Channel 4's 100 Greatest Albums

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Channel 4's 100 Greatest Albums

Post by I'm Murrin »

Last night, Channel 4 counted down it's 100 greatest albums. A panel of music industry experts selected 125 albums, and then the British public voted on which was the greatest album of all time. Here are the results:
  1. RADIOHEAD - OK Computer
  2. U2 - The Joshua Tree
  3. NIRVANA - Nevermind
  4. MICHAEL JACKSON - Thriller
  5. PINK FLOYD - Dark Side of the Moon
  6. OASIS - Definitely Maybe
  7. THE BEATLES - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
  8. MADONNA - Like a Prayer
  9. GUNS N' ROSES - Appetite For Destruction
  10. THE BEATLES - Revolver
  11. R.E.M. - Automatic for the People
  12. THE BEATLES - The White Album
  13. QUEEN - A Night at the Opera
  14. COLDPLAY - Parachutes
  15. OASIS - (What's the Story) Morning Glory
  16. ALANIS MORISSETTE - Jagged Little Pill
  17. LED ZEPPELIN - Led Zeppelin IV
  18. THE VERVE - Urban Hymns
  19. JIMI HENDRIX - Are you Experienced
  20. THE SMITHS - The Queen Is Dead
  21. JOHN LENNON - Imagine
  22. RADIOHEAD - The Bends
  23. BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS - Exodus
  24. THE STONE ROSES - The Stone Roses
  25. SIMON AND GARFUNKEL - Bridge Over Troubled Water
  26. BJORK - Debut
  27. THE DOORS - The Doors
  28. ABBA - Arrival
  29. MICHAEL JACKSON - Off the Wall
  30. DURAN DURAN - Rio
  31. SEX PISTOLS - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
  32. DAVID BOWIE - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
  33. THE BEACH BOYS - Pet Sounds
  34. JOY DIVISION - Closer
  35. THE ROLLING STONES - Let It Bleed
  36. BLUR - Parklife
  37. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Born to Run
  38. BILLIE HOLIDAY - Lady Sings the Blues
  39. THE WHITE STRIPES - Elephant
  40. BLACK SABBATH - Paranoid
  41. THE SPECIALS - Specials
  42. THE ROLLING STONES - Exile on Main Street
  43. FRANK SINATRA - Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
  44. THE CLASH - London Calling
  45. THE PRODIGY - The Fat of the Land
  46. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - The Velvet Underground and Nico
  47. DIRE STRAITS - Brothers in Arms
  48. PIXIES - Doolittle
  49. ARETHA FRANKLIN - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
  50. THE LIBERTINES - The Libertines
  51. HAPPY MONDAYS - Pills 'N' Thrills and Bellyaches
  52. PATTI SMITH - Horses
  53. THE WHO - Tommy
  54. LOU REED - Transformer
  55. BOB DYLAN - Blood on the Tracks
  56. PRINCE - Sign 'o' the Times
  57. DIDO - No Angel
  58. AIR - Moon Safari
  59. ELTON JOHN - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
  60. THE JAM - All Mod Cons
  61. JEFF BUCKLEY - Grace
  62. FLEETWOOD MAC - Rumours
  63. MOBY - Play
  64. RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
  65. THE POLICE - Synchronicity
  66. JONI MITCHELL - Blue
  67. CURTIS MAYFIELD - Superfly
  68. ELVIS PRESLEY - The Sun Sessions
  69. OUTKAST - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
  70. PULP - Different Class
  71. KRAFTWERK - Trans-Europe Express
  72. MASSIVE ATTACK - Blue Lines
  73. BECK - Odelay
  74. STEVIE WONDER - Songs in the Key of Life
  75. KATE BUSH - Hounds of Love
  76. TALKING HEADS - Fear of Music
  77. EMINEM - The Marshall Mathers LP
  78. MARVIN GAYE - What's Going On
  79. GEORGE MICHAEL - Faith
  80. SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER - The Original Movie Soundtrack
  81. PRIMAL SCREAM - Screamadelica
  82. JOHN COLTRANE - A Love Supreme
  83. LOVE - Forever Changes
  84. PAUL SIMON - Graceland
  85. NICK DRAKE - Five Leaves Left
  86. MEAT LOAF - Bat Out of Hell
  87. DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - Dusty in Memphis
  88. DE LA SOUL - 3 Feet High and Rising
  89. THE STROKES - Is this It
  90. MADNESS - One Step Beyond...
  91. ROBBIE WILLIAMS - I've Been Expecting You
  92. NEIL YOUNG - After the Gold Rush
  93. PUBLIC ENEMY - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
  94. BLONDIE - Parallel Lines
  95. THE EAGLES - Hotel California
  96. JAMES BROWN - Sex Machine
  97. THE STREETS - A Grand Don't Come for Free
  98. DEXY'S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
  99. ROD STEWART - Every Picture Tells a Story
  100. THE HUMAN LEAGUE - Dare!
Channel4.com
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Post by [Syl] »

Thanks, Murrin. You've put me off lists forever now. :mrgreen:
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Post by CovenantJr »

I could have predicted Nevermind getting a high placing, but OK Computer and Like A Prayer were surprising.

Some corrections I'd make (other than throwing the whole list out):

Switch Automatic For The People for Monster
Switch Doolittle for Surfer Rosa

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Post by Edge »

Throw out Radiohead & replace it with Dire Straits' 'Love Over Gold'... Throw out Michael Jackson & replace him with anyone with actual talent... & it might be a halfway decent list. :)
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Post by Warmark »

ok computer is very good ....... but best album ever? in a word no
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
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And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.


