruin, The Ramones
Marquee Moon, Television
Animals, Pink Floyd
Doolittle, The Pixies
The Adventures of Slick Rick, Slick Rick
Ready to Die, Notorious B.I.G.
The Unreleased Recordings, Hank Williams
Ten, Pearl Jam
Band of Gypsys, Jimi Hendrix
Brighter Than Creation's Dark, Drive-By Truckers
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, Ray Charles
...And Justice for All, Metallica
Fair Warning, Van Halen
Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z
Pet Sounds, Beach Boys
Exile In Guyville, Liz Phair
Look Sharp!, Joe Jackson
Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder
Rage Against the Machine, Rage Against the Machine
Who's Next, The Who
Left to His Own Devices, Vic Chessnut
Symphony No. 5, Beethoven
Night Beat, Sam Cooke
Songs of Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen
Penthouse, Luna
Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club
Small Change, Tom Waits
Live at Folsom Prison, Johnny Cash
Harvest Moon, Neil Young
Mingus Ah Um, Charles Mingus
Mahler Symphony No. 5, George Solti
Grace, Jeff Buckley

esquire not down w/the 2000s, huh

except for an explosions in the sky record wtf????

I totally only clicked on this thread because I misread it as 'Esquivel's The 75 Albums Every Man Should Own'

xp i say that as someone who likes second-tier post rock

some weird choices in there... Harvest Moon? Band of Gypsies?

And who was the staffer with excellent taste who suggested Mississippi John Hurt & Townes Van Zandt?

surely every man needs a luna record

not to mention exile in guyville for sure o_O

what's the point

of this thread

count up how many of them you own, calculate masculinity.

shoulda been a poll though.

75 Albums Every Dilettante Should Own!

uhhh that's not bad! sort of what i would think an esquire list would be but with some not-obvious choices. my only complaint is they shouldn't have been so scared of gurls but maybe that's the point...

xpost yes seeing townes van zandt in here is cool because i like him but that totally makes sense to me and didn't surprise me at all.

it's an esquire list xpost

maybe we could talk about masculinity and music in this thread, like when did 'sad and profound' (and preferably male lead singer) signify troo manhood.

why do websites insist on making us click thru 75 different slides in order to read 100 word blurbs

cause then you looked at 75 banner ads?

rolling stone is king of this bs

joke is on me for reading rs

lol @ Makes you shout and rant and cry and it surprises you and challenges you and angers you and brings you to your knees. Then it makes you hit play again. - crooked rain, crooked rain

pavement: you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll hurl. wait was that blurb "ironic?"

yeah who wrote that

4 rap records! well played esquire, well played

it's an esquire list.

shocked @ no kanye tho

matt did you know this is an esquire list

oh also dude its an esquire list

MTV Unplugged in New York, Nirvana
It's the last time a huge band recorded a surprising album.

uh what

This reads more like a GQ list with its "So, you're a somewhat affluent white male and you want to find the right social signifier" vibe. Mt favorites:

Exile In Guyville, Liz Phair

Token "chicks have something kinda interesting to say, too, I guess" album

Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder - What's Goin' On, Marvin Gaye

All of these albums are cliches but I'm sick and tired of seeing these two representing the "non-black people who want to appear totally sympathetic with whatever was going on with black people at the time, yeah" category. "It's catchy, sophisticated music, sure - but he was also protesting social injustices, whatever they were. I don't know - I saw the album on some vh1 countdown of important music."

Grace, Jeff Buckley

When you need to convince a lady that you're not the kinda fella to have cheap sex - no, you make love to women. The stand-by.

This Is Hardcore, Pulp

People always confuse the title track with something really sexy to play, when it's too funny, cheesy and oddball.

I'm not quite sure if either of my grandfathers would have owned illmatic.

I am on 22/75ths a man...I knew there was something wrong with me.

i am 10/75ths of a man. and i think i need to get rid of half of those 10

How the fuck did Bill Callahan and Luna make the list???

