Posted on 11/17/2003 2:21:38 PM PST by steppenwolffe
To everyone's complete lack of surprise, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band has been anointed the best album ever in a new Rolling Stone poll.
The Beatles' consecrated 1967 classic tops ''The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,'' a collector's issue on stands Friday. Though typically the odds-on favorite for such rankings, Sgt. Pepper wasn't a slam-dunk.
''There was a horse race,'' says Rolling Stone music editor Joe Levy. ''Early on, any number of albums in the top 10 were in the lead. The final result is no shock, but there's a reason for that. The Beatles, after all, were the most important and innovative rock group in the world. And Sgt. Pepper arguably set the tone for what an album could be.''
The Beatles have four albums in the top 10. Predictably, the list is weighted toward testosterone-fueled vintage rock. The top solo female is Joni Mitchell, whose 1971 Blue is No. 30.
The newest entry is this year's Elephant by the White Stripes, landing at No. 390. The most current disc in the top 20 is Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough, Nevermind. Recent albums by Coldplay and The Strokes also made the cut, as did all three Eminem releases and a wide range of hip-hop.
''A classic record proves itself over time,'' Levy says, ''so it's gratifying and surprising to see so many newer records on the list, considering they're competing against such beloved and titanic records as Rubber Soul and Dusty in Memphis.''
Rolling Stone asked musicians, critics, historians and key industry figures to rank their 50 favorites. The 273 participants included Beck, U2's The Edge, Jackson Browne, Art Garfunkel, Missy Elliott and members of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Linkin Park and The Doors. The Ernst & Young accounting firm devised a point system to weight votes for 1,600 submitted titles.
Voters were invited to identify favorites from any period or genre, allowing a smattering of country (Johnny Cash), jazz (Miles Davis) and seminal blues (Howlin' Wolf). The list also accommodates greatest hits collections and live recordings; four James Brown picks include two sets of hits and Live at the Apollo (1963). Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams, The Drifters and Loretta Lynn, who flourished during the era of 45s, are represented only by hits compilations.
''Artists whose best works were singles are not going to be well represented,'' Levy notes. For example, he adds, ''Disco is under-represented because it's a singles-driven genre.''
(Lift your lighter high)
So did I. It sold me on cassettes, because three of the four switch points where it shifted tracks interrupted songs.
(As a side note, it's quite false to classify Dylan as an "anti-war protest singer," especially since only 2 of his 30+ albums could be accurately classified in that genre, and both were released before out involvement in Vietnam. He's simply a rock and roller with a poetic genius).
The Beatles' work has not aged well in part because their innovations are not innovative anymore and in part because their lyrics do not appeal to a generation that is not currently high on LSD.
Judging from the other comments on this thread, we have quite a diversity of opinions about what makes great rock and roll, if not what makes great music in general. Personally, I like a bit of just about everything but disco and its variants. When I set my mp3's playing randomly, I can hear Count Basie, The Rolling Stones, Anonymous 4, Pink Floyd, Beethoven, Ella Fitzgerald, The Cars, and the The Sons of the Pioneers in succession. Having ripped every disk I have (vinyl and CD), I just love having all this stuff right here in one place where I can just have my player run for days on end without repeating a turn. Isn't technology wonderful?
Oooh, I'd love to hear Jagger or Townshend say they wouldn't have made the music they did without the Beatles.
The good stuff follows a straight line from Memphis TN and Muscle Shoals AL to Sun Records and The Rolling Stones; and from blues artists like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters to Led Zeppelin and heavy metal. Do you think the Yardbirds got more influence from the Beatles? Or did they get it from guitar greats Albert King, Howlin Wolf, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, etc.?
And I'd love to see musical lines of influence drawn from the Beatles to Traffic. The idea of it baffles me...it sounds almost silly.
Seinfeld for the 1970's, eh?
Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison have admitted as much.
And they convinced him to "Go Electric".
No doubt about it, the two put the blood in the water and much greater music flowed from the well. (I LOVE mixing metaphors).
BTW...speaking of Dylan, I consider The Band (based on their first two albums) to be second only to The Beatles.
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