FOFC LIST: Top 100 Albums of All Time

[timmae]

Presenting the FOFC Top 100 ALBUMS of all time*;

2000s
Hank Williams - The Essential Hank Williams Collection
Kanye West - The College Dropout
Radiohead - Kid A
Outkast - Stankonia
PJ Harvey - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP

1990s
Elvis Presley - Sunrise
Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Radiohead - OK Computer
The Notorious B.I.G. - Ready To Die
Bob Dylan - Time Out Of Mind
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
Oasis - (What's The Story) Moning Glory
Hole - Live Through This
Mary J. Blige - My Life
Pavement - Slanted And Enchanted
Dr. Dre - The Chronic
U2 - Achtung Baby
Nirvana - Nevermind
R.E.M. - Out Of Time
Garth Brooks - Ropin' The Wind
James Brown - Star Time
A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction
Green Day - Dookie

1980s
Madonna - Like A Prayer
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet
N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
R.E.M. - Document
Eric B. And Rakim - Paid In Full
Prince - Sign O' The Times
U2 - The Joshua Tree
Paul Simon - Graceland
Metallica - Master Of Puppets
Run-DMC - Raising Hell
Bob Marley And The Wailers - Legend
Prince - Purple Rain
Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight
Michael Jackson - Thriller
AC/DC - Back In Black
Pixies - Surfer Rosa

1970s
The Clash - The Clash
Parliament/Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
The Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
The Eagles - Hotel California
The Ramones - Ramones
Stevie Wonder - Songs In The Key Of Life
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Patti Smith - Horses
Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
Al Green - Call Me
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
Stevie Wonder - Talking Book
Jimmy Cliff And Various Artists - The Harder They Come
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Dolly Parton - Coat Of Many Colors
David Bowie - Hunky Dory
Led Zeppelin - II
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Carole King - Tapestry
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
The Who - Who's Next
Neil Young - After The Gold Rush
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band
Van Morrison - Moondance

1960s
The Beatles - Abbey Road
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Sly & The Family Stone - Stand!
The Band - The Band
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Johnny Cash - At Folsom Prison
Aretha Franklin - Lady Soul
The Beatles - The Beatles ("The White Album")
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground And Nico
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
The Beatles - Revolver
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited
Otis Redding - Otis Blue
The Beatles - Rubber Soul
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
James Brown - Live At The Apollo (1963)
Ray Charles - Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music
Robert Johnson - King Of The Delta Blues Singers

1950s
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Little Richard - Here's Little Richard
Frank Sinatra - Songs For Swingin' Lovers
Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours

*Original "Time 100 Greatest Albums" (or 99 as it stands right now because of some deletions) list modified per the likes of the FOFC community.

[Passacaglia]

So what's the deal, every member gets to make one amendment?

[Hurst2112]

I would add:

1980's Rush "Moving Pictures"
1970's Pink Floyd "The Wall"

Obviously, I'm a little biased on the Rush but both albums need to be included just for the sheer influence they have had on the music industry since their release.

[Hurst2112]

dola:

I can't fathom the fact that Kanye West is in the same list at The Beatles.

[PackerFanatic]

No Green Day? Shame...

[timmae]

So what's the deal, every member gets to make one amendment?

Nah, just a consensus... might have to use those darn polls... instead of the usual Hot or Not polls we can have yay or nay to see which way the ship leans. we'll see how this thing works. maybe a few voices saying the same can lead to a poll of the entire community...

[TRO]

All "greatest hits" albums are not albums.
Led Zeppelin II is by far better than IV.
"Fear of a Black Planet" is better than "It takes a nation..."
"the Clash" is better than "London Calling"

What exactly is the point of this since some artists are already represented multiple times.

[timmae]

Forgot to add a possible new one to the list...

Pixies - Doolittle

I think it almost needs to be on there. Maybe in lieu of Lennon's "plastic Ono Band"..

[timmae]

What exactly is the point of this since some artists are already represented multiple times.

Just thinkin that the list isn't quite accurate and the cumulative mind here at FOFC could do a bit better. Seems like a cultured and varied group of minds here...

Maybe the idea is proof that I am working way to many hours and need a break!

