The Wall (Pink Floyd)

1,001 Albums

401–450

Daniel Lanciana
40 min readJul 22, 2024

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About

Listening to all albums (at least once) in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die list. For the record, 1000 *pretty much anything* is an absurd undertaking.

Each album has a little background and any tracks I particularly enjoyed.

TL;DR

Great means the whole album was fantastic. Good albums have at least 6 songs I like. Honorable albums have at least 4 songs I like. Ranked as entire albums, not by artist or isolated tracks.

Great: The Cars, Dire Straits, Movies (Holger Czukay), Reggatta de Blanc (The Police), Fear Of Music (Talking Heads), Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division), Risqué (Chic), The Wall (Pink Floyd), Off The Wall (Michael Jackson), Machine Gun Etiquette (The Damned)

Good: Another Music In A Different Kitchen* (Buzzcocks); Van Halen; Here, My Dear* (Marvin Gaye), Germ Free Adolescents* (X-Ray Spex), Highway To Hell (AC/DC), We Are Family (Sister Sledge), Quiet Life (Japan), London Calling* (The Clash), Armed Forces* (Elvis Costello And The Attractions), Entertainment! (Gang Of Four), Tusk* (Fleetwood Mac), The Pleasure Principle (Gary Numan)

Honourable: Eternally Yours (The Saints), Rust Never Sleeps (Neil Young & Crazy Horse), Cheap Trick At Budokan (Cheap Trick), The Specials, Kings Of The Wild Frontier (Adam And The Ants), Searching For The Young Soul Rebels (Dexys Midnight Runners), Back In Black (AC/DC)

Bad: D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle (Throbbing Gristle)

* Many tracks
** Few tracks

#401 | Throbbing Gristle — D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle

The first 1,000 records were issued with a card calendar featuring colour photos of a little girl on a bed. Another pressing of 1,000 copies — called the “Structuralist Spirals” edition — was recut with false track markers (the “bands” visible on a vinyl disc) to give it the appearance of having fifteen tracks of exactly equal length and a short sixteenth track. Later reissues of the album omitted the inset and card calendar due to its resemblance to child pornography.

Bad.

#402 | Talking Heads — More Songs About Buildings And Food

The first of three albums produced by collaborator Brian Eno. Reached №29 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart and number №21 on the UK Albums Chart. Take Me to the River is an Al Green cover.

The cover, conceived by frontman David Byrne and executed by artist Jimmy De Sana, is a photomosaic of the band comprising 529 close-up Polaroid photographs taken on the roof of the loft building in Long Island City that (drummer) Chris Frantz and (bassist) Tina Weymouth lived in. The rear cover shows Portrait U.S.A. — the first (1976) colour satellite analog photomosaic of the United States from space, created by NASA and GE for National Geographic.

In 2005, remastered and re-released in DualDisc format (DVD-Audio, stereo, 5.1 surround high resolution) with four bonus tracks; In Europe it was released as a CD+DVDA two-disc set rather than a single DualDisc.

  • Thank You for Sending Me an Angel
  • Stay Hungry
  • Take Me to the River

#403 | Buzzcocks — Another Music In A Different Kitchen

First studio album featuring the band’s third line-up. The title was inspired by a collage by British artist, Linder Sterling.

The original UK vinyl release was issued with a black cardboard inner sleeve, using a colour photo by Jill Furmanovsky on the front cover. Subsequent pressings substituted a black and white photo. The initial few thousand copies were shipped in a matching silver plastic shopping bag with the word ‘PRODUCT’ on one side and the catalogue number “UAG 30159[5]” on the other. Displaying the catalogue number prominently in this way was a common feature of Buzzcocks’ artwork. The first pressing inadvertently gave a songwriting credit for Fast Cars to Shelley/Devoto. Due to a mix-up at the pressing plant, some early copies of the album are missing the track I Need.

  • Fast Cars
  • No Reply
  • Get On Our Own
  • I Don’t Mind
  • Fiction Romance
  • Autonomy
  • Whatever Happened To…?
  • What Do I Get?

#404 | Van Halen

Debut studio album that was mostly recorded live, with some overdubs. Sold over 10 million copies in the US and received RIAA Diamond certification. Reached №19 on the Billboard 200. In 2006, Guitar World ranked it №7 on a list of the Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time. In 2013, Rolling Stone listed the album at №27 of the 100 Best Debut Albums of All Time. In 2020, №292 in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone.

You Really Got Me is a Kinks cover. Eruption, written and played by guitarist Eddie Van Halen, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitar solos of all time and helped popularise two-handed tapping.

The cover photos were taken at the Whisky a Go Go, where the band often performed during 1976–1977. The guitar pictured is Eddie Van Halen’s signature Frankenstrat (before he added the red paint) — a highly customized Stratocaster-style guitar built out of replacement parts. The liner notes thank Gene Simmons of Kiss, who produced and financed the band’s demo tape.

  • Runnin’ with the Devil
  • Eruption
  • You Really Got Me
  • Jamie’s Cryin’
  • Little Dreamer
  • Ice Cream Man

#405 | Willie Colón & Rubén Blades — Siembra

The album (Spanish for “Sowing”) is considered the best-selling (over 3 million copies) salsa album in the history of salsa music. Almost all of its songs were hits at one time or another in various Latin American countries.

Buscando Guayaba was featured in the 1988 Disney animated film, Oliver & Company. Pedro Navaja was influenced by Bertolt Brecht’s Threepenny Opera.

Album in Spanish.

  • Pedro Navaja

#406 | The Cars

Debut album that peaked at №18 on US Billboard 200 (139 weeks on the chart) and has been certified 6x platinum by the RIAA. In 2003, №282 on 500 Greatest Albums of All Time by Rolling Stone (№284 in 2012; №353 in 2020). In 2024, inducted into the National Recording Registry.

The cover was designed by the record company and features Russian-born model Nataliya Medvedeva; it was not well liked by the band. The band’s drummer, David Robinson, created a cover for $80 that was relegated to the inner sleeve.

  • Entire album

#407 | Devo — Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!

