Team All Of It Ranks Albums of the Year Since 1959

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Team All Of It Ranks Albums of the Year Since 1959
Air Date: April 1, 2026
Host: David Fuerst (in for Alison Stewart)
Guests: Producers Jordan Loff and Simon Close

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Episode Overview

This episode explores a unique challenge undertaken by producers Jordan Loff and Simon Close: listening to and ranking every Grammy Album of the Year winner from 1959 through 2026. Sparked by Bad Bunny’s historic win (the first entirely Spanish-language album to win this award), the hosts dive into the history, evolution, and quirks of the Recording Academy’s picks, sharing hot takes, best-and-worst lists, and revelations about the state of music and the Grammys over the decades.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Take on This Challenge? (00:39–03:00)

• Inspiration: The project began as a response to Bad Bunny’s groundbreaking win, which “got me looking back at the catalog… and some things really stand out to you. Some wins don’t look right.” – Jordan Loff (02:04)
• Personal Motivation: Jordan’s musical boredom led her to seek new experiences: "My Spotify algorithm is so boring... this felt like a structured way to do that and get some musical education." (02:50)
• Process Choices: Jordan reversed through the list (starting at 2026) while Simon went chronologically from 1959.
  • "I thought it would be fun to do the opposite and start from 1959 and then work my way forward." – Simon Close (03:06)

2. Methodology and “Rules” (05:02–07:43)

• Jordan’s Rules:
  • Listen to the entire album, in order, no skipping or shuffling. (05:08)
  • “I couldn’t rank anything until I was finished with the whole thing… The first ranking was the final one for me. Once I put it in, I couldn’t move it.” (05:29)
  • Deluxe/bonus tracks excluded. (05:42)
• Simon’s Approach:
  • Looser grading, more context-awareness.
  • Considered “an album’s relevance to its musical moment” (07:09).
  • "I tried to consider each album sort of on its own merits." (06:27)
• What Lost Points:
  • Jordan penalized cover albums, weak “B sides,” movie soundtracks with filler, and especially disliked tracks. (07:16–08:17)
  • "If there was a song on the album that I really, really, really, really hated, it was gonna lose points." – Jordan (08:17)

3. The Worst Album Winners (08:36–11:58)

• Jordan’s Least Favorite:

  • Steely Dan, "Two Against Nature" (2001):
    “If I could have ranked this album negative 1000, I would…none of the fun of a Steely Dan album that I like…there was this song, Cousin Dupri, which is about hitting on your cousin or finding your cousin attractive… I just found it incredibly disturbing.” – Jordan (08:46–09:36)

• Simon’s Least Favorite:

  • Frank Sinatra, "Come Dance with Me" (1960): "Frank Sinatra is capable of some great stuff, and this was not his best work…Frank Sinatra won three Album of the Year awards in this decade. And I was just getting a little frustrated..." – Simon (11:05)
  • Notes the 1960s Grammys awarded "middle of the road" albums, often disconnected from the actual music revolution happening.

4. The Best Album Winners (13:10–15:53)

• Unanimous #1:

  • Fleetwood Mac, "Rumours" (1978):
    “I thought going into this that Rumours would probably take the number one spot for me. I left my heart open to see if anything else could come and claim it. And I almost cried with happiness when I hit the 70s… Rumours is just an album that doesn't quit.” – Jordan (13:21)
  • Simon: “It’s a great argument for a band as a group project. Everyone brought a song to that album that could be the best song on almost any other album.” (14:49)

• Runner-Up:

  • Carole King, "Tapestry":
    “I was just shocked by the amount of hit songs are on that one record. And it's got one of the best three song runs on it, I think, of any album.” – Jordan (19:22)
    (Songs cited: “I Feel the Earth Move,” “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late”)

5. Surprising Outcomes and Hot Takes (18:02–19:52)

• Simon’s Contrarian Pick:

