# Pitchfork Readers' Ranking of the 200 Best Albums of the last 25 years **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 15, 2021, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563 "2021-10-15T21:05:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [October 18, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/21 "2021-10-18T23:20:13Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > Nice to see Titus Andronicus get some love… I know them because they’re somewhat local, but I don’t follow the indie scene enough to know they were that appreciated. That really is a terrific album. I didn’t get as much into the later ones (though I liked Lamentable Tragedy), maybe because it sounded different after Amy Klein left, or maybe because the conceit in The Monitor just works so well. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/22 "2021-10-18T23:58:26Z")
I’ve always thought music reviews were just a weird product. It’s so subjective that I don’t know what sort of value there is in reviewing it. I could see the value in reviewing in aggregate - like these polls - where a lot of people share what they like. And I can see individualized suggestions, like “if you like this and this, try this”, but just writing an article to review about an album is weird. I wonder how they did this poll. If they had ranking, or just said “what are your favorite 10 albums” and added them up or what. It’s weighed pretty heavily towards indie rock. Not a lot of any sort of non-pop electronic - and electronic is a really broad genre and I kind of hate when it gets pigeonholed as electronica/techno. Very radiohead heavy. I think In Rainbows is their best album (and deserves to be near the top) and probably Hail to the Thief is the second best, but that’s way down at the bottom of the list. I thought most of their stuff before those two albums is fairly overrated. Interpol’s inclusion at 22 sort of annoys me… Interpol basically has one song, and they made 10 albums out of slight variations of it. It’s not a terrible song, but their popularity among indie rock eludes me. The a few of the Radiohead and the two Godspeed! You Black Emporer albums are the only ones here that I actually own, although I’ve really not bought albums since the pandora/spotify era. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing is pretty good, and, incidentally, the only time I’ve ever heard music with “DJ” in the name that was actually good. Aphex Twin - Richard D James album is probably not their best album nor that great a representative of the sort of IDM/glitch genre. I’m not familiar with about a third of this list. I think I’m going to check out some of it on spotify. To those of you talking about the pitchfork crowd - what’s the reputation of Pitchfork and their readers? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/23 "2021-10-19T00:45:51Z")
I’m not as tuned in as I should be to what the kids are listening to these days, but I do have some observations: - Very surprised there is no (solo) Jack White - Could have used more - and higher rated - Beck - Same with Eminem - Unless I missed it, no David Byrne? - Lastly, wherefore art Elvis Costello? mmm ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/24 "2021-10-19T00:51:01Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > - Unless I missed it, no David Byrne? > - Lastly, wherefore art Elvis Costello? They both did their best work more than 25 years ago. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2021, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/25 "2021-10-19T01:01:05Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I’m not familiar with about a third of this list. I think I’m going to check out some of it on spotify. To those of you talking about the pitchfork crowd - what’s the reputation of Pitchfork and their readers? Pitchfork has a reputation for snobby, snotty writers and a heavy focus on indie & hip-hop. They will often take that album you like (goes the reputation), write a generally positive review, include one doubtful sentence, and score it a 6.8. Or write a long review that’s meaningful to the writer, but not to anyone else. Or hoist the banner for the most obscure artist you’ve never heard of. Artists often hate Pitchfork. All that said, the albums they review (for good or bad) are often interesting to me, so I take the number they assign with a big grain of salt and will give the album a listen. They’ve only scored a handful of albums with a 10.0. Here they are (and for the albums I recognize, I think 10.0 is at least a close approximation; but some of these bands I’ve never heard of): [12 Rods, _Gay?_](https://web.archive.org/web/20080307075155/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/22719-gay) (1996) [Walt Mink, _El Producto_](https://web.archive.org/web/20030224104138/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/w/walt-mink/el-producto.shtml) (1996) [Amon Tobin, _Bricolage_](https://web.archive.org/web/20080212120836/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/22604-bricolage) (1997) [Radiohead, _OK Computer_](https://web.archive.org/web/20010303103405/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/r/radiohead/ok-computer.shtml) (1997) [Bonnie “Prince” Billy, _I See a Darkness_](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/699-i-see-a-darkness/) (1999) [Flaming Lips, _The Soft Bulletin_](https://web.archive.org/web/20070711185350/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/17748-the-soft-bulletin) (1999) [Radiohead, _Kid A_](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/6656-kid-a/) (2000) […And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, _Source Tags and Codes_](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/178-source-tags-and-codes/) (2002) [Wilco, _Yankee Hotel Foxtrot_](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/8676-yankee-hotel-foxtrot/) (2002) [Kanye West, _My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy_](http://www.