I have a friend who is your typical modern music casual listener. He expressed interest in Rolling Stone's Top 500 albums of all time. I made him a list as sort of an introduction to music beyond what he's always known (which isn't very much). I thought I'd throw it up here for comments/discussion. It's not intended to be a listmania list of what I consider the greatest music of all time but rather stuff that I think a new listener should listen to in order to get their feet wet. And yes, it very standard with little variance from general conventions about rock'n'roll music.

25 Rock’n’Roll albums that everyone should hear before they die

1. Exile on Main St., The Rolling Stones

2. The Velvet Underground and Nico, The Velvet Underground

3. The White Album, The Beatles

4. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan

5. London Calling, The Clash

6. Doolittle, Pixies

7. Tonight’s The Night, Neil Young (Not in RS’s top 300 but it should have been)

8. The Wild, The Innocent, The East St. Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen

9. Ramones, The Ramones

10. Bryter Later, Nick Drake

11. American Beauty, The Grateful Dead

12. Fun House, The Stooges

13. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie

14. Tim, The Replacements

15. Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon

16. The Village Green Preservation Society, The Kinks

17. Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys

18. Murmur, REM

19. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, Pavement

20. Music from Big Pink, The Band

21. The Gilded Palace of Sin, The Flying Burrito Brothers

22. New York Dolls, The New York Dolls

23. Dusty in Memphis, Dusty Springfield

24. Psycho Candy, The Jesus and Mary Chain

25. Electric Warrior, T. Rex

5 Jazz Albums that everyone should hear before they die

1. Mingus Ah Um, Charles Mingus (Wasn’t in the top 300 and that’s criminal)

2. A Love Supreme, John Coltrane

3. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis

4. The Shape of Jazz to Come, Ornette Coleman

5. Blue Train, John Coltrane

5 Country albums that belong in the greatest albums of all time discussion

1. Honky Tonk Heroes, Wayon Jennings (not in top 300 and that’s just silly)

2. Red Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson

3. Live from San Quentin, Johnny Cash

4. Phases and Stages, Willie Nelson

5. I Feel Alright, Steve Earle (not in top 300 and that’s just silly)

5 Compilations/Greatest Hits that everyone should own

1. The Great Twenty Eight, Chuck Berry

2. 40 Greatest Hits, Hank Williams

3. Portrait of a Legend, Sam Cooke

4. 20 Golden Greats, Buddy Holly

5. All Killer No Filler, Jerry Lee Lewis


10 Greatest Live Albums of All – Time

1. Live at Leeds, The Who

2. Otis Live from Europe, Otis Redding

3. Rock of Ages, The Band

4. Live: 1966, Bob Dylan

5. From San Quentin, Johnny Cash

6. At Filmore East, The Allman Brothers Band

7. Live from the Apollo, James Brown

8. Live from the Star Club, Jerry Lee Lewis

9. Live from Hammersmith, Bruce Springsteen

10. The Last Waltz, The Band

You definitely hit the high points. I'd quibble with #16 and 21 on the Rock List.

i could argue a few, but why, this is a solid list overall.

I agree with you 21. I went back and forth on that one a lot.

What do you think I should have included? I'm pretty sure he's going to want more soon.

I pulled this book out of a grab bag last year:

Good toilet reading and not a bad list.

I like your list and I will create my own, based upon your template, because that is what we all do here.

When I have time.

There should be an earlier jazz recording in there somewhere -- something by Jelly Roll Morton or something.
And, also, Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings would be pretty essential, I would think.

Yeah, I think the compilations could be expanded to 10 albums to contain some early jazz, blues, and maybe The Harder They Come and another soul comp.

But yeah, very good list overall. I would have picked a few different albums for some of those artists, but your choices are fine.

Maybe the jazz list could have something else besides Blue Train, great as that album is, so it isn't so heavy on the Coltrane. Maybe a piano-driven album like Duke Ellington - Money Jungle, Horace Silver - Song for My Father, or Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard. (I'd probably throw in The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra if it were my list.) I'd be nice to have a fusion album, too, like Bitches Brew or Head Hunters. Actually, a Herbie Hancock album like Maiden Voyage might be a good choice for a piano album. It's hard to work everything in with 5 choices, though.

I think you're right.