I own 18 at first count, btw.

bill and dean and clearly men's men

26

but then i'm the type of dilettante motherfucker this shit was designed for i think so

wtf @ having the wrong otis redding, talking heads, willie nelson, miles davis & sinatra albums tho

Challopsquire

There is nothing manly about the Stone Roses

if this is esquire, does that mean chuck klosterman is somehow involved in this?

cody chessnut? seriously?

aw shit, though: i have 28 of them. Busted! The man *can* list our music. . . .

Symphony No. 5, Beethoven

this is an esquire list btw

13/75ths of a man

'Esquivel's The 75 Albums Every Man Should Own'

would read this!!

20/75th of a man. i thought that number would be higher.

some strange picks: Led Zeppelin (I), The Bends, True Stories, This Is Hardcore and fucking Combat Rock?

owned 31 of these at SOME point.. probably closer to 20 now, maybe lower.
such a strange list. they really did pick, if not the WRONG album for some artists, at least definite challops. just. so. strange.

like.. i think maybe the weirdest thing on here is the traveling wilburys maybe! NO ONE needs that album! why not put a tom petty album on the list? or a roy orbison record? it would look less like deliberate contrarianism.

I just ordered different Townes Van Zandt & Sinatra albums from BMG for reasons unrelated to this list.

(I think I have 33)

a) there's only one album per artist, it's pretty clear that's an unspoken rule and b) why wouldn't someone who gives a shit about Redding, Cooke, the Temps, Ray Charles, etc. not give a shit about Green? why is that so implausible?

a) Yeah, I got that; the lack of Green and the inclusion of everyone else you mentioned makes me think these guys don't care about Al Green.

b) See a), plus he's the only one out there in the artists we've listed with a record actively preaching.

morbs, which townes did you get? i could burn you most of them, you know.

Green's religious music makes his secular music off limits? what?

I had 3 free CDs coming to me, as BMG is ending. It's the twofer of High, Low and in Between and The Late Great Townes Van Zandt.

oh you're in for a treat.

yeah i am gonna have to agree with some dude and suggest that people are no more put off green's secular work than they're put off the secular work of like, the staples singers.

Green's religious slant makes his secular stuff less appealing for the purposes of the list posted at the top of this thread. I agree with the larger point.

Everything I'm talking about here is in the confines of what I believe to be the mindset behind the makers of this list; I don't imagine that most people who aren't serious music-for-music's-sake aficionados are going to think of Metallica and Al Green as being easy bedfellows in their CD collection.

it's all top forty dog.

hahahaha like anyone making this list gave a fuck whether Al Green became a minister or not

kudos

20/75, I am a failure of a man

My dad has just two: Dire Straits and Traveling Wilburys. Unshakeable cornerstones of Dadrock.

9/75 and there are a fuck of a lot of records on here I actively hate, including some of those nine I own or have owned. And I'm actually OK about that.

Also from Esquire:
The Ten Types of Music No Man Should Own
Actress Mary-Louise Parker has some helpful advice for you: If one of these appears in your music collection, you're never getting laid again.
1. Records by any act whose name is of a Greek or Latin etymology, i.e. Styx, Megadeth, Yanni.
2. Any recording of Carousel, original Broadway cast or national tour.
3. Any recording by an act or artist who owns a copy of any recording of Carousel.
4. Any soundtrack involving earnest undersea creatures who sing or play drums as they struggle to find their way home.
5. The soundtrack or singles from that aerobics movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
6. Any album containing a pop song with recordings of whales or dolphins in the background.
7. Any album by Paul after George died, any album by George after John died, and any album by Ringo after Elvis died.
8. Any of the volumes of Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women. The DVD is equally, if not more, unacceptable.
9. Any album released between 1984 and 1988 by men wearing unitards or kimonos. Except Boy George.
10. Any tracks or bootleg recordings of the Kiss: Alive II tour. Unless you are twelve.

