The Werewolf

If music reflects the life of the person who created it-if, for example, we can hear Mozart's inner turmoil in his operas-then Warren Zevon's song catalog is uncommonly revealing. Headless mercenaries, killer rapists, and yes, impeccably dressed werewolves with a taste for pina coladas are all part of the colorful world of WZ's twisted imagination and especially of his masterpiece, 1978's Excitable Boy.

- ROBERT BAIRD

As with all things Zevon, it's not quite that simple. Averse to doctors, Zevon, who famously admitted on the Late Show with David Letterman, "I might have made a tactical error not going to a physician for 20 years," was diagnosed with advanced mesothelioma in 2002. It's been theorized that he contracted it as a child playing in the asbestos-lined attic of the Arizona carpet store owned by his gangster father, Stumpy Zevon.

Hellbent on recording one last album, Zevon threw all he had left into The Wind, which reached #12 on the US album charts and for many would eclipse Excitable Boy. Laboriously constructed while its principal was fading fast (and falling off the wagon after 17 years), The Wind's notoriety was ensured by a guest list that includes Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, and Bruce Springsteen, who shared a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance for "Disorder in the House." Singularly poignant moments like a cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" ensured its fame. Released two weeks before his death in September 2003, The Wind was both showered with praise and draped in sadness. Original LP pressings as well as a 2023 limited-edition LP reissue have both lately grown ridiculously expensive ($100+) on the secondary collectors' market.