50 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MUSIC, PART 1

50 Albums that Changed Music, Part 1

Why is it that Western culture is obsessed with lists? If something can be categorized, rated, and arranged, we do it. I personally am incredibly guilty of this, and even though I’m aware of its inherent worthlessness, I just cannot be stopped. Since I wrote the book “American Hit Radio” (which is essentially a list of my favorite 600 pop songs), the number one question that people ask me is, “Name your top ten favorite songs of all time.” That’s an impossible task, and even if I could do it, the list would need to be changed every other day, so why bother?
I blame this obsession with lists on the way that Western culture operates. In the workplace, all of us have become a gigantic horde of pencil-pushers and number-crunchers, analyzing and organizing information into quantifiable lists so we may determine a better way to make a profit from something that we do not manufacture. Since it is our collective job to analyze information all day long, it’s only natural that we apply these same tendencies to our leisure time.
For some reason or another, it seems that the English are especially obsessed with list-making, especially when it comes to matters of music. In the past few years, I have encountered lists in English magazines that attempt to compile the best music from every decade since the fifties, the most important artists for the same, and another that allegedly compiles the best albums of all time. All of these lists are by definition incredibly subjective, and because Englishmen and women have compiled them, they are also very Euro-centric, with a heavy British slant.
The latest and perhaps not greatest of these lists appeared recently in ‘The Observer,” a popular British magazine that could be considered their version of ‘Time’ magazine. This list attempts to compile the fifty most influential albums of all time (which is to say in the past fifty some-odd years, since long-playing albums first came into existence in the mid-fifties) or as the heading puts it, “The Fifty Albums that Changed Music.” Looking it over, I noticed that I had an opinion about virtually every single entry; occasionally I agreed, and at other times I was horrified by what I saw. For example, they actually include a Human League album on their list (I told you it was Euro-centric…), and another by LFO, whoever they are…
For today’s show, we thought it might be fun to count ‘up’ their list of the most influential and vent our own opinions along the way. Feel free to join in and yell along with us as we play and discuss the following albums, in the order of their alleged importance and/or relevance to the condition of contemporary music;
1) The Velvet Underground and Nico (the ‘Banana’ Album)
2) The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
3) Kraftwerk – Trans-Euro Express
4) NWA – Straight Outta Compton
5) Robert Johnson – King of the Delta Blues Singers
6) Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
7) Patti Smith – Horses
...to be continued