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Lists are a hotbed of controversy. Since the dawn of time, no list has gone unscathed, especially if it was compiled by SPIN Magazine. No publication has cooked up as many lists as SPIN - it’s a scientific fact. The mag just can’t resist coming up with a list for basically anything musical. And now, to prove just how long it’s been in the game (which at this point might not be wise, considering the archaic Rolling Stone is about the only other music mag to have been kicking around as long), it’s decided on the “125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years.” In case you’re doing the math, that would be albums between 1985 and 2010.
Below is the full list in order of greatness, but if you want to see SPIN’s layout and accompanying blurbs, click here.
To be honest, SPIN “Top 125? isn’t as questionable as most of its previous lists. Putting U2’s Achtung Baby at #1 is a bold choice that can be defended as much as it can be slammed (I don’t agree with the choice, but then again, I thought they would have picked something from the grunge era as the best). And really, I expected the mag to pander more to a younger audience by jacking up more current acts like Green Day, Kanye West and Eminem, but hey, those albums belong where they are, if I’m being objective. Plus, it’s nice to see them recognize the Britpop era, though “Where the hell is Blur?” is a question that gets me each time I peruse the 125 albums.
I would like to pinpoint five areas in which I think SPIN could have improved their list though.
1. Picking the wrong album by the right artist. Everyone has their own preference: Revolver over Rubber Soul, My War over Damaged or Super Trouper over The Arrival. But seriously, Rage Against The Machine’s The Battle of Los Angeles instead of their self-titled album? The Chemical Brothers’ Dig Your Own Hole over Exit Planet Dust? The Cure’s The Head On The Door over Disintegration? M.I.A.’s Arular over Kala? Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill over Check Your Head? And A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory over Midnight Marauders? Okay, that last one is a tough call, but the others aren’t. SPIN simply picked an inferior record.
2. Serious omissions. Raekwon but no Ghostface? Did they not hear Supreme Clientele? What about Sigur Rós’ Ágætis Byrjun, Modest Mouse’s The Moon & Antarctica, Deerhunter’s Cryptograms or Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois? And not to bite another blog’s complaint’s but Flavorwire got it right when they pointed out absences like Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love, Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Radiohead’s Kid A and anything by Galaxie 500.
3. WTF? If this is about the “best” and most deserving albums, then what are Against Me, The Hives, Danger Mouse, Queens Of The Stone Age, Oasis and Lil Wayne doing on it?
4. Wrong order. It’s strange how quickly SPIN forgets its past. Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream at #61? Did they all of a sudden forget the mid-’90s? That album ruled. How about Arcade Fire’s Funeral at #66? Is it just too new to get the respect it deserves? Jane’s Addiction’s Ritual de lo Habitual at #94. I do believe this is up there with Pixies’ Doolittle as the reason why the word “alternative” actually stuck. The Strokes at #18, but The White Stripes are all the way down at #57? I believe they were both responsible for the resurgence of rock’n'roll, no? The Stone Roses’ debut at #69? Obviously, this is an American mag. And I know Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion was a 2009 release, but sticking it down towards the bottom at #114 just goes to show how SPIN is clueless about what’s currently going on in music.
5. Disrespecting the ’00s. Only 29 of the 125 are from the last ten years. The highest ranking album is OutKast’s Stankonia at #12. In the top 50 there are only five albums. In the top 100? 15. The rest are all thrown into the basement. Forget everything over the last ten years, it’s all about the past. The glory days, before the internet when SPIN was a cool and credible source to discover new bands. Now? Not so much. Or at all.
SPIN’s 125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years
1 U2 - Achtung Baby
2 Prince - Sign O’ the Times
3 The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
4 Nirvana - Nevermind
5 Radiohead - OK Computer
6 Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
7 Guns N’ Roses - Appetite for Destruction
8 PJ Harvey - Rid of Me
9 Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
10 Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
11 The Replacements - Tim
12 OutKast - Stankonia
13 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
14 The Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
15 Husker Du - New Day Rising
16 The Pixies - Doolittle
17 De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
18 The Strokes - Is This It
19 Jay-Z - The Blueprint
20 My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
21 Oasis - (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory
22 Eric B. & Rakim - Paid in Full
23 Daft Punk - Discovery
24 Metallica - Master of Puppets
25 Nas - Illmatic
26 Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
27 Nirvana - In Utero
28 Radiohead - The Bends
29 Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
30 A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
31 Massive Attack - Blue Lines
32 Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
33 Bjork - Debut
34 Beck - Odelay
35 R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
36 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Psychocandy
37 Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville
38 Run-D.M.C. - Raising Hell
39 Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
40 Tricky - Maxinquaye
41 Pulp - Different Class
42 Green Day - Dookie
43 The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die
44 The Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
45 The Pixies - Surfer Rosa
46 N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
47 Portishead - Dummy
48 Elliott Smith - Either/Or
49 D’Angelo - Voodoo
50 Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt
51 Rage Against the Machine - The Battle of Los Angeles
52 Kanye West - The College Dropout
53 The Cure - The Head on the Door
54 Dinosaur Jr. - You’re Living All Over Me
55 Hole - Live Through This
56 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
57 The White Stripes - Elephant
58 DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…
59 Belle and Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister
60 Fugazi - 13 Songs
61 Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
62 U2 - The Joshua Tree
63 R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction
64 The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
65 Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
66 Arcade Fire - Funeral
67 Tom Waits - Rain Dogs
68 Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
69 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
70 Pearl Jam - Ten
71 Oasis - Definitely Maybe
72 Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams
73 The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
74 Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
75 Bjork - Post
76 OutKast - Aquemini
77 Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
78 Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
79 The Breeders - Last Splash
80 The Fall - This Nation’s Saving Grace
81 Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
82 Dr. Dre - The Chronic
83 Steve Earle - Guitar Town
84 LL Cool J - Radio
85 Missy Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly
86 TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
87 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
88 Jeff Buckley - Grace
89 Basement Jaxx - Remedy
90 Elliott Smith - XO
91 The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
92 Jay-Z - The Black Album
93 The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
94 Jane’s Addiction - Ritual de lo Habitual
95 Soundgarden - Superunknown
96 The Roots - Things Fall Apart
97 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
98 Johnny Cash - American Recordings
99 PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
100 Kanye West - Late Registration
102 Queen Latifah - All Hail the Queen
103 M.I.A. - Arular
104 The Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs
105 Massive Attack - Mezzanine
106 Fiona Apple - When the Pawn…
107 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
108 Fugees - The Score
109 The Chills - Submarine Bells
110 Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
111 Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
112 Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
113 Danger Mouse - The Grey Album
114 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
115 OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
116 Against Me! - New Wave
117 The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
118 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz!
119 Green Day - American Idiot
120 Lil Wayne - Tha Carter III
121 Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
122 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
123 The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
124 Prince Paul - A Prince Among Thieves
125 Moby - Play
Tags: SPIN
Posted on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 4:13 pm by Cam and is filed under News, The New Music.
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