Hard to Believe “Disco Duck” Didn’t Make Either List

30 All-Time Favorite Albums (“This Month, Anyway!”) Courtesy of Love and Rockets’ Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez

If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of acquainting yourself with Love and Rockets, well, you should probably go do something about it. No spoilers, it’s just really good.

Along with their brother Mario, Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez self-published the first issue of Love and Rockets in 1981. They sent a copy of their comic to The Comics Journal for a review; editor Gary Groth was so impressed with it that his company, Fantagraphics, offered them a publishing deal, starting with a full-color reproduction of their first issue in 1982. The first volume of Love and Rockets ended with its 50th issue in 1996.

The inside front cover of each issue typically had a table of contents and a few letters from fans, but every once in a while the Hernandez brothers liked to shake things up a bit by including something a little more personal.

Issue #23 came out in the late summer of 1987, a time when everyone was rocking to Los Lobos’ “La Bamba” (and watching the movie starring Lou Diamond Phillips based on the life of Ritchie Valens), the Bangles showed the world how to walk like an Egyptian, and superhero fans left screenings of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace wondered what the hell that was all about. While all that was going on, Jaime and Gilbert decided the time was right to share their top 15 albums of all time (or at least their all-favorites during that month).

Is it possible that we would see something different if the two brothers decided to grace their fans with updated lists? I think the answer is most certainly yes. But if someone picking up this comic in 1987 had decided to take the brothers up on their recommendations at that time in an effort to educate themselves (and look cooler to their music-loving friends)… well, they could have done a lot worse.

Jaime
1. Absolute Anthology 1965-1969 — The Easybeats (1980)
2. The Beatles 1962-1966 — The Beatles (1973)
3. The Clash — The Clash (1977)
4. Damaged — Black Flag (1981)
5. Fool Around — Rachel Sweet (1978)
6. The Great Twenty-Eight — Chuck Berry (1982)
7. Greatest Hits — The Four Tops (1967)
8. Hot Rocks 1964-1971 — The Rolling Stones (1971)
9. Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison and San Quentin — Johnny Cash (1974)
10. Machine Gun Etiquette — The Damned (1979)
11. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols — The Sex Pistols (1977)
12. One Step Beyond — Madness (1979)
13. Pleased to Meet Me — The Replacements (1987)
14. The Sun Sessions — Elvis Presley (1976)
15. When I Was a Cowboy: Songs of Cowboy Life — Various Artists (1984)

Gilbert
1. A Hard Day’s Night — The Beatles (1964)
2. The Sun Sessions — Elvis Presley (1976)
3. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols — The Sex Pistols (1977)
4. What’s Going On — Marvin Gaye (1971)
5. The Clash — The Clash (1977)
6. Pleased to Meet Me — The Replacements (1987)
7. The Best of Dolly Parton — Dolly Parton (1975)
8. Raw Power — Iggy and the Stooges (1973)
9. Legend — Buddy Holly (1974)
10. Endless Summer — The Beach Boys (1974)
11. His Greatest Sides, Vol. 1 — Bo Diddley (1984)
12. Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal — Lou Reed (1974)
13. The Band — The Band (1969)
14. Another Green World — Brian Eno (1975)
15. Greatest Hits — The Four Tops (1967)