Celebrity Christmas Albums

These are the songs that make you roll your eyes in theatres, change the channel or even put the TV on mute when you hear them come on in movie trailers. Some are actually fantastic and beautifully written songs that have been ruined by overexposure; some are inexplicably popular songs that need to die immediately.

The best Dio albums, spanning his full career. For about a 10 year period from the mid-70s into the mid-80s, Dio fronted prime years of 3 of the greatest metal bands to ever walk the earth. Ronnie Dio recorded quite a few records in a long career, but these are the only 10 you need to hear unless you are a die-hard, although there are moments on Black Sabbath's "Dehumanizer", "Live Evil", and the 3rd Dio album worth hearing. Call it a Dio primer or a Dio record buying guide. RIP RJD - you were one of a kind as a vocalist. And you gave us the "horns". Metal wouldn't be what it is today without you. Also just a note, if you want to see more stats about these albums just click "change display" button. Neat, huh? -for anyone interested, Sabs are #7, Rainbow #45, Dio #192 on my alltime list http://www.ranker.com/list/top-500-musical-groups-and-artists-of-alltime/clark-benson

Sure, we've all worn out our Ozzy and Iron Maiden albums - but if we dig a little deeper there are some real gems out there, just waiting to be discovered.

The rock album theme of the "00s"? Consistency. There were unquestionably less amazing records this decade than any other decade in rock. I probably listened to 3000 or so discs that came out in the "oughts" and gave just 3 "perfect" scores. But that doesn't mean everything sucked. Good, even great, albums came out in droves. By the same artists. Year after year. Maybe it's just the way I listen to music (I'm pretty loyal to artists I like) but it was fascinating going through this exercise and seeing the consistency - for example, finding that all of the last 3 Mars Volta records were clustered together, along with the last 3 or 4 MMJ albums, TV On The Radio, Doves, Kings of Leon etc. It's pretty much the case down the line, from the few credible superstar bands like Green Day, U2, Radiohead, to the old warhorses like Dylan and Springsteen on down to the many excellent bands that never get airplay in these fractured times. And those bands are really the heart of the great rock of the decade - the mid-level Bonnaroo/Coachella/Lollapalooza draws. Highly credible bands that play theatres and put out a bunch of records that aren't quite "10s". Soon, when I have more time to actually play with my own website, I'll be ranking my whole record collection. With far fewer "10s" in this decade, will I find that the overall number of great records (9+ ratings) are also lower this decade than in the 70's, 90s, 60's and even 80's? I can't wait to find out. I'm pretty damn sure the 70's and the 90's will blow this decade away, but not sure if the breadth of great albums was quite as consistent in the 80's or the 60's (I don't count jazz on this list - hard to compare apples to apples - so the 60's are hampered in my book by getting a pretty late start). It's also fun to revisit records that - great as they may be - just don't seem a part of this last decade at all. Fatboy Slim? The last studio record from Rage Against The Machine? It also underscores how 2000-2001 frankly just had some more interesting stuff going on. Strange that 2001 feels like sooo long ago. A very fun exercise, this. Wish I had time to write little blurbs about each record, but at the time of posting I just have too much going on. Blurbs/reviews will be trickling in. The rankings took a lot of time, even with the ultimate listmaking tool at my disposal. To clarify for you readers who have gotten this far- I listened to (and am pretty likely to own) the entire decade's output by all but about 2% of the bands on this list, so (if you care) you can safely assume that, for example, having Motorhead's "Inferno" on this list does not mean I'm just I am just some dude who scored the odd Motorheaad album, but rather that Inferno was a surprisingly high-quality album by a band that hadn't put out anything consistently memorable in a long time. And so on. I was originally planning a 200 or 250 item list, but some quality records would have gotten cut. So it's 300 - but in fairness, quality does start to drop around #275 or so. Criteria: Live albums and compilations of all sorts excluded. Had I included live albums, certainly Wilco, Warren Haynes, and many "official bootlegs" would have made the list. Other thoughts - Pearl Jam barely on the list, tho an absolute fave live band. Ditto for Phil and Friends, and Gov't Mule as well. Live versions are just better for these guys. When you make a list, you gotta have some rules (tho, when I do my 70's albums list, I don't see how I'll be able to exclude live albums - we humans are maddeningly inconsistent creatures). And when I find myself deep in the weeds of trying to slice whether, say, the Starsailor debut beats Gillian Welch's "Time", I ask "if i had to live without ever hearing one of these which would it be?" Not entirely fair, as one can burn out on a once-loved album so of course I try to take that into consideration as well. Such is how it goes, when Ranking

"i think the ziggy/aladdin sane/diamond dogs period, as well as low/heroes/lodger periods were very interesting and productive. of course the one-two punch of 'the man..'./hunky dory wasn't too shabby. i really do like the glitzy/glam aladdin/diamond dogs period quite a bit. have you ever seen "The 1980 Floor Show" that was on The Midnight Special back in the mid-70's??????? "Time" - one of the greatest guitar solos ever recorded. thanks mick - you live on forever if that was the only one you ever laid down. i could bore you forever. i was a very heavy bowie fan. many acid trips to aladdin sane. that one may is tied for first with me."