Debut studio album produced by Brian Eno — but after conflicts arose between the group and Eno, David Bowie was brought in to remix the album. Since Devo had not yet been signed to a record label, Eno paid for the flights and studio cost of the band. The album peaked at №78 on the U.S. Billboard chart and №12 on the UK Albums Chart.

The cover was illustrated by Joe Heiner based on an image of golfer Juan “Chi-Chi” Rodríguez that the band found on a golf strap. The band did not obtain permission in time, so the image was altered. The original cover illustration appeared on the picture sleeve for the Be Stiff single. The European version had completely different artwork, featuring stills taken from the band’s short film, The Truth About De-Evolution.

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction is a Rolling Stones cover.

  • (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
  • Jocko Homo

#408 | Dire Straits

Debut studio album. Certified double platinum in both the US and UK by the RIAA and BPI. The cover was a commissioned painting from Chuck Loyola. The back cover Fender logo was designed by Geoff Halpern. In 1996, remastered and reissued.

Sultans of Swing reached №4 on Billboard Hot 100; №8 on UK Singles Chart; №1 of the album charts in Germany, Australia and France; №2 in the US, and №5 in the UK. On some early CD pressings the song fades out early.

  • Entire album

#409 | The Saints — Eternally Yours

Originally titled International Robots.

  • Private Affair
  • No, Your Product
  • Orstralia
  • Untitled

#410 | Marvin Gaye — Here, My Dear

The album was notable for its subject matter focusing largely on Gaye’s acrimonious divorce from his first wife, Anna Gordy Gaye, including a warrant and arrest for failing to pay alimony. Gaye was forced to give half the album’s royalties to Anna.

The cover is a painting of Gaye in a neo-Roman setting created artist Michael Bryan. The back cover features a temple with the word “matrimony” collapsing around a mock-Rodin sculpture of a romantic couple. The fold-out illustration inside the original double album shows a man’s hand reaching across to the hand of a woman’s, about to give her a record. The hands are extended on a Monopoly board — with the legend “JUDGMENT” written on it. On the man’s side are tape recorders and a grand piano; on the woman’s are a house, car and ring.

Gaye, who usually did not write his lyrics, composed on the spot and ended up playing all the keyboard parts. Re-released in 1994. The album has appeared on all three editions of Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, №462 in 2003, №456 in 2012, №493 in 2020.

  • When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You
  • Is That Enough
  • Everybody Needs Love
  • Time To Get It Together
  • Sparrow
  • Anna’s Song
  • Falling in Love Again

#411 | Willie Nelson — Stardust

Consists entirely of Nelson’s favourite pop standards and recorded in only ten days. Produced by Booker T. Jones of the M.G.’s after Nelson bumped into him on a morning run.

Recorded in the living room beside the Enactron Truck Studio; harmonicist Mickey Raphael played in a tiled bathroom shower. Columbia Records executives did not like the radical departure from the “outlaw movement” and not featuring the singer on the cover, but Nelson has total creative control so Columbia pressed fewer copies. The cover is a painting of the Pleiades constellation by Susanna Clark.

Reached №1 in Billboard’s Top Country Albums, №30 in the Billboard 200, №1 in Canadian RPM’s Country Albums, №28 in RPM’s Top Albums, №1 in New Zealand, №5 in Australia. In 1979, Nelson won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song Georgia on My Mind. In 2012, the album was ranked №260 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

In 1988, certified quintuple platinum by RIAA. In 2002, certified quintuple platinum by the RIAA. In 2015, inducted into the 2015 Grammy Hall of Fame class. On the Billboard’s Country Album charts for ten years!

In 1985, reissued on CD. In 1999, released with additional tracks. In 2008, 30th Anniversary Legacy Edition containing a 16-track bonus disc of standards from Nelson’s other albums. In 2013, for the 35th anniversary Nelson performed the entire album live with an orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl.

  • Georgia On My Mind
  • Blue Skies
  • September Song

Very slow.

#412 | Chic — C’est Chic

Reaching №4 on Billboard’s album chart, topped the US R&B chart for eleven weeks, and Billboard’s 1979 R&B Album of the Year. Certified platinum by the RIAA and Gold by the BPI.

The European version was originally called Très Chic and featured a cover of a woman holding a neon light tube. It was deemed too risqué and not used. In 2011, remastered and re-issued. In 2018, remastered and re-issued at Abbey Road Studios.

  • Entire album

#413 | X-Ray Spex — Germ Free Adolescents

Debut album that contained five (of twelve) tracks that had already been released as singles.

Ranked №5 on Spin magazine’s 50 Most Essential Punk Records. Ranked №19 on Mojo magazine’s Top 50 Punk Albums. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album №354 in The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. British artist FKA Twigs named Germfree Adolescents her favourite album of all time.

  • Germfree Adolescence
  • Identity
  • The Day the World Turned Dayglo
  • I Am a Poseur
  • Warrior in Woolworths
  • I Cant Do Anything

#414 | Brian Eno — Ambient 1: Music For Airports

The first of Eno’s Ambient music series intended to be “more a concept than a genre” and “induce calm and a space to think” while remaining “as ignorable as it is interesting.” Credited with coining the term “ambient music.” Eno, a self-proclaimed “nervous flyer”, considered the feelings of death that arise from being at an airport.

Eno became interested in ambience after a friend left an album playing quietly in his hospital room following a car accident — with Eno unable to turn the volume up. Conceived the album while waiting several hours at Cologne Bonn Airport. The concept is distinct from background music by retaining doubt and uncertainty (and thus all genuine interest).

Consists of four compositions created by layering tape loops of differing lengths, and designed to be continuously looped as a sound installation, with the intent of defusing the anxious atmosphere of an airport terminal. The back cover features four abstract graphic notation images — each representing the structure and instrumentation of a track.

1/1 features piano loops performed in an arrhythmic manner from two pianists playing where neither could clearly hear the other; it’s the only track with a melody. 2/1 and 1/2 make use of vocal loops; the former designed to have them fluctuate in synchrony, the latter a result of each singer’s capability. 2/2 was performed with an ARP 2600 synthesiser.