  • Santana, "Supernatural" (1999):
    "I think it deserves some revision. It’s a really fun album. It has one of the best pop songs ever… evidence of a guitar hero from the 1960s who can still sound pretty relevant." (18:20–19:10)

• 1990s High Point:

  • Lauryn Hill, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill":
    “…definitely the highlight of the 1990s when you look at the winners.” – Jordan (21:09)

6. Decade Rankings and the Grammys’ Evolution (20:00–21:09)

• 1960s:

  • “Not my favorite decade. You have like two comedy albums... a lot of Frank Sinatra. It just feels like Grammys haven't quite caught up to the moment yet.” – Simon (20:00)

• 1980s:

  • “Definitely my least favorite. It does have some high highs…But some of the wins…were unfortunately incredibly corny.” – Jordan (20:32)
  • Both agreed there was a "yacht rock pit" during this decade.

7. What Did They Learn? (21:14 – 21:53)

• Keys to Winning:
  • "If you want to win album of the year, make your album just a little bit too long. And also, if it's in the early 2000s, throw some Norah Jones in there and you've probably got an album of the year." – Simon (21:23)
  • “If you have an undeniable hit song, it’s very likely that you could win album of the year.” – Jordan (21:33)
  • Award shows are just reflections of their time and not absolute arbiters: “Our opinions today, none of this actually matters at all. Like what you like.” – Jordan (21:47)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “This album [‘Two Against Nature’] had none of the fun of a Steely Dan album that I like… and above all, to me, there was this song, ‘Cousin Dupree,’ which is about hitting on your cousin—and I just found it incredibly disturbing.” – Jordan Loff (08:46–09:36)

• “Frank Sinatra is capable of some great stuff, and this was not his best work… I was just getting a little frustrated with what the Grammys were up to.” – Simon Close (11:05)

• “Rumours is just an album that doesn’t quit… It’s a popular music that also people agree is really great. And I think there were many times where the Grammys sort of strayed from that path.” – Jordan Loff (13:21–15:15)

• “I think it [Santana’s ‘Supernatural’] deserves some revision. It’s a really fun album. It has one of the best pop songs ever.” – Simon Close (18:20)

• “Our opinions today, none of this actually matters at all. Like what you like.” – Jordan Loff (21:47)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:04] – Why the project began
• [05:08] – Rules and methodology discussion
• [08:46] – Jordan’s lowest-ranked album (“Two Against Nature”)
• [11:05] – Simon’s lowest-ranked album (“Come Dance with Me”)
• [13:10] – Both pick “Rumours” as #1
• [19:12] – Jordan’s surprise: Carole King’s “Tapestry” ranks #2
• [20:00] – Decade rankings and “bad” eras
• [21:14] – Lessons learned, what makes a Grammy winner
• [21:53] – Final thoughts; like what you like

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Takeaways

• The Grammys’ Album of the Year picks often lagged behind musical innovation, especially in the 1960s and at times in the '80s/90s.
• Both producers champion “Rumours” as a timeless, consensus classic; Carole King’s “Tapestry” and Lauryn Hill’s “Miseducation…” also receive top honors.
• Cover albums, weak B-sides, and odd soundtrack wins are major marks against certain albums.
• The experience of listening to every winner provides perspective on the evolution of pop culture—and affirms that awards often reflect the values and anxieties of their time, not absolute quality.

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Host’s Closing Advice:
“Like what you like. Always good advice.” – David Fuerst (21:53)

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For more of these rankings, hot takes, and culture deep-dives, listen to “All Of It with Alison Stewart” weekdays on WNYC.

