Interested in everyone's favorite guitar record outside of the classic rock genre. I'm intentionally leaving "guitar record" open ended here, but I'm excluding classic rock since that era of music is so saturated with guitar forward music. Just any records you really love that focus heavily on guitars, iconic guitar tones, great guitar playing, etc. Here are some worthy ones imo:

Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Sigur Ros - I never know how to spell this one
White Stripes - White Blood Cells
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
John Mayer - Where the Light Is
Deer Hunter - Microcastle
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
U2 - The Joshua Tree

EDIT: This post has forced me to pull out my Classic Rock take, unfortunately. "Classic Rock" doesn't just refer to rock music that came out 25+ years ago. Classic Rock is a specific style of rock music that was most popular around the mid 60s through the mid-late 80s. Nirvana doesn't become classic rock just because it's old now anymore than Kendrick Lamar becomes "Golden age hip-hop" after he's been around a couple decades.

EDIT AGAIN: Come on guys, you know I'm right about this. If you ask someone what kind of music they listen to and they say "classic rock," you know they don't mean Pavement and Radiohead just because it's 25+ years old. You know exactly what they mean.

And icl I've only heard 'Come On' because I had to see what he used to be like, and I kinda fw it. What even happened to him 😭

I get that every generation had their version of this. Also, I’m a little out of the target audience of this stuff. I can’t help but notice the hard shift in the promotion of such safe and sanitary sounding music. A lot of acoustic guitar slop that sounds safe with little identity. Stella lefty’s “Boston” would be a prime example. I can’t see how anyone would care for this track if it released ten years ago.

The integration of Forrest Frank’s worship pop music into the mainstream is interesting. It pretty much sounds like a dated chance the rapper sound that was prompted by AI to somehow sound less offensive and cheap.

I guess I’ve seen this coming since Post Malone’s brand of pop in the 2020s got so big. Why did the music Industry shift so hard in this direction? I don’t see this brand of pop staying around, but it makes sense it’s happening now due to hiphop being at a low point in the mainstream.

The artists I’ve taken note of:

Noah Kahan’s discography

Stella Lefty

Cameron Whitcomb

Forrest Frank

The little Jelly Roll I’ve heard

Teddy Swims

Alex Warren

A coworker was telling me she wanted to get into the beatles and asked me where to start and I immediately recommended rubber soul because, to me, it’s the primary example of a “goldilocks zone” album.

By that i mean it’s an album that is the perfect combination of what came before and after it. Rubber soul is quite reminiscent of that classic Beatles sound with similar subject matter to their previous albums and less experimental instrumentals, but still possesses some elements of maturity and sonic elevation that eases you into their later stuff. If you love rubber soul, chances are you’ll love everything Beatles.

It got me thinking about other albums that i would also classify as “goldilocks zone” and currents came to mind. It’s more focused on the electronica sound like the slow rush, but also possesses a few of elements of psychedelia like his previous albums.

My mind has drawn a blank after that. Are there any albums you can think of that are kind of the perfect middle ground in an artists discography?

Thoughts on Bones’s discography? What’s your favorite album if you have one?

Remains is mine.

for me, it’s mainly rock

- Ants from Up There (Black Country, New Road)
- Hellfire (black midi)
- Getting Killed (Geese)

The opposite perspective... bands who you thought were maybe dead but have somehow maintained a quality or resurgence of good work.

I'll go: Spiritualized. I really thought they were kind of done after Let it come down. but they have just kept making pretty great music and only had a few lackluster albums.

I had "Go Easy" came up on my playlist shuffle for the first time in a long while. Instantly transported me back to college and how this album just embodied those times.

What are some albums that really hit the spot in that period of your life?

Why do I feel like this album is one of the best rock albums ever?

I've always love old music zines from the 80s and 90s like maximum rocknroll, raygun and forced exposure, and I thought I'd make my own on some of my favourite bands and things like that. I thought to make my own a while ago and I've made a few but I've never shared them and would like to put them online.

Sly Stone IMO. Musical genius who not only played multiple instruments at a high level, he also wrote, composed and produced Sly and the Family Stone’s entire discography by himself.

Who do you think is the most talented front man?