411 Top 100 Albums: 100 to 91
Posted by on 07.16.2007
The feature of beautiful controversy begins with numbers 100 to 91. One Click Away.
Right then, here it is……..following the 100 greatest movies and 100 greatest television show mega-features, 411 MANIA finally brings you the 100 greatest albums ever made – or at least our opinion on that very statement. Are you going to agree with us? Er, no…..not so much. You may even hate this opening ten, but you know you'll read it because these lists are fun. Fun, I tell thee.
To say that this feature is a long time in the making is probably the understatement of the year, or the week, whatever. Either way, I pitched this to my fellow 411 writers in the Spring of 2006, and the lists were submitted by November. Since then, blurbs have been submitted, borderline death-threat e-mails have been sent, and now, here we are.
I am your host throughout this feature. You may not know me, because I write a soccer column and I know that most Americans prefer futuristic rugby instead. It's a tough gig, but I've bounced back. Maybe you know me as the founder of the Top 5 column? Maybe as Movie Fact or Fiction host? No? Nothing? Whatever……lets just do this.
So, without further ado, 411 MANIA presents the top 100 albums of all-time………..
PART ONE
Elliott Smith - XO
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #104
Heatseekers: #1
Rutherford: I call this man defiantly quiet and this album the essence of that stance. He never needed to shout or tune his guitar up to 10 to make his statement. All Smith needed was an acoustic guitar and a microphone to stake out his turf. But that didn't stop him from pumping out the greatest Beatles songs they never wrote, with XO opener "Sweet Adeline" being the ultimate blend of his folk roots and pop love.
Wright: I've got a massive mental list of "I must check this guy/gal/band out" artists. There's loads of names on it, I haven't even got to the Kinks yet. Usually I'll investigate one of the names on it on a whim but one way for an act to get moved up the list is to have them die, at that point I'll be spurred on by some "why is everyone so sad" curiosity. Sometimes I'll fail to see what the fuss is about, but sometimes I'll discover someone who I wish that I'd known about while they were still around.
Elliot Smith killed himself on Thursday, October 23rd. Two days later I went into a HMV in Dublin and picked up a copy of this album. It immediately captured me with it's beauty, it's sadness, the quality of the songwriting, the brilliance of the guitar playing and of course Smith's moving voice. This isn't my favourite album of his but as an introduction to the music of Elliot Smith I don't think I could have had a better one.
Berry: Having his music painted, wall to wall, on the Good Will Hunting soundtrack gave Elliott Smith the notoriety needed to expand his musical vision. Around the time of his Academy Awards performance of "Miss Misery", Elliott was picked up by a major label giving him the money to record at Abbey Road Studios where he created an album just as texturally rich as anything George Martin (producer, The Beatles) produced. This was Elliott's 4th full-length but his first that included dense, nearly orchestral, arrangements. As always, Elliott's melancholy lyrics and heart piercing vocals are the highlight of the album with "Sweet Adeline", "Waltz #2" and "Bottle Up And Explode!" as stand out tracks that hold up to his best work. The "XO" tattooed on the back of my arm is a testament to how much Elliott Smith's music impacted his many dedicated fans.
Van Halen - Van Halen
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #19
Singles:
"You Really Got Me" Pop: #36
"Runnin' With The Devil" Pop: #84
Rutherford: Make no mistake, this was the most important album that was released in 1979 and spearheaded the guitar crazy phase of rock music. While some of their later work can easily be filed under "embarrassing", their debut was a blast of rock pyrotechnics that resounded so heavily in the music industry that its effects lasted nearly 16 years. While the imitators suck, the real deal original inspiration is still worth much of your time.
Melchor: The album that inspired a generation to learn how to play a guitar as fast and loud as they possibly could. Underneath all that bluster, though, was David Lee Roth's swagger and masterful hooks. The whole package made for one of the better hard rock albums in existence.
Tollah: Woah, way down the list! Contains arguably the best piece of guitar work ever in "Eruption", as well as hits like "Jamie's Cryin'", "Ain't Talking Bout Love" and "Runnin' With The Devil". All classics. Check out "Ice Cream Man" and "Atomic Punk" for underrated tracks. This album was also hugely influential on the brilliant 80's L.A. hard rock scene which followed and for that it deserves undying praise. In Eddie Van Halen you have a virtuoso who can play as well as anyone, but is all about the songs, and in David Lee Roth you have one of the funniest and most entertaining frontmen ever.
