Musicians can be egotistical, emotional, volatile, and sometimes crazy.

They’re also some of the most creative people alive.

I was reminded of this watching The Defiant Ones on HBO. This is a 4 part documentary about the rise of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. This is a great documentary all around. There were two scenes that stuck with me most though.

The first was footage of Dr. Dre and Eminem when they met up in the studio for the first time ever. Within 5 minutes, they already had Eminem’s hit song My Name Is. Dre’s beats were a powerful combination with Em’s lyrics. Instantly.

The second scene was of Bruce Springsteen recording his album Born to Run. Springsteen demanded absolute perfection in the studio. He was so demanding that Jimmy Iovine almost quit working for him. Bruce’s dedication and work ethic showed how artists put everything they’ve got into making an album. It’s their blood, sweat, and tears recorded and re-recorded until they have it right.

Just like a book is 300 pages of the author’s best thoughts distilled, an album is 12 songs of the artist’s best creativity distilled. Listening to an album is just like reading a book. It shares the artist’s life experiences, mistakes, and what they were witnessing in the world.

After the documentary, I scrolled through Rolling Stone’s list of top albums and realized how little I actually know about music and top musicians. I read about Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album What’s Going On and was blown away with how much it had to say about our recent history. I’ve heard these songs before, but I guess I never listened close enough. This was Marvin calling out society’s problems, from the Vietnam War to drug abuse and poverty in the inner cities. This album gave me more historical context on the late 1960’s / early ’70’s directly from the mouth of someone who lived it. Songs are stories and stories are how we learn.

I decided that music is a crucial addition to the rotation of audiobooks and podcasts. I plan to keep learning from the best work of top musicians. Through their albums, the goal is to learn about these creative geniuses and their experiences. And to learn about the time periods and history they lived through. I hope to boost my own creativity by diversifying the library and listening to different artists and genres.

Over the next year, I’ll be listening to the top rated albums on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list and ThoughtCo’s 100 Best Rap Albums of All Time list. I’ll share some thoughts on good recommendations and good things learned. The albums will be pulled randomly so I can diversify the listens. I’ll include the release dates and rankings.

I’m starting to check out Spotify but a lot of these are free and on-demand from your local library on the Hoopla app…

Here’s my first list of 10 top albums, I’ll add more as I go.

1) Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited, released in 1965 (#4 Rolling Stone)

2) Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On, released in 1971 (#6 Rolling Stone)

3) Miles Davis – Kind of Blue, released in 1959 (#12 Rolling Stone)

4) Nas – Illmatic, released in 1994 (#1 ThoughtCo)

5) Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, released in 1988 (#3 ThoughtCo)

6) Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run, released in 1975 (#18 Rolling Stone)

7) The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die, released in in 1994 (#2 ThoughtCo)

8) The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced, released in 1967 (#15 Rolling Stone)

9) Dr. Dre – The Chronic, released in 1992 (#7 ThoughtCo)

10) The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967 (#1 Rolling Stone)