Rolling Stone: The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

400 of these are unnecessary.

Sgt. Pepper @ 24?

I hate these lists. Especially this one.

Blood on the Tracks over Blonde on Blonde, whatever. Pretty sure Rolling Stone called that album put for the turd that it is when it first came out.

These lists are so subjective, no one is going to agree on what the all-time best albums are.

Marvin Gaye @ 1?

I love Marvin but this was not deserved.

He was not even the best Motown act.

Rolling Stone is an embarrassment

R4 that's not how a ranking based on polls works, entirely. Polls have some sense but yeah I get your point.

This is a sum of 300 artists and professionals polled. So the ones at the top have some common consensus, among the 300 polled.

They should list the number of votes each one got, broken into categories. "67 experts placed this album in their top 20". Like that.

Some of the more recent entries will not stand the test of time.

They already haven't, R9.

How many Connie Francis albums are on the list?

"Marvin Gaye @ 1?"

Previous incarnations of this list by RS usually placed "What's Going On" in the top ten, but not number 1.

But unless you were alive when the album came out in 1971 and how if effected the music industry, politics and AOR/FM radio, you won't know the tremendous influence the album had at the time.

There was a local DJ who literally would play the title cut of the album two and three times in a row, announcing, practically in tears, what a great record this was and how it would affect America.

r12: I was coming in to kinda say the same thing. That album is still hugely influential but it was never taken seriously.

What were the effects?

This list made more sense in 2003.

Guaranteed those 300 were either white rock oriented critics or black r&b oriented critics. And men, of course.

Interesting top 3 - never would have guessed a Marvin Gaye - Beach Boys - Joni Mitchell combo, but it kind of makes sense. I am surprised, however, that an album from the last 40 years failed to make it into the top 3.

Who gives a fuck what Rolling Stone says?

The whole thing screams: OK, boomer.

[quote] I am surprised, however, that an album from the last 40 years failed to make it into the top 3.

I'm not.

To the contrary, R13, What's Going On was accorded a great deal of respect and admiration. From Wikipedia:

"The album was an immediate commercial and critical success, eventually being regarded as a classic of 1970s soul. In 2001, a deluxe edition of the album was released, featuring a recording of Gaye's May 1972 concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Broad-ranging surveys of critics, musicians, and the general public have shown that What's Going On is regarded as one of the greatest albums and a landmark recording in popular music.[1] In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it as the greatest album of all time.[2] According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 7th most celebrated album in popular music history.[3] In 2000 it was voted number 39 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.[4]"

One of the few people who openly hated it was Barry Gordy, who had to be begged by Marvin and Obie Benson (from the Four Tops and one of its writers) to release it.

And Nevermind in the top 10 is bullshit. Nirvana was about one single, not albums.

[quote]I am surprised, however, that an album from the last 40 years failed to make it into the top 3.

As someone with ears, I have to agree with R20.

Last 40 years? Rock has been dead since the 70s anyway, right??

Lauryn Hill's album was so good it made the list twice.

Nevermind was a good album

The second half of Nevermind was alright. Drain You saved the album for me.

Janet Jackson came up higher than Madonna. Vadgebot must be on a bender right now.

Two Beyonce albums in the top 100?

Taylor Swift in the top 100? LOL

Britney Spears even being on this list at all? LOL

This simply marks the fact that no one needs to bother with what is now the distorted, based-in-non-musical-matters, politicized and bad-taste opinions of the staff of "Rolling Stone."

And know-nothings like R19 miss the point, although this boomer could easily add 10 post-1990 albums to the top 100 alone that aren't missing.

Ultimately, the genres are too broad to compare and the pretense that this pile represents music today or yesterday is just silly.

Meaning, this list shouts:

"We ARE relevant, dudes and dudettes! We really are!!!!

Nope.

This is as ridiculous as Pitchfork's "Best albums of the 80s" list which placed Appetite for Destruction at something like number 80 but Janet's Control in the top 15 lol. And that's just one example.

Yeah, I was pretty much going for what R30 says. I wasn't trying to pigeonhole ALL of the boomers.

[quote] Two Beyonce albums in the top 100?

[quote] Taylor Swift in the top 100? LOL

[quote] Britney Spears even being on this list at all? LOL

Agreed with all of this. Rolling Stone used to give legitimate music criticism but that died sometime around the teen pop explosion of the late 90s.

R23 and r20, I figured Rolling Stone would have wanted a newer album in the top 3 to appeal to younger readers. Not necessarily indicative of quality, there are a few albums post-1980 I would not have been surprised to see in one of those top slots - such as Nevermind or Purple Rain (both of which are in the top 10).

"What's Goin' On," the album, is a masterpiece! I wouldn't put it above Stevie's "Songs in the Key of Life," but there's really no denying the beauty and majesty of this record.

And yes, such lists are inherently ridiculous, more a product of their time than the time said music was created. They spark some mighty interesting debate, however!

R28 Yeah, I’m sure they’d take the place of Madonna’s sales to one list. It’s funny you noticed that. Telling........

R31: it's all about culture. Janet Jackson's Control album means a lot to a lot of people. None of whom you know. Appetite means everything to you and everyone you know.

When pop music became about albums is when it began to lose the plot.

Before that, it was about THE SONG.

It should have stayed that way.

R37, Appetite means much more to significantly more people--it sold like 3x what Control did, globally. Appetite is one of the twenty best-selling albums of all time and is generally recognized as a rock classic. And it is one of the most streamed albums by a legacy act.

R39, it’s Pitchfork - Fugazi’s debut is ranked higher than Appetite For Destruction on that list (among others). I don’t think Pitchfork gives a lot of weight streams and album sales.

R39: how do you know what album means more to certain people? Totally one sided.

