I didn't see a thread on this already. Rolling Stone has updated it's list of the greatest albums of all time.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/

I see some of the albums on here and audibly saw, "wtf?" Then I remember that 500 is a big number so it is pretty meaningless..

TOP 50:

01. Marvin Gaye What's Going On
02. The Beach Boys Pet Sounds
03. Joni Mitchell Blue
04. Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life
05. The Beatles Abbey Road
06. Nirvana Nevermind
07. Fleetwood Mac Rumours
08. Prince and the Revolution Purple Rain
09. Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
10. Lauryn Hill The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
11. The Beatles Revolver
12. Michael Jackson Thriller
13. Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
14. The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street
15. Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
16. The Clash London Calling
17. Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
18. Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited
19. Kendrick Lamar To Pimp a Butterfly
20. Radiohead Kid A
21. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run
22. The Notorious B.I.G. Ready to Die
23. The Velvet Underground & Nico The Velvet Underground
24. The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
25. Carole King Tapestry
26. Patti Smith Horses
27. Wu-Tang Clan Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
28. D'Angelo Voodoo
29. The Beatles The White Album
30. The Jimi Hendrix Experience Are You Experienced?
31. Miles Davis Kind of Blue
32. Beyonc Lemonade
33. Amy Winehouse Back to Black
34. Stevie Wonder Innervisions
35. The Beatles Rubber Soul
36. Michael Jackson Off the Wall
37. Dr. Dre The Chronic
38. Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde
39. Talking Heads Remain in Light
40. David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Spiders From Mars
41. The Rolling Stones Let It Bleed
42. Radiohead OK Computer
43. A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
44. Nas Illmatic
45. Prince Sign O' the Times
46. Paul Simon Graceland
47. Ramones Ramones
48. Bob Marley and the Wailers Legend
49. OutKast Aquemini
50. Jay-Z The Blueprint

Completely agree with Pet Sounds. I never got the hype about this album.

Is it one of those things where it pulled off something incredibly complex or groundbreaking with simple equipment that has now been pulled into the mainstream and is so productized that people overlook its importance?

tk for tu juan said:

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Beyonce's "Lemonade" ranked higher than Dark Side of the Moon, Zeppelin IV, and Aja. A lot of recency bias on the list

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A lot of dumbth on that list, apparently.

Every time I think of how ridiculous RS is, I remember Jann Wenner getting drowned out by the crowd at the RRHOF ceremony when he said "And from Toronto" and smile.

The list should be broken down into decades and voted on by people who lived in those decades. Its dumb lumping them all together, especially in the era of digital downloads. I haven't bought an actual album since 2002.

I think mostly because of the legacy of God Only Knows and the well known love John and Paul had for the album. But I agree its generally not a super fun album to listen to. I recall one critic discussing TV on the Radio's Return to Cooke Mountain album as being more fun to talk and write about than to listen to. I kind of think Pet Sounds, and several albums on the list frankly, fall into that category as well.


A sidenote about God Only Knows, a long time ago Pitchfork did its top tracks from the 60s and I took the list with me on a long drive with my parents. As music junkies that actually went through the decade as teenagers was fun discussing the songs with them and how ou internet generation saw the songs. God Only Knows was #1 on the list and my mother damn near threw a a tantrum in the car saying she hated the song so much still to this day as it was so overplayed (she said the same thing about Light My Fire) and boring. Growing up in SoCal I guess they had their fill of the Beach Boys. (My aunt went to HS as a couple of the BBs, iirc).

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Listen, I love Nirvana's Nevermind, but to have it ahead of every single Zeppelin or Pink Floyd album ever made?

Come on now.

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Without digging into the actual list, I have noticed that Rolling Stone lists tend to give a bit more credence to recency than say, AFI lists. I personally feel lists on greatness should have a ten year gap to evaluate impact on pop culture, whether from staying power or influence on other artists, but it's their list. Obviously everyone is going to have their own opinions, but it's still fun to discuss.

Sex Panther said:

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How did Sgt Pepper go from #1 to #24???

And Dark Side of the Moon not being in the top 10, let alone the top 50 is comical

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Where do you see where they were on the original list?

I sometimes listen to Fleetwood Mac just to hear John McVie's playing. That guy is enormously underrated. I just wish his ex sang more than Stevie did.

Aust Ag said:

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Sex Panther said:

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How did Sgt Pepper go from #1 to #24???

And Dark Side of the Moon not being in the top 10, let alone the top 50 is comical

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Where do you see where they were on the original list?

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Here

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/the-beach-boys-pet-sounds-54298/

#1 Sgt. Pepper
#3 Revolver
#29 Led Zeppelin 1
#43 Dark Side of the Moon

chimpanzee said:

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I'm on a Fleetwood Mac kick lately, it's pure pop/soft rock that might not be all that exciting, but the production quality and vocal work with Nicks/Buckingham/Christine McVie harmonies really is great listening. Rumours obviously blew the doors off everything, but their self titled album is cut from the same approach.