40/75

its funny i dont own or have a huge number of albums on this list but ive probably heard all of them all the way through more than once

I'm calling bullshit on #2 on Mary-Louise Parker's list.

I'm calling bullshit on #2 on Mary-Louise Parker's list

i'd never heard of carousel

7. Any album by Paul after George died, any album by George after John died, and any album by Ringo after Elvis died.

haha i like this

Mary Louise Parker can say or do whatever she likes

Where is the Sabbath? They didn't even make the B-team list? My lifelong boycott of Esquire will continue.

dude you don't even wanna know what Cat Fancy said about Technical Ecstasy

Carousel may be Rodgers & Hammerstein's top achievement, and the best Broadway musical ever to feature spousal abuse, petty theft, suicide and a ghost dad.

sounds pretty bangin

2. Any recording of Carousel, original Broadway cast or national tour.
3. Any recording by an act or artist who owns a copy of any recording of Carousel.

Time to junk the Esquire list then, Mary-Louise, since Dire Straits' "Tunnel of Love" opens w/ a quote of The Carousel Waltz!

no wonder Billy Crudup left her barefoot & pregnant.

"Tunnel of Love" is on Making Movies, smart guy.

reread her #3 again, Bono.

lol bono is such an excellent and obtuse insult, a++

Oh that's low.

xpost Agreed, point to Morbs. Now I'm all insecure. Is it the glasses?

I'm more surprised that Morbs likes Dire Straits.

hes a lovestruck romeo

xxp: I think it was when you waved that white flag to get my attention in that bar.

I'm pretty sure I don't own any DS; they were inescapable in early '80s.

Do like Knopfler's Local Hero score.

I had fond memories of Brothers in Arms from childhood, so downloaded a copy a few weeks ago. It's kind of horrifying. I mean, it really sounds awful now.

Knopfler's score for Wag the Dog is also very nice.

first side of making movies is all i need of dire straits. but i REALLY do like that first side.

i would listen to love over gold too if someone made me listen to love over gold. i always did like "industrial disease".

"So Far Away" is great!

(xpost)

1. Records by any act whose name is of a Greek or Latin etymology, i.e. Styx, Megadeth, Yanni. Yo La Tengo?
2. Any recording of Carousel, original Broadway cast or national tour. I own an e.p.
3. Any recording by an act or artist who owns a copy of any recording of Carousel.elvis costello
4. Any soundtrack involving earnest undersea creatures who sing or play drums as they struggle to find their way home. I have no idea what this is referring to
5. The soundtrack or singles from that aerobics movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. ?
6. Any album containing a pop song with recordings of whales or dolphins in the background. Fred Neil, eat yr heart out
7. Any album by Paul after George died, any album by George after John died, and any album by Ringo after Elvis died. So, owning "two virgins" is alright?
8. Any of the volumes of Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women. The DVD is equally, if not more, unacceptable.If you sayso
9. Any album released between 1984 and 1988 by men wearing unitards or kimonos. Except Boy George.still reading
10. Any tracks or bootleg recordings of the Kiss: Alive II tour. Unless you are twelve.it is over

xpost There's a couple good songs, but the big hits date worse than you'd even expect.

local hero soundtrack is good. so is the one for Cal.

as much as i love the movie, i can't remember what knopfler's music for last exit to brooklyn sounded like. but i haven't seen the movie in years.

i actually saw them live on the brothers in arms tour and i fell asleep. i was really stoned though. and they played forever.

I still have Brothers in Arms in my iTunes playlist, so I couldn't have hated it that much.

I like "One World." "Can't get no fancy notes on my blue guitar." Picasso feels his pain.

as a woman, I call bullshit on #1 - would be more likely to get w/dude who owns Xenakis albums than not.

there's also esquire's 50 songs every man should be listening to
I don't recognize many of them by name. I wanna download Train Song by Feist and Ben Gibbard

I change my mind, the youtube makes me think it's a boring song (I like plenty of lounge and slow songs but that wasn't my thing)

http://www.mensfitness.com/lifestyle/entertainment/183