Another musical debate

November 21, 2003 10:54 PM

Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums. Not a bad list at all, but I'm sure that some of us will find something they missed ...
posted by pyramid termite (67 comments total)

Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants
posted by y2karl at 11:09 PM on November 21, 2003

Are these "Beatles" something I need to have a record player to know about?
posted by muckster at 11:12 PM on November 21, 2003

A brain stem will suffice.
posted by y2karl at 11:17 PM on November 21, 2003

How embarrassing - I seem to have all these records. Most of them bought twice. And here was I thinking I was a free spirit or something.

Turns out I'm a museum piece. Or a boring archivist. Very depressing.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 11:27 PM on November 21, 2003

341. Play, Moby
posted by iamck at 11:44 PM on November 21, 2003

The thing about list like these is that they always concentrate on the music of the author's generation. I feel like they've included all the popular bands they had while growing up, and albums from other times just to make the list seem more balanced.
Having said that, yeah not a bad list.

They should have a competition to win all of them.
posted by Dillonlikescookies at 12:13 AM on November 22, 2003

Sing the Sorrow - AFI. that's my call.

geez, i haven't commented in months.
posted by dgt at 12:28 AM on November 22, 2003

Son Volt, Trace
posted by keswick at 12:46 AM on November 22, 2003

Boy For You Astrid
There's a Wild Thing in the House Pal Shazar
Sings Salvador Poe Lisa Ekdahl
posted by feelinglistless at 1:04 AM on November 22, 2003

Man, lists like this really piss me off.
posted by SilentSalamander at 1:08 AM on November 22, 2003

This list is definitely in the top 10 of my list of tired lists.
posted by shoos at 1:17 AM on November 22, 2003

A brain stem will suffice.

Or perhaps a random assemblage of half-alive neurons.
posted by shoos at 1:19 AM on November 22, 2003

I can't wait for the 500 Reasons Corporate Magazines Still Suck issue.
posted by Devils Slide at 2:23 AM on November 22, 2003

Ctrl+F "Slint" = Cannot Find "Slint"
Ctrl+F "King Crimson" = Cannot find "King Crimson"
Ctrl+F "Velvet" = Found "White Light/White Heat" But ALSO found Janet Jackson "the Velvet Rope"
Ctrl+F "Pere Ubu" = Cannot Find "Pere Ubu"
Ctrl+F "Faust" = Cannot Find "Faust"
Ctrl+F "Greatest Hits" = NINE MATCHES

I gave up pretty quickly. If anything was designed to get a music snob's hackles up, it's a "500 greatest albums" list without "spiderland" on it. Followed closely by inclusion of "greatest hits" albums.

My dire need for lists like this seems to be in a perfect harmonic ballance with my need to anally pour over them and tear them apart. My name is Cadaster, and I'm addicted to "Greatest Albums" lists.

And Devils Slide is exactly right... Corporate magazines still suck.
posted by cadastral at 3:35 AM on November 22, 2003

Caring about rock is about as timely as caring about ragtime. Move on already!
posted by HTuttle at 3:35 AM on November 22, 2003

Slow's self-titled debut (and only) isn't on anybody's best-of list (other than the personal ones of some alt-community refugees from the mid-80's Vancouver scene), but it oughta be, by golly. Is there really a favorite unknown band for every person on the planet?

I didn't even bother looking, as the last RS list linked to from MeFi was one entry per (ad-laden) page, with no other nav option, but I hope there was some Replacements there, at least.

Caring about rock is about as timely as caring about ragtime.

Well, that's pretty dumb.

*whacks the cowbell, wallowing in the other kind of dumb, the caring-about-shit-kind, which is way more fun*
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:07 AM on November 22, 2003

Slow. Er, and the album was non-eponymously titled 'Against The Glass'. Sorry, I was drunk at the time.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:12 AM on November 22, 2003

The Sex Pistols and Costello should be in the top 20, at least.

