The N&G Top 500 Albums of All Time!!!

Rules here:



Also serves as a bump for anyone who forgot a rule or two (like me).

Hmmm. I can live with a top 50 even if it makes it infinitely harder. The keeping it private saps so much of the fun out of it for me though. Cause this forum does have a somewhat predictable community-based taste due it it's start as a VMP curated site. For example, I'd put money on very few electronic, metal or hip-hop albums touching the final list.

Still gonna participate of course. And understand that @Woob_woob's life is a lot easier with things kept private.... But I wonder if our final lists can't be put into a separate thread for the purposes of new discovery.
 
But Eric Clapton Unplugged is unquestionably his best album... ;)
Yea but Clapton is a racist piece of shit so who cares what his best album is. 😉


The keeping it private saps so much of the fun out of it for me though
You're more than welcome to post your list publicly, it's just that official votes are only the ones that are sent to me in DM
 
I spent far too long procrastinating and then just ended up shooting from the hip and writing down 50 albums I loved. Will get round to ordering at some point. I think this is a good way of doing it because several days later I don't want to change the makeup of the list. There is one gaping miss which is 36 Chambers but there isn't room so it'll just have to miss out.
 
Is anybody else limiting themselves to one album per artist?

Not this time. I’ve often kept a running list of favorite albums and usually followed that rule. I’m now curious to know what my list will look like without such limit. My current top 50 list still features 42 different artists.

Hmmm. I can live with a top 50 even if it makes it infinitely harder. The keeping it private saps so much of the fun out of it for me though.

All that means is that you don’t need to post your list in order for it to be counted (instead you must DM it). But you can post it if you want to. Several people already started sharing theirs.

i think this whole exercise has made me realize my favorite album of all time isn't what i thought it was. :oops:

Samesies!
 
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After a focused hour or so staring at my list yesterday afternoon, I finally have it ranked. Will give it one or two more passes for minor adjustments then call it good.

I've got four artists with three albums each, and nine artists with two albums each. Maybe I'll try to make a 2nd list limiting to one per artist and see how they compare. 🤔
 
Not this time. I’ve often kept a running list of favorite albums and usually followed that rule. I’m now curious to know what my list will look like without such limit. My current top 50 list still features 42 different artists.



All that means is that you don’t need to post your list in order for it to be counted (instead you must DM it). But you can post it if you want to. Several people already started sharing theirs.



Samesies!

What’s surprised me is how many albums from the 00’s are making my list considering I tend to prefer the 70’s, 90’s and 2010’s... but I also think it’s tough to gauge newer stuff and that the lack of depth for the 00’s doesn’t matter as much on I list like this and since 05-09 were my college years, it was an era that helped define my taste.

Leaning towards 1 album per artist but allowing for 5 exceptions. But another thing that’s funny about this is certain instances where 2 album v 1 per artist would change my answer.

For example, my two NIN albums would be Downward Spiral and Pretty Hate Machine BUT only allowed one NIN record than the answer is The Fragile as that’s my favorite... even if it’s less important.

Similarly, it would be Ok Computer and Amnesiac if given two slots but Hail to the Thief if only given one.
 
Is anybody else limiting themselves to one album per artist?
I wasn't able to. I have four or five artists doubled up, but no triples.

I think I am done done now. Here's another batch that I couldn't fit into the top 50 even though I was sure I would be able to. And honestly, my #50 selection should get the boot for any of these but that record at 50 means too much to me, so I want to represent it.



Bob Marley - Exodus
Grateful Dead - Workingman's Dead
Elvis Costello - Brutal Youth
Reigning Sound - Shattered
John Hyatt - Crossing Muddy Waters
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Carole King - Tapestry
Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast

In fact I think my list is better titled "Top 50 life changing or most influential albums."
Or something like that.
I can say that I truly have thought about it a ton.
 
Yeah, this was how I approached it as well. Not a list of "objectively the best 50 albums", but the ones that I most obsessed over and listened to over and over at some point in my life.
Yes, this goes for me as well...there's some albums that wouldn't rank up in the top 1000 on most lists, but for did for my top 50:)
 
In fact I think my list is better titled "Top 50 life changing or most influential albums."
Or something like that.
I can say that I truly have thought about it a ton.

I went for more of a "desert island" approach based on my current taste ("if I could only listen to 50 albums..." etc.). Several old favorites/life-changing albums were sacrificed to the music gods in the process.
 
Yea but Clapton is a racist piece of shit so who cares what his best album is. 😉



You're more than welcome to post your list publicly, it's just that official votes are only the ones that are sent to me in DM


Clapton is a racist POS but he’ll still be on my list the same as Morissey (another racist piece is shit) will likely be on others list. I had to make the decision to disassociate art from artist early on.
 
Clapton is a racist POS but he’ll still be on my list the same as Morissey (another racist piece is shit) will likely be on others list. I had to make the decision to disassociate art from artist early on.
Thankfully neither artist really did it for me. I went through a Smiths phase and still enjoy them enough but not enough to make my top 50. Clapton outside of Cream is just boring but skillful white people music, blues for the suburbs, which makes it easier to ignore for me. I do a ton of separating the art from the artist tho and don't judge anyone that enjoys the art of a flawed human.
 
Thankfully neither artist really did it for me. I went through a Smiths phase and still enjoy them enough but not enough to make my top 50. Clapton outside of Cream is just boring but skillful white people music, blues for the suburbs, which makes it easier to ignore for me. I do a ton of separating the art from the artist tho and don't judge anyone that enjoys the art of a flawed human.

The whole Morrissey thing was very disappointing. I’m not Hispanic but grew up in a Hispanic majority city and the amount of love for him was absolutely unreal, so I feel the level of betrayal through them more so than for myself.

I think Clapton is one of the greats, influenced by other greats sure, but who isn’t? I’ll leave it there as I’m not qualified to speak on the history of blues artists, just qualified to say what I have enjoyed over the years.

The thing I dislike are the trends in popular opinion that are kindled by whatever indie artist is hot at any given time. Bridgers is entitled to her opinion, and I respect her for forming her own, but because she’s the hot thing right now many others are adopting her opinion as their own and that seems disingenuous to me. Like a bandwagon sports fan or something. Not accusing you of doing such, Woob, just an observation in general.
 
The whole Morrissey thing was very disappointing. I’m not Hispanic but grew up in a Hispanic majority city and the amount of love for him was absolutely unreal, so I feel the level of betrayal through them more so than for myself.

I think Clapton is one of the greats, influenced by other greats sure, but who isn’t? I’ll leave it there as I’m not qualified to speak on the history of blues artists, just qualified to say what I have enjoyed over the years.

The thing I dislike are the trends in popular opinion that are kindled by whatever indie artist is hot at any given time. Bridgers is entitled to her opinion, and I respect her for forming her own, but because she’s the hot thing right now many others are adopting her opinion as their own and that seems disingenuous to me. Like a bandwagon sports fan or something. Not accusing you of doing such, Woob, just an observation in general.
I dont think its a trend in popular opinion to now think Clapton is a racist, Ive known about it since I was a teenager. Yes Bridgers brings new light to it with her tweets and interview and probably informs new people about it but I highly doubt many people are forming their opinions based off of a Bridgers sound bite. Also in her interview on the subject she mostly advocates for seperating art from artist while being aware that artists can be bad humans too.
 
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