Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5 - The Top 10

I'm not sure if anyone beat me to it but here's the top 100:

1. Radiohead - Ok Computer
2. The Beatles - Revolver
3. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
4. The Beatles - The Beatles
5. The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico
6. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
7. The Clash - London Calling
8. The Beatles - Abbey Road
9. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
10. Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde
11. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
12. The Pixies - Doolittle
13. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
14. Radiohead - Kid A
15. Nirvana - Nevermind
16. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
17. Love - Forever Changes
18. The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street
19. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
20. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
21. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
22. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
23. The Beatles - Rubber Soul
24. Television - Marquee Moon
25. Bob Dylan - Blood on the Tracks
26. The Who - Who's Next
27. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
28. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
29. Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
30. Bob Dylan - Bringing it All Back Home
31. Beck - Odelay
32. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
33. The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle
34. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
35. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
36. The Talking Heads - Remain in Light
37. U2 - Achtung Baby
38. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
39. Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain
40. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
41. The Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet
42. Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea
43. Radiohead - The Bends
44. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
45. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush
46. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
47. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
48. R.E.M. - Murmur
49. Jeff Buckley - Grace
50. The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
51. The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
52. David Bowie - Low
53. Joni Mitchell - Blue (tie)
53. New Kids on the Block - Step by Step (tie)
54. The Strokes - Is This It
55. U2 - The Joshua Tree
56. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
57. Oasis - Definitely Maybe
58. Joy Division - Closer
59. Portishead - Dummy
60. David Bowie - Hunky Dory
61. PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
62. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
63. Paul Simon - Graceland
64. The Doors - The Doors
65. The Kinks - The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society
66. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
67. Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
68. Prince - Sign O' The Times
69. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
70. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
71. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
72. Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left
73. Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
74. Pulp - Different Class
75. Van Morrison - Moondance
76. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
77. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
78. The Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
79. Michael Jackson - Thriller
80. The Band - The Band
81. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
82. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
83. The White Stripes - Elephant
84. Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life
85. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
86. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
87. Otis Redding - Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul
88. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
89. Blur - Parklife
90. The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
91. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
92. Lou Reed - Transformer
93. The Replacements - Let it Be
94. The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
95. Bjork - Homogenic
96. Nirvana - Unplugged in New York
97. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
98. Pearl Jam - Ten
99. Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
100. Patti Smith - Horses

While I wish some of my other picks made it (particularly the four of mine that bubbled under in the 101-110 range) each of the albums that was picked is incredible and worthwhile, even the Smiths one! I'm especially happy to see Elvis Costello, Bringing it All Back Home, Kid A and Nevermind get some love (even though I didn't vote for Nevermind).

Some quick stats:
Albums from the:
00's - 9
90's - 25
80's - 16
70's - 26
60's - 23
50's - 1
This seems pretty representative of the mood of the forum.

Albums by artists/groups from:
US - 52
UK - 38
Ireland - 5
Canada - 4
Iceland - 1

P.S. The Ireland count includes Van Morrison, though he is from Northern Ireland. I'm no expert in geografy.

Thanks for posting the list, jonmarck. The inclusion of the joke entry at #53 was a nice touch (and believe it or not, I'm not being sarcastic.)

Hope you don't mind a few more stats being posted here.

31 out of the 47 voters had a #1 pick in the AM Forum top-100.

Most ballot mentions: Velvet Underground and Nico (36)

27 entries (including 2007's Sound of Silver) in the forum top-100 are outside of the AM top-100. Here are the entries from outside the top-200:
In the Aeroplane over the Sea (AM rank, 527)
Homogenic (389)
Odessey and Oracle (383)
If You're Feeling Sinister (341)
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (321)
Mezzanine (316)
Unplugged in New York (286)
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (262)
Rock Bottom(237)
Let it Be (220)
The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society (213)

Ten most acclaimed albums not on the forum Top 100:
Ramones (AM rank, 35)
Live at the Apollo (39)
There's A Riot Goin' On (51)
The Clash (52)
Rumours (53)
Trout Mask Replica (54)
Tapestry (61)
Appetite for Destruction (62)
Screamadelica (63)
Led Zeppelin II (66)

I just finished listening to In The Aereplane Over The Sea. I only learned about the album in the past year. (And I was joking when I said it made me "hip" to have a ten year old album, but its true that most of my same-age friends are still listening to the music of the 1970s). Anyway, I think if we do this poll again in 2 years, NMH's great will be in the top 20, at least. And I bet it will steadily move up from its current low rank in the AM ranking. It really sounds like a classic album in every sense. It just needs a bit more publicity to really catch fire with the older critics.

