Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums Challenge

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:06 pm

I'm about three years late to this party (the list was revised in 2012), but I got a text message from my brother today:

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums. Start at the bottom. GO.

I wrote back "Challenge accepted."

So now I'm in a race to get through all 500 before he does.

The rules are:

- You must listen to every album in its entirety from start to finish. You can pause and come back, but you can't skip tracks. This list includes some boxed sets, so you must listen to the entire set to get credit.

- You cannot skip albums you already own or have heard a hundred times. You must listen to it again to get credit.

- In the unlikely event an album is unavailable through an online streaming service, you may skip it and come back to it after obtaining it through some other (legal) means.

- In the even more unlikely event an album is completely out of print, both parties may agree to omit it.

Now, chances are I'm going to get destroyed no matter what I do since he's not married nor does he have kids, but I figured it might be a fun challenge. Particularly since my music listening has taken a backseat to podcasts and other forms of entertainment. This is as good an excuse as any to jump back in.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:23 pm

Just looking at the bottom 30, I have less than half of them, and some of them I'd rather puncture my ear drums than listen to.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:55 pm

I remember a version of this list that came out about 10 years ago. I never listened to every album, but I bought a lot of albums that I had never heard before. Unfortunately the rise of iTunes and mp3 files stopped my quest to listen to every album.

Good luck. I'm looking forward to just going through the list and seeing what's new.

Post by **ImLawBoy** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:00 pm

Jeff V wrote:Just looking at the bottom 30, I have less than half of them, and some of them I'd rather puncture my ear drums than listen to.

Hey, look everyone! Jeff has a negative, wet blanket take on something!

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:06 pm

YellowKing wrote: The rules are:

- You must listen to every album in its entirety from start to finish. You can pause and come back, but you can't skip tracks. This list includes some boxed sets, so you must listen to the entire set to get credit.

- You cannot skip albums you already own or have heard a hundred times. You must listen to it again to get credit.

- In the unlikely event an album is unavailable through an online streaming service, you may skip it and come back to it after obtaining it through some other (legal) means.

- In the even more unlikely event an album is completely out of print, both parties may agree to omit it.

Now, chances are I'm going to get destroyed no matter what I do since he's not married nor does he have kids, but I figured it might be a fun challenge. Particularly since my music listening has taken a backseat to podcasts and other forms of entertainment. This is as good an excuse as any to jump back in.

Nothing precludes listening to albums simultaneously. You've got this!

Moliere · Post by **Moliere** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:20 pm

Looking at the top 50 the lists seems heavily weighted towards the 60s and The Beatles.

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 5:25 pm

Well Duh! Thats when they actually made music instead of manufacturing it. Now git off my lawn!

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:29 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:
Jeff V wrote:Just looking at the bottom 30, I have less than half of them, and some of them I'd rather puncture my ear drums than listen to.
Hey, look everyone! Jeff has a negative, wet blanket take on something!

Goddammit you owe me a new keyboard.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:35 pm

A more reasonable challenge might be to just count how many you have already heard.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:22 pm

One metal album in the top 250 (Master of Puppets)?

I didn't bother with the rest.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:23 pm

Jaymann wrote:A more reasonable challenge might be to just count how many you have already heard.

Then it ceases to be a challenge and becomes a spreadsheet.

JeffV wrote:Just looking at the bottom 30, I have less than half of them, and some of them I'd rather puncture my ear drums than listen to.

That's another part of the challenge - listening to a bunch of crap I don't like. Worst case scenario, I listen to it once, still hate it. Best case scenario, I come away with a different point of view. I'm going to try to keep an open mind even though I fucking hate Elvis Costello.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:43 pm

ImLawBoy wrote:
Jeff V wrote:Just looking at the bottom 30, I have less than half of them, and some of them I'd rather puncture my ear drums than listen to.
Hey, look everyone! Jeff has a negative, wet blanket take on something!

And I suppose you have every one and love them all?

Perhaps the next 470 are all albums I have and like. Highly unlikely, but possible. But there are just some genres and artists that have zero appeal to me. I prefer my suffering to be physical in nature...at least when it's done I feel like I accomplished something.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:43 pm

Is there a text list? No way am I clicking through the entire damn thing...

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 7:44 pm

YellowKing wrote:I fucking hate Elvis Costello.

Hah! That was one of the albums I have and like!