I like Miles Davis, but he had nothing to do with rock, and In A Silent Way is his best, anyway. IMHO.
posted by emf at 4:14 AM on November 22, 2003

500 Worst Magazines of All Time:

1. Rolling Stone
posted by thrakintosh at 4:50 AM on November 22, 2003

I have my own personal top 500 albums of all time.

Would MeFi like me to share?

</bore>
posted by Blue Stone at 4:58 AM on November 22, 2003

It's all one song.
posted by attackthetaxi at 5:09 AM on November 22, 2003

I have my own personal top 500 albums of all time.

Would MeFi like me to share?

Why not? One of the reasons I love the 'filter is that the people here introduce me to stuff (which occasionally includes music) that I didn't know about before.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:14 AM on November 22, 2003

(And, er, yeah, I realize the 'links to interesting things on the web' guideline for posts, but there's no reason in-thread to not selflink to your own list, hosted offsite, if it exists.)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:17 AM on November 22, 2003

That list sucks.

if they cut off the first 250, randomized the rest, you'd have "The 250 most decent, horrible, or mediocre albums ever made."
posted by angry modem at 5:34 AM on November 22, 2003

Except for:

412. Mezzanine, Massive Attack

:)
posted by angry modem at 5:35 AM on November 22, 2003

Who are they trying to kid? I mean, there's no way the Rolling Stones have released more than 20 or 30 albums...
posted by salmacis at 5:37 AM on November 22, 2003

This list does show the dissonance that is Rolling Stone magazine. Most of the top 200 or so songs are about 30 years old. At the same time the magazine goes out of its way to have Brittney and Christina and Justin on the cover. Part of the magazine is living in the past, the other is trying to be young hip and cool. To me it seems to miss the mark in both cases.

I still read RS from time to time, but it is for the non-music related content. And Peter Travers' movie reviews.
posted by birdherder at 5:43 AM on November 22, 2003

hey, they have the clash at #8 and the ramones at #33...

you have to give them credit for that at least.
posted by Stynxno at 6:05 AM on November 22, 2003

I like Miles Davis, but he had nothing to do with rock

???!!!
posted by jpoulos at 6:27 AM on November 22, 2003

hey, they have the clash at #8 and the ramones at #33...
you have to give them credit for that at least.
Stynxno

The only credit I give them is the ability to keep with a bad idea to the end. (who can read through 500 subjective items that'll be reposted in a year anyway? is anyone keeping track of an album's going up or down this list?)

man.
posted by Busithoth at 6:49 AM on November 22, 2003

It's odd that The Bends (110) is ranked higher than OK Computer (162).
posted by MegoSteve at 6:51 AM on November 22, 2003

is it possible to see all 500 at once?

you can imagine the editors meeting:
"hmmm. do you think people will say it's all dad-rock?"
"oh, hadn't thought of that. what other music is there?"
"errr... lemme think a minute..."
"jazz, that's music, right?"
"oh, right, yeah. do you know any jazz musicians?"
"errr... lemme think a minute..."
"that guy with the trumpet. smiles? wiles?"
"oh yeah! miles davies. or davis. my brother-in-law has one of his albums. i'll search amazon. ... ok, i've stuck a few in the list."
"ok, that's jazz done. what other music is there?"
"err... lemme think a minute... that hoppity-hip stuff."
"yeah, err. hip-hop, right? so who does that?"
"hang on, i'll call my grandson."
etc etc.
posted by andrew cooke at 7:19 AM on November 22, 2003

Quote Baby Boomers top 500 albums, including a few that they've heard their kids listen or seen headlines about in the New York Times. /Quote
posted by alms at 7:45 AM on November 22, 2003

At the bottom it says

Buy the Rolling Stone 500 at rhino.com

You can be sure, this list is biased in many ways.
posted by stbalbach at 7:51 AM on November 22, 2003

This should more appropriately be called the "500 Most Overrated Albums in Descending Order". What kind of effete baby boomer/geezer would put Sgt. Pepper above Revolver, Hard Day's Night, Rubber Soul etc? Did they pull Ben Fong-Torres out of mothballs for this crap?

