SPIN's Top 125 Albums of the Past 25 Years

Does anyone even care about SPIN anymore? I dunno, but I'm a sucker for canon-building shit like this. #1 is so transparently "unpredictable," though.

http://www.spin.com/spin25/125-best-albums-past-25-years

i wanna know their top 25 albums of the past 125 years.

that's what I thought I read too.

hey, spin, the 90's called and they want their web technology back. sheesh, its like trying to look at porn in 1999 with all the popups and crap.

I tried to jump just to the #1 album and it opened the SunChips Facebook page twice and then froze.

yeah me too

it's 'achtung baby'

I couldn't even open the page.

this list courtesy of sun chips and doubleclick.

SPIN's #1 album:

http://blog.erck.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/11/sunchips.jpg

I couldn't even open the page.

You gotta wonder if SPIN, embarrassed by its choice, did this on purpose.

You'd figure a chick with a miner's light on her head would be able to rustle up some better grub and better brew.

Yeah I even loaded the site without pictures. Still loaded at 1995 speeds. Btw Achtung Baby (inexplicably) gets a lot of love (esp. in the Spin Alternative Record Guide) and did well in Pazz & Jop. So I don't see how that choice is unpredictable.

You'd figure a chick with a miner's light on her head would be able to rustle up some better grub and better brew.

It's the first version of the Screamadelica album sleeve.

not a bad cover choice. U2 fans love to buy U2 stuff. even in 2010.

It's not unpredictable for it to be in the top 10, but I think it's #1 because they didn't want to go with Nevermind or OK Computer.

Oh shit, I didn't even know that Sunchips and Screamadelica both came out in '91 - is that true?

jaymc knows!

Screamadelica is a 1991 album by Primal Scream and was their first to be a commercial success. In 1998 Q magazine readers voted it the 27th greatest album ...

Sun Chips is a brand of fried, rippled, multigrain chips launched in 1991 and produced by Frito-Lay. Permanent flavors include Original, Harvest Cheddar, ...

Oh shit!

Here's the top 25, for Sun Chips haters:

25 Nas, Illmatic
24 Metallica, Master of Puppets
23 Daft Punk, Discovery
22 Eric B. & Rakim, Paid in Full
21 Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
20 My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
19 Jay-Z, The Blueprint
18 The Strokes, Is This It
17 De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising
16 Pixies, Doolittle
15 Hüsker Dü, New Day Rising
14 Beastie Boys, Paul’s Boutique
13 Sonic Youth, Daydream Nation
12 OutKast, Stankonia
11 The Replacements, Tim
10 Nine Inch Nails, The Downward Spiral
9 Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted
8 PJ Harvey, Rid of Me
7 Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction
6 Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
5 Radiohead, OK Computer
4 Nirvana, Nevermind
3 The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead
2 Prince, Sign O’ the Times
1 U2, Achtung Baby

lol

i like that spin rewrites its own canon all the time, but never in a way that's annoying.

like Moby still has a home on this list!

although two arcade fire albums is :/

A bit surprised at The Smiths at #3, didn't know SPIN rated them that highly.

MMP over Spealerboxxx/The Love Below = gtfo

grr MPP

Spealerboxxx/The Love Below = gtfo

Here's the top 25

Can't load the site. I don't care for Spin and wanna hate on this list but I own, like, 19 of those 25 albums...

Like about 45 minutes of The Love Below is unlistenable, MPP is at least cohesive

MPP is also unlistenable except for "My Girls".

I for one am not responding to this obvious linkbaiJESUS FUCKING CHRIST ONE WOMAN IN THE TOP 25, IS THAT SERIOUSLY THE BEST YOU CAN DO

I guess the list fulfills the requirement of providing a shopping list for a music newbs who're not too familiar with '80s-90s music, if that's what they were going for. There's not much too that's surprising in the top 25 - I certainly don't like all of that stuff, but it's all generally well-regarded and uncontroversial.

