Every Album Ever with Mike Mansour

This week we're talking about LA's drunk and belligerent FEAR. One of the most important bands to come out of the hardcore punk scene, if not for their technical proficiency then for them being the only band from the scene featured on Saturday Night Live. As you might expect, that did not go well. Although they're primarily known for their legendary debut album, we talk about all of their records...

This week we're talking about the 13th Floor Elevators. Pioneers of psychedelic rock, these guys took more acid than most people took aspirin. Among many things, this exacerbated singer/guitarist Roky Erickson's mental illness, which lead him on a rollercoaster of stints in mental institutions, tooth abscesses, and a whole period where he believed he was an alien. Thankfully, he made a recovery an...

This week we're discussing Norway's Emperor. Part of the second wave of Norwegian black metal in the early 90s, Emperor was associated with all of the church burning insanity that the scene is infamous for. However, imprisonment couldn't stop these guys from putting out some remarkably fun black metal records. Also credited as helping pioneer symphonic black metal, Emperor had a lot of range despi...

This week we're talking about Jane's Addiction. While these days Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro are household names in rock (and reality TV), they began as a shockingly innovative alt rock band in the late 80s. Jane's Addiction earned every reputation they ever had: great musicians, great performers, and narcissistic heroin junkies. With the possible exception of bassist Eric Avery, these are not...

This week we're talking about KRS-One's Boogie Down Productions. These guys (or guy) helped to pioneer hip-hop, in addition to a more cerebral and educational approach to the genre. KRS-One, who's had a lengthy and successful solo career, is just as much an educator and philosopher as he is a rapper. Regardless of how you feel about his politics, BDP were quite distinct and helped propel hip-hop i...

Mike and Alex listen to and discuss the entire discography of a new artist every week, noting their best albums, worst albums, and everything in between. They argue a lot. It's great. New episodes every Tuesday at noon! Subscribe on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/EveryAlbumEver Check out our episode playlists on Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/user/motherpuncherinc Join our Patreon for bonus e...

This week we're talking about the hilarious SOD. Stormtroopers of Death was a side project of Anthrax's Scott Ian, Charlie Benante, and Dan Lilker (also of Nuclear Assault), with Anthrax roadie Billy Milano on vocals. Equal parts a giant gag and a legitimately good crossover thrash metal band, SOD's debut album remains a classic to this day. The title track was even recently covered by the reunite...

This week we're continuing our Halloween tradition by discussing another of Glenn Danzig's bands—this time Samhain. (Check out Episode 11 for our episode on the Misfits.) Samhain is the second and least known of Danzig's iconic bands. They released a handful of interesting, hooky, and at times very silly records in the mid 80s. They also often performed dripping with cow's blood because evil and w...

This week we're discussing the powerful Drive Like Jehu. Made up of members of Rocket from the Crypt, Pitchfork, Hot Snakes, and Obits, Drive Like Jehu helped perfect an extremely complex brand of noise rock. These guys were phenomenal musicians who managed to make complicated song structures accessible enough for anyone. While they only have two albums, their influence is abundant and obvious. Ev...

This week we're discussing the legendary Stooges. This band needs very little introduction, but we will say they're considered one of the greats for good reason. Although the Stooges did not receive much success during their initial run in the early 70s, their legacy—in addition to the lengthy and successful solo career of frontman Iggy Pop—continues to influence a laundry list of musicians and fa...

This week we're discussing the wild and influential Gun Club. Led by all around maniac Jeffrey Lee Pierce, the Gun Club pioneered a unique type of blues-inspired punk in the early 80s before releasing a handful of strong rock albums. Pierce, by all accounts, was a drugged up, rabid egomaniac who wailed like a legendary blues man, despite being tone deaf. Even still, the Gun Club released some wond...

This week we discuss the speedy and technical ALL. ALL was formed by members of the Descendants after singer Milo Aukerman left to pursue a career in biochemistry. While they had a revolving door of vocalists over the years, the core 3 members, Bill Stevenson (of Black Flag), Karl Alvarez, and Stephen Egerton remained constant. ALL's early material is wacky, technical, and legitimately proggy, how...

