I would argue that Hallowed Ground is on some levels better than s/t. Not more important, not more enjoyable, and by no means more popular. If not just for the song "Black Girls," which is as impossibly transgressive today as it was in 1984. Plus, "Never Tell" shreds.

Josh, "American Music" was actually on the Violent Femmes' album "Why Do Birds Sing," which also had the pretty great "Out the Window" and a strangely faithful cover of Culture Club's "Do You Really Wanna Hurt Me." "3" was the prior album that almost killed the Femmes' career due to its somber sound and largely…

One word: Daddario.

Everybody hates a bragger, but she's my platonic ideal of a musician so here goes: I was at that taping. It was perfect.

Lou also does the intro on Antony's "Fistful of Love."

When I was a teen and couldn't fall asleep because of all the emotions and hormones and whatnot, I would play the final three tracks of Automatic For the People on repeat (Man on the Moon, Nightswimming, Find the River) and it worked to ease my mind. It still does. That is a breathtaking mini-suite, and for me will…

Unsatisfied! That is the jam.

If I may say a word on the subject of the Smiths, "I Know It's Over" gives me that tingle.

That song is a masterwork, and New Order's thesis statement.

m83, "Wait." By the end, it's pretty f'n emotional.

March of the Pigs is a masterpiece of aggression and dynamics. I don't think there's a more visceral song out there.

I really enjoyed Silver Gymnasium; seems as though Okkervil tapped into that nostalgia for 80s boyhood thing just before Stranger Things came out. Unfortunately, it sounds like the rest of the band either quit or was fired after Silver Gymnasium, and a friend who just saw the newly reconstituted "Okkervil" reported…

I Am Very Far (or as I call it "I Am Very Meh") is the only one I'd give back. Their debut ep, which is super out of print and was recorded before Will Sheff had any idea how to sing, is also of questionable value. Everything else is pretty fucking great.

It is — which makes Black Sheep Boy (don't forget the appendix!) an all-time superclassic, and an unpardonable sin to purge.

No offense man, but you're keeping a bunch of really random crap (a solo record from a guy from Slint? Something called "The Night Marchers?") but you don't have room for Okkervil River's "Black Sheep Boy?" Repent. That's one of the 10 best albums of the 2000s.

If we're taking the full band's catalogue, it's the Femmes and it's not even close. If we're just looking at angsty debuts…well, it's still the Femmes.

This song really is delightfully bonkers.

There is no God.

This oblique reference is the best thing ever.

Die in a tarpit, Los Angeles Rams.