Sorry if I wasn't supposed to post my random thoughts in the "sticky" thread. (And I just did it again!). Anyway, it's late.

5 albums: The Beatles
4 albums: Bob Dylan - The Rolling Stones
3 albums: David Bowie - Radiohead
2 albums Elvis Costello - Jimi Hendrix - Massive Attack – Nirvana – Oasis – Pavement - Pink Floyd – Pixies – Prince - R.E.M. - Stevie Wonder - The Flaming Lips - The White Stripes - U2 - Van Morrison

Anthony, and the 101 to 200?

In total, 1736 albums were voted for.


Top 20 Acclaimed Artists (ranked by total points received):

The Beatles - 8666.21
Bob Dylan - 6292.76
Radiohead - 4717.81
David Bowie - 3373.38
The Rolling Stones - 3118.37
The Velvet Underground - 2620.65
R.E.M. - 2575.95
The Beach Boys - 2382.05
The Clash - 2080.14
Prince - 2072.42
Neil Young - 2063.76
The Who - 1926.26
Bruce Springsteen - 1893.48
Nirvana - 1814.34
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - 1789.49
Stevie Wonder - 1712.40
U2 - 1641.97
Led Zeppelin - 1343.78
Marvin Gaye - 1055.49
Elvis Presley – 146.55

Notables:

Pink Floyd - 2449.53
Pixies - 2007.86
Van Morrison - 1674.15
The Flaming Lips - 1465.11
Beck - 1397.34
Miles Davis - 1396.20
Talking Heads - 1309.08
Elvis Costello - 1282.94
Oasis - 1133.46
PJ Harvey - 1059.43
Bjork - 1016.47


Top 10 Albums “Bubbling Under” (ranked by most votes received):

1. Fleetwood Mac – RUMOURS (11)
2. Neil Young – RUST NEVER SLEEPS (10)
3. Sly and the Family Stone – THERE’S A RIOT (10)
4. Nirvana – IN UTERO (10)
5. The Clash – THE CLASH (10)
6. Elliott Smith – EITHER/OR (10)
7. The Beatles – MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (10)
8. Nick Drake – PINK MOON (10)
9. Ramones – RAMONES (10)
10. Sigur Rós - ÁGÆTIS BYRJUN (9)


Top 25 Albums (ranked by most votes received):

1 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (36)
2 The Beatles - Revolver (34)
3 The Beatles - Abbey Road (34)
4 Radiohead - OK Computer (33)
5 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (33)
6 The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (33)
7 The Beatles - The Beatles (The White Album) (32)
8 The Clash - London Calling (30)
9 The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (29)
10 Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde (27)
11 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (27)
12 Nirvana - Nevermind (26)
13 Pixies - Doolittle (25)
14 Arcade Fire - Funeral (25)
15 The Beatles - Rubber Soul (23)
16 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (22)
17 Television - Marquee Moon (22)
18 Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks (22)
19 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV (21)
20 Radiohead - Kid A (21)
21 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (21)
22 The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main St. (21)
23 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People (21)
24 The Who - Who's Next (21)
25 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run (21)


2007 Entries (ranked by total points):

1 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (370.20)
2 The National - Boxer (138.99)
3 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible (65.4
4 Feist - The Reminder (64.76)
5 Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob (48.84)
6 Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future (48.84)
7 Bruce Springsteen - Magic (46.71)
8 Elliott Smith - New Moon (43.75)
9 Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare (40.3
10 Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! (30.00)
11 Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (29.17)
12 The Shins - Wincing the Night Away (28.00)
13 The Coral - Roots & Echoes (27.27)
14 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky (23.0
15 M.I.A. - Kala (22.83)
16 Sigh - Hangman's Hymn (22.5
17 Chromeo - Fancy Footwork (22.34)
18 !!! - Myth Takes (21.65)
19 Architecture in Helsinki - Places like this (21.00)
20 Kylie Minogue - X (21.00)
21 Battles - Mirrored (20.00)
22 Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted (19.44)
23 Band of Horses - Cease to Begin (19.09)
24 Cocoon - My friends all died in a plane crash (18.75)
25 Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero (17.95)