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14880-my-beautiful-dark-twisted-fantasy) (2010) [Fiona Apple, _Fetch the Bolt Cutters_](http://www.pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/fiona-apple-fetch-the-bolt-cutters) (2020) Interesting that …Trail of Dead didn’t even make the top 200 after a score like that. It really is a great album. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/26 "2021-10-19T01:13:14Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > > > - Unless I missed it, no David Byrne? > > - Lastly, wherefore art Elvis Costello? > > They both did their best work more than 25 years ago. That’s not really how “The 200 Best Albums of the Last 25 Years” works. mmm ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/27 "2021-10-19T01:18:25Z")
Huh? How else should it work? The Pitchfork readers were asked to vote for the best albums of the last 25 years, and I argued that Costello and Byrne did their best work before that, so I don’t understand your objection. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/28 "2021-10-19T09:42:59Z")
Topic: the best albums from 1968-1970 “What, no Beatles White Album? No Abbey Road?” “Those can’t possibly be among the best albums from 1968-1970 because the Beatles best albums are Sgt. Pepper and Revolver” ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/29 "2021-10-19T13:54:18Z")
Did Costello and Byrne release anything exceptional in the last 25 years? ---
**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:** [October 19, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/30 "2021-10-19T14:09:24Z")
They’ve both had some solid work in those years, but it’s kind of hard to think of anything that floats up to the top 200 of the last 25 years. As it’s a readers preference poll, it seems pretty natural to me that choices would center around more recently formed bands, and that older bands with a great back catalog will have their more recent work be perhaps subconsciously downgraded. I mean, I think **Wire** has put out some work that I would call among their best (and work I would put in my own Top 50 of the last 25 years), starting with the _Read & Burn_ EPs, but with _Pink Flag_, _Chairs Missing_, and _154_ in their back-catalog, it’s hard to remember how good their stuff from the past decade and a half is. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/31 "2021-10-19T14:10:32Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Did Costello and Byrne release anything exceptional in the last 25 years? I like “Painted From Memory”, Costello’s collaboration with Burt Bacharach very much, but I doubt it belongs among the 200 best albums of the last 25 years. And that was my point, his and Byrne’s output in the last 25 years was too weak to be considered. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2021, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/32 "2021-10-19T15:13:45Z")
Here’s a list from a couple years ago of (at the time) Pitchfork’s 128 10.0 rated albums: > **[r/popheads - Out of 21,896 reviews, Pitchfork has only given a perfect rating...](https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/b5oa5l/out_of_21896_reviews_pitchfork_has_only_given_a/)** > > 198 votes and 174 comments so far on Reddit Interesting that the two Zep albums are II and Physical Graffiti. I have to wonder if they just didn’t rate the other ones. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2021, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/33 "2021-10-19T16:09:31Z")
Ah, I see - I think my list was of reviews that were contemporaneous with the album release. They sure do love the old classics, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2021, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/34 "2021-10-19T22:07:59Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Did Costello and Byrne release anything exceptional in the last 25 years? Clearly I’m in the minority here, but I’ll go ahead and list these as some of my personal favorites (while acknowledging that your mileage is different): **Elvis Costello** : “The River in Reverse” (with Allen Toussaint), “National Ransom”, and (especially) the aforementioned “Painted from Memory” (with Burt Bacharach). **David Byrne** : “Love This Giant” (with Annie Clark) and “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”. I’m also going to throw in **Jack White** s’ “Lazaretto” and/or “Blunderbuss”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/35 "2021-10-20T17:36:01Z")
Now granted, this is the editorial staff and not the readers, but I looked up those albums on Pitchfork to see how they were reviewed: Costello: The River in Reverse: 6.1 They apparently did not review either National Ransom or Painted from Memory Byrne: Love this Giant: 5.9 Everything That Happens Will Happen Today 7.6 Jack White: Lazaretto: 7.1 Blunderbuss 7.8 I think most Jack White fans (and I happen to be one of them) prefer his stuff with the White Stripes and threw votes behind those albums instead. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2021, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563/36 "2021-10-21T00:44:22Z")
Interesting. Out of curiosity I checked the reviews on [Allmusic.com](http://Allmusic.com): **Costello** : The River in Reverse - 9 National Ransom - 9 Painted from Memory - 9 **Byrne** : Love this Giant - 9 Everything That Happens Will Happen Today - 7 **Jack White** : Lazaretto - 8 Blunderbuss – 8 And, just for fun, **Radiohead** : Kid A – 10 OK Computer – 10 In Rainbows – 9 mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitchfork-readers-ranking-of-the-200-best-albums-of-the-last-25-years/952563.md?page=1)