The N&G Top 500 Albums of All Time!!!
- Thread starter Woob_woob
- Start date
RowBearToe
Well-Known Member
The only 2 albums in my top 100 that I don't own on vinyl finally got pressed and I bought this week! So I'll be 50/50 soon enough.
Ending might be rushed but this is the genre breakout / year: Besides Rap / Hip Hop & Alternative Rock, these are mostly discogs descriptions for albums I wasn't sure how to categorize myself btw... not my description)
I'm a mid 80s kid so my teenage years was in the late 90s to early 00s. But I would say that the plethora of my favorites are albums that survived a decade of me listening and stuff in my early 20s that I enjoyed. At least that was the trend that I noticed. I had no rules for EPs / Singles / Compilations - if i prefer them to the actual albums (like it was a big part of my past listening), I included it. Altho I must say, I think no EPs or singles made it to the final list and I can think of 1 compilation. Also I didn't do a single album per artist - altho only 3 artists appeared twice - no one more than that.
A whopping 7 albums are from 1998. It's a heck of a good year.
I own 36 of these on vinyl a lot of them more than once. the rest on plastic discs! Probably most of the ones on vinyl i have on CD too.
Anyways this was kinda fun. If not, to get fun statistics!
I'm a mid 80s kid so my teenage years was in the late 90s to early 00s. But I would say that the plethora of my favorites are albums that survived a decade of me listening and stuff in my early 20s that I enjoyed. At least that was the trend that I noticed. I had no rules for EPs / Singles / Compilations - if i prefer them to the actual albums (like it was a big part of my past listening), I included it. Altho I must say, I think no EPs or singles made it to the final list and I can think of 1 compilation. Also I didn't do a single album per artist - altho only 3 artists appeared twice - no one more than that.
| 1 | Alternative / Rock | 1997 |
| 2 | Alternative / Rock | 2002 |
| 3 | Industrial | 1994 |
| 4 | Rap / Hip Hop | 1996 |
| 5 | Rap / Hip Hop | 1994 |
| 6 | Rap / Hip Hop | 2004 |
| 7 | Rap / Hip Hop | 1993 |
| 8 | Leftfield, Trip Hop, Downtempo | 1998 |
| 9 | Shoegaze, Alternative Rock | 1991 |
| 10 | Leftfield, Drum n Bass, Future Jazz, Downtempo, Breaks | 1998 |
| 11 | Abstract, IDM, Experimental | 1998 |
| 12 | IDM, Ambient | 1998 |
| 13 | Indie Rock, Shoegaze, Dream Pop | 1993 |
| 14 | Fusion, Jazz-Funk | 1975 |
| 15 | Breakbeat, Techno, Big Beat | 1994 |
| 16 | Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Ethereal | 1988 |
| 17 | Rap / Hip Hop | 1993 |
| 18 | Downtempo, Trip Hop | 1997 |
| 19 | Leftfield, Future Jazz, Downtempo | 2000 |
| 20 | Ambient, Drone, Vaporwave | 2015 |
| 21 | Abstract, IDM | 2006 |
| 22 | Abstract, IDM, Ambient | 2002 |
| 23 | Downtempo, Synth-pop | 2003 |
| 24 | Shoegaze, Ethereal, Indie Rock | 2010 |
| 25 | Trip Hop | 1996 |
| 26 | Bossa Nova, Latin Jazz | 1964 |
| 27 | Electronic / Techno | 1994 |
| 28 | Breakbeat, Leftfield, Downtempo | 1999 |
| 29 | Big Beat | 1998 |
| 30 | Alternative Rock, Pop Rock | 1995 |
| 31 | Indie Rock | 2007 |
| 32 | Rap / Hip Hop | 2010 |
| 33 | Alternative Rock, Industrial, Ambient | 1999 |
| 34 | Experimental, Ambient, Video Game Music | 2009 |
| 35 | Electronic, Pop | 1997 |
| 36 | Rap / Hip Hop | 2012 |
| 37 | RnB/Swing, Neo Soul | 1996 |
| 38 | Rap / Hip Hop | 1999 |
| 39 | Alternative Rock, Experimental | 2001 |
| 40 | Breakbeat, Ragga HipHop, Grime, Electro, Breaks | 2005 |
| 41 | Electronic, Rock, Ambient, Shoegaze | 2005 |
| 42 | Hop Hop, RnB/Swing, Neo Soul | 1998 |
| 43 | Contemporary R&B | 2017 |
| 44 | Indie Rock | 2003 |
| 45 | Rap / Hip Hop | 2006 |
| 46 | Rap / Hip Hop | 1998 |
| 47 | Leftfield, Alternative Rock, Lo-Fi, Trip Hop | 2001 |
| 48 | Indie Rock | 2004 |
| 49 | Electronic, Indie Pop, Leftfield | 1997 |
| 50 | Electronic, Leftfield, Abstract | 2000 |
| 60s | 1 |
| 70s | 1 |
| 80s | 1 |
| 90s | 26 |
| 00s | 16 |
| 10s | 5 |
A whopping 7 albums are from 1998. It's a heck of a good year.