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #19
Singles:
"Once In A Lifetime" Pop: #91
"Crosseyed And Painless" Club Play: #20
Rutherford: Nearly a full five years before Paul Simon struck multi-platinum blending African sounds into pop, music's ultimate nerd David Byrne turned his own uniquely nerdy group into a music platform by incorporating music and sounds from the African continent, turning an entire generation on to "world" music. What made this record so great was that it was still a mega-fun album to listen to, bristling with the intelligent pop we knew and loved.
Berry:Remain In Light, released in 1980, was the band's fourth album and a moderate departure from Fear of Music (1979). While Fear began toying with polyrhythmic African influences over increasingly danceable, post-punk grooves, Remain In Light placed a first-class stamp on this newfound sound. Production work by longtime collaborator Brian Eno (his third time working with the band) adds a dark, experimental element to this dance floor ready album. Fans of The Rapture, The Killers, and the other dance-funk/punk bands invading the modern rock airwaves today will find this refreshing predecessor as a breath of fresh air. Remain in Light has the big hit "Once In A Lifetime", but the highlights here are "Crosseyed and Painless" and "The Overload".
John Lennon - John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #6
Singles:
"Power To The People" Pop: #11
"Mother" Pop: #43
Rutherford: Often forgotten as part of the Lennon legacy, The Plastic Ono Band was his first solo album post-Beatles and what you find is a man angry at his world but coming to terms with it at the same time. This record is the link between Lennon being a teen idol and an 80's pop icon and is a fascinating look inside a man facing his reality for the first time.
Melchor: If it weren't dumbfoundingly obvious by his work with those other three guys, John Lennon knew how to write a great song. For the first time away from the others, however, we see a hint that maybe Lennon knew what he was doing better than the rest of his former bandmates all along.
Nagle: One of the angriest records ever made. Lennon was going through primal scream therapy and pours out every feeling he has. For all its anger, Plastic Ono Band's greatest moment is "Love," a gorgeous love song devoted to Yoko. The song is the moment of calm in a raging storm.
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A.
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #1
Singles:
"Dancing In The Dark" Billboard Hot 100: #2 Hot Dance Music/Club Play: #7
"Glory Days" Billboard Hot 100: #5 Mainstream Rock: #3
"My Hometown" Billboard Hot 100: #6 Mainstream Rock: #6 Adult Contemporary: #1
"I'm On Fire" Billboard Hot 100: #6 Mainstream Rock: #4 Adult Contemporary: #6
"Cover Me" Billboard Hot 100: #7 Mainstream Rock: #3 Hot Dance Music/Club Play: #11
"Born In The U.S.A." Billboard Hot 100: #9 Mainstream Rock: #8
"I'm Goin' Down Billboard Hot 100: #9 Mainstream Rock: #9
"No Surrender" Mainstream Rock: #40
Rutherford: The ultimate Springsteen political statement that has sadly been lost in jingoistic pride translation. What is also overlooked is that this album is The Boss at his commercial pop best, letting loose a slew of pop hits that vary from the angry anti-America diatribe of the title track, the synth pop of "Dancing in the Dark" and the pop rave-up "Glory Days", which are coincidentally all timeless classics that this album spawned.
Berry:7 Top Ten hits!?! That figure is insane by even Beatles or Elvis Presley standards. This is Springsteen's most accessible album and arguably the best place to start for newbies to "The Boss". Born in the USA is all over the place without ever being a jarring listen. You'll find Springsteen wearing many hats including the disenfranchised Vietnam vet ( "Born in the USA"), the horny dude with a disapproving girlfriend's father ( "I'm On Fire"), and the misunderstood nostalgia of "Glory Days".
Mitch Michaels: Sure, Springsteen has sounded better, written better and made more important songs, but in 1984, nothing ruled the world like this set of raucous, unabashedly radio friendly blue collar rock delivered by The Boss and his E Street Band. Bruce is still disillusioned and fighting for the little man, but he's doing it with a bad ass rock band on this one. You can't hear "Darlington County" and not sing along.
