Intelligent Life On Planet Rock
Top 50 British albums poll
10,000 readers of rival publication Q in conjunction with HMV have come up with a poll for the best 50 British albums.
I know some of us don't like polls but for those who are interested here is the top 50.
1 Definitely Maybe - Oasis
2 (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis
3 OK Computer - Radiohead
4 Revolver - The Beatles
5 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
6 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
7 London Calling -The Clash
8 Under The Iron Sea - Keane
9 Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd
10 Urban Hymns - The Verve
11 The Bends - Radiohead
12 Abbey Road - The Beatles
13 Hopes And Fears - Keane
14 Don't Believe The Truth - Oasis
15 Violator - Depeche Mode
16 The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths
17 A Night At The Opera - Queen
18 Whatever People Say I Am - Arctic Monkeys
19 The White Album - The Beatles
20 Never Mind The B******s - Sex Pistols
21 Rubber Soul - The Beatles
22 Be Here Now - Oasis
23 Absolution - Muse
24 Rio - Duran Duran
25 Parklife - Blur
26 A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Coldplay
27 The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
28 Origin Of Symmetry - Muse
29 IV - Led Zeppelin
30 The Wall - Pink Floyd
31 Up The Bracket - The Libertines
32 X&Y - Coldplay
33 Who's Next - The Who
34 Black Holes And Revelations - Muse
35 Back To Black - AmyWinehouse
36 Songs Of Faith And Devotion - Depeche Mode
37 Word Gets Around - Stereophonics
38 The Fat Of The Land - Prodigy
39 Different Class - Pulp
40 In Rainbows - Radiohead
41 Hunky Dory - David Bowie
42 Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
43 Everything Must Go - Manic Street Preachers
44 Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
45 Behaviour - Pet Shop Boys
46 Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
47 Parachutes - Coldplay
48 Exile On Main Street - Rolling Stones
49 Unknown Pleasures - Joy Division
50 Let It Bleed - Rolling Stones
Three Muse Cd's in the top 50, two Keane Cd's in the top 13?
Don't trust the judgement of Q readers..... ;)
- More from Steve Hill.
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*Makes that noise Kif from Futurama makes*
I can't tell if music magazines put these lists together because they are simpy lazy and want to fill space without any research/commissioning; or because they want to piss us off (sorry, 'inspire debate'). Apart from a great MOJO best-albums-ever (voted by writers only) in about 1995, I've always hated these things. They show the general public to be idiots with the collective memories of a gadfly - hence Exile at 48 and Be Here Now at 22.
If they HAVE to go through this depressing page-filler every couple of months, they could at least disqualify anything made in the last 5 years.
I suppose I have been duly fished in. Still- Keane. For Christ's sake.
Blimey!
Yes some shocks there... You'd never imagine Duran Duran's Rio being more popular than Led Zep IV......For a 'big' band, Blur have a poor showing....And did Oasis co-sponsor it?......
Oasis
At least they got the albums in the right order. Nice to see the Pet Shop Boys in there which I find a bit suprising. Can't believe there's no Screamedelica or Happy Mondays.
Disappointing
I know Q is a rock magazine, but it's a shame that its readers seem to have no knowledge of other genres.
Wot no Nick Drake? Five Leaves Left is one of the greatest albums ever.
Fleetwood Mac?
Nothing from Massive Attack, either.
Admittedly, Duran Duran made it in (eh?!) and so did Amy Winehouse, but it's a fairly depressing list all the same.
I'm saying nothing about Keane, for fear of being banned from the Internet forever! At least Snow Patrol didn't make it
This was in Q
- 'nuff said. About a decade ago didn't Q or Mojo decree that, in the eyes of their readers, OK Computer was the best album of all time ?
Definitely maybe, indeed.
A dreadful list....
... and I quite like Muse.
Boring lists bore me....
All a bit lowest common denominator. Let's ride above the predictability of it all. How about the 10 best albums by bands never on these lists?
WYSIWIG Chumbawamba
Rise up like the sun Albion Band
Out of season Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man
Bongos over Balham Chilli Willi and the red hot Peppers
The Up Escalator Graham Parker
Valentyne Suite Colosseum
Nods as good as a wink Faces
Northstar Grassman and the Ravens Sandy Denny
Fire and Water Free
Some fantastic place Squeeze
And thats just for starters.
A doffing of my cap
Some great picks there. I'm especially fond of Northstar Grassman, Up Escalstor and Fire and Water.