R40, I'm well aware but the reason Appetite should be higher is because it was an is an acclaimed album, widely recognized as one of the greatest rock albums ever. Janet's album is only considered great by a handful of critics. This site is a great resource--notice what place Appetite is and what place Janet's album is. Appetite is in the top 65. Control doesn't even make the top 700!

R41, it's pretty obvious that Appetite means more to more people--that's just the numbers. It is one of the 20 best selling albums ever and it is the second most streamed 80s album after Thriller.

Beyoncé lol

Skip!

If the Beach Boys' SMiLe had come out in 1967, as scheduled, it would be the #2 album on this list. Pet Sounds would be bumped a little lower.

In 2020, a white, straight man (or men) cannot be #1. It’s just not allowed.

R45 Shut up right wing nut

R46 = woke bore.

R45 is correct.

The Beatles and the Beach Boys were before my time, and I've never really cared for either one. If I made that list, they wouldn't be anywhere near the top. It's all so arbitrary.

Who would you put at the top, R48?

They were before my time as well, but I can hear they were better than anything that followed.

[quote]Who would you put at the top, [R48]?

IMHO, Dusty Springfield would be the highest-ranking female artist. Jimi Hendrix probably the highest-ranking male artist. And I'm not even of that generation, I'm a late Gen Xer. I just never cared for the Beatles or the Beach Boys. I think you kind of had to be of that time to really worship them, but with other artists of that era I think their music transcends generations better.

And of course scores of people would disagree with me. Like I said, these lists are so subjective to a person's personal taste.

Rolling Stone? Really? Okay.

Can someone list the top 25? I hate scrolling through Rolling Stone lists. I can’t ever seem to get to #1.

Here's 50 through 1, r53. Keep scrolling down. I have or had 24 of the top 50.

Back to Black at number 33? Lemonada between that album and Kind of Blue!? In what universe are Back to Black (Amy Winehouse) and Lemonada comparable to Kind of Blue!?

D'angelo's Voodoo higher than Kind of Blue? Wu Tang Clan higher than that? Notorious BIG and Kendrick Lamar even higher? Kanye West and Lauryn Hill even higher? I'm not denying these albums are great but there is 0 chance these albums are worthy of the top 50 and maybe not even the top 100 or 150.

R54, thanks. That’s not a bad list at all.

I remember buying "I Only Want to Be with You," "Fun, Fun, Fun," and a bunch of Beatles singles right around the same time, r51, as well as some by Lesley Gore and the Four Seasons. I remember it because it's when I got my first pair of glasses, and my mother took me record shopping as an inducement / sympathy present.

The novelty of the Beatles made them my favorites in early 1964, but now I definitely like the Beach Boys and Lesley Gore best. Dusty's voice is something I like, but need to take in smaller doses.

Have you heard SMiLe, r51?

The Rolling Stones are much more relevant to younger generations than the Beatles. Their music doesn't sound dated or tinny like a lot of the Beatles' catalog does. And of course the Rolling Stones were raunchy and nasty, and that always translates well.

R41: so what makes you think Control means nothing to people? And it's not about sales. I'm sure the first Velvet Underground and Patti Smiths Horses are at least the top 50 if not top 20. Not about sales.

R59, I never said it didn't mean anything to people, you were saying that Control meant things to many people. And I said Appetite clearly means something to MORE people. Not just more people, critics as well, and it's critics who makes these lists. Janet's Control isn't even one of the top 700 albums of the 80s. The Rolling Stone list SHOULD NOT be about sales but it clearly is some kind of weird mix of albums that are popular now and ones that are standard acclaimed albums. Hence, why Beyonce and Amy Winehouse are right behind Kind of Blue.

Shut up janbot. Control was not important.

Control was of its time. It's hasn't really had a legacy.

Is Janet playing county fairs yet?

D'Angelo at 28 and Notorious BIG at 22?! Of all time? WTF?

You think Janbot knows who the Velvet Underground is?

R28: so you don't like them they shouldn't be there?

These lists always make me roll my eyes and shake my head so it's best to totally ignore them, although I did take a sneak peek. I mean, OBVIOUSLY, Beyonce should rank higher than any album from Kate Bush, Depeche Mode or The Cure.

Where are the Carpenters?

FR5 Isn't that the name of a tacky transvestite basement club from the 1990s?

[quote] I mean, OBVIOUSLY, Beyonce should rank higher than any album from Kate Bush, Depeche Mode or The Cure.

Kate Bush and Depeche Mode should both be in the top 20.

R70, exactly.

R5 Marvin's #1 spot fills a quota for the guilty.

R72: cause no black artist can possibly make an album that good. Yeah, we'll keep ripping off their music but they'll never be that good. And Led Zeppelin invented Rock and Roll.......

Ok r72, that's just racist.

At the end of the day it's just a list. Yeah it's Rolling Stone's big 500 best albums list, so what? Again, it's just a list.

I agree with some of it, and disagree with some of it; and it's not going to make me change my long standing personal opinions or anything.

"Oh no, my favorite arist is further down the list then I want, guess I won't be listening to them anymore!"

Right bitch.

500 albums and only 2 Elton John LPs among them (Honky Chateau and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road)? Yet we get THREE albums from Al Green, whose every song was some variation of Let's Stay Together.

If there was only one Elton John representative on this list, it should have been his best ever, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy.

I just checked and I have 30 of the top 50 on my MP3 player.

As a side note, I have a total of 509 albums on my MP3 player.

Greatest hits albums should not be part of this list. Nice to own but they can't really be considered "albums", they are compilations.

When an artist can create a masterpiece from their music, why not? Not many can have great compilations.

why is everyone ganging up on black artists? DL, never fails......

