U2
[u2 website]

Achtung Baby

All That You Can't Leave Behind

The Joshua Tree

Under a Blood Red Sky

Ugly Cassanova
[ugly cassanova website]

Sharpen Your Teeth

Ultramagnetic MC's

Critical Beatdown Another one that I originally had on tape. And, let me tell you, it sounded hot on my '89 S10 Blazer stereo. That bass was pumpin', and everyone was jealous of my Kool Moe Dee soundin' boomin' system. This was the hotness, even back in the day. If you had this tape, you were a true rap aficionado. Of course this was Kool Keith prior to his mental break and reemergence as Dr. Octagon, the maniacal, sexed up gynecologist. This thing was so ahead of its time that it probably confused people when it came out. It didn't confuse me, of course; I'm from the streets [of Brentwood]. Like most albums of its age, the lyrics are full of a lot of nonsensical bragging and whatnot, but Keith adds a special bizarre twist. He must say the word brain and skull about ten thousand times--a theme that continues on throughout his career. You'll recognize many of the samples, used later by everyone from Rob Base to Public Enemy to Run-DMC and on and on. Sure, it sounds really old school listening to it these days, but it's still a really fun album, and in its day was the shiznit.

The Unicorns
[the unicorns website]

Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone

Urban Dance Squad
[urban dance squad website]

Mental Floss for the Globe This stuff was somewhat ahead of its time. You can hear twinges of Rage Against the Machine and even Sugar Ray in there, along with any number of late-nineties acts that mixed honky-tonk with hip-hop. And to think these guys are from Brussels. I mean "Deeper Shade of Soul" was a genuine college hit, beating some of Beck's offbeat qualities by a whole four years or so. I'm not going to tout these guys as the second coming of Living Colour or anything (ha!), but they certainly strung together some pretty cool sounds that would have gotten at least an 8.3 from Pitchfork for originality had it been around back in the day. Hooray for guitars and scratching!

US3

Hand on the Torch

The Used
[the used website]

Maybe Memories

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