Ah, Rise Against, also known as the token band for PETA and for having your favorite song in “Guitar Hero 3” If you’re over the age of twenty-five or so, you probably can recall a time when Chicago icons Rise Against was dominating airplay on just about every alternative and contemporary rock station in the country. Hailing from an era when pop punk was booming and bands addressing political and social issues were on the decline, Rise Against stood out from the crowd with their socially conscious but always catchy lyrics and fearless sound. Whether they were busy protesting wars, raising awareness of the vanishing American dream, or simply portraying the struggles of growing up poor in mercilessly cold Chicago, Rise Against has always had a gift for turning the painful cries of the disenfranchised into anthems that are impossible to not sing along to. It’s been far too long since Rise Against has truly been granted the spotlight and the last couple of years have more than proven there’s still plenty of horse shit for us to rise against today, so we’re taking the time to rank every one of their albums from worst to best – let’s get right to it.
9. Wolves (2017)
While “Wolves” itself is “Far From Perfect,” it definitely includes some tracks worth blasting on your headphones while stuck sandwiched against yet another group of Chicago tourists on the L train arguing over what deep dish pizza they should try. “Bullshit” comes to mind immediately, as it features ska-punk legend Jesse Michaels delivering killer backup vocals. “The Violence” on the other hand successfully plays to the band’s strength of producing kick ass guitar-led melodies. Much of the fun seems to stop there though. While other tracks like “How Many Walls” and “Welcome to the Breakdown” were meant to call out the atrocities of a burger-gobbling former president, they didn’t quite pack the punch needed for it to garner as much controversy and widespread appeal as the rest of their discography.
Play it again: “Miracle” and “The Violence”
Skip it: “How Many Walls”
8. The Black Market (2014)
This was the album where Tim McIlrath decided to approach his songwriting with a deep introspective tone. While the album is solid with notable songs like “Bridges,” it’s no surprise that the politically-charged protest songs are more fun than ones where things get so personal. That’s right, fast-paced songs like “The Eco-Terrorist In Me” about burning down factory farms are more fun than the more “thoughtful” songs like “Methadone” which doesn’t have a single mention of arson. Go figure.
Play it again: “Bridges” and “The Eco-Terrorist In Me”
Skip it: “Methadone”
7. The Unraveling (2001)
Kicking off with a soundbite from 1996 psychological thriller film “The Cable Guy” with Jack Black questioning, “Are you ready to rock?” Rise Against’s 2001 debut album instantly set them apart from the pop punk sound that was already dominating the new millennium. This album featured heavy, but controlled, chaos. You know – the kind of hardcore album that you would want to experience live while dodging drop kicks in the pit of a lively Chicago punk bar. It also revealed tracks like “My Life Inside Your Heart” and “Everchanging,” both offering a first glimpse of the melodic tendencies that would shape the band’s future releases.
Play it again: “Alive and Well” and “Everchanging”
Skip it: “Stained Glass and Marble”
6. Nowhere Generation (2021)
Spotlighting the failing promise of the American Dream, 2021’s “Nowhere Generation” brought Rise Against’s sound into the complete shitshow that we all find ourselves in today. Opening with a spooky line from the French anarchist anthem “L’Internationale” before thrashing into some of the band’s most in-your-face tracks yet, this album features Rise Against doing what they do best – delivering their hardcore sound complete with pain-stoked melodies that highlight the hypocrisy of the times. Leveraging days of intricate socio-economic research and even interviews with the band’s own children, “Nowhere Generation” successfully captures the hopeless and fractured society today’s youth find themselves struggling to survive.
Play it again: “Nowhere Generation” and “Broken Dreams, Inc”
Skip it: “Talking to Ourselves”
5. Revolutions per Minute (2003)
After gathering a respectably sized fanbase with their debut, the pressure was on for Rise Against when it came to make their follow up album, “Revolutions per Minute.” Fortunately, what they delivered was a relentless call for revolution featuring impressive songwriting that even their biggest fans never saw coming. Right off the bat this album is noticeably more melodic than its predecessor. It’s as if the band realized that Tim McIlrath can in fact sing, and that they should leverage the hell out of that. From tracks like “Dead Ringer” addressing dumbass claims that they “sold out” to “Blood-Red, White & Blue” covering everything fucked up about 9/11, this album showcases the band’s over-the-top musicianship and dark perspective on society. One of the album’s tracks, “Like the Angel,” also secured a spot on the “Tony Hawk Underground” soundtrack, which was a right of passage for any self-respecting punk band of the time. As far as second albums go, it’s hard to get better than this.
