Every LCD Soundsystem album ranked
When LCD Soundsystem first emerged in the early 2000s, they rose to fame during the height of the “Meet Me in the Bathroom” movement—a period that saw the convergence of fashion and music. It was an era where artistic forms were blending like never before, image had reached unprecedented importance, and a wave of new bands was redefining the mould.
Only a few of these bands have stood the test of time and are still considered legendary. These include The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and one of the most groundbreaking from the period, LCD Soundsystem. LCD was responsible not just for helping pioneer the movement in the early noughties but also because of its ability to merge multiple genres and still create something cohesive that people were excited to listen to.
Not only did they merge post-punk, disco, dance-punk, and electronic music, but they were also inventive with their sound and writing. Their songs varied in length and ranged from being about losing touch with your youth to being about going out and having fun. The band’s unpredictability made them such a stand-out, and that unpredictability led to the creation of four spectacular albums.
LCD Soundsystem don’t have a bad album. Each record they’ve put out has standouts on it, and they are all a joy to listen to in their own sense. However, some are clearly better than others. Here, we will rank the four spectacular albums by the band in order from worst to best.
Every LCD Soundsystem album ranked:
4. LCD Soundsystem (2005)
There is no escaping that LCD Soundsystem’s debut album is their worst; however, that’s not to say it’s a bad record, either. There are a lot of songs to enjoy on this album, and the record was a great introduction for many people to the band. If they had started with something like their second album, Sound of Silver, it might have been a bit too out there, and people would have struggled to latch on. In that sense, the debut record is the perfect first album the band could have put out.
There are many songs on the record that people still love to listen to, and LCD Soundsystem still finds space in their sets for them. For instance, ‘Daft Punk Is Playing at My House’ is a fan favourite, as people everywhere love to sing and dance along to what has steadily become a classic. This album just falls slightly short of those that came after it.
3. American Dream (2017)
American Dream was a divisive album when it initially came out. Released in 2017, the record had a lot of range, namely songs ranging from good to great; however, after sitting on the record for some years, it has become clear that their most recent record holds up as an exceptional album in their repertoire.
We see the band at their most profound on songs like ‘How Do You Sleep?’, showing us that despite having made music for decades, they are still capable of penning emotional lyrics. Pair that with the drop that accompanies such words, and you have a great example of why this album comes in at third.
2. Sound of Silver (2007)
Is there anything more difficult for bands than the horrifying prospect of a second album? When you have already had a reasonably successful debut, it can be tricky for bands to move on to the second and feel comfortable doing so. Usually, the result is something mundane, not dissimilar from the first, that falls flat. That wasn’t the case with LCD Soundsystem, though.
Sound of Silver doesn’t have any skippable songs. LCD Soundsystem’s electronic music and funk are enticing from the word go, as the band made it clear that they weren’t one-hit wonders and had a lot more to offer than a decent debut. One of the album’s highlights is the emotional ‘New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down’.
1. This Is Happening (2010)
There is something impossibly perfect about LCD Soundsystem and its ability to play dance-worthy music that is also packed with sentiment. No album displays this quality better than This Is Happening, which, despite coming up against brutal competition, has to be considered the band’s greatest record.
If you listen to a song like ‘Dance Yrself Clean’, you will understand why this album is considered perfect by so many people. It isn’t in a rush, and unlike a lot of other electronic-influenced music, rather than going to the listener, it lets the listener come to it. The payoff is always worth it, but the atmosphere and haunting feeling that lingers shortly behind are just as powerful.
