# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album 1976 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 14, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626 "2014-11-14T17:39:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/1 "2014-11-14T17:39:17Z")
Doing this one hot on the heels of the previous entry because I’m not sure I’ll be posting much this weekend. An interesting year and a tough pick - a mix of classic rock and more punk/experimental stuff. My tastes lean to the more punk/experimental stuff, but even then it’s a tough choice - iconic albums from the Ramones, Bowie, Brian Eno and the Modern Lovers (even though that one’s kind of a cheat - recorded '71-'73 and not released until '76). On the flip side, there’s (IMO) the last great Stevie Wonder album, so even though I’ve seen the list and I’m doing the poll, I’m still not sure how I’m going to vote. I might wait to see how the voting goes and throw mine in for an underdog. A difficult choice. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/2 "2014-11-14T17:45:52Z")
Damn it. Obviously, it should be “Critics Poll”, not “Crtics Poll” in the thread title. E-mailing mods now. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/3 "2014-11-14T17:55:01Z")
All right, I bit the bullet and went for the Ramones. I’ve probably listened to the Stevie and Modern Lovers and Eno albums just as much, but I already voted for Stevie in a previous poll, and the Ramones get the nod for being catchy, fun, funny, and historically important. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/4 "2014-11-14T17:56:35Z")
Some great records on this one. 🙂 Had to go with BOC. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/5 "2014-11-14T18:24:35Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Had to go with BOC. Agreed. Agents of Fortune is more uneven as an album than Secret Treaties or Tyranny and Mutation, but it has enough great songs on it to beat out the Ramones in my book. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/6 "2014-11-14T18:27:04Z")
Stevie Wonder. The little book on this album from the great _33 1/3_ series convinced me to give _…Key of Life_ a close listen. I briefly considered the Ramones, and was happily surprised to see Wild Chappachula 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/7 "2014-11-14T18:49:22Z")
Had to go with The Ramones, but again, a great list. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/8 "2014-11-14T19:08:24Z")
Stevie. ---
**Author:** ![Abracadebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Abracadebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abracadebra)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/9 "2014-11-14T19:18:07Z")
I adore Steely Dan, but I had to give this to, incredibly, Bob Seger’s _Night Moves._ That title song. Is anyone else transported to age 17, or is it just me? Then there’s Come To Poppa, which I always hear as a great funk song sung with a rock voice. If I were a stripper, that would be my song. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/10 "2014-11-14T19:32:11Z")
For me virtually a three-way tie between Stevie Wonder, Ramones and Bowie. _Station to Station_ is easily my favorite Bowie album. I’d be willing to give some love to few others, but those three come out on top. For example The Modern Lovers album is good and about the only one by Jonathan Richman that I can take ( he’s the “nice guy” of indie rock - for Christ’s sake stop whining about girls not liking you because you are too sensitive ). But it _is_ a little bit of a cheat as noted, not really a 1976 album. And it still doesn’t reach the heights of the other three, “Roadrunner” notwithstanding. In the end…Ramones for the history. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/11 "2014-11-14T20:27:08Z")
For me, _Ramones_ would win hands down – except for the fact that the list also includes ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/12 "2014-11-14T20:28:16Z")
For me, _Ramones_ would win hands down – except for the fact that the list also includes _Another Green World_. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/13 "2014-11-14T20:34:40Z")
Joni again for me. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/14 "2014-11-14T20:37:44Z")
Too much good stuff. Had to give it to Steely Dan. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/15 "2014-11-14T23:46:58Z")
Just listened to BOC this morning, and they got my vote. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/16 "2014-11-15T01:31:57Z")
Tough one. I want to go Ramones, Eno, or Stevie, but Jonathan Richman gets my vote with The Modern Lovers, as the album I listen to the most off the list. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/17 "2014-11-15T01:38:28Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Tough one. I want to go Ramones, Eno, or Stevie, but Jonathan Richman gets my vote with The Modern Lovers, as the album I listen to the most off the list. Exact same struggle here, exact same resolution. Going faster miles an hour! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/18 "2014-11-15T03:45:37Z")
I loves me some Modern Lovers, and that’s a great Stevie Wonder record, but The Ramones’ first record is far too important to me to pass up. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/19 "2014-11-15T04:10:18Z")
It was so close between Stevie Wonder and the Ramones. In the end, I picked Wonder. I figure _Ramones_ is a more important album but _Songs in the Key of Life_ is a better album. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1976/704626/20 "2014-11-15T15:38:52Z")
Went with Blue Oyster Cult.