Watch what happens when someone asks you what you've been listening to and you say Peaches. You've got to be pretty, um, mature to put this one on, but once you do, the minimalist electro grooves hook you right in. Before you know it, you'll be singing along, unaware that what you're saying could make even Ron Jeremy blush. Which could be very bad. Or very good.
Gritty street scenes filtered through a cheeky sense of humor, British irony, and lots of milky tea make up Lily Allen's bird's-eye view of London. Allen's songs are set to an array of carefree, swinging sounds that incorporate elements of ska, pop and hip-hop, which help to offset weighty topics such as crack whores ("LDN"), breakups ("The Littlest Things") and revenge fantasies on unfaithful partners ("Smile"). More melodic and airy than the Streets, Allen is a sharp urban storyteller with an ear for a hook.
The Spice Girls burst out of the box with their candy-coated, sisters-before-misters debut, a welcome cartoon-colored pop-rocks respite from the angsty singer-songwriters and post-grunge rockers of the day. For some, the Girls' prefab, mini-backpacks-and-baby-doll-dresses approach to feminism never sat quite right: were they offering a positive image for young girls, or just zig-a-zig-aahhhing their way into a marketing niche? But the idea that pop music could be fun, female-friendly, and not completely obsessed with pleasing dudes undeniably permeates much of this undeniably infectious album.
One of the most important and influential records of the 1980s. The sleaze rock menace that was GNR's specialty had gone the way of the dinosaur until Appetite came out and the band flattened America like a steamroller. Years later, the album still rocks harder than anything else on the radio.
You may think you know all there is to know about L'Trimm. They’re Tigra and Bunny and they like ... well, you know the rest. And the girls’ debut doesn’t offer much variety from their iconic hit: more schoolyard rhymes about boys delivered in sassy monotones. But that shtick offered a serious challenge to the boys' club of hip-hop by not only giving two young girls the mic but putting young girlishness (and a pretty fierce, scrub-sassing version of it) in the spotlight. Don’t miss the title track, a friendly Salt-n-Pepa diss, or the squeak-sass "Better Yet L'Trimm."
Kim's second album, following Hardcore (1996), finds the Queen Bee staying true to form: rapping about sex and skills over slick instrumentals. Includes the single "No Matter What They Say," and cameos from Redman, Sisqo, Puffy, Grace Jones, Yellowman, Cee-Lo, and Mary J Blige.
Already a hardened veteran at age 19, Tucker had the muscle to really tick off Nashville with this hard-rocking 1978 release. It was a big hit, and Music City was quick to rip off the very bluesy, honky-tonk sound they were castigating. What's funny is how people wish Nashville made albums that sounded as "country" as TNT.
Inspired by the sample collages of Public Enemy, The Beastie Boys and The Dust Brothers made an exhilarating hour of crazy sounds, B-boy raps and bizarre stories like "Egg Man." The Beasties still have a bit of frat-boy thug left over from 1986's Licensed to Ill -- check "3 Minute Rule" and its boasts of taking ecstasy and smoking dust. But they've mostly outgrown that for an expansive vision of hip-hop psychedelia. Highlights include "Shadrach" and Ad-Rock's galvanizing "A Year and a Day," wherein he rhymes about "turning my dreams into reality" over The Isley Brothers' "That Lady."
Before Ke$ha ever brushed her teeth with a bottle of Jack, before Nicki jumped on a starship or guest verse, Chicago’s Kid Sister was slinging the sing-songy rhymes fast and sassy over danceable electro-beats. In her case, the beats are drawn from house, while the rhymes snap-crackle with candy-coated pop culture references (“Life on TV”) and club-kid cool (“Step’s” smoke-machine strut). The fabulous “Pro Nails” subjected this album to a lot of blinding, “ultraviolet” hype that it couldn’t quite live up to, but cuts like “Right Hand Hi” and “Switchboard” have only gotten fiercer with time.