This week we discuss one of the most overlooked and underappreciated bands of the 20th century, Big Star. Led by the late Alex Chilton, Big Star was a 70s rock band that had no business existing in the 70s. Their songwriting and style were decades ahead of their time, which unfortunately resulted in a rocky and criminally short career. Since then, Big Star has influenced countless musicians from a...

This week we're talking about Clipse. Comprised of Pusha T and Malice (now known as No Malice), Clipse popularized "coke rap," which is about as self-explanatory as it gets. Pharrell Williams and The Neptunes were also a heavy influence on Clipse's career and sound for the entirety of their career. Covering a group like Clipse is definitely out of the ordinary for Mike and Alex—this episode is a w...

This week we're discussing Fugazi, the band Mike openly calls "his Beatles." One summary isn't enough to explain the profound impact this band has had on independent music, but we will say that Fugazi was formed in Washington DC by former Minor Threat frontman Ian Mackaye and Joe Lally. The two quickly recruited drummer Brendan Canty and second guitarist/vocalist Guy Picciotto. Very few bands in t...

This week we're discussing the wild and unpredictable Butthole Surfers. Formed by Paul Leary and Gibby Haynes, these guys truly defined what insanity was. In addition to mind-boggling performances, the Butthole Surfers had a remarkable talent for tape manipulation and studio experimentation, resulting in some of the creepiest, most hilarious, surprisingly hooky, endlessly entertaining records. The...

This week, Mike and Alex are back in studio together after countless awful Skype episodes, and what better band to discuss than the insanely popular Smiths? This band needs no introduction, but we did our best to dissect their relatively short discography and talk about as much juicy Morrissey gossip as we could. Why the hell is he so popular in East LA? We try to get to the bottom of it. Also, Th...

This week we talk about the immensely influential electronic duo, Suicide. Comprised of Martin Rev and Alan Vega, Suicide helped pioneer electronic, industrial, noise, and experimental music, as well as helping to coin the term "punk" in music. These guys influenced pretty much every band ever since the early 80s. Musically, they are absolutely not for everyone (especially considering crowds respo...

This week we dissect arguably one of the most important Irish bands in history. While most of you know Thin Lizzy because of the hits, they have more amazing songs than we could count—hence the two hour episode. Phil Lynott's unmistakable voice and songwriting hold up fantastically after all these years and we had an awesome time diving into each album. There's no better band we could've chosen to...

This week we discuss Washington DC's Minor Threat. Led by Fugazi founding member Ian Mackaye, Minor Threat is one of the most influential (and quite frankly, best) hardcore punk bands around and we had an awesome time dissecting their short discography. Mike nerds out hard on this one and we recommend that anyone interested in the American hardcore punk scene give this episode a shot. It's a sweat...

This week we're talking about the wonderful, troubled, and extremely high Elliott Smith. This was suggested to us by Lars from Sweden, so thanks for that. Also, surprising no one at all, Mike and Alex disagree entirely about Elliott Smith's music. We will say, however, that if you enjoy beautifully intricate folk music, as well as Beatles knockoffs, Elliott Smith is right up your alley. Closing tr...

This week we discuss legendary recording engineer Steve Albini's first band, Big Black. If you aren't familiar with Steve Albini, let's just say the man is as real as it comes with independent music and has recorded damn near everyone for about 20 bucks per album. Big Black paved the way for noise rock, industrial, and grunge with their ear-piercing, buzz saw guitars, drum machines, and highly con...

This week we discuss Devin Townsend's Strapping Young Lad. Of all the metal bands we've covered, Strapping Young Lad might just be the craziest and most technically impressive of the bunch. Although they have one of the most misleading band names ever, they are also one of the most interesting, chaotic, and unpredictable bands to ever play a blastbeat. Townsend isn't only a completely original gui...

This week we dissect the widely beloved White Stripes. While Alex has been a fan for years, this was Mike's first deep dive on the band—and let's just say he's probably going to enrage some people with this episode. Despite how some might feel about this band, the White Stripes emerged during a time when pop culture was starving for hard rock, which alone solidifies their place among many of the g...

This week we discuss Jarvis Cocker's Pulp. If Austin Powers became a real life person and started playing in a Britpop band, that band would probably be Pulp. They started out as an unpredictable acid house/disco/new wave hybrid, then evolved into a high energy pop band throughout the 90s. There's a lot of fighting between Alex and Mike on this one—way more than they were expecting. Whose side do...