Play it again: “Like the Angel” and “Black Masks & Gasoline”
Skip it: “To the Core”
4. Endgame (2011)
“Endgame” gets a lot of hate and I can’t for the life of me see why. Sure – plenty of the album’s tracks sound structured for radio, but that doesn’t make them bad at all. Besides, there’s a reason why this album was their biggest commercial success – that reason being that it features some legit smashes. With lyrics like, “We are the orphans of the American dream, so shine your light on me,” and a song directly linking rising teen suicide rates with homophobia, “Endgame” features some of Rise Against’s most powerful songwriting in their entire catalogue. It rightfully belongs ranked just below their most celebrated albums, even if you got burnt out from hearing “Help Is On the Way” on the radio during every morning commute.
Play it again: “Satellite”
Skip it: “Disparity By Design”
Honorable Mention: The Ghost Note Symphonies, Vol. 1 (2018)
By 2018, Rise Against fans had been requesting an acoustic album for quite some time, so Tim McIlrath and the crew decided to deliver just that with “The Ghost Note Symphonies, Vol. 1”. It’s no surprise that this album turned out so great, seeing how several of the band’s stripped-down acoustic-led songs like “Swing Life Away” and “Hero of War” already were among their most beloved songs. The end result is a fun and extremely listenable album with a flawless and fresh take on plenty of Rise Against favorites that at least deserves a mention in our list.
Play it again: “Audience Of One – Ghost Note Symphonies” (One of Rise Against’s biggest sleeper hits works like a fucking charm in acoustic)
Skip it: “Faint Resemblance – Ghost Note Symphonies” (Swap the ukulele for an acoustic guitar and this wouldn’t have sounded like a weird punk luau)
3. Siren Song of the Counter Culture (2004)
“Siren Song of the Counter Culture” was the first Rise Against album I ever heard, and that means it was probably the same for you because there was no way you knew about them before me, ok? The album completely evolved the band from a Chicago sensation into a breakthrough act thanks to several hits featuring a distinctive sound that still holds up today. Whether you’re looking at the solemn but ever-hopeful story of a couple struggling to make ends meet in “Swing Life Away,” the brightly euphoric opening guitar riff of “Paper Wings,” or the unorthodoxly positive but still batshit wild rager that is “Give It All,” it’s easy to see why this album helped Rise Against truly dip their toes into the national spotlight for the first time.
Play it again: “Paper Wings,” “Give It All,” and “Swing Life Away”
Skip it: “To Them These Streets Belong”
2. Appeal to Reason (2008)
“Appeal to Reason” strayed away from the underground hardcore punk sound Rise Against perfected in previous releases. While this made plenty of longtime fans cautious at first, the album fortunately turned out to be a total banger. Notable hits include “Re-Education (Through Labor)” serving as a fist-pumping anthem for the world’s exploited working class, “Savior” covering a struggling relationship in the most delightfully dramatic way possible, and the band’s arguably saddest song ever, “Hero of War,” sharing a soldier’s journey from an underprivileged teenager targeted by military recruiters to a PTSD suffering veteran so haunted by the horrors of war to the point that he’s on the verge of suicide. Seeing that the album peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200, “Appeal to Reason” is proof that there will always be an international audience ready to celebrate punk bands rooted in activism – as long as they produce some fucking jams.
