When I started out, I knew what was going to be at #1 and who was going to be at #20. Everything else in between was whatever happened to pop into my head at the moment. I quickly came up with a few guidelines for picking my Top 20 Albums:
I had to have either owned or listened to the album in its entirety.
Try to steer clear of debuts and greatest hits compilations.
List only one album per artist. Do not pick solo projects from members of groups you have already chosen.
Avoid choosing "overhyped" albums. (I'll get more into this concept in the article.)
This was not meant to be anything definitive. If it was, I would have put a lot more thought into it. I had a lot of fun slapping this together and I'm certain everyone else who posted this did, too.
I became a Who fan late in 1979 after seeing the movie "Tommy" on HBO. I couldn't buy the soundtrack, but I was able to find the original album. That led me to buy "Quadrophenia" in 1980. I was completely blown away by the ambitious scope and production of this album, which far surpassed everything Pete Townshend was trying to accomplish on "Tommy." The material hit me on countless emotional levels that I was experiencing at the time. Even now, anytime I listen to this album, I feel like a 15-year-old boy trying to figure out the world.
This is where we get into the concept of "overhyped." Many people consider "Exile on Main Street" to be the Stones' best album. I listened to it and thought it showed a very raw side of the group. However, after I listened to "Let It Bleed," I found a lot of that same rawness mixed in with their familiar 1960s sound, which made for a better album overall. On a side note: Just as I was getting into music, I was aware that the Stones were considered the "anti-Beatles." When I saw the title of this album, I thought they were doing a parody of "Let It Be." (And maybe they were.)
It wasn't when it first came out, but "Pet Sounds" is now overhyped. Too many people are now trying to compensate for years of neglect by naming "Pet Sounds" the greatest album ever. By doing this, they overlook "Today!" which shares a lot of the same qualities as "Pet Sounds" in terms of its production and adult-themed lyrics on many of the songs. Separating the songs into upbeat hits on one side and slower, more contemplative pieces on the other was genius. The first side of this album ROCKS! I don't know about you, but I sure the heck can't dance to "Sloop John B."
I've been a big fan of Laurie Anderson since 1982, when "Big Science" came out. (I could have chosen that. It wasn't her debut.) The main reason I picked this release was because it was the one that came out before the tour in which I got to see her live for the first time. As it would turn out, Laurie Anderson has been the only major artist I have paid to see twice. (And I've seen her perform two other times without having to pay!) This album may have more of a "pop" feel than her other releases, but it has always been a joy to listen to.
This, simply, is the standard by which I judge all other albums. I was 10 years old when I started getting into the artistry of rock music and was haunted by the song "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." The album had so many stunning compositions that all other pop and rock music I had heard up to that point seemed insignificant in comparison. The only bad thing was that this marked the beginning of the end of Elton John's popularity (due to word getting out about him being gay). I later felt like I had jumped on the bandwagon way too late and wasn't able to truly be "in the moment" with him as an artist.
I got into Kate Bush during a period in which I was buying CDs like crazy and purchased "Hounds of Love." After that, I found a CD of "The Kick Inside" in a bargain bin. None of her three other releases were put on CD until after "The Whole Story" came out. "Never Forever" was the last one I was able to get, because I had to special order it. It turned out to be worth the wait. I saw it as a great comeback after the truly cruddy "Lionheart." I felt like she was hitting all the marks on her material. Even though "The Dreaming" was more to my taste, I always kept coming back to this one.
I lucked out on this. I was afraid that the website was going to force me to choose either "Act I" or "Acts II & III," but they offered it as one complete work. This came as a breath of fresh air in the middle of the period in which I was collecting concept albums. This took the storytelling to a truly ridiculous level and had some pretty memorable songs to go with it. If I hadn't gotten to pick all three acts, I probably would have had to settle for "Hot Rats." (That actually would have been cool because Captain Beefheart was prominently featured on that.)
Yeah, this is a compilation, but almost all of the songs were created specifically for the soundtrack, so it's a complete album all on its own. This marked a kind of farewell for a lot of major alternative acts from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Grunge had taken hold of the music scene when this came out and it almost seemed out of time and place. But you can't put a date on good music. If the film had lived up to the potential of the soundtrack, it would have been one of the greatest works of all time.
I noticed that every person I saw who did one of these listed "Revolver" as their one Beatles album. I think this is due to the overhyping of "Sgt. Pepper," "Rubber Soul," "The White Album" and "Abbey Road." While "Revolver" has been recognized for its innovation and powerful songs, it rarely reaches the noted heights of the other albums. In fact, it appears to have made the #1 spot on the general list. But I'm pretty certain that after this starts getting all the accolades, people will start calling "Magical Mystery Tour" their top album.
I wanted to recognize Trevor Horn on this list. But the Buggles' "The Age of Plastic" is a debut and Geoff Downes didn't play on half of "Adventures in Modern Recording," so I didn't feel right listing that, either. This was the best solution as it wasn't a debut. (The Art of Noise had previously released an EP titled, "Into Battle with the Art of Noise.") I'm not a fan of sampling, but at least The Art of Noise does it with panache. A lot of my experimental music friends would take me to task for listing this over more deserving artists, but they don't pay attention to me anyway.