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:03 pm

My hatred of Elvis Costello is completely irrational. I don't even know any of his songs but maybe one. I'm hoping being forced to listen to three albums worth of his material may soften my knee-jerk negative reaction to him.

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:04 pm

I can guarantee I have listened to Zero of those albums all the way through except for a few Led Zeppelin and Doors records. Do they have the Muppet Show 2? I know that one. Also Star Wars and Jesus Christ Superstar (both of which were double vinyl albums.) And Tommy.

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:13 pm

YellowKing wrote:
Jaymann wrote:A more reasonable challenge might be to just count how many you have already heard.
Then it ceases to be a challenge and becomes a spreadsheet.

JeffV wrote:Just looking at the bottom 30, I have less than half of them, and some of them I'd rather puncture my ear drums than listen to.
That's another part of the challenge - listening to a bunch of crap I don't like. Worst case scenario, I listen to it once, still hate it. Best case scenario, I come away with a different point of view. I'm going to try to keep an open mind even though I fucking hate Elvis Costello.

Well, I have only heard 105 (maybe a record low) and 4-5 of those were Elvis Costello.

WYBaugh · Post by **WYBaugh** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:13 pm

They put Hotel California above Dark Side of the Moon?

Lorini · Post by **Lorini** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:18 pm

This is when having access to a streaming music service can really come in handy.

rshetts2 · Post by **rshetts2** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:27 pm

killbot737 wrote:I can guarantee I have listened to Zero of those albums all the way through except for a few Led Zeppelin and Doors records. Do they have the Muppet Show 2? I know that one. Also Star Wars and Jesus Christ Superstar (both of which were double vinyl albums.) And Tommy.

Well Im pretty sure Tommy is on the list and Jesus Christ Superstar should be but Im sorry , no Muppets made the list.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:27 pm

Skinypupy wrote:One metal album in the top 250 (Master of Puppets)? I didn't bother with the rest.

Umm... Black Sabbath?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:31 pm

YellowKing wrote:My hatred of Elvis Costello is completely irrational. I don't even know any of his songs but maybe one. I'm hoping being forced to listen to three albums worth of his material may soften my knee-jerk negative reaction to him.

I'm sure you'll find a lot worse than Elvis Costello. He does seem to be pretty heavily represented, though.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:38 pm

https://open.spotify.com/user/121311392 ... 5SBBMo0dz8

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:40 pm

It may help to understand how they compiled the list - basically they polled a bunch of journalists, editors, artists, producers, etc. on their favorite albums, then threw them all together based on consensus. So a lot of these albums may not be the "best" in terms of actual listening enjoyment, but may have been very influential from an industry standpoint. Some will be in there just because they couldn't NOT include an influential artist, so they just picked something representative of their work (hence a lot of greatest hits albums and boxed sets).

I did the AFI Top 100 List awhile back, and while I didn't enjoy every movie, I did learn something about why the ones I didn't enjoy were on the list. It's easy to speak intelligently about stuff you like, but being able to speak intelligently about stuff you don't like is 100x better.

Pyperkub · Post by **Pyperkub** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:57 pm

Alefroth wrote:
YellowKing wrote:My hatred of Elvis Costello is completely irrational. I don't even know any of his songs but maybe one. I'm hoping being forced to listen to three albums worth of his material may soften my knee-jerk negative reaction to him.
I'm sure you'll find a lot worse than Elvis Costello. He does seem to be pretty heavily represented, though.

IMHO, his first 3 albums are great. After that, not so much. I suspect they only put 2 of those 3 on the list though (My Aim is True and This Year's Model, would be my guess).

I don't have a spotify account, so I can't verify.

killbot737 · Post by **killbot737** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:29 pm

rshetts2 wrote:
killbot737 wrote:I can guarantee I have listened to Zero of those albums all the way through except for a few Led Zeppelin and Doors records. Do they have the Muppet Show 2? I know that one. Also Star Wars and Jesus Christ Superstar (both of which were double vinyl albums.) And Tommy.
Well Im pretty sure Tommy is on the list and Jesus Christ Superstar should be but Im sorry , no Muppets made the list.

That's the one where they sing Time in a Bottle, so their loss. This list is puppies.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:57 pm

Skinypupy wrote:One metal album in the top 250 (Master of Puppets)? I didn't bother with the rest.

I started at 500 and made it down to about 250 before I gave up looking at the rest on my phone.

