Spin's Top 125 Albums of the last 25 Years

[www.spin.com]

Tried making it a clickable link but for some reason it wouldn't work. Hopefully it will as a copy & paste.



Post Edited (04-26-10 15:13)

Spin is one of the last sources I'd trust to know what the 125 best records of any time period are.

New Day Rising, Daydream Nation, Tim, Nation Of Millions, Rid Of Me in the top 15? That's my kind of list !!!



Post Edited (04-26-10 16:32)

I'm going to go way out on a limb and guess that The Chameleons' Strange Times didn't make it. This alone makes the list null and void. Still, I'll have a peek and see if there are any pleasant surprises.

For those who dont enjoy clicking through seperate slideshow style presentations:

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

Re: Chamelons UK. We all have our underappreciated gems. I regret the omission of Yank Crime and Vee Vee on this list, but overall think it's a pretty wonderful list. The only WTF in the top 25 for me iS Eric B and Rakim.

"Diminishing returns" seems unfair. Joshua Tree was one of the best selling albums of all time, a sonic masterpiece, and unviersally beloved. I'm not even a U2 fan and I love it. Even my Dad loves it! It was definitely the pinnacle of that stage of U2's career; not the downhill slide. Rattle and Hum was the Jump-The-Shark moment.



Post Edited (04-27-10 10:17)

If only U2 had seen the movie Kingpin in 1988.

Actually, I like both the movie and the album Rattle and Hum. There's nothing essential or revelatory about any of it (although Larry Mullen Jr.'s Elvis soliloquy is almost as good as this)...

Is Submarine Bells really that great a record? Tied Up In Chains is an amazing amazing paino-driven pop song, but the rest of it......meh!

Yeah, I thought for the most part it was a pretty respectable list, and if nothing else they deserve big kudos for Submarine Bells. I'd quibble with some of the rankings - as much as I love their #1, I don't really think it's #1, and positions #8 and #20 need to be flopped. Love PJ, but Loveless needs to be in the top 10.

I don't bring it up anymore unless someone else does first. But I was gratified to see that they made the correct decision concerning that particular performer.

I have liked only about 15 of those albums. Some of the choice are ridiculous - Queens of the Stone Age, The Hives, Arcade Fire(2 albums?!), Janes Addiction, Hole, NIN... May as well put a couple Chili Peppers albums on there and at least 1 Limp Bizkit. There was that 1 Jet album too. Nickleback should be in there somewheres.

Breno I had never heard that Chills album before, it's pretty good. Nice call.

Who thinks we could come up with a consensus for 125 of the last 25 years? It might be fun.

nice suprise- steve earle guitar town

I think it's an okay list. I might agree with a third to a half of the selections. Much like many lists and awards, however, we're all left to interpret words like "best" and "influential" ourselves. I tried to locate an explanation of the list on the Spin website...no such luck.

It is kind of funny that there is nothing from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, Aimee Mann, Leonard Cohen and Tom Petty anywhere to be found, isn't it? These omissions must be intentional.

As far as the #22 ranking of Eric B. and Rakim's Paid in Full, while I wouldn't go out of my way to defend the album (there are four amazing cuts and six pieces of filler), lyrically and vocally Rakim leaped so far ahead of his contemporaries that he was in a class by himself.

I don't mind Achtung Baby at #1.

dylans time out of mind or springsteens the rising isnt on the list-
i guess its not that cool to put any old artists who aRE already immensely popular on the list.

OK, so I've read the list. Personally--and I stress personally--I think the list pretty much stinks. But as it's been said, there's something for all of us to disagree with. I would definitely have found a place for Parklife or Hounds of Love.

A few pleasant surprises:

Teenage Fanclub -Bandwagonesque
REM - Fables (though I personally rank it behind Life's Rich Pageant)

My first thought - same as some above - was grudging admiration that they included Submarine Bells and Guitar Town.

I went through, in groups of tens, counting out how many of each ten I owned. It ranged from one in ten, to five in ten. I saw a lot of stuff I loved there, but I felt the the commercial alt-rock of the 1990s was done to death. On the other hand, that was probably Spin's commercial hey-day, too.

