20 Albums on an Island: July 2010 Edition

This is an activity that I've done a few times over the years, and it's always interesting to see what does and doesn't change over time. The basic idea behind this is that you're stuck on an island. This island has the ability to power a record player/ CD player (suspend reality), but you only have access to 20 albums. These albums must have been commercially released (no home made greatest hits) in some form. Greatest hits are acceptable, as long as they were commercially available at some point in time (even though it's a cop-out to go to them).

Here we go, in no particular order.
1.

Metallica, Master of Puppets

2.

Metallica, Ride the Lightning

3.

Metallica, ...And Justice For All

4.

Faith No More, Angel Dust

5.

Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral

6.

Nine Inch Nails, The Fragile

7.

Black Label Society, Sonic Brew

8.

Tool, Ænima

9.

Tool, Lateralus

10.

Pantera, The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboy's Vulgar Hits*

11.

Devin Townsend, Ocean Machine: Biomech

12.

Mastodon, Leviathan

13.

Mastodon, Crack the Skye

14.

Black Sabbath, We Sold Our Soul For Rock 'N' Roll*

15.

Guns 'N Roses, Appetite For Destruction

16.

Joe Satriani, The Electric Joe Satriani: An Anthology*

17.

Down, NOLA

18.

Ozzy Osbourne, The Essential Ozzy Osbourne*

19.

White Zombie, Astro-Creep: 2000 - Songs of Love, Destruction, and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head

20.

Buckethead, Colma

*this is a greatest hits style album

My Favorite Albums of 2009

2009 had some great albums released in its 365 days. I was originally planning on doing a countdown, but with all the differences amongst the bands, I'm not sure it's appropriate to do so. I also don't want to label this a "best of" list, because although I do listen to a ton of music, I haven't heard nearly enough of the stuff that came out to have a definitive answer as to the best. I'm sure there were some bands that flew below my radar that put out killer music.

I was planning on writing up why I liked each album, but that seemed kind of pointless. Each album had great songs, no filler, and kicked my ass at some point in 2009.

If you like these albums, support these artists by buying their music or better yet by seeing them live.


-Mastodon, Crack The Skye












"Oblivion"
"The Czar"

-Baroness, Blue Record

"A Horse Called Golgotha"
"The Sweetest Curse"

-The Devin Townsend Project, Addicted

"Bend It Like Bender!"
"Hyperdrive!"
"In-Ah!"

-Alice In Chains, Black Gives Way To Blue

"Check My Brain"
"Your Decision"

-Megadeth, Endgame

"Endgame"
"Bite The Hand"

-Scale The Summit, Carving Desert Canyons

"The Great Plains"
"City in the Sky"

-Isis, Wavering Radiant

"20 Minutes/40 Years"
"Hall of the Dead"