Stoneage Romeos
Artist: Hoodoo Gurus
Community Score: 8.00

"Shake some action/Psychotic reaction/No satisfaction/Sky pilot, Sky Saxon/That's what I like/Blitzkrieg bop/To the jailhouse rock/Stop stop, at the hop/Do the bluejean bop/That's what I like!" In the first verse of "(Let's All) Turn On," Hoodoo Guru's frontman Dave Faulkner summed up the band's aesthetic so well that elaborating almost seems... Read More

Care
Artist: Shriekback
Community Score: 8.00

On Shriekback's debut LP they worked in two basic modes: slithery, abstract funk ("Lined Up," "Clear Trails," etc.) and slower, spacier numbers built on sustained bass notes ("Evaporation," "Brink of Collapse," and so on). The result was offputtingly cold to some, but to those who dug a certain combination of intricate rhythm and eerie... Read More

Mark of the Mole
Artist: The Residents
Community Score: 8.00

After Eskimo, the band's attempt to sonically recreate Inuit tales through sound, the Residents began to undertake a similar project that would color the rest of their career. The Mark of the Mole trilogy would result in three albums and a world tour that would nearly bankrupt the band and Ralph Records, and cause (rumor has it) two of the... Read More

More Fun in the New World
Artist: X
Community Score: 9.00

Coming off their 1982 masterpiece Under the Big Black Sun, X offered their follow-up More Fun in the New World one year later. While its predecessor won the band a slew of new fans, it didn't serve as the major breakthrough that it so deservedly should have. Rightfully, they didn't fool with their already winning formula; they issued another... Read More

The Smiths
Artist: The Smiths
Community Score: 8.00

Arriving in an era dominated by synth pop and gloomy post-punk, the Smiths' eponymous debut was the bracing beginning of a new era. On the surface, the Smiths' sound wasn't radically different from traditional British guitar pop -- Johnny Marr's ringing, layered guitars were catchy and melodic -- but it was actually an astonishing subversion of... Read More

What Makes a Man Start Fires?
Artist: Minutemen
Community Score: 10.00

The Minutemen had already come up with a sound as distinctive as anything to come out of the American punk underground -- lean, fractured, and urgent -- with their debut album, 1981's The Punch Line. But on their second (relatively) long-player, What Makes a Man Start Fires?, the three dudes from Pedro opted to slow down their tempos a bit, and... Read More

Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat
Artist: Minutemen

What Makes a Man Start Fires? marked a real step forward for the Minutemen, and while Double Nickels on the Dime was where the group would reach their peak, there were plenty of signs pointing to that album's diverse brilliance on this eight-song EP. While "Dreams Are Free, Motherfucker!" and "The Toe Jam" are goofy, noisy throwaways (hey, this... Read More

Meat Puppets II - BONUS TRACKS
Artist: Meat Puppets
Community Score: 9.90

The Meat Puppets' second album, 1984's appropriately titled Meat Puppets II, has since gone down in the rock history books as an all-time classic, and rightfully so. The Meat Puppets were one of the first punk acts to inject different musical styles into their sound, something that was an absolute no-no at the time -- especially the sparkling... Read More

The Lords of the New Church
Artist: The Lords of the New Church
Community Score: 9.25

Although their roots were in punk rock, their debut album announced to the world that the Lords of the New Church were not your average punk band. They had ambitions: they would be the last beacon of truth in a world nearing its end. And while you can't call The Lords of the New Church entirely successful -- for every high point like "Open Your... Read More

This Charming Man
Artist: The Smiths