Installed and performed in at least five airports (sine travellers found it disruptive) — plus clinics and hospitals. In 1998, Bang on a Can performed the album live, bringing Eno to tears for “trying to act like machines, but they don’t sound like machines at all, they sound like people and it’s quite touching when that appears.” In 2016, Pitchfork ranked it the greatest ambient album of all time.

Not bad, but not an album to be actively listed to.

#415 | Siouxsie And The Banshees — The Scream

Debut studio album recorded in one week and considered a landmark in the post-punk genre for its innovative combination of angular and serrated guitar with a bass-led rhythm and machine-like drums played mostly on toms. Before being signed to a record label, a fan undertook a graffiti campaign in London spraying the walls of the major record companies with the words “Sign the Banshees: do it now.” Reached №12 on the UK Albums Chart.

The title was inspired by the 1968 film, The Swimmer. The cover was shot by Paul Wakefield in a Central London YMCA pool using schoolchildren as models. More than one month prior to its release, DJ John Peel got an advance copy and broadcast the entire album without interruption on BBC Radio 1. In 2005, remastered and reissued on CD as part of Universal’s Deluxe Edition series. In 2018, 180g black vinyl LP reissue mastered from the original ¼ inch tapes and cut half-speed at Abbey Road Studios.

A key influence for Joy Division, Killing Joke, the Cure, Big Black, Sonic Youth, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Faith No More (covered Switch live), and Massive Attack. In 1997, Massive Attack covered and sampled Metal Postcard (Mittageisen) on their song Superpredators (Metal Postcard).

  • Overground
  • Helter Skelter
  • Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)

1979

#416 | AC/DC — Highway To Hell

The last album featuring lead singer Bon Scott, who drank himself to death in 1980. The name is refers to the band touring on the road for four years. Reached №17 on the US Billboard 200 chart. In 2006, certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA.

Released with a different cover in Australia. The East German release had different and much plainer designs for the front and back of the album.

Serial killer Richard Ramírez — nicknamed the “Night Stalker” and responsible for 15 brutal murders — was a fan of AC/DC and particularly the song Night Prowler, which brought bad publicity (and protest) against AC/DC.

Highway to Hell is featured in films Final Destination 2, Megamind, Iron Man 2, and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It) is featured in the films Empire Records, The Longest Yard, The Dukes of Hazzard, Shoot ’Em Up, and Final Destination 5. Walk All Over You is featured in the film Grown Ups. Touch Too Much is featured on the soundtrack for the video game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned and the theme song for WWF SummerSlam in 1998.

In 2003, re-released as part of the AC/DC Remasters series. In 2013, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of AC/DC fans campaigned to make Highway to Hell a Christmas number one single on the UK Singles Chart; it raised funds for cancer awareness and propelled the song to №4 — AC/DC’s first-ever UK Top 10 single.

  • Highway To Hell
  • Girls Got Rhythm
  • Walk All Over You
  • Touch Too Much
  • If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
  • Night Prowler

#417 | Sister Sledge — We Are Family

Written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the band Chic — who would only show the songs to Sister Sledge once they were in front of the studio microphones! Reached №1 on the Top R&B Albums chart and №3 on the Billboard 200.

The lead vocals to We Are Family were recorded in a single take by the then 19-year-old Kathy Sledge. He’s the Greatest Dancer reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and №1 on the R&B chart. In 1995, We Are Family was digitally remastered and reissued on CD.

  • He’s the Greatest Dancer
  • Lost in Music
  • Thinking of You
  • We Are Family
  • Easier to Love
  • You’re a Friend to Me

#418 | Germs — (GI)

Only band’s only studio album and considered the first full-length hardcore punk album. The title is an acronym for “Germs Incognito,” an alternate name the band used to obtain bookings when their early reputation kept them out of Los Angeles-area clubs.

A year after release vocalist Darby Crash died by suicide.

In 1993, the entire album was included on the compilation CD (MIA): The Complete Anthology. In 2012, reissued on CD with a bonus track.

Note: Not on Spotify, link.

  • Lexicon Devil

#419 | The B-52's

Debut album that reached №59 on the Billboard 200. Rock Lobster reached №56 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2003, VH1 named it the 99th greatest album of all time. Shortly before his death, John Lennon said he enjoyed the album. In 2020, ranked №198 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The cover was designed by Tony Wright (credited as Sue Ab Surd).

  • Planet Claire
  • Dance This Mess Around
  • Rock Lobster

#420 | Holger Czukay — Movies

Note: Appears in Spotify as a 2016 release.

  • Entire album

My kind of sampling experimental album. Ancestor to Avalanches and Wax Tailor.

#421 | The Police — Reggatta de Blanc

Features the band’s first two UK number-one singles for Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon. The title loosely translates to “White Reggae” in French.

Reggatta de Blanc, one of the few songs written by the Police as a group, was developed from an extended instrumental piece that the band would typically work into their live performances; it won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Bring On the Night was written three years earlier as Carrion Prince — the title taken from Ted Hughes’s poem King of Carrion — and is about Pontius Pilate. The Bed’s Too Big Without You was covered by reggae singer Sheila Hylton in 1981, and became a UK Top 40 hit.

In 1980, reissued in the US on two 10-inch discs, one album side per disc, and as a collector’s edition with a poster. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it №369 on the list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (№372 in 2012).

  • Entire album

#422 | The Fall — Live At The Witch Trials

Debut album recorded in a single day but not, despite its title, a live album. The US release featured different artwork and replaced Mother-Sister! and Industrial Estate with Various Times. Subsequent editions have followed the original UK track listing.

In 1989, reissued (with the title misspelled as “Trails” on the disc). In 1997 and 2002, reissued. In 2004, released a two-disc CD “Expanded Deluxe Edition” mastered from the original tapes. In 2016 and 2019, reissued on vinyl.

