Hey folks!

Welcome to part two of my series on prepping for the upcoming Best Album of 1988 tournament. Okay, “upcoming” is a bit of a misnomer — we still have the whole second half of the Best Album of 2001 tournament to get through. But that’s gonna go quick, I promise, so I encourage you to start thinking about 1988 now, not only what you know you love, but about finding new stuff to love.

Here’s eight more albums I think you should at least sample. I’ve known all of these since ~1988 and all get a Love rating from me, my highest recommendation. I’ll be nominating every single one. If you don’t know them, please give ‘em a try!

Public Enemy, IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK (Spotify, YouTube)

Does this really need an introduction? If you don’t know this one, know that I highly suspect plenty of people are pencilling this one in as both #1 seed and eventual winner. It’s the hiphop album of 1988, angry, smart, clear-eyed, crushes like a steamroller. What strikes me now in 2026, and goes far to explain why I’ve always loved this one, is how the Bomb Squad’s legendary and groundbreaking production borders on industrial at times. I know some (most?) think FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET (the Best Album of 1990 #1 seed and eventual winner) is their defining statement, and yeah in those terms it probably is, but I always found MILLIONS to be a much more enjoyable listen.

Sabbat, HISTORY OF A TIME TO COME (Spotify, YouTube)

Not my intro to extreme metal (that would be when a friend of mine introduced me to Anthrax’s AMONG THE LIVING, and I was like “they have a song about Judge Dredd?” and he was like “Judge Dredd’s a comic book? I thought they made him up”) but probably key into locking me into it one way or another, which it did by being inextricably linked to the British ttrpg scene. Here’s a terrific article by Matt Thompson about late Games Workshop artist John Blanche (who did the cover above) and Sabbat, and how Sabbat ensnared all of us D&D geeks by putting a flexi-disc into rpg magazine White Dwarf. Anyway, this is stomping thrash that hits the usual metal targets (anti-church, anti-hypocrisy, generally pro-devil) but, like Anthrax, is extremely nerdy — opener “A Cautionary Tale” is a retelling of Faust, and if you look at the original lyrics insert, it’s written out like a play. (Then later they retell “Paradise Lost” for good measure.) If we can get this and Slayer’s album into the tournament, we can have two different songs called “Behind the Crooked Cross.” (I have no idea how that happened.)

Stump, A FIERCE PANCAKE (YouTube)

So, either this or the Sabbat album above is going to be my hardest sell of the eight. Sabbat’s metal, so you probably already know where you stand there, but this one… how do I describe this? Well, let’s go to Wikipedia. They list them as “experimental rock” and apparently someone described them as “a mixture of Captain Beefheart and The Fall.” Okay, that’s a good place to start! The rhythm section is sea-sick but sturdy, anchored by Kev Hopper’s rubber bass sound, but then Chris Salmon’s guitar is… uh, unusual. (I’ve had many people tell me it sounds like he’s tuning his guitar instead of playing it.) On top of that we have vocalist Mick Lynch, who combines a kind of jokey, jester-like presence with some of the most literate, intricate and hilarious lyrics I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing. “Roll the Bodies Over” is just a fucking masterpiece. (Lynch passed away in 2015, and I wish I could’ve told him I thought he was an actual genius. He was Irish, and I’m not really the person to be making this statement, but I suspect you can draw a line from him to James Joyce, Samuel Beckett and Flann O’Brien.) Anyway, if you’ve ever heard of these guys, it’s probably the frog-croak sampling “Charlton Heston,” which is great, but also atypical. Again, I know this one’s going to tough for some of you, but please, please give it a try.

The Sugarcubes, LIFE’S TOO GOOD (Spotify, YouTube)

My favorite Björk. I mean, I’m glad she’s following her muse and doing exactly what she wants, I want nothing less for her, but I’m at heart a pop guy and she left pop a long time ago. I also think she’s enhanced by the presence of Einar, Iceland’s own Flavor Flav, and he’s used here exactly the way he should be, as light spice. “Birthday,” “Motorcrash,” “Coldsweat,” “Fucking in Rhythm & Sorrow,” these are some of the best things she ever put her name to. This has bonus tracks, which are perfectly fine, except for “Cat” which I’d say is mandatory. (I saw them in San Francisco around this time, and she had everyone in the audience making cat ears with their fingers during this. It was awesome.)

They Might Be Giants, LINCOLN (Spotify, YouTube)

This is the one with “Ana Ng.” ‘Nuff said? Fine. It also has “Cage & Aquarium” (“this is the spawning of the cage and aquarium,” one of my all-time favorite lyrics) and “Shoehorn with Teeth” (which has another of my all-time favorite lyrics, “Tour the world/in a heavy metal band/but they run out of gas/the plane can never land”). I like FLOOD but I don’t think they ever topped this.

Voice of the Beehive, LET IT BEE (Spotify, YouTube)

Just finished listening to this again, and maybe a good way to describe it would be “alt version of The Bangles”? Just a great pop rock album. Anyway, I know some of youse are really big on a great album being (defined as) a coherent artistic statement, as opposed to a collection of bangers. (I mean, if that’s how you want to live your life.) Here’s an album that meets both definitions.

Wire, A BELL IS A CUP… UNTIL IT IS STRUCK (Spotify, YouTube)

So one thing you may not know about me is that I’m pretty much a Wire superfan. Unlike most Wire superfans (I think), this, not any of there ‘70s work, is how I got onboarded. (I caught up with their ‘70s work with a comp that came out in ’89, and the only thing I had to compare to their initial punk stuff was The Misfits, lol, lmao even.) This was just before Wire fully embraced synths and drum machines, so it’s still two guitars/bass/drums/vox, but it’s unusually soft, with the band making their guitars sound like keyboards, which I think throws a lot of people who only know PINK FLAG or even 154. This, moreso than any other Wire album, feels like their attempt to make a pop record, at least on their own terms. (This could be a tough sit in you’re not down with their fractured poetry: “Silk skin paws hang by both feet,” “Hue exchanging gives sea leg walks,” “In this public place/a carved tree/burst through an atheist's heart,” “Enjoy and explore the gambling museum.”) If you know anything about this album, it’s probably single “Kidney Bingos,” one of their best-ever tracks, and Lewis’s outro vocal on it might be my favorite Wire moment. Also: Another album with a bunch of bonus tracks, most I’m allowing you to skip (they turn a 40 minute album into a 70 minute one) but try to make room for “Pieta,” a great song that didn’t really fit with the album, and honestly wouldn’t really fit with any of their albums.

The Wonder Stuff, THE EIGHT LEGGED GROOVE MACHINE (Spotify, YouTube)

Pretty sure I said this last time The Wonder Stuff were up, but I’m always disappointed when I hear new and classic “power pop” because I’m always comparing it to this, and those albums are never as power or as pop. Just three-minute banger after three-minute banger, dripping with snotty, antisocial attitude, with the occasional detour into heartbreak. I believe the last four tracks are technically bonus tracks, but I find them essential. (It only increases the running time to 51 minutes, you can do that.)