NOTICE: Obviously, this is all my opinion. More importantly, they are in a countdown for no reason at all. These are just 100 near equally important/good albums, they are not in any way ordered by quality of album.



99. Talk Talk- Laughing Stock (1991)

In the world of emo-pop sensibilities and indie rock snobbery and Juggalo imitations, there is only one genre of music that I'd like to honestly see die off forever. Post-rock is the most dishonest music there can be. The basis of the genre is essentially to create crescendos over and over that express incredibly base and rudimentary emotions of “wh...whoa...epic” with as many instruments as possible. It's disgustingly jejune, almost always instrumental, and exclusively made by suburban kids in sweater vests who decided that twee was too abrasive for them. When I think of people listening to good music, I think of the wooden floor buckling a little as everyone jumps more or less in unison and screams along the chorus. Maybe they have a snarl of rage and joy or just a grin like “boy howdy, this is a fuckarow” but they're having a good time, goddammit. When post-rock wants you to think of itself, it wants you to think of people dancing in shrouds, eyes closed, hands making little butterfly motions, bodies slowly contorting in what must be the world's most boring stripper's dance. Real music should make you feel like this; a man charging at you with a chair while you have your fists up, screaming. post-rock makes me think of recumbent tai chi (interestingly, you can see a better example of music a few panels down).

Post-rock isn't interesting. It's muzak, elevator bullshit for people who think nodding your head and softly moaning is the best way to get carried away on a bunch of soft pink clouds made of violins. Post-rock fans talk about textures and soundscapes and I bet 1% of them actually mean it, but the rest are just looking for more bands named after quotes that they can name drop without any hint of shame that all the music they listen to is the exact fucking same. It's terrible horseshit, and I'd be embarassed to be seriously caught listening to it. I would rather listen to Phil Collins than post-rock. So if you like a genre devoid of fun, emotion, content, and basically good for background music while you type into your music blog, congrats, your need for substanceless noise has been fulfilled.

It's not surprising then that no post-rock fans talk about Talk Talk's Laughing Stock. The album features concise themes of religion, instrumentation that isn't just crescendo piled on crescendo, and requires you to actually do work beyond clicking through the Myspace friends list of Explosions in the Sky. Regardless, it's regarded as the progenitor of post-rock (along with the previous album, Spirit of Eden) and believe it or not it doesn't fucking blow.



The album is sad and religious in nature, but not in a very “PRAISE JESUS” kind of way. Lead singer and band frontman Mark Hollis is fucking begging us in every line he sings:

Place my chair at the backroom door
Help me up
I can't wait anymore

Blessed love
The love I've seen
Stair by idle stair
Faith one path and the second in fear
A half wit am I read

It's about living and dying without faith. It's not about a laughing God who embraces you like Neal Morse tries to sell in every song. It's about real doubt, goddammit, and he sells that motherfucker.



“Shake my head
Turn my face to the floor
Dead to respect
To respect to be born
Lest we forget who lay”

Oh fuck you come on! Do I really need to elaborate on how good this shit is? How honest and raw? I didn't touch on the instrumentation at all because you can hear for yourself, but it's just as complex as any other post-rock album despite being so much older than all these wonderful soundscape masterpieces. Laughing Stock has a cohesion, and one that isn't linked by a general sense of “w...whoa” but instead a real theme and real questions. This is one of the few post-rock albums that actually has a sense of honesty about it, and it kills every other album in the genre as a result.

The links provided above have the entire album in related links, so check it out.

Why Doesn't GW Talk About This?

GW doesn't tak about this because I see no one in post-rock circles talking about it! Spiderland came out that year and everyone knows Slint as a result, but Talk Talk is never mentioned. My personal belief is that Talk Talk conjures up images of “It's My Life”, a song later covered by Gwen Stefani and No Doubt (interestingly, Youtube links the No Doubt version first, but here's the original, it's a classic) and so the cred obsessed fans never talk about it. Talk Talk has become to post-rock what Genesis has become to prog rock; responsible for the existence of the genre but ignored for percieved sins and so relegated to “okay/never really listened to them but that's okay did you hear the new G:OtyS album?” status, which is a damn shame.

Why Would GW Like This?

Because you really like your post-rock. I can't believe anyone can still listen to Sigur Ros past the age of 19 but I see it on last.fm accounts all the time! Maybe listening to one of the best post-rock albums will stop this, but I doubt it. At least you can name drop them huh...

It's also a pretty good album, and you should feel bad if you haven't heard it.

Talk about Talk Talk, post rock, and Laughing Stock (damn a rhyme heh they call me Omega the Unknown, choppin up etc) here!