I'd put Highway ahead of F&W.
Can I add a few off the top of my head to the list:
Green On Red - Gas Food Lodging
Fairport Convention - Liege and lief
Steve Earle - I Feel Alright (or indeed most of his catalogue)
Eileen Rose - Long Shot Novena
10,000 Maniacs - In My Tribe
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - This Time It's For Real
Lemonheads - It's A Shame About Ray
Santana - Caravanserai
Thank you, sir!
I had included the Maniacs (tho' I prefer the Wishing Chair) until I remembered it was top 50 brits, and also lost Paul Brady, (unless he is northern irish?)
Caravanserai
is in my all time top ten from anywhere in the known universe. Good call.
Northstar Grassman gets 3rd vote
'Next Time Around' is one of my favourite songs of all time, a work of genius.
Is this a piss-take?
Perhaps a parody of all those lists that broadcasters and publishers (present company excluded) so enjoy?
Wouldn't know that...
...modern beat music was largely the invention of African-Americans, would you?
I think the reason modern
I think the reason modern "indie" music is so bad is because it‘s made by people who've only ever listened to "indie" music; that‘s why it has no groove, no swing.
"Alternative" rock fans,
"Alternative" rock fans, who like to think they're more adventurous in their tastes than the common herd are actually incredibly narrow-minded and conservative. Always have been; probably always will be.
Haven't read Q for years since it started consisting pretty much entirely of lists and bullet-point sidebars but Jesus it must be dull if this is anything to go by.
Surprised the godawful Razorlight didn't make it.
Yep...
...can't disagree with that.
Dull Dull Dull Dull Dull
I admit that I own 17 of the top 20. Probably, if I go down the list, I own about he same percentage of the whole 50. But really, it is hardly the most inspirational list is it; ploughing that one narrow furrow of depressed skinny white boy rock? It says more about the readers of Q (and Q itself) than anything else.
For GOD'S SAKE, not even What's Going On makes the list.
I think this all related to Prof Hepworth's comments elsewhere RE: The Isleys and the BBC, AND the discussion on the podcast (with Trevor Dann, was it?) on music radio programming.
This list is a product of a trapped audience looking out onto a restricted landscape. No pop, no style and a maximum ten years vintage. occasionally a hackneyed default-setting classics from Rock's Rich Tapestry in pushed under the door.
"In New Music We Trust?" - patently not.
"what's going on" couldn't have made it
that's cos it's a list of British Albums. Hence no U2 (which you might expect) and plenty of other omissions....
Jesus H...will you ladies stop rising to the bait; It's the Q magazine list of the top 50 albums for Gods sakes...did you honestly, truly, in your heart of hearts REALLY think you were going to see Thompson/Cave/Lowe in there?
Blush
Woops didn't spot that. I still hold to the point though
Good point on the British albums thing...
...but even then, and I'm shocked I'm saying this, even NME's poll from 2006 of what they considered to be 'the best British albums' had more surprises and diversity than this!
Blimey
Q doing a top-whatever list. Who'd've thought?
You've gotta ave' a laugh ain't ya...
The 2nd Keane album at no.8 is pretty amazing. It's not even as good as the 1st Keane album.
Rio by Duran Duran suddenly poping up is pretty incongrus as well.
Still, brings a smile to your face I guess.
OMG, Keane are in there twice ...
And no room for All Mod Cons, Real Life (Magazine), Closer, Physical Graffiti, Zeppelin 1,2, & 3, Quadrophenia, Tommy, Meat Is Murder, The Smiths, Strangeways Here We Come, Heroes, Station to Station, Aladdin Sane, Low, Leftism, Blue Lines or Dummy ?
As for Oasis I dont think I've even listened to Be Here Now since 1995 or whenever it was that steaming pile of doo-doo was released. I doubt Liam & Noel have either.
This is just depressing.
I stopped buying Q about two years ago. I had stopped reading it about four years ago, but I'm a slave to inertia.
Seeing the Oasis brothers at number one makes me want to pull my own lungs out and eat them. I'm not going to look any further down the list. The number one slot says far too much already.
Oh Holy Christ, I just peeked at number two and number three. This list was constructed by morons.
OK I'll have a damn good peek. I own all but four of the albums on this list, but I'd probably only put half a dozen of them in my top 50, if I could be arsed to do such a thing. These people are fools. Or Q readers.
