AllMusic 2016 Year in Review
Favorite Rock Albums
We close out our year-end lists with the best rock albums of 2016, including Dinosaur Jr.'s big, fuzzy new record, David Bowie's swansong, the return of the Monkees, Iggy Pop's Josh Homme-helmed latest, and Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool.
Shape Shift with Me plays like the lighter, fleeter, hookier cousin to Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
Celebrated Texas singer/songwriter teams up with R.E.M. and Young Fresh Fellows members to cut a strong, adventurous album.
First solo LP from the L.A. punk veteran is a smart, eclectic, and energetic set full of outspoken songs and solid performances.
The band's fourth album is rough, fun, and loud power poppy punk co-produced by Ty Segall.
The Irish indie rockers' seventh LP sweetens the tone with a focus on grooves, texture, and calm reassurance.
The songwriter investigates the stages, failures, and renewals of love on his third solo outing.
The band keep chugging along, releasing yet another album's worth of top-notch indie rock.
The Seattle-based duo may be broadcasting from metal's outer limits, but these post-rock anthems dressed up in stoner metal might are engaging and sonically demanding.
Bob Mould stares into the face of darkness and finds sustenance in his power trio on the galvanizing Patch the Sky.
The power pop guitarist/singer proves himself a worthy heir to the dB's and Big Star.
Bowie continues his 21st century comeback with this restless, explorative collection of jazzy art-pop.
The singer/songwriter teams with Snarky Puppy's Michael League to deliver an uncharacteristically loose collection of new songs.
A literate, lightly experimental fifth album from the Los Angeles outfit finds them pushing their rootsy rock in imaginative directions.
Dean Ween / The Dean Ween Group
On his solo debut, Mickey Melchiondo offers up plenty of guitar and a hint of vintage Ween madness.
Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
A vital, oversaturated album that ranks among Dinosaur Jr.'s very best.
Self-styled badass rock & roll revival -- equal parts Sunset Strip Sleaze and Black Keys -- from the L.A.-based quartet.
The singer/songwriter delivers more affably rambling riffs on classic rock and folk traditions.
The proto-punk icon teams up with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age for a set of bold, intelligent rock & roll.
Former Zeros and True Believers guitarist proves rock & roll is alive and snarling on his second solo effort.
On their second album, Mudcrutch tie all the loose ends left hanging from their 2008 album.
Nick Cave / Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Largely written and recorded in the wake of the death of the artist's son, this is a powerful work concerning mourning and grief.
Singer Brendon Urie takes the helm on the group's debonair, debauched, and brilliantly executed fifth studio album.
Paul Simon faces mortality and pushes forward into the future on this adventurous album.
On his tenth solo album, the iconic singer and songwriter shows no signs of slowing down or changing his ways.
The Hope Six Demolition Project
Collecting raw dispatches inspired by Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington, D.C., the artist's ninth album approaches musical photojournalism.
Chrissie Hynde revives the Pretenders name for this soulful, swaggering collaboration with Black Key Dan Auerbach.
The N.Y.C. quartet's full-length debut offers infectious power pop loaded with grit, sass, and swagger.
A silvery, shimmering collection of subtly textured sad songs that somehow feels comforting.
The actor/musician's 18th album is an energetic set, including songs written with members of Rascal Flatts and the Hold Steady.
Shreveport, Louisiana band crossbreeds garage rock and vintage soul and comes up with a dazzling debut album.
A grand, meditative, and moving record that finds Suede embracing their middle age without losing any sense of their glamorous identity.
I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It
The British band's sophomore album finds them moving in a sophisticated, '80s adult contempo and R&B-influenced direction.
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood / Chris Robinson
Anyway You Love, We Know How You Feel
The Chris Robinson Brotherhood expand their horizons by focusing on funk and maintaining a light, hazy touch.
After a long break filled with solo projects, the band returned with a heavily '70s rock-influenced album that was recorded live in the studio.
Pittsburgh band's second album is smart, snarky, gritty punk rock that delivers the goods from front to back.
An exceptional reunion album that's a love letter to everything that made the Monkees great.
The neo-grunge group grows up and moves into classic rock territory on this fine third album.
Exploding with energetic punk anthems and some new tricks up their sleeves, the Brooklyn quartet matures and thrills on their polished third LP.
Various Artists
Sprawling, spacy five-and-a-half-hour tribute to the Grateful Dead directed by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of the National.
Album number 12 from the indie rock veterans is a mostly acoustic set they describe as "joyously negative."
The stellar Cincinnati band transmits from space on an album full of beautifully bent guitar sounds and ghostly filtered vocals.