Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2012 edition)

[Sandy]

Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2012 edition)



Here's a project.

I've been slowly going through these albums, learning about music I may have missed along the way, as well as revisiting well known ones. As I finish and put aside each album, I choose my favorite song. That's my rule. One song. It's not so easy to do, but it's a fun challenge.

I'll keep a running list here and if anyone else wants to create a favorites list, I'll make this post an index as well.

Happy listening!


Link to the magazine's list:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-156826/outkast-aquemini-2-155441/
 
Link to an easier way to access the albums:

https://www.discogs.com/lists/500-Greatest-Albums-Rolling-Stone/140759



INDEX

Martin Teller
Sandy

[Sandy]

Sandy's Favorites

Title	ּ	Artist	ּ	Year	ּ	Song	ּ	Reason
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	ּ	The Beatles	ּ	1967	ּ	A Day In The Life	ּ	Lightning strike of genius, where more is definitely more.
Pet Sounds	ּ	The Beach Boys	ּ	1966	ּ	God Only Knows	ּ	Can perfection be more than this?
Revolver	ּ	The Beatles	ּ	1966	ּ	Eleanor Rigby	ּ	Loneliness personified
Highway 61 Revisited	ּ	Bob Dylan	ּ	1965	ּ	Like A Rolling Stone	ּ	As far as I'm concerned, this song is Dylan.
Rubber Soul	ּ	The Beatles	ּ	1965	ּ	In My Life	ּ	If anyone has asked me what my all time favorite song is, I've said "In My Life." And, I'll continue to do so.
What's Going On	ּ	Marvin Gaye	ּ	1971	ּ	What's Going On	ּ	I was tempted to choose others, but no can do.
Exile On Main St.	ּ	Rolling Stones	ּ	1972	ּ	Shine A Light	ּ	I have a lot of affection for this song.
London Calling	ּ	The Clash	ּ	1979	ּ	London Calling	ּ	It had to be this one.
Blonde On Blonde	ּ	Bob Dylan	ּ	1966	ּ	One Of Us Must Know (Sooner Or Later)	ּ	Acknowledgement/Apology/Closure. It made me cry. Must have hit a vulnerable part inside of me.
The Beatles (White Album)	ּ	The Beatles	ּ	1968	ּ	Blackbird	ּ	This song has pulled me through on many occassions.
The Elvis Presley Sun Collection	ּ	Elvis Presley	ּ	1975	ּ	I Forgot To Remember To Forget	ּ	Honestly, with so much misogyny in this album, I chose a schadenfreude song to make up for it.
Kind of Blue	ּ	Miles Davis	ּ	1959	ּ	So What	ּ	What can I say? Sometimes my choices are gonna be predictable.
The Velvet Underground & Nico	ּ	The Velvet Underground & Nico	ּ	1967	ּ	I'll Be Your Mirror	ּ	Relationship Goals
Abbey Road	ּ	The Beatles	ּ	1969	ּ	Here Comes The Sun	ּ	Sheesh! Don't make me choose! ...okay, if I must. My earliest cognizance of The Beatles was when I was a little girl, dancing in a show to "Here Comes the Sun." Was I any good? Probably not. Does the song bring me a wistful joy? Yes.
Are You Experienced	ּ	Jimi Hendrix	ּ	1967	ּ	Foxey Lady	ּ	Any time I can conjure up Dana Carvey in my head, I'll choose that song!
Blood On The Tracks	ּ	Bob Dylan	ּ	1975	ּ	Buckets Of Rain	ּ	The guitar, the poetry, the candor, the vulnerability; these are my favorite parts of Dylan, in one song.
Nevermind	ּ	Nirvana	ּ	1991	ּ	Lithium	ּ	Having missed the Nirvana train back in the early 90's, I don't have a special attachment to "Smells Like Teen Spirit." "Lithium" catches my attention more. Contrasts seem to be the theme of Nirvana and this song models it well.
Born To Run	ּ	Bruce Springsteen	ּ	1975	ּ	Thunder Road	ּ	Rock opera, FTW! Also, I have serious road trip Wanderlust.
Astral Weeks	ּ	Van Morrison	ּ	1968	ּ	Astral Weeks	ּ	It's the most fanciful and playful of the songs.
Thriller	ּ	Michael Jackson	ּ	1982	ּ	Thriller	ּ	The music video, the dance, Vincent Price; it's all too iconic to bypass. Besides, it fesses up that scary movies one job is to get your date to cower in your arms.
The Great Twenty-Eight	ּ	Chuck Berry	ּ	1982 (1955-1965)	ּ	Johnny B. Goode	ּ	Autobiographical. And well, Marty McFly.
The Complete Recordings	ּ	Robert Johnson	ּ	1990 (1936-1937)	ּ	Cross Roads Blues	ּ	The Headwaters for the movie Crossroads and it's all things Delta Blues.
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band	ּ	John Lennon	ּ	1970	ּ	Mother	ּ	As a teenager, I had become familiar with the song through Barbra Streisand's cover and took it to heart. I never bothered to find out who wrote it and performed it first. Giving credit where credit is due. I could have used Lennon's primal scream back then.
Innervisions	ּ	Stevie Wonder	ּ	1973	ּ	All in Love Is Fair	ּ	Again, I first knew this song through Streisand's rendition. Streisand's is slick and theatrical. Stevie Wonder's is vocal heartache. Damn.
The James Brown Show (Live At The Apollo)	ּ	James Brown	ּ	1963	ּ	Try Me	ּ	I would have chosen "Please, Please, Please," but there is only a snippet of it in a medley, so "Try Me" is my next favorite. It's a little too needy, but is Brown's first number one hit, so that's good enough for me.
Rumours	ּ	Fleetwood Mac	ּ	1977	ּ	Dreams	ּ	Ah, an album I'm much more familiar with. "Dreams" has the most interesting things to say. Very articulate and astute.
The Joshua Tree	ּ	U2	ּ	1987	ּ	With or Without You	ּ	"And you give yourself away." I hear this echoed through time. Indelible.

