Wake me up when October starts
What is the best album released on each date in October?
I had an interesting thought the other day.
As you know, I listen to a bunch of albums and post a review of one or two each day during the week over on my Instagram, then collate them here on a Friday titled My Week In Music. The album selection process is fairly straightforward in that one album per day is a new release - something that came out in the past few weeks - and the rest are either 2023 albums I missed or albums celebrating a big anniversary, basically any birthday thats a multiple of five.
But as I looked ahead to next month, I wondered:
What is the best album (in my opinion) released on each day in October?
As in, what is the album I like most that was released on October 1, and on October 2, and on October 3, and so on and so forth.
Wikipedia was my best friend in this exercise: going back to about 1963, there is a page on Wikipedia for the music of each year, with album release dates for albums released during that year. So I started in 2023 and worked my way backwards, filling each date in October, and replacing albums as something better appeared in the annals of history.
As a result, only two days feature an album in the 2020s, and only 12 have albums released since 2000. So here are my favourite albums released on each date of October - and remember, this is all my opinion.
Consider it a spring awakening for music!
October 1:
Tool - Aenima (1996)
Fun fact: I bought Tool’s breakout album shortly after it was released; from memory, I also bought an Ini Kamoze cassingle the same day, so I guess I hadn’t yet worked out my taste in music.
October 2:
Oasis - (What’s The Story) Morning Glory (1995)
I owned Morning Glory on cassette and, to be honest, I never really got into it beyond an appreciation for “Wonderwall”.
October 3:
The Cranberries - No Need To Argue (1994)
This album was everywhere - I remember “Zombie” and “Ode To My Family” all over the radio, and CD copies in every home. Brilliant album though.
October 4:
Bruno Mars - Doo Wops & Hooligans (2010)
Bruno Mars’ debut is irresistible, and you know I’m right.
October 5:
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III (1970)
LZ3 starts with “Immigrant Song” and it would be the best album for October 5 based on that song alone. But it also features “Celebration Day”, “Since I’ve Been Loving You” and the underrated “Gallows Pole”.
October 6:
R.E.M. - Automatic For The People (1992)
I had a tutor in my first year of uni who was adamant that this was one of the best albums of the 1990s, and he was 100% correct.
October 7:
Alvvays - Blue Rev (2022)
I was kind of surprised that nothing came along to knock Alvvays out of this spot, but I’m not mad about it - this is one of 2022’s best albums.
October 8:
Talking Heads - Remain In Light (1980)
The first truly experimental Talking Heads album is one of their best, and one of the best of the 1980s. “Once In A Lifetime” leads off Side B and is one of the best songs ever written, I reckon.
October 9:
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin (2007)
This is a brilliant album even if the lead off 1-2 of “Is There A Ghost” and “No One’s Gonna Love You” are a hard act to follow.
October 10:
Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
This might be a spicy take but I feel like its become a more mainstream opinion in recent years: In Rainbows is Radiohead’s best album.
October 11:
Korn - Korn (1994)
I’ve written about Korn’s debut album before - this is one of the albums that upended my musical tastes, and had me heading in a heavier direction. Plus, 14 year old Chris had no idea how to process the raw emotion on closer “Daddy”.
October 12:
Placebo - Without You I’m Nothing (1998)
As if “Every Me Every You” isn’t enough of a flex for this album, it also boasts “Pure Morning” as an opener, one of the best alt-rock tracks of the 1990s.
October 13:
Pink - Beautiful Trauma (2017)
Defending this choice is a hill I’m willing to die on: the opening title track is a perfect pop song, Eminem features on “Revenge”, and it boasts a trio of her most uplifting tracks in “What About Us”, “I Am Here” and “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken”. It is Pink’s best album from start to finish.
October 14:
Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual (1983)
Lauper’s debut album is a helluva lot of fun, in addition to being one of the best selling - and best - pop albums of the 1980s.
October 15:
Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites (1996)
Counting Crows’ second album isn’t as popular as their debut, but I reckon its as good as their debut. And “A Long December” is one of their best emotive songs.
October 16:
Scribe - The Crusader (2003)
The sole Kiwi album on this list is a worthy inclusion - and having listened to it recently for the Nature’s Best series, it is one of our best.
October 17:
Limp Bizkit - Chocolate Starfish & The Hotdog Flavoured Water (2000)
If you were an angry young adult male in 2000, this album was your bible for a solid year. It was heavy, it was tongue-in-cheek, and it was a cultural touchstone.
October 18:
Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys Vol 1 (1988)
Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne.
No further explanation needed.
October 19:
Inxs - Kick (1987)
Fun fact: we played “Need You Tonight” in a cover band for so long that I could probably bang it out now from muscle memory.
October 20:
Slayer - Reign In Blood (1986)
It took a long time for me to get to grips with Slayer but now that I have, I love their earlier work - and this is one of their best.
October 21:
Meatloaf - Bat Out Of Hell (1977)
Did you know this album started as an aspiring stage musical - which makes a lot of sense once you hear “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad”, “You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth”, and “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”.
October 22:
The Donnas - Spend The Night (2002)
The Donnas’ major label debut sent through group stratospheric, and was the focus of a chapter in Dan Ozzi’s fantastic book Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo and Hardcore (1994-2007).
October 23:
My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade (2006)
I’ve come to believe that The Black Parade is one of the five or ten best albums released between 2000 and 2009. It is a work of art.
October 24:
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness (1995)
I like Mellon Collie as much as the next Pumpkins fan. But do I think it would have been a stronger album if they’d cut it down to one disc? Yes.
October 25:
Supertramp - Crime Of The Century (1974)
“Dreamer”, “School” and “Bloody Well Right” are a trio of Supertramp’s best songs, and feature on this record.
October 26:
Incubus - Make Yourself (1999)
I initially struggled to get into Make Yourself, and Incubus, because I found them too “artsy”. Yes, that is a real opinion I once held.
October 27:
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)
RIP Amy Winehouse; how many more brilliant albums could you have made.
October 28:
Deftones - Around The Fur (1997)
My favourite Deftones album jumps in here - and its one of the few albums that I reckon are great from start to finish without skipping a track.
October 29:
Mastodon - Hushed & Grim (2021)
I’ll be honest: October 29 was sparse. That said, Hushed & Grim isn’t a bad record.
October 30:
Pulp - Different Class (1995)
The Mercury Prize winning fifth album from Pulp boasts “Common People” and “Disco 2000”. And beyond that, I loved it because it wasn’t fucking Oasis.
October 31:
Outkast - Stankonia (2000)
If you listen back to Stankonia now, two things happen: 1) you realise that their sound here - including the hits “B.O.B.”, “Ms Jackson” and “So Fresh So Clean” - was miles ahead of its time, and 2) you feel like a cooler person than before.
Not gonna lie - this was a pretty fun post to put together.
If you like it, maybe it’ll become a regular series?
For now though, catch you later in the week!
Chris xo
This was a very fun read and a nice little autobiographical essay