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Here’s another one for you:
In June 2009 German popular music magazine Sounds has dedicated an entire issue to the 250 best albums of all time (“The best of the best: 250 masterpieces from five decades”).
In fact, it contained five lists with 50 albums from each decade (1960s to 2000s).
(Sounds magazine is a recent offshoot from German Rolling Stone magazine. Actually its complete name is “Sounds by Rolling Stone”.
http://www.axelspringer-mediapilot.de/artikel/SOUNDS-by-Rolling-Stone-Die-Ausgaben-SOUNDS-by-Rolling-Stone_803424.html)
1960s:
(http://www.poplist.de/poplist.php?l=481)
1 The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland
2 Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
3 The Rolling Stones - Beggars Banquet
4 The Beatles - Revolver
5 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico
6 The Doors - The Doors
7 The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
8 Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
9 The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
10 Pink Floyd - The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn
11 The Mothers Of Invention - Freak Out!
12 The Band - Music From Big Pink
13 The Kinks - Something Else By The Kinks
14 Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
15 The Who - The Who Sell Out
16 Captain Beefheart - Safe As Milk
17 Cream - Disraeli Gears
18 The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
19 The Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat
20 The Beatles - The Beatles (The White Album)
21 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (I)
22 Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
23 Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Leonard Cohen
24 Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
25 United States Of America - United States Of America
26 Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
27 The Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday
28 Sly & The Family Stone - Stand!
29 Otis Redding - Otis Blue
30 John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers - Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton
31 The Flying Burrito Brothers - The Gilded Palace Of Sin
32 King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
33 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
34 Tim Buckley - Goodbye And Hello
35 The Incredible String Band - The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
35 Traffic - Traffic
37 The Monks - Black Monk Time
38 MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
39 The Who - Tommy
40 Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends
41 The Zombies - Odessey & Oracle
42 Jeff Beck - Truth
43 The Small Faces - Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake
44 Love - Forever Changes
45 Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
46 Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul
47 The Electric Prunes - Underground
48 Scott Walker - Scott 4
50 The Kinks - Are The Village Green Preservation Society
50 The Chicago Transit Authority - The Chicago Transit Authority
1970s:
(http://www.poplist.de/poplist.php?l=483)
1 Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On
2 The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St
3 The Who - Who’s Next
4 Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
5 Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
6 Roxy Music - Roxy Music
7 Patti Smith - Horses
8 Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
9 The Clash - London Calling
10 Kraftwerk - Trans-Europa Express
11 David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
12 Can - Tago Mago
13 Television - Marquee Moon
14 Led Zeppelin - IV
15 Derek & The Dominos - Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
16 David Bowie - Low
17 Steely Dan – Can’t Buy A Thrill
18 Iggy & The Stooges - Raw Power
19 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
20 Neu! - Neu!
21 Bob Marley & The Wailers - Natty Dread
22 Lou Reed - Transformer
23 Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
24 Joni Mitchell - Blue
25 Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
26 Eagles - Hotel California
27 Neil Young - After The Goldrush
27 The Jam - All Mod Cons
29 Queen - A Night At The Opera
30 Santana - Abraxas
31 Carole King - Tapestry
32 Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music For Airports
32 John Lennon - Imagine
32 Curtis Mayfield - Curtis
35 Gram Parsons - Grievous Angel
36 Elvis Costello - This Year’s Model
37 Black Sabbath - Paranoid
38 Randy Newman - Good Old Boys
39 The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
40 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken
41 Jethro Tull - Aqualung
42 Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
43 Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
44 The Ramones - Ramones
45 Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
46 Deep Purple - Fireball
47 Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
48 Chic - C’est Chic
49 Yes - Close To The Edge
50 Frank Zappa – Over-Nite Sensation
1980s:
(http://www.poplist.de/poplist.php?l=484)
1 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
2 Talking Heads - Remain In Light
3 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
4 Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen
5 Prince - Sign ’O’ The Times
6 Pixies - Doolittle
7 Pet Shop Boys - Actually
8 Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring
9 Heaven 17 - Penthouse & Pavement
10 The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy
11 New Order - Power, Corruption & Lies
12 Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
13 Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
14 The Cure - The Head On The Door
15 ABC - The Lexicon Of Love
16 The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane
17 Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising
18 Einstürzende Neubauten - Kollaps
19 Michael Jackson - Thriller
20 Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
21 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
22 Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom
23 N.W.A. - Straight Outa Compton
24 Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
25 Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction
26 Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
27 Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
28 Donald Fagen - The Nightfly
29 Human League - Dare
30 Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love
31 Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
32 XTC - Skylarking
33 AC/DC - Back In Black
34 The Specials - More Specials
35 Black Flag - Damaged
36 De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising
37 R.E.M. - Murmur
38 Madonna - Like A Prayer
39 Run DMC - Raising Hell
40 Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual
41 U2 - The Joshua Tree
41 ABBA - The Visitors
41 Peter Gabriel - So
44 Iron Maiden - The Number Of The Beast
45 Squeeze - East Side Story
46 Paul Simon - Graceland
47 Tina Turner - Private Dancer
48 Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
49 LL Cool J - Radio
50 Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
1990s:
(http://www.poplist.de/poplist.php?l=485)
