The Full "Spin Top 100 Since 1985" List

by Cliopatria

100. The Strokes - Is This It
99. Afghan Whigs - Gentlemen
98. Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time
97. Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
96. The Pogues - Rum, Sodomy, and The Lash
95. Elastica - Elastica
94. Slint - Spiderland
93. Pearl Jam - Ten
92. Big Black - Atomizer
91. XTC - Skylarking
90. Sonic Youth - Sister
89. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell
88. Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup
87. Blur - Parklife
86. Meat Puppets - Up On The Sun
85. REM - Automatic For The People
84. Soundgarden - Superunknown
83. At The Drive In - Relationship Of Command
82. Jeff Buckley - Grace
81. Beck - Mellow Gold
80. D'Angelo - Voodoo
79. Moby - Everything Is Wrong
78. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
77. Wilco - Yankee Foxtrot Hotel
76. Belle and Sabastian - If Youre Feeling Sinister
75. Le Tigre - Le Tigre
74. Portishead - Dummy
73. Pulp - Different Class
72. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
71. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy
70. Jay-Z - The Blueprint
69. DJ Shadow - Entroducing DJ Shadow
68. Tricky - Maxiquaye
67. Slayer - Reign In Blood
66. Outkast - Aquamini
65. Basement Jaxx - Remedy
64. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
63. Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
62. Missy Elliott - Supa Dupa Fly
61. Weezer - Pinkerton
60. De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead
59. Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West
58. Metallica - Master of Puppets
57. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
56. PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
55. The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
54. The Breeders - Last Splash
53. Rage Against The Machine - The Battle Of Los Angeles
52. Beastie Boys - Licensed To Ill
51. Nirvana - In Utero
50. New Order - Low-Life
49. Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill
48. Radiohead - Kid A
47. Eric B & Rakim - Paid In Full
46. The Fall - This Nations Saving Grace
45. Kanye West - College Dropout
44. Green Day - Dookie
43. Boogie Down Productions - Criminal Minded
42. Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
41. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
40. Run DMC - Rasing Hell
39. Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams
38. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
37. Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand
36. Pixies - Doolittle
35. Dr Dre - The Chronic
34. Elliot Smith - Either/Or
33. Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
32. The Replacements - Tim
31. Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me
30. The Notorious BIG - Ready To Die
29. Fugazi - 13 Songs
28. Oasis - Definitely Maybe
27. The Cure - The Head On The Door
26. Bjork - Post
25. Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
24. Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out
23. Outkast - Stankonia
22. My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
21. Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
20. Wu Tang Clan - Enter The Wu Tang 36 Chambers
19. Hole - Live Through This
18. Guns and Roses - Appetite For Destruction
17. Nas - Illmatic
16. Beck - Odelay
15. Liz Phair - Exile In Guyville
14. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
13. Husker Du - New Day Rising
12. Beastie Boys - Pauls Boutique
11. U2 - Achtung Baby
10. NWA - Straight Outta Compton
9. PJ Harvey - Rid Of Me
8. Prince - Sign O The Times
7. De La Soul - 3 Feet High And Rising
6. Pixies - Sufer Rosa
5. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
4. Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
3. Nirvana - Nevermind
2. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
1. Radiohead - OK Computer

OK -- now discuss -- what's missing? What does not belong? What (artist, genre, era, demographic) is over-represented? Under-represented? Obviously Steve deserves props for this one first and foremost for bringing this up to begin with.

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More Comments:

Derek Charles Catsam - 6/24/2005

I agree on Mellon Collie. But Siamese Dream had more impact. And double albums can be self-indulgent (says the guy with a blog). I respectfully disagree on TMBG, a band that amuses me, sometimes can entertain me, but never struck me as ranking among all-time greats. My a cappelle group in college did an awesome rendition of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," though.

dc

Steven Heise - 6/24/2005

Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

A much better album than Siamese Dream, (which you could really just list under Corgan, Billy) in my opinion, but I can't complain with the list too much otherwise. Needs more They Might Be Giants.

