4 Smiths albums on Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time

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Four albums are on Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time list...

216 = The Queen Is Dead
295 = Meat Is Murder
365 = Louder Than Bombs
481 = The Smiths
 
> Four albums are on Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time list...

> 216 = The Queen Is Dead
> 295 = Meat Is Murder
> 365 = Louder Than Bombs
> 481 = The Smiths

" Strangeways" is a better album thatn "The Smiths" in my opinion but 4 albums is a very resprctable tally.

That publication seems to do an awful lot of "Best Of" type polls which renders them redundant and meaningless after a while.

Thanks for sharing that

J
 
> " Strangeways" is a better album thatn "The Smiths" in
> my opinion but 4 albums is a very resprctable tally.

Maybe it's respectable...but they're ranked a bit low.............

> That publication seems to do an awful lot of "Best Of" type
> polls which renders them redundant and meaningless after a while.

Yeah, those things are always stupid.
 
The only lists like that I enjoy are the slightly more original ones like the "Best Albums You've Probably Never Heard Of" or "One Hit Wonders That Deserved To Have Another Hit Or Two Or Ten."

And yeah, the Smiths are ranked embarrassingly low. I bet there's probably a Britney Spears or Backstreet Boys album on there, as well as all three of Eminem's, so really, the list is pretty worthless.
 
Tragically, I was half right. All three Eminem albums are on it. No Britney or Backstreet,

but KISS and Jay-Z and a few other people I hate appear, so I think my point still stands.
 
Re: Tragically, I was half right. All three Eminem albums are on it. No Britney or Backstreet,

> but KISS and Jay-Z and a few other people I hate appear, so I think my
> point still stands.

I looked up this list too, and only looked at about 100 of them. Most of the albums are good albums...but it's just so arbitrary.

I'm glad I looked though, because I found the list at Rhino Records' web site, and I discovered there's a Cure boxed set of b-sides and rarities out this month! It's about time they get great songs like "I'm Cold" and "Hey You" on CD.

I don't mind KISS. One of the first albums I ever bought when I was a small child was KISS "Dynasty," and I used to lip synch to it in my bedroom mirror. I don't listen to KISS anymore, and I sure don't think their albums are anything to put on a Best of All Time list, but they did seem cool to me when I was first getting into rock and roll.
 
Baby boomer self-indulgence disguised as informed opinion

From the looks of it this poll should more appropriately be called "Around 400 of the highest-grossing MOR albums, with a smattering of some more "edgy" and new-fangled stuff thrown in so we don't appear to be the stuffy, nostalgic 50+ year olds we actually are". Hence the Eminem and Dr Dre.

They would seriously have us beleive that about 80% of the all-time best popular music was produced between 1961 and 1981!!!

And I mean, for f***'s sake - they've allowed "Greatest Hits" compilations to be included in the thing (witness Elton John, Jerry Lee Lewis, Simon and Garfunkle, New Order).

They do, however correctly identify REM's best as "Murmur", which would not necessarily be expected in the context of the above.

Rolling Stone - get off the stage!!!!!!!!
 
Re: Baby boomer self-indulgence disguised as informed opinion

I noticed the Greatest Hits on there. That's total bullshit.

What really annoyed me, however, was the list's inclusion of The Strokes. How can an album that completely mines the past for its sound, never expanding upon the form in anyway, never doing anything original, be said to be among the 500 best of all time? Maddening. It can be enjoyable. It can be fun. But it cannot be one of the best of all time unless there are some seriously slim pickings.

P.S. I owe you an email. I've been ill. Soz.
 
Re: Baby boomer self-indulgence disguised as informed opinion

> I noticed the Greatest Hits on there. That's total bullshit.

> What really annoyed me, however, was the list's inclusion of The Strokes.
> How can an album that completely mines the past for its sound, never
> expanding upon the form in anyway, never doing anything original, be said
> to be among the 500 best of all time? Maddening. It can be enjoyable. It
> can be fun. But it cannot be one of the best of all time unless there are
> some seriously slim pickings.

Yes, agreed - it think it's also partly because these fogeys feel the need to rope in some token "contempo" stuff, and accordingly just reach for the band around which a certain degree of "buzz" is centred at the time.

> P.S. I owe you an email. I've been ill. Soz.

Awww, poor babe. Hope you're feeling better. No rush - I've been pretty busy lately. My boss has just been sacked, so they've gone and given me this promotion thingy which I have to handle as well as my old work while they look for a replacement for my old job. Just when I'm about resolved to resign some crap like this always gets dangled in front of me. Shouldn't be complaining, but you know me....
 