Transcript

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[David Fuerst]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm David Fuerst in for Alison Stewart. The team of producers here on all of it have to cover culture of all kinds, from books to theater to music, including award shows like the Grammys. So when Bad Bunny had a historic album of the year win a few months ago, becoming the first artist to win the award for an album entirely in span, our producers were interested, and two of them decided to embark on an intense project to learn more about the history of the Grammys. Producers Jordan Loff and Simon Close listened to every album of the year winner in order, and they ranked them from best to worst based on criteria they created themselves. That meant listening to 66 albums front to back from 1959 all the way through to 2026. Well, Jordan did. Simon started later, currently stuck somewhere in the 2000 and tens. But they emerged from this experience with hot takes about what makes a great album and what the Grammys get wrong and right and strong opinions about Frank Sinatra. Jordan Loff and Simon Close join us now to discuss all of this in their final rankings and why they decided to do this in the first place. Welcome.

[Jordan Loff]

Hey, thanks for having us. David.

[Simon Close]

Hello from the year 2011.

[David Fuerst]

Okay, good to have you with us. So, Jordan. Yes. Let's get to why. Why did you decide to do this?

[Jordan Loff]

Yeah, I mean, part of it is what you mentioned in that introduction, that Bad Bunny had this historic win. My partner is a massive Bad Bunny fan, so this was very big news in our household. And when I learned that he was the first person to win for an album entirely in Spanish, that got me looking back at the. At the catalog of albums that have won in the past. And the minute you're on that Wikipedia page, some things really stand out to you. Some wins don't look right. Some. Some things are nominated that are confusing. Some things are not nominated that are confusing. So it got me interested in trying to understand the Grammys on its own terms by actually doing the homework of listening. And plus, my. My Spotify algorithm is so boring. It's just feeding me the same stuff over and over again.

[David Fuerst]

All right, so you couldn't just click away and move on with your day?

[Jordan Loff]

No, I was so musically bored, I have to say, I just needed to listen to something new and this felt like a structured way to do that and get some musical education. Exactly.

[David Fuerst]

And Simon, why did you decide to join her? Some inter office peer pressure. Your desks are close.

[Simon Close]

I couldn't stand to think that Jordan was embarking on this musically nerdy project and that I wasn't also doing it. But Jordan started backwards, so in the present day, and then went into reverse. So I thought it would be fun to do the opposite and start from 1959 and then work my way forward.

[David Fuerst]

Oh, interesting. So you must have met somewhere in the middle there. But Jordan, do you think that affected your experience listening to the music forwards, backwards?

[Jordan Loff]

Yeah, so I went backwards. I started with Bad Bunny and went in reverse. And I do think it was tough to start ranking things objectively in the beginning because it was a lot of music I had a previous relationship with. I grew up with it. I was a teenager when Taylor Swift was winning for all those albums, so. So I had a certain relationship to the music that I started out with. And then you get to the 90s and the 80s and it was a lot of stuff I wasn't as familiar with or maybe had heard one or two songs. So it was harder to try to evaluate that music on its own terms and compare it to stuff that was really meaningful to me or stuff that I really liked when I was growing up. So that was a little bit of a challenge.

[Simon Close]

I was immediately confronted with the music of Peter Gunn and Harry Mancini. And so it was a lot of stuff that I was not that familiar with, Familiar with starting in the 50s, starting in 1959. And I think that my experience was meeting a nascent organization that didn't really know what it was supposed to be yet. So the 1960s are a strange decade of lots of Frank Sinatra and a couple comedy albums. And it was interesting moving forward and seeing the music trends come into popular music, but also seeing the organization, the Grammys, kind of like figure out what their priorities were throughout time.

[Jordan Loff]

I also just want to mention that Simon and I did meet in the middle at Billy Joel's 52nd street, which we listened to at the same day, on the same time in a handoff of sorts.

[Simon Close]

A poetic we passed each other by.

[David Fuerst]

Passed each other on the highway.

[Jordan Loff]

Exactly.

[David Fuerst]

Waved and moved along. Okay, so tell us about the. Jordan, tell us about the rules that you set for yourself on this journey.

