Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by 
desh79 
- Chart updated: 12/22/2023 12:45
- (Created: 12/22/2016 10:22).
- Chart size: 100 albums.
There are 34 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Greatest Music Albums has an average rating of 90 out of 100 (from 73 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.
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Each generation has its collective moment of optimism followed by a rude awakening, and few arguably came as bitter and traumatic as the Summer of Love of 1967 culminating in two years of riots, assassinations, Altamont and the Manson murders. I'm not suggesting that there's a causal link here, but if my (so far) 40 years on this planet have taught me anything, it's that the good times rarely last and that something unpleasant is always lurking around the corner.
I have no idea whether that makes me a pessimist or simply a realist, but it might help to explain why I love Forever Changes so much. Yes, a very many people have waxed lyrically about Forever Changes's "prophetic" qualities - how it more or less "foresaw" all the stuff that would follow that great big party the year 1967 was supposed to have been (looking at that year's musical output, I'm actually inclined to agree) - thus it's not an entirely original thought to put down here, but this album is basically the musical embodiment of the idea that All Is Not Well so it makes perfect sense to rank an album that reflects a very significant personal outlook of mine as my favourite album of all-time.
Forever Changes was an album I listened to over and over again when I was in my mid-teenage years. I loved the way it juxtaposed beauty and ugliness. The way the music would suddenlt jolt and turn. I was already at a stage where the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure started to bore me, and so I absolutely jumped at anything that had something approaching disruption, pianoforte, anything that broke the mould.
Forever Changes has these moments aplenty. The way The Good Humour Man ends, or the way The Daily Planet's entire verse structure suddenly changes tack into something else entirely. There are "old-fashioned" pop songs too, like Alone Again Or, but not without some very bittersweet lyrics where the hippie outlook of "You know that I could be in love, with almost everyone/I think that people are the greatest fun" is immediately followed by a straightlaced "And I will be alone again tonight, my dear". All Is Not Well.
Some lyrics are, admittedly, signals from Captain Obvious. "Sitting on a hillside/Watching all the people die/I'll feel much better on the other side" was something I deemed the epitome of cool at the age of 16, now I feel like Arthur Lee is beating me to a pulp with the Metaphor Stick, but still, as far as allusions to the Vietnam war go there are certainly weaker lines of prose out there, and all things considered The Red Telephone - particularly its final third - is still a majestic, magnificent and haunting piece of work.
There are other reasons I love this album. For instance, its willingness to be unashamedly sentimental every now and then, like on Andmoreagain. That song is cheesy as hell, but then again there's a part of ME that is cheesy and sentimental and sappy-romantic. Plus, behind Forever Changes's layers of cynicism, Andmoreagain illustrates that there's a childlike innocence that makes the whole thing even more endearing to me.
Chances are the juxtaposition between beauty and ugliness are prone to some kind of personal demons Lee was fighting at the time (and his later biography tragically suggests that this battle went on for several decades), but as with so many very personal works of art, Forever Changes has a universal quality that means that even some German kid living in Cambridge in the mid-1990s could feel addressed and comforted by it. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
I have no idea whether that makes me a pessimist or simply a realist, but it might help to explain why I love Forever Changes so much. Yes, a very many people have waxed lyrically about Forever Changes's "prophetic" qualities - how it more or less "foresaw" all the stuff that would follow that great big party the year 1967 was supposed to have been (looking at that year's musical output, I'm actually inclined to agree) - thus it's not an entirely original thought to put down here, but this album is basically the musical embodiment of the idea that All Is Not Well so it makes perfect sense to rank an album that reflects a very significant personal outlook of mine as my favourite album of all-time.
Forever Changes was an album I listened to over and over again when I was in my mid-teenage years. I loved the way it juxtaposed beauty and ugliness. The way the music would suddenlt jolt and turn. I was already at a stage where the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure started to bore me, and so I absolutely jumped at anything that had something approaching disruption, pianoforte, anything that broke the mould.
Forever Changes has these moments aplenty. The way The Good Humour Man ends, or the way The Daily Planet's entire verse structure suddenly changes tack into something else entirely. There are "old-fashioned" pop songs too, like Alone Again Or, but not without some very bittersweet lyrics where the hippie outlook of "You know that I could be in love, with almost everyone/I think that people are the greatest fun" is immediately followed by a straightlaced "And I will be alone again tonight, my dear". All Is Not Well.