Re: Baby boomer self-indulgence disguised as informed opinion

> And I mean, for f***'s sake - they've allowed "Greatest Hits"
> compilations to be included in the thing (witness Elton John, Jerry Lee
> Lewis, Simon and Garfunkle, New Order).

I didn't read the whole list, but I strongly agree with their choosing the Abba definitive collection greatest hits album.
 
I'm not being down on ABBA, but...

I think it's against the spirit of a poll like this to include greatest hits collections. They're usually retrospective surveys of an artist's entire career, often produced without any direct involvement of the artists themselves - it might be a reasonable means of assessing greatest artists, but not of albums, an artist that had a career of mediocre albums with some fantastic stand out hits on each could make it in this lest ahead of one who put out one or two classic albums which otherwise deserved to be in there - a bit like putting ABBA in there in lieu of Morrissey ....
 
f*** you ! ABBA are great!

They made more truly great Lps, Waterloo,Arrival,Voulez Vous,Visitors,
than Morrissey Has! He has only managed two,Your arsenal and Vauxall and I.
 
Well, you're a true charmer aren't you?

I said in the title of my post I wasn't dissing ABBA. But I'd put both of those Moz albums in a 500 Best ahead of any of those *admittedly very good* (did you get that, nob-end?) ABBA albums. Right?

Idiot.
 
Re: Well, you're a true charmer aren't you?

You're being far too kind, Bore.

In 30 years, people will be saying Britney Spears was brilliant too.

Don't get me wrong. Some of ABBA's music appeals to me, but I still think that one generation's musical trash is another generation's musical treasure.
 
Re: Well, you're a true charmer aren't you?

Kind? Moi? Not many times in my life I'll call someone a nob-end and be called kind - so I'll take that one, thanks! I'm a bit fired up right now in prep for a big night ahead (got Nick Cave cranked up to 20 *sings "and we wrap their heads in pillowcases on this mean season"*), so anyone telling me to f-off is going to cop a bit in return.

Actually I do quite like ABBA - on a musical level what they do is really interesting, some of their harmonies are really extraordinary, plenty of highly-trained musos have enormous difficulty working out what the hell's going on with a lot of their harmonic work, it's that complex. On a lyrical level, of course it's insipid waffle - but it's pop, and as such a good deal less offensive than the likes of Britney. If people are doing anything other than spitting and dancing on her grave in 30 years time, I will most willingly take my own wretched life to distance myself from the decaying wreckage of such a sad humanity.
 
> Four albums are on Rolling Stone's top 500 albums of all time list...

> 216 = The Queen Is Dead
> 295 = Meat Is Murder
> 365 = Louder Than Bombs
> 481 = The Smiths
Good, but Louder than Bombs shouldn't count, and The Smiths should be second highest. Mind you it took a while for me to be convinced of that particular album's brilliance.
 
Re: Well, you're a true charmer aren't you?

> Kind? Moi? Not many times in my life I'll call someone a nob-end and be
> called kind - so I'll take that one, thanks! I'm a bit fired up right
> now in prep for a big night ahead (got Nick Cave cranked up to 20 *sings
> "and we wrap their heads in pillowcases on this mean season"*),
> so anyone telling me to f-off is going to cop a bit in return.

I call people much worse on a daily basis and I still consider myself to be a nice person. Go figure. Hope you have fun tonight. Since I've been stuck inside, I've been trading mp3s with a good friend of mine and have accumulated quite a shopping list of albums. He knew The Smiths but nothing of Morrissey and now I think I've made a fan of him. He's sending me some down-tempo and electro-pop stuff. Have you heard "I Picked A Flower" by The Nu Forest (featuring Jarvis Cocker)? I love the Andrew Marvell-esque lyrics and it's just such a happy-sounding song. I've also won him over to Patrick Wolf whom I want everyone to know and love. That boy needs to be famous. I can't remember why I'm writing this. But I'm sick, so I'm excused.

> Actually I do quite like ABBA - on a musical level what they do is really
> interesting, some of their harmonies are really extraordinary, plenty of
> highly-trained musos have enormous difficulty working out what the hell's
> going on with a lot of their harmonic work, it's that complex. On a
> lyrical level, of course it's insipid waffle - but it's pop, and as such a
> good deal less offensive than the likes of Britney. If people are doing
> anything other than spitting and dancing on her grave in 30 years time, I
> will most willingly take my own wretched life to distance myself from the
> decaying wreckage of such a sad humanity.