[Jordan Loff]

Yeah, these are strange rules that I just decided made sense naturally. So this is what I went with. The first one should be obvious, but you have to listen to the whole album in order, so you can't shuffle the album. That would make no sense. And you can't skip any songs, even if you really, really, really hate it. You have to just keep going. And I made a rule that I couldn't rank anything until I was finished with the whole thing. So even if I thought, oh, wow, Thriller, Michael Jackson, that's shooting straight to the top, I still had to wait until the album ended to put it in. The first ranking was the final one for me. Once I put it in, I couldn't move it. So things could go above it, things could go below it, but once I slotted it in where it was, that's my first instinct. That's where it has to stay. And I also decided that deluxe albums and bonus tracks did not count. So for something like Rumors, Sorry, Silver Springs, that's. That's a bonus track that I couldn't incorporate into my album.

[David Fuerst]

It's an incredible bonus track, one of

[Jordan Loff]

my absolute favorite Fleetwood Mac songs. And I just couldn't consider it, unfortunately,

[David Fuerst]

because it wasn't part of the original album as it came out and as it won the award.

[Jordan Loff]

Exactly.

[David Fuerst]

And. And, Simon, did you have an equally bizarre and complicated set of rules?

[Simon Close]

I had mostly the same rules, but a slightly more laissez faire approach to it, maybe. I think I didn't, like, hold myself to as quite strict rules, but.

[David Fuerst]

Right, Jordan, glaring at you right now.

[Jordan Loff]

I mean, if there are no rules, then what are we doing here?

[Simon Close]

There are rules, but I think I tried to consider each album sort of on its own merits. So sometimes you encounter an album that is a covers album, and it's meant to be that.

[Music Clip]

And.

[Simon Close]

And that song interpretation is its own art form. And so taking that on its own terms versus a song that's all originals. And also, I think I was. I was sort of grading the artists themselves, but then sometimes grading the academy and thinking, does this speak to what was happening in music at the moment? Or even if it doesn't, is it saying something else? Or is this just kind of a really strange pick for whatever year it was?

[David Fuerst]

So you were considering relevance to that moment in time as part of your criteria?

[Simon Close]

Yeah, exactly.

[David Fuerst]

Okay, Jordan, I hear Your methodology also involved subtracting points, some mathematics.

[Jordan Loff]

Yeah. Again, a thing that only made sense in my head. But an album could lose points with me in a variety of ways. One was covers. I did not rank cover albums very high. Unlike Simon, I refused to value the covers on their own merits. I think it's just less exciting to me than writing something new is covering something else. If an album had a really bad B side, which happened a lot, sometimes the first half of the album would be great, and then you'd get to the B sides, and it was pretty terrible.

[David Fuerst]

Let me just say B side terminology. That's reserved for 45s, but I'll let it slide.

[Jordan Loff]

Sure, sure. Let's just say then the second half. Sometimes the second half was really not great. And so that would subtract points for me. If it was a movie soundtrack. There are quite a few movie soundtracks on here that have won. The Bodyguard, Saturday Night Fever, which have some really great stuff on there. But then it'll be like a weird instrumental track from a pivotal scene in the movie. Sorry, Docking points for that.

[Simon Close]

Or a beautifully curated album mixing various genres.

[Jordan Loff]

No, still don't like it.

[David Fuerst]

Wow.

[Jordan Loff]

And if there was a song on the album that I really, really, really, really hated, it was gonna lose points. It just had to lose points.

[David Fuerst]

Okay, well, was this done on the clock? HR's not listening. Understood.

[Jordan Loff]

No comment. Allison's on vacation. Right.

[David Fuerst]

All right, let's get to some of your takes. Let's talk about some of the albums you like the least. Jordan, what album did you end up ranking last and why?

[Jordan Loff]

So coming in last for me, and if I could have ranked this album, like, negative 1000, I would have ranked it that. It's steely dance. Two against nature.

[David Fuerst]

Whoa.

[Jordan Loff]

I know. I'm sorry. To all the Steely Dan fans out there.

