The Observer's '50 albums that changed music' (another "worst list ever" thread...)
 

English newspaper <i>The Observer</i> came out with a list of '50 albums that changed music'. It's a pretty nice list, IMO:

50 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MUSIC
1. The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)
2. The Beatles, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
3. Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express (1977)
4. NWA, Straight Outta Compton (1989)
5. Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues Singers (1961)
6. Marvin Gaye, What's Going On (1971)
7. Patti Smith, Horses (1975)
8. Bob Dylan, Bringing it All Back Home (1965)
9. Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley (1956)
10. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds (1966)
11. David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972)
12. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (1959)
13. Frank Sinatra, Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956)
14. Joni Mitchell, Blue (1971)
15. Brian Eno, Discreet Music (1975)
16. Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man the Way I love You (1967)
17. The Stooges, Raw Power (1973)
18. The Clash, London Calling (1979)
19. Mary J Blige, What's the 411? (1992)
20. The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
21. The Spice Girls, Spice (1996)
22. Kate Bush, The Hounds of Love (1985)
23. Augustus Pablo, King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown (1976)
24. Youssou N'Dour, Immigres (1984)
25. James Brown, Live at the Apollo (1963)
26. Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
27. Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced (1967)
28. Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain (1984)
29. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
30. The Wailers, Catch a Fire (1973)
31. The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses (1989)
32. Otis Redding, Otis Blue (1965)
33. Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters (1973)
34. Black Sabbath, Black Sabbath (1970)
35. The Ramones, The Ramones (1976)
36. The Who, My Generation (1965)
37. Massive Attack, Blue Lines (1991)
38. Radiohead, The Bends (1995)
39. Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982)
40. Run DMC, Run DMC (1984)
41. Chic, Chic (1977)
42. The Smiths, The Smiths (1984)
43. Primal Scream, Screamadelica (1991)
44. Talking Heads, Fear of Music (1979)
45. Fairport Convention, Liege and Lief (1969)
46. The Human League, Dare (1981)
47. Nirvana, Nevermind (1991)
48. The Strokes, Is This It? (2001)
49. De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising (1989)
50. LFO, Frequencies (1991)

Details and explanations here

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/revie...821230,00.html

Yep, pretty bad. No Number of the Beast.

swap OK Computer for The Bends and give the Strokes a little more time to earn that distinction and i'd say it's a decent list.

-ringding-

:hscratch:

I'm not familiar with that album.

I'm just relieved that they had enough integrity not to stick the Arctic Monkeys near the top of the list like every other British best album ever list in the last year.

Pretty sad excuse for a list of the "50 albums that changed music."

No Led Zeppelin, No Iron Maiden, No Metallica...Hell, those three bands alone had albums that influenced almost as many bands as that entire list did! (Thus, "changing" music....)

It's not a list of "best" albums. If it were, <i>Rocket To Russia</i> would probably be on the list instead of <i>The Ramones</i>.

Just to nitpick---I love the Smiths. I think the Smiths were a lot better band than the Sex Pistols. But to argue that Never Mind the Bollocks was less influential than The Smiths---I'm just not buying that.

My thoughts exactly.

No U2, esp. THE JOSHUA TREE, no sale.

Nevermind #47? To me it should be #1 and certainly not out of the top 5.Even if you dont like Nirvana you cant argue the impact it had on music,just ask all the dudes in hair bands ;)

Iron Maiden's breakthrough album. That album and IM have been influencing metal bands for the past 25 years. Considering this list came from a English newspaper they should be on there.

I haven't heard of a lot of the artists on that list.

Green Day- Dookie should get a nod...well unless "changed music" means "made music better."

They certainly do mean "changed music, for better or worse." Why do you think the Spice Girls are on there?

no KISS Destroyer ? blah I really hate "Smart Rock Critics"

http://www.classicrockrules.com/clas..._destroyer.jpg

<i>Unknown Pleasures</i> or <i>Metal Box</i> should be on the list far, far before anything by those overrated hacks from Dublin.

:lol: Check and mate!

I hate these lists. All they are is someone's opinions, and hardly anyone ever completely agrees with them.

I know you're trying to tell me something, but all I hear is "wah-wah wah-wah-wah"...

If Lemmy gave a shit about anyone's opinions, he would have something to say about this. But he doesn't so it's all good.

Spice Girls?

Dr. Dre- The Chronic is another blaring omission.



Yea, I missed that and it took me a little bit to find them on the list after reading your post.

For good or ill, the Spice Girls set off a pop music resurgence that's still going, to some extent, a decade later.

My pet peeves about the list: no New York Dolls, no Exile on Main Street, and Ramones belong much higher on the list.

I was going to say The Chronic also,rap album's today try to emulate the Chronic.

What about Pearl Jam's 10?I can think of 30 band's that try to be pearl jamish to this day.

This list is garbage.

I think Nevermind should be a hell of a lot higher than #47.

And this list is completely worthless without Stan Getz and João Gilberto's Getz/Gilberto, which pretty much blew up the whole bossa nova craze.

And no Van Halen?