Steve

Derek Charles Catsam - 6/23/2005

And there is simply no way Missy Elliott belongs on this list. he did not have an album better than those by arrested development, pm dawn, the fugees, digable planets, ll cool j, etc, etc. Hell, Queen Latifah's best was probably better.

dc

Derek Charles Catsam - 6/23/2005

Here are a few comments on the Top 100 list, take them for what they are worth:

93. Pearl Jam’s “Ten” is not a lesser album than 92 others in the last 20 years. I may not think it is their best, but if Spin thinks it is, it deserves to be far closer to the top than the bottom.

90. I love Sonic Youth. I love this album. But it is not even one of their top 5 as far as I am concerned. It is almost like they want to honor SY by putting them twice, but also want to show how cool and old school they are.

85. Automatic For the People Deserves to be higher than this. This was a great, great work.

77. Is Yankee Foxtrot Hotel Wilco’s best album? I am not sure I agree. Great album, not their best.

71. I am a bit surprised to see this on here but no Echo albums. Were they all before 1985?

68. Tricky does not belong on here. Good album. Not this good.

67. Slayer? This seems a sop to the metalheads to me.

49. You know, I have to admit it, I never got the rousing response to the Lauren Hill album. I was relieved when in that year’s Pazz and Jop poll in the Village Voice, despite the fact that I think it won album of the year or got 2nd, my favorite critic, Robert Christgau, did not even have it anywhere near his list (The Pazz and Jop poll rules by the way – each of the people on the list of contributors, and there are a lot, get something like 1000 points to allot to as many or as few albums as they want. It is always essential reading for the music fan. Itusually comes out in February of the year after they are doing, so 2004;’s came out in Feb/March 2005.

48. Kid A is my favorite Radiohead, so I wish it were higher.

47. Paid in Full earned the title of #1 rap album of all time recently by Entertainment Weekly I still prefer Don’t Sweat the Technique.

45. I got this album based solely on word of mouth. Two impressions – who do I have to pay to get rappers to stop the whole skit thing? That was played almost the first time it ever happened. They are rarely funny and never sustain for a whole album. In any case, no way this is top 100. Presentism rears its ugly head.

39. I prefer Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, but am glad to see Lucnda Williams get some props.

32. You all know how I feel about the Replacements, so this should be higher and it should not be their only representative, even if their best album, Let it Be, came out in 1984 and is not eligible for this list.

31. I am also glad Diniosaur Jr. is on here, but two things 1) This is not the best Dino album. 2) No Sebadoh on the list? Oversight!

30. Notorious BIG, top 30 album of the last 20 years? Um, no WAY.

28. Hey, which Oasis album did they think was worthy of the top 100? I thought so . . .

24. I love that they made it, this should be higher, and The Hot Rock should be on the list as well.
23. My initial response is that Outkast does not belong this high, good as that album was.

19. I always thought Hole was fine, but I think Tom will burst a brain vessel if he sees this. He HATES Hole. They do not deserve to be anywhere near the top 20, however.

17 Nas? Nah . . .

11. Achtung Baby is a great album, and its being here is something I am absolutely fine with. But Joshua Tree not even being on the top 100? It almost invalidates their entire legitimacy. I can hear all of the arguments, and I do not buy them. It’s all backlash, and not indicative of the quality of that album. I was there. No way the album that made U2 is not top 10, and it is higher than that for me.

8. Now that I have seen the whole list, it is a nice homage to put Prince this high, but let’s not go crazy.

Those are a few of my thoughts.
dc

Derek Charles Catsam - 6/23/2005

Great additions, Jesse. I am going to be going through the list later today and will add my comments. I was dubious about the Strokes too, though I think the backlash is kicking in a bit here. Most indie rock, hipper than thou folks absolutely loved the Strokes first album when it first came out. Then it became the Next Big Thing.
dc

Greg Robinson - 6/23/2005

Nice addition of Primus. I agree.

The Strokes? Are they kidding?

Jesse David Lamovsky - 6/23/2005

Soundgarden, "Badmotorfinger"

Radiohead, "The Bends" (IMO their best album)

Primus, "Frizzle Fry" or "Sailing the Seas of Cheese"

Blur, "The Great Escape"

Arrested Development, "3 Years, 5 Months, and 2 Days in the Life of..."

Ben Folds Five, "Whatever And Ever, Amen"

Fugees, "The Score"

Rage Against the Machine, "Rage Against the Machine"