[David Fuerst]

This had no some on staff. I could see people being restrained in their.

[Jordan Loff]

Director in the booth is very upset with me. She's threatening things that I'm not gonna pay attention to. This album had none of the fun of a Steely Dan album that I like. I didn't think their voices sounded great. And above all, to me, there was this song, Cousin Dupri, which is about hitting on your cousin or finding your cousin attractive. And I just found it incredibly disturb and had a hard time getting past it. So for me, of all the albums I listened to, Two Against Nature, I would never, ever listen to again.

[David Fuerst]

All right, well, you had a hard time getting past it. You're asking us to listen to it,

[Jordan Loff]

right Now, I mean. See what I mean? Let's take a listen.

[David Fuerst]

Okay.

[Jordan Loff]

Was how to

[Music Clip]

how you've grown like a rose. Well, we used to play when we were three.

[Jordan Loff]

How about a kiss for your cousin Dupree? How about a kiss?

[David Fuerst]

Oh, come on. This song is written in character. It's supposed to be a gross character.

[Jordan Loff]

Then why is it so fun?

[Simon Close]

I still think there's something sinister about this album. Oh, yeah. I guess the way I was thinking earlier today, you know, like, the city of Los Angeles, how it's sort of like it's perfect in many ways, always sunny. There's a perfect production, maybe to the city, but underlying that is a kind of, like, sinister evilness. That is how I think of Steely Dan in the city.

[David Fuerst]

Oh, God. Okay.

[Jordan Loff]

Our Los Angeles listeners are not gonna like that. I apologize on behalf of Simon.

[David Fuerst]

These are hot takes.

[Jordan Loff]

They are hot takes.

[David Fuerst]

I can't cool em off. These are your takes. So, Simon, what came in last for you and why all. I'm bracing myself.

[Simon Close]

This is actually gonna get me in a lot of trouble. I also need to say that, yeah, I'm only in the 2010s right now, so there's definitely some not great stuff that I think is gonna end.

[Jordan Loff]

He hasn't gotten to Bruno Mars yet in that way.

[Simon Close]

To 24 karat magic.

[Jordan Loff]

Go right to the bottom.

[Simon Close]

And also, I will say that there are two. Only two comedy albums have ever won, and probably they would go pretty low on my list, but I ended up putting them in a slightly different category. So what ended up at the bottom of my list is Frank Sinatra album Come Dance with Me. And I think what was going on. Classic artists, and so a classic artist for sure. But Frank Sinatra is capable of some great stuff, and this was not his best work. I'm not saying that this album is, you know, apples to apples, better or worse than the others, but I don't know that this album deserved to be rewarded for what Frank Sinatra is capable of. And also in this decade, that. So the 1960s, as I said, were sort of a weird period for the Grammys. Frank Sinatra won three albums or one three album of the year awards in this decade. And I was just getting a little frustrated with what the Grammys were up to.

[David Fuerst]

When you're thinking about all of the other things that were also coming out at the same time.

[Simon Close]

Exactly. Yeah.

[David Fuerst]

Well, I feel like I have to put out our phone number now before we take For.

[Simon Close]

Take a break.

[David Fuerst]

If you need to respond to this, maybe you have your own Grammys. Hot take you want to throw our way, call us 212-433-9692. That's 212-433. WNYC. We're talking about the album of the year category with all of it, Producers Jordan Lof and Simon Close. Right back after a break. This is all of it on wnyc. We are talking about the Grammys and the album of the year category, all of it. Producers Jordan Lo, Simon Close set a task for themselves of listening to all of these album of the year winners and they are ranking their favorites and the bottom of the list we just covered. I'm not going to back up to that again. Let's move on. And let's move on to the albums that you like the most. So, Simon, what album were you in favor of? Give us something positive.

[Simon Close]

Well, I think Jordan and I both, as our number one, put Rumors by Fleetwood Mac.

[Jordan Loff]

Yeah, we did.

