Not sure if it's eligible, but it's an interesting read...

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20184315,00.html?xid=rss-music-20080319-25+best+indie-rock+albums

From the site:

Why do we love indie rock? Because it shuns everything that is prefab, safe, typical. It's about freedom, expression, passion — no rules, man! But in order to narrow down hundreds of hours of incredible musical output from the last two and a half decades, we had to apply some...well, rules: 1. Only one album may represent each year (hence the inclusion, in some cases, of too-hard-to-dismiss runners-up, and a number of difficult compromises we had to make). 2. All the bands had to have been signed to an independent label for the given album (ergo, the absence of Nirvana and the Flaming Lips, whose true genius didn't manifest itself until they graduated to the big leagues, but the inclusion of My Bloody Valentine and the Pixies, who originally signed to small labels in the U.K.). 3. The term ''band'' must be taken literally (thus eliminating otherwise unimpeachable artists like Elliott Smith, Sufjan Stevens, and Cat Power). Even still, there was many an internal battle over the final choices here at EW headquarters, and resentments that will surely fester long after this issue has run its course. But isn't that the beauty of it all — the fact that we had such a wealth to choose from? Our picks, and those unpicked, will no doubt spark debate with you as well; in fact, we hope it does. Because that, friends, is rock & roll.

Key Tracks In Parentheses (For some reason I couldn't find key tracks for The Smiths or B&S)

1984: The Replacements - Let It Be (I Will Dare)
1985: The Smiths - Meat Is Murder ()
1986: R.E.M. - Life's Rich Pageant (Fall On Me)
1987: Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me (Little Fury Things)
1988: Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (Teen Age Riot)
1989: The Pixies - Doolittle (Debaser)
1990: Fugazi - Repeater (Blueprint)
1991: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (Only Shallow)
1992: Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted (Summer Babe(Winter Version))
1993: Built To Spill - Ultimate Alternative Wavers (Three Years Ago Today)
1994: Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (I Am A Scientist)
1995: Archers Of Loaf - Vee Vee (Harnessed In Slums)
1996: Belle And Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister ()
1997: Modest Mouse - Lonesome Crowded West (Doin' The Cockroach)
1998: Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea)
1999: Sleater-Kinney - The Hot Rock (Burn, Don't Freeze)
2000: Yo La Tengo - And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (Cherry Chapstick)
2001: The Shins - Oh, Inverted World (New Slang)
2002: Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (Obstacle 1)
2003: The White Stripes - Elephant (Seven Nation Army)
2004: Arcade Fire- Funeral (Neighborhood #3 (Power Out))
2005: Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (Land Locked Blues)
2006: The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (Stuck Between Stations)
2007: Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb)
2008: Radiohead - In Rainbows (Reckoner)


There you have it, Radiohead will find it's way on any list possible.

The "bands only" rule seems a little ridiculous...

Ouch, you will hate me for this, but this list shouldn't be included, as EW's focus is not only indie.

How could I ever hate you? hahaha, no it's ok, I saw it a while back and didn't think it was eligible, then I saw that EW soundtrack list and it reminded me of this. Just thought I'd bring it to the attention of the indie rock loving boarders.

Question for Henrik: As I understand it, when you have a list such as this (assuming it were eligible) you would somehow adjust for the albums that didn't meet the criteria of the list so that they are not "penalized" for not being on the list. Doolittle, for example, wouldn't move up relative to Pet Sounds because Pet Sounds wasn't left off the list, it just wasn't eligible. But, does this mean that you would have to go through and assign every album an indie/not indie status when you include lists like this one?

C

I would include this list if it was from an indie-specialized magazine, and then I would not make any adjustments (if it's indie-specialized the critics probably do favor Doolittle over Pet Sounds). But since EW is not indie-specialized I won't include the list at all as it would introduce some sort of bias to the AM ranking.

The soundtrack list is different though, since the soundtrack albums clearly can be distinguished from the rest, all other albums are blanked (and therefore not penalized). Same with lists of the best Beatles songs, albums by female artists, etc.

Interestingly enough, I'm not so sure if this is true. If a site like Pitchfork released a "Top Whatever Albums of All-Time" list I would expect Pet Sounds to finish above Doolittle. While not "indie" it's self, Pet Sounds has probably influenced nearly as many indie albums as Doolittle.

So, in theory, including a list like this does penalize albums that weren't eligible? I'm not concerned or anything, just trying to understand.

Mmm, what about "Nowhere Fast" and "Like Dylan in the Movies"? Lazy critics...

Of course Pitchfork loves Pet Sounds, but Pitchfork doesn't only cover indie music so an indie list from Pitchfork wouldn't be included. Actually, I don't think there are any indie lists at AM, this rule of genre-specialized magazines apply more to rap, hard rock and a few other genres/styles.

The way I see it, heavy metal/rap/country magazines exist because the styles are not covered enough by other music magazines. Hence, by including lists from heavy metal magazines (or whatever), the genre-bias is reduced.