The sheer number of truly great albums that has gone missing here is insulting to anyone with a halfway decent collection. Notably: Killing Joke, Killing Joke; Mission of Burma, Vs. and Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea.

Anyone else?
posted by psmealey at 7:55 AM on November 22, 2003

How sick am I of hearing about Bob Dylan, the Beatles, etc...blah, blah, fucking blah.

For christ sake, Dylan and the Beatles where nine million years ago. Listening to Dylan is like having a scalding hot molasses enema. Yeah, it's slow and painful, but it's good for you. Right.

Kiss my ass Rolling Stone. Christ, why don't they just give it up and let Jann go cavort with whatever his sexual preclivites are these days.
posted by damnitkage at 8:06 AM on November 22, 2003

As entertaining as reading all this faux indignation is (poseurs!), this list is a far better compilation than RS's recent guitarist list.
posted by mischief at 8:10 AM on November 22, 2003

"Stations of the Crass" by Crass should be in the top 20, at least. "Too Dark Park" by Skinny Puppy, too. And where the hell is Iron Maiden in the list?

Damn baby boomers.

On preview: what damnitkage said.
posted by cmonkey at 8:13 AM on November 22, 2003

Faux indignation? faux indignation?? I can assure you, sir, my indignation is entirely vrai. I unplug my nostrils at that comment.
posted by psmealey at 8:16 AM on November 22, 2003

My impression of the list was that it did a fairly good job of representing various genres of rock, although it is rather weighted towards the 60s. What struck me is that there's practically no electronic dance music on it. That's a serious omission. Don't they consider that rock? If they're going to throw Miles Davis and John Coltrane in there, why not 808 State and Orb?

The Beatles and Bob Dylan get overrated because they were the "first", at least on the surface of things. Of course, anyone who's rummaged around through obscure records of that time will realize that there were other artists who were close to making the same innovations or DID make them. Much of the innovation was technical - 4 and 8 track recording were happening in the 60s regardless and other bands were innovating with this equipment. The Beatles and Dylan were excellent, but I think they're given too much credit - they were not the only musical leaders of that time and were led as much as they were leading.
posted by pyramid termite at 8:23 AM on November 22, 2003

I like Miles Davis, but he had nothing to do with rock

???!!!

Even more ???!!!-worthy is the followup:

and In A Silent Way is his best, anyway.

I like In A Silent Way too, but I don't think any real Miles fan would consider it his best. Ever heard his '50s quintet? His mid-'60s quintet? Kind of Blue??

Oh, and how many more of these "hey, here's a list of the X best Ys ever -- discuss!" front page posts are we going to have? If you really, really like discussing albums, there's always MusicFilter, ya know.
posted by languagehat at 8:30 AM on November 22, 2003

My personal take for missing album would be Jawbreaker's seminal 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, but I realize that I'm kind of a young'un on MeFi. In general, these lists strike me as a way for lazy RS editors to fill the magazine and generate some controversy.
posted by jed at 9:41 AM on November 22, 2003

this is the first appearance of Tom Waits on the list:

339. The Heart of Saturday Night, Tom Waits

Rain Dogs is at 397?

words fail me...
posted by soplerfo at 9:50 AM on November 22, 2003

anyone else?

Billy Bragg's Talking With The Taxman About Poetry generally makes any British list's Top 50. I guess it's too political for the modern, money-stuffed-up-his-rectum Jan Wenner and his shill piece.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:07 AM on November 22, 2003

Is there really a favorite unknown band for every person on the planet?

Mine's The Connells.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:38 AM on November 22, 2003

Yeah, soplerfo, I stopped paying attention to the list when I saw that Waits wasn't in the top 200. I just assumed they didn't put him on the list, cause I didn't even look at the rest.

