I should know better. But I guess that is why it's called click bait. Rolling Stone has released their list of "50 Greatest Concept Albums" and if you can get beyond 49 without reaching for a heavy object to throw at your computer screen or crush your phone to bits, more power to you.
Apparently, Rolling Stone has lost all interest in legitimacy. This isn't really a list of the "greatest concept albums." It's just a list and it makes as much sense as a list of my favorite foods:
10. Pasta
9. Beer
8. Toothpaste
7. Grits
6. Pizza
5. Milk
4. Mike & Ike's
3. A Spatula
2. Elizabeth Taylor
1. Gum
#50 is Styx- Kilroy Was Here, which isn't even a record Styx fans like.
#30 is Marvin's "Here My Dear," which over time, became much more listenable than it was back in 1978, but it is still a slog, no matter what it's about.
#1 is "Sgt Pepper?" "What's Going On?" "Ziggy Stardust?" "Tommy?" "In The Wee Small Hours?" "The Village Green Preservation Society?"
No. No. No. No. No. AND no.
#1 is Kendrick Lamar's "Good Kid, "M.A.A.d City," of course.
I guess it is no surprise that Rosalia's "El Mal Querer" landed the #10 spot.
("Sgt. Pepper" is #11.)
"Ziggy" might have made #12, but it dropped to #13 to make room for Janelle Monae's "The Archandroid," a record Monae said was inspired by "Ziggy Stardust." I guess she bested Mr. Jones.
Beyonce's "Lemonade" beat out "Quadrophenia, "What's Going On," "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway," and XTC's "Skylarking." Fair and square!
You can find the whole list here.
I am well aware that the point of these lists is to do exactly what it did to me. But there was a time when lists were helpful and "journalists" had integrity.
I still reference Elvis Costello's 500 that ran in Vanity Fair in 2000. It was a brilliant display of everything from hip hop to jazz, classical to sunshine pop. I discovered dozens of great records through that list.
How can I take Rolling Stone seriously? Why on Earth would I check out Rosalia when RS shamelessly ranked it higher than so many universally acclaimed records?
I know. "This list isn't for you."
That's right. It's for the kids! And it's a good argument for why pop music sucks balls! I'm guessing the Kendrick Lamarr fans aren't running for The Kinks section on Spotify. But I did listen to "Destiny's Child" at Elvis Costello's suggestion, out of respect for EC and Vanity Fair. It didn't make me a fan. But I did try to hear what he heard. I lost respect for Rolling Stone magazine years ago, and that was when it was still somewhat readable.
This list and that mag is garbage.
29 comments:
It's been over 10 years since I last subscribed to Rolling Stone and yet every day I get an offer in my in box to subscribe to renew my subscription. No effing way.
I was a fan of RS from the very beginning until the mid 80's. I sold them a few reviews back in the day. But they gradually shifted from honest reviews to sales pitches. Over commercialized. So yeah, call it a day RS
agreed, Wenner began to lose the thread when they left the newspaper format, moved to NYC and finally went to slick pages like every other mag. Wenner became a starfkkr and a hack along the way ...
I did throw a heavy object at my computer screen. Luckily I missed. What an absurd list!
agree, the list is absolutely garbage...but they are writing, and trying to be relevant, for a much younger audience. But its just a list...a shitty list, but just a list.
I dropped it years ago when they published the first "Hot" issue with Lisa Bonet on the cover. I see it in B&N, most of the time I don't care about whoever's on the cover so I don't bother to flip through it.
Your comment, "I lost respect for Rolling Stone magazine years ago," sums it up perfectly and is all that needs to be said.
No "Topographic Oceans"?
I actually own quite a few of these, but some I've never really thought of as 'concept albums', plus my surprise at Sinatra not only appearing, but in the top 10? LOL
Sal, you hit the nail on the head when you called it clickbait. I saw the headline and decided against looking at the list because I knew it would tick me off.
Year end best of lists are always interesting, and that's where I first heard Rosalia. Her 2018 album was a stunning mix of new and old. She's a huge star now, but less unique than when she made this (which is worth watching and hearing at least once, even though it wasn't made with the gray haired gringo demographic in mind):
https://youtu.be/Rht7rBHuXW8
Now you're talking Sal......I believe their 'lists' are designed to bring out the anger that most law-abiding citizens keep under control. Frankly, I lost all respect for them years ago
and BEFORE they decided to put one of the Boston Marathon Bombers on their cover (but yeah - that 'did it')! And while this list isn't as ridiculous as their Greatest Guitarists (with frikkin' Prince at #33!!!) - this does show how "lost" they've become (and how relevant they want to be again!!!!). It's not the age of the listener, it's the QUALITY of the music...and even my college-age daughter and her friends WISH they were born in an era where music was 'music'.....and sadly, THIS AIN'T "that era"!
GMB
there are no great concept albums. concept and project are 2 huge red flags. nothing to listen to here. just move on.
which came first, the rock opera or the concept? both are really stoopid.
i also don't eat or listen to fusion.
I've got a copy of RS from 1973 with Alice Cooper on the cover. Whenever I have the urge, I thumb through it and think of happy days ago. There's a great review of 'A Wizard, A True Star' and other cool stuff from the good ole' days.
Randy
Jonder,
That Rosalia track was interesting. Usually a visual doesn't help matters, but I liked the whole package.
For the record, I don't have an issue with any of the artists on this list. I'm not a fan of a number of them, but I know there are some very fine lists where they belong. This isn't one of them.
I just find RS whole being and method of operation shameful.
@Noam,
Hahaha.
Several years ago I made a playlist of 250 songs from EC's Vanity Fair list of 500. I had to leave off the classical and stuff I didn't have. It runs 16 hours. Last month I put them on a flash drive and have been listening to it in the car with great enjoyment. The selections and the article are great, I only wish Costello would update it.
When The Band created the Brown Album, it was filled with images and songs about rural America, working men, farmers and family, and scenes of America's past. After listening to that record, you knew you heard something radically different and cohesive to the bone. Not sure how RS defines successful concept albums, but they missed this one.
Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to miss this list. I stopped subscribing to Rolling Stone in the '80's, and haven't read one since the '90's.
I canceled RS several years ago when it seemed to give up on "articles" in favor of picture captions, lists, and oversize call-out quotes. And I like white space as much as the next designer but...
Got to where I could read it, cover to cover, in less than an hour—sometimes a lot less. Clearly aimed at the short-attention-span demographic.
The only thing I missed was the weekly last-page illustration by Mark Summers, a favorite of mine.
(https://richardsolomon.com/artists/mark-summers/) Don't know if he still has that regular spot...
Young people nowadays, right, what are they listening to? Let's face it: I feel we're living in an alternative musical universe. When RS was made of paper and newspaper-sized. When music was music. How's that for a concept? Cheers!
That magazine is garbage now, for sure. We all know musical taste is subjective, but there is a point where music is just CRAP, i.e. most of the stuff the kids are listening to today. As for Destiny's Child, having a 9-year-old daughter (way back when) is what made me sort of a fan. At that time, it was great fun listening to Destiny's Child, NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, etc. It wasn't just a daughter bonding thing for me either. Some of the shit was actually pretty good! BUT, you know I'm a classic rocker, come hell or high water, and ain't no list gonna change that!
I began to loose interest in RS around the naked David Cassidy cover period and was pretty much over it by the 80s. I'm actually surprised that it's still around. I would surly trade RS away for the return of Gourmet magazine in a hot minute.
You expect us to trust YOUR judgement, when you have a spatula higher on your list of favorite foods than milk, which I drink daily, and pizza, which I could probably eat daily? Pshaw, says I.
C in California
C in California -- hahaha.
Sal, I saw that list and did a spit take it was so random and crazy. I mean the Marvin Gaye in particular is insane. Hear, My Dear on the list? Like he needed two albums on the list? And What's Going On is the greatest album of all time but only the 19th greatest concept album? Yeah, they're lists done by different people, but it's so random and crazy and just throwing in anything they can so it's not all prog-rock from the 1970s that it's bonkers and absurd. I IMMEDIATELY thought of you but resisted torturing you by sending it along. Sloppy even by the sloppy standards of lists.
I was told by a friend who is currently a staff writer at RS that Noah Shachtman is a horrible person who often rejects legitimate stories with, "No. This will get more clicks."
It is quite obvious that most of the writers of this list were handed these records for the first time. "Here you, listen to these three. You, listen to these three."
Sal, thanks for taking the time to watch the Rosalia video and share your reaction. I don't always comment here, but I always enjoy reading your blog!
Another great concept album is "Doug" by Atlanta band The Coolies. It tells the story of Doug's rise ("from a poor skinhead without a dollar to the boss of the boys in white shirts and collars") after he steals a cookbook and sells it as his own.
Each song is performed in a different musical style, PLUS the original LP came with a Jack Logan comic book! "Cook Book" is The Coolies stealing from the Who:
https://youtu.be/EgYpY3zhlpY
Thx Jonder, that sounds intriguing.
P.S. If you DO include In The Wee Small Hours as a concept album (a very legitimate claim, I'd say with Sinatra arguably the first to deliver a proper album AND a proper concept album), then I'd put it at #1.
this is absolute garbage. honestly
I also recall a "best dance songs of all time" and I'm pretty sure I didn't know the number 1 song.
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