  • Music Scene

#423 | Talking Heads — Fear Of Music

Produced by Brian Eno. Over two days a sound engineering crew in a Record Plant van parked outside the band’s Long Island City apartment building — running cables through their loft window. In 1985, certified Gold by RIAA. Reached №21 on the Billboard 200 and №33 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2004, Pitchfork ranked in №31 on its Top 100 Albums of the 1970s.

The LP sleeve was designed by keyboardist Jerry Harrison — who also suggested the “ludicrous” album title. The rest of the artwork was created by Byrne and includes heat-sensitive photography created by Jimmy Garcia with the help of Doctor Philip Strax. The design was nominated for the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

I Zimbra is influenced by Afrobeat and disco, and includes guitar work by Robert Fripp and background chanting nonsensical lyrics based on the poem Gadji beri bimba by German Dadaist writer Hugo Ball.

  • Entire album

#424 | Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures

Debut album and only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis’ lifetime (suicide). An initial print run of 10,000 copies.

The band used a number of unusual production techniques and sound effects on the album including several AMS 15–80s digital delays, the Marshall Time Modulator, tape echo and bounce, the sound of a bottle smashing, someone eating crisps, backwards guitar, a lift with a Leslie speaker “whirring inside,” vocals recorded over a telephone line, and the sound of a basement toilet!

The cover was designed by artist Peter Saville using a data plot of electromagnetic radiation emitted from pulsar (i.e. a rotating neutron star) CP 1919. The image was originally created by radio astronomer Harold Craft as a way to visualise smaller pulses within larger ones. For many years Craft was unaware his image was used. In 2003, Raf Simons collaborated with Saville on a clothing line that used the plot. In 2006, collaboration with Supreme. In 2012, Disney used the cover image for a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse. In 2015, the cover of Vince Staples’ album Summertime ’06 is based on the cover.

The inner sleeve features a black-and-white photograph that Saville later discovered was Hand Through a Doorway — a well-known picture by Ralph Gibson. In 2007, remastered and re-released with a bonus disc of a live recordings; also as a limited edition 180-gram vinyl. In 2019, to coincide with the album’s 40th anniversary reissued again on limited edition 180g ruby red coloured vinyl with an alternative white sleeve.

Reached №71 on the UK Albums Chart and №2 on the UK Indie Chart. In 2004, №9 on Pitchfork magazine’s Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. In 2019, the 40th-anniversary reissue reached №5 in the UK Albums Chart. In 2020, №211 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Peter Hook and The Light have played the album in its entirety on several of their concert tours, and have recorded and released live albums of some of their gigs.

  • Entire album

#425 | Chic — Risqué

Highly influential in disco, hip hop, art rock, and new wave. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album №414 on their list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2011, digitally remastered and re-issued.

Good Times has been extensively sampled — most notably in the first top 40 rap single Rapper’s Delight by Sugarhill Gang, that same year. Will You Cry was sampled by Nas in Just a Moment.

  • Entire album

#426 | The Undertones

Debut album. The original release included just one single, Jimmy Jimmy, and an album version of Here Comes the Summer.

A re-released version of the album (housed in an alternate sleeve) was issued in October 1979 and includes the band’s first two singles, Teenage Kicks and Get Over You, alongside both Jimmy Jimmy and a single version of Here Comes the Summer.

The cover photographs were taken by Larry Doherty in Bull Park, Derry. The band was inspired by the cover photography of the Ramones’ first album. The front and rear cover photography of the re-released version was taken by Jill Furmanovsky and inspired by The Who’s My Generation.

  • Here Comes The Summer

#427 | The Clash — London Calling

Recorded during a five- to six-week period involving 18-hour days — with many songs recorded in one or two takes. Released as a double album it was only sold for about the price of a single album. The final track, Train in Vain, was originally excluded from the back cover’s track listing as it was intended to be given away through a promotion, but was added to the album at the last minute after the deal fell through.

The Clash asked Guy Stevens to produce the album, much to the dismay of CBS Records. Stevens had alcohol and drug problems and his production methods were unconventional — such as swinging ladders and upturning chairs during recording to create a rock & roll atmosphere.

The cover features a photograph of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his Fender Precision Bass (now on display at the Museum of London) against the stage at the Palladium in New York City out of frustration when he learned that the bouncers at the concert would not allow the audience members to stand up out of their seats.

Photographer Pennie Smith originally did not want the photograph to be used as she thought it was too out of focus. The cover artwork was designed by Lowry as a homage to the design of Elvis Presley’s self-titled debut album. In 1995, Big Audio Dynamite (a band fronted by former Clash member Mick Jones) used the cover scheme for their F-Punk album. The cover art was also parodied for the soundtrack to Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. In 2001, ranked ninth best album cover of all time by Q magazine. In 2002, Smith’s photograph was named the best rock and roll photograph of all time by Q magazine.

The album has sold over five million copies worldwide, and was certified platinum in the US. In 2003 and 2012, Rolling Stone ranked it №8 on the list of The Greatest Albums of All Time (№16 in 2020). In 2010, included as one of the ten “Classic Album Covers” from British artists commemorated on a UK Royal Mail postage stamp. Reached №9 in the UK and certified gold in 1979; reached №2 in Sweden; №4 in Norway; №27 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart. In 1996, certified platinum. In 2009, the album was profiled in the BBC Radio 1 Masterpieces.

In 2004, a 25th-anniversary “Legacy Edition” was released with a bonus CD and DVD. In 2010, a limited-edition picture disc LP.

  • London Calling
  • Brand New Cadillac
  • Hateful
  • Rudie Can’t Fail
  • Spanish Bombs
  • Lost in the Supermarket
  • Clampdown
  • The Guns of Brixton
  • Death or Glory
  • The Card Cheat
  • Lover’s Rock
  • I’m Not Down
  • Train in Vain (Stand by Me)

#428 | Japan — Quiet Life

Reached №72 in the UK Charts on release; and №53 two years later after the commercial success of the compilation album, Assemblage. In 1984, certified gold by BPI.

