The best three albums by my top fifty favorite rock bands, #22 — The BoDeans

Doug Keating
4 min readMay 23, 2023

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I’m identifying the best three albums by my fifty favorite rock bands of all time. This blog is for, #22 — The BoDeans, a band I wish more people knew about.

Criteria for selecting the best three albums

First, Greatest Hits albums are permitted. Second — no live albums. I will mention the BoDeans are excellent in concert. I saw them back in the day and they put on a great show. This band has a really good live album called Joe Dirt Car. Third, I am including an honorable mention for all of my top 25. I wish I had two for this band because their first five albums are all really, really good.

The BoDean’s Albums ranked by ChatGPT

Let’s see what artificial intelligence says about this list. Below you will find the top three BoDeans albums according to ChatGPT. It’s a good list. I’m going to talk about each one of these records in this video. I’m also going to cut ChatGPT a little bit of slack on this band. The reason being their first five albums are all outstanding. It is hard to rank order them. I know some of you are laughing thinking I’ve never even heard of this band. Trust me, their first five albums are all excellent and that is super hard to do as a band…unless you’re Led Zeppelin.

  1. “Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams” (1986): BoDeans’ debut album showcases their energetic blend of rock, folk, and roots music. It features heartfelt lyrics, catchy melodies, and a raw, rootsy sound that captures the spirit of Americana.
  2. “Home” (1989): “Home” solidifies BoDeans’ reputation as masters of roots rock. The album delivers a mix of introspective ballads and spirited rockers, with themes of longing, love, and finding a sense of belonging.
  3. Black and White” (1991): This album displays a more polished sound while retaining the band’s signature blend of rock and roots influences. It offers a mix of introspective and introspective tracks with infectious hooks and emotional depth.

The third-best album by this band is Home

The third-best album by the BoDeans is called Home. It is their third record. I bought this CD back in college using my own money, that’s how much I liked it and I played it all the time. I saw them live on the tour for this record. This album includes one of my favorite songs called “Tied Down and Chained” which almost no one knows about.

The second-best album by The BoDeans

The second-best album by the BoDeans is called Outside Looking In. It is their second record. Some critics didn’t like it as much as their debut saying “it wasn’t raw enough”. Whatever — this album proved the band was real and could write great songs. I own it on vinyl. I listened to it today. It is such a good album with several great songs like “Dreams” and “Say About Love”.

Honorable mention album for this band

The honorable mention album for the BoDeans is their debut record Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams. Many fans and some critics say this is their best album. I do not agree. That would indicate that they went downhill from here. Their best music came later. I do own this one on vinyl. It’s worth owning on vinyl and if you like more acoustic kind of music then this record is well suited for you.

The best album by The BoDeans

The best record by the BoDeans is called Black and White. The band peaked with his album. It starts with the song “Good Things” and follows with a ton of great songs and music. There’s not a bad song on this album. It is definitely my favorite by this hugely underrated band.

There you have it — the three best BoDeans albums. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

I am Doug Keating and this is my letter to my sons.

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Doug Keating

Leader and learner. husband and father. Novice blogger, www.lettertosons.com, Founder of All The Way Leadership! http://www.allthewayleadership.com/