20 Albums, 20 Days: Linkin Park ‘Hybrid Theory’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Linkin Park ‘Hybrid Theory’

The end of the ’90s saw the rise in rap rock but Linkin Park was a bit different than some of the other bands of that era. You can hear influences of everyone from Depeche Mode to the Deftones. The album was so popular upon release that it was selling about 100,000 copies a week…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Ozzy Osbourne ‘Blizzard of Ozz’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Ozzy Osbourne ‘Blizzard of Ozz’

Ozzy was out of Black Sabbath and really down on his luck. With a kick in the ass from Sharon, he started to audition musicians for a solo album. Randy Rhoads was immediately a stand out and the rest of the band fell into place. Randy was a massive inspiration to Ozzy and even though…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Californication’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Californication’

1995’s One Hot Minute was a big flop for the Chili Peppers. The use of new guitarist Dave Navarro plus the focus on rock over their traditional funk/punk combo was a real disappointment. The band righted the ship with 1999’s Californication. Guitarist John Frusicante rejoined the band and Anthony Kiedis and John started to write…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Bon Jovi ‘New Jersey’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Bon Jovi ‘New Jersey’

Slippery When Wet was the album that made Bon Jovi one of the biggest bands in the world. They toured over a year on that album, took a month off, and started working on the follow up. They wrote 34 songs with assistance from outside songwriters. They held a focus group of fans and played…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Stone Temple Pilots ‘Purple’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Stone Temple Pilots ‘Purple’

It is very difficult to make your sophomore album better than your debut, but STP accomplished that with 1994’s Purple. Moving away from the meat and potatoes grunge rock of 1992’s Core, the band embraced their love of AM radio and amped up their pop sensibilities to create this masterpiece. The band would go on…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Aerosmith ‘Pump’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Aerosmith ‘Pump’

The comeback that began with 1987’s Permanent Vacation continued two years later for Aerosmith thanks to 1989’s Pump. Pump showed that the newly sober rock band could be different then some of their ’70s contemporaries. Instead of relying on the style that made them famous, they adjusted to sound more like the hair metal/hard rock…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Metallica ‘Load’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Metallica ‘Load’

The album where Metallica cut their hair and changed their logo… It had been five years since they released their genre defining Black Album. They were the biggest hard rock band in the world and they decided to try something different. A lot of fans were mad and thought the band had abandoned their heavy…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Green Day ‘Dookie’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Green Day ‘Dookie’

Green Day was a San Francisco punk band that put out two records on the independent Lookout label, but in 1994 they released their major label debut and a record that made punk rock the most popular sound in the country. An album full of Generation X problems, dirty jokes and Ramones-style riffs, Dookie went…

20 Albums, 20 Days: AC/DC ‘Highway To Hell’

20 Albums, 20 Days: AC/DC ‘Highway To Hell’

AC/DC needed a hit album. Their record company was all over them to create something special and the hiring of producer Mutt Lange was just what they needed. Mutt kept an out-of-hand Bon Scott focused and managed to take their hard rock sound and clean it up. The record label was completely freaked out by…

20 Albums, 20 Days: Pearl Jam ‘Vs.’

20 Albums, 20 Days: Pearl Jam ‘Vs.’

After their tremendous breakthrough with Ten, Pearl Jam was faced with the task of trying to capitalize on that success with sophomore album. They road-tested many of the songs and when they finally released Vs. in 1993, they sold more copies in a single week than any album in history. Seven million copies later, this…