Pitchforkmedia loves King Crimson

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Indie-tastic http://www.pitchforkmedia.com started their ranking of the best albums of the 70s today. 100-61 are up, and there's a lot more prog and classic rock radio nods than one might expect.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Everyone can like some King Crimson. You'd probably like "Elephant Talk", for instance, even if you're a stubborn cocksucker about progressive rock.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

frippertronics

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Lotsa love for Iggy too

[Red Baron 0]

lots of love from Bowie.

 

 

The Cars better than Dark Side of the Moon?

 

Devo?

 

 

geesh...

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I was just pissed that I saw Van Halen on there. I hate that album and all of its overrated glory.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

frippertronics

It should be noted that I respect Fripp and Co., but King Crimson bores me relentlessly.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I was just pissed that I saw Van Halen on there. I hate that album and all of its overrated glory.

Van Halen is overrated? Outside of mainstream rock circles?

 

I'm surprised by its inclusion, anyway. I assumed that the three classic rock radio staples that have already appeared on the list—Young, Zeppelin and Floyd—would be the only ones to make a showing. I guess I forgot Hendrix had an album in the 70s.

 

As for albums on 100-61 that I currently own (an actual copy; not including albums I've heard via other people/filesharing), there are eight:

 

92. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine

89. Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!

85. Wire - 154

81. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

74. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate

71. James Brown - The Payback

66. Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers

65. Neil Young - On the Beach

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

I was just pissed that I saw Van Halen on there. I hate that album and all of its overrated glory.

Van Halen is overrated? Outside of mainstream rock circles?

 

I'm surprised by its inclusion, anyway. I assumed that the three classic rock radio staples that have already appeared on the list—Young, Zeppelin and Floyd—would be the only ones to make a showing. I guess I forgot Hendrix had an album in the 70s.

 

As for albums on 100-61 that I currently own (an actual copy; not including albums I've heard via other people/filesharing), there are eight:

 

92. Kraftwerk - The Man Machine

89. Devo - Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!

85. Wire - 154

81. David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

74. Leonard Cohen - Songs of Love and Hate

71. James Brown - The Payback

66. Big Star - Third/Sister Lovers

65. Neil Young - On the Beach

Well, even people who have a decent taste in music that I've come across online seem to praise their debut of all things. It surprises me too. I own:

 

099: Neil Young

After the Gold Rush

 

095: Led Zeppelin

Physical Graffiti

 

081: David Bowie

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars

 

074: Leonard Cohen

Songs of Love and Hate

 

070: Pink Floyd

Dark Side of the Moon

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

frippertronics

It should be noted that I respect Fripp and Co., but King Crimson bores me relentlessly.

Asshole.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

60-21

 

60. John Lennon - Plastic Ono Band

58. Miles Davis - A Tribute to Jack Johnson

56. Can - Future Days

52. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model

48. Miles Davis - Live-Evil

45. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings and Food

44. The Clash - s/t

40. The Modern Lovers - s/t (it's a burned copy, but the album's way out-of-print, so shut up)

38. XTC - Drums and Wires

37. Elvis Costello - My Aim is True

33. Wire - Chairs Missing

31. Talking Heads - Fear of Music

30. Miles Davis - On the Corner

29. Can - Tago Mago

24. Brian Eno - Here Come the Warm Jets

22. Wire - Pink Flag

[Slayer 0]

Everyone can like some King Crimson.

Except for DS

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

He does, he just won't admit it because he's a stubborn indie fop.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Agent, you should check out Can. I'd rather listen to krautrock than prog rock.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I'll change it back tomorrow if you can wait that long...

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

John Wetton would've been more subtle.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

How dare you tell me how to moderate...

[haVoc 0]

The full 100 is up now. What a crock of shit this list turned out to be.

[Guest Eyeball Kid]

I haven't heard most of these bands.

Yeah, where's the Aerosmith.

[Henry Spencer 0]

Ehh, I'm not sure I agree with their choice for number one.

 

How would everybody else's top ten albums of the seventies look?

 

Mine:

 

1. The Clash - London Calling

2. Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks

3. Patti Smith - Horses

4. Neil Young - Tonight's The Night

5. Elvis Costello - This Year's Model

6. Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street

7. Pink Floyd - Meddle

8. Curtis Mayfield - Superfly

9. Talking Heads - More Songs About Buildings And Food

10. The Stooges - Fun House

[Guest Eyeball Kid]

Yeah, I like Low and all, but come on.

 

Incidentally, looking at the individual lists of the writers, no one put Low as their top album, so it's purely math. Also, of those lists, I think I like Andy Beta's the most, while Dominque Leone's is the most left-of-center.

[Henry Spencer 0]

Dominique Leone's top ten is odd. Loaded with artsy prog and kraut rock, and....Queen.

 

Also, nobody put London Calling on the top of their list, either. This saddens me.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

It won't let me look at the top 20..the fuck?

[haVoc 0]

I haven't heard most of these bands.

Yeah, where's the Aerosmith.

Where's the AC/DC? Did I miss Queen on the list? Ted Nugent?

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Of course, at the end of it all, the task of choosing just 100 records to represent the entire decade has meant that there was just not enough room for all of the wonderful (and arguably deserving) albums and bands we'd like to have listed.

 

Among the casualties this time out were: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Patti Smith, Sticky Fingers, Ornette Coleman, Pere Ubu, Van Morrison, Black Sabbath, "Heroes", Chic, Queen, Nina Simone, New York Dolls, The Jam, Frank Zappa, Transformer, Curtis Mayfield, The Police, The Damned, Aretha Franklin, Tonight's the Night, The Kinks, Tom Waits, Elton John, Yes, Janis Joplin, Station to Station, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick, AC/DC, Grateful Dead, Alice Coltrane, Paris 1919, The Upsetters, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Cecil Taylor, Amon Düül II, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Augustus Pablo, Human League, Chi-Lites, Captain Beefheart, No New York, Magazine, The Slits, The B-52's, Durutti Column, Burning Spear, Tangerine Dream, Gene Clark, Françoise Hardy, Magma, Kimono My House, The Adverts, Manuel Göttsching and/or Ash Ra Tempel, Lee Hazlewood, and all of Brazil, including Caetano Veloso.

 

edit: It's a list of albums and bands, by the way. Italics do not carry over from copy-and-pasting.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

What AC/DC album stands out from their catalogue enough to list it someplace? There's no way to choose from a lot of stuff that sounds exactly alike.

 

Ted Nugent had two hits and a total of zero fantastic albums.

 

Wango Tango is also one of the most irritating songs in the history of rock music.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I noticed the lack of Sabbath and Zappa, too, which is my biggest complaint.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Agent, the top 20 starts here, if you're still having trouble accessing it.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

King Crimson should've been higher, too..

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I noticed the lack of Sabbath and Zappa, too, which is my biggest complaint.

Zappa would require a group of people deciding on one or two definitive albums. His catalogue from the 70s is overwhelming; the 60s had Freak Out! and We're Only in it for the Money, both of which are acknowledged classics.