All subsequent editions of this list both add new music, as well as reposition music based on whether it's weathered well, or whether the present zeitgeist filters how music is heard. I am an old hippie and it's curious to me how Neil Young's After the Gold Rush could be 80 spots below Beyonce's Lemonade. But there is a lot more black music ranked more highly on this list. Which makes sense - in the last 20 years rap and hip hop have dominated the "art" of popular music as well as the sales.

Hence What's Going On #1. I listened to the whole album this month. It is a masterpiece, It made me cry. I am totally ok with it #1.

I also think, listening with today's ears, Blood on the Tracks is, in fact, the best Dylan album.

The list is biased towards men, first. Always is. But, now it’s men and black artists. Who cares in the end. They’ve been overlooked for a long time but some of those selections are hysterical.

R82 Blue as #2 was significant. Joni is about as "woman" as you can get. A lot of the other more current "women" artists are either too pop and lightweight or unknown.

Where is WET ASS PUSSY?

Rumours at 7? It's not even the third best Fleetwood Mac album.

Joni and her parking lots are boring.

THIS IS LITERAL GENOCIDE! No Amanda Lear! No Jackie Shane! No SOPHIE!

Spears' Blackout was a much better and more subversive and artful statement by a mechanical pop diva of limited talent, than Janet's Control.

I would’ve prefer 1984 to be the album that represented Van Halen.

Stretch it r88

Are The Police on the list? Their second LP Regatta de Blanc was a very important album when it was released, it proved they weren't a poseur punk band, that they could actually play their instruments and that Andy Summers was a seasoned session guitarist and Sting never played in a rock band before The Police, he was a jazz bassist. The Police was the first rock band Sting ever played in.

How about Sting's solo albums and Elvis Costello? Costello is extremely prolific and his music is extremely diverse, besides his rock albums, he's worked with an opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter, the late New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint, Burt Bacharach and even chamber musicians, The Brodsky Quartet. I can't even count the many albums he's released.

[quote]Costello is extremely prolific and his music is extremely diverse. Besides his rock albums, he's worked with opera singer Anne Sofie von Otter.

Costello should be pilloried, then hanged, for the excrescence he tried to turn "You Still Believe in Me" into (catch the second and third set of "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"s).

Pet Sounds > Elvis Costello, however.

R91 Synchronicity is on there, somewhere in the last 250. None of Sting’s albums but does he have any really good ones?

It seemed that they chose a handful of artists to appear multiples times: Jay Z, Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Black Sabbath and Kanye West all have multiple entries. I wouldn’t listen to any of them. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Yes, R81, Blood on the Tracks has been subject to a universal retrospective upgrade. There's a great bit on YouTube where Leo Kottke talks about meeting Dylan in the studio while he was recording it.

Homophobic list. No lbbt artists yet fucking Beyonce is in the top 25? That cunt must have the hardest working PR team in the industry

[quote]I also think, listening with today's ears, Blood on the Tracks is, in fact, the best Dylan album.

I came to realize that after listening to it ten or twenty times back in 1975. And then Desire came out, and within a couple of years, I thought of that as my favorite Dylan album.

I had always liked Dylan, and faithfully purchased each of his albums, starting with Highway 61 and working backwards, in 1967. But with Desire and BOTT, he moved over to my "loved" category. Unfortunately, nothing he has put out since has surpassed them.

There aren't any Queen albums in the top 500? What the hell? Yet disposable pop crap like Bwyonce and Taylor Swift get multiple entires?

And only put Freddie at #16(!) On their greatest singers list. the disrepespect is astounding

No one will be listening to "Lemonade" in 25 years.

Can you search the list? I searched Buffy and got nothing. No Buffy? But Beyonce! Sheesh!

R86 Silly philistine. Big Yellow Taxi was a big hit, but (like may artists) isn't remotely representative of the artist. It was on the early Ladies of the Canyon. Blue was a completely different voice - mature, hurt, smart, harrowing and beautiful. The "parking lot" Joni has nothing to do with Blue.

One of the reason the Blood on the Tracks is so much more appreciated than in the past - it's a real person singing about real feelings. Not a political social-cultural icon achieving prophecy.

He was hurting. You can hear it.

I was shocked that Blondie had two albums on the list. Rolling Stone has always been dismissive of them. I think they had some personal vendetta against Chris Stein.

r97, look again. I believe there’s at least one Queen album on the list; maybe two. I noticed because I’m a big Queen fan.

Well, the current low standards for musicianship also help stuff like Blood on the Tracks. I liked it better when Dylan hired Nashville session guys. His garage bands, not so much.

R104 Ha,,,, garage bands like The Band.

The Band was always professional. I'm talking about the schmoes he hired starting in the late 70s. If you wanted to zing me, you'd mention him hiring Mark Knopfler.

R106 Is his current band a useless garage band? Charlie Sexton?

He was also smart enough to hire Knopfler's drummer too. He is not an idiot, he just gets too cute. Oh and he's a rampant plagiarist, but none of his fans can come to terms with it.

His music is shit now, regardless of the personnel. Even the fans that I know wouldn't try and argue that Dylan gives it even 25% onstage.

Dylan fans are worse than Christians.

LOL new HARRY STYLES album on the list.

Could someone post the list without having to scroll the RS clickbait site?

Beyonce and Janet Jackson are very important to black women. DL and most of pop culture now hate black women. Simple as that.

R112 😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

Michael Jackson not even being in the top 10 is atrocious. And the shade at him in the last few sentences of the description below Thriller at #12 is so petty and unnecessary.

Then again, making a list like this is useless anyway. It's too subjective. But dismissing an artist's work who paved the way for so many and ruled the music business for nearly two decades, with the best-selling album of all time (when he was just in his early twenties) is just tasteless. As much as I love Rumours and Nevermind (who are both in the top 10) they don't deserve those spots. But that's just me I guess.

