Rolling Stone Magazine Lists

Anyone who has the slightest interest in modern music has surely heard of The Rolling Stone. Once a respectable publication, the last few years have not been kind to the writers of the New York based journal.

Now, I'm not saying that the magazine was ever that good (writing off Led Zeppelin during their most active years is surely journalistic suicide?), quite the opposite in fact, but it was the release of the magazine's self-proclaimed '500 Greatest Albums of All Time List' which caught my eye.

Okay, you could argue that the list is simply opinion. Numerous critics/'industry experts' were surveyed for the article and thousands of man hours were put into compiling it. However, that doesn't stop it from being a complete pile of horse shit.

The list is noticably balanced towards to early years of the spectrum with over three-hundred of the albums being released during the 50s, 60s and 70s. The entire top ten is consisted of 60s and 70s efforts, four of which belonging to The Beatles.

Yes, The Beatles were fucking good, but by numbering the list entries rather than not, the publishers create somewhat of a bias towards earlier rock and roll music. Only thirteen of the list's entries are from the 2000s, including two Eminem albums and that fucking "Rock Steady"... 'thing'... by No Doubt. I realise that the list was created in late 2003 which somewhat explains the neglection, but still.

Speaking of neglection, there are quite a few glaring absences. No Tool, no Boston, no Rush, no Dead Kennedys, no Megadeth, no Yes, no Queen, no Cult, no Genesis, no King Crimson... in fact, no progressive artists at all. Sure, there are a few mentions of Pink Floyd (no "Animals"?) but one would assume this is simply lip service. I mean, any sort of 'top ten' list without Pink Floyd would be laughable.

However, there are a few nice surprises on the list. Captain Beefheart, Wu-Tang Clan and AC/DC are all (briefly) recognised. It's just hard to take the article seriously.

I mean, listing five Bowie albums and "Changesonebowie", a compilation made up almost entirely of singles off the mentioned albums? It's just laziness.