The 10 Hardest Choices
September 16th, 2008
In honor of the upcoming (read: neverending) pledge drive, KEXP is fashioning a simple little list of the top 903 albums in their collection. Right now, on their site, you can vote for your top ten favorite albums. Yes, that’s right, your top 10, not your top 100, not 1000, just 10. They don’t even break into you top 10 Hip Hop Albums, your top 10 indie rock albums, top 10 Seattle Band albums, Nope. Just top 10. How the hell can anyone with the lightest bit of music appreciation even begin to tackle this request? How the frig am I supposed to pit Ween against the Ramones. Do I pick current favorites? Where does Zeppelin III fit into this?!?! What does Metallica’s ..and Justice bump?!? What’s better, Dark side of the Moon, or London Calling?!?! Van Halen or Van Hagar (just kidding) To avoid answering these and many other impossible questions, I’ve decided choose bands that opened the door to the music I listen to now as a starting point and list out my faves from there. This isn’t the final version by-far as I’ve already reworked it a dozen times but I think it’s close.
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1) Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique
2) Black Keys – Rubber Factory
3) Death From Above 1979 – You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine
4) TV On The Radio – Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
5) Soul Coughing – Ruby Vroom
6) Beck – Midnite Vultures
7) Morphine – Cure For Pain (only because they don’t have Morphine’s-”YES”)
8 ) White Stripes – White Blood Cells
9) Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet
10) Cake – Motorcade of Generocity
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and no, there really is no Ween, so don’t bother attempting to place their albums 1-10, I aready tried that.
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Lemmieno what you come up with. I’d be interested to see.
September 16th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
dj100proof said:
My head hurts just thinking about this
September 17th, 2008 at 8:26 am
The Lady said:
Well, there goes any work I was gonna get done today. My list will be up, I need some time. I’d be interested to see others’ lists as well. I like the idea of the 10 albums that ‘opened the door’ for you musically. Sort of narrows it down a bit (rather than just the greatest of all time).
September 17th, 2008 at 9:40 am
misterlevitan said:
This, just after BIKE magazine posted their “10 Best Trails” list yesterday. Ugh. I second The Lady: this was s’posed to be a productive day…
HOWEVER, at least Kev’s list reminds me of what albums we DO love in common.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
LB said:
What a loaded question. But the nice thing about this is that everyone’s will be totally different. It’s still really fucking hard, though; like, do compilations or greatest hits count? Do I balance genres or just dive in? Do I still like grunge as much as when I was 12?
In support of this blog post, I took a gander at my CDs last night, and, at first glance, here’s what I came up with. The first two were really easy, theeeeeen, not so much.
1) Surfer Rosa – Pixies
2) Antics – Interpol
3) The Best Of David Bowie 1969-1974 – David Bowie (duh)
4) Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins
5) The Lonesome Crowded West – Modest Mouse
6) Thriller – Michael Jackson
7) Led Zeppelin II
8) African Holocaust – Steel Pulse
9) Are You Experienced? – Jimi Hendrix
10) Funeral – Arcade Fire
Man, I left so much shit out…this sucks…no hip hop…no Wolf Parade…no James Brown or Stevie Wonder…I reserve the right to change my list…
September 17th, 2008 at 11:32 am
The Lady said:
Alright, here it goes, in no particular order…
1. Thriller, Purple Rain, Like a Virgin (I’m classifing these as one as they are the holy trilogy of pop, could one really have happened without the other? Some of the first albums I owned)
2. Pixies – Surfa Rosa – this was the first Pixies album I heard
3. Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
4. Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
5. New Order – Power, Corruption and Lies
6. PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
7. Nirvana – Nevermind
8. Patti Smith – Horses
9. Fugazi – In on the Killtaker
10. Sonic Youth – 100%
and, yes, this is not adaquete as I am leaving out the Cure, the Moz, Sleater-Kinney, Siouxie Sioux, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, the Replacements, the Clash, Johnny Cash, Grandmaster Flash and Erasure, hehe, amongst others.
September 17th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
dj100proof said:
1) James Brown – 40th Anniversary Collection
2) Michael Jackson – Thriller
3) Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique/Ill Communication (swappable)
4) Tribe Called Quest – Low End Theory
5) Rage Against the Machine – Self Titled
6) AC/DC – Back in Black
7) Fugees – The Score
8) Led Zeppelin – Self Titled
9) Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
10) Bob Marley – Legend
I cheated with my #1. James Brown flipped my whole world upside down the first time I heard him. He has something like 30+ albums and when I got my hands on that collection it was game over.
I had to bounce others such as Pink Floyd, Jimi, Eric Clapton Unplugged, Nas, St. Pepper’s, CCR, Outkast, Marvin Gaye and the Big Chill Sountrack… and I don’t feel good about it at all.
September 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Kevin leDoux said:
It’s a little different when you’re perusing your collection. Try working your list into the “selections” that KEXP has made.
I’d classify it as … baffling … BUT I have to say that not having the option of entering an album did easy the tension of into including it.
some others popped up here that I hadn’t even considered… like PJ Harvey, and Fugees… ugh. This is impossible.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
SqueakyCleanTyroneGreen said:
Totally un-KEXP-like to limit our choices, but I guess it’s prolly too expensive or time-consuming to create a list of all choices across the music universe. ’tis a shame–our lists would be more diverse and interesting.
