We love lists. Anyone who works in the world of online publishing knows far more people will read a list than a lengthy, well thought out and fiercely investigated piece of prose.
We publish lists on this site all the time, most websites do, and we'll continue to do so; they're fun, they're easy to read, they're usually relatively informative and – importantly – they almost always spark debate.
The always controversial music publication NME have known about and used the power of a good old fashioned list for a long time and they are no doubt waiting for all manner of music nerds and general lowlifes to respond to the Top 25 of their Top 500 Albums Of All Time, as voted by their team of writers.
So when prompted to write a response to NME's list, we figured we'd attack it in list form as well.
1. It's so very Brit-centric.
The United Kingdom has given us so much incredible music in the modern era. From The Beatles through to Arctic Monkeys, they have punched well above their weight in terms of putting out records of considerable brilliance and importance in the wider scheme of things.
But one thing that's most evident about British music is that British people have a real passionate, perhaps almost nationalistic, love of it. The blinkers are well and truly on when discussing The Smiths, Oasis and of course David Bowie, who features three times in the top 25.
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Of the top 25 albums in the NME poll, 16 are from the UK. That's 64% of the list. Do you think that 64% of the best music in history has come from the UK?
2. Punk rock, electronic music and heavy metal are unrepresented.
NME is an indie-centric magazine, but to not have a single punk rock, heavy metal or dance music record included in the list is an enormous oversight.
Even if we go back to point number one; have British music writers suddenly lost interest in their own Black Sabbath? Are The Sex Pistols uncool now (I've never liked them, but you can't deny their importance)? Is The Fat Of The Land, Dig Your Own Hole or Blue Lines worth excluding to shoe-horn in another (admittedly great) Bowie record?
Arguments of The Velvet Underground & Nico being a punk rock record won't fly, sorry.
3. It panders more than it educates
I have learnt, and continue to learn, so much from esteemed (and less-esteemed) music journalists and their ratings of records from throughout history. With all due respect to The Strokes and their excellent 2001 LP Is This It? it's difficult to understand how it can possibly be considered the fourth greatest record of all time, beating out the truly ground breaking eponymous record from by The Velvet Underground & Nico.
There aren't many records on here that are going to make people dive into the bins at their local record store this weekend (or fire up the streaming service) searching for a gem they aren't yet familiar with. Obviously this is tricky territory, popular records are usually popular because they are really good and being really good is obviously the only prerequisite for this list. But it seems shallow for a team of music journalists to put this much emphasis on the popular rather than the influential, the groundbreaking and, I guess, the underrated.
4. There have been more than two great hip hop records released in history.
You can't underestimate the importance of Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. If you do, Chuck D will probably hunt you down and tell you to take it back. But honestly, it's a record that changed the game and stands up as a brutally powerful statement today, well deserving of a spot in the 25.
Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a masterpiece and a wonderful example of fame, glamour and all-round excess actually contributing to something good for once; but has it impacted the world as much as Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) did? Why can't we have them both in there?
Where is Eric B. & Rakim's Paid in Full? In 20 years will MBDTF be spoken of in the same tones as Nas' Illmatic or The Notorious B.I.G's Ready To Die or Dr Dre's The Chronic?
5. Where the fuck are The Beach Boys?
Come on now.
The Top 25 of their Top 500 records is below:
1. The Smiths – The Queen Is Dead
2. The Beatles – Revolver
3. David Bowie – Hunky Dory
4. The Strokes – Is This It
5. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
6. Pulp – Different Class
7. The Stone Roses – The Stone Roses
8. Pixies – Doolittle
9. The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album)
10. Oasis – Definitely Maybe
11. Nirvana – Nevermind
12. Patti Smith – Horses
13. Arcade Fire – Funeral
14. David Bowie – Low
15. PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
16. Joy Division – Closer
17. Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
18. My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
19. Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
20. Radiohead – OK Computer
21. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
22. Blur – Parklife
23. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
24. The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St
25. Marvin Gaye – What's Going On