In 2001 and 2004, re-issued. In 2021, re-issued the album in a number of formats including a boxset (featuring three CDs with a 180g half-speed mastered vinyl), a couple of vinyl editions, CD release; some versions also included Live at the Budokan 27/03/1980 (from professional multitrack recordings).

  • Quiet Life
  • Fall in Love With Me
  • Despair
  • In Vogue
  • All Tomorrow’s Parties
  • The Other Side of Life

#429 | Marianne Faithfull — Broken English

Reached №82 on the Billboard 200; №57 in the UK; and top five in Germany, France and New Zealand. Certified platinum in Germany and France and sold over one million copies worldwide.

Working Class Hero is a John Lennon cover. Why’d Ya Do It? is a six-and-a-half-minute profane (C-word) rant set to grinding tune inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s recording of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower earned the album a “Parental Advisory” label on some versions — and caused controversy and censorship (until 1988) in Australia.

In 1979, an extended remix of the title track was released on 12" vinyl and as a bonus 7" with the Australian pressing. In 2008, an unofficial remix produced by Baron von Luxxury led to the song being re-added to numerous DJ playlists.

In 2013, a deluxe remaster and reissue that includes a 24-page booklet and 12-minute music video that was intended to be shown in theatres.

  • Broken English
  • The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
  • Working Class Hero

#430 | The Slits — Cut

Debut album that reached №30 on the UK album charts at the time. Kurt Cobain listed the album as one of his 50 favourite records of all time. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album №260 in its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

In 1990 and 2000, re-released. In 2004, reissued the album on CD for the first time ever in the US. In 2009, released a two-disc 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition consisting of the remastered original album plus bonus tracks.

  • Typical Girls
  • I Heard It Through The Grapevine

#431 | Elvis Costello And The Attractions — Armed Forces

Recorded under the working titles Cornered On Plastic and Emotional Fascism before being changed last minute to make it more appealing to radio stations.

Featured different cover artworks for the UK and US releases. The first time the Attractions received co-artist credit on the sleeve. Initial UK editions had an elaborate fold-out sleeve containing four colour postcards of the band. The CD reissue came with a booklet in the shape of a cross. The US cover used the drip-image from the inner sleeve of the UK release, while moving the elephant cover to the back in reduced form. A promotional photo taken for the album depicted Costello holding a machine gun barrel down his throat with the words “Don’t Join” over him. The first 100,000 pressings of the LP in both the UK and the US included a bonus EP titled Live at Hollywood High. The American version replaced Sunday’s Best with (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.

In 1993, reached №61 on The Times100 Best Albums of All Time. In 2000, In 2003, ranked №482 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (№475 in 2012).

As part of the subsequent Armed Funk tour, Costello was boycotted in the US after drug and alcohol problems, aggressive behaviour towards the press, poor performances, and a racism-filled exchange that was leaked to the public.

In 1993, extended CD reissue. In 2002, reissued as a two-disc set. In 2020, reissued as a vinyl-only super deluxe nine-LP box set titled The Complete Armed Forces consisting of a remaster of the original album plus various B-sides, demos, outtakes, unreleased live recordings from the era, and a new set of liner notes written by Costello himself totalling over 10,000 words.

Use of the N-word.

  • Accidents Will Happen
  • Senior Service
  • Oliver’s Army
  • Green Shirt
  • Goon Squad
  • Busy Bodies
  • Moods for Moderns
  • (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding

#432 | Neil Young & Crazy Horse — Rust Never Sleeps

Most of the album was recorded live at Boarding House in San Francisco, then overdubbed in the studio. The title is from the song that bookends the album, which contains the lyrics as suggested by Devo vocalist Mark Mothersbaugh.

Reached №8 on the Billboard 200 album chart and spawned the hit single Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) that reached №79 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 2003, ranked №350 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 greatest Albums of All Time (№351 in 2012; №296 in 2020).

  • My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)
  • Ride My Llama
  • Pocahontas
  • Powderfinger
  • Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)

#433 | Gang Of Four — Entertainment!

Debut album recognised as a seminal post-punk album, selling over 100,000 copies in the UK. The cover was designed by vocalist Jon King and influenced by the left-wing Situationist International. The images are based on a still from one of the Winnetou films starring Lex Barker and Pierre Brice, which had once been popular in East Germany as narratives critical of capitalism.

In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it №273 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (№490 in 2003; №483 in 2012). Kurt Cobain listed it as one of his 50 favourite albums of all time.

In 1986, featured in the film Dogs in Space. In 2004, Anthrax featured in remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In 2005, the band performed the album live in its entirety as part of the Don’t Look Back concert series. In 2006, Natural’s Not in It was featured in the film Marie Antoinette. In 2010, Microsoft used it in advertisements for the Kinect. In 2016, Frank Ocean sampled Futura Free on Blonde.

  • Ether
  • Natural’s Not In it
  • Damaged Goods
  • Return The Gift
  • 5.45
  • Love Like Anthrax

#434 | Cheap Trick — Cheap Trick At Budokan

At Budokan is the first live album for the band — with the audio actually taken from a smaller Osaka show, rather than their larger show at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, which was unsuitable because of the 12,000 screaming fans. Intended for release only in Japan, but got a wider release after 30,000 import copies were sold in the US. Ain’t That a Shame is a Fats Domino cover.

The UK release used of a translucent coloured (“kamikaze yellow”) vinyl, which to that point had been primarily restricted to singles and EP’s. The first CD release contained a different, possibly unpolished mix of the concert. In 1998, for the 20th anniversary a two-disc reconstruction of the complete original Budokan performances was released as At Budokan: The Complete Concert.

Reached №4 on the Billboard 200 and №13 on Billboard’s Top Pop Albums of 1979. In 1986, certified triple Platinum by the RIAA. In 2003, ranked №426 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”. In 2019, inducted into the Library of Congress.

‘Hello There’ left off as non-live version is superior. ‘Goodnight’ only live version, so included.

