Friday, November 01, 2013

NME gives us the 500 'best' albums ever



I KNOW all best of/greatest lists are link bait, and they are meant to be a bit divisive but shall we take a look at NME's latest top 500 albums of all time. Let's start with the top 20 …


20. Radiohead – OK Computer
19. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
18. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
17. Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
16. Joy Division – Closer
15. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
14. David Bowie – Low
13. Arcade Fire – Funeral
12. Patti Smith – Horses
11. Nirvana – Nevermind
10. Oasis – Definitely Maybe
09. The Beatles – The Beatles
08. Pixies – Doolittle
07. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
06. Pulp – Different Class
05. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico
04. The Strokes – Is This It
03. David Bowie – Hunky Dory
02. The Beatles – Revolver
01. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead

I'm sorry but in which parallel universe is the Strokes - Is This It the 4th best album ever made? Seriously?. And, as much as I love Polly, Let England Shake in the top 20? (Dry at 151, Ride of Me at 450 both better albums IMO)

As far as I can see Todd gets two mentions at 189 for AWATS and 268 for Todd (no S/A?). Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is 132. What I suppose is interesting is that 10 years ago St pepper was a guaranteed top 10 album (87) in any list – often the 'winner' – and just five years ago Radiohead would have been top dog and probably would have had more than one album in the top 10/5.

How many of this top 20 would be in my list if I could be focussed enough to do one? Between 1-4 depending on my mood.





2 comments:

Jim Marquis said...

I kind of feel like a list this long just dilutes everything a bit. Once you get past the top 50 it just seems way too subjective.

It is surprising to see both AWATS and Todd on there. But I would rank SA above either of them.

Scott said...

Agree. All lists like this are just link bait and made to cause people to go ...Ugh?

Still, they are always fun to read because of it.