Well shit it only took 6 months and some change but I finally put this “little” list together. Along the way I learned a few things about music, my own tastes, and how much of a pain in the ass a ranked 500 album list could be. Before I get into the list (feel free to skip ahead you savages), I’d like to explain a few of my occasionally arbitrary rules.
1. No compilations. This one is pretty straight forward, but I’m always amazed how many greatest hits albums and anthologies seem to pop up on various album lists. I apologize to artists whose best work was before the LP era, they should have thought about that before. This does get a bit tricky when rating early rock and roll albums because nearly all of them were just collections of 45s. I’ve largely used a case by case basis for these which essentially means as long as it didn’t have greatest hits, best of, or collection in the title I’d count it. That said there aren’t a ton of early (pre-Beatles) albums on here so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
2. No live albums, sorta. Live albums to me are usually just compilations with crowd noise so I decided to pass en-masse on all live albums. This means that such landmark albums like James Brown at the Apollo, BB King at the Regal, and Kiss Alive were all left out, amongst many other worthy albums. I did agree to count live albums if all the material was new for that album. Which at the end of the day means one live album actually made the cut, shouldn’t be hard to guess which one. This is at times a silly rule, but one I’ve stuck to for nearly every album list I’ve made and when I was forced to cut a couple hundred albums to make this list, it just made sense to take the live shit out. My apologies, perhaps some day I’ll put together a top 10-20 best live albums to supplement this. For the record predominantly studio albums that feature live a live recording (Sign of the Times, Eat a Peach) did count.
3. No jazz, sorta. I’ve always considered it nigh impossible to rank jazz albums alongside everything else. Considering many jazz albums are live recordings it fits in with the previous rule. I did include a few albums that might be found in a jazz section of a record store but have as much in common with swing and bop as Taco Bell does with Mexican food. Again this might seem arbitrary, but I cheated to make room, so don’t think I’m shitting on Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Charles Mingus. I have been planning on making a top 100 jazz albums list for several years, and with this albatross finally finished, I may just embark on that as my next obsessive project.
4. No soundtracks, sorta. Soundtracks do indeed count, but I’ve opted only to include soundtracks of all original material by a single artist. For example Purple Rain is a soundtrack, but every song was written for the movie by Prince and performed by him and the Revolution. Compared to another soundtrack like Saturday Night Fever, which features multiple artists, and some material that was previously released. A similar problem arose with The Harder They Come. Like others this is a case by case basis.
Those are the rules for entrance. I freely admit that I didn’t give enough attention to country music as I should have, and only briefly touch on electronica, and all but completely ignore new age and world music. So for better or worse this is the 500 greatest rock and roll albums with a nice sprinkling of rap, and assorted other genres. Since I’m getting to be an old man I apologize if there aren’t enough new albums on this list. I did include one album released in the past year, but it’s very low and most of you probably have never heard of it, but trust me it’s worth checking out.
Since I’m doing this list 50 albums at a time, feel free to hold off on your bitching, but I know there are going to be some albums in this first group that you will personally find too low. I apologize in advance for thinking other albums are better, but those are the breaks. Perhaps in a decade I may torture myself to update this list but I can’t even fathom doing this again any time soon. So here’s the first part of my list, don’t say I never gave you any music recommendations.
500. Moby - Play
An unstoppable hit machine at the turn of the century, Play sounds like a greatest hits today. Employing all of Moby’s best qualities song after song.
499. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Out of the ashes of Kyuss arose Queens of the Stone Age who bring the same stoner friendly brand of heaviness to a much tighter batch of songs.
498. Vital Remains - Dechristianize
The title track on this album might just be the single greatest death metal song ever recorded. Brutal, fast, blasphemous, and full of shredding, it’s everything that death metal should be.
497. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
The breakthrough for Jack and Meg White brought their sound to the masses without changing a thing. “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” tells you all you need to know about this band and this album.
The kings of LA’s underground punk scene in the early 80s, Henry Rollins and company barely keep it together to get through a blistering set of sloppy, noisy, obnoxious punk.
495. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
There was something just a little scary about Nine Inch Nails back when this album came out. Industrial, brutal, yet somehow catchy as hell, Trent Reznor became the underground Phil Spector hasn’t looked back since.
494. Ice-T - OG Original Gangsta
A magnum opus for gangster rap in the early 90s. Ice-T breezes through everything on his best album, including the debut of his soon to be notorious metal band Body Count. This album is all you need to know about Ice-T the rapper.
493. The B-52s - The B-52s
An utterly indescribable band that helped launch the camp and kitsch waves that influenced everything from music and fashion to Saturday morning television. If you only know this band from “Love Shack” this album might make your brain explode.
492. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
After finally solidifying their line-up, the world’s most shirtless band hooked up with Rick Rubin and recorded the perfect mix of funk, rock, rap, and whatever the hell else they wanted. They might have done good work after this, but none of their albums are as front to back excellent.
491. Blondie - Parallel Lines
After coming to terms with the fact that they were no punk band, Blondie embraced pop and new wave with open arms and found themselves the biggest band on the planet.
490. Dawes - All Your Favorite Bands
I’ll be honest I never heard of this band until about a week before I went to see them at the Fillmore. I picked up this album, listened to it a couple of times and by the time their excellent show was over, I was a believer. Easily the best album I’ve heard in the past year.
True Kiss fans don’t seem to agree with the public as to what the best Kiss albums are. When Kiss embraced disco, albeit in small doses, they turned in a set of nearly perfect songs, including three from growing songwriter Ace Frehley. However this is all about “I Was Made for Loving You” and “Sure Know Something”.
488. The Everly Brothers - The Everly Brothers
The first official Everly Brothers album features some of the sweetest vocal harmonies ever put on record. These guys were about as safe as rock and roll got but damn if they don’t make you want to take your girl to a sock-hop.
I first heard of this band while reading a serious religious condemnation of rock. They mentioned the song “I Kill Children” and I knew I had to check this out. One of the best punk debuts and everything that’s awesome about pissing people off.
486. Ultramagnetic MC’s - Critical Beatdown
The album that unleashed Kool Keith to the world, Critical Beatdown completely flipped the script as to what people could rap about. An underground classic that’s still light years ahead of most contemporary rap.
485. The Roots - Things Fall Apart
The Roots have been an institution for so long it might seem startling to hear what an outspoken, angry, and political group they were in the late 90s. Easily their best and most vital album.
484. The Pharcyde - Bizarre Ride II: The Pharcyde
At some point in time hipsters decided “Passin’ Me By” was their new favorite hip hop song and The Pharcyde found themselves with a second life. Their debut musically shares some of the p-funk samples of their much better known Death Row rivals, but the raps are all over the place in a brilliant way.
483. Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz
The album that introduced us to the late great Randy Rhoads, this showed that washed up Ozzy Osbourne wasn’t just still around, but was going to keep doing his thing for another 3+ decades. Featuring some of the best lead guitar ever recorded this helped launch the neo-classical world of guitar playing.
482. Meshuggah - Destroy Erase Improve
Prog-metal at it’s most brutal and brain hurting. Destroy Erase Improve shows Meshuggah at their most powerful and concise, with bizarre calculator solos, brutal epileptic rhythms and often three separate time signatures played at once.
481. Otis Redding - Blue
Otis Redding’s best known and remembered album is still a classic in mid-60s soul. Featuring “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and the original version of “Respect” this is as good as Otis got on an LP.
I’m not going to lie I tossed a coin on whether to include this album or Jesus of Cool. Both of Lowe’s first two solo albums are fantastic, and this got the edge because it includes “Cruel to be Kind”, simply guitar pop perfection.
479. Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual
One of several 80s albums that sounds like a greatest hits album today. Virtually all of these songs were singles and some of them remain some of the best songs of the decade, particularly “All Through the Night” and “Time After Time”.
478. Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs and Stories
Another band that I could basically flip a coin for their best album. I opted for their last record (not counting their ill fated reunion), which was the cleanest their sound ever was, it also showcased the differences between Hart and Mould as songwriters which make this almost sound like two albums in one.
477. Badfinger - No Dice
Badfinger’s first masterpiece gave the world the iconic songs “No Matter What” and “Without You”. The rest of the album helps establish the template for power pop and remains essential for any music fan.
476. Ice Cube - Death Certificate
It seems nearly impossible to imagine the same man who made this album would star in Are We There Yet? Ice Cube played the part of angry young black man perhaps better than everyone and he is pissed off at nearly everybody on his second solo album, taking shots at his former NWA band mates, Uncle Sam, and anyone else who got in his way.
A landmark when it was released, Public Enemy brought the noise to hip hop. Densely layered bomb squad beats that weren’t afraid to sample Slayer over James Brown and Chuck D’s black power message. Rap was no longer about boasting who was the best MC.
474. Beyonce - B’day
Despite the promise of Dangerously in Love, B-day was the album that forever proved Beyonce didn’t need Destiny’s Child ever again. “Déjà Vu”, one of the countless collaborations with current husband Jay-Z is about the best R&B single released in the past decade. The rest of the album is nearly as good.
The ultimate cult folk singer, Nick Drake has enjoyed a far more successful career after his untimely death than he did alive. His second album is his most polished and for my money features his best song “Northern Sky”.
472. Black Sabbath - Vol. 4
By the time Sabbath released their fourth album they could do no wrong. They were on all the drugs and it shows on this album, but amidst their most experimental work to that point are classic jams like “Under the Sun”, “Snowblind” and “Supernaut”.
