Music Thread - Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

[DrewDevil]

Sgt. Pepper's is a great freaking album but it has that one annoying sitar song that I hate.

I think Synchronicity by the Police would be my favorite album if not for "Mother."

Other favorites: debuts from Van Halen, The Cars, and Boston, and Escape by Journey.

Yes, I'm old.

[prohornblower]

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17. Nevermind
66. Led Zeppelin IV



OK. Yeah.

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Exact numbers being irrelevant, Nevermind belongs higher on this list than any Led Zeppelin album and I don't think it's close. And I'm a huge LZ fan.

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I think you are very wrong. And yes, I know the diff. between "Greatest" and "best".

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I should retract that I don't think it's close (Which album are you referring to, by the way? II or IV?), but the way Nevermind is held up by music culture makes it very hard for envision a Zeppelin album surpassing it.

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The difference is one album's legacy is 15 years, and the other is 35. Let's put it this way, the release of which album has influenced more QUALITY recordings from other bands?

Sure, Nirvana helped shape the music of the 90's, but the quality of those recordings pales in comparison to the rock inspired by Zeppelin.

Even Billy Corgan would say that the Smashing Pumpkins were by far, more inspired by LZ than Nirvana. And I'm willing to bet most people would assume the opposite is true, just because SP's were a "90's band".

FWIW, I think I and IV are their two best albums. Slight edge to IV. III is probably next in line but I understand why it isn't as "great" because it was less dimensional compared to all their others.

Also, I think in another 20 years, if this list is remade, LZ albums will stand the test of time better than Nirvana's would. I don't know if 49 places would be made up in just 20 years though... 66-->17.

[Dominic]

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40oz to freedom is not top 500? umm wtf?

and thriller, with its 51 million copies and title as best selling record of all time, comes in at 20?

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you're right, it doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the top 500, much less top 20

[kitaristi0]

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That top 10 list actually looks pretty good to me. The only albums I'd remove are What's Going On, Exile and London Calling.

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Exile on Main Street should be #1.

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I actually listened to Exile again today and it's a lot better than I remembered, but not top 10.

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Dammit that Exile is a sneaky bastard. The more I listen to it the better it keeps on getting.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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Let's put it this way, the release of which album has influenced more QUALITY recordings from other bands?

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if you're going to think about it this way, then you are automatically disgregarding any album made in the last 10-15 years.

OK Computer might be the best album of all-time, but it hasn't been around long enough to influence a ton of people, so it's not?

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Sure, Nirvana helped shape the music of the 90's, but the quality of those recordings pales in comparison to the rock inspired by Zeppelin.


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if you are debating which group influenced better bands, you might be able to use this argument. but this is not the discussion at hand.

I'm a big "legacy" and "influence" guy in some matters, but some forms of art need to stand on their own. What if Led Zeppelin had secretly made an album in 1974 that was never released until today? By your criteria, this album couldn't possibly be as good as IV or II for 20 more years.

[CIncyHR]

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Also, I have always felt that "The Clash" is the best album by the The Clash, and that it's not really close.

NT

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)

rofl

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Thanks for your contribution, care to elaborate?

The Clash has probably six or seven of my top ten Clash songs and no really bad songs. It's crisp, brilliant and it was a seminal album in terms of impact on the music biz / music scene. Hundreds of punk bands have made careers out of basically ripping off this one album.

NT

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The Clash is definitely a worthy album, and imo the greatest punk album ever recorded, but London Calling is so much more than punk. I think its not too far fetched to say that you can trace 90% of contemporary rock back to this one album, and lots of music from other genres as well. 9The CLash's impact on hip hop is SO underestimated)

[prohornblower]

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I'm a big "legacy" and "influence" guy in some matters, but some forms of art need to stand on their own. What if Led Zeppelin had secretly made an album in 1974 that was never released until today? By your criteria, this album couldn't possibly be as good as IV or II for 20 more years.

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Of course it could be as "good", just not as "great".

The word great encompasses the quality of the artwork + its influence + other ancillary stuff. Hell, the Beatles released those two songs like 10 years ago, 15 years after Lennon's death. Those songs may have been as good as their previously released songs, but not as great, as of this date.

Do you disagree that, as time goes by, some of these albums will slip and some will rise in ranking? Why is that? Hmm. Although the music itself has not changed, the influence has. Outside factors shape what we determine is great.

FYI, Personally, I say Zep is the "best" band of all-time, but I say the Beatles are the "greatest", because the band The Beatles transcended music on a much greater level than Zeppelin has.

Also, on a side note, I prefer the Bends over OK Computer, and it's not even that close for me.

[wet work]

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I don't understand what you are saying about country, jazz and blues not being on the map back then, as each of those genres pretty much contributed to rock and roll's formation.

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I'm not saying those genres weren't influential. I'm saying they weren't popular. In fact most of that influence came from the pre-60's period and "albums" really weren't popular until the 60's. 45's and before that 78's were how music was marketed pre-Beatles. Albums were events back in the day. The release of Sgt Peppers for example was epic. The influence of an "album" has waned with the switch to CD's and even moreso with the switch to downloadable music. Album art and inserts (lyric sheets, pictures, posters etc.) were all part of the allure and overall album experience and that is now gone. But the main point is in the 60's and 70's popular music was basically what was on one or two radio stations and the Ed Sullivan show. Country and jazz had their followings but for nationwide popularity it was all rock and motown because we didn't have the fragmentaion we see today.

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I think you might be underestimating just how popular country music was back then. Yea, bands like The Beatles were the ones in the headlines, etc. but there was a completely separate (and huge) part of the population that listened to country music. As far as radio play goes, I'm sure The Grand Ole Opry had a massive amount of listeners.

[Kneel B4 Zod]

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I'm a big "legacy" and "influence" guy in some matters, but some forms of art need to stand on their own. What if Led Zeppelin had secretly made an album in 1974 that was never released until today? By your criteria, this album couldn't possibly be as good as IV or II for 20 more years.

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Of course it could be as "good", just not as "great".

The word great encompasses the quality of the artwork + its influence + other ancillary stuff. Hell, the Beatles released those two songs like 10 years ago, 15 years after Lennon's death. Those songs may have been as good as their previously released songs, but not as great, as of this date.

Do you disagree that, as time goes by, some of these albums will slip and some will rise in ranking? Why is that? Hmm. Although the music itself has not changed, the influence has. Outside factors shape what we determine is great.

FYI, Personally, I say Zep is the "best" band of all-time, but I say the Beatles are the "greatest", because the band The Beatles transcended music on a much greater level than Zeppelin has.

Also, on a side note, I prefer the Bends over OK Computer, and it's not even that close for me.

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although what you're saying makes sense, it automatically disqualifies anything new from being the best ever, which can't be right.

[swede123]

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although what you're saying makes sense, it automatically disqualifies anything new from being the best ever, which can't be right.

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Not really. What he's saying is that there is a "test of time" component to ultimate greatness, which can't be evaluated until a certain amount of time has passed. Perhaps people will look back at 90s music fifty years from now and give Radiohead, rap music (if these things are popular then) more credit as they remained popular in the long run.

Swede