Will someone explain to me
in words of one syllable or less and please use diagrams if necessary what is so very special about OK Computer? I mean it's not rubbish or anything but am I alone in thinking that Pablo Honey and The Bends are better?
..
am I alone in thinking that Pablo Honey is better?
Yes.
Quite, quite alone.
I'm a massive Radiohead fan, but I've always thought that album was a bit of a duffer.
With regards to OK Computer, I honestly think it's kind of received wisdom that it is always no.1 in these polls. The ***** star reviews were universal on release and the acclaim just grew from there, I think people vote for it almost unthinkingly now. Personally, if you gave me the choice, I'd rather listen to The Bends but OK Computer still sounds pretty fresh today.
No
you're not alone. There are at least two us.
no
make that three
OK Computer v The Bends v Pablo Honey
The reason OK Computer was given 5 stars was cos Q (and everyone else) hadn't realised how good The Bends was at its release and gave its follow-up a "we daren't be wrong again" 5 stars.
What p's me off about Radiohead in their moaning about record companies now is that their record company persevered with them when Pablo Honey initially bombed. They appear a tad ungrateful now. People forget what a Nirvana-copy Radiohead were at first - Pablo Honey is a weak record.
I wouldn't agree with that
Ranked #6 on Melody Maker's list of 1995's `Albums Of The Year' - "Rock as self-evisceration....consistently, savagely brilliant..." Melody Maker 12/23-30/95, pp.66-67
Ranked #4 in NME's `Top 50 Albums Of The Year' for 1995. New Musical Express 12/23-30/95, pp.22-23
Included in Q's 50 Best Albums of 1995 - "...THE BENDS' lasting mightiness is confirmed--as is the scary impression that they'll only get better..." Q Magazine 2/96, p.63
Small sample..
I read on the BBC website that only 11,000 people were polled for this top 50. I would hazzard a guess that few of them are over the age of 25. Some very odd choices in there, though. In Rainbows? I think it's a great album, but it's only three months old. What next? Coldplay's new album due in May at number one?
I haven't read Q in years...
and I haven't missed much! I only clocked up 11 of this lot sitting in my cupboard. Surely the point of these polls is that albums need to be a certain age before they can have passed the test of time? Joe Public only has a short memory and, judging by this list, a very narrow taste in "British" music.
Can anyone explain the attraction of Radiohead? I can't even be arsed to listen to them because no band can live up to the hype they've had!
Anyone for 'Got It?'
I got 27.
Which ones? The good ones of course.
that'll be a no then
I only scored 19/50. The question now - is that good or bad?
Got it
8/50.Hunky Dory is the only 1 i still listen to.The Bends is always worth a listen every now and then.
11/50
Still listen to Zeppelin and Back to Black, the rest gather dust.
46 out of 50
and far, far too many of them I have only played two or three times before disappointment haunted all my dreams.
The ones I don't have are:
Don't Believe The Truth - Oasis
Violator - Depeche Mode
Up The Bracket - The Libertines
Songs Of Faith And Devotion - Depeche Mode
Should I bother Amazon for any of these?
(Don't bother advising me to buy the Oasis one, I'd rather swim in a tank full of Noel Gallagher's snot)
Violator is the best DM album and truly ace.
I wouldn't bother with the other three though. Buy British Sea Power instead!
British Sea Power
I was impressed enough by a cover CD track to buy the first album, but it didn't really do it for me as a whole album. Interesting but only worthy would have been my one line summary. Have they changed enough to justify another investment I wonder?
Oh the new album is beyond wonderful.
The Pixies + John Betjeman x Arcade Fire to the power of Philip Larkin.... best record of the year so far.
Crikey.
Given that, unless I have ingested large quantities of fun juice, I can take or leave The Pixies, and that I don't really get Arcade Fire at the best of times, that leaves the Betjeman and Larkin connections.
Hmmmm.
I may have to check out a track or two more before I invest in the whole kit and caboodle, methinks!
They can't possibly be this good:
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
Extraordinary
But we shouldn't be surprised. After all, in a poll conducted by Radio 2 last year Queen were voted the best British band ever. I own 20 out of the 50 but only because I couldn't give most of them away on Amazon Marketplace. And as for Be Here Now and Rio being in there and This Year's Model or New Boots And Panties not...I'm going for a lie down.
Quoasis
Surely 'Hello!' should be at No.1, and 'On The Level' No.2.
Dog Of Two Head
in at number three with a bullet.
No Q-uandary whatsoever.
