Sunday, August 07, 2005

Worst List EVER.

Worst List EVER.
While purusing a Borders Express in the Ala Moana Mall, I picked up the July issue of SPIN magazine. In the last few years, this has become my favorite magazine; it's usually a good read, a good chance you'll hear about the next great band before they break, and no chance of seeing Britney/Christina/Lindsay on the cover (take that ROLLING STONE!).

They have, at times, seemed a little too heavy on the Kurt-love. Or they did until this July.

The cover reads "100 Greatest Albums -- 1985-Now." With a pic of Bono, Beck, and (what!) Dr. Dre.

The would-be reader thinks, "Ok, 1, 2, 3 in that order?" But none are in the top 9 (N.W.A. catches a lucky #10)...and the SPIN readers are thinking, "Ok, so Nevermind is #1, that's easy." Nope #3.

Let's run through the Top 20 (to save space and time).
1. Radiohead (OK Computer)
2. Public Enemy (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back)
3. Nirvana (Nevermind)
4. Pavement (Slanted and Enchanted)
5. The Smiths (The Queen is Dead)
6. Pixies (Surfer Rosa)
7. De La Soul (3 Feet High and Rising)
8. Prince (Sign 'o' the Times) -- only because "Purple Rain" was released in '84
9. PJ Harvey (Rid of Me)
10. N.W.A. (Straight Outta Compton)
11. U2 (Achtung Baby)
12. Beastie Boys (Paul's Boutique)
13. Husker Du (New Day Rising)
14. Sonic Youth (Daydream Nation)
15. Liz Phair (Exile in Guyville)
16. Beck (Odelay)
17. Nas (Illmatic)
18. Guns N' Roses (Appetite for Destruction)
19. Hole (Live Through This)
20. Wu-Tang Clan (Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers))

If those are the best that the music industry has to offer me from its last 20 years of labor, I'm out...I want no part of anything musical from this moment forward.

I'm not going to suggest a list of albums that should bump some of the current top-20 (I'm looking at you #18)...like the most current entries in the top-100 Kanye West (College Dropout, #45, released in 2004) and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Fever to Tell, #89, released 2003), or one of my personal favorites, The White Stripes (White Blood Cells, #57)...but I would like to point out a few lapses in judgement on behalf of Spin.

We, Spin, apologize for:
~Putting Bono on the cover of this magazine even though U2 didn't make the top 10 and only have one entry in the top 100.

~Putting Beck on the cover with his albums at 16 and 81 (Mellow Gold)

~Putting Dr. Dre (and not Eminem, the best thing Dre did for hip-hop) on the cover (Guess we hit the quota for Nirvana covers)

~Placing Oasis at #28, and the album not being What's the Story (Morning Glory), but rather Definitely Maybe (released 1994)...so many mistakes here...

~Ranking Wu-Tang Clan higher than Elliott Smith

~Getting the spelling of #53 wrong -- it reads Rage Against the Machine (Battle for Los Angeles) -- it should read Bright Eyes (Lifted (Or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground)) or at the very least Rage Against the Machine (Evil Empire)

~et. al

We're sorry.

They did, however, manage to get Fugazi in at a respectable #29...though the album should be End Hits or Red Medicine and not 13 Songs.

Discuss.

P.S. the list did it's job since today I went out and purchased #14...

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