Danko Jones goes 5 for 20

When you’re an influential musician, people tend to ask you what you’ve been listening to lately. Here at 5 for 20, we’re just as keen to find out what records loom large in our favourite artists’ memory banks. So, we’re asking folks for their top five records of the last 20 years.

This week we hear from Danko Jones, who are currently touring across Canada behind their latest LP, Rock and Roll is Black and Blue, their new book, Too Much Trouble: A Very Oral History of Danko Jones and a new documentary called Bring on the Mountain. As you can see, there’s a lot of reflection going on for this 17-year-old band so it seemed like the right time to ask Danko Jones, then man, about his favourite music from that period.

“My top five albums of the last 20 years was very hard to compile,” Jones admits. “Casting aside current obsessions, I had to really buckle down and be honest with myself and figure out what albums really moved me between 1992–2012.

“By 1992, I had already found myself musically and knew what I liked but just didn’t know how to get there. I was a kid caught between Slayer’s Reign in Blood and Minor Threat’s Out of Step. I loved Sabbath and Kiss but knew I also liked Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions, too."

“I came up with five albums that are timeless to me and helped me find my way,” he concludes. “These records left my jaw on the floor the first time I heard them and when I put them on the record player today they still do."

Liar by the Jesus Lizard (1992)

“The greatest album by one of the greatest bands that ever was. If you disagree then you’ve just admitted you’ve never heard them.”

Uprisingby Entombed (2000)

“The difference between Entombed’s influence and their stunted stature in metal circles borders on criminal. This band, regardless of denying ownership, arguably created the death 'n' roll sound with ‘Wolverine Blues.’ Bruised from the negatively received Same Difference album, the band went back in the studio and turned out Uprising— one of the greatest metal albums of all time.”

Orange by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (1994)

“It’s great when a band you love can exceed your expectations, especially when they were set high with albums like Crypt Style and Extra Width. Orange did just that, with its fine balance of slickness and trash. I used to spend hours listening to Extra Width over and over again, but when Orange came out I spent days that compounded into weeks.”

Apocalypse Dudes by Turbonegro (1998)

“You either get this band or you don’t. If you don’t like them, then chances are we won’t get along. This album is meant to disembowel ‘singer-songwriter’ types and people in bands who refer to themselves as ‘artists.’"

Check Your Head by Beastie Boys (1992)

"Wearing their punk rock past on their sleeves, the Beasties dusted off their instruments and created a genre-bending classic. This is one of my favourite albums, and will be for another 20 years at least."