This is kind of cliche but Kind of Blue by Miles Davis can go on whenever I feel like chilled but complicated music regardless of its ubiquity.

Icky Mettle - Archers of Loaf is my go to all bangers classic

Modern Dance by Pere Ubu. That one split my skull wide open. So glad to have heard it relatively young

major wrote: Tue Jan 06, 2026 12:00 pm
The first few Iron Maiden albums nail this in my opinion.

Sam Cooke’s Live at the Harlem Club or any live Otis Redding album for me. Also Ornette Coleman’s Dancing in Your Head.

Dear god YES.

Marquee Moon
Three of a Perfect Pair
Action Park
Vee Vee
Repetition
The Clash
Damned, Damned, Damned
A Love Supreme
Ask The Ages

Birth of the Cool
Time Out

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Tue Jan 06, 2026 12:20 pmSchool of the Flower Six Organs of Admittance

Hard co-sign on this one. Dark Noontide as well... Huge fan.

Yank Crime and Master Of Puppets from earlier as well.


Also:

first two Om
Dead Meadow ~ Shivering King & Others
KWC ~ Gambling On The Richter Scale
Shallow, North Dakota ~ This Apparatus Must Be Earthed
Sallow ~ Cloud Of Thought (how is there not a physical release of this!!)
Sofa ~ Grey (ALL timer)
Songs: Ohia~ Didn't It Rain + the You Came To Me As A Ghost live one
Terry ~ Rojvi
Gary K ~ Open Air Ceremony

The first three Foo Fighters albums & the Pocketwatch demo
In Utero
Every Shellac album was an instant classic as far as I am concerned.
Will happily second the early Blue Cheer records
Mountain's Climbing!
The first couple Sabbath albums
The first three Metallica albums (sorry, Justice gets boring if I listen to it too often)
The first five or so Megadeth albums
Zen Arcade and Metal Circus
Copper Blue, File Under: Easy Listening, and Beaster
Dust and Sweet Oblivion
I will also happily second the timelessness of Reign In Blood, although my favourite Slayer album is Seasons In The Abyss

cakes wrote: Mon Jan 05, 2026 9:45 am

Gramsci wrote: Mon Jan 05, 2026 6:29 am Honestly I think Slayer, Reign in Blood is absolutely timeless.

Along with Master of Puppets, Rust in Peace, and dare I say Crack the Skye. I'm sure I'm missing a few more masterpieces.

Eh... Master of Puppets has douche drums which will always make it sound dated and inextricably tied to the 1980s. Maybe someday they'll let Rick Reuben yank the reverb out and insert a sample of a snare drum that's actually been tuned. It'll never get old, but it'll never not sound like an 80s album (presuming we mean "never get old" in the sense that I will never get sick of it, which was my interpretation of the topic). I suspect Flemming Rasmussen has never actually heard a drum kit.

EDIT: oh shit, I forgot COWBOYS FROM FUKKIN HELL

dfglv wrote: Tue Jan 06, 2026 7:19 am Numerous days I've taken the first steps out of deep immobilising depression with "if you get up and walk across the room you can put Bill Withers Live At Carnegie Hall on."

Fuck, I needed this today. Excellent.

I can't do this list, it's too long.

Maybe I'll try later.

The first Discharge LP and first crop of EPs
MC5 - High Time
First four Sabbath LPs

Godflesh Slavestate
I must have listened to this like over 500 times ever since I got it back in 2004 or so. I would've also never guessed that a CD with three remixes would've done that either. I love GC Green's work here.

Loop A Gilded Eternity
Speaking of Godflesh, when I saw that Robert Hampson also plays in Loop, I gave "Afterglow" a listen and it kicked major ass. I eventually got A Gilded Eternity and what a glorious record it is. I'm listening to it now. "Be Here Now" is perfect.