5 replies to this topic

[Pedro Cerrano]

Top 10:

 

1.  Marvin Gaye "What's Going On"

2.  The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"

3.  Joni Mitchell "Blue"

4.  Stevie Wonder "Songs in the Key of Life"

5.  The Beatles "Abbey Road"

6.  Nirvana "Nevermind"

7.  Fleetwood Mac "Rumours"

8.  Prince "Purple Rain"

9.  Bob Dylan "Blood on the Tracks"

10.  Lauryn Hill "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"

 

My first thought.  Uh what?

 

Oh well, at least they realize Abbey Road is the best Beatles album.  And I also love the respect shown for Blood on the Tracks but it's Dylan's third or fourth best record.

 

Some of these are jokes.  All due respect to Marvin Gaye but c'mon.

[BSLRoseKatz]

Melodrama at #460 is far too low 

[Mike in STL]

No Master of Puppets? Pass

[24fps]

Filter out the hip hop and I only see two albums in the top 25 (Purple Rain and Nevermind) that were released after 1980.  Personally I would move Rumours down, move Revolver up to 7 and Patti Smith's Horses to where they initially put Revolver.

 

Hip hop doesn't speak to me, but it's past time that it was recognized for the force it's become - just look at the 2003 list.  It's a pity that I no longer have the perspective to judge the 2020 list in a modern context, but Pet Sounds STILL at number 2?  C'mon.

[RShack]

  It's a pity that I no longer have the perspective to judge the 2020 list in a modern context, but Pet Sounds STILL at number 2?  C'mon.

 

It's stellar reputation greatly exceeds it's innate musical goodness.... I think it's kinda like Citizen Kane in that way... in both cases, it's more of a landmark than an example of all around wonderfulness and perfection...  Citizen Kane was an OK movie, but it was no Casablanca....  and Pet Sounds was an OK record, but I could name 30 or 40 better ones...

 

But for Citizen Kane it's the whole Orson Wells "autere" thing... not sure what the corresponding world is for music instead of film making, but for Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds was his Citizen Kane to insiders... like the Beatles, who upon hearing it then felt driven to try to one-up him with Sgt Peppers (but that wasn't really a fair fight:  Wilson doing it all vs. the amazing team of Lennon and McCartney and George Martin)...

 

Anyway, whatever you call something like that, it applies to both Pet Sounds and Kane... whatever that descriptor is, it's not "Top 5"... unless the list is about impact and influence...

[Pedro Cerrano]

I’m actually OK with Pet Sounds being in the top 10 here. It would never sniff my top 50 but I get why people laud it. It was a bad ranking when it was 2 years ago and it’s bad being 2 now...but I get it.

There are more issues here. The first being the disrespect of the Beatles and Dylan. These guys want you to believe that Marvin Gaye and Joni Mitchell made better records than the Beatles or Dylan ever did. When you consider cultural significance and, hell, just aesthetic enjoyment, this list is immediately disqualified as being anything remotely close to relevant.