Some lyrics are, admittedly, signals from Captain Obvious. "Sitting on a hillside/Watching all the people die/I'll feel much better on the other side" was something I deemed the epitome of cool at the age of 16, now I feel like Arthur Lee is beating me to a pulp with the Metaphor Stick, but still, as far as allusions to the Vietnam war go there are certainly weaker lines of prose out there, and all things considered The Red Telephone - particularly its final third - is still a majestic, magnificent and haunting piece of work.
There are other reasons I love this album. For instance, its willingness to be unashamedly sentimental every now and then, like on Andmoreagain. That song is cheesy as hell, but then again there's a part of ME that is cheesy and sentimental and sappy-romantic. Plus, behind Forever Changes's layers of cynicism, Andmoreagain illustrates that there's a childlike innocence that makes the whole thing even more endearing to me.
Chances are the juxtaposition between beauty and ugliness are prone to some kind of personal demons Lee was fighting at the time (and his later biography tragically suggests that this battle went on for several decades), but as with so many very personal works of art, Forever Changes has a universal quality that means that even some German kid living in Cambridge in the mid-1990s could feel addressed and comforted by it. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,128
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
150
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"It was obvious then and it's obvious now: Nevermind was a once-in-a-generation record. It was *that* record. It was Are You Experienced. It was, 'Hello, something is happening. We don't know what it is, but we know that things have changed.'" - Billy Corgan.
I'll admit that I very occasionally wonder what it would be like to meet my favourite rock musicians and have a beer with them. Paul McCartney would be jolly and jovial (but not without a hint of "Yes, I don't know what it's like to hear Sgt. Pepper for the first time, you're not the first person to say that, you dimwit"). Laurie Anderson would be, erm, interesting. Yoko Ono would probably never stop talking. Lou Reed would be very rude at first but would hopefully warm to me once he realised I was a huge fan with intricate knowledge of his entire back catalogue (Rest in peace, Lou).
Kurt Cobain? What if he had lived and we, through some off chance, would have met in Bryant Park or Piccadilly Circus or a Munich beer garden or wherever my mind takes me? Frankly, I have no idea what I would say to him. I love his music, but what would I ask? What would I say? I genuinely have no idea. Cobain usually came across as a bit tight-lipped and monosyllabic in interviews, so he's a total contradiction in that his art had elements that were profound and essential, yet the guy who made it frankly seemed a bit of a dope (though that is not counting the Jon Savage 1993 interview, which I recommending googling and then listening to in full, it's absolutely fascinating from beginning to end). One could blame the drugs, of course, but that's a topic for another day.
As is so often the case with music (and any other art form), it's the wider, meta repercussion that matters, and Nirvana's second album was basically a moment in history where a style of music that had been part of the underground for the best part of a decade suddenly became mainstream, and in spectacular fashion to boot. Nevermind replacing Michael Jackson's Dangerous at the top of the Billboard album charts was a symbolic moment, make no mistake about that; one that kickstarted a golden era where genres like alternative rock and industrial metal entered the mainstream radar and effectively replaced the poodle rock which had dominated the scene up until that point (as Henry Rollins put it, "Nirvana slayed the hair bands"). I could go on about how the early 90s were generally such an optimistic period with the end of the Cold War, Clinton in the White House, Twin Peaks on the telly, etc, etc, but... again, that's also a topic for another day.
Though I will freely admit that Nevermind initially passed me by when it was released. I knew about it, saw the cover, thought the naked baby was a bit silly and naff, and didn't really pay much attention when Teen Spirit came on MTV. Heck, I was 12 years old at the time, I was too busy playing Monkey Island on my Atari ST and trying to figure out (and mostly failing) how to talk to girls. It was two years later, when the grunge wave had reached Germany proper and both Pearl Jam and Nirvana were about to release their second albums, that I realised something was afoot here. I was 14, just about to enter the Angry Young Man phase of my life, that I found myself slap bang in the target group for this type of music. So the significance of this album only came to me a couple of years late, and Cobain's eventual suicide embellished it, albeit in very tragic circumstances.