Highest Ranked Albums From the ‘00s :

2007 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver (370.20)
2006 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (222.49)
2005 Sufjan Stevens - Illinois (671.19)
2004 Arcade Fire - Funeral (966.52)
2003 The White Stripes - Elephant (411.50)
2002 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (466.29)
2001 The Strokes - Is This It (582.07)
2000 Radiohead - Kid A (1177.5


More to follow...

Top Albums 1955-1999 (ranked by total points):

1999 The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin … 777.86
1998 Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea … 683.00
1997 Radiohead - OK Computer … 2303.89
1996 Beck - Odelay … 789.20
1995 Radiohead - The Bends … 673.31
1994 Jeff Buckley - Grace … 628.91
1993 Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream … 355.32
1992 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People … 957.25
1991 Nirvana - Nevermind … 1089.51
1990 Depeche Mode - Violator … 214.81
1989 Pixies - Doolittle … 1204.94
1988 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation … 655.36
1987 U2 - The Joshua Tree … 581.24
1986 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead … 1071.71
1985 Tom Waits - Rain Dogs … 439.98
1984 Prince - Purple Rain … 702.69
1983 R.E.M. - Murmur … 640.24
1982 Michael Jackson - Thriller … 421.60
1981 The Human League - Dare! … 82.19
1980 Talking Heads - Remain in Light … 710.50
1979 The Clash - London Calling … 1708.06
1978 Elvis Costello - This Year's Model … 486.79
1977 Television - Marquee Moon … 934.91
1976 Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key of Life … 408.27
1975 Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks … 914.33
1974 Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom … 342.84
1973 Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon … 1184.01
1972 David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars … 1415.51
1971 Marvin Gaye - What's Going On … 948.52
1970 Neil Young - After the Gold Rush … 669.28
1969 The Beatles - Abbey Road … 1541.82
1968 The Beatles - The Beatles (The White Album) … 1822.71
1967 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico … 1791.63
1966 The Beatles - Revolver … 2005.44
1965 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited … 1827.06
1964 The Beatles - Beatles For Sale … 133.11
1963 Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan … 322.01
1962 Ray Charles - Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music … 39.23
1961 Bill Evans - Sunday At The Village Vanguard … 63.43
1960 Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain … 83.32
1959 Miles Davis - Kind of Blue … 988.65
1958 Billy Holiday - Lady in Satin … 85.65
1957 Little Richard - Here's Little Richard … 95.44
1956 Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley … 122.13
1955 Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours … 226.61

2007 Entries (UPDATED)

Multiple Votes

1 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver ….. 370.20 points (10 votes)
2 Radiohead - In Rainbows ….. 241.72 (7)
3 The National - Boxer ….. 138.99 (5)
4 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible ….. 65.48 (3)
5 Feist - The Reminder ….. 64.76 (2)
6 Bruce Springsteen - Magic ….. 46.71 (2)


Single Votes

7 Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob ….. 48.84
8 Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future ….. 48.84
9 Elliott Smith - New Moon ….. 43.75
10 Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare ….. 40.38
11 Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus! ….. 30.00
12 Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala ….. 29.17
13 The Shins - Wincing the Night Away ….. 28.00
14 The Coral - Roots & Echoes ….. 27.27
15 Wilco - Sky Blue Sky ….. 23.08
16 M.I.A. - Kala ….. 22.83
17 Sigh - Hangman's Hymn ….. 22.58
18 Chromeo - Fancy Footwork ….. 22.34
19 !!! - Myth Takes ….. 21.65
20 Architecture in Helsinki - Places like this ….. 21.00
21 Kylie Minogue - X ….. 21.00
22 Battles - Mirrored ….. 20.00
23 Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted ….. 19.44
24 Band of Horses - Cease to Begin ….. 19.09
25 Cocoon - My friends all died in a plane crash ….. 18.75
26 Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero ….. 17.95

Here's another fact:
Only 13 selections on our list were not included in Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums of all time. This is even more surprising considering 3 or 4 were released after the Rolling Stone list was published.