I own 36 of these on vinyl a lot of them more than once. the rest on plastic discs! Probably most of the ones on vinyl i have on CD too.
Anyways this was kinda fun. If not, to get fun statistics!
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Gavaxeman
Well-Known Member
I’m doing the same . No compilations, one album per artist/band
Alright, my original list came out to 113 albums with only one album per artist. I've also got them in tiers of 0, 1, 2, and 3; 0 being Top 10, and 3 being the most likely to not make the cut. Now comes the heartbreak time.
I’m not limiting myself to 1 per artist because most of my previous list followed that principle and I’m curious to see how this one turns out differently. The top 50 is not finalized yet but so far the balance between eras seems about right to me. I was born in the mid-1980s but I was always a bit of a classicist, so albums released before I came of age are fairly well represented. Subject to change:
1950s: 1
1960s: 5
1970s: 10
1980s: 11
1990s: 10
2000s: 7
2010s: 6
I have all of my provisional top 50 on vinyl EXCEPT ONE ($$$). Someday it will be mine!
Selecting and then ranking the 2010s albums has been tough. The albums from that decade that I listened to the most I ended up burning out on, and I’m trying to rank things in my current order of preference as much as possible. Let’s just say I’m glad we still have a few weeks to go!
(Side note: I had a blast this weekend revisiting Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure. I haven’t spun that album much over the past 10 years or so, and I was surprised that it’s still a favorite. Absolute lock!)
1950s: 1
1960s: 5
1970s: 10
1980s: 11
1990s: 10
2000s: 7
2010s: 6
I have all of my provisional top 50 on vinyl EXCEPT ONE ($$$). Someday it will be mine!
Selecting and then ranking the 2010s albums has been tough. The albums from that decade that I listened to the most I ended up burning out on, and I’m trying to rank things in my current order of preference as much as possible. Let’s just say I’m glad we still have a few weeks to go!
(Side note: I had a blast this weekend revisiting Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure. I haven’t spun that album much over the past 10 years or so, and I was surprised that it’s still a favorite. Absolute lock!)
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I'm not even a baby and I have several recent albums on my list. I was raised on a lot of the canonical classic rock greats, and I do love and appreciate them, but I have a different relationship with most of those albums. Those albums are like, the parents that raised me to love the albums I'm actually including on my list. Or something.
Edit: I also know myself well enough to identify a ME record pretty quickly.
gaporter
Well-Known Member
Yeah - there's albums/artists like that for me, my dad is a KISS fan and I heard tons of their music growing up so there's a part of me that responds positively to their music because of that, but I'm not going to include a KISS album in my top 50 just based on that
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supahypeag
Well-Known Member
Most of what I’ve listened to this year came out in the 70s. Most of what I listened to last year came out in the 50s and 60s. So my recency bias is ironically causing my list to skew older.