[David Fuerst]

Undeniable classic.

[Jordan Loff]

It was pretty undeniable. I thought going into this that Rumors would probably take the number one spot for me. I left my heart open to see if anything else could come and claim it. And I almost cried with happiness when I hit the 70s because let's just say the 80s were a rough decade. So I was going backwards. When I hit the 70s, I was so, so happy. And Rumors is just an album that doesn't quit. I mean, I don't know that we have much to say that. That smarter people haven't already said about Rumors, but even compared to the rest of the stuff that won around it, it's. It's pretty undeniable.

[David Fuerst]

Well, let's hear a little. A little clip from the album. Let's hear some music.

[Music Clip]

Listen to the wind blow Watch watch the sun rise. Run in the shadows Damn your love damn your life. And if you don't love me now you will never love me again I can still hear you sayin never break

[David Fuerst]

Would you ever break just a little bit of the chain There still a piece of music that can just change the entire mood.

[Simon Close]

Yeah, it really can. I also, yeah, just, I mean, again, Jordan, as Jordan said, everyone said everything that you can say about that album, but it's a great argument for a band as a group project. I think that, like there's everyone brought a song to that album that could be the best song on almost any other album.

[David Fuerst]

Everybody is delivering the goods for sure. And it also seems to be an album of the year win that really does coincide with the moment.

[Jordan Loff]

It's definitely, I think the 70s in general were the decade where the Grammys finally caught up to what people seemed to be interested in and like to listen to. There were a lot of great wins in that decade. Stevie Wonder won a bunch of times. And like you said, I think Fleetwood Mac is an encapsulation of something that is both a critical and a commercial success, that it's a popular music that also people agree is really great. And I think there were many times where the Grammys sort of strayed from that, from that path.

[David Fuerst]

Definitely a moment that didn't feel like the disconnect that you were talking about in the 60s. Let's take a call. If you want to join this conversation, feel free. 212-433-9692. Let's hear from Stuart in Weehawken. Welcome to all of it.

[Caller Stuart]

Hey, everybody. Jordan just echoed what I was calling about, which was when you think of the 1960s, you think of rock music. You think of the Beatles, the Stones, British Invasion, the Beach Boys, et cetera. And what were the top albums that the Grammys won in the 60s? They were mostly middle of the road stuff that my parents would listen to. You know, when my mom first heard hey Jude by the Beatles, as opposed to like the dentist office version and Paul is screaming at the end, my mom says they ruined the song. How could they have ruined that song?

[David Fuerst]

That is the best. That is an incredible comment. Thank you so much for joining this discussion. And we're hearing some hot takes here from Jordan and Simon. And when you dish out the hot takes, you get them back sometimes. And we have a text here that I need to read out loud and get your response. What are the producers backgrounds in music? Why are their opinions important?

[Jordan Loff]

Certainly our opinions are not important at all.

[Simon Close]

I think we're just coming on to say we had some fun. I will say I produced a lot of the music segments for this show that you apparently listen to. So I work on those and have for years. And I run the Public Song project, so that's a little plug that I do.

[David Fuerst]

All right, all right, relax. It's okay.

[Jordan Loff]

I have no musical qualifications whatsoever, and you probably shouldn't listen to anything I say, but I.

[David Fuerst]

This is so much. I mean, this is one of those projects you set for yourself, right?

[Simon Close]

And it was a.

[David Fuerst]

It was a fun thing to delve into.

[Jordan Loff]

Well, and also, I can't imagine there are that many people who have done this all in one shot. I really spent like two full weeks. The only things I listened to were these albums in order, which does seem like a kind of unique experience. I'm sure some people do it to research or if they have their own personal project, but I do think I got some perspective from doing it that way.

[Simon Close]

Yeah, and again, I would say we're not presenting ourselves as experts here. This is just a fun project.

