Prince - Sign O' The Times (1987)

George Michael - Faith (1987)

I'm calling this the "George Michael Sniffs His Sweaty Armpit" album, because that's all I can think about when I see this cover. And yes, his armpit does have to be sweaty. That's a leather jacket, he has to be sweating under it. What were they going for in this photoshoot? I'm gonna have trouble listening to this album without the smell of B.O. on my mind. Since I already hated the first George Michael album I listened to that's not a good way to start.

U2 - The Joshua Tree (1987)

I got a comment from my sister on my recent review of Californication saying The Red Hot Chili Peppers were her least favorite band. In her own words, "I'd rather listen to U2 (and that's saying a lot)." Now I don't really know a lot about U2, other than I generally don't like them or their music. But I don't really have a good reason why. I know I didn't really like the one album of their's I've heard so far. I also know they have a massive air of pretentiousness surrounding them, whether it's an applied attribute given them by a presupposing media, or their own fault by taking themselves uber-serious and using album names such as How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.

Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt & Dolly Parton - Trio (1987)

Terence Trent D'arby - Introducing The Hardline According to Terence Trent D'arby (1987)

Astor Piazzolla & Gary Burton - The New Tango (1987)

Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)

R.E.M. - Document (R.E.M. No. 5) (1987)

(originally posted on Facebook)

I'm not sure what to call this album based on the cover alone. The upper left corner says "R.E.M. NO. 5" and the top says "Document". Most places I've seen call it what I wrote in the title, but... I have no idea why I pay so much attention to details like this.

So this album contains R.E.M. mega-hits "It's the End of the World As We Know It" and "The One I Love". And it has a bunch of other songs. It's an easy and quick listen, nothing spectacular but solid. R.E.M. does kinda stick with that one familiar sound though which can get boring. 3 stars since I kinda liked it.

Anyway, following up Napalm Death with some easy R.E.M. was welcome. Though I liked R.E.M. more than I liked Napalm Death, I have no idea why I had to listen to Document before I died, but I completely understand Scum in the sense of the Big List. Document is just another rock album, nothing jarring or exciting except maybe by R.E.M. standards. Scum on the other hand opened a whole new sub-genre, albeit one that is total trash. It's albums like Document that make me wonder if the author of the list included some albums just because they contain one or two hits by popular bands. Albums like Scum convince me that this guy knows his shit.

Napalm Death - Scum (1987)

(originally posted on Facebook)