Well of course I was referring to the lyrics. The songs are quite catchy and entertaining. But some of the songs (like "Dancing Queen") just makes me want to cringe. I do think it's true though that what may have been ridiculously uncool for smart people to like at the height of its mainstream popularity almost always becomes a sentimental favorite of the next generation of cool, smart people. *cue Valley Girl voice* It's, like, so ironic, you know? Not that I'm saying you're a poser or that people who like ABBA are posers. I just think that there is definitely a segment of the population who thinks that way.

I'm with you on the suicide thing if people aren't dancing on Britney's grave in thirty years time. I still haven't forgive AllMusic for having posted positive -- and indeed glowing -- reviews of her albums.
 
Re: Well, you're a true charmer aren't you?

> me some down-tempo and electro-pop stuff. Have you heard "I Picked A
> Flower" by The Nu Forest (featuring Jarvis Cocker)? I love the Andrew
> Marvell-esque lyrics and it's just such a happy-sounding song. I've also
> won him over to Patrick Wolf whom I want everyone to know and love. That
> boy needs to be famous. I can't remember why I'm writing this. But I'm
> sick, so I'm excused.

Mmmmm - not familiar with either, but will certainly keep my ears de-waxed in the interests of familiarising myself with them if I'm ever exposed. When they stop ringing, that is. Turned out to be a really massive and VERY confusing evening. I believe I finally got to sleep around 8am this morning. See email for further details.

> Not that I'm saying you're a poser

Heh, well I am, so you may as well roll with it.....

> I'm with you on the suicide thing if people aren't dancing on Britney's
> grave in thirty years time. I still haven't forgive AllMusic for having
> posted positive -- and indeed glowing -- reviews of her albums.

How sweet! A suicide tryst! How on earth do Morrissey fans ever become so stereotyped?
 
Re: Well, you're a true charmer aren't you?

> Well of course I was referring to the lyrics. The songs are quite catchy
> and entertaining. But some of the songs (like "Dancing Queen")
> just makes me want to cringe.

99% of the bands out there don't have deep lyrics. 99% of the bands out there also would kill to have even one song as good as any of ABBA's huge number of great songs. That's how I know how hard it is to write great pop songs, and why I know Bjorn and Benny are geniuses. I look at a band trying to come off as genius songwriters and I think, "Yeah, sure, you have a good song there, but look how many ABBA had, get over yourself."

Some of my faves in the ABBA lyric area include "Chiquitita," "Take A Chance On Me," "Hey Hey Helen" (a feminist song), "Fernando"...... But, what? Are they supposed to be as deep as Bob Dylan?

>I do think it's true though that what may
> have been ridiculously uncool for smart people to like at the height of
> its mainstream popularity almost always becomes a sentimental favorite of
> the next generation of cool, smart people. *cue Valley Girl voice* It's,
> like, so ironic, you know? Not that I'm saying you're a poser or that
> people who like ABBA are posers. I just think that there is definitely a
> segment of the population who thinks that way.

ABBA caught on strong with the next generation in the 90s because the second they were exposed to the songs (via covers and in movie soundtracks) they just had to have a copy of ABBA "Gold." Resistance is futile.

Whoever found ABBA's music bad at the height of their mainstream popularity were wrong, plain and simple. And certainly not very smart. How stupid for someone to care if it's considered "cool" instead of just dancing like they know they want to. The only people who hate ABBA are the male "rock purist" set, and I bet a lot of them are liars. So when they finally give in they have to say they're being ironic. Outside of that, ABBA have been loved continuously in virtually every corner of the globe, have tons of tribute bands (even one called GABBA that did ABBA songs in the style of the Ramones), lots of covers done by quality artists (I'm particularly fond of Sinead O'Connor's cover of Chiqitita on her final album last year), and a smash hit musical that's returning to my city next year for an encore run. Their appeal is about as broad and continuous as a band can achieve, with the area of resistance being the most hung up straight young males and stupid rock purists. Now I don't necessarily think that just because something is really popular it is great. But for something to be so loved by so many for so long, it must have something going for it. And, in ABBA's case I think so many people love them because it's just impossible not to.

I'm pretty biased in all this because my mom is from Stockholm and once knew somebody who was an aquaintance of Frida's, and those two factors caused her to play ABBA non-stop when I was growing up, to the point where I knew their albums by heart before I even knew what was going on. So I guess it was part of my childhood indoctrination that ABBA are genius. I took my mom to see the Momma Mia musical and a sold out house was on their feet partying by the end. It was a great evening of music despite the corny-ass dialogue in the musical, and seeing the happiness in the crowd only confirmed to me that I am right about ABBA.
 
I bet you I am the only person that checks in here that saw the Smiths and ABBA three times!

but not on the same bill.....
 
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