OK Computer named best album of last 20 years

[yogachik]

I don't know whether to page MD9 or ice
Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ is named as top album
Spin magazine calls British band's CD the best in the last 20 years

The Associated Press
Updated: 12:43 p.m. ET June 20, 2005

NEW YORK - Spin magazine named Radiohead’s “OK Computer” the top album of the past 20 years, praising a futuristic sound that manages to feel alive “even when its words are spoken by a robot.”

The British band’s album edged out Public Enemy’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” and Nirvana’s “Nevermind” on a list in Spin’s 20th anniversary issue, currently on newsstands.

“Between Thom Yorke’s orange-alert worldview and the band’s meld of epic guitar rock and electronic glitch, (‘OK Computer’) not only forecast a decade of music but uncannily predicted our global culture of communal distress,” reads the editorial note on what separated the 1997 disc from the other 99 ranked albums.

Sandwiched between Radiohead’s straight-ahead rock disc “The Bends” and the more experimental, electronic “Kid A,” “OK Computer” was the album that propelled Radiohead to worldwide, stadium-sized popularity. Though it never went higher than No. 21 on the Billboard charts, it won critical raves and a Grammy for best alternative music performance.

Spin’s Chuck Klosterman says the album “manages to sound how the future will feel. ... It’s a mechanical album that always feels alive, even when its words are spoken by a robot.”


Years earlier, Spin ranked Nirvana’s “Nevermind” the greatest album of the nineties. In the time since, however, editor-in-chief Sia Michel and others simply found they were reaching for “OK Computer” more than the slightly less relevant “Nevermind.”

“Whereas when Nirvana came out, everybody was talking about negation and slackers and everything like that — seven years later, it was the dot-com boom and 22-year-olds were making $80,000 on Web sites,” Michel recently told The Associated Press.

The rest of the top 10
Also in the top 10, in order, are Pavement’s “Slanted and Enchanted,” The Smiths’ “The Queen is Dead,” Pixies’ “Surfer Rosa,” De La Soul’s “3 Feet High and Rising,” Prince’s “Sign ‘o’ the Times,” PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me” and N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton.”

The entire list of 100 is just as eclectic; a photograph of an atypical trio of Dr. Dre, Bono and Beck dons the issue’s cover.

The amount of hip-hop on the list may surprise some (25 albums in all — 26 if you count Rage Against the Machine), given that Spin is predominantly a rock magazine. Michel, however, points out that Spin started several years before hip-hop mag Source was founded: “We put hip-hop on the cover before anyone else did.”

“Because we started this list in 1985, we pretty much hit hip-hop in its golden age,” she says. “There were so many important, groundbreaking albums coming out right about that time.”

After gathering suggestions from everyone at the magazine, a tribunal of Michel and editors Jon Dolan and Charles Aaron sorted out the ultimate records of “the Spin era.” Their criteria, Michel says, was the basic brilliance of the record, its innovation and its overall relevance.

“Relevance doesn’t have to mean it sold 10 million copies,” she says. “Someone like the Pixies never really sold records, but Nirvana has said it wouldn’t exist without the Pixies.”

Both the approach and content stands in stark contrast to fellow rock magazine Rolling Stone’s 2003 issue on the top 500 albums of all time. Topping that collection was the more hallowed (and less surprising) like of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones.

Some of the most recent entries to Spin’s list are 2004’s “College Dropout” by Kanye West, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ 2003 “Fever to Tell” and Wilco’s 2002 “Yankee Foxtrot Hotel.”

Of course, judgments of these kind are always subject to debate.

“The art department was just railing against us all the time and campaigning against things,” says Michel. The lack of inclusion of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, she says, pushed them to the brink: “That was a band that the art department was like, ‘You guys are crazy! Don’t even talk to us!”’

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

© 2005 MSNBC.com

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8282160/

[Ireallyliketoski2]

I just pm'd thom yorke

[lph]

Cool. Great album, great band. Still like "The Bends" better but good choice.

Also, surprised to see that PE album up there. Great album as well.

If I remember in that thread that I think Ice started, didn't "The Bends" and "OK Computer" get alot of maggot votes for GREAT albums of the last twenty years??

[Tippster]

Better than U2's "Joshua Tree," Pearl Jam's "10" or Nirvana's "Nevermind?" (and that's merely staying w/in the genre!)

PuhLeezze.

[Mcwop]

I still think PE's "Yo! Bumrush The Show" is their best album.

[Steven S. Dallas]

PJ Harvey!? I mean, nothing against her, and I like that album, but...

[Anxious Mo-Fo]

[Pinner]

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=11

[13]

Heh, PE was #2? I still listen to Fear of a Black Planet relatively often.

I know a dude who still has a t-shirt from when the Welcome to the Terrordome tour stopped in Detroit.

[Arty50]

PJ Harvey!? I mean, nothing against her, and I like that album, but...

Yeah, no shit. And Pavement? WHAT THE FUCK?!?! Yet another reason why Spin is good to have in the bathroom in case you run out of tp.

[Steven S. Dallas]

I think that by the editor's apparent standards (the albums from the last 20 years that you listen to most), Pavement is an okay choice (although I like Wowee Zowee more). But isn't that sort of a stupid standard? It's just impossible to make any kind of "best of" argument about music, because the most important albums are the biggest selling ones and any other concept of "best" is entirely subjective.

edit: maybe it isn't a stupid standard- it's more honest, I guess, to say "we the editors think these are the best albums because they're the albums we like the most." Personally, if my being honest meant revealing an obsession with PJ Harvey, I'd just shut the hell up.

