Album Club [Steve Lamacq]

Originally called War Pigs (hence the soldier on the album artwork) the band's label pushed to name the record after the successful lead single Paranoid. The decision paid off commercially, with the record topping the UK album chart, and going four times platinum in the US. Despite mixed reviews from critics at the time it's become a key part of the heavy metal genre, with bands for decades after inspired by these eight tracks.

The album features some of the band's seminal hits including Hanging On The Telephone, Heart Of Glass and One Way Or Another. It was produced by Mike Chapman and recorded in just six weeks in the band's hometown, New York City. The record reached number one in the UK album charts in February 1979 and number six in the US two months later - making it their commercial breakthrough on both sides of the Atlantic as well as many other countries across the world.

Steve plays this1978 album in full, introduced with an archive interview with the band.

Released in 1990 on 4AD, this was the group's sixth studio album and their most commercially successful, breaking the UK top ten. Band members Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie were writing and recording the album around the time their first daughter Lucy was born, eventually releasing it on the date of her first birthday. This directly influenced the record with tracks Pitch the Baby and Iceblink Luck referencing Elizabeth's experience of giving birth and welcoming a child. Another key event which contributed to the record's darker moments was the death of bassist Simon Raymonde's father - evident on tracks like Cherry-Coloured Funk and Fotzepolitic. It was a success with critics at the time and was has been retrospectively named as one of the best records from the 90s.

Steve Lamacq plays Cocteau Twins' sixth studio album Heaven or Las Vegas in full.

From Dublin, Ireland, Fontaines DC met while attending music college and named their band after Johnny Fontaine from The Godfather. Their music was championed from the early days by Steve and when debut album Dogrel was released on Partisan Records in April 2019 it was met with wide critical acclaim. The record was nominated for the Mercury Prize and towards the end of the year was named 6 Music's album of 2019.

Steve Lamacq plays Fontaines DC's acclaimed 2019 debut album Dogrel in full.

Released in 1997, Roni Size & Reprazent's debut album is a drum'n'bass classic. By the time it came out the genre was coming towards the end of its original peak period, beginning to become a gimmick in the eyes of many. The group, who were Roni Size, Onallee, Dynamite MC, DJ Suv, DJ Die and Krust, proved that the genre could sustain a diverse and high-quality album, working with musicians such as Si John (who provided the legendary double-bass groove in Brown Paper Bag) and numerous guest vocalists and co-writers such as Tracey Thorn. The record took home the prestigious Mercury Music Prize later the same year, beating huge acts like of Radiohead, The Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, and not forgetting, The Spice Girls.

Steve Lamacq plays this Mercury Prize-winning drum'n'bass classic from 1997 in full.

Steve Lamacq plays Teenage Fanclub's third album from 1991 in full.

Acclaimed as one of the best and most culturally significant album of the noughties, The Strokes' first album was released twenty years ago in the USA, on 30th July 2001. It proved to be a watershed moment an influenced guitar music on both sides of the Atlantic in the subsequent years. Featuring the huge singles Last Nite, Hard To Explain and Someday, within five years it had sold over 600,000 copies in the UK and over a million in the USA.

Steve Lamacq plays The Strokes debut album Is This It in full.