Albums 101-200


101 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours ..... 336.77
102 Neil Young - Rust Never Sleeps ..... 335.15
103 Sly and the Family Stone - There's a Riot Goin' On ..... 331.54
104 Nirvana - In Utero ..... 328.53
105 Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun ..... 326.38
106 The Clash - The Clash ..... 325.90
107 Elliott Smith - Either/Or ..... 323.67
108 Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan ..... 322.01
109 Pink Floyd - The Wall ..... 319.40
110 Neil Young - Harvest ..... 319.29
111 Björk - Debut ..... 315.99
112 The Stooges - Fun House ..... 315.98
113 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground ..... 313.07
114 Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) ..... 310.65
115 The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour ..... 310.54
116 Nick Drake - Pink Moon ..... 308.06
117 Stevie Wonder - Talking Book ..... 307.77
118 Prince - 1999 ..... 307.47
119 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water ..... 305.07
120 Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Leonard Cohen ..... 304.68
121 The Beach Boys - Surf's Up ..... 304.49
122 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head ..... 298.00
123 Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden ..... 292.12
124 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing… ..... 290.71
125 Air - Moon Safari ..... 284.83
126 King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King ..... 284.78
127 Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones ..... 284.40
128 Scott Walker - Scott 4 ..... 282.83
129 Beck - Sea Change ..... 278.71
130 Sonic Youth - Sister ..... 278.47
131 Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique ..... 277.31
132 Ramones - Ramones ..... 260.70
133 Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark ..... 256.39
134 Talk Talk - Laughing Stock ..... 254.24
135 Brian Wilson - SMiLE ..... 254.14
136 The Velvet Underground - Loaded ..... 254.07
137 The Who - Quadrophenia ..... 251.95
138 Björk - Post ..... 251.64
139 The Who - Tommy ..... 249.75
140 Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs ..... 247.09
141 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures ..... 247.00
142 PJ Harvey - Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea ..... 245.56
143 Big Star - #1 Record ..... 245.21
144 The Kinks - Somethin' Else by the Kinks ..... 243.86
145 Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space ..... 242.34
146 Radiohead - In Rainbows ..... 241.72
147 Jay-Z - The Blueprint ..... 241.58
148 Sly and the Family Stone - Stand! ..... 241.26
149 The Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat ..... 240.45
150 Nas - Illmatic ..... 240.30
151 Elliott Smith - XO ..... 240.07
152 Slint - Spiderland ..... 238.93
153 Brian Eno - Another Green World ..... 237.12
154 Mercury Rev - Deserter’s Songs ..... 236.92
155 James Brown - Live at the Apollo ..... 235.82
156 Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness ..... 235.42
157 Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville ..... 230.20
158 The Who - The Who Sell Out ..... 229.50
159 Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady ..... 228.54
160 Bruce Springsteen - Darkness On The Edge Of Town ..... 227.72
161 Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours ..... 226.61
162 Lou Reed - Berlin ..... 224.57
163 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not ..... 222.49
164 Talking Heads - Fear of Music ..... 217.66
165 The Band - Music From Big Pink ..... 217.44
166 R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant ..... 217.15
167 Captain Beefheart And The Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica ..... 216.07
168 Depeche Mode - Violator ..... 214.81
169 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising ..... 211.29
170 Gorillaz - Demon Days ..... 210.78
171 The Cure - Disintegration ..... 210.55
172 Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand ..... 209.90
173 Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven ..... 209.01
174 Weezer - Weezer (Blue Album) ..... 205.67
175 R.E.M. - Document ..... 203.90
176 Blur - 13 ..... 199.16
177 Derek and the Dominos - Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs ..... 198.69
178 Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young - Déjà vu ..... 198.03
179 Big Star - Radio City ..... 197.77
180 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory ..... 197.61
181 The Eagles - Hotel California ..... 196.86
182 Curtis Mayfield - Superfly ..... 194.81
183 Miles Davis - Bitches Brew ..... 194.48
184 The Cure - Seventeen Seconds ..... 194.36
185 The Smiths - The Smiths ..... 194.22
186 Bob Dylan - Desire ..... 193.32
187 David Bowie - Station to Station ..... 193.19
188 Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy ..... 192.85
189 Hüsker dü - Zen Arcade ..... 192.06
190 Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson ..... 191.30
191 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska ..... 188.78
192 Carole King - Tapestry ..... 188.66
193 Weezer - Pinkerton ..... 186.87
194 Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A. ..... 186.04
195 Gang of Four - Entertainment ..... 186.02
196 The Beach Boys - Sunflower ..... 184.57
197 Outkast - Stankonia ..... 183.21
198 The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow ..... 182.46
199 Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty ..... 181.63
200 Nick Drake - Bryter Layter ..... 179.48