Part of the album's commercial success obviously was due to the fact that musically, underneath the layers of guitars, this is very much a pop album, something even the band themselves acknowledged (Cobain initially wanted to call Nevermind's follow up-album "Verse Chorus Verse"). Cobain's self-awareness and self-reflection, apparent through much of his work, not to mention all the diary entries and lyrics that have been posthumously released, suggest that there was a deeply intelligent and thoughtful man hiding underneath this Northwestern lumberjack-shirt-wearing dope. I kid, of course. There's a very good chance I would have liked him a lot and that we would have gotten on like a house on fire, in that parallel world where he decided not to pull the trigger, got himself together, made a few rather non-commercial but absolutely brilliant albums before leaving the music industry, watched his daughter Frances grow up, and lived a long and happy and fulfilled life. That parallel world exists, I'm sure of it. And the beer's on me, of course. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
I'll admit that I very occasionally wonder what it would be like to meet my favourite rock musicians and have a beer with them. Paul McCartney would be jolly and jovial (but not without a hint of "Yes, I don't know what it's like to hear Sgt. Pepper for the first time, you're not the first person to say that, you dimwit"). Laurie Anderson would be, erm, interesting. Yoko Ono would probably never stop talking. Lou Reed would be very rude at first but would hopefully warm to me once he realised I was a huge fan with intricate knowledge of his entire back catalogue (Rest in peace, Lou).
Kurt Cobain? What if he had lived and we, through some off chance, would have met in Bryant Park or Piccadilly Circus or a Munich beer garden or wherever my mind takes me? Frankly, I have no idea what I would say to him. I love his music, but what would I ask? What would I say? I genuinely have no idea. Cobain usually came across as a bit tight-lipped and monosyllabic in interviews, so he's a total contradiction in that his art had elements that were profound and essential, yet the guy who made it frankly seemed a bit of a dope (though that is not counting the Jon Savage 1993 interview, which I recommending googling and then listening to in full, it's absolutely fascinating from beginning to end). One could blame the drugs, of course, but that's a topic for another day.
As is so often the case with music (and any other art form), it's the wider, meta repercussion that matters, and Nirvana's second album was basically a moment in history where a style of music that had been part of the underground for the best part of a decade suddenly became mainstream, and in spectacular fashion to boot. Nevermind replacing Michael Jackson's Dangerous at the top of the Billboard album charts was a symbolic moment, make no mistake about that; one that kickstarted a golden era where genres like alternative rock and industrial metal entered the mainstream radar and effectively replaced the poodle rock which had dominated the scene up until that point (as Henry Rollins put it, "Nirvana slayed the hair bands"). I could go on about how the early 90s were generally such an optimistic period with the end of the Cold War, Clinton in the White House, Twin Peaks on the telly, etc, etc, but... again, that's also a topic for another day.
Though I will freely admit that Nevermind initially passed me by when it was released. I knew about it, saw the cover, thought the naked baby was a bit silly and naff, and didn't really pay much attention when Teen Spirit came on MTV. Heck, I was 12 years old at the time, I was too busy playing Monkey Island on my Atari ST and trying to figure out (and mostly failing) how to talk to girls. It was two years later, when the grunge wave had reached Germany proper and both Pearl Jam and Nirvana were about to release their second albums, that I realised something was afoot here. I was 14, just about to enter the Angry Young Man phase of my life, that I found myself slap bang in the target group for this type of music. So the significance of this album only came to me a couple of years late, and Cobain's eventual suicide embellished it, albeit in very tragic circumstances.
Part of the album's commercial success obviously was due to the fact that musically, underneath the layers of guitars, this is very much a pop album, something even the band themselves acknowledged (Cobain initially wanted to call Nevermind's follow up-album "Verse Chorus Verse"). Cobain's self-awareness and self-reflection, apparent through much of his work, not to mention all the diary entries and lyrics that have been posthumously released, suggest that there was a deeply intelligent and thoughtful man hiding underneath this Northwestern lumberjack-shirt-wearing dope. I kid, of course. There's a very good chance I would have liked him a lot and that we would have gotten on like a house on fire, in that parallel world where he decided not to pull the trigger, got himself together, made a few rather non-commercial but absolutely brilliant albums before leaving the music industry, watched his daughter Frances grow up, and lived a long and happy and fulfilled life. That parallel world exists, I'm sure of it. And the beer's on me, of course. [First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1991
Appears in:
Rank Score:
41,987
Rank in 1991:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
10,645
Rank in 1983:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1998
Appears in:
Rank Score:
2,753
Rank in 1998:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1967
Appears in:
Rank Score:
29,091
Rank in 1967:
Rank in 1960s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1993
Appears in:
Rank Score:
18,984
Rank in 1993:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1992
Appears in:
Rank Score:
20,427
Rank in 1992:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1992
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,171
Rank in 1992:
Rank in 1990s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1970
Appears in:
Rank Score:
3,124
Rank in 1970:
Rank in 1970s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Buy album
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A beautiful Michelangelo painting of cacophony and noise.
