DoofDoof: VOTE NOW: Unluckiest 5 in the world

DoofDoof 04.02.25	'This list I want people to vote for the 5 in this list of 64 albums that's most unlucky not to make my Top 100, and as a bonus tell us what's your lowest regarded of all your own 5's.' So which is it?
Demon of the Fall 04.02.25	Tom Waits - Rain Dogs idk it just smells like a Doof top 100 pick. It's A LOT more singular than many of the other albums on this list and Waits is otherwise unrepresented in the top 100 Honourable mention: Kyuss - Sky Valley My own bias pick: Slowdive - Pygmalion my I'm "biased against these" picks, so therefore found it hard to consider them - DC Fontaines, Boatman's Call, Cigs After Sex Demo's 5 pick - Fall of Efrafa - Inle, it is very marginally flawed and I have debated dropping it many times. Out of my gargantuan collection of (25) 5s, it's probably a) the weakest and b) the least essential / necessary as post-metal is well-represented already (I know you didn't ask for all this)
EphemeralEternity 04.02.25	31 is surely better than any of your 5s without even knowing what they are
bellovddd 04.02.25	50 is such a great album.
zakalwe 04.02.25	A few of my all timers here. The Clash debut, Boatman’s Call, Chaos A.D, Bluffers. They all are still regularly listened to and are the pinnacle. If I could only choose one though it would have to be 57. I’m anchored to that album. The sput connection, Gav, the opening gambit when I met you Doof, walking around Byron Bay in 2019 with the wife and both of us singing the title track after a few too many sherbets. My own least regarded New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Body Exit Mind
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Demon - Tom Waits is due a revisit, me getting through his discog was the start of my time here so 2015/2016. 'Rain Dogs' only dropped out of my Top 100 recently so a good shout, it wouldn't be the first album to make a comeback. 'Sky Valley' was a recent bump, and 'Pyg' again one I was listening to most when I first joined this site.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Ephemeral - been listening to it a lot recently, maybe unlucky to miss out. belovddd - imo seemingly the least celebrated Elliott album, 'Either/Or' still tops but if the Top 100 had room for one more it'd be that album for me.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Zak - great picks, I feel bad about Sunhouse but as 'Fuzzy' by GLB rose higher that album fell away for me a bit. Will likely be a case of forgetting about it for two years and then rediscovering it and falling for it again. 'Body Exit Mind' has something about it, but it's sitting on a 4 for me for now.
bellovddd 04.02.25	figure 8 is my fav Elliot album but it was also my first I heard from him. But damn, the dude is good!
tectactoe 04.02.25	Three that seem like dead ringers for a Doof 5 (to me): • Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck • Songs of Leonard Cohen • Didn't It Rain (Disregarding the easy Lambchop and The The picks, of course.) My own least regarded 5 is probably Zombies - "Odessey and Oracle". Amazing album, surely, but (if you'll allow me to be pretentious for just a moment) as fun and exciting as it is, it almost seems/sounds/feels too... weightless (?) to carry the burden of a perfect 5/5. But then I listen to it again and can never bring myself to lower it so 🤷‍♂️
JohnnyoftheWell 04.02.25	5 is the answer, easiest to forget and hardest to miss Cigarettes after Sex and Chaos AD are probably worse, but both are so cringe you're obliged to wear them at this point
zakalwe 04.02.25	You livid there’s no weeb shite on here John?
JohnnyoftheWell 04.02.25	This Binary Universe is extremely jrpg-coded so no thoughts needed there
tectactoe 04.02.25	The only thing I know of BT is that he had a song in this old PS2 game called "Frequency" which was a cheap (but fun!) precursor to Guitar Hero and games of that ilk. Forget the BT song, though.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	tectactoe - good picks, I'd say all in the top 20 of albums in the list. I really don't get on with that Zombies album but also it has been a long time since I've put it on, could revisit. Johnny - 5 is your answer so I will take that as your answer :/
zakalwe 04.02.25	@John lol
JohnnyoftheWell 04.02.25	oh if we're voting for most unfortunate for your list specifically (as opposed to most demotable), then it's Songs of Leonard Cohen case closed my worst 5 is probably the Flaming Lips for slightly waning nostalgia or Glitch Princess for an inconsistent first half, but both wear the badge well enough to keep it for now
DoofDoof 04.02.25	The BT album might be one that was a slight beneficiary of the 'every year must have a 5 rating' rule, which I brought in to stop me being too precious/picky - I now have another 2006 5 rating so next time I listen I'll see if it still works for me. It leans a bit heavy on the post-rock influence in places towards the end maybe, but the first half of the album I used to regard as perfect pretty much. Cigarettes After Sex is another lonely 5 for it's year so it could be in trouble down the line, still think it's one of the better pop albums of the last couple of decades but hey ho.