Does anyone else find it astonishing that - given that ballots were submitted by 47 of us, with no restrictions on what albums could be selected - no entry on our top 200 has a current AM ranking lower than #799 (Blur's 13)?

Statistically, the more ballots cast, the less likely that outliers will make the consensus list. If we had 1000 informed voters (self-selected music fans), then it would be even closer to the AM top 200 list.

Also the thing about outliers is generally only one or two voters know about them. I was genuinely surprised to see someone else give a Pedro the Lion album a spot. Lord knows I can't expect the same for Jars of Clay, The Headstones, Five Iron Frenzy, Rheostatics or Our Lady Peace, and I'm sure I wouldn't recognize any of your out-of-nowhere picks. I'd find it really strange if a dozen of us all voted for an album that hasn't found a spot on the AM 3000.

I have some Jars of Clay and Our Lady Peace on my computer, but I don't like their albums enough to include them. Our Lady Peace has an entry in my songs list though.

Also the thing about outliers is generally only one or two voters know about them.

That's why I asked everyone to note which albums he had not heard for the '90s poll, although there was really no way for lesser known albums to advance from the nomination phase (the yearly polls).

I think it's very difficult to find a method to come around this problem. The only way I can think of to treat every album the same way would be if all voters would nominate a given number of albums, and then all voters had to listen to ALL nominated albums. That would sure be a lot of fun too (in a world where time and money is never a problem)...

Wow, good to see another JoC/OLP fan on AM. I don't suppose you'd also be a Prayer Chain fan?

I'm afraid to say I have never heard of them, sorry.

I just listened to Pedro The Lion by the way (It's Hard To Find A Friend) and it's pretty decent indie rock. I didn't find it too special, but I liked "Big Trucks".

Hope you don't mind, jonmarck, but I just couldn't leave this brilliant outtake from your album comments to sit in the dark depths of my inbox.

jonmarck, on OLP’s best album, Spiritual Machines:

Our Lady Peace was not the type of band to take a lot of breaks. In fact since their 1995 debut, Naveed, they seemed to be in the fast lane to worldwide fame, growing their fanbase exponentially right up to their third album, 1999's Hapiness...is Not a Fish That You Can Catch. Yet as much as everyone was aware of OLP's workhorse mentality none guessed that it would only be a couple weeks after returning from Happiness...' massive international tour before OLP attempted an even more ambitious undertaking; a concept album based on Ray Kurzweil's novel "The Age of Spiritual Machines". Heck, it would take most people that long just to read the bloody thing. The band stuck to the source material with ardent devotion, paying homage to it in unprecedented ways. Excerpts, read by Kurzweil himself, were inserted between songs and a twenty minute dramatization of a key conversation in the novel was included as a hidden track. The album remains OLP's most consistent effort. Singer Raine Maida, who bogged down previous and later records with melodrama and pretension, reacted so strongly to the source material that he wrote his brainiest, most personally-detached lyrics to date, driving the machinist ideology from start to finish. Longtime OLP producer Arnold Lanni (and brother of OLP manager Rob Lanni) created a frighteningly apocalyptic atmosphere using ominous vocal overdubs and Mike Turner's U2-inspired guitar effects. The concept was intact and the tone was pervasive, but the album wouldn't have worked had the songs not delivered as well as they did. Each had their own individual character, from the retro-OLP grunge funk of "Everyone's a Junkie" to electro-rockers "Middle of Yesterday" and "Right Behind You" to the dense, drippy ballad "Are You Sad" to the downtempo bounce of "Made to Heal" to the agoraphobic "In Repair" to the Enoish guitar and synth landscapes of "If You Believe" and "The Wonderful Future". The only song that didn't seem to fit in was "Life". It was too self-contained, too self-assured. For an album claiming to search for emotional meaning "Life" seemed to have a lot of easy answers. Unfortunately it was "Life"'s consumerist sentimentality that most informed Our Lady Peace's future direction. See, as great of an album as Spiritual Machines was, it didn't sell well. This was for a variety of reasons. Many were simply turned off by the concept, finding it too intellectual for a radio-rock group they already considered too pretentious. Others were lost because Happiness..., released only a year before Spiritual Machines, wasn't half the album it was hyped up to be, and Columbia's marketing division didn't have enough time between releases to clean the slate. Still more found lead single "In Repair" too difficult to penetrate, especially with its surreal music video and falsetto-driven chorus. Others were sick of the group since Happiness...' third single "Thief" had just left radio playlists weeks before "In Repair" arrived. To them Spiritual Machines felt like a continuation of the previous album. Out of all these problems there was one unqualified success; the reaction to second single "Life". Muchmusic played the crap out of the video and radio quickly abandoned "In Repair"'s sprawl in favour of "Life"'s accessibility. The message OLP got was that no one cared about their heady introspection. The public wanted quick hooks and cheap emotion. The disappointment split the group, ending the first, most engaging half of Our Lady Peace's existence. When they returned it would be with a new producer (the thoughtless Bob Rock), new guitarist and new batch of cheap, disposable, radio-ready power-rock ballads. Not even Saul Fox, the man pictured on the cover of the previous four albums, was invited to take part in the new OLP. Better for him. I'd hate to have my face associated with the schmaltz of follow up albums Gravity and Healthy in Paranoid Times.