Two Massive Attack records - although both are very good - surprised me.

And I have no qualms about putting Achtung Baby at the top. It and War are my two picks as U2 personal favorites.

Whoa - What's The Story Morning Glory - 50 spots higher than the rip-roaring Definitely Maybe?!!!

Hell no.

68 albums were better than The Stone Roses - wtf?

No room for The La's at all?

No room for Pleased to Meet Me? No Up the Bracket? No Spoon ?!!!?

I mean, I'm livid over no Ike Reilly but that'd be expecting too much - but some of those are big ones that jump out at me.

I'm sure everyone on this board can find something to disagree with on this list. For that matter, I'm sure every individual on Spin's staff can, too.

Three albums by Outkast is at least one too many, IMO. Same goes for three albums by Jay-Z.

I wouldn't have included Smashing Pumpkins, Strangeways, Eminem, DJ Shadow, White Blood Cells, [/i]Return to Cookie Mountain[/i], Mezzanine, A Rush of Blood to the Head or Moby on this list.

I'm thrilled to see Fables of the Reconstruction on the list — the most underrated of R.E.M. albums. And I would've placed Morning Glory higher than Definitely Maybe too (although perhaps not by 50 spots). No disrespect, Mats, but my Oasis is not your Oasis.

Truthfully, Totaji, I'd be just fine with either Blood Sugar Sex Magik or Californication here.

And I have no problem at all with Achtung Baby topping the list. Considering the expectations that U2's fan base had at the time, the album was a damn ballsy move; what's more, it's loaded start to finish with great songs. It has spent as much time in my CD player as any album of the past 25 years, and doesn't show its age a bit (which I can't say for The Joshua Tree).

The 125 best records of the past quarter-century? Arguable. One hundred and twenty-five of the best? I'd call this list pretty respectable.

i actually would have chosen Freaky Styley

I'm just glad that a certain record with the initials CWOAGR was not included, for the health of our fellow TP'ers

Wow. I can't remember the last time I bought a copy of SPIN*. Did they ever get the proposed TV channel (C-SPIN) off the ground?

I'm a feckless, depraved pervert for lists, so I perused this one with rapt intent. No surprise that the hip-hop quotient really took a huge chunk out of my "Yup, Own That One!" tally. And I now realize that I never bought a Nirvana studio CD!

:::cue aneurysm:::

Some thoughts:

American indie bands? Largely snubbed.

C'mon. Actung Baby was not a very good U2 album. Not even then.

Sign O' The Times still feels like Prince's absolute best thing ever.

Appetite For Destruction is sort of like Fire Of Love. I'm sure everyone concerned would have liked to have made a few more along the exact same lines.

What is up with that R.E.M. selection? They're just trying to be perverse. Obviously.

My faves on the list are: Surfer Rosa, Daydream Nation, Psychocandy, Rain Dogs, This Nation's Saving Grace, Loveless, Tim, The Queen Is Dead, The Stone Roses and The Joshua Tree. Not in any order.

Even more fun? Subtract the titles you don't own and fill in the blanks with ones that you do. You can damned well bet that at least one Chameleons title is on my list. In the spirit of this SPIN list, I'm voting for "Strip."

...

And Lyres Lyres should have made the cut. If only on the strength of "She Pays The Rent."

* - I know I had the one with Jon Bon Jovi and a free rubber on the cover. What a great campaign for birth control!

(Edited to add the asterisk)



Post Edited (04-26-10 23:09)

> C'mon. Actung Baby was not a very good U2 album. Not even then.

Strenuously disagree with you on that, Kay. Easily one of U2's best, from the day it came out.

I do agree with you, though, on Sign 'o' the Times.

Quote

Easily one of U2's best, from the day it came out.

I didn't say it was bad. But the best freakin' album of the last 25 years? Naw. I stand by my opinion and invite everyone to do the same. With their own. Opinion.

YouknowwhatImean.

Actung Baby was the event horizon that U2 crossed and never returned from. I can't remember exactly how black holes are supposed to behave theoretically (or is it the other way 'round?). Something to do with the light taking an infinite amount of time to reach the observer's eyes. So whatever falls in appears to fall forever. Time stands still. Larry stops aging forever. Something like that, anyway.

