Don't take my reviews as fact, I have horrible taste and I don't have any appreciation for great music. I randomly selected 1 album per decade from my eldest daughter's very lengthy list of music - which I am sure contains about 7-8 times as many songs as I have ever heard in my life; I think she has every recorded song in history. Seriously, a surprisingly large amount of 80s and 90s music. Back in my day, we only listened to what was new on the charts, we were very shallow =P
(Note, I cheated a bit, and ignored bands I have never even heard of before like Duo Lipa... what?)
1980s Kim Wilde - Another Step (1986)
This is the "You Keep Me Hanging On" single with a ton of B-sides.
10/10 You Keep Me Hanging On: Very familiar with multiple versions of this, and this one is my favourite as it has good pump to it. Although I appreciate the originals.
2/10 Hit Him: Sounds like Debbie Gibson making a song for a TV show aimed at young teenagers.
7/10 Another Step: Lots of very generic 80s jingles mixed into a song. Very shallow and stereotypical sounding. I like it.
3/10 The Thrill of It: A bit of a throwback sounding song, sounds more New Wave, but still has that mid-80s vocal style. Doesn't fit.
2/10 I've Got So Much Love: Something sounds white trash about this one. It's very early 80s rock.
8/10 Victim: Another very overtly generic 80s sounding song, a mix of industrial sounds and synthesizer, positive beat, negative theme. Like it a lot.
3/10 Schoolgirl: This sounds like a song made for little girls. Like one made to say the title of the song a bunch of times all dramatic-like
5/10 Say You Really Want Me: Another Debbie Gibson-esque song, although this one's better.
7/10 She Hasn't Got Time For You: late 70's funk-influenced emotional sounding, kind of like Jefferson Starship. I dig.
7/10 Brothers: 1980 written all over it.
2/10 Missing: Sounds like some king of 90s song from an artsy-pretentious band until the vocals kick in, then it's clearly 80s. Too slow.
9/10 How Do You Want My Love: Kind of girly, but I really dig the vocal work, and the composition is decent. Very VERY 80s slower-paced emotion sounding.
2/10 Don't Say Nothing's Changed: It's like Olivia Newton-John and Debbie Gibson got together and had an abortion.
1990s Tupac - 2Pacalypse Now (1991)
Overall: the album is a solid mix of awesome and shit. My main question is what is a grade school girl doing listening to an obscure Tupac album?!?! (note, she has a ton of rap).
4/10 Young Black Male: Almost was a 2/10 until I heard the rapping around 1 minute in, which is great, but there's too much junk in this song.
6/10 Trapped: I dig this one, very NWA sounding. Held back by the kind of shitty beat.
2/10 Soulja's Story: Hate the production, can't understand what he's saying without focusing.
10/10 I don't Give a Fuck: The best song ever that didn't give a fuck, GTA!
7/10 Violent: I dig the verse work, don't like the chorus with the Marley stuff.
8/10 Words of Wisdom: This is PURE political rap, very early 80s sounding.
1/10 Something Wicked: Don't like this. Lots of wasted really fast rapping by poor production.
4/10 Crooked Ass Nigga: It's like an NWA remix with Tupac rapping in the middle. Kind of a gimmick song.
10/10 If My Homie Calls: Wow! I really dig this song. This one's going on my list. Positive sounding song, like if Will Smith was good.
7/10 Brenda's Got a Baby: Heaviest song on the album, a little slow for my liking. I love the theme.
5/10 Tha' Lunatic: I am conflicted on this one, I like it and I don't. It's like it needed some more polish and it could have been great.
5/10 Rebel of the Underground: See above. The rap is good, beat needs work.
10/10 Part Time Mutha: This song is as heavy as I have ever heard in any genre on the emotional level. My favourite on the album. Like Brenda's Got a Baby except in a much more awesome manner. Probably one of the best most hard-hitting rap songs I have ever heard. Especially with the female verse.... Holy shit. I had to listen to this one again immediately after.
2000s Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz (2009)
A mix of great songs and so-so songs. I suspect I am just not cultured enough to enjoy the less pop-sounding songs on the album.
9/10 Zero: this song would have been really big in the mid-90s.
10/10 Heads Will Roll: I had Zero pegged at 10/10 until I heard this one, I am familiar with it, didn't know this was the band that did it. I like this one a lot.
9/10 Soft Shock: this could fit into 1986-88 very easily... and also 1996 where there was a bit of a revival.
3/10 Skeletons: artsy teen music I don't get.
8/10 Dull Life: artsy progressive rock sounding tune, it could fit into the 70s; but by about halfway through sounds pure 1990s rock.
6/10 Shame and Fortune: Fits into the NIN/Tool/Alice in Chains category of alternative era music without the Industrial sounds, closer to Grunge style.
4/10 Runaway: not really my thing, kind of fillerish sounding stuff from an artsy post-grunge band.
4/10 Hysteric: Sounds like late 90s girl music, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, that kind of bullshit.
