THE WORST NME COVER OF ALL TIME

ugh

Amazing! Hopefully they're in the top 100 just for the comedy value. Who else? Did they find room for Hard-Fi? Have they remembered what an important band The Cooper Temple Clause were? I'm actually kind of excited to see the rest of the results now.

Terris?

Get scrolling you bums:

1. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986)
2. The Beatles - Revolver (1966)
3. David Bowie - Hunky Dory (1972)
4. The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
5. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1966)
6. Pulp - Different Class (1995)
7. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989)
8. Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
9. The Beatles - The Beatles (1968)
10. Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)

11. Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
12. Patti Smith - Horses (1975)
13. Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
14. David Bowie - Low (1977)
15. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)
16. Joy Division - Closer (1980)
17. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988)
18. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
19. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
20. Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)

21. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
22. Blur - Parklife (1994)
23. David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars (1972)
24. The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St. Street (1972)
25. Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)
26. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
27. Primal Scream - Screamadelica (1991)
28. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)
29. Television - Marquee Moon (1977)
30. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)

31. Suede - Dog Man Star (1994)
32. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (1989)
33. Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993)
34. The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)
35. Nirvana - In Utero (1993)
36. Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks (1975)
37. Love - Forever Changes (1967)
38. Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks... Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)
39. The Clash - London Calling (1979)
40. Joy Division - Unknown Pleasure (1979)

41. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
42. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (1973)
43. The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
44. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible (1994)
45. Blondie - Parallel Lines (1978)
46. Björk - Debut (1993)
47. The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
48. Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love (1985)
49. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (2007)
50. Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis (1969)

51. Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977)
52. The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed (1969)
53. David Bowie - Station To Station (1976)
54. Talking Heads - Remain In Light (1980)
55. The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (1971)
56. Neil Young - After The Gold Rush (1970)
57. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine (1978)
58. Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
59. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
60. Massive Attack - Blue Lines (1991)

61. The Clash - The Clash (1977)
62. Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde (1966)
63. Joni Mitchell - Blue (1971)
64. Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
65. REM - Automatic For The People (1992)
66. Radiohead - The Bends (1995)
67. Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory (1995)
68. Van Morrison - Astral Weeks (1968)
69. REM - Murmur (1983)
70. The Libertines - Up The Bracket (2002)

71. Neil Young - Harvest (1972)
72. Lou Reed - Transformer (1972)
73. Bob Dylan - Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
74. Nas - IIImatic (1994)
75. Green Day - Dookie (1994)
76. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
77. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)
78. Suede - Suede (1993)
79. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (1959)
80. Iggy And The Stooges - Raw Power (1973)

81. Kraftwerk - Trans-Europe Express (1977)
82. Carole King - Tapestry (1971)
83. The Band - The Band (1969)
84. Hole - Live Through This (1994)
85. Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run (1975)
86. Jeff Buckley - Grace (1994)
87. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
88. Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (1973)
89. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998)
90. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (2004)

91. Prince And The Revolution - Purple Rain (1984)
92. Super Furry Animals - Radiator (1997)
93. Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (2002)
94. The Rolling Stone - Beggars Banquet (1968)
95. Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden (1988)
96. Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet (1990)
97. The Smiths - The Smiths (1984)
98. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)
99. The Libertines - The Libertines (2004)
100. The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow (1984)

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token canonical jazz pick!

Well Billie Holiday was in the upper 400's too don't forget, keeping good company with the Wedding Present and the Shins.

rofl

Rank the White Albums

Read down to #40 before I fell asleep. "Definitely Maybe" is ranked way TOO LOW.

Both The Libertines albums in the top 100! Pretty annoyed they didn't manage to make room for something by Babyshambles and Dirty Pretty Things too.

Libertines + Oasis would have made a good top 10. Assuming they have 10 albums between them.

They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?) but yeah it's doable.

Just realised they think My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the second best rap album of all time! They didn't even have it that high in their 2010 list, think it was just inside the top 30.

On a more positive note, nice to see Spirit of Eden make the list. It's about 80 places too low but still, I was pleasantly surprised to see it there.

97. The Smiths - The Smiths (1984)
100. The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow (1984)

Definitely need both of those in the top 100, you really do not want to go freeing up some space for some reggae or something.

if this list prompts even one kid to check out the beatles it'll all be worth it

xp don't you know that reggae is vile?

xpost I've never understood that rule about letting Hatful of Hollow in these lists when most other compilations aren't allowed? Are The Smiths just that special?

No New Order or Pet Shop Boys in the top 100 is pretty surprising. 80s pop in general has been mostly ignored apart from Purple Rain. Lexicon of Love and Dare should obviously be right up there. The last time they did this they had Rio, Thriller and Like a Prayer in there obviously that era is not in vogue now.

The post-2000 albums in the list:

4. The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
13. Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
15. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)
19. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006)
21. Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
28. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black (2006)
49. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (2007)
59. Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
70. The Libertines - Up The Bracket (2002)
76. Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
77. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)
90. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free (2004)
93. Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf (2002)
99. The Libertines - The Libertines (2004)

Im surprised they didn't slip the new arctic monkeys into the top 10 to troll everyone

PJ Harvey ahead of Arctic Monkeys is actually rather cool. As a matter of fact, I don't really think that list looks different than what I would expect?

They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)
They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)
They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)
They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)

PJ Harvey ahead of Arctic Monkeys is actually rather cool.

