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The Smiths’ 1986 LP came top of the list, above albums by The Beatles and David Bowie.

In his recent number one best-selling book Autobiography, Morrissey attacks the NME and accuses them of conspiring against him. Ironically the alternative music publication’s staff has named The Smiths’ 1986 album ‘The Queen Is Dead’ as the greatest in history.

‘The Queen Is Dead’ is The Smiths third studio album, recorded in 1985 and includes the songs ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’, ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’ and ‘Frankly Mr. Shankly’. Produced by Johnny Marr and Morrissey, the album peaked at number 2 in the chart upon its release. One of the reasons of the choice claimed by NME, is that the record is just as relevant today as it was 27 years ago. The Smiths top higher than the The Beatles ‘Revolver’, David Bowie ‘Hunky Dory’, Pixies ‘Doolitle’ and Radiohead ‘Ok Computer’.

‘The Queen Is Dead’ appeared at No. 8 on NME’s previous list of the greatest albums, while The Stone Roses’ self-titled release was at No. 1. Among the fresh entries, there are Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ and Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black.’, there is also a big surprise by the number 4 by The Strokes ‘This is It’.


NME’s top 25 Greatest Albums of All Time

1. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
2. The Beatles – Revolver
3. David Bowie – Hunky Dory
4. The Strokes – Is This It
5. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
6. Pulp – Different Class
7. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
8. Pixies – Doolittle
9. The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album)
10. Oasis – Definitely Maybe
11. Nirvana – Nevermind
12. Patti Smith – Horses
13. Arcade Fire – Funeral
14. David Bowie – Low
15. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
16. Joy Division – Closer
17. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
18. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
19. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
20. Radiohead – OK Computer
21. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
22. Blur – Parklife
23. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
24. The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St
25. Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On


What do you think of this list? A bit risky The Smiths in the first place?


Regards,

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Musiclipse
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Mr. Charlie

I never know what to make of top xx lists by magazines like Rolling Stone and NME. They claim to focus only on including 'great' or 'important' or 'influential' albums, but what is great or important or infuential is still only a matter of opinion. In other words they're aiming at something that is impossible - objectivity.

Better to just list the albums you love and give up any pretension.

Good Guy

Yup yup.

The biggest boo boo is attempting to treat something subjective as if it were rooted in absolute objectivity. A lot of the times these lists attempt to feign eclecticism to maintain credibility too.

That being said I don't really have an issue with The Queen Is Dead, but I don't think that This Is It (or Arctic Monkeys) should be anywhere on that list.

Taxman

That just goes to show how much NME sucks

Taxman

And these list should be taken as opinions, so it is always very pretentious when they call them '20 best albums ever' or whatever.

Isbjørn

No matter what you say, The Queen is Dead was a great choice and one I agree with.

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Janszoon

It always cracks me up how these magazines put out these ridiculously rock-centric lists but then toss in a smattering of hip hop and R&B to not appear as myopic as they clearly are. They should have just been honest about it and made a best rock albums list.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

14232949

That defines Marvin Gaye's legacy. Being the token black guy on the white band list. Got to love diversity.

On another note, this list is a hell of a lot better than most 'Best of' lists I've seen. No list is ever going to match any one persons personal liking 100% so there's no point in complaining about these things. At least it wasn't swamped with 5 albums a piece by the Beatles and Dylan

Screen13

Their Top 25 List also included Public Enemy, which is kind of a reminder of their Late 80's support of Rap and House. Maybe he's got some company now along with Kayne West.

I still know what you mean, and it's ALWAYS with the same album, as if Marvin's history is not with any other great albums beyond that and a Greatest Hits.

The cream of this list reads like the token albums you have to hear according to a few people, and while many of them are classics, it's one of those lists that's narrow not by choice anymore, but by room. There has been so much time and too many eras, trends, genres, classic albums of all kinds for a serious one-stop listing of the greats, and I have a feeling that the OP was only 25 out of longer list (I think Psychocandy was somewhere in the 150's, if I'm thinking of the right list). There's the token Holy Trinity of Britpop, the token must mention Post-Punk legends (Joy Division, check; One Bowie from the Late 70's, double check), the has to be there mention of the two class Beatles albums that are not Sgt. Pepper, MBV (of course!), The Stones' Exile, VU and Nico (Check, Double Check, Triple Check!), and so on. It's as if they compiled their favorite Documentaries or histories they read about hundreds of times and just listed the albums and then mentioned What's Going On for good measure. Maybe for modern listeners, these are good pointers to what happened before, but still it's more for the Rock/Indie crowd than other kinds of music listeners. There are those like me who took their tastes to other places not explored by the major publications that will never get touched by these lists - It's nice see a lot a mentions of some reasonably good albums, but there's a world out there to be explored, and there always will be.

Still FAR better than Rolling Stone's lists, though.

Really, in my opinion the Top 25 list is pretty good, many albums I can cozy up to, but not the all time list. Music History should not be comfortable.

The Queen Is Dead at #1? Seems right for now, though. It's iconic for it's time and a very sharp British album in my opinion. Possibly the best original (non-compilation) Smiths album, although it's a tough choice between that and their S/T.

Sansa Stark

They're wrong though

s/t >>>>>> Meat Is Murder >>>> The Queen is Dead