NMNG Essential Listening I

Here we are, kicking off the Essential Listening list! Each post will consist of an image with a 3x3 grid of album covers and their titles. Then, underneath I'll get to explaining why I think they're such important albums. At the end of each post I'll link back to all of the older posts. If any readers would like to contribute to the list, please let me know via the comments below, Facebook or e-mail. Please at least list off the albums and artists as well a small blurb on each one (you'll see how it's all laid out below). If you can't think of 9 at a time, don't fret, just let us know which ones you want to be on the list, and once we've got 9 albums, we'll stitch 'em all together and post it!

Without further ado:

The White Stripes - Elephant
This is the first album I ever bought with my own money. At this time in my life I was listening to a lot of Metallica and Megadeth, and ol' Jack and Meg proved to me that sometimes simpler is better. Elephant still stands as one of my all time favorite albums, ever.

Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Another one of my all time favorites, Crack the Skye is the first whole album that mentally and emotionally moved me. I guess it just entered my life at the right place and time. A progressive metal album with no equal, and the inspiration behind planning my first tattoo.

Pig Destroyer - Prowler in the Yard
This is beautiful. This is art.

Meshuggah - Nothing
Ain't nobody groove like Meshuggah grooves. Pre-Nothing I barely paid any attention to the rhythm and flow of songs. Meshuggah changed that. This is one of the heaviest recordings I've ever heard.

Childish Gambino - Camp
This is the album that sparked my interest in hip-hop and rap. Considering that before this I was almost exclusively anti-rap, this is a big deal.

Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
Believe it or not, this album functioned the same way as Camp, but for pop music. I guess I needed the cheery and catchy melodies mixed in with heavy music before I was able to handle them in lighter genres.

Tool - 10,000 Days
Another album that can send me floating off in space. Tool were the first band that showed me that just because something is morbid, doesn't mean it can't be beautiful. If I hadn't been exposed to Tool, I doubt I'd listen to half of the extreme stuff I do now.

Sleep - Dopesmoker
On par with Electric Wizard's legendary Dopethrone as the heaviest piece of music ever, Dopesmoker is a single, unbroken track that lasts for over an hour. This shit is so thick and heavy that I think my hearing is forever skewed to think everything else just isn't heavy enough.

Daft Punk - Alive 2007
As Camp and I Get Wet, but for dance and electronic music. If anybody is looking for something to boogie down to, this should undeniably be your first choice.


So there we have it, our first 9 albums on the NMNG Essential Listening List! Let me know what you guys think, and remember that you can contact us if you want to recommend some albums for the list!

That's all for now, folks! Happy Halloween! I'm going to go get drunk and play D&D with my housemates now.

-DG