7/10 Dragon Queen: Sounds like late 90s early 2000s type artsy electronic influenced stuff.
4/10 Little Shadow: Kind of like mid-90s Smashing Pumpkins with a better singer.
There were a bunch of acoustic songs I skipped because I hate acoustic music.
2010s Lady Gaga - ArtPop (2013)
The album is surprisingly solid first half. This album is really sexy. Falls apart in the second half, except for one really good song.
9/10 Aura: Progressive rock sounding. Great production. Great vocals. Great song.
9/10 Venus: I LOVE the chorus. Lyrics are cheesy, sounds a bit like Sailor Moon English at one part. But it all works.
10/10 G.U.Y.: Whoah! wasn't expecting that. "Girl Under You" is what it stands for. Starts off slowly, and then really rolls into a really great sounding pop song.
8/10 Sexxx Dreams: If I was drunk I would LOVE this song. The song is great, but suffers a bit from a weaker chorus.
9/10 Jewels N' Drugs: This is like the best sounding really shallow hip-hop song I have heard in years. Her vocals fit in extremely well. It was an 8/10 before I heard the back end of the song, which made me almost put it 10/10.
8/10 MANiCURE: If I was a woman, I could relate to the lyrics. I definitely dig the energy of the song. Reminds me of party girls in University circa 1998-2000.
10/10 "Do What U Want: Pretty sure I've heard this one a number of times before. REALLY catchy. I'm sure there's some kind of metaphor here, but I have the opposite feeling of what the song is probably trying to message :P
8/10 Artpop: I normally don't like artsy music, it's not really like avante-garde artsy music (ala Kate Bush or Yoko Ono). Like most songs on the album, my favourite bits are toward the end.
2/10 Swine: WHAT?! This is kind of a weird random song that doesn't fit. It's kind of a gross song. Ruins the buzz of the album IMO.
3/10 Donatella: I don't know what gay bars listen to, Benny Benasi? But anyway, this sounds like what you'd imagine cheesy gay bar music sounds like.
6/10 Fashion: Bowie-inspired, although not a cover. It's very much on the same wavelength. Has a bit of a disco-revival mid-80s style beat.
9/10 Mary Jane Holland: Cheesy as fuck lyrics, but I really dig the song. She was high when she wrote it, no doubt. It's like weed and extreme yuppie-style commercialism. Great mix.
1/10 Dope: zzZZzzZZzzZZzz
5/10 Gypsy: I like this, has a very 90s pop sound to it with some 80s notes (so like post-96 pop). Unlike the other songs, I don't like the second half as much. Gets repetetive, should be a 2 minute song, not 4+ minutes.
3/10 Applause: Bleh! I have heard this song a bunch before, and find it kind of annoying.
BONUS: I randomized some more to get one in the middle of the almost 20 year gap from 91 to 2009. Got Apollo 440 and the Crystal Method, didn't want to listen to them, so skipped some more - then got...
1990s Foo Fights - The Colour and the Shape (1997)
Overall: I like songs on this album, but it's overrated relative to the rest of the Foo Fighters discography IMO, since so many consider it #1. IMO, their debut album "Foo Fighters" is far more consistent with more good songs. This one is kind of hit and miss. Kind of a cheat since I was familiar with this album, though I never really listened to it much outside the singles; and for good reason, the rest of the album is kinda shit - the first Foo Fighters album is far more consistent. As a note, I am impressed they spelled "Colour" correctly considering they're an American band - or is the Color vs Colour thing kind of a regional thing? Foo Fighters are west coast.
1/10 Doll: Too slow, intro bullshit.
9/10 Monkey Wrench: I know the words to this song =P
5/10 Hey, Johnny Park: Very generic 90s sounding, Nickelbackish.
5/10 My Poor Brain: The first few secondsare the best, then it goes into generic 90s quiet-loud-quiet rock.
7/10 Wind Up: I dig it, although misses greatness - I can't understand a word he says in the song because of the production.
8/10 Up in Arms: Slow shit, then sounds like generic 90s punk rock that flies close to the ground. I feel like I enjoy it more than I objectively should.
10/10 My Hero: My personal favourite on the track, used to love this song back in the day.
2/10 See You: I can't appreciate this, too far from what I like.
1/10 Enough Space: Listening to this song too long will give me a migraine. I kind of hate it. Guitar is loud for loud's sake, but not in a good way.
1/10 February Stars: zzZZZZzzzZZZzzzZZ... ooh, the song starts like 3 and a half minutes in! and it's fun for like 10 seconds. **** you!
10/10 Everlong: It's a great song. I mean, I kind of have to give this 10/10 =P
2/10 Walking After You: zzZZzzZZzzZZZzzz, come on! At least it's not a total waste like most of February Stars
4/10 New Way Home: Like generic 90s morning radio rock.
9/10 The Colour and The Shape: This one is complete incomprehensible garbage, but kind of fun at the same time. I kind of dig it. Might be great to listen to on weed or something.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