[Dave the Necrobumper]

following along

[MartinTeller]

Breaking it down:

230 I've never heard
72 I've heard but do not currently own
13 I own "in spirit" (i.e., comparable compilations to the ones on their list, but not the exact same one)
185 I own

From my own top 100 list:

Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
Björk - Post
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A.
Buzzcocks - Singles Going Steady
David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Model
Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full
Eurythmics - Touch
George Michael - Faith
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Joni Mitchell - Court And Spark
Joy Division - Closer
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
New Order - Substance
Parliament - Mothership Connection
Paul Simon - Paul Simon
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Phil Spector - Back To Mono (1958-1969)
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Prince - Sign "O" The Times
Prince And The Revolution - Purple Rain
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Rolling Stones* - Let It Bleed
Sinéad O'Connor - I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sly & The Family Stone - Fresh
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Beatles - The Beatles
The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs
The Velvet Underground & Nico (3) - The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Who - Live At Leeds
The Who - Quadrophenia
Van Morrison - Moondance


Also this made me realize Odessey and Oracle should definitely be on my own list, but somehow I missed it.

It's pretty humbling how many of these I've never heard... although there are many that are semi-represented by a greatest hits in my collection.

The list is notably lacking in electronica and prog (no Yes or Genesis? really? not that I'm a big prog guy but that seems wrong). I've been on a huge reggae/dub kick lately, and I notice a distinct lack of Jamaican music outside of Bob Marley and The Harder They Come.

[Sandy]

Martin, here I've been looking at only one album at a time, so as not to get overwhelmed and you throw caution to the wind and give a whole 500 album overview! So great!

I'm sad to hear that Yes isn't represented, but happy to know that Buzzcocks and Sly & the Family Stone are on my listening horizon.

following along

Nice!

[Antares]

The list is notably lacking in electronica and prog (no Yes or Genesis? really? not that I'm a big prog guy but that seems wrong).

Especially when Yes' Close to the Edge is a seminal album in the Prog rock canon. Musically, it's perfect. Four of the greatest rock musicians peaking at the same moment in time.

Also, no King Crimson.

[Antares]

following along

Me too, this should be interesting.

What I don't understand is why Rolling Stone includes Greatest Hits albums. If you're going to do that, then you should be including Hank Williams Greatest Hits. Williams changed the landscape of country music. Hell, you have Frank Sinatra in there, Robert Johnson for blues, yet country music isn't represented except for Johnny Cash? While Cash was influential, he pales in comparison to Williams.

Also, I don't envy Sandy on this one, there's a lot of garbage on that list too.

[colonel_mexico]

Never understood why PET SOUNDS is always ranked so high, its good but not 2nd greatest ever

The few hip hop/rap albums I saw on there are pretty good

[oldkid]

Never understood why PET SOUNDS is always ranked so high, its good but not 2nd greatest ever

The few hip hop/rap albums I saw on there are pretty good

Mostly because of this list, I caught up with Pet Sounds.  And it was odd... very odd for a Beach Boys album.  But it was fascinating.

So I listened to it again... and again... and again... and I realized after countless listens that it truly is one of the greatest albums ever recorded.  It isn't purposefully strange, like Sgt. Peppers.  It is an album by a musical genius who recognizes his difference compared to the rest of the world and realizes his deep loneliness.  So there is a sadness and a taste of life, all accompanied by rich music. 

So is it #2?  Probably not on my list, but I can't argue with anyone who wants to put it up so high.  This album opens my mind to what music could be.

[colonel_mexico]

Interesting, well perhaps I have not given it a fair shake, I'll try to be more open minded next time through


I was surprised Dark Side of the Moon was not in the top 25, also any Beatles album before Sgt. Peppers shouldn't be that high imo, they are great, but everything after is incredible