THE WORST NME COVER OF ALL TIME

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.

Thought you were having a pop at the Pretty Things there but that would be Parachute, not Parachutes. xpost

xp What's the point in complaining that a paper with a young readership favours some big 00s indie albums over some 60s-80s classics? Obviously the Libertines are a bigger deal than Dexys or ABC to that generation. It's not as if the old guard don't get a look-in, to an often tedious degree.

That's a fair point. I just really really hate The Libertines.

It's just that the "new guard," as the NME sees it, is maybe even more tedious. The National? Leon and the Kings? The Killerzzzzzzz?

Yes, I am old.

Mad Not Mad is Madness' The Visitors, hence being picked for its albumness imo

x post Yeah that's it I suppose. I have no problems with them rating albums from the last ten years so highly but couldn't they have gone for someone more interesting than all these boring indie bands (3 Kings of Leon albums, 3 Pete Doherty, 2 Arctic Monkeys, 2 Coldplay etc) If they were putting Junior Boys, Broadcast or The Knife higher I wouldn't mind at all.

xp Oh yeah, my own tastes are closer to Kitchen Person's than they are to NME's but I'm well aware that for a certain cohort that came up in the 00s the Libertines are way more important than Roxy Music and I would find it more depressing if those people cringed and downplayed the music that inspired them in their teens in order to pay homage to canonical albums that were released before they were born.

Oh, what KP just said is pretty much how I feel. Yes to 00s choices on principle, just not those ones.

xps yeah not to be a loyalist or anything but the Guardian "my favourite album" series was a TON more interesting than this: POLL: The Guardian's "My favourite album" series - Guardian and Observer writers pick their favourite albums of all time

I keep wondering, do the people who voted multiple Beatles albums in their Top 10 listen to these albums on a regular basis? I mean, I respect the Beatles and love some of those songs. But those records - I've heard them enough. I pretty much never feel the need to listen to them anymore. But then, my list would be awash with Stevie Wonder records made before I was born, and I still play those records to death.

oh god dude, now we get to read 100 posts from people who play their fucken Beatles albums every day

Kind Of Blue featuring in all these polls is such total bullshit. Not cos it isn't great, it is, but I remember buying it at 14 or something based, probably, on it being the lazy touchstone for all rock critics, and I liked it well enough, but it's like, he had a whole fucking decade of making rock-influenced music. His most prolific era, some of the greatest albums of all time, he has stuff that's practically metal ffs. It's so clearly tokenism of the worst kind, by people with no genuine understanding of the artist.

I mean, I love Kind Of Blue now, but I dunno, its magic (and it is magic when it begins) only really revealed itself to me wholly as an adult. Not saying that's a universal experience but it does seem like electric Miles stuff would be a better token choice for your rock-loving teen.

xpost Yeah I don't know. It's probably split between people who genuinely still listen to The Beatles and would rate those albums that highly and people who are maybe voting for albums they think are the most important (to themselves or to music in general) I'm never sure if people go for the albums they still listen to the most or the ones that helped them get into music. This is probably part of the reason these lists are lot of nonsense (as fun as they are to discuss)

I still listen to my fucken Beatles albums quite a bit, but then I was alive when some of them were first released.

Bitches Brew does appear lower down in the current NME list, somewhere in the 300s I think.

A couple of years ago, I asked for Guardian writers' five favourite - not best - albums ever.

omg completely forgot this ever happened, had to do a gmail search to remember my nominations (which are probably exactly what you thought they were)

Kind of Blue still outguns Bitches Brew for when people really wanna signify that they're listening to Jazz

I love how with Dexy's and Roxy Music we're now into a discussion of which generation of white dudes is being unjustly overlooked here.

in the same spirit, sic, and many xps obvs, what parliafunkadelicment album should one pick for their list that isn't "token", if Maggot Brain is "token"? because I don't think John Mulvey's really the type to make tokenistic selections tbh but perhaps you know better.

Agree with Lex that the Guardian feature was a really interesting one. Seeing people pick albums by Magnetic Fields, Bjork, Hidden Cameras, Millie Jackson, Chic and Pet Shop Boys (even Tori Amos) as their favourites was really refreshing to read. Reading the personal stories for their choices was nice to see too.

ultimately, this whole thing reminds me how much I hate lists, and making lists, and discussing lists, and how boring it all is when you try and boil individual taste down into something like this. Lists have fucked the music press worse than the internet, mark my words.

a lot of Funkadelic feels pretty accessible to rock fans imo, if i was going down the tokenism wormhole i might argue that the band itself cd be a token Funk pick - but I'M NOT MAKING THAT ARGUMENT

Lists have fucked the music press worse than the internet

Lists have also fucked the internet more than the music press.

Top 14 lists to get angry at.

That sounds cool but I don't know what you mean. (xp)

Listicles!

maybe it's telling, especially for people who argue that lists make great foundations for discussion and debate, is that nearly every discussion about a list circles round the same few points, cos nearly every list looks the same

yeah I regretted and recanted the post immediately, but Maggot Brain totally feels like the most "rock" pick from P-Funk canon-ready options

It's easy to play gotcha with stuff like this, but Maggot Brain is a pretty great album, so... (My choice would be America Eats Its Young tho)

ah, gotcha, LG.

maybe it's telling, especially for people who argue that lists make great foundations for discussion and debate, is that nearly every discussion about a list circles round the same few points, cos nearly every list looks the same

otm. mostly the reason lists are bad is cos people with nuanced tastes dislike ranking wildly different pieces of art numerically.

(even Tori Amos)

EXCUSE YOU

Stevie, could you compile a list feature on the 100 best music lists ever for me?

*VOMITS WITHOUT EVER STOPPING*

Truth is I actually quite enjoy a good listicle, with an interesting angle, penned by a knowledgeable and opinionated writer. But I do honestly believe that a constant procession of "Top 100 Rock Anthems" style list pieces that padded out music mags for much of the 00s are lazy as hell. Gimme a list that exists to provoke, not one that aims for an agreement that The Beatles are as good as its ever gonna get so we might as well give up.

a lot of people like their taste validating. regularly.

Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On.

Let's all agree to agree (zzzz)

Yeah actually I might choose Let's Take It To The Stage now I think about it, Better By The Pound is just unimpeachable.

Was shifting piles of magazines round the other day and came across that one copy of the Wire with the 100 Records That Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening) list in it. Great feature and an amazing list.

List is here and some nutcase has typed all the blurbs into Discogs too right here.

Scarily, I have 86 of these. Well I was listening anyway.

I really enjoyed all those vanity polls that ppl like emil.y and imago and Eric h were doing recently of their favourite albums/films (or, a bunch of albums/films they thought ppl should seek out). That's the sort of list I like.