Albums from the past decade on the list:

12 OutKast, Stankonia (2000)
18 The Strokes, This Is It (2001)
19 Jay-Z, The Blueprint (2001)
23 Daft Punk, Discovery (2001)
49 D'Angelo, Voodoo (2000)
52 Kanye West, The College Dropout (2004)
65 Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP (2000)
66 Arcade Fire, Funeral (2004)
81 Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
86 TV on the Radio, Return to Cookie Mountain (2006)
87 White Stripes, White Blood Cells (2002)
92 Jay-Z, The Black Album (2003)
97 Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (2007)
99 PJ Harvey, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000)
100 Kanye West, Late Registration (2005)
103 M.I.A., Arular (2005)
107 Coldplay, A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
112 Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
113 Danger Mouse, The Grey Album (2004)
114 Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
115 OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)
116 Against Me, New Wave! (2007)
117 Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
118 Yeah Yeah Yeahs, It's Blitz! (2009)
119 Green Day, American Idiot (2004)
120 Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III (2008)
121 Queens of the Stone Age, Rated R (2000)
122 LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver (2007)
123 The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious (2002)

NOTE: No Kid A.

i wanna know their top 25 albums of the past 125 years.

You could actually do this if you include weird super-early things like that cylinder of Brahms playing his own music...

i have not looked at this list but SPIN is a magazine run by 40 year olds desperately trying to cling to their youth and caters to 40 year olds desperately trying to cling to their youth, and thus it is totally worthless on a month to month basis

115 OutKast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)

fuck outta here with this -- even by white indie rock nerd standards

I guess the list fulfills the requirement of providing a shopping list for a music newbs who're not too familiar with '80s-90s music

no it doesn't! it's the kind of list that newbs should be protected from

Comments section is funny. Ppl are incensed at the lack of Tool, Muse, INXS, and Alanis Morissette.

I haven't seen the whole list but where did Transilvanian Hunger end up?

Jesus the writing is so bad in this.

"125 Moby, Play

The bald vegan scored big with this mash-up of gospel-style vocals and electronic beats, inventing sorrowful anthems ("Oh lordy, trouble so hard") that you could still dance to."

The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big
The bald vegan scored big

it is a trolling listicle in spin magazine, to be fair

120 Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III

2008 This blitz of cough syrup-slurping wordplay and inspired nonsense blew SPIN away in 2008 -- the magazine couldn't settle on a rating for its review, so it simply awarded it a "%!$#*&."

Spielerbox

inventing sorrowful anthems that you could still dance to.

This prose is hurting me.

haha having read through this entire list, aside from a few outliers this basically reminds me of why I always liked SPIN more than Rolling Stone; basically, it was more in line with my core musical likes

I tried to jump just to the #1 album and it opened the SunChips Facebook page twice and then froze.

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, April 23, 2010 12:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i want to read this thread but i cant stop loling at this comment and the volumes it speaks abt 21st century digital popular music discourse

Hahaha yeah I read that post as one for the scrapbook too.

in firefox view->page style->no style makes this actually readable

apropos of nothing, my kids say "Little Wayne" and I have to say, "no, it's Lil' Wayne!"

wait why are your kids listening to lil wayne?

meh. on second viewing, this list is better than i thought. no. 1 is crazy. nos. 2 -- 3 make sense.

pete's right, this is a real 40 year old person's list. it does have good stuff on it. all basically crit faves since day one. kollege klassics!

I laughed out loud when I saw No. 1, and I love that album (but come on). And the mag reads as being written by 40-year-olds who seem perfectly comfortable w/their age, not trying to act younger. (xpost)

"This Is Not a Fugazi Article" reads one of many sub-headlines in what is most definitely a Fugazi article from SPIN in 1991.

I prefer my Cure writing three-minute pop songs instead of nine-minute dirges about crocodiles that rhyme "pain' with "rain."

I am so with you on this...plus "The Blood" is top 10 Cure song for me.

And the mag reads as being written by 40-year-olds who seem perfectly comfortable w/their age, not trying to act younger.

no problem with that. forty-year olds should write like forty-year olds.

word up.

i'm 41 and i write like i'm 17. but i was writing like i was 10 when i was in my 30s, so i'm making some progress.

