Rolling Stone "discounted" the debut if the artist went on to greater success, and gave extra recognition to debuts where the success was never repeated. They skipped debuts from artists who had left well-known bands.
This explains why Greetings From Asbury Park did not make the top 25, but does not explain why Boston is not in the top ten.
As is the case with most Rolling Stone lists, it suffers from a bit of pandering and political correctness. So while their guidelines were not a bad idea, some of their choices (and the running order) are, in my opinion, missteps.
Here are the next 25 titles in their top 100 debuts...
51. The Smiths (S/T)
52. U2 “Boy”
53. New York Dolls (S/T)
54. Metallica “Kill ‘Em All”
55. Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott “Supa Dupa Fly”
56. Bon Iver “For Emma, Forever Ago”
57. MGMT “Oracular Spectacular”
58. Nine Inch Nails “Pretty Hate Machine”
59. Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Fever To Tell”
60. Fiona Apple “Tidal”
61. The Libertines “Up The Bracket”
62. Roxy Music (S/T)
63. Cyndi Lauper “She’s So Unusual”
64. The English Beat “I Just Can’t Stop It”
65. Liz Phair “Exile In Guyville”
66. The Stooges (S/T)
67. 50 Cent “Get Rich Or Die Tryin”
68. Talking Heads “77”
69. Wire “Pink Flag”
69. Wire “Pink Flag”
70. P.J. Harvey “Dry”
71. Mary J. Blige “What’s The 411”
72. Led Zeppelin (S/T)
73. Norah Jones “Come Away With Me”
74. The XX (S/T)
75. The Go-Go’s “Beauty And The Beat”
As we move down the list, I have fewer problems with the running order, but more with the omissions. No Dire Straits? No Steve Forbert? No Tom Petty?
But 50 Cent is on there. Godda include fiddy, I guess.
CYNDI LAUPER
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
THE GO-GO'S- OUR LIPS ARE SEALED
TALKING HEADS-PSYCHO KILLER
NEW YORK DOLLS-PERSONALITY CRISIS
Once again, there are a quite a few bands I have never heard of on the list. And, as you say, the list is missing bands that I would have put there. I maintain that the list is subjective. ::sniff sniff::
ReplyDeleteSubjective, yes, but I would have tried to make the distribution by decade a little more balanced...
DeleteThere are several I'm unfamiliar with, and i keep up with the music scene rather well. Would like to see a real rock and roll list though, as in the rock side more than the pop side.
ReplyDeleteThen again, Jethro Tull won the first metal Grammy, so that list could go really wrong as well.
Alex-
DeleteThat Jethro Tull win mystifies me to this day!
LC
..."Rolling Stone "discounted" the debut if the artist went on to greater success..."
ReplyDelete>>... As we move down the list, I have fewer problems with the running order, but more with the omissions. No Dire Straits? ... No Tom Petty?
NO! Of course Dire Straits and Tom Petty CAN'T have their debut albums on the list. They sure as hell went on to much greater success after their debut albums were released, didn't they?!
Just because ROLLING STONE breaks the very rules that they established for their list (by including debuts by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, U2, Talking Heads, Cyndi Laugher, and Led Zeppelin) doesn't mean that YOU can break their rules!
The whole list is just completely retarded and doesn't even conform to the very limitations that Rolling Stone itself established before compiling their list. It sounds to me like the writers at R.S. are STILL entirely high on LSD, Crack, Pot, and Horse! (...and Liberalism).
~ D-FensDogg
'Loyal American Underground'
I gotta disagree with ya on one point, Stephen...
DeleteIf they were high on all of those fine recreational substances, then Tom Petty and Dire Straits would HAVE TO be on the list!
No drug could make all that rap crap sound good!
LC
Liz Phair is in my top 3 artists of all time, so I'm glad to see her on there :) Though I still often think she never got better than her Girlysound demos and other demos of that era.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't rank Liz as high as you, "Exile" was certainly a solid debut that broke a lot of conventions in the music biz. That one I think is placed just right.
Delete