Hard to argue too many albums having a bigger impact on alternative music and indie rock as REM’s first album. Full of great songs, mumbled lyrics, and murky production it was the beginning of a revolution in music.
470. Mott the Hoople - All the Young Dudes
One of the landmarks of glam rock, this featured one of David Bowie’s best songs which also happened to be the title track. Ian Hunter and company contributed some of their own would be classics on an album that helped save their careers and gave them new life as glam icons.
469. Toto - Toto IV
Toto is the answer to what would happen if the world’s best studio musicians decided to write pop songs. It took until their fourth album where they really perfected things book-ending the album with two of the best singles of the decade “Rosanna” and “Africa”.
468. Van Halen - 1984
The Roth era couldn’t have ended on a higher note for Van Halen, who found themselves conquering MTV with “Hot for Teacher”, “Panama” and their first number one single “Jump”. The rest of the album holds up just as well making it one of Van Halen’s best, a true essential.
43 tracks of absurdity is the best way to describe The Minutemen’s ultimate album. Always a fan of short songs, hence the band name, they push themselves as far as their creativity can go on this and the results are occasionally messy but collectively brilliant.
466. Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Struggle
I seem to be the only person that thinks this is Talib Kweli’s best album, but perhaps time will be more generous to it. It was decidedly more commercial, but frankly Kweli never had beats this good in his career, including the Black Star album. Lyrically he is still at the top of his game.
465. Big Star - Radio City
Something about power pop pioneers wallowing in obscurity, but Big Star delivered what I think is their best work with their second album. This is the album when Alex Chilton started to take over and I for one think that’s a good thing.
Among the many bands to debut in 1977, David Byrne and company were in a class by themselves. Sure there’s new wave here, but “When Love Comes to Town” starts off their brilliant debut with a bit of island rhythm.
463. Jurassic 5 - Quality Control
Jurassic 5 was one of the west coast's first underground rap groups to break through nationally. Employing multiple MC’s they rapped over each other and often harmonized together. “Swing Set” still remains hip hops greatest instrumental.
Taking a break from social matters, Marvin Gaye made an album all about fucking. The title track remains one of his all time greatest hits and the rest of the album follows suit.
Queen emerged with their strongest album in 6 years and proceeded to conquer the world with their final tour following this album’s release. Not a bad song on it from “One Vision” to “Princes of the Universe”.
460. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
The fathers of electronic music delivered their most iconic album in that magical year of 1977. Their sound might have gotten tighter on Man-Machine or Computer World but Trans-Europe Express is where it all came together.
459. Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies
The excessive peak of the original Alice Cooper Band, Billion Dollar Babies embraces all their grandiosity. Filled with hits it’s the title track, “Generation Landslide” and “I Love the Dead” that remain the most iconic, even today Alice Cooper still ends all of his shows with “Election”.
The New York Dolls might have been the ugliest dudes to ever wear drag, but their debut album is a hot mess to match their look. Sleazy, dirty, rock from a band that was too shitty to be the Stones despite how much they try. All of it’s flaws somehow make it brilliant.
457. Little Feat - Sailin’ Shoes
Little Feat’s first three albums are all essentials of roots rock, but if I had to pick (and I did) I would argue Sailin’ Shoes comes out slightly ahead. Former Mothers of Invention member Lowell George shows a range no one knew he had on this album and we’re all the better off for it.
456. Lamb of God - Sacrament
When deciding which Lamb of God album to include on this list, the deciding factor was “Redneck” arguably the best metal riff not written by Dimebag Darrell or Tony Iommi. The rest of the album features arguably the best drum sound in metal, and enough killer tracks to justify it’s inclusion.
455. The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
Before shoegaze was a subgenre the Jesus and Mary Chain found themselves making extremely fuzzy and noisy dream pop. It’s been described as Beach Boys melodies with Velvet Underground feedback, and don’t mind me if I steal that description.
An alternative band that can appeal to metal heads, Jane’s Addiction sounded like no one else in 1988. Dave Navarro’s leads still pack a punch and it’s hard to argue they never put together a tighter set of songs than here.
453. Goodie Mob - Soul Food
One band does not make a movement, so when Goodie Mob joined Outkast in putting Atlanta on the hip hop map they actually did them one better. Funky yet soulful, they helped define what came to be known as the “dirty south”, an all time great hip hop debut.
Hey were you in high school/college in the mid-2000s? You were, then great I don’t have to explain why this album is on here, for the rest of you, well maybe it’s time you hear what we were all singing along to a decade ago.
451. Crosby, Stills & Nash - Crosby, Stills & Nash
Perhaps the most successful super group to emerge in the late 60s, Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s first album set the template for folk rock in the early 70s. Nearly all the songs are classics, and few groups could harmonize the way these three could.
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