The third album from Washington D.C.'s Dismemberment Plan was a game-changer for indie rock fans coming up in the genre's fallow late Nineties — a link between the tense, complex emo-punk of Fugazi and Jawbox and the talky, preppy tunefulness of the Hold Steady and Vampire Weekend. (This vinyl-only reissue adds an oral history of the band.). Tweaky, tender singer-guitarist Travis Morrison waxed diaristic about temping on K Street, first relationship breakup blues, drunk girls and bad weekends over dance-y prog grooves and cutting guitars. The too-charming centerpiece is "You Are Invited," half synth-pop monologue, half drunken alt-rock sing-along, custom built to fog up your horned-rim glasses.

Listen to "The City":

Gallery: Random Notes, Rock's Hottest Photos

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.