Thursday, May 24, 2012

Top Special

Another week, another music list. This one, conducted as part of a survey for Dan Paquette's Music Obsession, had me compiling my top 100 albums of all time. Not an easy task, for certain. And as with all of these lists, there are many inadvertent omissions and changes of heart along the way. I'm sure I could look at it again and come up with a totally new list. But I had to get the thing turned in by Dan's deadline. In all, 52 people responded with a total of 1,791 different titles and Dan will be counting down the top 1,006 albums starting tomorrow (follow him on the Facebook to indulge in his need to tabulate).

In the meantime, here's my list of the top 100 albums of all time. Numero uno is Led Zeppelin IV, which encapsulated the best of Zep's admittedly great stretch of albums. I actually tend to turn towards Physical Graffiti more these days, but song for song, there's no topping ZoSo.

Here's the rest of the list (feel free to disagree in the comments):


12.       Beatles – Abbey Road
33.       Rolling Stones – Exile on Main Street
44.       The Who – Who’s Next
55.       The Clash – London Calling
66.       Van Halen – s/t
77.       Black Sabbath – Paranoid
88.       David Bowie – The Life and Times of Ziggy Stardust
99.       AC/DC – Back in Black
110.   Prince – Purple Rain
111.   Husker Du – Zen Arcade
112.   Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power
113.   Neil Young – Tonight’s the Night
114.   Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?
115.   U2 – The Joshua Tree
116.   Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti
117.   Beatles – White Album
118.   Nirvana – Nevermind
119.   Mission of Burma – Vs.
220.   Pixies – Surfer Rosa
221.   Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
222.   Elvis Costello – My Aim is True
223.   Replacements – Tim
224.   Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks…
225.   Ramones – Road to Ruin
226.   The Who – Quadrophenia
227.   Radiohead – OK Computer
228.   Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
229.   Bob Dylan – Blonde on Blonde
330.   Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
331.   R.E.M. – Murmur
332.   Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
333.   Van Halen – Fair Warning
334.   Rush – Moving Pictures
335.   Pearl Jam – Ten
336.   The Kinks – Something Else
337.   Big Star – #1 Record
338.   Prince – Sign o’ the Times
339.   Velvet Underground and Nico
440.   Talking Heads – Remain in Light
441.   The Stooges – Fun House
442.   Black Flag – Damaged
443.   Minutemen – Double Nickels on the Dime
444.   Metallica – Master of Puppets
445.   Led Zeppelin II
446.   Aerosmith – Toys in the Attic
447.   Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life
448.   Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model
449.   Pretenders – s/t
550.   Cheap Trick – s/t
551.   Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet
552.   Fugazi – Repeater
553.   Pixies – Doolittle
554.   Funkadelic – Maggot Brain
555.   Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen
556.   The Jam – All Mod Cons
557.   Matthew Sweet – Girlfriend
558.   Big Star – Radio City
559.   Beck – Mellow Gold
660.   Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
661.   Sloan – Twice Removed
662.   Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
663.   Nirvana – In Utero
664.   Peter Gabriel – Melt
665.   Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
666.   Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here
667.   Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
668.   U2 – Achtung Baby
669.   Beck – Odelay
770.   Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff
771.   Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger
772.   Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
773.   Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
774.   Van Halen II
775.   Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
776.   Queen – News of the World
777.   R.E.M. – Reckoning
778.   Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard of Ozz
779.   Radiohead – Kid A
880.   Green Day – Dookie
881.   Frank Black – Teenager of the Year
882.   The Who – Live at Leeds
883.   Black Sabbath – s/t
884.   Temple of the Dog – s/t
885.   Sloan – One Chord to Another
886.   Pearl Jam – Vs.
887.   Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
888.   Prince – 1999
889.   The Tragically Hip – Fully Completely
990.   Queens of the Stone Age – Songs for the Deaf
991.   White Stripes – White Blood Cells
992.   PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
993.   Husker Du – Flip Your Wig
994.   De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
995.   Iron Maiden – Number of the Beast
996.   Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
997.   Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Rust Never Sleeps
998.   The Smiths – Meat is Murder
999.   The Cure – Disintegration
1100.  Weezer – s/t (Blue album)




No comments:

Day After Day #341: Add It Up

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4). Add It Up (1983) Much of the great music...