That was too much math for me.

i'm 42 and i write like i'm 62, but i'm gonna regress over the next 20 years.

of all the bjork albums, they go for Debut?

that's right spin, The Battles Of Los Angeles IS better than the soft bulletin, fables of the reconstruction, endtroducing, rain dogs, american recordings...*gives up*

lol. just give in. THE BATTLES OF LOS ANGELES IS BETTER THAN THE SOFT BULLETIN, FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION, ENDTRODUCING, RAIN DOGS, AMERICAN RECORDINGS.

Congratulation to Rage Against The Machine on their excellent LP

http://www.artsjournal.com/dewey21c/51052rage-against-the-machine-posters.jpg

even better:

http://www.comicartcollective.com/artImages/AFC1771E-08C4-45BF-84EB3CAE28FF3CC2.jpg

that one dude who was always climbing things at awards shows just to prove that you couldn't keep him down! i loved that guy. he was truly raging.

he just had ants in his pants.

actual independent record labels represented on that list? like, six? i can't count them all. i see kill rock stars, sst, dischord, um, matador... oh who cares. tiny labels mostly suck anyway. too emo.

you couldn't hold that guy down with your RULES! with your "corporate award show" RULES. wasn't gonna happen. that dude was gonna climb something. you never knew when, but he would do it.

wait waht? no! so many good small labels. like small wineries.

is their an animated gif of that doofus from nirvana getting bonked in the face with his bass on mtv awards night? i still remember that fondly.

you know what was cool? when the nirvana guy climbed up the side of the MTV studios after their set. f--k a RATM.

I never understood Kid A. I can dig older Animal Collective and Sonic Youth's bizarrest of bizarre, but Kid A seems to be only an album one respects if they're familiar with the rest of Radiohead... as in you're astonished at their progression, or their change of pace. Otherwise, taken as a sole album it just doesn't do very much to impress me.

― kelpolaris, Friday, April 23, 2010 10:09 PM Bookmark

naaaw, I'm an infamous Radiohead playa hata and even I like Kid A

yeah, the nirvana bass player was a doofus. he's a state senator now, right?

well, apparently there weren't a whole lot of GREAT albums put out by tiny labels in the last 25 years. spin says so.

x-post

spin is all-knowing, all-seeing.

i just sold a copy of hello nasty and a tears for fears 12 inch to a woman in her 30's.

tears for fears. i dunno. i'm torn on that band. i mean, shout and everybody wants to rule the world, okay, but after that . . .

i'm a hurting fan 4ever.

sowing the seeds of love! how deranged was that thing? god bless them.

yeah, 'saright. a little too hippie-ish for me.

mind you, i like the politest of the polite indie (iron & wine, the clientele, f--k buttons, bands like that).

they also did a great job of ignoring emo!

http://www.goldensounddist.com/images/Emo%20Phillips/emo_philips_birthday_party.jpg

"... inventing sorrowful anthems ("Oh lordy, trouble so hard")... "

do they not know that MOBY didn't write that?

who reads this magazine? is it like Q?

the only people who read spin are 40 year old men who explode after they fist bump.

for the record, both MPP and Speakerboxx/The Love Below are two of the most unlistenable albums of the 00s

and that's the truth, ruth

gtfo challops machine

tearz for fearz rulez.

I'm getting so sick of U2. My friend and I were watching This Might Get Loud earlier today and we spent the whole time straight ripping on the Edge...I'm not usually a technique whore buthe was totally outclassed standing next to Jimmy Page & Jack White.

I have yet to read this 125 albums list, and I'm curious about how many albums also appeared in the "100 greatest albums 1985-2005" list or the "90 greatest albums of the 90's" list.

For example, normally SPIN shows some love for Cornershop...

