Updated Favourite 50 Artists
Recency is a thing and not the enemy with this list. |
| 50 |  | Alice in Chains
Dirt
Got into Facelift a bit more recently, but Jar of Flies and Dirt are in constant rotation. |
| 49 |  | The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers
Oh shit, they’re actually better than the Beatles, now I feel bad. |
| 48 |  | Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation
Another one I feel I need to go deeper with but I’m really getting somewhere with them now - at least four of their albums are classics or close to. |
| 47 |  | The Cure
Disintegration
Bit of a patchy discog but despite that they’ve still become an important one for me. |
| 46 |  | The Clash
London Calling
Taken a while but I now consider the debut a classic alongside ‘London Calling’. To be any higher they really needed more albums. |
| 45 |  | Eels
Electro-Shock Blues
Reading his biography added to listening to the old albums. |
| 44 |  | Aphex Twin
Selected Ambient Works Volume II
Finally got into Ambient II last year and…it might be his best one. No one else quite like him. |
| 43 |  | Leonard Cohen
Songs of Love and Hate
Where should Laughing Len land? Here is where. |
| 42 |  | Massive Attack
Blue Lines
Not including Tricky here as he was strong enough to feature on his own - if this band had kept it together long enough as a collective to record another couple of similar after ‘Mezzanine’ then the sky would have been the limit in terms of placing. |
| 41 |  | Tricky
Maxinquaye
Pips Massive Attack by a whisker, he just about recorded more good stuff simply by…just recording more stuff. Clever. |
| 40 |  | Jane's Addiction
Ritual De Lo Habitual
Perry Farrell (inc Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros, Satellite Party)
Has become one of my most played ‘90s artists between his Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros material - did actually watch Jane’s live at a festival but yeah, think LA in the early ‘90s was the time to see them rip it up. |
| 39 |  | Wu-Tang Clan
Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan (inc solo projects)
Slowly getting round to listening to all the solo output but just taking the first three Wu-Tang albums and ‘Liquid Swords’ alone they’re king of the hill for hip hop. |
| 38 |  | Adrianne Lenker
Bright Future
Adrianne Lenker (inc Big Thief)
Becoming a force of nature, I’m not sure what I’ll anticipate more…the next Big Thief release or the next solo one. Hopefully she’s only getting started, but already she’s responsible for a huge proportion of the best folk songs of the last decade and a bit. |
| 37 |  | Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
No More Shall We Part
Nick Cave (inc Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
Slowly but surely every year I get more into Cave’s music - fingers crossed whatever he releases this year adds to his rep. |
| 36 |  | Sepultura
Chaos A.D.
Shame they went all Spinal Tap and split up so early tbh, the post Cavalera stuff just isn’t the same - still, my most listened to metal band since joining LastFM and the stats don’t lie. |
| 35 |  | Tom Petty
Full Moon Fever
Tom Petty (inc Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers)
Tom going was a sad one, he’s been an ever present in my listening since my school days. |
| 34 |  | Neil Young
Tonight's the Night
This bloke inspired near enough everyone else on this list so there’s that. Been filling in the gaps with his discography but still have a way to go there. |
| 33 |  | Richmond Fontaine
You Can't Go Back if There's Nothing to Go Back To
Willy Vlautin (inc Richmond Fontaine, The Delines)
Been rediscovering some absolute quality early Richmond Fontaine albums, the latest Delines album was a beauty, and I even dig the man’s fiction books. Underrated. |
| 32 |  | Metallica
Master of Puppets
Nostalgia pick really, including watching them live back in the day. Hey, I didn’t hate the most recent album and it inspired me to finally really get into ‘AJFA’ so that was a handy side effect. |
| 31 |  | Wilco
Summerteeth
They keep on trucking, you could say they’re currently on a three great album run and they’ve been going forever. Never seen them live…feel I might have missed the boat on that, we’ll see. |
| 30 |  | Therapy?
Troublegum
Underwhelming when I caught them live but to be fair that was very much in one of their less celebrated eras. Liked the most recent album a lot. |
| 29 |  | Ministry
The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste
No one is more surprised then me that this band have cracked my top 30 and rank ahead of Nine Inch Nails now…but I’ve become a bit obsessed with them these last 12 months. Al’s lost the plot at this stage but still, goofy fun even then. |
| 28 |  | Anathema
Judgement
One of the bands I’ve watched live the most (four times) and each time they were very different but always impressive. Changed styles loads and arguably never released a bona fide classic album, but will always have a massive soft spot for them. |
| 27 |  | R.E.M.
Automatic for the People
Did see them live the once and that was ok, I wasn’t massively into them then so a bit of a wasted opportunity. Since then they’ve become one of my most played so I saw the light. |
| 26 |  | Sparklehorse
It's a Wonderful Life
The lost album was surprisingly excellent and that only helps Mark’s cause here. |
| 25 |  | Cathal Coughlan
Grand Necropolitan
Cathal Coughlan (inc Fatima Mansions, Microdisney)
An artist I got into and within four years they’re gone, so bittersweet, but definitely a recent fave. |
| 24 |  | Prefab Sprout
Jordan: The Comeback
Paddy McAloon (inc Prefab Sprout)
One of the greatest pop song writers, started off a bit of an acquired taste for me…but I acquired it. |
| 23 |  | Talking Heads
Remain in Light
Maybe I should call this David Byrne (inc Talking Heads) but I do feel the Talking Heads stuff should stand on its own this time as 90% of the time it’s superior. |
| 22 |  | Bill Callahan
Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest
Bill Callahan (inc Smog)
Is the Smog material better than the solo stuff is the obvious question? I’m returning to the Smog stuff more at the moment but mostly Callahan is Mr Consistency. |
| 21 |  | Pearl Jam
Vitalogy
Great new album and finally managed to watch them live two years ago, so there’s that pesky recency factor. |
| 20 |  | Led Zeppelin
Physical Graffiti
We needed some classic rock in the list and Led Zeppelin are well ahead of all the other classic rock bands for me - I even dig the Robert Plant solo stuff. |
| 19 |  | Magnolia Electric Co
Magnolia Electric Co
Jason Molina ((inc Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co.)