[David Fuerst]

This is just a fun project. And let's get to some of your surprises, some of your surprising reactions over the course of this. Simon, what album were you surprised to see make it into your top 10?

[Simon Close]

Okay, this I did to be contrarian.

[Jordan Loff]

No, now you're trying to walk it back and you should just stand up.

[Simon Close]

I'm immediately going to be discredited for this, but I thought I should come with something especially fiery today in case I haven't already. And honestly, Santander's Supernatural deserves some revision. I think it's a really fun album. It has one of the best pop songs ever.

[David Fuerst]

Smooth Santana, classic artist.

[Simon Close]

And it's a fascinating album because you know, throughout Grammys history you come across a lot of kind of comeback albums of various types and some are remembered fondly and end up in the best comeback albums list. Like Bonnie Raitt's Nick of Time is an example and. But, but this Santana album doesn't really end up there. But I think it, it is evidence of like a guitar hero from the 1960s who can still sound pretty relevant in the album came out in 1999. So I'd say give that another listen. It's a lot of fun.

[David Fuerst]

Okay. Jordan, what about you? Any surprises?

[Jordan Loff]

I was really surprised by Carole King's Tapestry which is, which is should not be a surprise.

[David Fuerst]

Right. Is an album, massively popular, successful album.

[Jordan Loff]

But just this album that I hadn't listened to front to back I think maybe ever. And I was just shocked by the amount of hit songs are on that one record. And it's got one of the best three song runs on it, I think of any album. It starts with I Feel the Earth Move. It goes right into so Far Away and then goes right into It's Too Late. I mean those three songs back to back, Stone Cold Classics. What a way to open an album. And that really shot up the rankings for me. That came in at number two, right under.

[David Fuerst]

Right under Rumors came in at number two. What about your favorite and least favorite decades, Simon?

[Simon Close]

I would say my least favorite favorite is probably the 1960s for the reasons that I said and that Stewart said before. You have like two comedy albums in there. You have a lot of Frank Sinatra. It just feels like it's not the Grammys. Haven't quite caught up to the moment yet. And other than that, there's. I enjoy some yacht rock, but the Grammys definitely, like, fell into a kind of yacht rock pit for a period of the 1980s that I don't know if they were necessarily rewarding. The best that was out there.

[Jordan Loff]

Okay, the 80s were definitely my least favorite. It does have some high highs. It's got Paul Simon, Graceland, it's got Thriller, obviously. But some of the wins in there were just, to me, unfortunately, incredibly corny. And I had a hard time with it. I also honestly had a hard time with the 90s just in terms of the music that was popular at that time. Some of the things that were recognized didn't feel super exciting to me, though I do wanna give a shout out to the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, a fantastic album that made it into my top 10 and was definitely the highlight of the 1990s when you look at the winners.

[David Fuerst]

Well, we need to finish with some music. Do we have any music from that album?

[Jordan Loff]

We do. We have Doo Wop, that thing.

[David Fuerst]

Oh, fantastic. Let's hear some of that kick. And as. As we're wrapping up the final last few seconds, did you learn anything from this exercise?

[Simon Close]

I learned if you want to win album of the year, make your album just a little bit too long. And also if it's in the early 2000s, throw some Norah Jones in there and you're probably got an album of the year.

[Jordan Loff]

One for me, if you have an undeniable hit, hit song, it's very likely that you could win album of the year. It seems like the Grammys really validated having one smash hit and that could send you all the way to the top. And the other thing I learned is that like most award shows, our opinions today, none of this actually matters at all. Like what you like.

[David Fuerst]

Like what you like. Always good advice. Thanks for joining us. This is all of it on wnyc. If if I feel like I should have honored more hot takes, but producers Jordan Loft, Simon Close, thank you both for joining us.

[Jordan Loff]

Thanks, David.

[Simon Close]

Thank you, David.

[David Fuerst]

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[Jordan Loff]

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[Jordan Loff]

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[Jordan Loff]

All right, ladies.

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