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Post by dennisrwood »

Husker Du : Zen Arcade
Minutemen : Double Nickles On the Dime
Throwing Muses : the Real Ramona
Camper Van Beethoven : Key Lime Pie
Cracker : Kerosene Hat
Pink Floyd : Wish You Were Here
Uncle Tupelo : No Depression
Dumptruck : For the Country
Neil Young : Harvest
Lemonheads : It's A Shame About Ray

off the top of my head
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Post by Cail »

Wow, what a bad list. The Beatles at #7? Led Zeppelin at #17? The Sex Pistols at #31? The Stones at #35?

WTF?
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Post by Sheriff Lytton »

I'm not sure that it's the best album ever, but OK Computer's a fine album nonetheless. It's interesting to note that the albums they've made since do not appear on this list.

It's difficult to appreciate the esteem Radiohead are held in by the British music press unless you live over here. Apart from Muse (who've not sacrificed melody for pretentiousness and self indulgence the way Radiohead have) Britain has produced very little in the way of seriously high quality rock music since OK Computer.

All this list proves is that a lot of the British public are unaware of their rich musical heritage.
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Post by Worm of Despite »

Cail wrote:Wow, what a bad list. The Beatles at #7? Led Zeppelin at #17? The Sex Pistols at #31? The Stones at #35?

WTF?
You mean The Beatles should be at #1, right? ;) I agree with you, then.
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Post by Sheriff Lytton »

Q) "Name the greatest band the world's seen ?"

A) The Beatles.

You'll find no argument from me on that one. They turned songwriting, arranging and production upside down, no doubt about it.

However, did they ever record the greatest album of all time ? I'd say Revolver has to be a contender, but there's some stiff competition.
Last edited by Sheriff Lytton on Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Cail »

Lord Foul wrote:
Cail wrote:Wow, what a bad list. The Beatles at #7? Led Zeppelin at #17? The Sex Pistols at #31? The Stones at #35?

WTF?
You mean The Beatles should be at #1, right? ;) I agree with you, then.
Well, I don't think so, but I wouldn't be unhappy if they were....The Beatles, after all.

But ranking Coldplay above Led Zeppelin? Sacrilige!
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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Post by Queeaqueg »

Led Zeppelin should have been 1!
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Post by dennisrwood »

the best album ever?

maybe Dark Side of the Moon
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Post by Nathan »

But ranking Coldplay above Led Zeppelin? Sacrilige!
Well deserved! Parachutes is a brilliant album.
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Post by matrixman »

I won't argue too hard with OK Computer as the No. 1 choice of the British public. Most of my favorite artists are UK-based, anyway. :wink:

Radiohead's Kid A album touches me more personally, though, and that makes all the difference in the world. I'm not prepared to say Kid A is the "greatest album ever" but neither do I think it's inferior to OK Computer.

Nice to see U2 ranked way up there. However, my pick for greatest U2 album would be Achtung Baby. I do admire The Joshua Tree, but I only had ears for Sting's Nothing Like The Sun that year (1987). :)

I accept Nevermind as an influential album (for better or for worse), but as a piece of music I think it's overrated. Achtung Baby came out the same year, after all, and I think it walks all over Nevermind, musically speaking. Nirvana may have gotten all the attention by being louder than everyone else, but U2 were the true innovators. And I'm still of the opinion that In Utero was Nirvana's best album, by far.

Thriller is another very overrated album--BUT it does have what I feel are two of the greatest pop songs ever written by anybody: Billie Jean and Beat It. It's fashionable nowadays to dump on "whacko" Jackson, but when it comes down to the music and away from the politics, I'll remember him as the author of these two amazing songs.

Dark Side of the Moon: I think the songs on the second half (Side Two, heh) are not as inspired as the utterly brilliant first half, but I still admire this album. A lot. But my favorite Pink Floyd album is their last, The Division Bell. I can hear Floyd fans screaming already: any Floyd album without Roger Waters is no Floyd album of mine! Nevertheless. :)

Sgt. Pepper: I'm sorry, but I just don't see the greatness that many people see in this album. I think it's a weak Beatles effort, filled with some of the lamest songs they've ever written. (For a truly hypnotic and musically superior psychedelic trip I'll put on Pink Floyd's The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, thanks.) Revolver would be my choice for best Beatles album, and for best album ever.

And, hey, it's good to see Madonna is appreciated. The male-dominated rock fanbase, as well as the male-dominated field of rock journalism, tends to look down on what it views as insubstantial dance-pop, especially as practiced by pop "starlets" like Madonna. But to me, her music is great, regardless of whose conventions it defies. My pick for Madonna's greatest album would be True Blue.
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Post by Cail »

Nathan wrote:
But ranking Coldplay above Led Zeppelin? Sacrilige!
Well deserved! Parachutes is a brilliant album.
Pah! Child! Coldplay will be long forgotten in 10 years, Zeppelin will still be Zeppelin.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
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Post by firelion »

That list is complete and utter garbage.
"And now for something completely different".
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Post by Warmark »

anyone else sick of these '100 greatest' shows on channel 4?
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.


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Post by Queeaqueg »

Yes, end the 100 Greatest series!
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Post by Warmark »

Just reading the tv guide next sunday 8.00pm: The 100 greatest '100 greatset' shows.
;)
But if you're all about the destination, then take a fucking flight.
We're going nowhere slowly, but we're seeing all the sights.
And we're definitely going to hell, but we'll have all the best stories to tell.


Full of the heavens and time.
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