In keeping with KEXP’s limited-world view, and in no particular order (chronologically or thematically)
1) Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon
2) Queen – Night at the Opera
3) David Bowie – Hunky Dory
4) Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bullocks
5) Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
6) Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me
7) Pixies – Surfer Rosa
8) REM – Murmur
9) Replacements – Let it Be
10) AC/DC – Back in Black
I went with the rule that I had to own it and have listened to more than 3 songs off it in the last year. Considering the time-spread represented, and all the other newer or different music I’ve been into over the last 12 mos, I considered that fairly robust criteria–especially given the choices.
It’s definitely downright irresponsible to leave Ween off the list. As if the last 20 years never happened?!
September 17th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
SqueakyCleanTyroneGreen said:
btw–what’s up with the 8′s displaying as cool smileys?! Is that a Mac thang?
September 18th, 2008 at 12:52 am
misterlevitan said:
Awright, my two cents, with a hiphop and rock list:
In no order
Zeppelin II
Soundgarden – Superunknown
Massive Attack – Mezzanine
Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet (runner up: Takes a Nation…)
Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed (just edged out Beggars Banquet)
The Roots – Things Fall Apart (untouchable)
DJ Shadow – Endtroducing…. (also untouchable)
Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (Animals a close second)
Beastie Boys – Ill Communication (better sorted than Paul’s, but not as revolutionary, I’ll admit; hand it to the Dust Brothers)
Black Keys – Rubber Factory (tho I think I like Magic Potion and thickfreakness better KEXP didn’t have those in the list)
September 18th, 2008 at 8:44 am
LB said:
A few comments on the KEXP aspect of this. I don’t think they’ve included every single record they have. They don’t have a singel David Bowie compilation of any sort?? That’s ridiculous considering the time and spectrum of his prolific output. I chose Hunky Dory for obvious reasons, but I could’ve chose Diamond Dogs for “Rebel, Rebel” and “Diamond Dogs” alone.
Even though Kid Hops played it all the time when it came out, African Holocaust wasn’t available to choose, either. I submitted it anyway.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Jules said:
Damn it to hell, I submitted my choices and the fields went blank. Lemme see if I can remember.
In no particular order:
Beastie Boys — Ill Communication
Black Keys — Rubber Factory
Spoon — Girls Can Tell
Thievery Corp — Richest Man in Babylon
Pavement — Brighten the Corners
Pixies — Surfer Rosa
Wilco — Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
LCD Soundsytem — LCD Soundsystem
Built to Spill — Keep it like a secret
Guided by Voices — Bee Thousand
Yeeeoooow!
September 19th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Blood Red Dancers said:
Umm..this is what i’m thinking right now, but this list could and maybe would be diffrent tomorrow, next week next year…but for now..this is my list…i love these albums so so much:
Chet Baker: chet baker sings
The Smiths: The Smiths
Joy Division: Closer
Tom Waits: Nighthawks at the Dinner
Billie Holiday: Lady in Satin
Thelonious Monk Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 1
Magnetic Fileds: Charm of the Highway Strip
Radiohead: Kid A
The Doors: Strange days
Charlie Parker: Parker with strings.
September 20th, 2008 at 11:15 am
The Liars CLub said:
Top ten that opened the door musically. Keep in mind I was 14 in 1991 so there is a lot of 90′s stuff that turned my motor.
Radiohead-The Bends (this album let you know it was ok to throw out the rule book)
Nirvana-Nevermind (I wouldn’t give 2 shits about music if were not for these guys)
Beatles-White album (I could listen to cry baby cry forever)
Soundgarden-Badmotorfinger (they didn’t have Louder than Love)
Dead Milkmen-Big Lizard in my Backyard (goofy geniuses, though Beelzebubba is a better album, Bitchin’ Camaro was the first I heard of these guys)
REM-Automatic For The People (If Chinatown is the ultimate blueprint for a screenplay, this album is the ultimate blueprint for song-craft)
Pixies-Come on Pilgrim (should really be Trompe le Monde)
AC/DC-Back in Black (Some of the best riffs in history, also started my love affair with Gibson SG’s)
Catherine Wheel-Chrome (one of my first concerts, it was at Aerospace. Currently Neumos.)
Afghan Whigs-Gentlemen (made rock sound dangerous, from dangerous people)
September 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am
misterlevitan said:
Maybe the next happy hour could have a soundtrack inspired by this thread?
September 20th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
SqueakyCleanTyroneGreen said:
Love the soundtrack for happy hour idea. We could have songs for; each season of the year, each chakra of the body, each planet in our solar system, each color in the spectrum, each level of hell from Dante’s Inferno, each day of the week, each Greek god, each holiday of the U.S. work calendar, each sense, each aspect of taste (sweet, sour, salty, etc.), each rank in the military, each letter of the Chinese alphabet…umm, well, ok–nevermind. Too easy–too obvious.
January 22nd, 2009 at 8:45 am
superman@hotmail.com said:
Metallic- seek and distroy
coldplay- viva la vida
AC/DC-Back in Black
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 am
Kevin leDoux said:
Whoa. 3 thing I would have never suspected about Superman. Likes expired Metallica, digs schoolboy shorts on men, and well, you know what Coldplay means… eh?