Perhaps so, but a lot of people (even on these boards) tend to scoff when rap fans mention that Kanye West was responsible for multiple genre redefining albums (and hence we don’t quibble too much when he calls himself a musical genius). So I’m actually quite happy than Rolling Stone acknowledges this.
Progressive rock is completely disrespected. There are three Pink Floyd albums: Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and Wish You Were Here. Rush’s Moving Pictures came in at #379 and Close to the Edge by Yes at #445.
I’ve looked through the list twice and did not see “Frampton Comes Alive”. Are you kidding me? Apart from Fleetwood Mac “Rumours”, that was one of the hugest albums of the 70s.
I also found it interesting that there was only one Richard (& Linda) Thompson album in the list, “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight”, way down around 380-something. No “Shoot Out The Lights”? That was one of RS’s top 10 albums of the 1980s, and it didn’t even make the list here?
I think that’s the book I was thinking of, Paul Gambacccini’s * Rock Critics’ Choice: The Top 200 Albums* I probably encountered it in the early '80s. My memory was somewhat faulty, but pretty close. Here’s his top 25:
- The Beatles - Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967
- Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde 1966
- Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited 1965
- Van Morrison - Astral Weeks 1968
- The Beatles - Rubber Soul 1965
- The Beatles - Revolver 1966
- The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street 1972
- The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed 1969
- The Beatles - Abbey Road 1969
- Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run 1975
- Elvis Presley - The Sun Collection 1975
- The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds 1966
- The Band - The Band (Brown Album) 1969
- The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico 1967
- Derek & the Dominos - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs 1970
- Love - Forever Changes 1967
- Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced 1967
- The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album) 1968
- The Who - Who’s Next 1971
- Buddy Holly - Legend 1974
- Carole King - Tapestry 1971
- Van Morrison - Moondance 1970
- Otis Redding - Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul 1965
- The Clash - The Clash 1977
- Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks 1974
Mike Nesmith came in at 58.
It’s a close second. I think the difference is that “Loveless” is an album that surprised me as something I’d never heard anything close to before, and I must admit that I heard it for the first time in as late as maybe 2008 or so. No album else sounds like it, also nothing that came later. It’s irreproducible.
I like some rap music, and certainly think Kanye’s best album should be on the list. Not five albums, surely. I was enthused to see Public Enemy. I would have liked to see Grandmaster Flash. Lists that contain only hits from 1960-1980 are dated and flawed. So are lists counting YouTube views which overfocus on 2005+ (did Psy write other songs too?).
I give the list an 8/10 overall - looking at the 500 albums and assuming they are in no particular order, which muddies it slightly. My list, of course, would differ and be more diverse. The album “more relevant than ever”? Just no. Not even close.
No Bunnymen either, or Furs for that matter. [or Dead Can Dance but you indirectly ref’fed them]
Right. If you’re going to be totally pure and strict about picking a list of Best Albums per se, it’s out of bounds to talk about whether an artist (or genre) got represented or neglected or how many albums they have on the list. Albums are to be judged as themselves, against other albums, and not as representatives of an artist or a type of music.
(Though I am not prepared to argue that the creators of this list were this pure and strict about it, nor that they should have been.)
Whereas for me, I’d been listening to MBV since the EPs came out, so I perceived it as one more step in a progression. A step too far, in my loving-the-singing-as-much-as-the-guitar opinion.
Yes, the singing. I’m also a huge Pastels fan…
Nick Cave in some form is the one I felt was most missing. That and something from the Throwing Muses/Breeders/Belly area. Oh, and The Fall.
Also, unless I missed it, no Goth whatsoever. No RiotGrrl (no, wait, I see just Sleater-Kinney are on). No Industrial other than NIN.
I would hold the worst album by Nick Cave as aesthetically better than the best album by Madonna.
“Last Splash” is there at 293.
Other omissions I noticed: Warren Zevon, Alice Cooper, Boz Scaggs, ZZ Top, Mott the Hoople.
mmm
Aaargh, again with the not listing the original label 4AD. Frustrating - most bands I like are label-associated, and it’s mostly how I search catalogs and lists like this.
What? No albums by Zamfir–The Master of the Pan Flute?
But seriously it seems like an almost impossible task—comparing every album from every genre published in the past 50 to 100 years and then selecting the 500 Best. I am sure not up to it. I am not a fan of rap or electronica or country so I would have a hard time knowing how to rank them compared to what I like.
Of the 500 albums I only listened 14 to in their entirety:
Nine Inch Nails ‘Pretty Hate Machine’; Madonna ‘Like a Prayer’; Tom Petty ‘Full Moon Fever’; Nirvana ‘MTV Unplugged in New York’; LL Cool J ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’; Metallica ‘Metallica (The Black Album)’; Michael Jackson ‘Bad’; Nirvana ‘In Utero’; Pearl Jam ‘Ten’; George Michael ‘Faith’; Madonna- ‘The Immaculate Collection’; Guns N’ Roses ‘Appetite for Destruction’; Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’;and Nirvana ‘Nevermind’.
Of those I would rank my top 5:
- Appetite for Destruction
- Metallica (The Black Album)
- Nevermind
- Bad
- MTV Unplugged in New York
Ah, my “find” failed me Thanks.
Also missing: Fatboy Slim & Moby
However much Kanye has influenced rap, and he has, you would struggle to convince me he did more than Grandmaster Flash, for example.
These things tend to be against “best of” and mixed albums, including movie soundtracks. Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting and a few others are decent.
Influence matters, but it only takes you so far. An all influence album chart would have a lot of very old artists on it. The influence combined with fantastic musical albums (as albums and not merely a collection of songs) I think elevate Kanye’s albums on a list such as this. It also helps that people can easily see which modem popular artists he’s influenced directly (like there is no Drake without 808s and Heartbreak) as opposed to saying someone influenced every artist.
Those are fair points.
Now granted, I’d probably be ok if they didn’t include College Dropout, Late Registration, AND Graduation. But I think Graduation was too influential to drop (even though I don’t like it as much as the others) and I can’t decide which of College Dropout and Late Registration to kick off because both are so good.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see instrumental Surf Music represented anywhere on the list; not even Dick Dale or the Shadows.