The N&G Top 500 Albums of All Time!!!

[Thackeraye]

Some old school metal made it into mine ...and a good chunk of rock ...it was the music of my youth and I still play it 40 years on so it’s stood the test of time ....

My top 50 is fairly crunchy as well. I think I'll be losing Appetite For Destruction out my top 50, which I never thought would happen, and that's me doing one album per artist. Lots of alt-metal making its way in though.

 

[LeSamourai]

This one's on my list!

 

[Joe Mac]

40 - 36

40. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972)



39. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)



38. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? (1998)



37. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)



36. Spiritualized- Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (1997)

 

[Woob_woob]

40 - 36

40. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972)



39. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)



38. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? (1998)



37. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)



36. Spiritualized- Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (1997)

4 albums I love and 1 I hate!

 

[Joe Mac]

4 albums I love and 1 I hate!

Haha! I know from the yearly lists that you really don’t like the mid 00s post-punk revival bands from the U.K.

 

[bettim84]

40 - 36

40. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972)



39. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)



38. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? (1998)



37. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)



36. Spiritualized- Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (1997)

That Is This Desire? reissue can’t come soon enough!

 

[Joe Mac]

That Is This Desire? reissue can’t come soon enough!

Definitely! I can’t wait to have her discography on vinyl!

 

[Woob_woob]

Haha! I know from the yearly lists that you really don’t like the mid 00s post-punk revival bands from the U.K.

You found the one!

 

[Crabbers]

40 - 36

40. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972)



39. Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti (1975)



38. PJ Harvey - Is This Desire? (1998)



37. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (2005)



36. Spiritualized- Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (1997)

Ooh silent alarm...might show up on mine too

 

[gaporter]

This is hard.

 

[bettim84]

This is hard.

For sure. My dual challenges at the moment are how to round up my list (I think I settled on 45-46 records that are definitely in, but the last few slots are wide open) and how to properly order my top 20 or so.

I’m thinking of setting a dumb Bill Simmons-style playoff bracket for the 8 or 16 records that are vying for those final spots. Desperate times.

(On a related note, though one that does not quite belong to this thread, how painful is it to hear Simmons talk about music? It’s always cringeworthy to me.)

 

[zomgbear]

This one's on my list!

This is my boss' favorite band / and he's talked about this album before. I've never listened to it though. You my boss LeSamourai??

 

[Crabbers]

This is hard.

 

[bettim84]

This is my boss' favorite band / and he's talked about this album before. I've never listened to it though. You my boss LeSamourai??

The entire Pavement discography is worth checking out. Ask any 5 fans and you may get 5 different answers for what their favorite Pavement album is. Also, even if you strongly dislike one of their albums it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll feel the same about the others.

 

[McGlam]

For sure. My dual challenges at the moment are how to round up my list (I think I settled on 45-46 records that are definitely in, but the last few slots are wide open) and how to properly order my top 20 or so.

I’m thinking of setting a dumb Bill Simmons-style playoff bracket for the 8 or 16 records that are vying for those final spots. Desperate times.

(On a related note, though one that does not quite belong to this thread, how painful is it to hear Simmons talk about music? It’s always cringeworthy to me.)

You don’t like yacht rock and our friends in Pearl Jam?!

 

[bettim84]

You don’t like yacht rock and our friends in Pearl Jam?!

I actually have two Steely Dan albums in my top 50!

And I quite like Pearl Jam’s 90s discography. I’m actually a bit bummed I don’t feel compelled to include Vs or Vitalogy in my top 50 list.

I just have a hard time with how out-of-touch he is when it comes to music. The Van Halen conversation with Chuck Klosterman was just painful. EVH was incredibly gifted, yes, but I’m pretty sure many (most?) of us could put together a list of top 5 guitarists that doesn’t feature the guy. BS basically has no feel for either the canon or trends when it comes to music, which basically means he shouldn’t be recording himself talking about it at all.

(For the record, I’m very pro-BS when it comes to basketball content. Just stay away from music, please!)

 

[whatwhatsaywhat]

bill simmons' takes are notoriously terrible; it's part of the appeal of him as a cultural commentator tbh

speaking as a child of the 90s...i couldn't give a hoot about van halen's music; sad for the guy's family obviously

 

[Jan]

Here’s spots 45-41. There’s a couple you’ve probably never heard before and surely won’t make the top 500, there’s a couple you definitely have heard and I hope do make the list.

