Blender recently revealed their Top 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums and I’m curious what you think about the list. Of course, it looks a little strange to me but so did their Worst Lyricists list a couple months back which included some of my favorites like Donovan, Sting, and Jon Anderson. Of course their favorite lyricist is probably the guy from Maroon 5. Please let me stop seeing that man wherever I look.
So what I want you to do for homework is list either a) 5 things wrong with this list b) 5 things right about this list, c) YOUR top 5 Indie Rock albums, or d) 5 things. Click through to see mine and post yers…
All right, here’s my list…
1) Why can’t Blender spell the #4 Indie Rock album of all time, Murmur by REM? Mumu…really?
2) If you’re gonna include the Velvet Underground, then shouldn’t you include Frank Zappa and the Mothers?
3) Where is Ween? Are they to odd for Indie Rock…but the Shaggs aren’t!?
2) Does TV on the Radio‘s last album really belong there? If anything, maybe their first album. Anybody like them?
1) I liked Pavement‘s Crooked Rain album better. Maybe because the production is better. I feel like it works as a full album better than Slanted.
Now let’s see your list…
November 29th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Pretty good list, nice mix of older and newer stuff. I’d probably heard of at least 70% of it.
That being said, here’s five records I can’t believe they left off of the list:
1) The Cure – Disintegration
2) The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
3) Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking
4) Beck – Mellow Gold
5) The Clash – London Calling
I can think of many, many more.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:27 am
Oops, that was me.
November 29th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Dave, you’re totally right. Was there a Cure album at all? I might have to think it would be “Head on the Door” or “Kiss Me…” though. London Calling may just be considered a major label rock album. Mellow Gold should be there, yes…and DEFINITELY “Nothing’s Shocking”! Funny thing about Stone Roses…I’m just getting into them now, and yes, that album is great!
November 29th, 2007 at 1:04 am
Yeah, Disintegration was just the first one that popped into my head, probably because it’s my favorite and I still listen to it from time to time, but any Cure record would have done. How can you have an Indie Rock list and leave off the Cure? Sacrilege!
This is fun, here’s some more:
U2 – War
The Police – Outlandos d’ Amour
The B-52′s – The B-52′s
Depeche Mode – Some Great Reward
XTC – Drums and Wires
November 29th, 2007 at 3:59 am
There’s some decent stuff on the list, but it’s certainly much different than the list I would make! I thought it was too heavy on new stuff, but maybe I’m prejudiced towards the stuff I like (which happens to be a bit older). I think it is yet to be seen whether a lot of this new stuff stands the test of time. Let’s ask them again in 10 years if they’re still listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs album. I doubt it.
Indie rock is a weird genre to define. Is Velvet Underground indie rock? Is M.I.A.? Brian Eno? Nick Drake? They are all great, but should perhaps be on another list.
I was especially glad to see that the list included The Replacements, The Embarrassment, Black Flag, The Smiths, Wilco, Belle and Sebastian, and Dead Kennedys.
Daydream Nation is the #2 indie rock album of all time?
November 29th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Now you see, this is where I have a problem, I dont understand what indie is, plus I hate pigeonholing. Surely, although they are two of my favourite albums, Outlandos and Drums and Wires cant possibly be indie, being released on majors A & M and Virgin respectively. At the very least they are both bands who were Punk at the time in order to further their careers and morphed into something quite different. I think Indie is possibly a pseudonym for unpopular, you know, the stuff NME editors love and hardly anybody (in the scheme of things) buys? A bit like Northern Soul (normal soul that wasnt very good, or popular. The fact that Ive never heard of Ween, The Shaggs or TV on the radio probably, by my cynical definition, confirms them as indie!
November 29th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
I agree, if we were judging only by popularity and name recognition then most artists, even those on major labels, would be have to be considered indie.
I think it also has something to do with the attitudes and tastes of the music directors and producers at radio stations and as you mentioned, magazine editors. For example, where I grew up, we had exactly two pop/rock stations. One was a top 40 station and the other was a ‘classic’ rock station. As a result, I didn’t even hear most of the albums I listed until I was well into college. Sure, I had heard the Police and U2, but only stuff from their more mainstream, later records. When I got to college and was exposed to much more progressive radio station (97x, holla Mike!) I heard the early records from these bands and a whole bunch of other bands I’d never heard. So for me, I guess Indie is anything that I wouldn’t have heard on one of my hometown radio stations!
November 29th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
Kev, you MUST learn about Ween. Here’s a start… (grab it before the link expires!)… http://download.yousendit.com/231A46C07A722D7B
November 29th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
Thanks for the Ween, which I just grabbed! I’m listening to Fiesta right now. These guys never cease to amaze!
December 2nd, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Thanks mate, just grabbed it, I let u know what I think!
December 2nd, 2007 at 9:47 pm
hey, good stuff, I like “with my bare hands”!
December 3rd, 2007 at 3:45 am
Hilarious lyrics, right?!
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