Thinking about it a bit further you'd have to vote one off the list to make room for one that is deemed "worthy". Would that really make a good enough case to take it off the list completely? Maybe not.

[Schmidty]

Pavement - Brighten the Corners get's a slight nudge over Slanted and Enchanted from me, but I'm probably the only Pavement fan in the universe to hold that opinion.

[cthomer5000]

Forgot to add a possible new one to the list...

Pixies - Doolittle

I think it almost needs to be on there. Maybe in lieu of Lennon's "plastic Ono Band"..

Surfer Rosa, not Doolittle

[JonInMiddleGA]

Replace: Garth Brooks Ropin' The Wind with his better No Fences.

[wade moore]

Replace: Garth Brooks Ropin' The Wind with his better No Fences.

Good god yes.

[Coffee Warlord]

I don't know if you want to get into soundtracks, but I still say the best movie soundtrack of all time has to be The Crow.

[Raiders Army]

Dude, no GNR Appetite for Destruction? WTF?!?!!!

Green Day's Dokie isn't on there either!

[st.cronin]

I'm probably the only Pavement fan in the universe.

It's certainly possible. :D

[DeToxRox]

I have a big beef with Kanye West on there. Maybe it's just me but I don't see where all this hype comes from. I'd take Non Prophets "Hope" over that CD in a heartbeat but .. no one else would probably know what that is.

[QuikSand]

Surfer Rosa, not Doolittle

I'm agree.

[DeToxRox]

For 1980: Bad Brains S/T and Faith No More "The Real Thing" should be considered. Both are excellent recordings and have inspired numerous acts today.

[Maple Leafs]

Dude, no GNR Appetite for Destruction? WTF?!?!!!

Seconded.

[timmae]

Dude, no GNR Appetite for Destruction? WTF?!?!!!

Green Day's Dokie isn't on there either!

I hink both need an add to the list...

also, first poll will be Pixies - Surfer Rosa vs John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

[ntndeacon]

What about Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder?

[AgustusM]

Replace: Garth Brooks Ropin' The Wind with his better No Fences.

I agree but would go one further and go back to the original self titled album

the dance
alabama clay

and my favorite song of all time

much too young too feel this damn old.

[JeffW]

I'd put Nas - Illmatic under 90s.

[cthomer5000]

As a PJ Harvey fan, i call for the removal of Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. It is a good album, but no way does it belong on this list. Let's free up space for something else. And my recommendation would be 70s, Elvis Costello & The Attractions - This Year's Model

[Joe Canadian]

At San Quentin >>>> At Folsom Prison

[Tigercat]

No Chris Gaines albums on here? For shame.

[Narcizo]

Surfer Rosa, not Doolittle

Thirded.

Three Feet High and Rising instead of The Low End Theory or Bizarre Ride 2 by the Pharcyde should probably be in as well.

Changing "It takes a nation..." for "Fear of a Black Planet" has to be the most bizarre decision. Ever! Change it back this instant.

I find the lack of Smiths albums fairly disturbing as well. I think any list can find a place for The Queen Is Dead. Get rid of Moondance by Van Morrison. Much as I love him he doesn't deserve two albums on the list, Astral Weeks is better and Nick Drake was better in the 70s.

A predictable lack of "electronica" (or whatever it's called in America these days) can be righted by taking something like Leftism by Leftfield (as I presume the second Orbital album will be considered too pariochially English to be included). Personally I'd take away the staggeringly over-rated Velvet Underground or Clash to do that but I realise that might not be quite the consensus view.

But if I'm to make just one selection then I'd say put It Takes a Nation back. Yank Fear of a Black Planet. (or Paid in Full, for that matter. Seminal but not actually all that good).

[Narcizo]

DOLA.

Oops.

[thesloppy]

Notably absent:

The Byrds - Sweetheart of the Rodeo
The Kinks - Village Green Preservation Society
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (and/or Superfly)
Love - Forever Changes
Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedos
something from the 80s SST stable, be it Sonic Youth, Husker Du, the Minutemen or Dinosaur Jr.

[Tigercat]

I am not a fan, but I think Bush - Sixteen Stone should be on there for the 90s.