[quote] Beyonce and Janet Jackson are very important to black women. DL and most of pop culture now hate black women. Simple as that.

Neither of these women has made an album all that great, according to critics. That's what generally matters on these lists, not if the artist is on the "woke" checklist. RS and Pitchfork are exceptions to this though.

R109 He' fucking 80. Give him a break. Arthritis makes it hard for him to play the guitar, he

Dylan is a plagiarist like Ezra Pound was a plagiarist. (Pound and Eliot being his early influences). Pound's The Cantos essentially just a catalog of "found objects" from human history and culture, re-purposed to "make it new". Dylan's "borrowing" does exactly that.

Christians. Dylan's Christian period was his weakest.

Yeah, yeah there a million explanations from the fans about how his kind of plagiarism is actually the highest form of creativity. He even plagiarized his Nobel acceptance speech. Was that also a Pound move?

I like Joni Mitchell's music (for the most part) but when I listen to it I can't help thinking what a cantankerous old cunt she is. I wish I knew nothing about her, so I could enjoy the music more.

R113 and 115, proving my point

R118 Picasso was a monumental asshole.

Of course I know that r120. But I was talking about Joni Mitchell.

R119 😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴😴

Beyoncé benefits from the “Get Out: Rotten Tomatoes Effect” or when people are too afraid of Twitter to legitimately critique mediocre work for its true substance. Beyoncé is fine to grind at the club but Joni Mitchell she ain’t.

The Internet was the worst thing that ever happened to Dylan. Now we all know where he gets his material from. In the case of the Nobel speech, it was Sparknotes. I imagine all the undergrads know better than to try that by now, but Nobel Approved Genius Zimmy is a little too clever for his own good.

R122: can't be that sleepy.....

[quote]The Internet was the worst thing that ever happened to Dylan. Now we all know where he gets his material from.

Madonna, too. We all know who she copied. She's lucky her career started before the internet. It was a lot harder to source things back in those days.

No Queen in the top 50 = fail.

[quote]Then again, making a list like this is useless anyway. It's too subjective.

So true. If all of us on DL made a list of our favorite albums every list would be different. My favorite album would be one that you hated and vice versa.

r128: very true. But these days, everybody wants to be right.

I respect people who have their own individual taste instead of trying to force everyone to like what they like by insulting each other.

So here's an observation, from another era, perhaps. Of course judgement is "subjective" and everyone has their own list, unique to their lives, their tastes, their meanings.

But there was a time when music, and pop music specifically, capture a common human experience, and spoke to its time, indeed structured the very understanding of its time. These "greatest album" lists are founded on that project. Certainly individuals' assessment of what work was artistically superior, influential, and significant for its time. The criteria for judging that will also change over time.

Sgt. Peppers used to always be #1 on these lists. It's now not even in top 20... because the times have changed how we hear it. (Frankly, it's pretty unlistenable to me now). But the activity to choose a "best" for a culture that's increasingly market-shared into smaller and smaller click-bait interest groups - is different from "what do YOU like best"

There is a lot of truth to that, R131. I think the Dylan worship is part of the same universalizing project. He is supposed to be high art. You might not like Beethoven or listen to his stuff very much, but you would not argue against its value. A certain brand of person wants to do the same with Dylan, turn him and his music into unimpeachable genius.

[quote]But there was a time when music, and pop music specifically, capture a common human experience, and spoke to its time, indeed structured the very understanding of its time.

But it still depends on who you ask. Some people would say a Madonna album shaped their 80s experience and others would say a Guns N Roses album shaped their 80s experience. Even capturing a common human experience can be subjective depending on the audience.

R112 But is it about race or music?

Both^^

R135 Well, I only care about the music. Not race, gender or sexual prefenence. I don’t think Harry Styles, Beyoncé, Cyndi Lauper, Kanye West, Madonna or Jay Z belonged on the list. Can’t stand Dylan or Springsteen either but I get that most do. Also, greatest hits albums shouldn’t be on there. I would have included Phil Spector’s Christmas album, though.

The Ink Spots should have been in the top 10. And befire you say they weren’t rock and roll, this list seems to be popular music or any kind, as country, pop, and even Frank Sinatra were represented. The Ink Spots paved the way for doo-wop, etc.

I’m sorry, but Bill Kenny was and continues to be one the greatest singers EVER. The Ronettes should have been much higher, too.

[quote] I don’t think Harry Styles, Beyoncé, Cyndi Lauper, Kanye West, Madonna or Jay Z belonged on the list

Madonna and Kanye are far more acclaimed than the rest of the artists on that list. I don't even like Kanye but I can admit that..

R137 They used Madonna’s hits album because none of them stand alone as great albums...and this is from someone who enjoyed True Blue, Erotica, Like a Prayer and Bedtime Stories a lot.

That was another issue I had with this list. It seemed like they picked some albums due to one very popular song, not because of the merits of the album as a whole.

R138, Like a Prayer is ranked pretty high among critics but I actually agree with you. Including greatest hits, The Immaculate collection is one of the 100 or so greatest albums ever, easily.

R139 I wouldn’t mind a separate greatest hits only list. I think I prefer her second hits album, though. What was it, GV2?

Too many jandras.

I remember when they did one of these lists (the first?) for the best 100 albums of the magazine's first 20 years of existence, 1967-1987. It was actually useful & I had fun hunting down a lot of the entries at used record stores. (For the record, Sgt Pepper was #1, What's Going On was #10.)

500 is just too much to digest in any meaningful way. It starts to seem clickbaity, especially when they do a new list every few years.

Control changed pop and dance music. It was a very innovative, groundbreaking album at the time.

Love that Janet had three albums make the list.

