Soundsystem in general is an album that should be remembered. This is my favorite track from it, the big, jogging opener.

Such a great opening guitar progression, all rigidly straight on the beat, wonderful guitar harmonies on the turnaround into the verse. Think: When were guitar harmonies last used in any novel kind of way in rock? You have to search around for guitar solos these days; guitar harmonies are even more endangered.

The drumming by Chad Sexton is stunning. He is an underrated member of my "agile drummers" hall of fame. Like Stewart Copeland, here he is playing for a reggae fusion group that lets him attack much more aggressively than standard reggae would, but the sharpness of the reggae percussion discipline leads to this beautiful, precise style. He may not have the same gift for cymbal work as Copeland, but his snare work is superior.

The alternating vocals are both cool, both what 311 is expected to produce - their brand. It's a narrow set of expectations for them, but they fulfill the conceit with creative aplomb.

It should still be okay to rap over rock music. It's not a gimmic; it's a natural marriage when done for the right reasons. 311 should not have been lumped in with the reductive term "rap rock." But opportunists flooding the market ensured that they were. And now rock has Adam Levine as its greatest mainstream practitioner. Beautiful voice on that man.