[MIJB#19]

What's the definition of qualyfing for the list? Being English languaged and liked by the FOFC crowd?

I'd have to suggest Moby's Play. I don't even like half of the songs on it, but I've read that this is the only album ever made from which every single song was used in a movie or commercial. Quite the achievement.

[Icy]

I would add Metallica's black album. I know it was less heavy than the albums before, but i think it was a big influence for lots of heavy bands that came after them.

[Icy]

Dola, no Perl Jam love? what about their album "Ten"?

Also, umm what about Tool? i can't stop to listen "AEnima" from them.

And yes, I'm a bit rock biased :)

[Ben E Lou]

What about Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder?
AB-SO-FREAKING-LUTELY!

Also don't forget fulfilling funk....fulfil flirt...frackin' furt.....


F*** it, you know, the GOOD one! ;)

[mrsimperless]

This list is sorely lacking Smashing Pumpkins - Melloncholie and the Infinite Sadness (however it's spelled)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Also don't forget fulfilling funk....fulfil flirt...frackin' furt..... F*** it, you know, the GOOD one! ;)

Once again, I see the striking similarities of our misspent youth ;)

[Ben E Lou]

Once again, I see the striking similarities of our misspent youth ;)
:D :D :D :D :D

[Emiliano]

I'd put Nas - Illmatic under 90s.

Absolutely. I'd suggest also "Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" by the Wu-Tang Clan and 2Pac's "All Eyez On Me".

[kurtism]

As noted in the Time thread, any Top 100 List should include Big Star's #1 Record/Radio City. As for Smashing Pumpkins, I'd take Gish or Siamese Dream 5 times over before Mellon Collie. Other candidates for the list would include Richard and Linda Thompson's Shoot Out The Lights, Jeff Buckley's Grace, and Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne.

I suppose the real question is - what is the criteria for "best"? Most popular? Most liked by you personally? Most influential? Most artistically significant/critically praised?

[fenrrris]

Nevermind is, of course, a great album, but I think Unplugged might warrant a look instead. I personally think it's the best album of the last twenty years. Also, you gotta have Beck! At least one representative album from the 90s! For ten years he was the scale for pop oddity and genuinely fresh melodic ideas.

On the other side of the scale, it seems to me that The Pixies don't really warrant entry: they pioneered surf-rock which went on to influence...no one, and although their abrasive melodic thing and crazed dynamic are clearly a part of the groundwork for bands like Nirvana I just can't help but think that The Pixies didn't do any of it particularly well. The songs are fun from time to time, but kind of worthless if you ask me. I like The Pixies so I don't want to take the negativity too far, but I just can't see them, in any context, as a Top 100 band.

[Lathum]

Meatloaf-Bat out of hell needs to be on there...

[Critch]

I'd like to second Kurtism's addition of Big Star's #1 Record/Radio City, and I'd say R.E.M. should have Murmur on the list ahead of one of the two R.E.M. cds on there, but I can't decide which one.

[cthomer5000]

I'd like to second Kurtism's addition of Big Star's #1 Record/Radio City

Those are two different albums. Let's not cheat just because you can find them stuck together on the same CD these days. I would easily support #1 Record over Radio City, personally.

[Joe Canadian]

Dola, no Perl Jam love? what about their album "Ten"?

Also, umm what about Tool? i can't stop to listen "AEnima" from them.

And yes, I'm a bit rock biased :)

As much as I love Pearl Jam, none of their albums deserve to be in the Top 100. The same can be said about Kanye's album.

[Raiders Army]

I would add Metallica's black album. I know it was less heavy than the albums before, but i think it was a big influence for lots of heavy bands that came after them.

I disagree. I think Master of Puppets would be more appropriate. A lot of people look at the black album as the record where they "sold out." Also, Master of Puppets was the last album before Cliff Burton died.

[JPhillips]

If you're going to remove compilation/greatest hits collections you missed some,

Hank Williams - The Essential Hank Williams Collection
Elvis Presley - Sunrise
Chuck Berry - The Great Twenty-Eight
Bob Marley And The Wailers - Legend

I also think this list has to include a Zappa. He was one of the most prolific and groundbreaking artists of the 20th century. A huge number of great musicians cycled through his band over thirty years. I would pick Joe's Garage(70s), but I'd listen to other suggestions.