[Grange]

I don't mind Radiohead so I didn't really have issue with them being called the "Best Album of the Last 20 Years". I just figured difference in opinion. However when I see De La Soul in the top ten I immediately lost all respect for the list. Personally I agree with the Pixies and I'd put Jane's Addiction somewhere in the top ten.

[Mcwop]

I am not a Radiohead fan, but my big question is if their album caused a sea change. Nirvana's certainly did, and catapulted an entire category/region of music.

If Fugazi is not in the top 100, then Spin is really not much better than asswipe material.

[Arty50]

...and I'd put Jane's Addiction somewhere in the top ten.

No shit. What a travesty.

[pde20]

[QUOTE=Steven S. Dallas] It's just impossible to make any kind of "best of" argument about music, because the most important albums are the biggest selling ones and any other concept of "best" is entirely subjective.QUOTE]

While any other concept of best of is indeed subjective, the statement that the Most important albums are the ones that sell the most is the dumbest shit i have ever heard. Based on that criteria your best of list would have to include the spice girls, matchbox 20 and limp bizkit and country pop crap like shania twain. More commerical success doesn't equal dick when talking about quality. Commercial success often means it is the flavro of the month which 6 months later you can't believe people ever enjoyed listening to.

[cj001f]

I am not a Radiohead fan, but my big question is if their album caused a sea change.

It's not a sea change but there are a hell of alot of bands out now being described as "Radioheadesque"

[Steven S. Dallas]

Well, "OK Computer" may not have had as much immediate influence as "Nevermind," but although I like "Nevermind" a lot it just doesn't have as many good songs. "Nevermind" probably is more influential, but let's face it, it's a lot easier for a kid with a guitar to figure out what Kurt Cobain is doing than it is to figure out anything about Thom Yorke... That sort of illustrates a point about Best Of lists- is influence and effect really a good criterion? If only 1000 people had ever heard "Nevermind," but all of those people were so inspired by it that they grew up to be musicians*, does that make it a better album than one that sells a million copies, two Pepsi commercials, and has no tangible and lasting cultural effect?


*Someone said this about the first Velvet Underground album.

[DaveTV]

Better than "Julie's sixteenth birthday"? I think NOT!!

[freshies]

Yeah, no shit. And Pavement? WHAT THE FUCK?!?! Yet another reason why Spin is good to have in the bathroom in case you run out of tp.

let's agree to disagree here pavement's "slanted and enchanted" album def. belongs in the top 25 or so albums of the last 20 yrs (remember, this list spans 85-05) - its a classic and a very influencial album as well.

[Steven S. Dallas]

While any other concept of best of is indeed subjective, the statement that the Most important albums are the ones that sell the most is the dumbest shit i have ever heard.

Why? I don't think that it's bullshit to say that art is only as important as the number of people it reaches. This is not an original thought, and I think it's totally defensible. If you wouldn't be caught dead in 6 months listening to something you're crazy about today, that means your taste has somehow been informed by that song- whether you love it or hate it, you're influenced by it. The shit that the most people hear most often has the broadest influence, if not the deepest. Don't you think?

edit: Is it true that "commercial success doesn't mean dick when talking about quality"? If something is the most popular music, and it is made with the goal of being the most popular music, then it is already successful on two big levels, neither of which are subjective. That's pretty good.

[Mcwop]

Well, "OK Computer" may not have had as much immediate influence as "Nevermind," but although I like "Nevermind" a lot it just doesn't have as many good songs. "Nevermind" probably is more influential, but let's face it, it's a lot easier for a kid with a guitar to figure out what Kurt Cobain is doing than it is to figure out anything about Thom Yorke... That sort of illustrates a point about Best Of lists- is influence and effect really a good criterion? If only 1000 people had ever heard "Nevermind," but all of those people were so inspired by it that they grew up to be musicians*, does that make it a better album than one that sells a million copies, two Pepsi commercials, and has no tangible and lasting cultural effect?


*Someone said this about the first Velvet Underground album.

I say these are some key criteria:

• Influence
• Staying power (will people still play it years later)
• Album quality (more than one good song - all good songs)
• Unique approach (e.g. alternate tunings etc...)

In the end it is still objective.

In my previous post I did not mean to suggest Nirvana deserved a top spot versus RH. I was just curios about Radiohead's influence since I do not follow the band.

[yogachik]

However when I see De La Soul in the top ten I immediately lost all respect for the list.

De La Soul changed rap - skits, sampling, etc. It's all about influence and changing the landscape of music

[dipstik]

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/f...splay.php?f=11

Seriously.


Why are people so against posting in the "Music, Books, Movies" forum?? It seems like a pretty simple thing to do. If you want to talk about ski equipment, post in "Tech Talk", if you want to talk about surfing, post in the "Surf" forums, and if you want to talk about music, post in the "Music" forum. If its worthy enough to read, it'll get attention.

[cj001f]

Why? I don't think that it's bullshit to say that art is only as important as the number of people it reaches. This is not an original thought, and I think it's totally defensible. If you wouldn't be caught dead in 6 months listening to something you're crazy about today, that means your taste has somehow been informed by that song- whether you love it or hate it, you're influenced by it. The shit that the most people hear most often has the broadest influence, if not the deepest. Don't you think?

That's assuming that hearing = influence. Not necessarily a defensible position. There are many people who listen to things solely because thats what other people listen too. Thats fine, but I don't think that's a criteria for evaluating the worthiness of "art".

[Mcwop]

Seriously.


Why are people so against posting in the "Music, Books, Movies" forum?? It seems like a pretty simple thing to do. If you want to talk about ski equipment, post in "Tech Talk", if you want to talk about surfing, post in the "Surf" forums, and if you want to talk about music, post in the "Music" forum. If its worthy enough to read, it'll get attention.

Hey, take it to the padded room Jong.