Playing on the synthed-out sounds of early-'90s gangster rap, 3OH!3 release a tongue-in-cheek debut that's as catchy as it is funny. With an abundance of shout-outs to themselves and speedy electronic high-hat sounds dubbed over lyrics about trust funds and super models' nosebleeds, Want is droll and sometimes ridiculous, but it's all good fun.
Pop music subversive Cyndi Lauper's outward persona may have reached clown-level goofiness at times (Captain Lou Albano in her videos, the intentionally ridiculous dance pose on the cover) yet her debut kicks off with the brilliant and pointed "Money Changes Everything" and one of her
biggest hits ("She Bop") got banned from the radio for being about masturbation.
Here's Little Richard came out in 1957, yet the majority of its key tracks had been previously released as singles in the preceding two years. These include four classics: "Long Tall Sally," "Slippin' and Slidin'," "Rip It Up" and calling card "Tutti Frutti." So yeah, the flamboyant howler's debut album is one of the foundations of rock 'n' roll. That said, his early, raucous style also exerted a significant influence on the development of both soul and funk. After all, Little Richard was one of the first African American artists to inject pop music with the ecstatic power of gospel music.
Philly native, Brooklyn transplant and former Stiffed frontwoman Santogold's self-titled debut brims with experimental vocals; dub, new wave and electro-grime soundscapes; and quirky hood swagger. Her anti-establishment lean and love for Bad Brains and Devo were the creative rocket fuel. "Anne," a tale of drug addiction, unfurls over a Kraftwerk sample. "L.E.S. Artistes," in all its vulnerability, still smashes a reality check over the heads of downtown NY scenesters. But it is "Starstruck" that will leave you feeling that way, unworthy of her cryptic siren call and jet-blast reverb.
Another U.K. "semi-rapper" riding a huge wave of industry hype, Lady Sovereign flips a similar style as her predecessors M.I.A., Ms. Dynamite, and The Streets. High-speed, heavily accented rhymes collide with unpredictable beat arrangements, while traditional rap formulas are
thrown out the window. Her debut has critics and adventurous listeners salivating.
Like a massive hangover after a one-night stand with your cousin, everything about Mickey Avalon's debut album feels sick, dirty and wrong. And that's just the way Avalon likes it -- only his one-night stand would also include duct-taping your mother and sexually assaulting your brother, according to "Waiting to Die." He's no Princess Superstar (some of his lyrics might even make Peaches blush), but the alleged former prostitute and street hustler slings raunchy, white boy sleaze-hop like a professional.
The landmark first album by teenage girls The Runaways (singer Cherie Currie was 16 when this was recorded) kicks things off with the astonishing glam/punk/hard rock hybrid "Cherry Bomb." From there, Currie moans pretty much every two seconds (undoubtedly at the insistence of sleazeball/semi-genius Kim Fowley) and a 17-year-old Joan Jett drops guitar riffs as close to Aerosmith as The Stooges. '80s metal goddess Lita Ford plays lead guitar, and the band covers The Velvet Underground. How The Runaways didn't take over the world is anybody's guess.
David Byrne viewed the benign R&B shout-out "Burning Down the House" through his paranoid art school lens and helped the Talking Heads garner the biggest hit of their career. Other key tracks include the uneasy white boy funk of "Girlfriend Is Better," the sinister "Swamp" (written for a Scorsese flick), and the chill-inducing marvel "This Must Be the Place," an honest and beautiful love song.
Kicking off with their biggest hit -- the smart, sexy "Naked Eye" -- Luscious Jackson's second album coalesced their sophisti-funk pop sound and won them praise from fans and critics both. Atmospheric and textural, flowing on the subliminal low-end and sultry vocals of singer/bassist Jill Cunniff, songs like "Mood Swing" and "Take A Ride" spool out like a sunny ride along city streets, slick and urban and keenly observational. This one's for all the peripatetic headphonists out there.
