Rolling Stone Top 500 All Time Albums

The List

Yea, This list sucked before & it's not much better now.  There is a little more prog there the previous one ( but not much)  & there are a lot of WTF? moments. The top ten alone will have you scratching your head, not to say there are't some good albums there. 

I only looked at the Top 50 and that was pretty awful.

Just as a list of music, I don't have a problem with it. It is a very rare list that would match my favourites well and I would not expect it. I haven't read through the criteria for selection, or selection process, yet, so I can't really judge it and I don't personally care much if Prog is well represented. Most of what I listen to is not Prog -- I'm just here for the swinger lifestyle (now where's my bat?)

Will say in the top 30, my favourite might be the ultra hip The Velvet Underground, 'The Velvet Underground and Nico' It is more English-language oriented than I would like (not a terribly international or diverse selection from what I have seen and I like to see very eclectic lists). Hendrix's Are You Experienced? is another favourite. And I think that Stevie Wonder album is very good. I like the Clash... and in the top 40, David Bowie, 'The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars' (though I rate Hunky Dory higher)....

Maybe once I've had a chance to read through the selection process and seen more of it my opinion will change, but I rarely care much about such lists. That said, if Art Zoyd isn't represented I might just have to get very angry indeed. ;) I am glad that Can is represented.

Of course it is nice to see music in PA under our Prog umbrella being represented, and that's good for scenes that we support (including new Prog bands).

Rolling Stone is not a magazine that I have followed.

EDIT: I had read your post on the voter make-up. Unless there is some way minimise bias in the results without going to record sales, I don't know how one would go about making a list that is really useful.... Too tired, can't think.

Edited by Logan - December 30 2020 at 14:05

Catcher10 wrote: rushfan4 wrote: I only looked at the Top 50 and that was pretty awful. Just think how the Country, Classical, Easy Listening people feel. The tone of the list simply shows where the music world is today and for the past 20 years.... Rap and Hip-hop has taken over pretty much. That's the rock worlds problem for not doing a better job at educating the younger crowd about music.

No.  And it doesn't help that I have no love for rap or hip-hop.  I only know the title song from the Marvin Gaye album.  Is there anything else on there that I would know?  Seems odd that an album would be number 1 for 1 song on it.

rushfan4 wrote: Catcher10 wrote: rushfan4 wrote: I only looked at the Top 50 and that was pretty awful. Just think how the Country, Classical, Easy Listening people feel. The tone of the list simply shows where the music world is today and for the past 20 years.... Rap and Hip-hop has taken over pretty much. That's the rock worlds problem for not doing a better job at educating the younger crowd about music. No.  And it doesn't help that I have no love for rap or hip-hop.  I only know the title song from the Marvin Gaye album.  Is there anything else on there that I would know?  Seems odd that an album would be number 1 for 1 song on it.

^^ I saw your comment on the voters though I hadn't had a chance to look at the link yet. Later on I might have something somewhat intelligent and informed to say. The system would be what interests me most -- and if there's a way to minimise individual bias or maybe people could be arguing for what they know and think is the most significant instead of just voting (the voters could be grilled to defend their choices, and disqualified if they are not seen to present sound arguments supported by relevant data). I'm being silly, never mind, but I would like some kind of discussion process amongst them where there is the expectation to defend the choices well. Will look at the actual process later, but I expect some kind of intellectual rigor in the process. I would prefer a well-seasoned voting panel that are known to be very knowledgeable about music generally, maybe are very well versed in music theory, and are very well-respected amongst their peers (not just for being musicians, but also as music scholars and of course historians). Sorry, I haven't slept in two days, so this is not coming together rationally.

Edited by Logan - December 30 2020 at 14:27

Logan wrote: ^^ I saw your comment on the voters though I hadn't had a chance to look at the link yet. Later on I might have something somewhat intelligent and informed to say. The system would be what interests me most -- and if there's a way to minimise individual bias or maybe people could be arguing for what they know and think is the most significant instead of just voting (the voters could be grilled to defend their choices, and disqualified if they are not seen to present sound arguments supported by relevant data). I'm being silly, never mind, but I would like some kind of discussion process amongst them where there is the expectation to defend the choices well. Will look at the actual process later, but I expect some kind of intellectual rigor in the process. I would prefer a well-seasoned voting panel that are known to be very knowledgeable about music generally, maybe are very well versed in music theory, and are very well-respected amongst their peers (not just for being musicians, but also as music scholars and of course historians). Sorry, I haven't slept in two days, so this is not coming together rationally.

The Anders wrote: Looking at the top 50, there are 11 albums I would classify as hiphop. In comparison, there are 26 I would call rock (in one way or another, and including for instance singer/songwriter albums like those by Carole King and Joni Mitchell), 11 albums that are soul or r&b, and then 1 reggae and 1 jazz album. So it is not like hiphop has taken over, it is just that rock music is not necessarily the big normative anymore that it once was. And in all honesty, why should it? Another thing is, apart from that the list is not very diverse. There are many important album releases in genres other than these, but they are not represented. F.e. there is nothing electronic in the top 50, no folk music, and it it seems like a joke to me to have 1 jazz album. As for classical music, it wouldn't make much sense to talk about albums because the 'work' here is essentially a musical score, not a recording. There may be many recordings of classical music, but obviously you can't have Beethoven's 5th symphony as one of the "greatest albums". You could in principle have a particular outstanding recording of that symphony, but again, the work definition is different here. And then that furthermore emphasizes the meaininglessness of these lists.