Play it again: “Re-Education (Through Labor)” and “Audience of One”
Skip it: “Hairline Fracture”
1. The Sufferer & the Witness (2006)
As a proud resident of Chicago, I knew this would be the Rise Against album for me the second I heard it open with “Intro/Chamber The Cartridge” parodying the intercom voice of the Chicago L train with, “This is Noise.” Oozing with showmanship and genuine dedication to the hometown that built them up, “The Sufferer & the Witness” is a damn perfect album full of distinctive nods to the band’s punk activist roots while featuring an evolved sound that drew in all kinds of new fans. While nothing dates a band more today than having albums from the midst of the Bush administration, the cries for action driven by powerfully urgent shouts from Tim McIlrath and wailing guitar featured on “The Sufferer & the Witness” feel timeless. You could also say it’s eerie how much the lyrics of Rise Against’s globally-acclaimed song “Prayer of the Refugee” match with the conflicts of today, such as the totally-fucked war in Ukraine. The song almost comes off as a warning that the wars of tomorrow will always bring forced displacement and discrimination – while somehow still pulling off being one of the most contagiously explosive punk anthems of all time.
Play it again: “Prayer of the Refugee,” “Drones,” and “Ready to Fall”
Skip it: Don’t fucking insult me
The Breeders are pure ‘90s goodness. Kim Deal from the Pixies? Check. Tanya Donelly from Belly? Check. Kinda. She’s a minimal presence on this album, appearing only on the tie-in EP. But still, this second album by The Breeders combines grunge, punk, garage rock and surf rock, as well as Deal’s icy and detached vocal delivery in an absolutely exquisite way.
It’s interesting to consider that this album came out the same year as “In Utero.” Like the Nirvana album, this is pure grunge chaos with Eddie Vedder at times doing more wailing than singing, on songs like “Animal.” But where “In Utero” is pure anarchy, screaming and misery, “Vs.” is an exercise in control and style, with songs like the more mellow “Daughter,” showing an enormous ability to bend style and create a diverse and engaging listening experience.
There is something vaguely evil (in a good way) about the slinky, bass-driven, jazz-rock conjured here. Mark Sandman’s writing and playing are enticing and coldly detached, while the music itself carries almost a jam-band like spirit. It’s not hard to see why a song like “Buena” left the imprint it did, with its effortless cool, but even for the deep cuts, this album is well-worth revisiting. Side note: how cool of a last name is “Sandman” though? It’s like getting a new license plate that randomly says “666 420.”
Yes, it’s finally happened. The debut album by anti-folk troubadour, erstwhile Scientologist and one-time “Futurama” guest-star Beck has finally turned 30. Really, “Golden Feelings” feels as much like a musical shitpost as it does an actual album, with Beck’s distorted vocals and warped playing. It’s astonishing, listening to it, how in just a few years, Beck was able to go from the bizarre sound on songs like “The Fucked Up Blues” to the rollicking, rock of “Midnite Vultures,” but Beck has always been a musical chameleon.
Oh sure, to some of you, it’s just “that CD that Mom has in her car,” but on listening to Melissa Etheridge’s “Yes I Am,” it’s not hard to imagine why this blues-rock album had the impact that it did, with singles like “Come to My Window,” “If I Wanted To” and “I’m the Only One” becoming her signature song, and the album itself has come to be remembered as Etheridge’s “coming out album.” On top of all that, it sounds fantastic and is well worth more modern attention.
Icelandic singer-songwriter, Björk has had an incredible and varied career. Her songs contain the same weird, dreamy, experimental spirit of Kate Bush or Tori Amos and her song “Venus As a Boy” is probably one of the best to come out of this year. (Remember when it was in “Léon: The Professional?” Wasn’t that a great movie?) But ultimately, whether she’s acting for Lars Von Trier or Robert Eggers or being played by Winona Ryder pissing off Alex Tribeck, everything stems from this international debut, an album so sophisticated and wide-reaching it’s almost shattering to remember her only prior releases were as a member of a jazz combo and as a child artist releasing novelty songs.
On Nirvana’s third and final album, it’s impossible not to hear the pain and self-destructiveness that plagued the final months of Kurt Cobain’s life. The original title, after all, was “I Hate Myself and I Want to Die.” As far as the band’s grunge sound goes, this is the grungiest, with distorted, reverb-heavy guitars and vocal performance from Cobain that feels more like tortured wailing than singing. This is something that feels horrific at first, but becomes oddly soothing the longer one listens.