Wow, that's quite a comment. I agree though, they've certainly gone downhill since "The Age..". I think "Innocent" is a pretty decent single, but other than that's they've never been up to their previous level. Their debut is their greatest album in my opinion, I couldn't really get into "The Age.." that much.

Hm.. is it just called Spiritual Machines? I'll go edit those album tags..

Yeah I had Naveed on my list too.

Thanks for the compliment Anthony!

Your comments perfectly capture my thoughts on OLP – a hard-working Canadian band that peaked with an underrated concept album, and has since wallowed in MOR mediocrity. To be honest, I couldn’t be bothered with their post-Mike Turner/Arnold Lanni records; those albums can only be described as utter wastes of time. Most rock bands gradually lose their edge as the years progress, but I’ve never seen a band go from such greatness (in my eyes) to absolute filth in such a short period of time. (And don’t even get me started on Maida’s recent solo album…)

The guy thinks he's Mother Theresa and Woody Guthrie rolled into one. Then he writes songs for Avril Lavigne in his spare time.

Awesome job, Anthony! It must have taken a fortune of work!

I have a sneaking suspicion that my list produced the fewest entries in the overall top 100 (15) than any other.

Nope, Moonbeam. Per Henrik and the new spreadsheet, Netjade blew everyone away with a mere five entries in the top-100.

Looking again at the top 200 list, I realized I made a mistake in my earlier post on this thread when I said that no album in the top 200 ranked below #800 on Acclaimed Music - I overlooked MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR, which is currently at #990. Sorry about that.

A huge thanks to jonmarck for the work he did filling in years for the ballots that excluded release dates. I wouldn't be posting these (and upcoming) statistics if it wasn't for the time-consuming (and tedious) work that he did.


2000s

LonesomePanda - 49
SuperFurry - 43
Dumbangel - 42
pop elton - 38
Jonah - 36
Toni - 36
Anthony - 34
Slush - 31
Moonbeam - 30
Mike - 24


1990s

Mo - 59
SuperFurry - 48
pop elton - 45
Schwah - 43
EdAmes - 39
Dumbangel - 37
John - 36
LonesomePanda - 34
Michel - 34
Toni - 33


1980s

They Call Me The Swede - 34
Moonbeam - 32
schleuse - 31
otisredding - 29
Snusmumrik - 27
Honorio - 26
Vgrd - 25
DrDre - 25
Jacek - 25
Michel - 24


1970s

Georgie - 49
Giuseppe - 44
sonofsamiam - 44
Harold Wexler - 42
nicolas - 37
Midaso - 36
netjade - 35
Mark Propp - 35
David - 34
Jacek - 33


