Strummer521

The Queen is Dead - The Smiths (brooding post-punk that made darkness and melancholia cool in pop music and made it acceptable for those characteristics to comprise a masterpiece).

The Ramones - The Ramones (for showing us a new direction that pop could take, where it was simpler, catchier and better than it had been in years).

The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground (forget Sgt. Pepper's...these guys invented art-rock and propelled the trash aesthetic to new heights simultaneously. Lou Reed's got the X-Factor like almost nobody else).

Rubber Soul- The Beatles (This planted the seed, and music would never be the same).

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - Wilco (This showed us it was ok to use pro-tools type effects on folksy alt-country gems and still retain their grace and dignity...who else would have done that? Now we have Fruitbats, The Shins etc... If you start the album and you're unsure about it, skip straight to "Jesus ETC...". Argument over.)

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (This made folk music cool again. If you wanted to make music with just your guitar, that was once again acceptable.)

Grace - Jeff Buckley (I think this is what heaven sounds like.)

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis (A rainy New York night for your ears).

Exile on Main Street - The Rolling Stones (If every bar band was this good, I'd be an alcoholic.)

Pinkerton - Weezer (Pop punk with a brain, and the creative spirit.)

Astral Weeks - Van Morrison (a swirling maelstrom of mystical bliss and vocals with miles of soul...one of the most passionate and spontaneous sounding albums ever to hit wax.)

Superfly - Curtis Mayfield (at least in this case, blaxploitation is more than camp or ironic retro cool. Mayfield exploits the system that's trying to exploit him and makes a statement. Plus, some of the most creative grooves I've heard.)

Headhunters - Herbie Hancock (Speaking of grooves, by taking it to exciting new places, this album showed us jazz didn't have to be "just jazz" anymore. If you had this and no other funk album, you'd be doing ok.)

to be continued...

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adidasss

Oh, Inverted world was actually published edit: sorry, 1 year prior to YHF. Should I include an album voted 493 of all time by The Rolling Stone magazine? What about the 492 that are supposedly better?

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Last.fm

Strummer521

Are we really going to consider Rolling Stone the almighty judge of music, just because it's the most prominent one? Their typical cover subjects alone are enough to show they're all about advertising popular trends and unwaveringly embracing the "safe" opinion. You got me on the Shins reference I guess, but my point of reference for that statement was Chutes Too Narrow, and I have to admit I was grasping for another band to make the sentence more symmetrical and I settled for what came to mind...so maybe that isn't the best example, but I stand by Fruitbats. Give their album Mouthfuls a listen if you get a chance. It's no classic, but it's incredibly pleasant and shows a lot of potential (which reminds me...I wonder what ever happened to them). I just see YHF as a bit of an indie landmark...but if you don't wanna include it, I wouldn't lose any sleep. It's not a personal fave or anything. But still I'm a little lost as to why you reference Rolling Stone's list, when from all I gather this thread is meant to get a different perspective from that of the typical magazine lists. So use them as any sort of a guide.

Also: I'm curious as to how you're compiling the list Adi. I found it interesting that you included Marquee Moon (which I know you hate) but have so far excluded a lot of other albums for reasons that haven't been made apparent so I was wondering what your criteria is in choosing the albums or excluding those that aren't vetoed...It seems like this thread would miss the point a bit if it were to become based on your personal preferences. Maybe you count your own disapproval as a veto, which is fine, but I think it would be only fair to voice that and explain the reasoning behind it.

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Son of JayJamJah

An absolutely astounding album. So delightfully bizarre and memorizing. The Andy Warhol factor just makes it that much more intriguing. One of my top 10 favorite albums for sure and must for any fan of 1960's and 1970's Rock and Roll.

tdoc210

king crimson _ in the court of the crimson king
Yes_ close to the edge
Burzum _ Dom Set Engang Var
Joy Divison Closer
The Cure _ pornography.

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We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile. A pile of little arms. And I remember... I... I... I cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought: My God... the genius of that.

Sneer

Television - Marquee Moon

Released in 1977 as punk was beginning its dominance, Tom Verlaine introduced a more sensitive, elliptical approach coupled with a collective musical ability that stood out from the scene. Simultaneously pioneering the punk (to which it was seen as the first album) and new wave movements that were to follow the initial punk explosion, Marquee Moon was somewhat of an anomaly when released, never really garnering much initial success

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Sneer

AND, i do not care for the reaction, because like it or not it IS an important album in the history of British music and many do say its a classic, including I.

The Libertines - Up The Bracket

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cardboard adolescent

It's okay, you can point the finger. Lateralus, seriously...

And in any case, imo Buzzcocks were just as "classic" as Pixies.

Sneer

i fully agree with that. the buzz****s gave punk a popular sensibility and contributed heavily to making it more commercially viable. Very important band and Love Bites is a seminal release.

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Kevorkian Logic

it's a classic, so shut up. If this was a list of great albums that I liked a lot, I wouldn't of picked Lateralus. But it's not.

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