Eerie, jangly, abrasive and oddly soothing, “Star” – the first album by the Tanya Donelly fronted band Belly – is a truly indispensable ‘90s relic. On this record, Belly truly feels like a slightly harder, drone-heavy, American answer of the witchy jangle pop of the Cranberries, with Donnelly’s distinct, often detached vocals perfectly countering hard-driving guitar. With odd song structures and strange lyrics, Star isn’t necessarily easy to get into. The album, and the band that made it, seem overlooked today, which is both odd and a little sad, since both “Star” and Belly were nominated for Grammys. Standout songs include singles “Feed the Tree” and “Slow Dog,” as well as the witchy “Low Red Moon.” This album is well worth your time, especially in one sitting on a cold, overcast afternoon.
PJ Harvey is the coolest. Like Tom Waits or Leonard Cohen, she seems almost to be a genre in and of herself, where each of her albums feel strikingly different from each other, each imbued with their own artistic personas, but each one feeling like they could only be made by her.“Rid of Me” Harvey’s sophomore album, is different even by her standards. This is evident in the songs with “Man-Size Sextet” sounding like a lost Bernard Herrmann score, and an eerie re-working of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisted,” as well as the almost over-the-top “Rub ‘til It Bleeds.” These are droning, deranged, sexual songs that are pure PJ Harvey and show an artist with a fearlessness to rival her true talent.
The most interesting thing about getting into Counting Crows is realizing that the best part of any of their songs is Adam Duritz’s heroic, belting voice, while the worst part is Adam Durtiz’s freakish, caterwalling seal-bark. Often, these two versions of Duritz co-exist within the same song. Sometimes they happen at the exact same moment. Duritz’s ability to bring us into his world is best felt in the first three songs, “Round Here,” “Omaha” and “Mr. Jones.” His delivery on “Anna Begins” has, at points in my life, actually made me tear up. On the whole, “August and Everything After” is ghostly, strangely uplifting and relentlessly nostalgic. A perfect early Fall album.
The fourth and final album by the Illinois-based Roots Rock/Alt-Country band is, in many ways, an oddity in their discography. With Jeff Tweedy as one of Uncle Tupelo’s co-frontmen, the band spent the first chunk of their career making more or less straight punk music, with country/folk inflections. Its opener, “Slate,” is a fiddle-driven tune that feels almost aggressively nostalgic, while tracks like “The Long Cut” feel like the perfect accompaniment for a country road trip. Ultimately, though it does drag at points, tracks like “New Madrid” and “Give Me Back the Key to My Heart” are worth every slow moment. “Anodyne” is a brilliant slice of alt-country/roots rock, a great swan song for Jay Farrer and Jeff Tweedy’s creative partnership and a great intro piece to a band that was often so much more punk than expected.
In many ways, the sophomore album by California-based dream-pop/psych rock duo Mazzy Star has a lot in common with “Blacklisted” by Neko Case, despite the almost decade in between their release. Both are psychedelic and reverb-heavy, both conjure up not just country and rock images, but an oddly chaotic desert-like sonic landscape. “So Tonight That I Might See” feels like the soundtrack to an unmade David Lynch film. A noirish, luxurious album of midnight images that calls to mind lonely nights out in the desert, with scorpions and tarantulas on the prowl and forgotten corners of U.S. states you’ve never been to.
Aimee Mann is one of the few artists that seems genuinely impossible to dislike once you’ve given her a fair chance. Like Tom Waits by way of Daria, Mann’s lyrics often balance extreme darkness (see “Home by Now,” “Just Like Anyone” or “Philly Drinks”) with extreme, acerbic, deadpan humor. “Whatever” is Mann’s solo debut, and a supremely confident debut album for an artist who has always stayed true to her style and convictions, even as her sound has evolved drastically over the years.
There’s no doubt this album rocked a lot of dorm rooms at Wellesley when it first debuted, with opener “6’1” and lead single “Never Said” serving up shredding guitar and a blunt delivery that permeates through the album. Songs like “Help Me Mary,” “Girls! Girls! Girls!,” “Divorce Song” and “Johnny Sunshine” pack the album with strangely catchy bops, while “Dance of the Seven Veils,” “Fuck and Run” and especially “Flower,” pack the album with a raw, almost supernaturally frank sexuality. “Exile in Guyville” is a perfect mixture of Riot Grrrl, Grunge and Punk Rock, as well as something uniquely original that only a first-time artist with no more fucks to give could muster.