I'll take all that they left behind. After that it was all schmaltz. Well ... a lot of it was.

"Hey-ey! Sha-la-la!"

Give me The Unforgettable Fire any day. I liked it better when they were dressing like Amish ministers and walking across frozen lakes.

Um, 13 Songs wasn't an album....

> Actung Baby was the event horizon that U2 crossed and never returned from.

What would they have returned to? Dressing like Amish ministers? They'd already taken that image about as far as they could. I loved The Unforgettable Fire, but definitely heard diminishing returns with The Joshua Tree. To my ears, that album and Rattle and Hum represented the point where U2 was at risk of disappearing down the black holes of their own asses. Achtung Baby was the album with which they pulled themselves out of that yoga position.

Granted, they spent the remainder of the '90s trying to figure out what to do next, and took that image as far as it could go, too. But they found their footing in the 2000s, by synthesizing the best of their previous work.

Dig your use of a theoretical physics metaphor, though. Well played.

I'm being fairly flippant as far as my remarks towards Bono & Co. (and I don't mean Sonny & Cher!) are concerned ... but only because it's so much fun.

I think that (for me) it was all over with U2 by Rattle & Hum (which was really just a scrapbook at best and a soundtrack to a scrapbook film at worst). After that, anything they did was just gonna be so much icing on the cake. I haven't owned a single studio thing they've done since. Heard 'em all plenty of times.

Quote

U2 was at risk of disappearing down the black holes of their own asses

Compelling imagery, no doubt. But since they did eventually make a return to a less crapped-out, Vegas style (read: pre-Actung Baby), all that's really at debate is the length of the detour, right?

I'm a huge U2 fan, but admittedly, my view of The Joshua Tree goes against the widespread consensus. I bought it the day it came out, and to my ears, it felt threadbare compared to The Unforgettable Fire. Even my best friends at the time couldn't believe I wasn't more excited about the disc ... and wasn't eager to get tickets to U2's Denver shows on that tour.

The Joshua Tree was the pinnacle of that stage of U2's career commercially, no doubt about it. Artistically, I much prefer The Unforgettable Fire. I love that album's deep, murky sound; I still seem to notice something different about it with each listen. (Same goes for Achtung Baby.) By comparison, most of The Joshua Tree's sonic details sit too close to the surface. That's what I mean by "diminishing returns."

Ira described The Joshua Tree best, IMO: "Not as good as it was popular."

> But since they did eventually make a return to a less crapped-out, Vegas style (read: pre-
> Actung Baby), all that's really at debate is the length of the detour, right?

Hmmm, I'm a bit confused, Kay. Since you've endorsed The Unforgettable Fire and panned Rattle and Hum and, to a lesser extent, Achtung Baby (and, basically, everything following that album), then please be so kind as to spell it out for me: when (in your opinion) did they embark on that "crapped-out, Vegas style" detour, and when did they return from it?

It sounds as if we're debating (a) when the detour occurred, and (b) whether U2 ever found its way back. IMO, The Joshua Tree was where U2 pushed its "Amish minister" image to its limit. Rattle and Hum showed that image to have reached its sell-by date. (Bono and company have stated, more than once, that this is how they viewed it too.) That late '80s period wasn't a detour; it was a logical path for the band, and it had reached its end.

For me, Achtung Baby wasn't a detour; it was an entirely new path. Zooropa showed the band kind of driving around without a road map (even though they seemed to be enjoying the scenery). Pop was the detour, and as detours go, it was a pretty bad one. The Popmart Tour screamed "crapped-out, Vegas style." U2's 21st-century work, IMO, shows that it learned the lessons from that detour, and got back onto a road that worked for them (and still does).

I haven't cared about U2 since I realized Rattle and Hum held no interest for me. The Unforgettable Fire is the only album of theirs I have listened to in the past decade. I was always been much more interested in Midnight Oil, Simple Minds, and Big Country...bands that often get compared to U2 (rightly or wrongly).

