The New Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums List • Page 24

As someone who was in high school/college from 98-06 the "You know, garage rock finally rid us of nu metal/post grunge" take is one of the most tired takes (and also flat out untrue).

 

The Life of Pablo is very good. He has at least 3 that are definitively better though.

 

I'll cop to this being a big reason for my disdain of that album. So much of what led to his downfall is audible on that album, and I just can't divorce that from the songs themselves. I don't think most of the songs are any good either, and I frankly never did, but I also just don't think you can rank that album without reckoning with what he became. I don't think you can rank ANY of his albums without that kind of reckoning, but it's a little easier to pull the "separate the art from the artist" card with his earlier stuff.

 

This in the blurb for Hejira should get them sued for fucking libel:

"Mitchell’s guitar-playing that had previously comprised of little more than folk strumming attained a mastery of expressing, phrasing and tone that has lost none of its power or innovation with the passage of time"

 

I think you absolutely can divorce the album from what he became because I can and I have and I will continue doing so lol

 

OK.

 

When the hell did I Put a Spell on You become the default token Nina album and is there still time to fix it?

 

I haven't heard the one they put in the top 10, but I am a little puzzled about I Put a Spell on You being the choice over Sings the Blues, or even High Priestess of Soul, both of which I find far superior.

 

I'll give them credit that Wild Is the Wind is in her elite tier. Not ahead of the two you mentioned for me, but at least a good pick. But honestly, I think some of these current young critics just aren't well-listened in classic stuff. I can't see any other reason for picking Where Did Our Love Go as the one Supremes album to show on the list.

There's also weird shit in what parts of catalogs are canon. Control and The Velvet Rope are here, but not Rhythm Nation. They clearly love Prince, but no Dirty Mind. Joni has the album before For the Roses and the 3 after it, but they skip that album.

Plus what a weird approach to "world" music. You (rightfully) put Clube da Esquina really high...and then only include one other Brazilian album? No Jorge Ben. No Caetano Veloso. No Os Mutantes. Not even Getz/Gilberto? Just weird.

 

That's a good point, and it echoes a conversation I had with a friend on Twitter about the Apple list.



We went on to talk about how the Rolling Stone 500 from 2003 felt "definitive" in a way that no other list since really has, and his reasoning was that all the contributors at that time could feasibly have "a fairly extensive personal understanding and contextual appreciation for all of the selections being considered, and could properly weigh the influence/popularity of those artists."

Now, you have a comparatively huge swath of music to pull from, and you have younger listeners reshaping the canon and reckoning with how their generation's classics compare to the prior generations' classics. But part of the problem is that a lot of us just haven't heard, say, every Joni album, or every Nina album, or every Supremes album, or even every Fleetwood Mac album. We've heard the ones that have shown up on other lists like this, and enjoy those albums, so they get some support...but the lists no longer reflect a full knowledge of those foundational artists. It's a more a-la carte approach.

As for "world music," I think it's just a losing game having primarily western music listeners try to make a list that encompasses the entire globe. As we're discussing, it's hard enough to have a grasp of the canon in one part of the world, let alone other parts that have been historically less celebrated in these channels. It almost makes more sense for these publications to just focus on English-speaking artists than to tokenize entire countries' and cultures' worth of music they don't understand.

 

Yeah I think I agree with all of this, though I’ll add that not getting a grasp on history is, to some degree, a choice being made rather than an inevitability

It also pops up with western genres on this list too. They included some incredible jazz albums on the list, but by opening that door, the implication is that there are 300 albums better than Sketches of Spain, Mingus Ah Um, Giant Steps, not to mention the whole careers of Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, Keith Jarrett and 100 others.