The jazz list could have easily been expanded to 50 albums, but I knew he had little interest in that much jazz. Then I was stuck having to decide between an album I really love (Blue Train) and an album that is clearly more significant as a cultural reference point (A Love Supreme). So I took the easy way out and included both at the expense of other albums that deserve mention.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Looks good to me. Best not to overanalyze with this stuff.

You've included some of the most poplar jazz recordings of all time. I don't see the need to include stuff like Ellington or Count Basie. If he's into any of that he can find it. I've never really drawn much from listening to that stuff. I'm interested in musical history so when I listen to stuff like Duke Ellington, Cab Callaway, or Robert Johnson, it just feels like I'm just educating myself rather than drawing any enjoyment out of it. It's not really something I'd recommend someone looking to get their feet wet with stuff outside of Top 40.

Why listen to Robert Johnson when I can just pull out some Hendrix, Stones, or some Zep.

In that case, I'd go with Blue Train and leave off A Love Supreme. I like BT (and 2 or 3 other Coltrane albums) more than ALS, myself.

I think another danger is just representing one era of jazz, although I think that's admittedly the era that most people start with now.

Lots of good choices and always hard to narrow things down. Personally I can't see how you'd not want to put Never Mind The Bullocks on there, but that's just me.

For Jazz, I'd think Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong would merit inclusion, but really only 5 for jazz which is arguably a broader category than rock makes it basically impossible to hit on much.

Country-wise I have a little trouble thinking of Steve Earle as an essential top 5 kind of artist, but that could be just because I lean to older country stuff. And, as much as I do like Willie, I don't think I'd put 2 of his up there. Maybe something by Buck Owens? Some Western Swing?

Total absence of reggae matters to me, but if your friend ain't gonna go there, no point I guess.

2 artists I don't see on there that could maybe fit somewhere would be Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday.

Just tossing out my 2 cents.

Yeah, but Money Jungle is a modern jazz album recorded when Ellington was much older (in the '60s, I think), and IMO it holds its own with any Miles Davis or Coltrane album. It's just Ellington plus Mingus on bass and Max Roach on drums. You don't just listen to that album to educate yourself. It's a badass record.

now i mean, the beatles are pretty essential.

I'd actually like to check that out. I was more talking about recordings from the 30's and 40's that sound like you're listening to something from the Smithsonian.

Yeah, and I don't think something like that would have a place on a list of jazz albums.

On the compilations list, I think the argument could be made for throwing in one early jazz comp, but I don't know which one. Louis Armstrong or Billie Holiday, probably, but I guess if there's no one single-disc compilation that anyone would consider a classic, then maybe not. Most of the comps I have are too long (2-3 discs) for any casual listening.

Whoa.. of all those records you're gonna quibble with Flying Burrito brothers? I'm surprised.

The three that stick out for me on the rock list are the Dusty Springfield which other than "Son of a Preacher Man" never impressed me much, Pavement, and Jesus and Mary Chain (which i like but don't think belongs anywhere near a short albums you must hear before you die list). I'm not a fan of Pet Sounds but I can accept an argument that its something people should hear and judge for themselves.

I'd probably be inclined to increase the comps to 10 and include:

Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks
Kinks Kronikles
Neil Young Decade
The Harder they Come OST
at least one of the Beatles Blue or Red Comps

I think you need a Hendrix album on the rock list.

I'm not a huge fan of any of those jazz albums but its hard to argue too strenuously about the inclusion of Coltrane or Miles on an essential jazz list. I'm just not personally a big fan.

I'm not crazy about some of the country picks either (Earle & Too much Willie) but I'd have to think long and hard about what I'd replace them with.

Speaking of The Clash, they (along with The Sex Pistols) came up today in one of my philosophy classes and, upon doing a poll, about half the students had not heard of either band. I was shocked and appalled and perhaps should suggest the professor make this list required listening for all of his classes here on out.

Replace the above with:

The Band The Band
Jimi Hendrix Electric Ladyland
The Replacements Let It Be
Aretha Franklin I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You
Frank Zappa & the Mothers Freak Out
Van Morrison St. Dominic's Preview
Nirvana Nevermind
Television Marquee Moon
The Byrds Turn! Turn! Turn!

kids these days...

Other than REM, it's all pretty good.

But at the end of they day, making a list ain't gonna do shit.

Make him come down to the title track of st dominic's preview.

FBB is better in theory than delivery for me. While I don't think it's abysmally shitty, I'd never recommend it to someone for essential rock and roll listening.

It's still miles better than anything the Dead ever did.