The highest Beastie Boys is Paul's Boutique and the other one is Licensed To Ill?
I'd rate Ill Communication and Check Your Head as miles better than those two records.

Agree with Definitely Maybe / Whats The Story opinions, I always thought the former was
far superior.

Just on The Chills, I'm sure it's the case but anyone who likes Submarine Bells could do
worse than give Brave Words a spin.

Also recall Spin's 90 Best records of the '90s list and there's a ton of stuff from that list not
there. (Tortoise, Cibbo Mato, Stereolab and erm T.L.C)

Quote

I'm sure it's the case but anyone who likes Submarine Bells could do
worse than give Brave Words a spin.

Brave Words is twice the album that Submarine Bells is. In fact, it's even better than that.

Anyone here ever know a Jayne with the "Y?"

Quote

Hmmm, I'm a bit confused, Kay.

Hah! Agreed.

Opinions will always be just that, but ...

This isn't much a quandary for me. Before any debate can rage hither and thither about whether or not Actung Baby is/was or isn't/wasn't some sort of huge, radical, era-defining album (and that is exactly what certain SPIN-meisters are trying to say) … it might be healthy to flit back to the time when the only question anyone had about U2 was "How the HELL are they ever gonna top The Unforgettable Fire?" Remember those days? Big hair, Rockin' Ron & The Iran Contras, and that sun-bleached cassette of the Wide Awake In America EP sitting on the back seat of your car … quietly waiting out the requisite fortnight before turning into Queen's Greatest Hits?

When Joshua Tree came out, I don't remember anyone being the least bit unimpressed. Everyone I knew was totally floored over it. Like, gone. Gassed. That simply was not the case with Actung Baby. Everyone I knew had a rather tepid reaction to it. The songs just are not as good. Even if you limit the discussion to the singles!

Who knows? Perhaps it's aged well and I should give it another listen. I've not had a spin through either album in ages, in any event. But of the two in question, I've only ever owned the former.

Shall we agree to disagree? Wait. I'm not through.

.
.
.

File Under: "I Wasn't Trashing Anything"…

And as far as Rattle & Hum goes (and it's a scrap book in the very best sense … the operative word being "book" and not "scrap"), that LP and the film were really just a well-earned victory lap. The fact that the band again felt the need to make musical adjustments so quickly might be the result of the rather mammoth success and exposure they were stuck in the middle of. But they forged that whole mess. Don't look at me.

Make no mistake. Actung Baby is a decent record. But it simply does not (nor did it ever) hold a candle to The Joshua Tree. I'll agree, it is a departure. But maybe not the way you're thinking. To my mind, it's more akin to whatever album Neil Young made when he first lost his shit back in the 1980s and flaked out like crazy (Trans?) Some of those Neil Young LPs weren't too shabby. I sorta like the single off the rockabilly one, anyway.

But c'mon.

...

The debate, as always, is invigorating. It's not a fight anyone can actually win. Still, I get a little revved up sometimes. Excuse me if I ever step on any toes.

I will now stop waving the white flag … crouch down … look all intense ... and sweat all over the folks in the front row.

...

As an aside ... if this were a Led Zeppelin thread, we'd probably be debating between the relative merits of Physical Graffitti and Presence right now. Any takers?

:::shudder:::



Post Edited (04-28-10 22:02)

I think this list is okay. There're a lot of good, or at least fun, albums listed here; most such lists lose my respect pretty quickly.

I'm still waiting for a best of list that includes both a Kate Bush and a Leonard Cohen album. Asking for a Cocteau Twins album as well would probably be asking too much.

Quote

Asking for a Cocteau Twins album as well would probably be asking too much.

The Cocteau Twins are in a down cycle as a hipster reference right now. However, when the currently unformed band that will be 2013's version of Grizzly Bear talks up the Cocteaus as a big influence, Heaven or Las Vegas will begin turning up on these Greatest Albums of... lists.

Since the Onion will turn 25 in 2013 I expect the AV Club will be perfectly positioned to take advantage of the Cocteaus' inevitable future upswing in hipster namedrop occurrences and will turn up on their Best of the Last 25 Years list.



