1. Definitely Maybe, Oasis
2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band, The Beatles
3. Revolver, The Beatles
4. OK Computer, Radiohead
5. (What's The Story) Morning Glory?, Oasis
6. Nevermind, Nirvana
7. The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses
8. Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd
9. The Queen Is Dead, Smiths
10. The Bends, Radiohead
I understand that all these lists are open to discussion, and that different people can have differing opinions and differing tastes in music, but come on! The top ten albums OF ALL TIME include two Radiohead albums, two Oasis albums, and... a Smiths album? The Smiths? I can see them on a list of the top 100 worst albums of all time. And The Stone Roses? OK, so I'm getting on a bit in years, but I've never even heard of them. And they are one of the top ten albums OF ALL TIME? Sorry, I just don't buy it.
Upon a closer look at the list, I find there are sixteen albums on it by artists I have never even heard of before. So I'm not necessarily studied on all the newest music, but I'll wager I'm more familiar with it than 95% of the parents of my son's schoolmates. I don't own 3000 pop music albums, but I do own 600; considerably more than the average person. And they're not claiming that the list is the top 100 alternative pop albums of all time. No such qualifications or restrictions are mentioned. They blatantly announce that these are the top 100 albums OF ALL TIME.
I do own 25 of the albums on the list, including the Oasis album listed at number five, and the Radiohead album at number four. But they, and several other of the twenty five are albums I would place much lower on the list, or not on it at all. Another seventeen albums of the 100 are albums that, were you to offer to buy them for me, I would politely decline. The Smiths? Joy Division? Human League? ABC? I recognised these bands as crapback in the eighties when they were charting. All of them currently reside in the 'where are they now file.' Go ask someone in your local record store when they last sold an album by Joy Division or Human League. It's likely they've never heard of those bands, and don't have a single copy of one of their albums in the store. Now ask them about Machine Head, by Deep Purple. Not only will they have a copy in stock, they've probably sold one within the last month. And that album is not even represented on this list.
Other albums that aren't on this list, and I think should be:
Blind Faith
Blind Melon
Boston's first album
Led Zeppelin's first album
The Cars' first album
Jethro Tull's Aqualung
King Crimson's In The Court Of The Crimson King
What are your thoughts on the matter?
tags:Misc.
13 comments:
I think that NME list is the worst top 10 list I have ever seen! The VH1 List is pretty good, it has Led Zep, Beatles, Cars, etc, you know the actual real classics! LOL
I didn't know half of these! Radiohead? I mean come on...
be well,
Dawn
I guess I'd have a similar reaction. Of course for me, any best-of-all-time list of rock music that doesn't have The Beatles at #1 is automatically suspect. And yeah, I'd expect to see Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Elvis (either one), the Clash and the Stones in the top ten somewhere, even though I personally don't like the first two as much as I probably should.
Perhaps, "The Top 100 MOST POPULAR Albums of All Time, At Least As Is Representative Of Those Who Elected To Vote; Some From As Far Away As Croatia!"
But that would have been too long a title.
Simon
http://simianfarmer.com
Radiohead is most interesting. Jethro Tull should have been considered... and Smith? AbC what?
nat
I'm sad to see a glaring lack of albums by artists who pioneered their genre, such as Buddy Holly or any of the early Jazz players. Even the blues are sorely missing from this list (Coltrane, anyone?). I looked at it only brieftly, but is Elvis even on the list?
Since NME is a British new wave/alternative rock magazine, you have to take it as a given that that is the main genre reflected in the list. No blues, no jazz, no country, etc. on the list. Of course, VH1 or MTV or Rolling Stone or Down Beat would have very different lists reflecting the genres they concentrate on.
Some of the picks (the Spice Girls?) are a little baffling and I don't understand the fascination with Oasis, but I think it's a pretty good list. It needs some serious reordering, but some of the top albums of ALL TIME are right there. Exile on Main Street. Revolver. London Calling. The Joshua Tree. Dark Side of the Moon. A Night at the Opera. Ziggy Stardust. American Idiot. OK Computer. Pet Sounds. It doesn't get much better, does it?
I sure hope my thoughts on their "top" 100 list doesn't mean I'm turning into my parents, lol. Haven't heard of half of them and wouldn't say most of those I recognize s/b on there either. Jeez, there is so much great music out there and this is what they came up with? I agree with you - Boston should definitely be up there with the best.
Unless I missed them on the list, I'm surprised not to see LAYLA and TOMMY on there.
What? You've got to be kidding me! I'm not a Jackson fan. But the Thriller album out sold The Beatles's St Pepper's. Who is the idoit that compiled this chit! OMG...
Brenda
Apparently, the British will listen to ANYTHING. I love Radiohead, but I don't think that means they can command three slots in the top 100 of all time.
Spice Girls? Wow...
Here's the problem with Greatest of All Time lists. 'Greatest' is a very vague criterion. Most sales? Most requested? Most radio play? Most sold out shows? Most original? Most revolutionary? Did it actually change the world?
To me, a greatest list would be stuff that I simply had to own. The fact that this list is devoid of Queens of the Stone Age troubles me. The fact that the Sex Pistols came in at 16, and the Ramones didn't make the list is a crime.
How about Guy Lombardo's Greatest Hits?
I never do seem to agree with these lists. Maybe it is age, I don't know. But I have been a music fan since I was a kid, and I am still swapping CD's with my son, who is 26, so I'm not completely out of the loop. I guess I never really was a huge Oasis fan, but still ..... they hold the number 1 and 5 spots, and Bob Dylan comes in at number 47 ? And although I am a big fan of Radiohead, do they merit 2 places in the top ten? And I would have to say that Derek and the Domino's 'Layla' is missing, as well as Jethro Tulls 'Aqualung' and Zep's first album, as you stated. I was also unpleasantly surprised to see Love's 'Forever Changes' at a lowly # 56 ( only eight places ahead of Shania Twain?? ) . Love was a hugely influential band. I just don't get it. And I'd certainly move The Who's 'Who's Next' up a few notches, too. Quite a few. Oh, well .... I could go on and on, but what do I know? I'm just another looooowly music fan. Tina
I'd somehow missed this list when it came out. I took a quick scan and I'm pleased to say that I own 40 of the Top 100, including nine of the Top 10. I'm missing the the Stone Roses, but I was never much a fan of the mid-90s British shoe-gazers.
I certainly don't agree with the arrangement of the list (two Oasis in the Top 10? Did the Gallaghers get to vote?) but I understand how they are put together as a person who used to put together these kinds of list. You always speak in definitives -- everything must be called The Best or The Worst -- as that's the way you get more press and public attention and therefor more exposure. Works everytime.
Jeremy
http://culturepopped.blogspot.com
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