You totally should. Give Rock and Roll Over a good listen.
i have the exact opposite reaction...
my dad loves nat king cole and frank sinatra and that kinda music (dean martin, harry belafonte), and i know there is an appeal to the music but its so bland and inoffensive to me have a negative reaction, it might have been why whats going on (despite being a fantastic album in its own right) is not near my top 100
gaporter
Well-Known Member
Don't get me wrong, my upbringing has given me a great level of familiarity with the KISS catalogue and I'm much more forgiving of them than the average music fan. I think for me it's just at a point where I separate it from other music for whatever reason, it exists in a weird space for me to where I can enjoy it but I don't know how often I seek it out on my own.
I understand this reaction too, there's certain artists my parents or older family members played to the point I ended up rejecting it altogether. That could be a reason why my ears tend to shut off whenever I hear AC/DC. It's fine music but I've heard enough of it for one lifetime and it doesn't do anything for me at this point.
My list is turning out a lot different than I expected in a few ways, and very much how I expected in others. I have a ton of 2000s - now stuff, and most of it is Indie Rock or Folk. There are a few albums higher than I thought, and a few lower than I would have thought. I'm trying to be very precise and really think about how well I know each album, and how often I go back and revisit it. This will definitely be my most accurate personal list I've ever made I think! Also, I'm doing 100 albums because my heart can't take 50. I'm only submitting 50 of course, but I'm doing a list of 100
me and my family have totally different opinions on music... basically i hate having the radio playing in the car because if its christmas dad will play nonstop 1950-70s christmas stations and when its non stop its always the sirius XM playlists of motown soul (which im fine with), the less extreme types of jazz or sinatra (which could explain my inability to approach old school softer jazz and non indie crooners) and my mom plays nothing but country music (there is absolutely no country on my list and it is VERY not a genre i am comfortable in)
Yesterday evening I was going through my music library again, and discovered that I need to at least one piece of classical music to my list. Beethoven's 7th symphony, especially the 2nd movement (Allegretto), is IMHO one of the best and most perfect musical compositions of all time, I really love that and get goosebumps everytime I hear it.
There have been many recordings of that symphony, by many conductors and orchestras, which change and effect the overall piece quite a bit. My favourite interpretation is with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonics in 1978.
How would you guys add that to the list? Just "Ludwig Van Beethoven - 7th Symphony" or "Leonard Bernstein & Vienna Philharmonics - Beethoven's 7 Symphony"
There have been many recordings of that symphony, by many conductors and orchestras, which change and effect the overall piece quite a bit. My favourite interpretation is with Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonics in 1978.
How would you guys add that to the list? Just "Ludwig Van Beethoven - 7th Symphony" or "Leonard Bernstein & Vienna Philharmonics - Beethoven's 7 Symphony"
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supahypeag
Well-Known Member
Making a ranked list is tough for me because I don’t have an off-the-cuff favorite album or artist. Music is an emotional hack for me. Some helps me relax, some hypes me up, some makes me happy, some makes me sad. I find myself going to the more relaxing things lately because that’s the emotional support/mood I’ve been after. So the relaxing artists are maybe getting overrepresented on my current list.
I think for classical you’d have to go with the specific recording (in your case, Bernstein/Vienna). If I’m being honest I probably should have some version of the Nutcracker in my top 50, but I guess I’ll just keep this list “non-erudite.”
Yeah I agree, conductor/orchestra/perhaps date - composer/piece.
So I was mostly poking you in the ribs about adding Rock And Roll All Over, although it is a great record. (With the exception of Hotter Than Hell, I think KISS’s discography through Love Gun is A+ rock-and-roll if you can hold your nose during some of their more Spinal Tap-ish lyrics. But there won't be any KISS records in my fave 50.)
I like your description of how you feel about their music. I can relate -- you've accurately described how I feel about Michael Jackson.
OK, I LOLed at this. So much subtext (and controversy?) in such a simple declaration!
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