Post Edited (04-28-10 21:25)

It's not a quandary for me, either, Kay. Personally, I don't recall anyone wondering (at least not aloud) how U2 could ever top The Unforgettable Fire. Most of the U2 fans I knew at that time found it a bit of a head-scratcher, after War. If anything, the big question around these parts was, "When are they coming back to Red Rocks?" (And now that you mention it, I did have Wide Awake in America on cassette in those days.) I loved The Unforgettable Fire, and I loved all of U2's work prior to that; I didn't see any one of their albums as "topping" any of the others.

As for The Joshua Tree, well, count me as one who was unimpressed by it. Of course, I was aware that the big consensus was that The Joshua Tree was a masterpiece ... but I didn't care. And still don't. After all, the general consensus on this board is that U2 is an overrated, over-inflated, if not downright crappy band. I don't care about that consensus either.

But I was totally floored by Achtung Baby, from the first listen, and so were quite a few people I knew. IMO, it doesn't "hold a candle" to The Joshua Tree; it points a flamethrower at it.

But you still haven't addressed what made me say, "I'm a bit confused, Kay." I'm definitely not confused about the merits of The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, and Achtung Baby, because those merits are subjective. (Good description of Rattle and Hum, as a "victory lap," BTW.) No, what I'm confused about is your reference to a "crapped-out Vegas style." In your opinion, when did U2 detour into that style, and when did they get out of it (or did they)?

And rest assured, I'm enjoying the heck out of this debate. No toes stepped on, at this end, so please don't worry. (And I'll be happy to discuss/debate LZ albums with you some time, although perhaps not on this board. The others probably would get tired of us.)

Quote

the general consensus on this board is that U2 is an overrated, over-inflated, if not downright crappy band.

"The Dublin messiah ... scattering crumbs ..."

...

I think that the Zoo TV tour and all the activity that followed Actung Baby gets lumped into what I'm calling the "crapped-out Vegas" phase of the bands career. Mostly, I just like saying "crapped-out Vegas." You could call it their "Fat Elvis" phase and I'd be just as pleased.

Certainly, they've made recent albums (the last few, anyway) that have tried hearken back to previous styles and sounds. Aside from that awful Escape Club sound-alike, which was ridiculous.

...

What did you or anyone here think of the Joshua Tree B-Sides? Just askin' ...

I think Joshua Tree is a good album, but I've always felt that the first three singles ('With Or Without You', 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', and 'Where the Streets Have No Name') sounded like different sections of the same song to me. Try playing the choruses back in your head and see if you agree.

delvin + hbk: i don't mean to impose on this discussion (and perhaps i'm overstepping my boundries since i was nine when 'joshua tree' was released) but i've always loved U2 and i've always felt uncomfortable with 'joshua tree'. to me it is the black sheep of their catalog. maybe it was the fact that it's one of those albums you're required to respect, even if you don't like it (or like to listen to it), and i'm generally disappointed by albums that are as proceeded by their reputation as 'the joshua tree' is, and from what i understand, always has been. or maybe it was just to, i don't know, i guess, simple of an album - and i'm not surprised when i hear songs from 'joshua tree' on classic rock radio these days.

did anyone read that 'kill your idols' book derogatis edited where he and a bunch of other writers picked a supposed 'classic' (exile on main street, sgt peppers, yankee hotel, etc) and gave reasons why it sucked? the entry on the joshua tree is insightful, stripping the album down to it's basics. until i read that i could never really put a finger on why i felt the way i do about that album.

anyway, spin is full of shit. the best album released in the last 25 years is, without a doubt, is 'rain dogs'. they can suck it if they don't agree.

I liked the B-sides just fine, especially "Spanish Eyes."

I wouldn't agree on the Zoo TV Tour, just because it was so weird and over-the-top. PopMart, on the other hand, was definitely a bad detour into Vegas territory ... right down to the city they chose to open that tour. IMO, though, they got off that road decisively with All That You Can't Leave Behind and the Elevation Tour.

jcakp, feel free to join any such discussion. That's half of what this board is all about. I'm confident Kay will agree, as will anyone else here.