Cornershop didn't make the cut this time.

no counting crows, no cred

Full List posted at the Chicagoist (if anyone still cares at this point):

125 Moby – Play
124 Prince Paul – A Prince Among Thieves
123 The Hives – Veni Vidi Vicious
122 LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
121 Queens of the Stone Age – Rated R
120 Lil Wayne – Tha Carter III
119 Green Day – American Idiot
118 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!
117 The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
116 Against Me! – New Wave
115 OutKast – Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
114 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
113 Danger Mouse – The Grey Album
112 Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
111 Teenage Fanclub – Bandwagonesque
110 Spiritualized – Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
109 The Chills – Submarine Bells
108 Fugees – The Score
107 Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
106 Fiona Apple – When the Pawn…
105 Massive Attack – Mezzanine
104 The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
103 M.I.A. – Arular
102 Queen Latifah – All Hail the Queen
101 Blur – Parklife
100 Kanye West – Late Registration
99 PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
98 Johnny Cash – American Recordings
97 Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
96 The Roots – Things Fall Apart
95 Soundgarden – Superunknown
94 Jane’s Addiction – Ritual de lo Habitual
93 The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
92 Jay-Z – The Black Album
91 The Smiths – Strangeways, Here We Come
90 Elliott Smith – XO
89 Basement Jaxx – Remedy
88 Jeff Buckley – Grace
87 The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
86 TV on the Radio – Return to Cookie Mountain
85 Missy Elliott – Supa Dupa Fly
84 LL Cool J – Radio
83 Steve Earle – Guitar Town
82 Dr. Dre – The Chronic
81 Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
80 The Fall – This Nation’s Saving Grace
79 The Breeders – Last Splash
78 Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
77 Boogie Down Productions – Criminal Minded
76 OutKast – Aquemini
75 Bjork – Post
74 Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
73 The Pogues – Rum, Sodomy and the Lash
72 Lucinda Williams – Lucinda Williams
71 Oasis – Definitely Maybe
70 Pearl Jam – Ten
69 The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
68 Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…
67 Tom Waits – Rain Dogs
66 Arcade Fire – Funeral
65 Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
64 The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
63 R.E.M. – Fables Of The Reconstruction
62 U2 – The Joshua Tree
61 Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
60 Fugazi – 13 Songs
59 Belle and Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister
58 DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…
57 The White Stripes – Elephant
56 Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92
55 Hole – Live Through This
54 Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
53 The Cure – The Head on the Door
52 Kanye West – The College Dropout
51 Rage Against the Machine – The Battle of Los Angeles
50 Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt
49 D’Angelo – Voodoo
48 Elliott Smith – Either/Or
47 Portishead – Dummy
46 N.W.A. – Straight Outta Compton
45 The Pixies – Surfer Rosa
44 The Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill
43 The Notorious B.I.G. – Ready to Die
42 Green Day – Dookie
41 Pulp – Different Class
40 Tricky – Maxinquaye
39 Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
38 Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell
37 Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
36 The Jesus and Mary Chain – Psychocandy
35 R.E.M. – Automatic for the People
34 Beck – Odelay
33 Björk – Debut
32 Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
31 Massive Attack – Blue Lines
30 A Tribe Called Quest – The Low End Theory
29 Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
28 Radiohead – The Bends
27 Nirvana – In Utero
26 Guided by Voices – Bee Thousand
25 Nas – Illmatic
24 Metallica – Master of Puppets
23 Daft Punk – Discovery
22 Eric B. & Rakim – Paid in Full
21 Oasis – (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory
20 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
19 Jay-Z – The Blueprint
18 The Strokes – Is This It
17 De La Soul – 3 Feet High and Rising
16 The Pixies – Doolittle
15 Hüsker Dü – New Day Rising
14 The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
13 Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
12 OutKast – Stankonia
11 The Replacements – Tim
10 Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
09 Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
08 PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
07 Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
06 Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
05 Radiohead – OK Computer
04 Nirvana – Nevermind
03 The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
02 Prince – Sign O’ the Times
01 U2 – Achtung Baby

I think Tim is way too high.

man the blueprint has rapidly become one of the most overrated records ever

no

better than illmatic? gtfo

ok well

I prefer "best" rather than "most influential". Most of the best albums the past 25 have been considerably more influenced than influential.

Better than Ready to Die, the Low-End Theory, Cuban Linx, Aquemini, etc? gtfo