Crib Notes

Since my post on the most overrated albums pissed some people off, I decided to write something a bit more positive. These are albums that have influenced and inspired the great music of today, yet receive relatively little attention from critics and next to none from the general public. In other words, their importance far outweighs the recognition they receive. I hope this will open up discussion, so feel free to post your thoughts.

The Sonics – Here are the Sonics (1965)
Forget the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. The Sonics were the first punk band. Twelve years before the punk renaissance, these Tacoma, Wash., natives mixed sped-up garage rock with vitriol, sparking one of the biggest fires in the history of popular music. They’re also directly responsible for inspiring a little band called the Stooges.

The Incredible String Band – The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter (1968)
You can trace the roots of any freak-folk band back to this one album. Without it there would be no Animal Collective, Devendra Banhart or Joanna Newsom. Yet hardly anybody has ever heard of it.

Malcolm McLaren – Duck Rock (1983)
Who would’ve thought the man who brought punk rock to the masses would also bring world music and hip-hop to the mainstream? Two years before the Graceland explosion, the general public viewed Mr. McLaren’s album of South African pop and South Bronx hip-hop as noise. It was wrong. Even Eminem used the refrain from “Buffalo Gals” in his single, “Without Me.”

The Birthday Party – Junkyard (1982)
This is Nick Cave’s lesser-known, earlier band. It was the darkest, most challenging post-punk band, and it single-handedly created noise rock. Everyone from the Jesus and Mary Chain to Dinosaur Jr. has cited it as an influence. The first My Bloody Valentine record is a blatant rip-off of The Birthday Party. Luckily, it was reissued on CD a couple years ago.

Miles Davis – On the Corner (1972)
Critics have been shitting on this masterpiece for decades. They saw it as the messy bastard child of Bitches Brew. Lester Bangs called it an album that critics listened to once then never again, and fans completely rejected. It was only recently the album began receiving the attention it deserves. Its tight, repetitive grooves and cut ‘n’ paste aesthetic made it the unquestionable progenitor of hip-hop, drum ‘n’ bass and electronic music.

This Heat – Deceit (1981)
This Heat created the perfect post-rock album before Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky were potty-trained. Written under the threat of the Cold War, the band combined post-punk, art rock and krautrock to create the soundtrack to what it perceived as the imminent apocalypse. Now, bands like the Liars have made a career out of trying to replicate it.

Souls of Mischief – 93 ‘Til Infinity (1993)
While the West Coast was awash with post-N.W.A. gangsta rap, Souls of Mischief were taking the road less traveled. The group was more akin to the East Coast Native Tongues Posse movement than its West Coast counterparts. The title track is relatively well-known, but the rest of the album is just as solid. Sadly, its place in the West Coast hip-hop canon has been overshadowed by gun-waving burners like Doggystyle (which, admittedly, is a sweet record).

Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day (1970)
Folk singer/songwriter Vashti Bunyan made only one album in three decades. Fortunately, that one album was absolutely perfect. So perfect that 35 years after the album’s release, Animal Collective tracked down the songstress to collaborate.

El-P – Fantastic Damage (2002)
When bands such as the Cure began instilling their music with dense atmospherics, the air thickened and rock music was able to envelop its audience like a strange fog. El-P saw the power in this. He left his group Company Flow and set out to create hip-hop that was so urgent and atmospheric, it nearly overwhelmed its listener. The result was Fantastic Damage, a post-9/11 tour de force. PitchforkMedia.com called it the first hip-hop record to fully embrace the album format. Too bad he’s received only a fraction of the attention garnered by his former Rawkus Records labelmates Talib Kweli and Mos Def.

Suicide – Suicide (1977)
While the Dead Boys were playing sped-up Stooges songs and Television was busy guitar noodling, Suicide was perfecting electro-pop. Sure, Brian Eno had done it earlier with Another Green World, but Suicide was able to infuse electronic music with the urgent fear and dread of punk rock. This was no small feat, considering the fact that at the time synthesizers were largely relegated to the nefarious world of prog-rock. We can still hear echoes of this album in the music of Primal Scream, M83 and countless others.

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Tags: underrated.