Your Top 5 Albums

[Brandon]

5. Believe


Despite the media circus that shrouds his career, last year Justin Bieber released the best male pop album since Justified. Boyfriend and As Long as You Love Me demonstrated a more mature sound - oh, and the beats fucking KNOCKED. All Around the World is one of the best EDM tracks to hit since the craze started, while Right Here and Die in Your Arms showed us what a mature crooner puberty turned JB into. And Out of Town Girl blends all of these elements into the perfect groupie love song.


4. Electra Heart


The album of the millennial generation. We're entitled, egotistical and lazy - and Marina sings about all of that via her alter ego: Electra Heart. Primadonna is the most shining example, as a song boasting about the superficial lifestyle we all crave. Then there's Living Dead, a cautionary tale of the numbness that comes with being this shallow. Bubblegum Bitch is reminiscent of a glorious time in pop music (before Lady GaGa sold out) and How to Be a Heartbreaker is not only fun, but educational!


3. Stripped


Stripped was a liberating album with a 'beautiful' message of independence, equality and self-worth. Can't Hold Us Down awakened me to the double standards of society without contradicting the shameless fun of Dirrty. And Fighter serves as one of the most aggressively inspiring tracks of all time (and an iconic workout song), while The Voice Within serves a similar purpose in a softer manner. And then there's Beautiful, an important message about the beauty in everyone - most of all yourself.


2. In the Zone


The most tantalizing record since the dawn of music. The album opens with Me Against the Music, which serves as a passing of the torch between Britney and her predecessor as Queen of Pop, Madonna. The album also includes Toxic and Outrageous, two of Brit's most notorious bangerz. Breathe on Me was unanimously decided to be the most sensual song in the history of pop music by me. And of course there's the delicately artistic Everytime and it's haunting alternative: Shadow.


1. Born to Die – The Paradise Edition


The only album ever released to be free of any and all flaws. Whether singing about a long lost lover in Blue Jeans or Summertime Sadness, or a reckless romance in Video Games or Diet Mountain Dew, or Americana in National Anthem or American - or even her pussy tasting like Pepsi Cola - Born to Die remains the most innovative album of our time. A statement as definitive and phucks free as Radio or Ride.

[Burke]

1. Alice in Chains – Dirt


I almost put AiC’s greatest hits album as my number one but that would’ve been cheating. This is their best album. Their albums before (Facelift) and after (self titled) were also amazing but they had a couple filler songs on them while everything on this one is great.

Best songs: Would?, Rooster, Them Bones, Down in a Hole, Angry Chair



2. Pearl Jam – Ten


Pearl Jam have released a lot of good stuff over the years but this is so much better than everything else. The entire album is flawless.

Best songs: Black, Jeremy, Even Flow, Garden, Release



3. Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory


This is my favourite British album ever. There are so many classic songs on there. And I know the lyrics to most of them by heart.

Best songs: Cast No Shadow, Champagne Supernova, Don’t Look Back in Anger, Wonderwall, Hello



4. Soundgarden – Superunknown


Like AiC, they have three albums released in the early-mid 90's that I consider classics but this one is my favourite. Chris Cornell imo is the best singer of his generation.

Best songs: The Day I Tried to Live, Black Hole Sun, 4th of July, Fell on Black Days, Mailman



5. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication


I’m not that big of a RHCP fan in general but there’s something about this album where I love basically every song and can listen to the whole thing without skipping anything.

Best songs: Californication, Scar Tissue, Emit Remmus, Porcelain, Road Trippin’

[Astrozombie]

This whole process made me feel really nostalgic, holy crap.

5. A*Teens - Teen Spirit


I was torn between A*Teens and N*SYNC. But I stuck with A*Teens because it's something that marks the end of my childhood and my ascent into puberty (also I don't really wanna remember my obsession with JC Chasez). My mom bought my this album as a goodbye present before I went to sixth grade camp (for a week lol). I remember listening to it on the bus with my CD player and just wanting to go back home. But this was something I used to dance around in my room to openly before I was a teenager and I thought that was embarrassing. I was really gay as a child.

Best songs: Bouncing Off The Ceiling (Upside Down), Halfway Around The World, Sugar Rush, Around The Corner Of Your Eye, Back For More

4. Jack's Mannequin - Everything in Transit


I initially wanted to rank this higher than SoCo because it was the first time I ever heard a story told through a full length album. Everything about it is beautiful, from the lyrics, to the music, even to the album art work. It's something that comes on if my ipod is on shuffle and I'll belt it out because to this day I know every word to each song.

Best songs: Holiday From Real, I'm Ready, La La Lie, MFEO: Part 2 - You Can Breathe

3. Michelle Branch - The Spirit Room


This middle school for me, and after Amy Jo Johnson, Michelle Branch became my second girl crush. I remember getting ready for school every morning and the 'All You Wanted' music video would be playing. I remember going to Tower Records with my friend and he gave me grief for buying a 'girl CD', but I told him to fuck off.

Best songs: Everywhere, All You Wanted, Sweet Misery, Drop In The Ocean

2. Sum 41 - All Killer, No Filler


My first concert, my oldest brother took me to see The Vandals. Which I loved, but I'd never listened to them until that night. Then for my second concert my other brother took me to see Sum 41, thinking that it'd be a better experience for me since they were pretty popular at the time and it would be something that I actually knew. And he was right. I was blown away, and when my birthday hit, I begged my dad to get me a guitar so I could start a band. It sounds dumb, but they were probably one of the most inspirational bands to me as a teen, and the reason I spent every day and night practicing guitar throughout my awkward years. They instantly became my favorite band, and in middle school and high school I would've gladly defended them to my last breath.

Best songs: Fat Lip, Motivation, In Too Deep, Summer, Heart Attack

1. Something Corporate - Leaving Through the Window


Andrew McMahon is a lyrical genius. 'Leaving Through The Window' was my anthem throughout high school. Though I listened to Something Corporate's second album 'North' first, this one sticks to me the most. Unfortunately I never got to see them live during their peak in 2002/2003, I did get to see them back in 2010 for their 10 year reunion tour and it pretty much reiterated why I love them so much. I've been to hundreds of concerts, but I can honestly say that, that one was by far my favorite (though when I saw Sum 41 for the first and second time follow closely). But like the rest of these albums, if any song comes on from this album, I'll sing every word.

Best songs: Punk Rock Princess, I Woke Up In A Car, If You C Jordan, Hurricane, Globes & Maps