However, the scanning that I did do revealed some utter ridiculous choices.

For example...Lauryn Hill higher than Nirvana????

My opinion means about as much as most others here. But some albums I consider very influential and important only making it in the 300-400's?

I'll scan the whole list on my laptop later. But from what I see thus far... no way could I listen through a large chunk of these albums.

Apollo · Post by **Apollo** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:14 pm

Is anyone else surprised that no Queen albums made the list?

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 12:24 am

Apollo wrote:Is anyone else surprised that no Queen albums made the list?

Very, but I thought I saw one in the top 250.

edit: 231 A Night at the Opera

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 1:46 am

Motherfucking Captain Beefheart, but not a single album by Rush? Synchronicity is almost at the bottom of the list?

Bullshit.

Alefroth · Post by **Alefroth** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 2:28 am

gbasden wrote:Motherfucking Captain Beefheart, but not a single album by Rush? Synchronicity is almost at the bottom of the list?

Bullshit.

Captain Beefheart definitely deserves a spot, but then so does Rush. They could have left out half a dozen Bob Dylan records.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:40 am

Alefroth wrote:
gbasden wrote:Motherfucking Captain Beefheart, but not a single album by Rush? Synchronicity is almost at the bottom of the list?

Bullshit.
Captain Beefheart definitely deserves a spot, but then so does Rush. They could have left out half a dozen Bob Dylan records.

They wouldn't very well be like a Rolling Stone if they did that now, would they?

Exodor · Post by **Exodor** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:46 am

Jeff V wrote: They wouldn't very well be like a Rolling Stone if they did that now, would they?

You mean old, tired and almost completely useless?

(Said as a current RS subscriber. Hey, I got 4 years for like $10...)

I started from the bottom of the list and found rap and country far too heavily represented for me to consider listening to them all.

Xmann · Post by **Xmann** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 9:49 am

This list reminds me why I stopped reading and subscribing to RS

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:09 am

So Queen is represented as often as the Go-Gos? I know we all like to come home from a particularly long day at work, open up a bottle of the good bourbon we normally reserve for special occasions, kick off our shoes, turn down the lights and put on a Go-Gos album.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:16 am

McNutt wrote:So Queen is represented as often as the Go-Gos? I know we all like to come home from a particularly long day at work, open up a bottle of the good bourbon we normally reserve for special occasions, kick off our shoes, turn down the lights and put on a Go-Gos album.

You forgot, "and dance in our underwear."

J.D. · Post by **J.D.** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:18 am

I have a 45 minute commute. One album per commute = 2 a day, so 250 work days for me to get through this list. No chance.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:25 am

Just for fun (and to keep track of my thoughts) I'm going to post my comments on these as I listen to them. I'll do 5 albums per post for ease of reference. So here goes:

#500 - Outkast - Aquemini - I've always loved Outkast so this wasn't much of a chore to get through. Has the wonderful "Rosa Parks" single.

#499 - B.B. King - Live in Cook County Jail - I'm not a huge blues fan, and I don't really care for most live albums, so this one was kind of meh for me. B.B. King is awesome, and this is a great (albeit short) show, but not really my go-to music.

#498 - The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses - I had never listened to this album which is a shame as much as I'm a sucker for Brit-pop. Fantastic record, and it's a shame they split up before they got big.

#497 - The White Stripes - White Blood Cells - I love The White Stripes but this isn't my favorite White Stripes album. I like the popular singles from it (Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground, We're Going to Be Friends), but there are some clunkers on here too.

#496 - Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs - I'm not a huge Boz Scaggs fan but I don't turn the station when he comes on. Short but sweet debut solo album with a good mix of blues and singer-songwriter stuff. I liked it.

McNutt · Post by **McNutt** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:26 am

Boz Scaggs is the man.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 10:30 am

YellowKing wrote:I did the AFI Top 100 List awhile back, and while I didn't enjoy every movie, I did learn something about why the ones I didn't enjoy were on the list. It's easy to speak intelligently about stuff you like, but being able to speak intelligently about stuff you don't like is 100x better.

Yep - agree on this totally. There is the usual pretentiousness and eliteness built-in but these are picked by people who live and breath the stuff. As to RS - I read the list long ago and couldn't fathom how it was composed - i.e. IMO it doesn't represent anything a human should subject themselves to. It is all over the place and lacks any sort of external or internal harmony.