zakalwe 04.02.25	Glitch Princess Christ.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Johnny - how do you feel that 'Songs of Love and Hate' switched with it in my Top 100 recently? Is that better or worse? Could a Top 100 make room for both? Flaming Lips in general I find I'm not really called back to these days, maybe I have to work out which album is the re-entry pick that doesn't put me off...
DoofDoof 04.02.25	I think one big thing is the 2010's were pretty weak for me looking back...I have only got 11 five ratings and four of them are here.
zakalwe 04.02.25	2016 carried it.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	2016 was the best of the '10s....but I never 5'd 'Blackstar' or 'Skeleton Tree', a case where the artists have even better material and I don't want to have ten Bowie 5's and ten Cave 5's! I did revisit both this year and I still didn't feel they were 5s, just really strong 4.5s...but there's definitely an argument they're as strong as most of my other 5 picks for the '10s. A dilemma :D My lone 5 rating for 2016 is now the 40 Watt Sun which blew me away when I discovered it recently. The 2020's have really shown up the 2010's already...and the 2000's when you go back, I have a tonne of 5's in comparison to the '10s.
tectactoe 04.02.25	2011 seems like the weakest year of the 10's from my point of view. 2013 and 2019 probably the strongest, personally.
zakalwe 04.02.25	The 2000s were bog. It’s where everything changed. Musically 2020s have been excellent, just misses the icons and the trend setters.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	tect - 'Kaputt' props up 2011 for me, but beyond that it's a bit patchy. 2012 was the weakest for me...and the Breathless album might be the luckiest 5 on the entire list, though I maintain it's a great album. 2013 is decent, and 2019 benefitted a lot from me checking a lot more albums by the end of the decade, some good stuff off the beaten path.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	'The 2000s were bog.' Maybe rock and the most mainstream stuff, but the 2000s gave us some of the best of Songs:Ohia, Sun Kil Moon, Lambchop, The National, Radiohead, Bill Callahan - it was the best for yer chamber pop/alt country stuff, which is a main chunk of what I like.
zakalwe 04.02.25	I think I just harbour a lot of ill will towards it because of how ‘the alternative’ had morphed into emo dross or very mid tier garage rock. Radiohead disappeared up their arses, festivals ‘sold out’ and as we entered the 2010s the god awful hipster shit just dominated. Some good stuff was knocking around though.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Yeah, I think you're right, the prevailing nonsense was at its all time worst - but pound for pound it had more classic albums than the '10s. The 'next big things' did get less convincing - Muse, The Strokes, The Libertines...not great.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	I remember going past a hundred 5 ratings and going through a bit of a ‘one out one in’ policy for a while, a bit of a general cull at 150. Can’t believe next stop is two hundred…will definitely be reevaluating a lot of these when I go a bit past that milestone. Might put a list up as I revisit those on shaky ground.
Hawks 04.02.25	Easy answer here is Biosphere!! As for mine, I'd probably have to go with Marduk - Plague Angel. I've been wrestling with to keep it a 5 or drop it down for what feels like months lol.
TheManMachine 04.02.25	45 is unlucky af worst (that i've heard) is 48
TheManMachine 04.02.25	oh worst of my OWN 5s probably low - double negative
Hyperion1001 04.02.25	i don’t really understand what’s happening here but 2 rocks
zakalwe 04.02.25	Hyp. 1. These are doof classics that haven’t made his top 100 albums. 2. What album from this list is ‘unlucky’ not to have made the 100. 3. What album from your own list of 5s is the one you hold in least regard.
SlothcoreSam 04.02.25	Has to be 62, Tom Waits, I've got it at 4.5 but it's very close to being a 5
CottonSalad 04.02.25	48 >
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Ok, updated - we now have a tie of two votes for both 'Rain Dogs' and 'Substrata', I can respect those picks.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	'oh worst of my OWN 5s probably low - double negative' Is that your only Low 5? Quality album, second best Low for me, but I rate the debut that bit higher.
