The best 1,000 albums ever: what is it, exactly?
This project is my life story told through the prism of 1,000 articles – one for each album that shaped me.
It all began on a gloomy winter’s day in Seattle, when I started tinkering with Rolling Stone’s top 500 albums list and fell down a rabbit hole that turned into five years of research, writing, and obsessive music discovery.
What is this project NOT?
Very important: it’s not a definitive proclamation of the Greatest Albums of All-Time.
These are my best albums as filtered through a super subjective take on the musical universe.
Also important: this project doesn’t “review” music in the traditional sense. I’ve come to realize that what I do is more like pop culture writer-meets-memoir.
Okay, but what does that mean… like for real?
It’s 1,000 articles, each featuring one album, ranked from #1,000 – Agent Orange’s caustic-yet-pleasing Living in Darkness – to #1, Nirvana’s Nevermind, featuring my “Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show moment” and how all my musical roads align.
Has anyone done anything like this before?
I don’t think so. Honestly, I haven’t found anything that comes close to the ambition and life-story-through-music approach of the best 1,000 albums ever.
The differentiator here – the thing that sets this project apart – is the work itself: five years, 1,000 articles, and roughly half a million words.
How do I dive into this thing?
I know many of you will just want to check out the Top 10, so please have at it. It’ll give you a good sense of what this project is about.
#1: Nirvana – Nevermind
My musical origin myth: all roads and doorways lead here.
#2: R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi
A restless season in my life found its match in R.E.M.’s road-worn masterpiece.
#3: Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
The rambling, genius tenement house of grooving heavy metal to get lost in.
#4: The Doors – The Doors
The adolescent myth that infected me for life.
#5: Frank Black – Teenager of the Year
The album closest to sounding like how my brain works.
#6: Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
It lives and breathes in the subway, sentient.
#7: Operation Ivy – Operation Ivy
The one I’ve listened to the most in my life.
#8: Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
It’s Reservoir Dogs. It’s Hard Eight.
#9: The Beatles – Abbey Road
It’s the off-kilter, wildly experimental back half of the album that did it.
#10: Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine
Pure, finely honed, explosive, catchy, crushing, incendiary.
You can also browse the full archive – all 1,000 albums, all 1,000 articles – on the project category page.
Or you can have fun browsing by decade if you’d like: 1950s albums | 1960s albums | 1970s albums | 1980s albums | 1990s albums | 2000s albums | 2010s albums | 2020s albums.
Why should I care?
This project is the culmination of a lifetime of being obsessed with music and pop culture, and also of trying to catalog the world around me (often without realizing I was doing it).
The best 1,000 albums ever is a celebration of music and what it’s meant to my life – how it lifts us up, recalibrates us, literally changes us, and sometimes even saves us. And then it often ties to memories: of specific places, of funny or sad or even embarrassing moments.
It’s the thrill of my life to share this with the world.
At core, I embarked on this journey to connect with people who also care about music in the way that I do. And if I can help you get hip to an album or band that may not be on your radar yet, all the better.
If you love stories, rabbit holes, and discovering music you’LL connect with for life, this project is built for you.
Which other selections are super worth checking out first?
I’m glad you asked. Here are some more to whet your appetite and provide a sense of the different styles the best 1,000 albums ever project allowed me to operate in.
#13: A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders
A jazz and hip-hop drenched love letter to NYC.
#17: Radiohead – Kid A
If this was religion – chilly, slightly foreboding, deeply mesmerizing – I had found it.
#20: Blur – Blur
The mirror album to my year working east of London.
#65: Being Dead – Eels
The album that reignited my belief that new music could still melt my brain.
#150: The Clash – London Calling
Whenever I see the cover art, the title track plays in my mind.
#223: Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Rugby house foosball and Sabbath? Now youse can’t leave.
#254: Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um
Come for the bop, stay for the film noir vibes.
#377: Jamiroquai – Travelling Without Moving
Two-quid pints at The Nag’s Head pub? That’s virtual insanity.
#539: Goodfellas soundtrack
The best flick of all-time ain’t gonna take care of that thing without the soundtrack to match.
#776: Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes
Wherein our hearts get encased in chains, enchanted by this album.
Why albums?
It’s a fair question (he answered himself). Beyond the fact that they’ve been the dominant format in terms of how music was created and sold for many decades, albums continue to represent the best way for musicians to express a full-blown “statement” through their music.
The canvas for what that can mean is both limitless and dizzying. And I also think it’s a great way to think about music relative to a specific time – and sometimes place, too.
For example, Imagine (#90) embodies the idealism and ego of John Lennon circa 1971, while Downset’s brilliant hardcore punk debut (#52) is a musical document of Los Angeles after the ’92 riots, and offers a vivid window into a very specific time and place in recent American history.
The stuff I’m into (and not into)
In a project involving writing about one thousand albums, one at a time, there’s naturally going to be a tilt toward stuff that I’m more into versus others, based on my background, age, where I grew up, and all kinds of other factors.
I truly believe that great music can come out of any genre, and I hope that this project reflects that. That said, you’ll notice a natural tilt toward the genres I deeply love and have been steeped in for decades – rock, punk, and hip-hop, for example – versus those I haven’t had quite as much exposure to (country, world music).
More about me
I’m Eric Berlin, a terminally online writer and pop culture nerd from Long Island, now living in Seattle with my wife and our dog, Jack.
I produce digital products across media and tech by day, and Pop Thruster is where I get to unleash the madcap projects that take over my brain.
It’s where you can find the best 1,000 albums ever, every Key & Peele sketch ranked, and pop culture coverage with weirdly obsessive passion and quirky asides for all.
Let me know what you think
As I mention above, the best 1,000 albums ever is designed to provoke music discovery and spark a conversation.
I want to know what you think, what albums should be on the project that aren’t, and anything else that might be on your mind. Hit me up anytime here: eric-AT-popthruster-DOT-com.