I consider The Joshua Tree a good album; it's just not the unimpeachable masterpiece it's been made out to be since its release. The two things that, for me, always have made it fall short are: (1) its sound, for the most part, lacks the depth that made The Unforgettable Fire so enjoyable to listen to, over and over, and (2) it's heavily front-loaded. After those three big hit singles, the songs become way too hit-or-miss for me to consider the album a classic.

I'm with Delvin & jcakp re Joshua Tree - it contains three or four classics which are among U2's best songs of all time (the three opening tracks, and I'm pretty partial to "One Tree Hill"), but the rest of it is merely good. When stacked up against other U2 albums like Boy,War and Achtung Baby, albums where the quality level rarely dips below excellent, The Joshua Tree doesn't stack up.

In fact, if I were rating U2 albums, for me (and me alone, I stress) they would go in this order:

Boy and Achtung Baby are tied for first. No way I can decide between them.
War
Unforgettable Fire
All That You Can't Leave Behind
Joshua Tree
Zooropa
No Line On the Horizon
October
How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb
Pop
Rattle and Hum

Rattle and Hum would be the only U2 album I would actually use the word dislike to describe my feelings towards, and even it has a few okay tracks.

U2 haven't been relevant to me in, god, almost 20 years. I used to love The Joshua Tree, though my first piece of U2 music was the 45 of "Pride." I eventually became quite fond of Boy and the Red Rocks live EP. But I've never much appreciated Achtung Baby, except for the song "Until the End of the World," which seemed like a cool compromise between their then-signature sound and the new techno-thing they were exploring.

After all the talk of how All That You Can't Leave Behind was a return to the U2 of old, I finally listened to the song "Beautiful Day" and thought it sounded like generic, anthemic alternative rock, more like one of the band's many imitators than U2 itself. Blech.

God love 'em for being the biggest band in the world and still being willing to screw around with the sounds that made them popular, but there are a shit-ton of bands that mean more to me and that I'd rather listen to. Though I do still have my copy of Wide Awake in America, since I'm unwilling to give up the stunning live version of "Bad" included on it.

spins list totally blows(but thanks for posting it noze).
jesus fucking christ no...
elvis costello?

btw, the list not only blows it also sucks. you want proof typical TPer?
no SUBURBS
however, there is one good thing the voters/clowns (show your faces!) of that magazine do. They pass out certificates to makeup artists every four months. so thats good (& ironic).

oh, i almost forgot,
they also learn to SPIN on their collective middle fingers.



Post Edited (04-30-10 21:23)

and another thing,
you could never keep the Three O'Clocks SIXTEEN TAMBOURINES from being excluded fromany top 50 of the last twenty five years list.

technical foul,
that ex--Salvation Army Lp was pressed in '83. i guess now it's my turn to be 'Sorry.'

ps-SPIN still hugs the root.
Pss-see that HABS game seven the other nite?

there i go again,
giving meself goosebumps for another new thread!



Post Edited (04-30-10 21:44)

What's all the fussin Steve? You dont judge a list like this past the top 20 or so. You could spend a stimulating evening with any one of the records in the top 20 (except perhaps NIN). Yes, even Jay-Z. He's a billionaire. Give his stuff a spin or five and see if he earned any of it. (But get that Dre and NWA outta here, please)


But I have to admit those REM choice are bothering me. It's Document and Out Of Time, dopes!



Post Edited (04-30-10 23:15)

Am honestly surprised (though not displeased) that the current Spin staff actually remembers Husker Du! Would have liked to have seen the Minutemen on there as well but...

weird, this thread is right back on top again where i left it last i wrote.
to hell with 4-20. 4-30 was a bloody ripper. mates from the neighborhood kept knockin on me door. i woulda told em to bugger off but they all brought beer with em!

in no order just as i think of em...

EC & attractions-blood and chocolate
sloan-smeared
bettie serveert-palomine
soul asylum-horse they rode
smugglers-rosie
velvet crush-prescence of greatness
melvins-stag
doves-last broadcast
TGB & Queen
libertines-up the bracket
franz ferdinand
interpol-turn on your bright lights
brian wilson
bob dylan-love & theft

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