[First added to this chart: 12/22/2016]
Year of Release:
1988
Appears in:
Rank Score:
17,649
Rank in 1988:
Rank in 1980s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 38. Page 1 of 4
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums composition
| Decade | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
| 1930s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1940s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1950s | 0 | 0% | |
| 1960s | 12 | 12% | |
| 1970s | 27 | 27% | |
| 1980s | 17 | 17% | |
| 1990s | 29 | 29% | |
| 2000s | 12 | 12% | |
| 2010s | 3 | 3% | |
| 2020s | 0 | 0% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
 |
|
|
| The Beatles | 4 | 4% | |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4% | |
| The Doors | 3 | 3% | |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 3% | |
| Joy Division | 2 | 2% | |
| 植松 伸夫 [Nobuo Uematsu] | 2 | 2% | |
| John Cale | 2 | 2% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
46 | 46% | |
| |
38 | 38% | |
 |
6 | 6% | |
| |
3 | 3% | |
 |
3 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
 |
1 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums ratings
90/100 (from 73 votes)
where:
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).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this chart. | Show all 73 ratings for this chart.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Chart ratings | Avg. chart rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 100/100  | 03/03/2023 22:06 | Rm12398 | | 89/100 |
| 85/100 | 01/04/2023 22:24 | Moondance | | 84/100 |
| 95/100 | 01/04/2023 17:41 | Johnnyo | | 80/100 |
| 90/100 | 05/28/2022 12:34 |  Brandon8 | | 88/100 |
| 95/100 | 04/02/2022 06:28 |  seb7 | | 91/100 |
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).
(*In practice, some charts can have several thousand ratings)
This chart is rated in the top 3% of all charts on BestEverAlbums.com. This chart has a Bayesian average rating of 89.9/100, a mean average of 90.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 90.5/100. The standard deviation for this chart is 7.0.
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums comments
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100/100
From Rm12398 01/05/2023 01:59
Really loved reading the write ups and the stories as to why these albums have resonated so much with you over the years. Great list!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
85/100
From Moondance 01/04/2023 22:29
A very interesting chart that spans the decades and reveals a unique musical taste ~ and the comments add flavour to your selections ~ which is always a nice BEA touch.
It was refreshing to see Lou Reed's 'New York' in there along with 'Transformer'.
An extra bonus point for including one album from south of the equator.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From Johnnyo 01/04/2023 17:42
Great chart. Love the selections but also the work that has gone into putting this together. Cudos.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From seb7 04/02/2022 06:28
seb7 04/02/2022 06:28
Cool list with a lot of fun picks and a lot of similar choices. Maybe a little rock-centric, but thats just me
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From TroutMaskGreg 11/26/2021 12:07
Great list (and agree with CharlieBarley that I also like the included notes!) Always good to see Devo in a list on here and amazing to see The Residents included, one of my favourite bands! Definitely got some more bands / albums that I'll be checking out from your list too, and also revisiting some classics that I haven't heard for a while - starting with The Madcap Laughs (it's been too long since I heard that fantastic album!)
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Tha1ChiefRocka 11/27/2020 01:31
Tha1ChiefRocka 11/27/2020 01:31
I don't know why I never rate people's charts; especially one's that I like. Better late than never I suppose :) Loving the Susumu Hirasawa pick, and your notes are well done.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From Larcx13 11/11/2020 17:07
Larcx13 11/11/2020 17:07
Very interesting choices! Love the work you put in some of these texts.
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
100/100
From 
Crhmgs 11/11/2020 08:59
Crhmgs 11/11/2020 08:59
Great chart! i love that you included some OST's from movies and games. There are some pretty interesting picks, i gotta listen to a lot of these records!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
95/100
From leniad 10/28/2020 19:08
charis missing, good taste
good chart!!!1
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
90/100
From 
ExTeaSea 10/24/2020 19:45
ExTeaSea 10/24/2020 19:45
Commenting again! Haha. I need to listen to that Love album again. Godspeed is great! Love REM. Love Big Science by Laurie Anderson, keep moving it up my main chart. White album is fantastic obviously, I even use to consider it my all time favorite but I rarely listen to the Beatles anymore. 17 artists in common, nice!
Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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