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I was inclined to run an Ent board poll about greatest sophomore album.

Counting Rumours as the sophomore effort of the Buckingham/Nicks.McVie lineup they are a contender.

But I felt like it would be a futile effort with Nirvana Nevermind just running away with it anyway.

Other great ones:

Boston - Don't Look Back
LZ - Led Zeppelin II
GNR - Lies (counting that as an album not an EP)
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Carole King - Tapesty
The Band - the Band
Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Radiohead - The Bends
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Beatles - With the Beatles
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent & the E-Street Shuffle
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

My final four prediction would be Rumours, Nevermind, Don't Look Back and LZII.

Recall the poll here for debut album the final four was:
PJ - Ten
GNR - Appetite for Destruction - winner
Boston
Led Zeppelin

So kinda similar.

Big Cat `93 said:

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I sometimes listen to Fleetwood Mac just to hear John McVie's playing. That guy is enormously underrated. I just wish his ex sang more than Stevie did.

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Christine was a big part of it, the three of their voices together in the arrangements really worked for me. Nicks has a bit of a novelty voice standalone that I don't enjoy as much without the other two in the harmonies.

It sounded like Mick and John just sort of came along for the ride off of their prior blues oriented stuff, but they made (and blew) millions after Nicks and Buckingham showed up. They were talented guys too.

Meh... Rolling Stone trashed all of Zeppelin's albums when they were released.

Ridiculous list.

I will reiterate what has been said... Dark Side of the Moon being so low is a crime and immediately delegitimizes this list.

deadhead aggie said:

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And what is the deal with Pet Sounds at #2? I never understood the infatuation with this album. At the time of release, yes it was groundbreaking. However, most of the songs are so quirky with simple lyrics that are overly merry and seem so "teenage love" oriented.

How this album is held to the same standard of Sgt Peppers is unreal. They are nothing alike. And 50+ years later, Pet Sounds gets a #2 ranking and Sgt Peppers comes in at #24. Ugh.

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Overly merry? I mean, wow, I don't get that vibe from it at all.

I put Pet Sounds one spot below Sergeant Pepper's personally, with both in my top 2 of all-time, just ahead of Miles Davis Kind of Blue at number 3.

Sex Panther said:

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I actually got really into the Beach Boys this year and started diving into them. I was pretty blown away to see how much more they were than just the teen, beach music.

I bought Pet Sounds just because it was number two on this list and so revered, and to my surprise, I ended up loving it. I think it absolutely belongs in the top 10, especially given the history behind it and how groundbreaking it was at the time. I also just recently got Smile after learning more about them and watching Love and Mercy and love it as well.

But I think my favorite album of theirs is Surf's Up. It doesn't seem to register the way their biggest albums do, but man I think it's just incredible. The last three songs of that album work so well together and are fantastic. And I think Surf's Up is one of the best songs ever recorded.

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This is for you! I think you'll enjoy it...

I love Pet Sounds. The harmonies on that album may be the best of all time.

The extreme drops from all being in the top 15 is kinda laughable, but the rankings, relative to each other, of Beatles albums massively improved in the new list IMO.

Abbey Road>Revolver>Sgt Peppers>White Album>Rubber Soul

is much better than

Sgt Peppers>Revolver>Rubber Soul>White Album>Abbey Road

Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like A Wheel barely made the list. I thought it would be much higher.

Thriller not I. The top ten, let along top five, is stupid. No album has ever had more top ten singles.

Also think 1984 by Taylor Swift should be in the top twenty five.

Zombie Jon Snow said:

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chimpanzee said:

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I'm on a Fleetwood Mac kick lately, it's pure pop/soft rock that might not be all that exciting, but the production quality and vocal work with Nicks/Buckingham/Christine McVie harmonies really is great listening. Rumours obviously blew the doors off everything, but their self titled album is cut from the same approach.

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I was inclined to run an Ent board poll about greatest sophomore album.

Counting Rumours as the sophomore effort of the Buckingham/Nicks.McVie lineup they are a contender.

But I felt like it would be a futile effort with Nirvana Nevermind just running away with it anyway.

Other great ones:

Boston - Don't Look Back
LZ - Led Zeppelin II
GNR - Lies (counting that as an album not an EP)
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Carole King - Tapesty
The Band - the Band
Bob Dylan - The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Radiohead - The Bends
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Beatles - With the Beatles
Bruce Springsteen - The Wild, the Innocent & the E-Street Shuffle
Pearl Jam - Vs.
Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

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I'm the resident Springsteen fanboy and I'd even consider The Wild, the Innocent... as more of a sophomore slump than deserving of an entry on "greatest sophomore album" list. Aside from Rosalita, it was a rather pedestrian album but Springsteen standards... Sandwiched in between a great debut of Greetings from Asbury Park and Born to Run knocking it out of the park, it's essentially his worst album of the decade.