From its opener “You,” this debut by English male-manipulator – I mean – rock band Radiohead is crunchy, staticky and almost industrial. Thom Yorke’s vocals feel more like a rigid and fragile Jeff Buckley than the “ghost of Victorian boy who was drowned in a well by his governess” tones they would become by the time he made the “Suspiria” soundtrack, or even “OK Computer.” On the whole, while the album isn’t as polished as later outputs by the group, there is a lot here, with break-out single “Creep,” feeling like a festering, oozing send-up to Leonard Cohen’s song “The Future,” while “How Do You?” plays like a lost track off of “Ziggy Stardust” if Ziggy had been really into paint thinner. (I mean that in a good way.)
Quite simply one of the greatest albums of all time, the debut by the Irish alt-rock band The Cranberries produced two all time hits in “Dreams” and “Linger,” as well as a minor masterpiece in “Sunday,” which seems to be gaining new life on TikTok. Throughout their career, the jangly sounds of the Cranberries remained consistent even as Dolores O’Riordan nuanced her punk-infused “angry Irish woman” persona. As such, even though they never made a bad album, it’s forgivable and understandable to think of this one as their best. Even the deep cuts, songs like “I Still Do,” “Waltzing Back,” “Pretty” and “Wanted” shimmer.
Reunion records are tough, as time off from a (sometimes well-deserved) hiatus can bring out the very, very good gems or the brutally, brutally ugly stinkers of a recently reformed act. Luckily, it is difficult for frontman and chief songwriter John Davis to write a bad hook, so the worst Superdrag LP is better than most bands’ best efforts. Screw off, Rembrandts. Anyway, it’s quite sad that the band’s swan song effort went out with a whimper. Hopefully, they try to cut another album, or with any luck they don’t; whatever.
“Last Call for Vitriol,” Superdrag’s final album before the band’s hiatus in 2003 has some solid gems like their beloved sleeper track “Feeling Like I Do,” but it’s an overall inconsistent listen front-to-back. The album starts off super strong with “Baby Goes to 11” but rolls into eleven tracks that woefully take the listener on an overly frenetic ride. Luckily the next three records listed have no filler whatsoever and are extremely re-listenable.
This bronze metal slot for the band’s debut LP “Regretfully Yours” may shock both casual and hardcore fans of the band, but the silver and gold medal winners listed below are simply (much or slightly) better; nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and y’all need to sober up. Admittedly, the band’s debut and only radio semi-smash “Sucked Out” is a perfect single (and an incredible combination of sweet and sour). If you wish that The Beatles and The Kinks used more bass-heavy, fuzzy, and slightly dissonant distortion, then this record has your name written all over it. If you don’t wish the same, then this record is for you as well as it is undeniable in the best way ever; suckers.
Superdrag kicked off the century with a stripped-down and back-to-basics record that counterbalanced the lush album (just you wait) mentioned next. “I want to rock and roll, but I don’t want to deal with the hassle” is one of the most bitter and biting opening lines to ANY album, and we’re all here for it (and the subsequent rock-age that happens immediately afterward). Palm muted power chords rule, fam. Plus, the gorgeous and haunting masterpiece “Unprepared” might be the band’s best song in its extensive and incredible catalog; if you disagree gimme animosity.
The late and great Jerry Finn (producer of incredible albums by Blink-182, AFI, and many, many more) helped shape and visualize thirteen tracks to perfection on the band’s sophomore effort “Head Trip in Every Key.” Often appearing on many snooty hipster writers that try too hard to be cool’s best-of-album lists, this record is truly, truly deserving of such. Well played, snobs. The album was a big-budget project, and it certainly sounds like such in a non-contrived way from start to finish. In closing, the many tracks and instruments on each song make the band sound huge as fuck, and we would’ve killed to see this masterpiece played with a full symphony in 1998 (or now; bros, it’s the 25th anniversary of the album this year).