"Bob Dylan and the Beatles are soooo old! None of their music was even randomly generated using fractal geometry as a random seed! Man, they play real instruments! How totally lame, dude!"
"Yeah, most of this stuff would never get used in a movie trailer."
"Not to mention on Tony Hawk Pro Skater!
"Who are they sponsored by anyway, Geritol?!"
"LOL!"
posted by Hildago at 10:42 AM on November 22, 2003

anally pour over them

Now that's a visual I didn't need.

Billy Bragg's Talking With The Taxman About Poetry generally makes any British list's Top 50. I guess it's too political for the modern, money-stuffed-up-his-rectum Jan Wenner and his shill piece.

Another possible reason is that it's a terrible album. Can't stand to listen to it.
posted by kindall at 10:43 AM on November 22, 2003

I liked a song once, when I was young.
posted by bonaldi at 1:51 PM on November 22, 2003

Shameful. "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine makes it to only 219, Fear of a Black Planet is at 300, and Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation" sneaks in at a pathetic 329 (in my opinion, it should sneak in someone just behind Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue" at the very least).
posted by Jimbob at 2:24 PM on November 22, 2003

psmealey - It hurts me to say it, but I'd put On Avery Island above Aeroplane. Still, huge kudos for both knowing about and mentioning NMH.

oh yeah: Rolling Stone/Music/Indignation sucks. How dare they put a Randy Newman album above Siamese Dream? We all know musical tastes are different - even the editors at Rolling Stone. So instead of suggesting CDs that should have gone onto the list, why not suggest albums that shouldn't, but you like anyway?

Sting - Dream of the Blue Turtles
posted by hoborg at 2:45 PM on November 22, 2003

Yeah, and Monkey Man by the Maytals should be in the top 20, at least...
posted by y2karl at 2:48 PM on November 22, 2003

Another sucky list by a sucky magazine. No Frank Zappa? You've got to be kidding me! This whole farce should be ignored for that alone! (I remember when Rolling stone was a pretty decent magazine many years ago and it was printed on newsprint even)
posted by Eekacat at 3:04 PM on November 22, 2003

Fun House should be the highest ranked Stooges album. They have it ranked third, which is clueless.

All Things Must Pass ranked ~430 with stuff like Dookie ranked a couple hundred places higher is absurd.

But they're just trolling, so I guess I'm a sucker/fish.
posted by L. Ron McKenzie at 3:29 PM on November 22, 2003

Well, I NEVER! Those lovable moptops appear THIRCE before Exile on Mainstreet! And Tom Waits doesn't show up until the 300s, and then it's "Heart of Saturday Night"! Swordfishtrombones much?

*hastens to cancel subscription, realizes he doesn't have one, puts on #169, rolls fatty*
posted by squirrel at 6:20 PM on November 22, 2003

Ah yes, Nine Ince Nails, but no Autechre.

Dadrock 101, this list.
posted by the fire you left me at 7:21 PM on November 22, 2003

Ctrl+F "Pere Ubu" = Cannot Find "Pere Ubu"

Thank God -
posted by jalexei at 7:54 PM on November 22, 2003

WTF? etc.

Call me an iconoclast. I'm not that shook on Dusty In Memphis, either, much as I love her voice.
posted by emf at 8:57 PM on November 22, 2003

Besides the dancing about architecture aspect of such lists, I'm a bit of a sucker for them in a High Fidelity kind of way. Including box sets and greatest hits collections is cheating, as well is including albums that you can only name one or two songs from. Sure RS is showing their age (and so are the critics), but there is something to be said for the consistency with which some albums are voted in the Top 20. (Insert snappy retort here about the masses and taste. You know you want to.)
Until recently I rarely noticed many of the top 100 in any quantity at used CD stores - I've seen lots of stores pay well for used Beatles CDs and have seen many stores pay $0.50 for a year old Green Day or No Doubt CD.
As for the notable omissions, I'd name Cab Calloway, Gene Vincent's Blue Jean Bop, Hypocrisy is the Greatest Luxury by the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, nearly anything by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Gordon by BNL, JJ Cale, Air's Moon Safari, The Seeds . . .
posted by TomSophieIvy at 9:14 PM on November 22, 2003

They forgot: 69 Love Songs - Magnetic Fields

Not a single "They Might Be Giants" album, for shame.

