Ugh. Why do people feel compelled to make these awful lists? First of all, there are countless tens of thousands of albums the Rolling Stone reviewers have never heard, including countless hit albums, particularly from outside the field of rock music. The list is biased toward artists from the album era–the mid-'50s onward–but particularly toward artists from the late '60s onward. The compilers weakly attempted to ameliorate that fact by including box sets, compilations and greatest hits collections (The Complete Hank Williams???), but if you’re going to do that, then what about all the other giants of the 20th Century that don’t float Rolling Stone’s boat, like Bing Crosby or Webb Pierce or Eddy Arnold or Al Jolson or Patti Page or Les Paul. It doesn’t make any sense. Do Peter Wolf and D’Angelo deserve to be on the list instead of the greatest hits anthologies of a thousand other more socially, artistically and commercially significant artists? Compiling and ranking these albums is like comparing apples and oranges, and the whole exercise seems ignorant.
As an American, I would have liked to see the Stone Roses self titled debut in the top 200 at least. Or at least something representing the Manchester scene, which was much much more influential in the 1980s than the Bristol scene was ever in the 1990s. Even though I like Portishead and Massive Attack a lot, I saw at least two of their albums and I the only thing I saw from Manchester was Joy Division in the 150s somewhere and New Order down around 360. This doesn’t come close to representing the Manchester influence on late 1980s and early 1990s pop. Some even credit the Manchester scene to giving rise to rave culture.
My underdog album that I always root for is the Boo Radleys’ Giant Steps album, which I think is the finest piece of britpop produced in the 1990s. Second to this is Modern Life is Rubbish by Blur. Neither of these made the list. Actually, few of my favorite early 1990s albums actually made it. Breeders’ Last Splash, Son Volt’s Trace, Charlatans UK Some Friendly etc.
Eh, not really in a big way. I mean, it made a little splash. I remember friends in high school in 90 and 91 listening to Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Charlatans UK, Inspiral Carpets, etc.
I have since listened to that Stone Roses album and while its decent and should have been in the top 500, I don’t see it being in the top 100. Of course, you know that saying about opnions…
Album I’m most surprised to not see on this list?
*Gordon]/i] by Barenaked Ladies.
Jman
Eminem has three albums in the top 500. THREE. Yes, rap doesn’t get the top slots, I’d say Shady did pretty well for himself. Several other major rap albums were on there, too. The Strokes, White Stripes, No Doubt, and a lot of other new bands made the list. Green Day’s Dookie was on there, I remember. The classics got the top spots, and there were some interesting choices, but it’s not like they ignored new music.
…You’re talking about a magazine that has recently had Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and Ashton Kutcher on the cover. What WASPs does that appeal to? 
There are still many older readers, I’m sure, and the so-called “classic rock” albums were, totally unsurprisingly, the highest picks. But RS isn’t a WASP magazine, especially not these days, when older readers are disenchanted as to what the hell the mag is doing.
As for my personal feelings? I don’t have so many of these albums that commenting on it is probably silly. The picks were pretty diverse, I’ll say that. But as far as the music I do know, I found the inclusion of only one Allman Brothers album (At Fillmore East, and that at #49) a bit silly, versus, like I said, THREE Eminem albums. Layla at #115 bugged me too. I’m sure everyone who knows me here knew I’d say that, but I had to. 
Let’s see, my personal top10 (no recurring artists):
xxxx Kayak - Bard of the Unseen
xxxx Kate Bush - Hounds of love
xxxx Genesis - Selling England by the pound
#209 Pink Floyd - Wish you were here
xxxx Tori Amos - Scarlets walk
#187 Peter Gabriel - So
xxxx Japan - Tin drum
#081 Paul Simon - Graceland
xxxx Dire Straits - Love over gold
#343 Meatloaf - Bat out of hell
No Tori Amos, Kate Bush or Genesis at all? WTF? And what’s the deal with including Greatest Hits and compilations???