1 Nirvana - Nevermind
2 Beck - Odelay
3 Oasis - (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?
4 Radiohead - OK Computer
5 Portishead - Dummy
6 Johnny Cash - American Recordings
6 Massive Attack - Blue Lines
8 Blur - Parklife
9 My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
10 Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die
11 Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
12 Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
13 Björk - Debut
14 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
15 Air - Moon Safari
16 Pulp - Different Class
17 Jeff Buckley - Grace
18 Eminem - The Slim Shady LP
19 Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister
20 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
21 Tricky - Maxinquaye
22 R.E.M. - Automatic For The People
23 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing ...
24 Metallica - Metallica
25 Pearl Jam - Ten
26 Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
27 Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
28 Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
29 Weezer - Weezer (The Blue Album)
29 Faith No More - Angel Dust
29 Soundgarden - Superunknown
32 The KLF - The White Room
33 Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
34 Primal Scream - Screamadelica
35 Kruder & Dorfmeister - DJ Kicks
36 Dr. Dre - The Chronic
37 The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
38 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Boatman’s Call
39 Fugees - The Score
40 Mercury Rev - Deserter’s Songs
41 U2 - Achtung Baby
42 Tindersticks – Tindersticks (First Album)
43 The Verve - Urban Hymns
44 Garbage - Garbage
45 Depeche Mode - Violator
46 Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
47 Paul Weller - Wild Wood
47 Frank Black - Teenager Of The Year
49 Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
50 Leftfield - Leftism
2000s:
(http://www.poplist.de/poplist.php?l=482)
1 The Strokes - Is This It
2 Antony & The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
3 Arcade Fire - Funeral
4 The White Stripes - Elephant
5 Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
6 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
7 Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
8 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
9 The Streets - A Grand Don’t Come For Free
10 Gorillaz - Gorillaz
11 The Libertines - Up The Bracket
12 M.I.A. - Arular
13 OutKast - Stankonia
14 Bright Eyes - Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
15 Nada Surf - The Weight Is A Gift
16 Morrissey - You Are The Quarry
17 Kanye West - The College Dropout
18 Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
19 Erykah Badu - Mama’s Gun
20 Mando Diao - Hurricane Bar
21 Cat Power - The Greatest
22 Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R
23 The Roots - Phrenology
24 Scott Walker - The Drift
25 Placebo - Black Market Music
26 Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
27 Devendra Banhart - Rejoicing In The Hands
28 Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
29 Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
30 The Kooks - Inside In / Inside Out
30 Green Day - American Idiot
32 Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
32 Missy Elliott - Under Construction
34 Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
35 Muse - Origin Of Symmetry
36 The Killers - Hot Fuss
37 The Coral - The Coral
37 The Dresden Dolls - The Dresden Dolls
37 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
40 D’Angelo - Voodoo
41 Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
41 Calexico - Feast Of Wire
43 Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain
43 Common - Like Water For Chocolate
45 Peter Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
46 Gentleman - Confidence
47 Jay-Z - The Blueprint
48 50 Cent - Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
49 Amy MacDonald - This Is The Life
50 Porcupine Tree - In Absentia
Not too many surprises as far as the 60s to 90s are concerned. The 2000s list though offers quite some seldom mentioned - and rather forgettable - entries.
Henrik, I'm thinking the 2000s list is one for the spreadsheet. Correct?
Finally, Norah Jones and Coldplay get some love.
with the exception of the 00's i like these lists
What's with the European infatuation with Scott Walker?
Thanks Zet!
Do you know if the critics are the same as in the regular German Rolling Stone magazine?
And then there were two... With the rather puzzling omission of KID A (and all other RH albums) from the SOUNDS list, now only STANKONIA and YOSHIMI have appeared on all the EOD lists.
YOSHIMI is bound to drop out at some point, but I'd be very surprised to see any EOD list that didn't include STANKONIA ... unless it's a list that limits artists to one entry apiece and they go with SB/TLB instead.
That really is a terrible list for the 2000s.
I doubt even Brian Molko rates Black Market Music as a "masterpiece".
Updated spreadsheet
Thanks again, Harold!
That 2000's list is very strange. I wonder how many more times we're going to see a complete absence Kid A (although maybe the international audience isn't buying in to it).
I'm starting to think Is This It may run away with the number one spot for the 2000s. It's already got a head start and everyone outside the US seems to really love it (not that it won't get its fair share of praise from its own country).
Dunno, I think if you go with any number of decent lists, Kid A and Funeral will pretty much always rise to the top. I'd be really surprised if either ever fell out of the T3.
for Like a Prayer, of course. :) Thanks for posting.
It's nice that there isn't dominaion by 1 act- i.e. having so many Radiohad albums listed, like a recent list had.
*Sigh* my favorite gets screwed again...d'oh!
I thought it was pretty solid until I got to the 00's list - yikes. I dunno what they were thinking there.