  • Need Your Love
  • Ain’t That a Shame
  • I Want You to Want Me
  • Surrender
  • Goodnight

#435 | Fleetwood Mac — Tusk

Double-album and most expensive ($5.88 million in 2023) rock album recorded to that date — having taken ten months in custom-built studio. Journalist Adam Webb described the recording sessions as a “cocaine blizzard.” Guitarist Lindsey Buckingham accessed the master tapes for the Beach Boys’ unreleased album Smile claiming it was for “research purposes.”

Peter Beard was one of the three photographers enlisted to supply images for the album sleeve and spent two weeks in the studio taking Polaroids of the band and its inner circle. During one of those sessions, he took a photo of producer Ken Caillat’s dog biting his leg, which ultimately became the album’s cover art. Fleetwood had originally promised Nicks the cover would be an image of her twirling and dancing, and later told Caillat that she placed a curse on his dog for “stealing her cover.”

Reached №4 on the Billboard 200 and spent almost nine months on the chart; reached №1 in the UK. Certified double platinum in the US and platinum in the UK.

In 2003, the album was remade in its entirety by American alternative rock band, Camper Van Beethoven. In 2004, reissued.

  • Over & Over
  • The Ledge
  • Think About Me
  • What Makes You Think You’re the One
  • That’s All For Everyone
  • That’s Enough for Me
  • Never Make Me Cry
  • I Know I’m Not Wrong
  • Beautiful Child
  • Walk a Thin Line
  • Tusk

#436 | Pink Floyd — The Wall

A rock opera about Pink, a jaded rock star, who constructs a psychological “wall” of social isolation. Roger Waters conceived it during the 1977 In the Flesh tour — modelling the character of Pink after himself and former member, Syd Barrett. It started out as a 90-minute demo with the working title, Bricks in the Wall. Some outtakes sessions were used on the next Pink Floyd album, The Final Cut.

Roger Waters insisted that keyboardist Richard Wright leave (for lack of contribution) or he would refuse to release the album. Several days later Wright quit, which was kept from the music press. Although his name did not appear on some editions of the album (it does appear on the UK gatefold sleeve), Wright was employed as a session musician on the band’s subsequent tour.

Technical constraints led to changes to the running order and content. The orchestral accompaniment was performed, without Pink Floyd present, by musicians from the New York Philharmonic, New York Symphony Orchestras, and a choir from the New York City Opera. Sound effects include a real telephone operator was also an unwitting participant, ambient sounds along Hollywood Boulevard, screeching tyres from a studio car park, a television set being destroyed, the smashing of crockery, and Television broadcasts; one actor recognising his voice and threatened legal action (accepted a financial settlement). Beach Boys member Bruce Johnston appears on The Show Must Go On.

The cover featured lettering by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe — either as a sticker on sleeve wrapping or printed onto the cover itself — in either black or red. Scarfe also created the inside sleeve art and labels of both vinyl records that were translated into animation (reused in the film) and dolls for The Wall Tour.

Topped the Billboard charts for 15 weeks, selling over a million copies in its first two months of sales. With over 30 million copies sold, it’s the best-selling double album of all time and one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 1980, won the Grammy award for Best Engineered Recording (non-classical). In 1999, certified 23x platinum. In 2003, ranked №87 in Rolling Stone’s lists of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (№129 in 2020). In 2008, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. From 2010 to 2013, Waters staged a new live tour that became one of the highest-grossing tours by a solo musician.

In 1989, a remaster CD by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs. In 1992, remastered CD included in the Shine On box set; released as standalone in 1994. In 1997, remaster for the Mini Disc. In 2011, reissued in three versions as part of the Why Pink Floyd…? campaign. In 2011, a “Discovery” edition featuring the remastered version with no extras; and in 2012 an “Experience” edition that added a bonus disc of unreleased material; and the “Immersion” version, a seven-disc collection that also adds video materials. In 2016, reissued under the Pink Floyd Records label.

In 1982, a film adaptation Pink Floyd — The Wall. In 1990, The Wall — Live in Berlin on a site once occupied by part of the Berlin Wall — broadcast to 52 countries and featuring Cyndi Lauper, Sinéad O’Connor, Joni Mitchell, Ute Lemper, Tim Curry, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, and Thomas Dolby; later released as a video and DVD.

In 2000, Is There Anybody Out There? The Wall Live 1980–81; remastered in 2012 as part of the “Immersion” box set. From 2010 to 2013, Waters performed the album worldwide on his tour; film released in 2015. In 2016, Waters adapted the album into an opera, Another Brick in the Wall: The Opera with contemporary classical composer Julien Bilodeau. In 2018, a tribute album The Wall [Redux] was released featuring individual artists covering the entire album.

The Wall tour featured a 40-foot wall of 340 cardboard bricks that was gradually constructed between the band and audience; a fake band wearing hyper-realistic face masks; giant inflatables; hydraulic platforms; and a model aeroplane flown over the audience before crashing into the wall and exploding — during the first night of the tour it set the stage curtains on fire and the stadium had to be evacuated! During the tour, band relationships deteriorated to the point where they stayed in four separate Winnebagos parked in a circle. The tour lost about £400,000!

A couple of tracks that don’t do well in isolation (e.g. Vera, Stop, Outside the Wall), but outstanding album.

  • Entire album

#437 | Public Image Limited — Metal Box

Named after the inexpensive round metal canister used for the initial 60,000 units. Packed tightly inside the canister and separated by paper sheets, the records were difficult to remove and were prone to being nicked and scratched in the process. In 2012, ranked №461 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

In 1980, reissued in standard vinyl packaging as Second Edition. The sleeve art of Second Edition consists of distorted photographs of the band members originally printed in a magazine advertisement and not included with Metal Box. In 1990, the CD release employed a smaller version of the original metal canister, containing a single disc and a small paper insert.

Note: Appears in Spotify under Second Edition.

  • Swan Lake

#438 | Michael Jackson — Off The Wall

The first Jackson album produced by Quincy Jones and featuring songwriting contributions from Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.

With this album Jackson became the first solo artist to have four singles from the same album reach the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. Sold over 20 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 2021, certified 9x Platinum by RIAA. In 1980, nominated for two Grammy Awards winning Best R&B Vocal Performance. In 2008, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

In 2001, a special edition reissue. In 2016, reissued and packaged with a new documentary directed by Spike Lee. In 2020, ranked №36 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (№68 in 2003).