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard 200: #61 Heatseekers: #1
Independent: #28
Singles:
"Fell In Love With A Girl" Modern Rock: #12
"Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground" Modern Rock: #19
Helm: Though oft put down for having an inexperienced drummer or being more style than substance, The White Stripes have nonetheless become one of the more listenable – or most listenable – duos in recent music and this is their major breakthrough. Aided by an awesome video for "Fell in Love with a Girl" and by providing the opening song to the smash hit film Napoleon Dynamite, White Blood Cells rocketed The White Stripes from indie enigma to popular purveyors of garage rock and with good reason: the album is awesome. Combining raw garage sounds ("Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," "Fell in Love with a Girl") with touches of blues ("I'm Finding It Harder to Be a Gentleman," "Offend in Every Way") and even Lennon-McCartney pop flourishes ("Hotel Yorba," "We're Going to Be Friends"), White Blood Cells has a little something for every fan of rock, as long as they don't mind the "inexperienced drummer."
Tollah: The Stripes' most complete album, sticking to the blues rock of their early days while busting out some of the quirky pop rock that would dominate their next album in "Fell In Love With A Girl". Jack White can write a song and never will you find him sounding any better than here.
Mitch Michaels: When you heard the brief but jarring "Fell In Love With A Girl" on the radio the first time, you just knew something big was going on. Though the Stripes were hardly the leaders of the garage revival of the early part of the decade, they quickly proved they were the most interesting. Combining indie rock, blues and punk, White Blood Cells is the band's early masterpiece, and while they would go on to be more experimental and achieve greater critical acclaim, the youthful energy on this set makes it a tentpole.
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #1
Singles:
"Trampled Underfoot" Pop: #38
Rutherford: Oh you know Zeppelin are going to be in the house...deal with it and move on, because this band fucking rules. Here you find them at their funky loosest, laying down a double album so awesome that other awesome albums just don't compare. This contains the perfect distillation of the Zep ethic ("Kashmir") and for that very fact alone it's one of the best ever. Nevermind the fact that the rest of the tracks are just great pieces of musical art. Special mention goes to "Boogie With Stu" which tips the hat to dead 50's rocker icon Ritche Valens.
Helm: As a double album, Physical Graffiti stands as Led Zeppelin's most ambitious undertaking; unfortunately, it isn't necessarily a solid set as there is quite a bit of bloat. When the wheat is separated from the chaff, however, some of Led Zeppelin's greatest songs remain, hurtling Physical Graffiti past other mediocre offerings from a multitude of other bands. First and foremost, "Kashmir," Led Zeppelin's iconic ode to Eastern mysticality – at least that's what I think it's about . . . I might be wrong – resides on this album. In addition, Physical Graffiti holds a few spectacular rockers as well, like "Houses of the Holy" – which, for some reason, isn't on the album sharing that name – and "The Rover," with its maddeningly catchy riff. Not all the songs on the album are winners, of course, but the great songs that are there cannot be overstated.
Melchor: If for no other reason, this album belongs here (if not higher) for the journeys Led Zeppelin could take people on. To this day, for me, "Kashmir" is less a song and more a trip to wherever my mind feels like going for that time. Ditto "In My Time Of Dying", although that's a different trip altogether. There are several cuts on here that accomplish that goal, which is what any good album should do.
The Stooges - Raw Power
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #182
Rutherford: So many people like to refer to this album as proto-punk but this is quintessential garage rock n' roll with a snotty defiance that the punk movement claimed as their own in the 70's. This album is like the seed of all the great rock that came after and should be viewed with just reverence.
Berry: No other album from the early ‘70s maintains the scare-the-piss-out-of-your-parents element as well as The Stooges third and finest. It goes without saying that Iggy Pop and his band were a huge influence on the late ‘70s movement known as "punk", but at its core this is just an aggressive, raunchy, violent garage rock record. To unveil the focused psychosis of Iggy Pop one only needs listen to the barn burning opening track "Search and Destroy" followed by the quietly disheartening second track "Gimme Danger". Raw Power features some of Iggy's best lyrics backed by The Stooges' pulverizing musicianship.