This top twenty is packed with folk performers and Molina deserves his place, incredibly prolific but most everything he recorded is worth your time. |
| 18 |  | The Blue Nile
Hats
Paul Buchanan (inc Blue Nile)
Similar as with The Bathers, another sophisti-pop Scotty master, his songs have become a real mainstay. |
| 17 |  | Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
I See a Darkness
Will Oldham (inc Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Palace Music)
I’m guessing someone who’s recorded over 300 worthwhile songs? I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface having listened to about thirty albums by him - another solid performer live. |
| 16 |  | Destroyer
Kaputt
Another artist dropping down the rankings a little bit but to be fair if I ever play some Destroyer I promise myself I’ll play more soon. He was good solo acoustic and watching him with a full band was intriguing, he brings a strange energy. |
| 15 |  | Grant Lee Buffalo
Fuzzy
Grant-Lee Phillips (inc Grant Lee Buffalo)
The Grant Lee Buffalo stuff just sounds 100% like the ‘90s….only I don’t think I ever heard this band in the ‘90s. I feel like I did anyway, their music is dripping with nostalgia. The two less celebrated albums are actually really great, and there are a few gems in his solo career too. |
| 14 |  | Richard Thompson
Mirror Blue
Richard Thompson (inc Richard & Linda thompson)
Another folk essential, a sort of recent discovery, or more someone I finally did justice to. His solo career is insane, I guess I’ll never get to watch him live, I just left this one too late. |
| 13 |  | Elliott Smith
Either/Or
One of my favourite folk performers and in constant rotation, his style seems suited for laying down time and place associations, lots of memories with almost all his songs. Catching him live is one of those where at the time I never realised how important that’d be - think he was supporting Sebadoh and we just walked out after watching Elliott, whatever followed was going to be blah by comparison. |
| 12 |  | Mercury Rev
Deserter's Songs
Such a strange band to have this high up admittedly but there’s just something about them, bit of a loveable mongrel of a group. Watching them live was perfect and one of the only bands I’ve searched for a huge amount of live material to listen to and it was worth it. |
| 11 |  | The Bathers
Kelvingrove Baby
Most meaningful recent discovery…and then they hit the comeback trail and delivered a top quality new album too. If they toured outside of Scotland I’d try real hard to get to see them. |
| 10 |  | The National
Trouble Will Find Me
Wooh boy, they’re falling away and that’s sad but I have to be honest here - that’s despite them putting on maybe my favourite live performance I’ve ever watched. The National will always be important to me but them remaining active is actually a hindrance at this stage I feel…they’re diluting the magic. |
| 9 |  | Sun Kil Moon
Ghosts of the Great Highway
Mark Kozelek (inc Red House Painters, Sun Oil Moon)
Ugh, yes he’s now tarnished with a terrible rep and is quite likely an unpleasant person or at least one with an (expected) dark side…but he was also the most consistent folk performer out there for over twenty years. Seen him live twice, a very talented performer, the grouch schtick has come back to bite him though. |
| 8 |  | Mark Eitzel
60 Watt Silver Lining
Mark Eitzel (inc American Music Club)
Genius song writer and someone I can confidently say has released over two hundred songs I’d consider essential. The solo stuff or the AMC stuff being better? I guess I tend to gravitate to the solo output a bit more now but it’s a tough call. Did see him playing solo just the once, meant a lot. |
| 7 |  | Nirvana
In Utero
Still a fun band to listen to and close to an ever present in rotation now - definitely responsible for helping to make music an obsession for me at the time. Never caught them live and that’s a tragedy. |
| 6 |  | Radiohead
OK Computer
The sluggers of the top ten, they never totally fall out of rotation but they’re easily the act most coasting on their built up credit in this top ten. Never caught them live which was a bit silly of me. |
| 5 |  | David Bowie
Low
Perhaps the most rewarding discography of them all, truly a legacy of music you can get lost in again and again. Been returning to the ‘90s era the most recently and even that period is so nostalgic to return to now. So pleased I caught him live, if it was only the once and when I was really young for it. |
| 4 |  | Lambchop
Is a Woman
First non Brit band and you can’t get more American then Lambchop - fallen out of rotation a little bit compared to the above recently, but a certainty I’ll binge their stuff again soon. Impressive live. |
| 3 |  | The Stranglers
Rattus Norvegicus
The only existing band capable of one day becoming my number one ahead of The The, been getting into this band’s huge discog so much - even starting to enjoy some of the post Cornwell output. Legends, sometimes ‘pub rock’ just equates to ‘music you’d always enjoy drinking to’, so maybe the ultimate drinking band. |
| 2 |  | Tindersticks
Tindersticks
What a consistent band, were phenomenal live, every year I get obsessed with a different two or three songs by the band - always one of the signs of an all time great for me. |
| 1 |  | The The
Infected
Still one of the only bands I have in constant rotation to some degree, watching Matt live for the first time this year will hopefully cement this position - exciting times. |
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