10 Best Experimental Rock Albums Of All Time

Looking back on the early days of Tom Waits feels like night and day. At the start of his career, it felt like you were listening to a more seedy version of songwriters like Randy Newman, sounding like the typical barfly who would ask you to borrow a few bucks at the end of the night. Once you heard Rain Dogs though, you had no idea whether you were even talking to the same person from song to song.

Using random practical instruments, the raw sound of Rain Dogs feels primitive, like these are the first songs that people used to create rock and roll. That's before you actually hear Waits open his mouth though, which turns into chaos whenever he gets into his characters. Compared to the usual divas of the rock world, Waits seems to approach his craft very much like an actor, inhibiting the characters in his songs for a few minutes before moving onto the next track.

In a sense, that's the strange magic behind Rain Dogs. Whether you're listening to the more polished takes like Downtown Train, these are all down on their luck nobodies who probably are never going to find the peace they're looking for until they're buried six feet under. Are they all different people, or are they just different parts of Tom Waits' mind? You be the judge.