  • Entire album

#439 | The Damned — Machine Gun Etiquette

The voice at the album’s start is actor Jack Howarth, taken from his 1971 album. The album features multiple guest musicians. Lemmy plays bass on Ballroom Blitz, which was added to the reissued album. Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon, and sometime Pink Floyd lyricist Anthony Moore also appear.

Philip Lloyd-Smee contributed to the sleeve and logo design. The cover was taken at 704 7th Avenue in New York City. Reissued in 1986 and 2004.

  • Entire album

#440 | Gary Numan — The Pleasure Principle

Debut solo studio album peaking at №1 on the UK Albums Chart. The title was taken from the surrealist painting The Pleasure Principle by René Magritte; the cover is an adaptation of the painting, but replacing the natural materials (wood and stone) with futuristic technological shapes.

In addition to the Minimoog synthesizer employed on his previous album, Numan made liberal use of the Polymoog keyboard, particularly its distinctive “Vox Humana” preset. Other production tricks included copious amounts of flanging, phasing and reverb, plus the unusual move of including solo viola and violin parts in the arrangements.

Numan toured tin support of the album with a huge stage set including banks of neon lights and twin pyramids which moved across the stage via radio control. The live show was captured on record as Living Ornaments ’79 and on video as The Touring Principle. The final show of the tour was captured and released in 2008. In 2009 and 2010, Numan performed the album in its entirety for two 16-date mini-tours.

  • Airlane
  • Metal
  • Complex
  • Films
  • M.E.
  • Conversation
  • Cars

#441 | The Specials

Debut album produced by Elvis Costello that features a mixture of original material and several covers of classic Jamaican ska tracks. Trombonist Rico Rodriguez, who performed on many ’50s and ’60s Jamaican recordings, played on the band’s version of A Message to You, Rudy.

A live version of Too Much Too Young was later released on a five-track EP, The Special AKA Live!. In 2002, a digitally remastered edition featuring promotional videos. Ranked №42 on the Pitchfork list of 100 Best Albums of the 1970s (even though the album was not released in the US until 1980). Rolling Stone ranked it №68 in The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s.

Note: Tracks 2–15 on the Spotify Deluxe Edition.

  • A Message to you Rudy
  • It’s up to You
  • Monkey Man
  • (Dawning of A) New Era

1980

#442 | Adam And The Ants — Kings Of The Wild Frontier

The UK №1 selling album of 1981 and winner of the Best British Album at the 1982 Brit Awards. Initial UK copies of the album featured a different version of Antmusic that started with a fade-in, but after the song became a hit the subsequent pressings used the 7" single mix with the familiar drumstick intro. The cover was taken from stills from a video recording in Brixton.

Dog Eat Dog was inspired by a Margaret Thatcher quote. Feed Me To The Lions includes a musical quotation of the theme from the film Lawrence of Arabia. Los Rancheros refers to Clint Eastwood. Ants Invasion mentions a ‘Forbidden Zone’ as in the 1968 film The Planet of the Apes. Killer In The Home quotes Apocalypse Now. The Magnificent Five homages The Magnificent Seven, and quotes Friedrich Nietzsche. Jolly Roger is musically identical with the theme to Seven Guns for the MacGregors, composed by Ennio Morricone. Making History quotes Night of the Living Dead. The Human Beings lyrical content consists almost entirely of the chanted names of Native American tribes Blackfoot, Pawnee, Cheyenne, Crow, and the name of Goklayeh, a Bedonkohe Apache leader.

In 1992, Nine Inch Nails released a cover version of Physical (You’re So). In 2012, one of twenty CDs in the Great British Albums box set. In 2004, remastered and reissued with several bonus tracks. In 2016, a multi-disc “Super Deluxe Edition” released with a DVD of the long out-of-print Ants in Japan concert video and a CD of a 1981 concert from Chicago; this edition spent a week in the UK Album Chart and is considered to be a separate chart from the original album. In 2017, performed the entire album live on tour. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 list.

  • Antmusic
  • Ants Invasion
  • Kings of the Wild Frontier
  • Don’t Be Square (Be There)
  • The Human Beings

#443 | Dexys Midnight Runners — Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Debut studio album reaching №6 on the UK Albums Chart and certified Silver by the BPI. Organist Andy Leek left the group during the sessions, only appearing on two songs.

Kevin Rowland threatening to steal the album from the studio and hold it ransom until their pay was increased, which EMI laughed at. On the last day of mixing, the band took the magnetic tapes to Rowland’s parents’ house. EMI demanded the tapes back but the band had already set off on their sell-out UK tour. The band gave the tapes back when EMI raised their pay, but they almost destroyed them by travelling through the London Underground — which could have demagnetized them and wiped everything!

The album opens with the sound of radio static, from which snippets of Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple, Holidays in the Sun by Sex Pistols and Rat Race by The Specials can be heard.

In 1996, reissued with seven bonus tracks as part of an 18-song collection entitled It Was Like This. In 2000, a remastered edition for its 20th anniversary with two additional tracks, and music videos. In 2010, a deluxe 30th Anniversary Special Edition was released that including a bonus disc of outtakes and demos as well as additional BBC live and demo recordings.

The cover features a 1971 photograph of a 13-year-old Irish Catholic boy carrying his belongings after being forced from his home in Belfast published in the Evening Standard. The original sleeve also contained an account of the band’s history along with various phrases printed with the song titles, including quotes from Brendan Behan’s book Borstal Boy and the Book of Psalms. The figure on the left-hand side (with long hair) is reputed to be Robert Bates — later a member of the Shankill Butchers paramilitary gang.

  • Tell Me When My Light Turns Green
  • The Teams That Meet in Caffs
  • Geno
  • Seven Days Too Long

#444 | AC/DC — Back In Black

The band’s first album to feature Brian Johnson as lead singer, following the death of Bon Scott — who died from alcohol poisoning after a drinking binge in a London pub. The loss devastated the band, who considered breaking up, but friends and family persuaded them to carry on. The all-black cover was designed as a “sign of mourning” for Scott.

