The internet was supposed to end the monoculture — but instead it only consolidated taste, algorithms creating the illusion of choice while boosting safe sounds and big names.
Enter Alexander Nilsson, a 41-year-old web developer from Sweden. He created 1001 Albums Generator, a music discovery platform that randomly selects LPs from those 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die coffee table books. Each day, each user is randomly assigned an album to listen to, and given a chance to review and rate it; the next day, they do it all over again.
The site actually includes 1,089 albums, as it compiles versions of the list that have appeared in different editions of the book, which was first published in 2005 and was most recently updated in 2021. While it's by no means a perfect list (with the creators' UK bias occasionally emerging — I'm sorry, but Klaxons?!), it's nevertheless an excellent music discovery tool, taking participants on a journey through the early days of rock 'n' roll and R&B to the origins of punk, hip-hop and dance music, hitting all the albums you've probably heard of but never actually listened to.
Several Exclaim! staffers recently began listening their way through the 1001 Albums Generator, so we reached out to Nilsson to discuss the way users gravitate toward the expected over the experimental, the anti-Loveless agenda, and the radically different ratings on his website compared to Rate Your Music. Sign up for the 1001 Albums Generator here.
What inspired you to start 1001 Albums Generator?
It started during the pandemic. I'm working at an office where we've always had music on in the background, opening up for some great discussions throughout the day. In an attempt to keep up with that while working from home during the lockdown, I started developing a basic site that would randomize an album for us to listen to each day.
I've had the book 1001 Albums lying around at home for at least 15 years but had barely opened it. So I thought I might as well let that book be the source for the albums. It was clearly the only way I'd ever get around to listening to those albums.
Your website doesn't ask for any personal information, but do you have a sense of who is using the site?
The downside of having zero cookies: I know nothing about my users! But I can make a few educated guesses based on the data I do have. The site has been growing in an organic kind of way, leading to a pretty mixed type of users. Also, it's such a hardcore challenge to keep up with, so I'd guess anyone who's over 100 albums deep is probably already pretty passionate about music. But there's also quite a lot of younger users who sign up because they want to get more familiar with the history of music, so that's great.
What have you learned about people's listening and voting habits? Are there any albums you've been surprised don't get more acclaim, or ones that you're surprised are so highly regarded?
It's become pretty clear that albums with any kind of edge tend not to get high ratings. The randomness of the generator ensures that fanbases can't just flood the ratings, so over time, the safer, more accessible albums tend to get higher scores than the extreme or experimental ones.
At first, I was a bit surprised by the differences in ratings here compared to sites like Rate Your Music. For example, a personal favourite, Loveless by My Bloody Valentine, has a 3.15 rating on my site, while it's rated 4.25 on RYM. Kollaps by Einstürzende Neubauten is one of the lowest-rated albums on my site, with a 1.88 out of 5, compared to 3.54 on RYM.
Albums like that just don't cater to the masses, which becomes especially noticeable when only those who get it randomly generated can rate it.
That said — I'd love to live in a world where everybody rated Loveless a 5!
Are there any reviews you've read on the site that particularly stick out in your memory?
Reading the reviews has become one of my favourite things while doing this. I love them.
I love these short reviews that capture the essence of an album with just a sentence or two.
Alien Lanes by Guided by Voices: "Sounds like flipping through AM radio in a dream. A really enjoyable listen that I'll probably need to return to fully appreciate." It has 28 tracks in 41 minutes.
Spy vs. Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman by John Zorn: "Sounds like the drums are beating the shit out of the saxophones."
And then there's the short roasts: "Unlistenable. This sounds like Woodstock and the Renaissance Fair had a baby," about Joan Baez.
Then there's a very famous Dresden story and a long, honest roast of Smashing Pumpkins, probably from their biggest hater, but I'll leave those for the reader to explore.
How are online services like yours and Rate Your Music shaping the listening habits of modern audiences?
In these algorithm-driven days we're constantly served exactly what we want — rarely challenging our habits. Hopefully, the 1001 Albums Generator forces people to step outside their comfort zone and listen to albums they'd never explore otherwise. Like Kollaps! And not just the hits, but full albums, the way they were meant to be heard.
What are your personal favourites of the 1,089 albums? How have people responded to those?
Definitely Maybe by Oasis and The Stone Roses by the Stone Roses. Britpop and everything related to it are having a hard time, but these two are doing quite fine in terms of average rating and overall reviews. I'm also a fan of Foxbase Alpha by Saint Etienne and Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins. Foxbase Alpha isn't a popular one, and it seems no one can quite make out what Elizabeth Fraser is singing — but that's the beauty of it, isn't it? Dreamy and ethereal.
What are your hopes and ambitions for 1001 Albums Generator in the future?
I'm still shocked that this little project I started for our colleagues now has more than 200 people who have completed the entire list, listening to an album a day for 1089 days. I'm not even done myself yet! And with more than 20,000 active users each day, I'm more than happy. I intend to keep the site ad-free and privacy-friendly, and the donations I receive cover the monthly bills — plus a few beers and coffee for me to enjoy!
But the more people who listen to albums the better, so I'm constantly trying to come up with small things and features that'll make the journey even more interesting.