I'd second the Neutral Milk Hotel comments.

Sure, the Beatles were great, but so overplayed that I can't bear to hear them anymore -- but I still like Dylan, as long as it's not the greatest hits stuff, Like a Rolling Stone etc.

I am one of the few people I know my age (early 40's) who buys new artists and albums (or knows how to download'em from the internet)....My impression of this list is there's a bunch of respectable 60's choices, then some skimpy
picks from later decades that seem based mainly on sales and hype -- ie, the Strokes. A good album, but one of the 500 best? Too soon to tell. Ask me if I'm still playing it in five years. Still, that could account for the lack of recent music -- if one can even accept the premise of such a list, then one has to concede that it's too soon to judge anything from the last five years. But I'll throw one out anyway: Belle & Sebastian's Catastrophe Waitress will be on this list some day. And Hail to the Thief is better than OK Computer. And The Bends should not be on the list.

And where the hell is the Leonard Cohen?

One more thing:
No Doubt -- holy crap. No way.
posted by Slagman at 10:06 PM on November 22, 2003

How sick am I of hearing about Bob Dylan, the Beatles, etc...blah, blah, fucking blah.

For christ sake, Dylan and the Beatles where nine million years ago. Listening to Dylan is like having a scalding hot molasses enema. Yeah, it's slow and painful, but it's good for you. Right.

Kiss my ass Rolling Stone. Christ, why don't they just give it up and let Jann go cavort with whatever his sexual preclivites are these days.

i love you.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:18 PM on November 22, 2003

You know, screw this "best 500 albums in rock" crap. What I want to see is a list of the 500 most ass-kicking albums in rock. The difference is clear. The time is now.
posted by furiousthought at 12:04 AM on November 23, 2003

The day The Smiths wind up on a Rhino compilation is the day I slit my wrists.
posted by crasspastor at 3:08 AM on November 23, 2003

You won't want to pick up a copy of "How Soon Was Then: Pretentious Wrist-Slitting Greats of the '80s", then.

Unless somebody nicked all your Joy Division albums, of course.
posted by arto at 3:19 AM on November 23, 2003

Add Computer World and The Man Machine (at least) by Kraftwerk, add Apollo and Before and After Science (at least) by Brian Eno (and cut Here Come the Warm Jets), add Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock by Talk Talk, add Future Days and Ege Bamyasi (at least) by Can, Major Malfuction by Keith LeBlanc (or something by the Tackhead crew), plus a bunch of electronic stuff ((Who's Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise!, Frequencies, Chill Out, Bytes, 76 14, Music Has the Right to Children, etc).
posted by hilker at 2:47 PM on November 23, 2003

cant seem to see syd barretts first album in here......
posted by sgt.serenity at 3:55 PM on November 23, 2003

And where the hell is Iron Maiden in the list?

I 'd just seen Def Leppard on the list and thought F*!k, I bet there's some Iron Maiden crap in there too. Where, I would like to know is Infected, by The The?
(Looking up this link reveals that the new CD version has an additional track, so I may have to update from my old vinyl version - also that amazon's no1 reviewer agrees with me)
posted by biffa at 2:29 AM on November 24, 2003

343. Bat Out of Hell, Meat Loaf
381. Modern Lovers, Modern Lovers

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.
ROLLING STONE?
posted by Ptrin at 5:34 PM on November 25, 2003