THE WORST NME COVER OF ALL TIME

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.

Main gaps are mostly down to dull electronica from 1993, but not Atlantis by X-103 (aka Jeff Mills) which is truly classique.

Ha, I believe it - it is mostly a very Marcello list.

That Wire list was very important to me at the time as a statement of purpose - I think I own just 15 of them but a number of those turned out to be cornerstones of my taste (Sextant, Black Woman, World of Echo, In Greenwich Village, Paris 1919, Faust Tapes, Belle Album).

388. Tim Buckley, 'Happy Sad' (1969) Elektra. A daring venture into jazz at the beginning of a rich experimental period for the English songwriting icon.

http://www.nme.com/photos/the-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time-400-301/324199/1/1#13

Ruh roh

I guess he wrote songs in English?

"daring"

"OHMYGOD HE'S VENTURING INTO JAZZ, BE CAREFUL TIM!!"

"last guy i knew ventured into Jazz two or three years back now, we never heard from him again"

Now you've got me sucked in.

383. The Long Blondes, 'Someone To Drive You Home' (2006) Rough Trade. Sheffield janglers provide a glossy guitar-pop fantasy alternative to Alex Turner’s grey depiction of life oop t’north.

oop t'north

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BXVj9QpCIAAAodV.png

There's some Google Translate-style prose going on here.

357. Sugar, 'Copper Blue' (1992) Creation. Husker Du's Bob Mould discovered a post-Nirvana spurt of accessibility and cracked out the breeziest record of the grunge era, making us all dance to the drownings.

Greetings From Luton is my face buckley album

Talented American MC collection.

Lmao lex

330. Portishead, 'Third' (2008) Island. A mesmerising trip-hop adventure, noted for Geoff Barrow’s slick, soulful production.

Love the slick trip hop of Third.

357. Sugar, 'Copper Blue' (1992) Creation. Husker Du's Bob Mould discovered a post-Nirvana spurt of accessibility and cracked out the breeziest record of the grunge era, making us all dance to the drownings.

I don't actually hate that sentence, and it certainly suggests Bob's seminal, without saying it.

301. Arthur Russell, 'World Of Echo' (1986) Rough Trade. Pioneering electronic murmurs that hypnotised NY dance-floors in the mid-’80s and beyond.

^^^ has obviously never heard World of Echo.

We love these records so much we got the work experience to write these blurbs armed with wikipedia and a computer without a sound card.

326. Yo La Tengo, 'I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One' (1997) Matador. Proving themselves masters of jangly indie pop, this eighth album included a cover of Beach Boys’ ‘Little Honda’.

If only my band had covered Beach Boys' "Little Honda", we could have had the 326th greatest album of all time!

I don't want to be a dick about it but I do think if you're going to do a big once-in-a-decade mega-list you should at least edit the entries so that they (a) are grammatical and (b) describe the right record.

357. Sugar, 'Copper Blue' (1992) Creation. Husker Du's Bob Mould discovered a post-Nirvana spurt of accessibility and cracked out the breeziest record of the grunge era, making us all dance to the drownings.

Actually did Whiney write this?

It’s never been more important to us that you feel you can trust our knowledge and opinions, and the only way we can achieve that is by being credible.

357. Sugar, 'Copper Blue' (1992) Creation. Husker Du's Bob Mould discovered a post-Nirvana spurt of accessibility and cracked out the breeziest record of the grunge era, making us all dance to the drownings.

I don't actually hate that sentence, and it certainly suggests Bob's seminal, without saying it.

Cracked out a spurt of seminal what now?