Sound Tracks
Over Memorial Day Weekend, The Sound , a local classic rock station, played the top 100 albums of all time as voted by its listeners. It's the soundtrack of a generation--and maybe the last soundtrack based on albums. Who cares about albums any more?
Anyway, the list includes a lot of my favorites as well as plenty of stuff I'm sick of. I don't have time to go over the whole list so lets look at the top 25:
25. The Doors, Morrison Hotel
I guess this being LA the list is a little Doors-centric, but still, this is way too high.
24. Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
Hard to complain. The Stones are a great band and this is one of their better ones, though I think of them more in terms of songs than albums.
23. Steely Dan, Aja
I love the first six albums they put out, but this one would probably be fifth or sixth in that list. Was their biggest hit though, so I guess I can see it.
This is the album that introduced the world to the Doors and it's probably their best.
21. Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
I like the band but maybe you need to do a lot of drugs to really get into them, because I don't think I'd put any of their albums in the top 100. This makes me fear they may have two more albums on the list as we get higher.
20. Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
This is a fairly weak album with a reputation that's grown. I don't get it. I love "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and there are a few other nice cuts. It's also certainly got odd orchestration, but a lot of it just sounds like muzak. The best Beach Boys songs rock more than this.
19. Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti
I'll admit their music has held up better than I expected, but they're still overrated. I'm guessing if you look at the whole top 100 just about every original album of theres is on it.
18. The Beatles, The Beatles (aka The White Album)
Every one of their albums should be on the list. This is an odd mixture of great tunes and doodling, and it's become a favorite of many. I'm not complaining.
17. Led Zeppelin, 2
I suppose this album is as good, or bad, as any of their others, but I get the feeling we haven't heard the last of this band.
16. Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
A fine album, and it demonstrates there was a time when the lion could lay down with the lamb. Rockers had no trouble with this album, even though it's mostly gentle tunes. Also interesting that the band's named after two of its members, while the other three were the singers and songwriters who really made this album work.
15. Rolling Stones, Some Girls
A fun album and a comeback of sorts, but I think it's ranked a bit high.
14. U2, The Joshua Tree
A mostly boring band. Don't think this, or any other album of theirs, deserves to be on the list.
13. Pink Floyd, The Wall
Yep, this was inevitable. The only question is how high will You Know What be.
12. Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run
Not a bad album, if a bit overproduced (which was sort of the point, I suppose). Still ranked way too high. I don't feel Bruce ranks up their with the rock demigods of the 60s, for instance.
11. CCR, Cosmo's Factory
A bit of a surprise, as CCR was essentially a singles band. But I guess each of their albums includes enough of those singles and some of their longer jams to be worth it, and if you're gonna pick one, it might as well be this.
10. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced?
The three albums they made are all great and this is the best, so I can't argue.
9. The Doors, L.A. Woman
We've already hit their top album, no need for any others. Maybe that we're in L.A. is why they rank it so high.
8. Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton's okay, but he's kind of dull. This is his best-known work, but nothing he does should be anywhere near the top ten.
Looks like they may be the top act on the list.
6. Who, Who's Next
About time we got some Who. This may be their best album as album (rather than a greatest hits collection). Depends how you feel about their rock operas--though this was a failed rock opera, apparently.
5. Eagles, Hotel California
Ugh.
4. Led Zeppelin, IV (aka ZoSo)
Like most LZ, Zoso is so-so. A fan favorite since this is the one with "Stairway To Heaven." I guess we're all sick of it, but some of the other stuff is still fun to hear.
3. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
I expected to see this one. Maybe even a little higher. Certainly it has to be in the top ten.
2. The Beatles, Abbey Road
Wouldn't even make my top five among Beatles' albums. Still, better than almost everything else on the list.
1. Pink Floyd, Dark Side Of The Moon
Just as I feared.
Too much of some bands (Zep, Doors, Floyd) and not enough of others (Beatles, Stones, Who). And where's Dylan? Neil Young? Van Morrison?
Actually, if you check out the whole list, you get some Dylan, and Neil, and Van, along with a bunch of other names to give us a proper mix, such as Cream, the Allman Brothers, Steely Dan, Bob Marley, Aerosmith and Yes. They even include some "modern" sounds, such as The Clash, Pretenders, Police and Tom Petty. It's a better top 100 than top 25.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:07 AM
4 Comments:
Seems like a Boomer (the pre-60 births) list. I would have 2or maybe 3 Elvis Costello albums in the tip 25 and maybe one of the other elvis's too (yeah he was a singles guy though)
I've never had a desire to buy a U-2 album - I didn't understand the hype when they were big, though certainly they had some good singles.
My top ten historic albums list would be a mix of Beatles, Police, Queen and Stones. From my personal favorites, there would also be a Devo album.
I've never had a desire to buy a U-2 album - I didn't understand the hype when they were big, though certainly they had some good singles.
My top ten historic albums list would be a mix of Beatles, Police, Queen and Stones. From my personal favorites, there would also be a Devo album.
My musical taste differs from that of LAGuy (although there have been rumors that at some point in the distant past he was a prog-rock fan). And there are a few specific points I would disagree with (Aja and Abbey Road are my second-favorites from their respective bands).
But I agree that this list is quite silly -- and quite predictable.
You could have manufactured this list by writing down the songs most frequently played on any "Classic Rock" radio station in any city in the USA, and then tallying up what albums were most represented in thier playlists. There would be slight regional differences -- more Doors in L.A., more Styx in Chicago, more Hendrix in Seattle -- but it's essentially the same stuff everywhere.
What is disappointing is that last time I was in Los Angeles, 100.3 The Sound seemed not to be entirely enslaved to the Classic Rock format. They even occasionally played old Genesis. But I guess they've gone the way of all the others?
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