R140, yes, that's it. I prefer The Immaculate collection by far. Especially since it's in chronological order. I hate when greatest hits albums are not in order!

R144 Me too!

R145, right? How fucking hard is it to sequence all the songs in chronological order? I imagine not very. It kills the flow.

Greatest Hits shouldn't be on the list. Stand alone albums only.

And I have three of them on there!

[quote]Costello should be pilloried, then hanged, for the excrescence he tried to turn "You Still Believe in Me" into (catch the second and third set of "ah-ah-ah-ah-ah"s).

I have NO idea WTF you are talking about, I don't have every Costello LP he's made. I simply find him a diverse musician who is willing to take risks, instead of putting out different versions of the same music year after year. He's a much better songwriter than garbage 'musicians' like Taylor Swift, that's for sure.

Does anyone think Beyoncé will get in the rock and roll hall of fame?

Of course R150. Kate Bush won’t, but Beyoncé will.

[quote][R91] Synchronicity is on there, somewhere in the last 250. None of Sting’s albums but does he have any really good ones? It seemed that they chose a handful of artists to appear multiples times: Jay Z, Taylor Swift, Janet Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Black Sabbath and Kanye West all have multiple entries. I wouldn’t listen to any of them. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Synchronicity is actually my least fave Police album. You could tell they weren't into being a band anymore. I think my least fave Police song, Every Breath You Take is on that LP. EBYT was a song about stalker, it was misconstrued as a love song. Leave it to Sting, he said in an interview, he knew that song would be misconstrued because of the music, people would not pay close attention to the lyrics, he was right.

Sting is one of my faves, so I guess that factors in when I look at a Greatest Albums list, yet, like most artists, usually an entire album isn't 100% great. I'd say he has about 4-5 songs per album which are standout tracks.

I enjoy all his solo albums, the standouts for me are "The Dream of the Blues Turtles", "Ten Summoner's Tales" and "Nothing Like the Sun". I saw The Police, and Sting, well over 30+ times, they were always an excellent live band. Sting solo too was excellent, his tour with Branford Marsalis and the entire band of jazz musicians was one of his best tours.

R152 I like the first Police record a lot. Masoko Tanga is my favorite song of theirs. After that, I liked songs here and there from their other albums. I was just getting into pop music as a “tween” when Synchronicity came out and my mom bought me the cassette because her nurse coworkers told her the Police were the most popular band. Lol. I later went back and bought their other records.

To this day I like Synchronicity because of the memories I have of listening to it while sitting on my bed, drawing. But I think their first two albums are their best.

R153, I first heard the Police when they had their indie 'punk' UK singles out. But Roxanne was the song which proved how new and different they were. They definitely exposed a rock audience to reggae. Lots of people had no idea about reggae and ska music. The Police, The Specials and The Beat helped expose that music to a white rock audience.

I actually saw the Police at CBGBs, then, seeing them at NYC's Diplomat Hotel and The Bottom Line, proved they sure weren't a punk band who could barely play their instruments. The NYC Palladium concert is one of their best. It was broadcast live, a friend taped the concert for me, I still have the tape. It's probably available on bootleg. The Palladium later became a huge disco.

It's unfortunate that Sting has lost the ability to create new music, his past few albums haven't been very good. Two albums were basically Sting re-hashing his old songs. Two of his children are musicians, Joe from his first marriage and his daughter Elliot (Coco) with Trudie Styler. Both of them play bass. Joe's first album was pretty good. Elliot has an interesting voice, like a female Sting, but more raspy.

Two questions, r149:

1. Are you a Pet Sounds fan? If not, question 2 probably doesn't matter.

2. Did you listen to the link I provided in r92?

Since you love Costello, here's Party Girl:

Madonna's first album was great. RS doesn't give much respect to clubby music. This tune has not dated at all.

Rolling Stone always, always hated dance/club music, that genre was constantly being shit on in that magazine. It's a mystery why they even bothered with it at all, when they were just going to hate it anyway.

And neither Janet Jackson nor Beyonce every made 1 goddamn clubby song that comes within a mile of Madonna. Shitty shitty "dance" - those two.

Speaking of, are these artists on that RS list? Culture Club, Spandau Ballet, Japan, New Order.....

Where is this Album - pop production masterpiece. On every list of top 80s albums.

ABC was a great band r159. I miss sophisticated pop.

Well it's total bullshit that they pulled this revisionist inclusive crap and completely ignore black dance music feeding white dance music and vice versa. As dance music is probably one of the best selling kind of popular music today. Where is this album?

Nightclubbing is a visionary fusion album and was very influential, and the entire thing is listenable. And Grace is blackity black black and Beyoncé can sing better but has 1/30 the balls to the wall artistry and showmanship.

500! That's far too many albums.

The 100 greatest albums would have been spot on.

I think it would be interesting to provide a list of 200 albums and force the rankers to sort only those 200 albums.

Grace Jones' Nightclubbing is brilliant, I agree. Grace Jones was too outside the mainstream and too "gay" for the likes of Rolling Stone.

I'm one of maybe five people who remember Swing Out Sister, but imho their debut album was one of the best albums of the 80s. Pure wonderful pop.

R161/R162, Grace Jones is a visionary, one of the "original" weirdos as I like to call peopel like her, Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Bjork, etc. I remember when Gaga first came out, she was constantly dressing in a wacky way and everyone thought it was sooo unique--everyone but people who are familiar with Grace Jones. Grace Jones even called her out and said "I wish she would stop copying me". She was NOT flattered by Gaga's imitation of her. And she rejected Gaga's idea to collaborate. Here are some of her quotes.

[quote] ‘I have to not just like what you do, but be inspired by what you do, and I was not inspired’. From the very beginning, when I met her, I thought her to be too affected. I thought she was still looking for herself.”