They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)
They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)
They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)
They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)They'd have to include some Beady Eye (and why not?)

― nemo me chimpune lacessit (Noodle Vague)

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/47921000/jpg/_47921692_009291201-1.jpg

top 100 breakdown. i'm counting the band as canadian but ymmv.

usa: 47
uk: 45
canada: 4
kraftwerk: 2
iceland: 1
france: 1

Hatful of Hollow seems to be the only compilation album represented here. I suspect a lot of most people’s top 100 albums would be greatest hits or similar.

When NME polled its writers in 1986 The Queen Is Dead only came ninth; the eight albums above it were as follows:

1. Prince & the Revolution – Parade
2. Anita Baker – Rapture
3. Janet Jackson – Control
4. Sonic Youth – EVOL
5. Cameo – Word Up
6. Paul Simon – Graceland
7. The Fall – Bend Sinister
8. Run-DMC – Raising Hell

I have no problems with any of these.

On a Then Play Long basis only four of the top ten albums (not including TQID) made number one.

If you'd told someone at NME in 1994 that Dookie would have made their Top 80 of all time they'd have pissed themselves laughing.

Especially since it came 18th in the NME's '94 EOY list.

obviously that era is not in vogue now.

The 80s are very much in vogue with bands but maybe not in canon-building circles.

enjoyed this a bunch just now http://thequietus.com/articles/13683-nme-greatest-albums-list-johnny-sharp-cigarettes

Found the rest of the list if anyone's interested:

http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1317#p16748

Has there ever been a great or even decent music writer called "Johnny"? The NME list was '85 not '86, I don't remember The Nightfly being in it and obviously in "Johnny Cigarettes"' world such a record pales against the majesty of the Senseless Things and Five Thirty.

Have to say, though, that a list without contributions from Kent, Murray, Burchill, Parsons, Baker, Morley, Penman etc. etc. (I bet they all had their price) is not really representative.

Paul Morley? Make a list? Nah, couldn't see it myself.

hahah!

VOTING INSTRUCTIONS: "Definable drumbeats are banned - only treble-heavy, off-the-beat, biscuit-tin-rattle indie drums allowed."

Oh yeah, in 1985 wasn’t the 100th slot left empty for readers to write in with their suggestions? I think The Nightfly might have got in there.

That was the same poll wherein it was said that Psychocandy would have been one of the greatest albums ever made had it come out two weeks earlier.

1985 list here.

http://www.timepieces.nl/chart/9620/1985-nme-writers-all-time-top-100-albums#.Umj94CROxyg

Ah, it was the Undertones at #100.

The blurb on the same list also described Sgt Pepper as being "an Exocet to the very heart of rock music." That was excellent news.

Has there ever been a great or even decent music writer called "Johnny"?

John(ny) Gill, krautock/industrial guy @ Sounds

Krautrock even... Krautock's just south of Maybole, on the way to Kirkmichael

I only ever knew him as John Gill, I must say. Is he still around?

Never came across as a "Johnny", that's true. Don't know what happened to him, it was all a very long time ago.

Think John Gill went to Time Out after Sounds, but that was a v. long time ago, too

1985 list here.

http://www.timepieces.nl/chart/9620/1985-nme-writers-all-time-top-100-albums#.Umj94CROxyg

That's a great list!

It is, isn't it? I have no quarrel with almost anything that's on the list - my only question would be: was Mad Not Mad really THAT great?

Wouldn't be my choice of Madness album tbh (Rise & Fall, or maybe Complete Madness, if greatest hits are allowed).

I note soul and R&B are largely represented on the list by compilations (Impressions, Al Green, Jackie Wilson, Temptations, Miracles, JB) so no reason why Complete Madness shouldn’t be counted, although on an album-as-album basis I too would have to go with Rise & Fall.

A couple of years ago, I asked for Guardian writers' five favourite - not best - albums ever. Result was so diffuse I couldn't do anything with it. NME list, and Laura's picks, provided an excuse to write something and list all the albums nominated. It's an interesting selection and it's here.

Mad Not Mad is easily the weakest of the first six Madness albums. Seven and The Rise & Fall are their two classics.

I'm not sure if its *easily the weakest - there's nothing on there quite so "closing theme to 70s BBC sitcom" as chunks of One Step Beyond and Absolutely.

Some highlights from the full list

Down in Albion higher than Behaviour Off the Wall..you guys.

Glasvegas higher than Surf's Up and This Year's Model.

Parachutes higher than Roxy Music and Ocean Rain.

290. The Bluetones - Expecting to Fly

Four Beck albums in between the 400-301 section was quite surprising. Had no idea he was rated so highly these days.

Genuinely happy to see all three Dexys albums make the list. Searching For the Young Soul Rebels, Dare, The Lexicon of Love and Technique would all be in my top 10, none of them made the top 100 (obviously not in the same league as those Libertines albums) but still nice to see they remembered those albums. Poor Rio!

I'm not sure if its *easily the weakest - there's nothing on there quite so "closing theme to 70s BBC sitcom" as chunks of One Step Beyond and Absolutely.

― Defund Phil Collins (stevie)

There aren't any songs on Mad Not Mad as good as the highs on those albums though. Apart from Yesterday's Men I can't really remember anything else worthwhile on there and the production is really hard to get through at times.