"for me, Dogs was easily the most elaborate, theatrical of them all (including 'Ziggy' + 'A Lad'). Of course it was 1974 - he had just got done with Raw Power, the Dolls had In Too Much Too Soon Out, T Rex had put out The Slider, and Elton John had put out Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Kiss had completed Dress to Kill (still their finest studio LP in my view) and everyone was running around fucking and taking drugs - oh shit - how humiliating - i forgot (i knew i had) one of the finest of all the Bo LPs (drugs reminded me because he was blasted out of his mind living in LA on tons of cocaine at the time, shortly after DDogs - Station To Station (see revised list now) ! Anyway - i can remember unfortunately - the '70s were out of control and truly sucked in most ways. Despite the pseudo-hipness of this 70s revival these days, in reality those days were a bore: The Brady Bunch was real - that actually reflected our culture. Bell bottoms were real and NOT thought to be funny and cool. It was the status quo. You couldn't BUY straight leg Levi's - they were all flared. I remember buying what they called "Student Flare" Levi's. Plus the greatest (for me) Queen album came out in 74 (perhaps 73) - Sheer Heart Attack. Some pretty good music - It's Only Rock N Roll. The Rock Music Awards - Keith Moon rides out on the stage with Ann Margaret strapped to the back (Tommy was out). Alice Cooper. wow - i can't seem to stop. Transformer. stop. stop. Roxy Musix - Country Life, Siren. stop. Hues Corporation - Rock The Boat. STOP STOP STOP. Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting. The Stylistics - You Make Me Feel Brand New. Rufus. War. AWB. a white kid in a black city. STOP STOP STOP STOP STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP."

my top 20 indie rock albums of all time. the best of the 80's 90's and today includeing Radiohead, Elliott Smith and The White Stripes. alternative music made without the influence of major record lables. In my opinion these are the purest, strongest, soul filled indie albums. no fillers, no waterd down taste, no corporate hang-over. every one of these albums changed my life and i promise if you give them a open minded listen they will cuddle up inside your soul and grow like golden magic tumors or diamond crusted insect eggs with a carmael core. they will give you super powers.

Every band you love has one. You know what I'm talking about, that one terrible record which you still own because you must have everything, and maybe it has that one decent single on it, because it can't all be that bad. Oh, but it can.

These are my favorite hip-hop albums of all-time.

Complete list of Mud albums including EPs and some singles. Discography of Mud CDs/Mud records. List includes Mud album covers in many cases, and if we are missing an album cover feel free to upload it. Full Mud discography is alphabetical, however you can sort Mud albums list by any column. List items include Let's Have A Party - The Best Of Mud, The Singles '67 - '78 (disc 1) and many additional items as well. You may want to copy this factual list to build your own just like it, re-rank it to fit your opinions, then publish it to share it with your Twitter followers, Facebook friends or with any other social networks you use regularly. (12 Items)

Complete list of Masta Ace albums including EPs and some singles. Discography of Masta Ace CDs/Masta Ace records. List includes Masta Ace album covers in many cases, and if we are missing an album cover feel free to upload it. Full Masta Ace discography is alphabetical, however you can sort Masta Ace albums list by any column. This list contains items like A Long Hot Summer and Hits U Missed^! Volume 2. You can use the items in this factual list to create a new one, just like this one, to start your own. (12 Items)

Complete list of The Candyskins albums including EPs and some singles. Discography of The Candyskins CDs/The Candyskins records. List includes The Candyskins album covers in many cases, and if we are missing an album cover feel free to upload it. Full The Candyskins discography is alphabetical, however you can sort The Candyskins albums list by any column. This list is made up of items like Death of a Minor TV Celebrity and Fun?. You may want to copy this fact-based list to build your own just like it, re-rank it to fit your opinions, then publish it to share it on Facebook, Twitter or any other social sites you frequent. (7 Items)

Complete list of Klamydia albums including EPs and some singles. Discography of Klamydia CDs/Klamydia records. List includes Klamydia album covers in many cases, and if we are missing an album cover feel free to upload it. Full Klamydia discography is alphabetical, however you can sort Klamydia albums list by any column. Examples include Bonusta Ja Plussaa and Kötinää!. You're able to copy this list to build your own just like it, re-rank it to fit your views, then publish it to share it on Facebook, Twitter or any other social networks you use on a regular basis. (39 Items)

Complete list of El Último de la Fila albums including EPs and some singles. Discography of El Último de la Fila CDs/El Último de la Fila records. List includes El Último de la Fila album covers in many cases, and if we are missing an album cover feel free to upload it. Full El Último de la Fila discography is alphabetical, however you can sort El Último de la Fila albums list by any column. List items range from Como la cabeza al sombrero to Fragmentos. You can use the items in this factual list to create a new one, just like this one, to start your own. -13 Items-