More of Jones's opinions:

[quote] "Gaga came to me, and I just could not find a soul," she says. "I come from church—maybe that has something to do with it. I like to get to the soul of a person. I just didn't feel a soul." Jones goes on to clarify that she doesn't believe Gaga is soulless—just that her spirit was hard to spot. Still, future encounters didn't make it any more visible. "She might have been freaked out with meeting me," she explained. "It's okay, but then we met three times after, and...boy, I got so angry."

Gaga took a couple art classes at NYU and convinced herself she was the new superstar of chameleon artistes. That 1 year long pap stroll of 2 crazy outfits a day was so thirsty and empty.

R169 that explains why, conversely, we knew nothing about her yet found her fascinating--she kept her personality hidden. The more we got to know her and the more overexposed she got, the more tiresome and dull we realized she was.

R158 Only Power, Corruption and Lies. Both Joy Divison albums.

Only one Smiths album, The Queen is Dead.

I would have included New Order’s Music Complete.

I would have included Technique on there too, somwhere. The best of Acid House.

Jeeze what a shitty list. It's obviously from a hard rock point of view only. Some very dubious entries (especially repeat entries from certain artists) in the top 200 and a LOT of missing items.

This list is pointless.

[quote] It's obviously from a hard rock point of view only.

No. Not even close.

"Pump Up the Volume" M|A|R|R|S and "Jack Your Body" Steve Silk Hurley were revolutionary cuts of the mid 80s - probably far more "influential" than the crap on these 80s albums.

Rolling Stone's lists are always made by boomer and Gen-X males sprinkled with some new artists, black artists and women to show some diversity.

But RS loves their listicles!

It is so tiresome when white bros use jazz for diversity and focus only on 50s-60s and maybe a little 70s (only free jazz) artists. It's the same dreary parade of Miles and Coltrane and maybe Albert Ayler or something if they are feeling hot to trot. A Love Supreme is the most overused here.

Are you seriously dissing A Love Supreme?

r176, did you even look at the list? There is a black artist at #1, and that ultimate Boomer artist, the BEATLES Sgt, Pepper's album is all the way down at #24.

So what are you talking about?

They do stuff like this just to rile people up and it always works.

When they did the top singers a couple of years ago, that's when I decided I wasn't going to let Rolling Stone piss me off anymore.

Britney Spears has an album on this list, I mean....Britney Spears?!?!?

this list is garbage.

I don't see how they can keep redoing this list every other year?

Isn't this the third time, after 2003 and 2009?

More R183. It seems almost yearly these days.

You don't think its even a little overrated, R178? I prefer the Village Vanguard stuff. Or Africa/Brass. Or even Giant Steps.

My favorite Coltrane is the Atlantic box set, The Heavyweight Champion.

More than one R181

According to Vulture, the list has been released three times, in 2003, 2012, and 2020. Here's the original 2003 list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time:

The 2012 version of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, courtesy of Genius Magazine.

And here's the 2020 list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time:

[quote]Two questions, [R149]: 1. Are you a Pet Sounds fan? If not, question 2 probably doesn't matter. 2. Did you listen to the link I provided in [R92]? Since you love Costello, here's Party Girl:

I cannot stand loudmouth Linda Ronstadt, she tortured "Party Girl". She yells too much. I never liked her voice. I prefer female jazz singers and singers like Sandy Denny, Roisin Murphy, Tracey Thorn and Julie Driscoll.

I enjoy The Beach Boys, but they are not one of my fave bands, I can certainly appreciate their talent. I saw them live many years ago. I listen to all sorts of music not just rock.

Yes, I'm familiar with Pet Sounds. Costello actually did a sort of tribute song to The Beach Boys, "The Other Side of Summer". It's from his MIGHTY LIKE A ROSE record. Lyrically it's nothing like a Beach Boys song, but the music is.

I can appreciate the Beach Boys and the Beatles for their talent, but I've also never been a fan of either. I've never owned any of their music. They were both before my time, and I think they're two "you really had to be there" kinds of bands.

[quote]I cannot stand loudmouth Linda Ronstadt, she tortured "Party Girl". She yells too much. I never liked her voice.

Pretty much the way I feel about Elvis Costello. Back in 1977, a friend bought me a punk "starter set" of five LPs for Christmas, including My Aim Is True. I liked three of them (Sex Pistols, Television, Blondie), and loved Talking Heads '77, but I could not stand the sound of Elvis Costello's voice. "Torture" is exactly what I thought was happening to him that caused those bleating, strangled sounds to come out of him. It was only when Linda made that album in 1980 that I was able to like those songs.

The fact that Sgt Pepper went from previous #1 to current #24 gives me the appearance that these lists are basically meaningless. There is no real standard or criteria, just popularity.

R194 Upthread I commented that the meaning of the release of this lists are exactly what you describe as meaningless. The zeitgeist changes how art (and culture, and history) are perceived. Some music that wasn't appreciated in its time in a new era is heard differently. Similarly, music that seemed so popular contemporaneously with its composition, doesn't wear well.

Sgt Pepper's was astonishing for its time - Pet Sounds opening what "rock" albums could be like, expanding the limits. Sgt. Pepper's now, sounds to baroque, fragmentary, too many styles superficially used ...

Speaking of baroque - Bach, commonly accepted as one of the top three classical composers in history - was not known as composer in his lifetime. He was a skilled organist. It took about a century for his genius as a composer to be known.

r194 Yes, popularity and social media followers. All media sites are completely compromised by the need for clicks from as big an audience as possible. Entertainment is now all about diversity regardless of merit. Look at the Oscars. Rolling Stone is no different. That Billie Eyelash and Kanye Fucking West come in above Led Zeppelin tells you all you need to know. A shit list indeed.

I wonder how much $ Beyoncé and Swift had to pay to get their names in the top 100?