TheManMachine 04.02.25	i've only listened to hey what which i gave a 4.5. will go through their stuff eventually they've certainly got a good track record for me at the moment
DoofDoof 04.02.25	The early stuff is very different, almost like a different band really, but there's some classic material there in a more trad slowcore style
Hyperion1001 04.02.25	tbh i hold all my 5s in equal regard because my taste is great and correct.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Hyp - good to see you also have a hefty number of 5's there. Four Autechre 5's feels quite intimidating, 'Drukqs' at a 5 also (I can't quite shift it up from a 4.5)
gabba 04.02.25	To me this also depends a bit on whether you have other album(s) by the same artist rated as 5. For example, Sonic Youth, Sparklehorse, Elliott Smith and Talking Heads albums are all great, but you have even better ones among your top 100, so these can go. This leaves me to the shortlist of 11, 23, 48 and 62, among which I also vote for Slowdive, which I also had as 5 at some point, and it could easily crawl back soon. As for my unlucky pick, it's Ill Communication by the Beasties. Probably it wouldn't be a 5 if it hadn't got stuck in my car's stereo for years because the eject button broke. But it did (damn Blaupunkt!), and they got lucky.
Hyperion1001 04.02.25	my Sputnik 5s aren’t 100% representative i just started 5ing albums I thought needed it. my “real” ratings are here even though there is a lot of overlap https://rateyourmusic.com/~hyperi0n
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Nice one gabba, yeah sometimes I wonder if 'Master of Puppets' would be a 5 if it weren't for it being the only cassette that seemed to always be around with no apparent owner in the school form room - got played to absolute death. 'Ill Communication' is my most played Beasties too, by a long way. Another vote for Slowdive, that album was in my Top 100 a few years ago.
DoofDoof 04.02.25	Hyp - scrolling through the 5's, does make me want to bump Dr. Octagon for the nostalgia factor
zakalwe 04.02.25	Ill Communication is one of those albums that is a definitive 5 that I haven’t 5’d
DoofDoof 04.02.25	I revisited it and Sabotage into Get It Together is one of the best track pairings of the ‘90s - the rest of the album keeps the spirit but it’s a bit too much of the same thing repeated to be a 5 for me I think.
zakalwe 04.02.25	Indeed Doof. Root Down into Sabotage into Get It Together has always been one of my musical magical moments.
fogza 04.02.25	There's some obvious picks here for me but I'll throw a curveball just because they're so underrated - 63. From my own 5's I'll go with Aretha Franklin's Never loved a man, it's so obviously a classic but I never went through a phase in which I was fascinated by it or obsessively listened to it for pleasure
Gyromania 04.02.25	i'm going with 2, but also honourable mentiones: Elliott Smith - s/t Talking Heads - Fear of Music Slowdive - Pygmalion
gabba 04.03.25	Doof, Zak, I just listened to Ill Communication after a long time, and it still has it. In addition to the classics, I also keep being amazed by the instrumental cuts like Shambala or Transitions. And then there’s Flute Loop… yep, it’s still a 5 in my book, albeit one that’s soaked in nostalgia.
DoofDoof 04.03.25	fogza - great pick, good to know someone else here digs that band, they have a new concept album out this month I think. Got a decent review in Uncut magazine who I usually trust, but it feels too much to hope it'll be a full return to form.
DoofDoof 04.03.25	Gyro - again, those picks all feel top 20 on this list, good choices. Your vote goes to 'Substrata' and it might just be official - that's maybe the unluckiest 5 in the world.
zakalwe 04.03.25	I stuck Ill Communication on this morning as a result lads. It is a 5.
DoofDoof 04.03.25	I gave it a listen a couple of months ago and (I hate to say it)...it did get a bit 'yappy/naggy' in places god bless 'em...I'm more intrigued to go back to 'Paul's Boutique' and see how that shapes up next. Would like another 5 for 1994 to bring the count up to ten. Best year for music still.
Demon of the Fall 04.03.25	"To me this also depends a bit on whether you have other album(s) by the same artist rated as 5" yeah, agreed with this. I double-checked Doof's ratings before submitting my selection
Demon of the Fall 04.03.25	Springtime is an interesting 5. As a big TFS fan your list reminded me that I need to check it (properly), decent start thus far
DoofDoof 04.03.25	Demon - along with the Breathless album on this list that one is maybe the biggest winner from my 'every year gets a 5' rule, in reality maybe more a 4.5 - but it was my favourite of what was one of the weakest years for music I can remember. Four of the tracks on it are classics for me, and I thought the opener was also 'song of the year'.