Nagle: When your pastor told you that rock n' roll was the devil's music, Raw Power was the album he was talking about. James Williamson's searing shrieks of guitar come from the bowels of hell, and Iggy Pop's brutal lyrics and delivery leave a big ugly mark on your soul.
Eric Clapton - Slow Hand
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Pop: #2
Singles:
"Lay Down Sally" Pop: #3 Country: #26
"Wonderful Tonight" Pop: #16
Rutherford: So many albums of great quality have come from the hands of this man, it will make it hard to find new words to describe his particular brand of genius. This album marked a more mature Clapton who busted out "Wonderful Tonight" and "Lay Down Sally", which was a far cry from his blues masterworks of previous years and was the template for his future works.
Melchor: This right here is as much a lesson in guitar playing and composition as Van Halen or anything else. Being able to move your fingers at blinding speeds and shred like nobody's business is all good and fine, but listen to songs like "Cocaine" and "Wonderful Tonight" for lessons in how to play to utmost effect without wanking off. Good grooves and good music in one great album.
Mitch Michaels: This is possibly Clapton's greatest solo offering, certainly his best from the 70's. The album takes Clapton out of his typical bluesy element and focuses more on making radio-friendly songs, rather it be using rock ("Cocaine"), country ("Lay Down Sally") or pop ("Wonderful Tonight"). Even though Clapton rarely breaks bad on this set for a solo, Slowhand is played so well that you can't help but still be in awe of his virtuosity.
Green Day - Dookie
CHART HISTORY:
Album:
Billboard Hot 100: #2
Heatseekers: #1
Singles:
"When I Come Around" Modern Rock: #1 Mainstream Rock: #2 Top 40 Mainstream: #2
"Basket Case" Modern Rock: #1 Mainstream Rock: #2 Top 40 Mainstream: #16
"Longview" Modern Rock: #1 Mainstream Rock: #13
"She" Modern Rock: #5 Mainstream Rock: #18
"Welcome To Paradise" Modern Rock: #7
Rutherford: People who call this punk are missing the bigger picture. Green Day are the missing link between Nirvana inspired grunge and great commercial rock with killer hooks. And this album has hooks to burn, baby. Everything is well written, catchy and a fuck load of fun.
Helm: They were considered a rip-off of the Buzzcocks or, more rudely, a punk-poseur joke. More than a decade later, Green Day has come to be respected as one of the last remaining punk artistes in popular music and it all started here . . . discounting their independent releases, of course. Filled with quick, concise punk ditties which are both instantly recognizable and – oddly for the genre – wickedly catchy, Dookie paved the way for a touch of a mid ‘90s punk revival from which, oddly enough, the only band left standing is Green Day. It may have been more common in decades past but it's rare nowadays to find an album that's significant and good; Dookie fits those two criteria.
Mitch Michaels: It's hard to believe that an album named after shit could be one of the greatest of all-time, but such is life. While bands like Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots broke alternative into the mainstream, it was Green Day and their catchy punk sensibility that made it palatable. This album is so good, we can nearly forgive Green Day for spawning acts like blink-182 just a few years later.
Credits
Creator / Host:Tim O'Sullivan
Sub Editors:Mitch Michaels and Brian Berry
List Counters:Tim O'Sullivan and Brian Berry
Disc Artwork:Scott Rutherford
Design and Production:Mitch Michaels
Writers who contributed lists: Tim O'Sullivan, Brian Berry, Scott Rutherford, Leonard Hayhurst, Tollah, Mitch Michaels, Morgan Marx, Ian Wright, Will Helm, Jared McGuckin, Frank Estrada, Matt Shoemaker, Scott Slimmer, Phil Watts Jnr, Dusty Godwin, Korry Hill, Jamie Buttineau, Marques Furumoto
Writers who contributed blurbs: Tim O'Sullivan, Scott Rutherford, Ian Wright, Will Helm, Mitch Michaels, Michael Melchor, Phil Watts, Jnr., Brian Berry, Matt Shoemaker, Tollah, Frank Estrada, Jason Chamberlain, Jesse Coy, Dan Marsicano, John Nagle