It was entirely predictable that Taylor Swift and Beyonce would be on the list (multiple times, even). But I'm a little surprised they managed to stick a Destiny's Child album in there. And I don't know how they still have the stomach to include so much Kanye, as great as his first couple albums were at the time.

Yes, Kendrick Kamar, much greater than Born to Run.

And Marvin Gaye’s what’s Going On is the greatest pop album of all time? On a list published by a magazine that made its name covering rock and roll! Yes, it’s a terrific album but please, do us a favor.

[quote]If the Beach Boys' SMiLe had come out in 1967, as scheduled, it would be the #2 album on this list. Pet Sounds would be bumped a little lower.

We need to end this dippy old narrative that Smile or Pet Sounds are somehow genius works of art. Yes, each have a couple really, really good songs but most of the albums contain sappy, boring filler. Don't believe it? Try listening to the albums start to finish and tell us when you get bored. Sure the harmonies are lush and perfect BUT SUCKY SONGS CAN CONTAIN NICE PRODUCTION.

There's a reason you don't hear these albums or tracks much over the last 50 years.

Rolling Stone is such a sad fucking shit now...

I remember how thick and big it was, over 100 pages at least. I bought so many growing up...Now it's just pathetic...so small and barely a few pages.

So r199 top half of the list all white, (excluding Hendrix) bottom half through in the coloreds? And it's Kendrick Lamar......

I play SMILE and PET SOUNDS all the time, r200. I have over 14 hours of PET SOUNDS tracks on iTunes, and 13 plus hours of different SMILE tracks. And a total of 2.2 days of Beach Boys songs altogether.

Do you want to continue to mistake me for someone who gives a shit what you think of my musical taste? Do continue to listen to your Beyonce records.

1.1 days of Beach Boys would be more than enough to kill me, personally. Death by treacle.

R104 But the bitter cuts the damage of the sweet, for the most part. And if you are going to "disqualify" them for writing about love, and loss, and loneliness... than cancel pop music and its roots entirely.

I do have mixed feelings about the worship Pet Sounds gets.... it revolutionized contemporaries ears, no question. And there are moments of aching and neurotic beauty. But there's a lot of filler orchestral stuff that makes me feel like I'm eating at a theme restaurant with my parents.

^^ R204

500 is way too many to go thru.

[quote]Do you want to continue to mistake me for someone who gives a shit what you think of my musical taste? Do continue to listen to your Beyonce records.

Someone missed the point here. No one is asking anyone to care. You like crappy music, like Beach Boys Beyonce, and that's ok. Just don't call it genius.

I don't like Beyonce. Ewww. Talk about missing the point. And I have no idea what you like.

I hate all the new shit, drake, lamar, kayne west....utter shit

The only rap I like is tu pac

YES to R195! Your comment makes sense of all this, and is more than valid. I've wondered why Sgt. Pepper's has grown less and less satisfying to me as I hear it over the years (and no, it's not from being overplayed). Not only has the zeitgeist affected how this album (and any work of art) is perceived, but also our own personal evolution as we interact with music and art. What I once saw as great fun and cleverness (i.e., Sgt. Pepper's) now seems occasionally trite, often twee and rarely brilliant.

I don't mean to offend anyone's personal taste--and I absolutely understand the emotional connection we feel with music from our past, even not-so-great music from our past (just try to get me to not choke up at Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again, Naturally") but if we're evaluating works based on their intrinsic merit, we need to be honest about what's going on. (<---No pun intended with the #1 album on this current list.) Both "Sgt. Peppers" and "Pet Sounds" are mixed bags, with some tunes I'll always appreciate and others that make me wonder why anyone ever made a fuss about them.

For the record: I think the interplay of major and minor tonalities in "Fixing a Hole" (from Sgt. Pepper's) is completely cool and endlessly alluring--likewise, the melodic arc of "God Only Knows" and "Caroline, No" from Pet Sounds. But do I actually think that "When I'm Sixty-Four" or "Sloop John B" are any better than any of a million tunes from the traditional English Music Hall? No more than "I'm Henry the VIII, I Am," and no one's exactly passing out for Herman's Hermits.

[quote]"Torture" is exactly what I thought was happening to him that caused those bleating, strangled sounds to come out of him. It was only when Linda made that album in 1980 that I was able to like those songs.

The fact that a screeching loudmouth like LS could reinterpret Costello's songs is a sign of great songwriting. His voice aside, Elvis is an excellent songwriter. Sting did a great version of "Allison".

Guess you missed Elvis' former Sundance TV show, SPECTACLE? His episode with the Police was great. The concept of his show, he'd have different musical guests on, he would re-interpret their songs and they'd perform his songs. There were also interviews. Needless to say, his episode with Sting and The Police was great. During the interview, Sting explained that "Roxanne" was initially written as a Bossa-Nova.

Elvis and The Attractions had gone on tour with Sting, I guess their longtime feud had ended at that point.

Another one of my fave female singers is Allison Krauss, her version of The Foundations "Baby Now That I've Found You" is amazing.

At least one album by Rufus and Chaka Khan should be on that list. They were on fire in the 70s.

Really r187? Even I think that's too many for little ole' me.

[quote]At least one album by Rufus and Chaka Khan should be on that list. They were on fire in the 70s.

I LOVE Chaka, Rufus should have definitely been on the list. The last record I bought by Chaka was the one produced by Arif Mardin and Green Gartside of Scritti Politti.

Rufus and Chaka made some of the best soul/R&B of the 70s. The "Ask Rufus" album is sublime.

No Siouxsie & The Banshees, or Siouxsie's side project The Creatures, album? That list is bullshit.

R213: "Ask Rufus" was #499 I believe.