Yeah, this is a debut. It was an album I always wanted to own, but it was out of print when I wanted to get it. Time goes by and technology manages to catch up with your desires. I was able to listen to this album after someone posted it on YouTube. (This is also how I listened to "Let It Bleed" and many other albums I never got to check out.) The interesting thing about the version I heard was that it included both the mono and stereo versions of the first side, and they are markedly different.
Oh, I would have loved to have put "Metal Machine Music" on here. But I haven't been able to listen to it all the way through on YouTube. But I owned this album during my days collecting concept albums and I really wanted Lou Reed on this list, so here it is. This probably contains the scariest songs I've ever heard. I never wanted to do drugs, and this album pretty much justified that decision. It's too bad it couldn't have that kind of effect on most of Lou Reed's other fans. And I didn't notice this until later, but I subconsciously put Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson on the same list.
I have to admit: Before I heard this album, I didn't think much of Ray Davies as a songwriter. But this album demonstrates the level at which he was capable of composing, even when dealing with a concept. I never got into the Kinks as much as I did the Who, but I could see myself becoming a larger fan if I had discovered this album earlier in my teens. (But that would have meant spending more money on albums.) One of the things that this album manages to accomplish is make me feel like it's the late 1960s when I'm listening to it.
I have to admit something here: I personally know Cindy Lee Berryhill. For the longest time, I avoided seeing her shows in San Diego because of something someone wrote on the chalkboard at Java Joe's: "Cindy Lee Berryhill met Brian W. last night." I knew that was a reference to Brian Wilson and I got jealous because I hadn't gotten to meet him. But after I did meet him, I wasn't jealous anymore and I could enjoy her music. I then realized that the note at Java Joe's was a reference to a song on this album, which pretty much serves as a tribute to his production style.
Interestingly enough, this was the only Prince album I ever owned on CD. The period in which I was into his music saw me buying cassettes and vinyl versions of his albums. (This actually had a lot to do with "DMSR" not being on the CD release of "1999.") But this makes for a great transition of the material from "Dirty Mind" to lead into "1999" (which would be considered overhyped like "Purple Rain" and "Sign O' the Times"). It's also interesting to hear Prince relay questions people had about his persona before he became wildly popular.
After I listed Prince, I thought to myself, "Who's that other person who died recently? Oh, yeah! David Bowie!" Yeah, this is probably considered overhyped, but it's the only David Bowie album I've ever owned. Believe it or not, David Bowie could make me psychic. I recall going to a concert by another band. For whatever reason, the song "Suffragette City" entered my brain and I couldn't figure out why. A few minutes later, the band I was watching started playing that song.
Well, this is embarassing. I meant to choose U2's second album. But I couldn't, for the life of me, remember the title. An unofficial rule was that I couldn't go into my browser to look up the name of an album. I tried using the website's search function, but it listed a large number of compilations and wouldn't show the album I wanted to pick. Yes, "War" is somewhat overhyped, but I picked it anyway because it came out before they started having any real hits. It was only after I posted the list that remembered the name of that album was "October."
The Jackson 5 was one of the first groups I became aware of when I was a child. It helped that they had their own cartoon show. For Christmas one year, my parents bought me "Third Album." I listened to it a lot, and it was cool because they used a couple of songs from it for the TV show. I would have chosen that, but I prefer the later version of The Jacksons in which they exercised more control over their music. The contributions by the other members on this album stood up to anything Michael Jackson composed up to that point. But that all changed after "Thriller."
Yeah, I was into disco music for a time. And Donna Summer was the first black woman I had a celebrity crush on. I never owned any of her other albums, but I did have the "MacArthur Park" 45. "Bad Girls" was three sides of upbeat dance music and one side of slow tunes. And I LOVED extended versions of the singles. It felt like they could make my favorite songs go on forever so I wouldn't have to put the needle back on the turntable every three minutes. And the funny thing is that I never owned the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack.
What can I say? When I listen to Apink, I feel like a 15-year-old girl.
Actually, I had hoped to choose their "Snow" release, but because it's an EP, that's probably why it didn't show up on the website's list when I searched for it. I hadn't planned this, but Apink turned out to be the only thing on here that came out in the last 20 years. Has my taste in music really been that narrow since I turned 30? Probably.
After completing and posting this list, I was surprised at the albums that didn't wind up on it. 20 albums really doesn't represent the scope of my musical experience. I would like to take this opportunity to name a few albums that easily could have made the Top 20, including a few that break my guidelines. They are, in no particular order (and with no comments or photos):
Bangles - All Over the Place
The Moody Blues - On the Threshold of a Dream
Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star
Napoleon XIV - They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!
Talking Heads - Fear of Music
Ripley Caine - Lover
Richard Lloyd - Black & White
Andrew Lloyd Webber - Requiem
Vanessa Carlton - Heroes & Thieves
Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express
The Animals - Best of The Animals
R.E.M - Tales of the Reconstruction
Blondie - Eat to the Beat
Coldplay - Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
The Clash - Sandinista!
Neil Young - Harvest
Steve Winwood - Back in the High Life
Genesis - Nursery Cryme
Paul Simon - Graceland
The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come
The Cure - Pornography
Suzanne Vega - Days of Open Hand
Split Enz - Waiata
This is by no means a complete list. I may have to re-visit this in about ten years. Things will likely change if I ever feel like something here has become overhyped or find something isn't getting enough attention.
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