[Subby]

Pixies - Come on Pilgrim
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

[JPhillips]

I almost put Nothing's Shocking, but I couldn't decide if it was that good, or just that good for me.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I disagree. I think Master of Puppets would be more appropriate.

"

[stevew]

Kanye's record is great. He may be a fruitcake, but that is a damn good CD. Maybe not top 100 worthy I guess however.

[Chas in Cinti]

OK...

You guys have me interested...

2 things:

1. I'd replace Public Enemy "Fear of a Black Planet" with "It Takes a Nation of Millions". "Fear" capitalized on mainstream popularity of PE's being "noticed" and used by Spike Lee and MTV's Yo Mtv Raps. However, the real breakthrough album that revved up popular knowledge with hip hop culture were songs like "Bring The Noise", "Dont Believe the Hype", "Night of the Living Basheads", and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"; all on "Millions".

2. As for Dre's "Chronic" and NWA's "Compton"... I think they can both be removed in favor of Eazy-E's "Eazy Duz It". Compton was breakthrough for many of the same reasons as "Millions", but with a bit more mainstream focus. I think it could be construed as redundant (only there by artist preference, not need). Dre's "Chronic" brought rap from the niche market to the mainstream party market. If we have other modern rap albums (as we have tons), I think we could drop it. We'd get the NWA tie from the Eazy album. Further, Eazy's album started the whole A-side/B-side radio/adult edits. "Boyz in the Hood" is arguably the greatest rap song of all time... to leave it off would be a poor choice!

Just my 2 cents...

Regards,
Chas

[Maple Leafs]

1990s
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction

Woot.

It was in the 80s, though. The two Use Your Ilusion albums was in the 90s.

(GnR are in Ottawa tonight... can't wait for the show.)

[headtrauma]

Pixies - Come on Pilgrim
Pixies - Surfer Rosa
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking

Agree totally on the Pixies. I went back several months ago and listened to "Nothing's Shocking" for the first time in years. I didn't seem to age well at all.

I'd add Catherine Wheel's "Chrome" to this list. It floors me that they never made it big.

[Maple Leafs]

It wasn't a huge commerical success, but in terms of influence and critical acclaim you really need to have The Downward Spiral on your 90s list.

[st.cronin]

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

[st.cronin]

John Coltrane - Interstellar Space

[Karlifornia]

2000's: Neutral Milk Hotel In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

90's: Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle
At The Drive-in Relationship Of Command

I was never a fan...but Maybe The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill or The Fugees

Also...ask anybody between the ages of 20-27 how many parties they've been to where Sublime S/T hasn't been played. Most would say not too many. At one point, it got so bad for me that I began to hate the album.

[mrsimperless]

I think we're sorely lacking a Ben Folds Five album as well. Whatever and Ever Amen was absolutely outstanding.

[Young Drachma]

Kanye's record is great. He may be a fruitcake, but that is a damn good CD. Maybe not top 100 worthy I guess however.

Of all time? Hmm..yeah, that's a stretch because I think it lacks the significance to really say that. But it is really a bold, bold record in its own right.

listsofbests.com

someone should start the list there

[Young Drachma]

Counting Crows - Recovering The Satellites
Nas - Illmatic

those are just two off the top of my head. There are others, but...I'd have to think about it more, because I'm too biased toward stuff I'm hearing of late.

[Narcizo]

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

Aye.

[Raiders Army]

I'm gonna get killed for this, but there's no Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, or N Sync on there either. ;)

[Qwikshot]

Where's the Police? The "punk" band that killed punk.

[timmae]

next poll to be put up includes Kanye, Wu-Tang and Nas...

[ntndeacon]

Another one worth mentioning is A Night at the Opera by Queen

[Scarecrow]

Just a couple more:

Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
Tesla - The Great Radio Contraversy
Supertramp - Breakfast In America
Foreigner - 4
Bad Company - 10 from 6
Van Halen - 1984

[willem]

seconded Neutral Milk - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (90's)