i might as well come right out and say it

radiohead’s the bends is one of the five greatest rock albums of all time.

my list:

  • zeppelin’s IV
  • white album/abbey road/revolver (do we really want me listing off my favorite beatles albums?  maybe.)
  • the bends
  • born in the usa
  • dark side of the moon (as loathe as i am to admit it)

comments welcome.

11 thoughts on “i might as well come right out and say it”

  1. I really, really, really, really, really want to disagree with you on darkside of the moon….

    but
    i don’t think i can?

    i mean
    its not NOT one of the best rock albums ever made
    you know?

  2. i don’t even want to agree with myself. but as a complete album… it’s definitive. it’s not an album by way of another form (tommy/next by the who, anything by rush)…. though i guess if i could be convinced that it was written as a backing to the wizard of oz i’d be willing to dismiss it.

    but as things stand…

    let’s find another one. i can’t be ok with dark side.

  3. just throwing it out there… just throwing it out there…

    joshua tree.

    ok ok, i’m sorry, forget i said anything.

  4. is nevermind not one of the best rock albums ever made?

    i hate to be that child of the nineties that thinks nothing existed before nevermind
    but lets be realistic
    that is one of the best rock albums ever made

    joshua tree is also very good
    so i may be totally wrong about eveything i’ve ever said?

  5. i can’t listen to nevermind. bleach is catchier. in utero is more daring. so yes, it’s important. Important, even. but i can’t list it as one of the best on merits alone.

    i guess, based on that argument, it is hard to dismiss joshua tree. but then it should also be hard to remove dark side of the moon, which is more complete/coherent than joshua tree or nevermind. remember, ‘album’ is the operative word.

  6. the problem with picking the best rock albums ever made is letting band prejudices get in the way…

    has U2 gotten progressively worse since joshua tree?
    yes
    but joshua tree in and of itself is still very good

    has history over-rated nirvana’s artistic validity?
    yes
    but nevermind in and of itself is still a perfect album

    gotta try to look at each album on its own merits
    that said i have nothing fresh to add

  7. hooray simultaneous comments. given our common understanding, i will leave dark side of the moon up there.

  8. zach and i talked more and i think we’ve decided that prog rock is out and thus dark side of the moon is out. we’re both very comfortable with this new situation. however, i still find it hard to believe that there is no rock album made between 1960 and 1991 that is better than ‘nevermind’

    let alone after 1991.

    c’mon, there has to be something we’re missing.

  9. I’ll be the guy to say it – Pearl Jam’s Ten album was (is) fantastic. Yes, it got too popular too quickly and the band fell off incrementally with each album after Ten. Yes, it is true that Pearl Jam did not redefine rock like some of the other legendary bands on the list (but Pearl Jam DID define alternative rock for the masses at the time).

    Still, I maintain that Ten is a necessary part of any rock collection if you like alternative rock or not. Because it can be respected across the rock genre I think it deserves, at the very least, consideration.

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