Bored with this. Not even worth the fuss. As pointed out, this is Q's list. We ALL stopped reading it years ago, just as we stopped reading NME before that. Lets just say their demographic is not as discerning as is ours, but, sadly, probably explains why their circulation may be a tad above (the) Words, and why there are more Oasis LPs in the shops than Robert Wyatts. What would be interesting would be a survey of what (the) Word readers also read. For the record, I tend to also buy Unshod and Slomo, the occasional FROOTs and very occasional Record Collector. Q only if at an airport and I have read all the others, but only if I can hide it in a copy of Razzle, so as not to suggest I would stoop so low.
I buy The Word - that's it.
And I buy it because I love the standard of writing. It doesn't matter to me if I don't like Goldfrapp or Nick Cave or whoever, because the interview or feature is always worth reading just for itself. This is the only magazine I can say that about.
I'll second that
It is the standard of writing that I read it for too, rather than simply because it talks about the bands I like. If there's a cross-over then that's great, but it's not necessary all of the time. For example, I really enjoyed the article on British Sea Power, but am yet to believe the hype. I pick up Mojo and Uncut the odd time, but only if there's something of interest on the cover usually. More often I rely on the web, particular to blogs, to find new and interesting music. But I'll say that in music terms, Word is tops by a long shot.
Mojo and Uncut
get my dosh each month too.
Record Collector gets a look-in every now and again - I'm a sucker for the label specific things they do; "Great Vertigo/Island/Harvest collectables", that sort of thing. They always list albums I once saw in a clearance sale for 99p which now fetch 8 million quid on eBay.
Word is streets ahead of 'em all in terms of the essential measure, the lie-in-a-hot-bath-with-a-beer-balanced-on-the-edge-reading-the-mag-and-have-a-chuckle factor.
People vote for Oasis
because it's expected of them. Q mag and others have conditioned the their readership that Oasis made the best albums just like 20 years ago it was Sgt Pepper and you were wrong if you disagreed.
Only now is it acceptable to say Revolver and dare I say Rubber Soul are better!
My favourites that are not there?
Leige and Leaf
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Solid Air
Pointless and Predictable
I could have almost named the top 10 without seeing it (apart from Oasis) and known that *Yawns theatrically* London Calling would be higher than The Sex Pistols NMTB again
Well I love 'OK Computer'...
...but one of the best albums ever made?
Demographics
It's a pretty dull list, isn't it? Probably of most use to Q's marketing department, since it gives a handy demographic portrait of the magazine's readership. Other than that - ho hum.
move on, move on, move on.
Oh...it makes me sick. The same languid list lingering in a time continuum that has lasted 7 years. Move on.
Who cares about Q and their stupid lists !!!
I got fed up with the lazy list after list journalism from Q and Mojo 5 or 6 years ago.
Now let me shoot myself and give you the Rolling Stone Greatest Albums of All Time Top 100 list from 2003.
And then I shall in the words of Mr Hatchet......Move On.
1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
3. Revolver, The Beatles
4. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
5. Rubber Soul, The Beatles
6. What's Going On, Marvin Gaye
7. Exile on Main Street, The Rolling Stones
8. London Calling, The Clash
9. Blonde on Blonde, Bob Dylan
10. The Beatles ("The White Album"), The Beatles
11. The Sun Sessions, Elvis Presley
12. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis
13. Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground
14. Abbey Road, The Beatles
15. Are You Experienced?, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
16. Blood on the Tracks, Bob Dylan
17. Nevermind, Nirvana
18. Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen
19. Astral Weeks, Van Morrison
20. Thriller, Michael Jackson
21. The Great Twenty-Eight, Chuck Berry
22. Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon
23. Innervisions, Stevie Wonder
24. Live at the Apollo (1963), James Brown
25. Rumours, Fleetwood Mac
26. The Joshua Tree, U2
27. King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 1, Robert Johnson
28. Who's Next, The Who
29. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin
30. Blue, Joni Mitchell
31. Bringing It All Back Home, Bob Dylan
32. Let It Bleed, The Rolling Stones
33. Ramones, Ramones
34. Music From Big Pink, The Band
35. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, David Bowie
36. Tapestry, Carole King
37. Hotel California, The Eagles
38. The Anthology, 1947 - 1972, Muddy Waters
39. Please Please Me, The Beatles
40. Forever Changes, Love
41. Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, The Sex Pistols
42. The Doors, The Doors
43. The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
44. Horses, Patti Smith
45. The Band, The Band
46. Legend, Bob Marley and the Wailers
47. A Love Supreme, John Coltrane
48. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Public Enemy
49. At Fillmore East, The Allman Brothers Band
50. Here's Little Richard, Little Richard
51. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
52. Greatest Hits, Al Green
53. The Birth of Soul: The Complete Atlantic Rhythm and Blues Recordings, 1952 - 1959, Ray Charles
54. Electric Ladyland, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
55. Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley
56. Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder
57. Beggars Banquet, The Rolling Stones
58. Trout Mask Replica, Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band
59. Meet the Beatles, The Beatles
60. Greatest Hits, Sly and the Family Stone
61. Appetite for Destruction, Guns n' Roses
62. Achtung Baby, U2
63. Sticky Fingers, The Rolling Stones
64. Phil Spector, Back to Mono (1958 - 1969), Various Artists
65. Moondance, Van Morrison
66. Led Zeppelin IV, Led Zeppelin
67. The Stranger, Billy Joel
68. Off the Wall, Michael Jackson
69. Superfly, Curtis Mayfield
70. Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin
71. After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
72. Purple Rain, Prince
73. Back in Black, AC/DC
74. Otis Blue, Otis Redding
75. Led Zeppelin II, Led Zeppelin
76. Imagine, John Lennon
77. The Clash, The Clash
78. Harvest, Neil Young
79. Star Time, James Brown
80. Odessey and Oracle, The Zombies
81. Graceland, Paul Simon
82. Axis: Bold as Love, The Jimi Hendrix Experience
83. I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Aretha Franklin
84. Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin
85. Born in the U.S.A., Bruce Springsteen
86. Let It Be, The Beatles
87. The Wall, Pink Floyd
88. At Folsom Prison, Johnny Cash
89. Dusty in Memphis, Dusty Springfield
90. Talking Book, Stevie Wonder
91. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John
92. 20 Golden Greats, Buddy Holly
93. Sign 'o' the Times, Prince
94. Bitches Brew, Miles Davis
95. Green River, Creedence Clearwater Revival
96. Tommy, The Who
97. The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, Bob Dylan
98. This Year's Model, Elvis Costello
99. There's a Riot Goin' On, Sly and the Family Stone
100. In the Wee Small Hours, Frank Sinatra
That's
more like it.
But once again...
...it says more about the musical demographic of the sample whose opinions shaped the list, than about any absolute measure of albums' "greatness" (whatever that means, and given that all musical tastes are relative and personal, not absolute). It's just a different, perhaps more Word-friendly demographic, that's all. Looked at more coldly, it's remarkably 60s/70s-centric, isn't it? Which is about where I'd peg the archetypical Rolling Stone reader, i.e. grew up in the 60s/70s, so aged 40-60 years. Toploading with recent albums is always a warning sign, but so is any other heavy bias to a particular "era". But, hey-ho, that's the nature of "Greatest Albums" polls. Sometimes fun, occasionally interesting, but always meaningless.
I got as far as. . .
seeing "Nevermind" rated higher than "Astral Weeks" and, as instructed, moved on.
Why...
...do they always go for The Sun Sessions?
1. It's not really an album
2. From Elvis In Memphis is his greatest album.
Totally agree...
...always adored Elvis' work from 1969 and 1970, his finest of all time in my opinion. Most of these polls often ignore everything he did after the 50s, sadly. A bewildering amount of compilations in that list but much more diversity.
Yes yes yes
I love the quality of Elvis' voice at that time... it had more gravitas, the sound of someone who had been to the top of the mountain, looked around and realised that the view wasn't as great as he'd imagined.
Not just after the fifties
but after 1956! The mind boggles.
Ugh
Shocking stuff. The top 3 are the toilet of modern music.
From Elvis In Memphis
With you all the way on that one, always overlooked.
Does this list underline the
Does this list underline the staying power of 'the album' in these supposedly digital download dominated times? I just looked at my 'most played' in Itunes and find that every track is on a different album. Or is this a list from the time when people used to buy albums?
Very blokey isn't it?
Apart from La Wino, there's, you know, like no [blush blush] girls.
Message from Q-boy: "Sorry Kate, The Sensual World and Hounds of Love are pretty good and everything, but as a woman of a certain age you are INVISIBLE......pass me my copy of NUTS"
How the hell....
did Keane make it in?? And the same goes for the Verve! I just don't get why people like them. On the other hand, I do like "Rio" so what do I know!!