Similarly, while BB King is a no brainer, to consider blues but no Robert Johnson (ok fine a comp) or Albert King’s Born Under a Bad Sign stands out. Similarly, if we’re considering Aretha’s gospel album, should we not have the masterpiece that is Mahalia Jackson’s At Newport 1958, etc

 

The podcast One Hit Thunder administered their own top 100 albums list and are counting it down over the next few weeks. Will try to remember to update:

Episode 1

100. The Cranberries - Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?
99. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
98. Ween - Chocolate and Cheese
97. Piebald - We Are the Only Friends We Have
96. Green Day - Insomniac
95. The Streets - Original Pirate Material
94. Jellyfish - Spilt Milk
93. Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps
92. Bon Iver - 22, a million
91. Eels - Electroshock Blues
90. The Weakerthans - Left and Leaving
89. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
88. Boys 2 Men - II
87. Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
86. Queen - A Night at the Opera
85. Huey Lewis and the News - Sports
84. NWA - Straight Outta Compton
83. They might Be Giants - Lincoln
82. TLC - CrazySexyCool
81. REM - Automatic for the People
80. Fiona Apple - Tidal
79. The Cure - Disintegration
78. Missy Elliot - Under Construction
77. Paramore - Riot!
76. Peter Gabriel - So
75. Van Halen - 1984
74. Boston - Boston
73. No Doubt - Tragic Kingdom
72. Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
71. David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
70. Michael Jackson - Thriller
69. That Dog - Retreat From the Sun
68. Carole King - Tapestry
67. Bjork- Post
66. The Cars - The Cars
65. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
64. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
63. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang Clan
62. Gorillaz - Demon Dayz
61. Ben Folds Five - Whatever and Ever Amen
60. Tears For Fears - Songs From the Big Chair
59. Radiohead - The Bends
58. Say Anything - …Is a Real Boy
57. The Strokes - Is This It
56. Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
55. Tegan & Sara - The Con
54. Foo Fighters - The Colour & the Shape
53. Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
52. Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind
51. Taylor Swift - 1989
50. The Who - Who’s Next
49. The Postal Service - Give Up
48. Operation Ivy - Operation Ivy
47. Pavement - Brighten the Corners
46. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
45. The Clash - London Calling
44. Beyoncé - Lemonade
43. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly
42. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magic
41. AC/DC - Back In Black
40. Oasis - Definitely, Maybe
39. Radiohead - OK Computer
38. Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
37. Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
36. Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual
35. NOFX - The Decline
34. Metallica - Master of Puppets
33. Ben Folds - Rockin’ the Suburbs
32. Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
31. Kate Bush - Hounds of Love
30. Def Leppard - Hysteria
29. Led Zeppelin- IV
28. Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism
27. Bad Religion - Stranger Than Fiction
26. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
25. The Beatles - Abbey Road
24. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
23. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
22. Nirvana - In Utero
21. Saves the Day - Stay What You Are
20. Guns n Roses - Appetite For Destruction
19. The Eagles - Hotel California
18. Pearl Jam - Ten
17. Prince - Purple Rain
16. Nirvana - Nevermind
15. Counting Crows - August and Everything After
14. NOFX - Punk In Drublic
13. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
12. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
11. Rancid - …And Out Come the Wolves
10. Blink-182 - Enema of the State
9. Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill
8. Jimmy Eat World - Bleed American
7. The Get Up Kids - Something to Write Home About
6. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
5. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
4. Weezer - Pinkerton
3. Green Day - Dookie
2. The Beatles - Revolver
1. Weezer - Blue Album

 

Respect for The Cranberries.

 

Inclusion of Sports is cool.

 

Their early work was a little too new wave for my taste. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.

 

Updated

 

#justiceforthirdeyeblind #howitsgoingtobe

 

What the hell is That Dog?

 

Finished

 

A lot of bold choices but ultimately they fail because they, like so many before them, have snubbed Linkin Park.

 

I continue to be puzzled by the massive overrating of Back to Black that's happened on so many lists lately. A perfectly enjoyable album that absolutely does not deserve to be considered above many of the artists it pulls from liberally, let alone as one of the 10-20 best of all time. But I suppose sentimentality about people who die tragically young has always been a huge factor in shaping the canon.

 

To their credit, they said basically exactly this on the podcast haha. I completely agree though. A very compelling voice and story that maybe could’ve made an all-time album someday, but instead we’re left to lift the existing work up to that pantheon.

 

I’ve been vocal about this in the past, but there are very few things I hate more about music criticism than the “only value artists when they’re dead” approach. If U2 had died in a plane crash in 1994, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby would be top 20 on all these lists. To paraphrase a Chuck Klosterman book, why is it that the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing?