Top 100 Greatest Music Albums
by RawlsRE 
- Chart updated: 11/13/2014 07:45
- (Created: 11/15/2013 02:29).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 13 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 13 votes). Please log in or create an account to leave a comment or assign a rating.
The entries in this chart have a zero rank score because the chart has not been updated within the last ten years (points from overall charts are decayed over a ten year period).
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Outside is a bloated, inscrutable concept album about art at war with culture. But that's hardly surprising - all of Bowie's albums are about that. It's also a jazz-industrial hybrid. That's new for him, though we saw precursors to it in West Berlin. The commercial release of Outside is quite a bit glossier than was originally intended. This is because the label didn't think the initial iteration, which was something of a jam album with Campbell, Eno, Gabrels, Garson, and Kizilcay, was saleable. You can find a good chunk of it by googling 'outside outtakes.' While the outtakes are great (their inaccessibility is exaggerated), I like this album for its studio sophistication, so I'm kind of happy the label bigwigs got cold feet.
I put this question to my girlfriend: "how can I persuade people that Outside warrants the praise that I give it?" I have no idea how to answer this question myself. Outside's value was immediately clear to me from my first listen. My opinion of it hasn't changed at all over the past decade. In fact, I use it as a kind of yardstick for my own music. It represents my ideal of sonic design. Whenever I work with another musician, I show them Outside to give them a sense of that I'm striving for. And by what must be an extremely implausible coincidence, they always see (or at any rate, they claim to see) its merit. And yet, the majority of those who have heard it don't think it's remarkable. I find this bewildering.
My girlfriend had three answers to my question. First, its production. Second, its sonic depth. And finally, caustic Bowie. The first two are clear enough, so I'll expand on this last one - most people like hedonistic Bowie (as seen on Ziggy) and vacant Bowie (as seen on Low), but I prefer the Bowie that hams it up in pantomime of music culture. Caustic Bowie is most prevalent on Outside and Scary Monsters. On Scary Monsters, Bowie invokes his caustic self in order to ridicule his own career. On outside, caustic Bowie is employed as a best guess at what millennial music would sound like. He represents it as a grotesque of empty affect, unreflecting sarcasm, and inhuman jazz croon. Yes, he was wrong - (unfortunately) the aughts sound nothing like this. Still, it's an amusing picture.
Garson is given the opportunity to indulge in his sprawling piano style throughout. I like the Bacchic mess of it. You also get the best of Gabrel's intensely-detailed guitar production. But the highlight is the studio-as-instrument songwriting. The whirring gizmos, the regurgitated vocal effects, the bubbling second bassline, and the one-off feedback washes of 'Heart's Filthy Lesson' (plus Garson's sunny chords at the end). The sinister little sirens, the jazz pastiche, the slow fade-in on the gnashing drums of 'A Small Plot of Land' (this is my favourite from the album - the drum, piano, vocal and guitar performances are excellent). The chainsaw riff and the slow-motion dripping pitch guitar of 'Hallo Spaceboy.' The manufactured jazz lounge, the ghostly whimpers and the swollen guitar note at the end of 'The Motel.' The filter modulation on the percussion, the panned sirens, Alomar's bright strumming and Gabrels' sober guitar-synth of 'No Control.' The pitched snares of 'I am with Name.' The turning signal sound, and the pitched laughter all throughout 'Wishful Beginnings.' The synth chirps and goofy drum machine woodblock of 'We Prick You.' The propulsive squeaks, the hopelessly indulgent strings, and the panned 'ye-ES's of 'I'm Deranged' (along with Bowie's opiated vocals and Garson's solo, thick with false romance). The mass of guitar overdubs on 'Thru these Architect's Eyes.' The 'sky saw' on 'Strangers when we Meet.' It's an impressive level of detail. [First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
I put this question to my girlfriend: "how can I persuade people that Outside warrants the praise that I give it?" I have no idea how to answer this question myself. Outside's value was immediately clear to me from my first listen. My opinion of it hasn't changed at all over the past decade. In fact, I use it as a kind of yardstick for my own music. It represents my ideal of sonic design. Whenever I work with another musician, I show them Outside to give them a sense of that I'm striving for. And by what must be an extremely implausible coincidence, they always see (or at any rate, they claim to see) its merit. And yet, the majority of those who have heard it don't think it's remarkable. I find this bewildering.
My girlfriend had three answers to my question. First, its production. Second, its sonic depth. And finally, caustic Bowie. The first two are clear enough, so I'll expand on this last one - most people like hedonistic Bowie (as seen on Ziggy) and vacant Bowie (as seen on Low), but I prefer the Bowie that hams it up in pantomime of music culture. Caustic Bowie is most prevalent on Outside and Scary Monsters. On Scary Monsters, Bowie invokes his caustic self in order to ridicule his own career. On outside, caustic Bowie is employed as a best guess at what millennial music would sound like. He represents it as a grotesque of empty affect, unreflecting sarcasm, and inhuman jazz croon. Yes, he was wrong - (unfortunately) the aughts sound nothing like this. Still, it's an amusing picture.
Garson is given the opportunity to indulge in his sprawling piano style throughout. I like the Bacchic mess of it. You also get the best of Gabrel's intensely-detailed guitar production. But the highlight is the studio-as-instrument songwriting. The whirring gizmos, the regurgitated vocal effects, the bubbling second bassline, and the one-off feedback washes of 'Heart's Filthy Lesson' (plus Garson's sunny chords at the end). The sinister little sirens, the jazz pastiche, the slow fade-in on the gnashing drums of 'A Small Plot of Land' (this is my favourite from the album - the drum, piano, vocal and guitar performances are excellent). The chainsaw riff and the slow-motion dripping pitch guitar of 'Hallo Spaceboy.' The manufactured jazz lounge, the ghostly whimpers and the swollen guitar note at the end of 'The Motel.' The filter modulation on the percussion, the panned sirens, Alomar's bright strumming and Gabrels' sober guitar-synth of 'No Control.' The pitched snares of 'I am with Name.' The turning signal sound, and the pitched laughter all throughout 'Wishful Beginnings.' The synth chirps and goofy drum machine woodblock of 'We Prick You.' The propulsive squeaks, the hopelessly indulgent strings, and the panned 'ye-ES's of 'I'm Deranged' (along with Bowie's opiated vocals and Garson's solo, thick with false romance). The mass of guitar overdubs on 'Thru these Architect's Eyes.' The 'sky saw' on 'Strangers when we Meet.' It's an impressive level of detail. [First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1995
Appears in:
Rank Score:
703
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[First added to this chart: 11/14/2013]
Year of Release:
2000
Appears in:
Rank Score:
38,821
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[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1974
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,404
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[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1994
Appears in:
Rank Score:
8,694
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[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1999
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,519
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[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
2003
Appears in:
Rank Score:
7,935
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[First added to this chart: 02/10/2014]
It's easy enough to love OK Computer, but it seems to me that the key to WORSHIPING it is No Surprises. That song is a paradigmatic example of the Radiohead formula: an ambiguous compromise of quasi-pastiche/snarling-sarcasm-just-beneath-the-surface with a deep and oddly genuine sympathy for our banal and inconsequential little lives. And yet I can't help finding the song boring. The cloying xylophone, Yorke's deadpan delivery, the surgically clean guitar tones, the fact that it is in many ways an iteration of Fake Plastic Trees - it all contributes to four minutes that I experience as four minutes, rather than as the revelation that everyone else seems to hear. Of course, even beyond that the album isn't perfect. Fitter Happier just isn't good, and Climbing up the Walls lacks the sophistication of the rest of the material. Still, you can't deny that OK Computer's guitar work is among the best available. This is also the album where Radiohead arrived at their ability (in many ways unique to them) to capture the full complexity and ineffability of their chosen themes using the conventions of popular music. Of course, many of those conventions are perverted along the way, but quite a lot are preserved as well, or they are on this album at any rate. Evidently, this is what critics were responding to when they heralded Radiohead as the saviours of rock and roll. I'm not certain rock and roll needed rescue, but that's unimportant. What's important is the tremolo on Airbag, the lazy surrendering to the drudgery of the world of Let Down and the Tourist, the remarkably effective mellotron atmospheres appearing throughout the album that seem to revel in their own artificiality, and on and on.
[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1997
Appears in:
Rank Score:
59,476
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I recognize that it's unorthodox to place Adore so much higher than Mellon Collie. It's clear that Mellon Collie has a youthfulness that Adore can't match, but it is also uneven, disunified, and from time to time too cute for its own good. Adore has the further merit of exhibiting greater focus and attention to detail in the studio. This enables it to achieve textures that can match the complexity and depth of Corgan's lyrics and delivery. And it's just so pretty - I'll gladly assign to it the title of most gorgeous album, even though it could use a bit more edge (that said, Pug, is quite aggressive, and is competitive with Shame as the album's strongest track).
[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,912
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[First added to this chart: 11/15/2013]
Year of Release:
1972
Appears in:
Rank Score:
13,473
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Total albums: 100. Page 1 of 10
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 7 | 7% | |
| 1970s | 24 | 24% | |
| 1980s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1990s | 31 | 31% | |
| 2000s | 24 | 24% | |
| 2010s | 2 | 2% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| David Bowie | 4 | 4% | |
| Radiohead | 4 | 4% | |
| Nine Inch Nails | 4 | 4% | |
| Yes | 4 | 4% | |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
| Pixies | 3 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
 |
43 | 43% | |
 |
37 | 37% | |
| |
7 | 7% | |
 |
4 | 4% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
 |
2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 100 Greatest Music Albums chart changes
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
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Showing latest 3 ratings for this chart. | Show all 13 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/16/2018 21:23 |  sssvnnn | 2,881 | 83/100 |
| ! | 01/25/2017 01:45 | Seab | 1,998 | 93/100 |
| ! | 12/06/2014 20:48 |  Antonio-Pedro | 562 | 90/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
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This chart is rated in the top 10% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 87.9/100, a mean average of 90.4/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 89.3/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.2.
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From 
BestEverAlbums 07/17/2014 08:00 in Chart of the day (#1003): By RawlsRE
BestEverAlbums 07/17/2014 08:00 in Chart of the day (#1003): By RawlsRE“Today's chart of the day Top 50 Greatest Music Albums by RawlsRE () 1. Kid A by Radiohead (2000) 2. Outside by David Bowie (1995) 3. The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis (1974) 4. The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails (1994) 5. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) by David Bowie (1980) 6. Adore…”
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From
Anti 07/18/2014 02:37 | #116971
Anti 07/18/2014 02:37 | #116971
This is a very genuine chart, indeed.
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From
mightyram 07/17/2014 21:07 | #116961
Wonderfully eclectic choices, the selection of Tonight so high was almost a shock to see, as this is not a common view. But no, I like the fact that it's seems an odd choice. I like the commentary. Great stuff
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From
MLou 07/17/2014 17:20 | #116944
MLou 07/17/2014 17:20 | #116944
I'm happy to see some NIN so high in the list
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From
craola 06/16/2014 22:15 | #114593
craola 06/16/2014 22:15 | #114593
Favorited. I love the write-up you did on Outside, and consequentially, I am now listening to it for the first time.
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From
babyBlueSedan 02/14/2014 02:59 | #103097
babyBlueSedan 02/14/2014 02:59 | #103097
Nice variety, interested to see this chart grow. And while Adore is only my third favorite Pumpkins album, I agree it's vastly underrated. It's so intimate, and it conveys Corgan's angst in a totally different style. My personal favorite is Blank Page.
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