Rolling Stone 500 Best Albums of All Time

Hattigol

That is literally the worst list ever. I know Americans have a reputation for being stupid - they really don't help themselves with this sort of idiocy....

barnstorm

Hattigol said:

That is literally the worst list ever. I know Americans have a reputation for being stupid - they really don't help themselves with this sort of idiocy....

They poll plenty of our lot, too, I'm afraid to say! It would be much more interesting to read the individual top 50 lists of the voters, who are asked to name their favourite albums.

That's a distinction that deliberately gets lost before the big list is published, and one they'd make clearer if they cared about anything other than clicks for the website, which remains absolutely diabolical to use, I see.

Philly_Q

axisus said:

What??? No dark side of the moon in the top 50???

I don't mind their list to be honest it's quite interesting (er .. I've only looked at that top 50, can't be assed to wade through pages of it), but the trouble with Rolling Stone is that they are so biased against some styles of music, they never rate prog or metal for example. 

I can't be bothered to go through the list again, but there was a smattering of hard rock and prog - 4 or 5 Zeppelin albums, the first 3 Black Sabbath albums, a bit of AC/DC (Back in Black), Van Halen (first album), Rush (Moving Pictures), Aerosmith (Rocks), Pearl Jam (Ten), some Nine Inch Nails, several Pink Floyd and somewhere near the bottom a Yes album (Close to the Edge, I think).  Maybe a few more but I've forgotten.

stickyfiddle

Also finding it quite baffling that U2 have gone from having 5 albums in there in the previous list to just Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree in this list and both outside the top 100. Seems more than a little odd to me. 

fields5069

I have some of the top 50. Rubber Soul should be further up IMO.

sticker

Is Rolling Stone relevant in any way ? Has it ever been? 

fields5069

Papa used to be one.

scrumhalf

Rolling Stone has always tended to be about songs rather than music.

barnstorm

stickyfiddle said:

Also finding it quite baffling that U2 have gone from having 5 albums in there in the previous list to just Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree in this list and both outside the top 100. Seems more than a little odd to me. 

It's just a function of who they ask, and again they're told to pick their favourites, not 'The 50 Greatest Albums':

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/voters-500-greatest-albums-list-1062225/

Some voters won't have any knowledge at all of certain albums or bands, or of whole genres. It's not a worthwhile exercise except that it makes people angry on Twitter and generates a lot of clicks.

I'd genuinely like to know what, say, Lamont Dozier chose as his favourite albums, but for some reason RS doesn't grasp that that would be interesting.

Moominpapa

UnclePsychosis said:

The most consistently entertaining thing about these lists is the absolute seethe that they induce.

Spot on. From the day that Ugg drew his "Top Ten Animals to Hunt" on the cave wall, the sole purpose of lists like this has been to piss off people who have different opinions.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

axisus said:

What??? No dark side of the moon in the top 50???

I don't mind their list to be honest it's quite interesting (er .. I've only looked at that top 50, can't be assed to wade through pages of it), but the trouble with Rolling Stone is that they are so biased against some styles of music, they never rate prog or metal for example. 

I can't be bothered to go through the list again, but there was a smattering of hard rock and prog - 4 or 5 Zeppelin albums, the first 3 Black Sabbath albums, a bit of AC/DC (Back in Black), Van Halen (first album), Rush (Moving Pictures), Aerosmith (Rocks), Pearl Jam (Ten), some Nine Inch Nails, several Pink Floyd and somewhere near the bottom a Yes album (Close to the Edge, I think).  Maybe a few more but I've forgotten.

Look at that top 50 there’s no country which will alienate a lot of people in their American audience. Jazz  - arguably the great American art form - represented by the only jazz album owned by non jazz fans. 

It’s stylistically diverse but at the same time some genres very poorly represented. 

Maybe a ‘fairer’ chart would be less interesting, I suppose you could also just go on sales/ streaming. That would be something like ( from Wikipedia):

MJ - Thriller 
ACDC - Back in Black
MeatLoaf  - Bat
Pink Floyd - Dark Side
Whitney Houston  - Bodyguard
Eagles - Greatest Hits
Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Shania Twain - come On Over   
Grease Soundtrack
Led Zep -IV
MJ - Bad
Alaniss Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
MJ - Dangerous
Celine Dion - falling into You
Eagles - Hotel California
Beatles - Sgt Pepper

...it's whiter and even more middle of the road than the RS list. There is that sense that the revised RD list is an attempt to make themselves look a little more woke. 

duotone

Freebird said:

I think I prefer the original list. It feels like somebody wrote an algorithm to randomly insert Rap albums into the new one  

Let me guess, To Pimp A Butterfly ?

yocky

Needless to say they gave Nevermind 3 out of 5 when it was first released, and Exile.... "misses the mark"

Trailblazing tastemakers they are not.

Whitecat

*opens link*

*sees 'Funeral' by Arcade Fire as the first entry of 500* (one of my favourite ever albums, for the sake of clarity)

...

Redlester

I never did like these sorts of lists, and this is really just clickbait in this day and age. 

So thanks to those who transcribed the top 50! Saves me clicking on the RS site.

 

RandallFlagg

mrkb said:

Are the La's in there?

Iron Maiden better be or I'm going to kick off.

Cranky

UnclePsychosis said:

The most consistently entertaining thing about these lists is the absolute seethe that they induce.

Agreed.  Did you see the comments beneath the list?  People are so quick to throw the "pc" flag, it's bizarre.

I have a problem with any list that ranks so highly an overproduced turd like Pet Sounds.  But that's about the extent of it.  I just wish that I had listened to half of these albums start to finish, I'm still catching up with an upbringing devoid of anything beyond top 40 and church hymns.

Cranky

Moominpapa said:

UnclePsychosis said:

The most consistently entertaining thing about these lists is the absolute seethe that they induce.

Spot on. From the day that Ugg drew his "Top Ten Animals to Hunt" on the cave wall, the sole purpose of lists like this has been to piss off people who have different opinions.

Nah, that's only like #8 or #9 of the top 10 reasons to make lists like that.

wesker123

no Slint, My Bloody Valentine, Capt. Beefheart or Neu! 
Rubbish!

Philly_Q

wesker123 said:

no Slint, My Bloody Valentine, Capt. Beefheart or Neu! 
Rubbish!

I think Loveless was in there, but I can't be bothered to look again.