It has been discussed a number of places on this board, but Sgt. Pepper’s simply should not be at #1. It was an event in time, and announced formally the Beatles’ move into psychdelia through its look and its being positioned as a “concept album” which it is only in name (and through Paul’s attempt to put the band “in character” at Sgt. Pepper’s band), but ultimately, the songs are not nearly of the same quality as Revolver - the true #1, something VH-1 got right with its top 100 albums - Rubber Soul, Abbey Road, Hard Day’s Night, or The White Album.
Not having a Led Zep album higher - could choose amongst #2, #4 with Rock n’ Roll and Stairway, or Physical Graffiti with their masterpiece, Kashmir - is simply wrong in the face of history. Hmm, which was more influential over time, Blonde on Blonde or one of those Zep albums? (Dylan deserves tons of respect, but in terms of influence and which music is woven more into the fabric of history and current culture, doesn’t even come close to Zep).
There is plenty more to comment on, but those are the most glaring miscues that make the list suspect from the get-go…
No shit. I’d like the list a LOT more if it weren’t for those ones… and 341. Play, Moby
Also, I would’ve liked to see Talk Talk’s “Laughing Stock”, Slint’s “Spiderland” or Sonic Youth’s “Sister” rank above ZZ Top. 
Hmm…no Rush, Journey, Yes, ELP, only one Jethro Tull…can’t say I’m not surprised, tho.
Oh yeah, no Genesis either. Leaving off Abacab is criminal!
Actually, no. Including Abacab would’ve been criminal. I haven’t checked the full list, but albums like Duke and Lambs Lies Down are far more worthy than Phil Collins-found-his-mediocre-pop-soul-albums like Abacab. Really too bad, he’s a brilliant drummer…
Canadian album, popular almost exclusively in Canada; the band was unknown in the USA at that time. It’s an American list, so “Gordon” is excluded for essentially the same reason “Road Apples” by the Hip is out.
Gordon really is a great album. Even if it wasn’t so popular in the U.S. when it came out, you’d think they could see the greatness of it since its release over 10 years ago. It must be one of the top 500.
Have you heard Reasonable Doubt? If you haven’t listened to the album in question, then it’s only understandable you’d have no clue whether or not it deserves to be on the list.
Anyone who is sick of my Beatles-hating, you should perhaps skip my post:
That out of the way, I know I’ve said this before, so I’ll expand on my disclaimer. I know it’s considered sacrilige for a serious popular music fan to disparage the Beatles, and though I do not like them, I’m trying to view them without prejudice. I recognise that the Beatles were very influential, and that much of the music I like today is using techniques the Beatles pioneered.
That said, it’s absolutely ridiculous to have three Beatles albums in the top five, and even more ridiculous to put Sgt Pepper’s at no. 1. The Beatles wrote some good songs. But they wrote a hell of a lot of crap. Even what is considered to be their best albums are weighed down by filler and novelty songs. The best album of all time should not contain filler. It should be consistent. It should not be Sgt Pepper’s.
It seems that the writers forgot to listen to the records. It’s the only explanation I can think of. The Beatles albums are there in such concentration, and so high up only because it has become an inarguable truism that “The Beatles were the best band ever.”
Again, I don’t deny the Beatles influence or songwriting abilities. But they are surely one of the most uneven bands in modern musical history.
Gex gex, I was just going to say the same thing. Thousands upon thousands of albums to choose from, and 60% of the top five is by the same band? Ridiculous.
Okay,
First, I must declare this list null & void since Mr. Frank Zappa does not appear in the top 100 (I didn’t bother going lower - why can’t they put them all on one page, to better accomodate searching?).
Abacab? No way.
Genesis:
- A Trick of the Tail
- Duke
- I own Abacab, so I guess it should go here.
Gex: I’ve grown up with the Beatles. I’m a Beatles fan. But I have to agree with you that three Beatles albums in the top five (even though they are good albums) is a bit over the top. And I wouldn’t have placed Pepper as the number one of all time.
Hey, I’m even still trying to grasp this concept album thingie as applied to Pepper. What exactly does make it a concept album? Influential as it was at the time (and afterwards), methinks a whole lot too much has been made of it.
On the other hand, I would dispute your affirmation that
I could fairly easily come up with a number of more ‘uneven bands’.
By the way, Wish You Were Here in the 209th spot is simply insane.