Of the 500 albums, 94 were by solo female or all-female bands. I was bored, so here are those albums ranked from the top, according to RS. About halfway through I realized I should have put where they ranked on the RS list-but go look if you want to know! Most of them are in the bottom half. My main argument would be that BEAUTY AND THE BEAT by The Go-Go's, a perfect album, should be MUCH higher. Joni Mitchell and Lauryn Hill were the only solo women in the Top 10.

1. BLUE-Joni Mitchell

2. MISEDUCATION OF LAURYN HILL-Lauryn Hill

3. I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU-Aretha Franklin

4. TAPESTRY-Carole King

5. HORSES-Patti Smith

6. LEMONADE-Beyonce

7. BACK TO BLACK-Amy Winehouse

8. EXILE IN GUYVILLE-Liz Phair

9. HOUNDS OF LOVE-Kate Bush

10. JAGGED LITTLE PILL-Alanis Morissette

11. LADY SOUL-Aretha Franklin

12. BEYONCE-Beyonce

13. DUSTY IN MEMPHIS-Dusty Springfield

14. BADUIZM-Erykah Badu

15. SUPA DUPA FLY-Missy Elliott

16. CAR WHEELS ON A GRAVEL ROAD-Lucinda Williams

17. WHEN THE PAWN…Fiona Apple

18. COURT AND SPARK-Joni Mitchell

19. CONTROL-Janet Jackson

20. MY LIFE-Mary J. Blige

21. HEJIRA-Joni Mitchell

22. 21-Adele

23. THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION-Madonna

24. RID OF ME – PJ Harvey

25. AMAZING GRACE-Aretha Franklin

26. MAMA’S GUN-Erykah Badu

27. SHE’S SO UNUSUAL-Cyndi Lauper

28. DIG ME OUT-Sleater-Kinney

29. AT LAST-Etta James

30. BODY TALK-Robyn

31. DIAMOND LIFE-Sade

32. HOMOGENIC-Bjork

33. WILD IS THE WIND-Nina Simone

34. THE IDLER WHEEL-Fiona Apple

35. CRAZYSEXYCOOL-TLC

36. RAY OF LIGHT-Madonna

37. FLY-Dixie Chicks

38. ULTIMATE COLLECTION-Patsy Cline

39. ANTI-Rihanna

40. LITTLE EARTHQUAKES-Tori Amos

41. LOVE DELUXE-Sade

42. WHITNEY HOUSTON-Whitney Houston

43. TRACY CHAPMAN-Tracy Chapman

44. COAT OF MANY COLORS-Dolly Parton

45. THE HISSING OF SUMMER LAWNS-Joni Mitchell

46. PEARL-Janis Joplin

47. CUT-The Slits

48. GOLDEN HOUR-Kacey Musgraves

49. WHAT’S THE 411?-Mary J. Blige

50. THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS-Alicia Keys

51. BAD GIRLS-Donna Summer

52. POST-Bjork

53. THE WRITING’S ON THE WALL-Destiny’s Child

54. LAST SPLASH-The Breeders *they had a male drummer, but so what

55. COME ON OVER-Shania Twain

56. A SEAT AT THE TABLE-Solange

57. STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA-PJ Harvey

58. ONE IN A MILLION-Aaliyah

59. EL MAR QUERER-Rosalia

60. LADY IN SATIN-Billie Holiday

61. THE VELVET ROPE-Janet Jackson

62. NORMAN FUCKING ROCKWELL!-Lana Del Rey

63. LIKE A PRAYER-Madonna

64. RHYTHM NATION 1814-Janet Jackson

65. TIME (THE REVELATOR)-Gillian Welch

66. YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK-Aretha Franklin

67. THE EMANCIPATION OF MIMI-Mariah Carey

68. KALEIDOSCOPE-Kelis

69. 1989-Taylor Swift

70. DIANA-Diana Ross

71. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?-Billie Eilish

72. THE RAINCOATS-The Raincoats

73. BEAUTY AND THE BEAT – The Go-Go’s

74. RAPTURE-Anita Baker

75. ARULAR-M.I.A.

76. LUCINDA WILLIAMS-Lucinda Williams

77. COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER-Loretta Lynn

78. BLACKOUT-Britney Spears

79. EXTRAORDINARY MACHINE-Fiona Apple

80. JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANADA-Alice Coltrane

81. FIRST TAKE-Roberta Flack

82. ANTHOLOGY-Diana Ross and the Supremes

83. I DO NOT WANT WHAT I HAVEN’T GOT-Sinead O’Connor

84. MELODRAMA-Lorde

85. ELI & THE 13TH CONFESSION-Laura Nyro

86. CTRL-SZA

87. SHERYL CROW-Sheryl Crow

88. AMOR PROHIBIDO-Selena

89. THE WEIGHT OF THESE WINGS-Miranda Lambert

90. BORN THIS WAY-Lady Gaga

91. HEART LIKE A WHEEL-Linda Ronstadt

92. NICK OF TIME-Bonnie Raitt

93. PRESENTING THE FABULOUS RONETTES-The Ronettes

94. DONDE ESTAN LOS LADRONES-Shakira

So what r219? Are you going to argue that women have made just as many great albums as men?

Because you'd be wrong.

Can anyone listen to Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual these days? No. And no one will listening to Kanye in 20 years.

LOL @ Control higher than The Immaculate Collection.

Also...there is no way in hell Lemonade or Back to Black are superior to Exile in Guyville, Hounds of Love AND Lady Soul (to name just a few).

Lauper's voice grates on my last nerve. I liked her years and years ago, but I can't listen to her now.

Well, R220, uh..no? This is fucking Datalounge, where female music artists get discussed WAY more than male artists, and thought it was interesting that these were there rankings for female artists.

And I agree with R222.

*their