1960s

Daniel Lisman - 56
Georgie - 38
Giuseppe - 29
sonofsamiam - 29
Loophole - 29
Rocky Raccoon - 28
Jem - 28
Miguel - 26
EdAmes - 24
nicolas - 22


1950s

Daniel Lisman - 22
David - 9
Loophole - 6
nicolas - 5
Henrik - 5
sonofsamiam - 4
Schwah - 4
Honorio - 3
schleuse - 3
Georgie - 2


1940s

David - 1
nicolas - 1
schleuse - 1

1970s - 1158 (24.64%)
1990s - 1124 (23.92%)
1960s - 866 (18.43%)
2000s - 754 (16.05%)
1980s - 710 (15.11%)
1950s - 84 (1.79%)
1940s - 3 (0.06%)
1930s - 1*

Total = 4700

*can neither confirm nor deny merits as an "album"

yeah, that spread seems appropriate.

Great job jonmarck. I think LonesomePanda and Daniel Lisman must have the least common albums of everyone! And I'm never in the list, not even once.

Thanks, jonmarck and Anthony, for collecting and showing these stats. Some observations:

- No surprise to see my name in the 80s list. It would make sense, if there were some correlation between the voters' age and the album years' spread.

- The total spread over the decades makes sense to me as well. The naughties seem to be a bit overrated, but that can't be avoided when you do a poll in 2007.

I have 8 albums in common with Daniel Lisman, I guess that's more than anybody with Netjade

Well I guess there are many reasons with I have more 90s and 00s albums than other people

1)I have decided 3 years ago to increase my musical knowledge, and I have start by the 90s and by following the album releases. So I know a decent amount of those decades acclaimed albums while I know much less of the previous ones. I guess with my future listenings to albums, my ratio of 00s albums will decrese.
2)Anyway, I prefer those periods. If you take the 10 most acclaimed albums of each decades, my favourite selections will be 90s and 00s, followed by 60s. There are many of the "classics" of the 70s and 80s that I really don't like, or at least don't enjoy much.

I actually had 9 in common with netjade. Really fascinating list-I thought there might be more votes for 'New York Tendaberry', but I never expected to see 'Mwng', 'Feels' and/or 'Better Can't Make Your Life Better' on anyone else's list.

1960 - 10
1961 - 7
1962 - 6
1963 - 26
1964 - 34
1965 - 102
1966 - 114
1967 - 188
1968 - 194
1969 - 185

Total = 866


1970 - 147
1971 - 201
1972 - 142
1973 - 124
1974 - 71
1975 - 113
1976 - 47
1977 - 138
1978 - 70
1979 - 105

Total = 1158


1980 - 89
1981 - 33
1982 - 51
1983 - 54
1984 - 77
1985 - 65
1986 - 81
1987 - 79
1988 - 95
1989 - 86

Total = 710



1990 - 54
1991 - 127
1992 - 88
1993 - 89
1994 - 146
1995 - 139
1996 - 103
1997 - 150
1998 - 136
1999 - 92

Total = 1124


2000 - 129
2001 - 113
2002 - 96
2003 - 100
2004 - 100
2005 - 93
2006 - 70
2007 - 53

Total = 754

Just so they don't get lost: 2008 Individual Lists

Best years by total points :

1968 : 7799,39
1967 : 7422,5
1971 : 6617,1
1969 : 6481,08
1997 : 6026,73
1966 : 5883,83
1972 : 5352,16
1970 : 5076,74
1965 : 4912,03
1994 : 4729,22

Points by decades :

30s : 51,22
40s : 79,28
50s : 2743,9
top year : 1959 (1121,64)

60s : 34986,01
top year : 1968 (6481,08)
low year : 1962 (79,24)

70s : 39839,38
top year : 1971 (6617,7)
low year : 1976 (1583,41)

80s : 23769,5
top year : 1989 (3477,28)
low year : 1981 (683,81)

90s : 37453,46
top year : 1997 (6026,73)
low year : 1990 (1667,99)

00s : 21578,51
top year : 2000 (4281,13)
low year : 2007 (1473,82)

I'm not sure it is really relevant, but I was not totally satisfied by the ranking by number of votes.

Nice LonesomePanda, you mixed up 1 number though (the highest for the 60s is the number for 1969 while the year is 1968.