Spoiler

45. This is a hometown band that is still a huge favorite amongst locals. It makes the list because of the nostalgia of going to some great shows in my youth and also because it’s just great from start to finish (if you like that emo stuff )
View attachment 69617

44. I looooove Chuck Ragan’s voice. LOVE it. This isn’t HWM’s most popular album but it has my favorite songs and great throughout. The first track hooks me in and never lets up.
View attachment 69618

43. The Replacements are like three totally different bands to me. And I love them all. I chose this album because it’s the one that has a little bit of each of them in it. View attachment 69620

42.
View attachment 69621

41. This album is pop perfection, I’ve probably listened to it the most of any since it was released. I’m a sucker for raw emotion that is captured in a recording studio, you don’t really get that a lot with mainstream pop music but Lorde captures all of that and then some in this one.
View attachment 69622

That's my favorite hwm record as well

 

[zomgbear]

Ending might be rushed but this is the genre breakout / year: Besides Rap / Hip Hop & Alternative Rock, these are mostly discogs descriptions for albums I wasn't sure how to categorize myself btw... not my description)

I'm a mid 80s kid so my teenage years was in the late 90s to early 00s. But I would say that the plethora of my favorites are albums that survived a decade of me listening and stuff in my early 20s that I enjoyed. At least that was the trend that I noticed. I had no rules for EPs / Singles / Compilations - if i prefer them to the actual albums (like it was a big part of my past listening), I included it. Altho I must say, I think no EPs or singles made it to the final list and I can think of 1 compilation. Also I didn't do a single album per artist - altho only 3 artists appeared twice - no one more than that.

#	Genre	Year	On Vinyl?	Origin
1​	Alternative / Rock	1997​	x	English
2​	Alternative / Rock	2002​	x	American
3​	Industrial	1994​	x	American
4​	Rap / Hip Hop	1996​	x	American
5​	Rap / Hip Hop	1994​		American
6​	Rap / Hip Hop	2004​	x	American / English
7​	Rap / Hip Hop	1993​	x	American
8​	Leftfield, Trip Hop, Downtempo	1998​	x	English
9​	Shoegaze, Alternative Rock	1991​	x	Irish
10​	Leftfield, Drum n Bass, Future Jazz, Downtempo, Breaks	1998​		Brazilian
11​	Abstract, IDM, Experimental	1998​		English
12​	IDM, Ambient	1998​	x	Scottish
13​	Indie Rock, Shoegaze, Dream Pop	1993​	x	English
14​	Fusion, Jazz-Funk	1975​	x	American
15​	Breakbeat, Techno, Big Beat	1994​	x	English
16​	Indie Rock, Dream Pop, Ethereal	1988​	x	Scottish
17​	Rap / Hip Hop	1993​		American
18​	Downtempo, Trip Hop	1997​	x	English
19​	Leftfield, Future Jazz, Downtempo	2000​	x	English
20​	Ambient, Drone, Vaporwave	2015​	x	American / English
21​	Abstract, IDM	2006​		English
22​	Abstract, IDM, Ambient	2002​	x	Scottish
23​	Downtempo, Synth-pop	2003​	x	French
24​	Shoegaze, Ethereal, Indie Rock	2010​	x	American
25​	Trip Hop	1996​	x	English
26​	Bossa Nova, Latin Jazz	1964​	x	American / Brazilian
27​	Electronic / Techno	1994​		English
28​	Breakbeat, Leftfield, Downtempo	1999​	x	American
29​	Big Beat	1998​	x	English
30​	Alternative Rock, Pop Rock	1995​		American
31​	Indie Rock	2007​		American
32​	Rap / Hip Hop	2010​		American
33​	Alternative Rock, Industrial, Ambient	1999​	x	American
34​	Experimental, Ambient, Video Game Music	2009​	x	Czech
35​	Electronic, Pop	1997​		Icelandic
36​	Rap / Hip Hop	2012​	x	American
37​	RnB/Swing, Neo Soul	1996​	x	American
38​	Rap / Hip Hop	1999​		American
39​	Alternative Rock, Experimental	2001​	x	English
40​	Breakbeat, Ragga HipHop, Grime, Electro, Breaks	2005​		English
41​	Electronic, Rock, Ambient, Shoegaze	2005​		French
42​	Hop Hop, RnB/Swing, Neo Soul	1998​	x	American
43​	Contemporary R&B	2017​	x	American
44​	Indie Rock	2003​	x	American
45​	Rap / Hip Hop	2006​	x	American
46​	Rap / Hip Hop	1998​		American
47​	Leftfield, Alternative Rock, Lo-Fi, Trip Hop	2001​	x	English
48​	Indie Rock	2004​	x	American
49​	Electronic, Indie Pop, Leftfield	1997​	x	English
50​	Electronic, Leftfield, Abstract	2000​	x	Australian

60s	1​
70s	1​
80s	1​
90s	26​
00s	16​
10s	5​

A whopping 7 albums are from 1998. It's a heck of a good year.

I own 36 of these on vinyl a lot of them more than once. the rest on plastic discs! Probably most of the ones on vinyl i have on CD too.

Anyways this was kinda fun. If not, to get fun statistics!

Some more statistics!!

English	15​
American	22​
American / English	2​
Irish	1​
Brazilian	1​
Scottish	3​
French	2​
American / Brazilian	1​
Czech	1​
Icelandic	1​
Australian	1​

Wasn't sure how to approach this one - what if the band members were of different origins? I went with Band origin instead. IE - Garbage is an American Band even though Shirley Manson is Scottish. And if it's a collab album - I put in both origin of artist - IE Madvillian is American (Madlib) / English (Doom).

 

[Joe Mac]

Garbage is an American Band even though Shirley Manson is Scottish.