Recorded in the Bahamas for tax reasons. On arrival the area was hit by several tropical storms, which wreaked havoc on the electricity. For protection from robbers the studio had six-foot fishing spears near the door! One take was interrupted by a crab shuffling across the studio’s wooden floor. Mixed at Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

Angus Young’s particular guitar sound on the album was achieved, in part, through the use of the Schaffer–Vega diversity system — a wireless guitar device designed by Ken Schaffer that provided a signal boost and was reissued as a separate guitar effect in 2014.

Sold an estimated 50 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in music history. In 2024, certified 26x Platinum by the RIAA — the third best-selling album in the US and best-selling album that never reached the top spot on the American charts. Debuted at №1 on the British albums chart and reaching №4 on the American chart. Remained in the top 10 of the American chart for over five months. In Australia, reached №1 on the ARIA Charts.

The first band since The Beatles to have four albums in the British Top 100 simultaneously. The success prompted the band’s US record company to release their 1976 album for the first time in the US, which reached №3 on the US chart. You Shook Me All Night Long became the band’s first Top 40 hit in the US, peaking at №35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 1989, ranked №26 on Rolling Stone’s list of The 100 Best Albums of the Eighties. In 2001, VH1 ranked it №82 on their list of the Top 100 Albums. In 2003, ranked №73 on their 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (№77 in 2012; №84 in 2020). In 2010, Time included it in their All-TIME 100 Albums.

Controversy over Scott’s name not appearing in the writing credits. In 2022, Johnson released his autobiography, The Lives of Brian, and denied Scott had written lyrics for this album. Studios in Nashville would use the album to check the acoustics of a room, while Motörhead would use it to tune their sound system. American death metal group Six Feet Under recorded a cover of the entire album under the title Graveyard Classics 2.

  • Hells Bells
  • Shoot to Thrill
  • Back In Black
  • You Shook Me All Night Long
  • Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution

#445 | The Cramps — Songs The Lord Taught Us

Debut album. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 list.

  • I Was A Teenage Werewolf
  • Fever

#446 | Dead Kennedys — Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables

Debut studio album and the only album to feature drummer Bruce Slesinger and (on one track) guitarist Carlo Cadona. The cover was taken during the White Night riots of 1979 — which resulted from the light sentence given to former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White for the murder of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

In 2010, it was certified diamond (250,000 copies) by the Independent Music Companies Association of Europe. Fresh Fruit for Rotting Eyeballs is an accompanying 55-minute documentary that was included with the 25th Anniversary Edition.

  • California Über Alles
  • Holiday in Cambodia
  • Viva Las Vegas

#447 | The Soft Boys — Underwater Moonlight

The album received little critical notice and was a commercial failure, and the band split up a few months after its release. The recordings cost only £600. Retrospectively is has been viewed as a psychedelic classic and influential on the development of the neo-psychedelia music genre and on a number of bands, especially R.E.M.

  • I Got the Hots
  • You’ll Have to Go Sideways

#448 | The Cure — Seventeen Seconds

The single A Forest was the band’s first entry in the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart. It reached №20 on the British album charts. Debuted at №186 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

Money was short, so the album was recorded and mixed in seven days (16–17 hours a day) on a budget of between £2,000 and £3,000. The Final Sound was cut down to 53 seconds because the tape ran out while recording and band could not record it again.

In 1981, repackaged in the US and available as a double LP. In 2005, remastered as part of Universal’s Deluxe Edition series — featuring bonus live tracks and demos as well as studio material. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 list.

  • In Your House
  • A Forest

#449 | Echo And The Bunnymen — Crocodiles

Debut album that reached №17 on the UK Albums Chart. Rescue became the band’s first song to chart when it reached №62 on the UK Singles Chart. The album has sold over 100,000 copies.

The cover photograph is one of a series taken by photographer Brian Griffin in the woods near Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire at night. Originally the band wanted the pictures to include burning stakes, but given the possible KKK connotations, they settled for moody lighting instead.

Two tracks, Do It Clean and Read It in Books, were included on the cassette but were initially omitted from the LP version of the album because the managing director of Warner Bros. mistakenly thought they contained obscenities. After Dickins realised his error, the tracks were included on the American version of the album. The two tracks were included with the UK release as a limited-edition single. The album was first released on CD in May 1989.

In 1984, awarded a gold disc by the BPI. In 2003, remastered and reissued on CD as a 25th-anniversary edition with bonus tracks. In 2001, Kelley Stoltz released the album Crockodials, a track-by-track cover version of the album. In 2020, Rolling Stone included it in their 80 Greatest Albums of 1980 list.

  • Rescue
  • The Pictures on My Wall

#450 | Motörhead — Ace Of Spades

The band’s debut release in the US. Reached №4 on the UK Albums Chart and reaching gold status. The title track reached №15 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2020, ranked №408 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

The ‘Arizona desert-style’ pictures used on the album sleeve and tour programme were taken during a photo session at a sandpit in Barnet. Each of their cowboy outfits were based on different type of Western protagonist. Eddie was based on Clint Eastwood’s character, The Man with No Name from the Dollars Trilogy. Phil’s costume was based on Marlon Brando’s character Rio in One-Eyed Jacks. Lemmy’s costume was claimed by Phil to be inspired from Bret Maverick from the TV show Maverick. The sky was not real and was airbrushed in due to it being very cloudy that day.

In 1996, Castle Communications CD reissue. In 2005, 2-CD deluxe edition with bonus tracks. In 2005, a documentary about the album was released on DVD. In 2020, a 40th anniversary deluxe box set which includes seven 12" LPs, one 10" EP (called A Fistful Of Instrumentals), and a DVD; pre-orders from the official shop of the band were able to receive a Dutch replica of the single, with the instrumental of the song on the b-side.

  • Ace of Spades
  • The Chase Is Better Than the Catch
  • The Hammer

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