FIXED IT FOR YOU: The Music Adds 19 More Aussie Albums To Rolling Stone's Top 200

Rolling Stone magazine released their Top 200 Australian albums over the weekend in an amazing celebration of local music. But with lists, there's always the accompanying 'shouldabeen higher' or 'they waz robbed!" commentary. 

We took a poll around The Music's office and thought we'd add the 19 albums Rolling Stone forgot. 

HELEN REDDY - I Am Woman (1972)

Her third album, Helen Reddy's I Am Woman became a classic, largely due to the title track which inspired a generation of female artists ahead of it. A strong set as an album as well, Reddy's global influence cannot be underestimated, accepting her Grammy in 1973 by thanking 'God, because she makes everything possible'.

VIC SIMMS - The Loner (1973)

Recorded live from Bathurst gaol and released at a time when very few Indigenous voices were heard, what is astounding is not just the amazing quality of the record, nor the biting commentary of lyrics in songs like Stranger In My Country and Get Back Into The Shadows, but that it was ever made at all. An important piece of our Indigenous musical canon, The Loner should make any list of seminal Australian albums as its influence only grows over time.

WARUMPI BAND - Big Name, No Blankets (1985)

An inspirational record from Warumpi Band, this was one of the first big First Nations records to break through. Including the now-seminal Black Fella White Fella, this record was the breakthrough for the band and an important piece of Australian music history. 

KEV CARMODY - Pillars Of Society (1988)

Lauded by Rolling Stone as "arguably the best protest album ever made in Australia", Carmody's debut album was a biting commentary release in the year of Australia's bicentennial "celebrations". The inspiration for many who followed, the album featured the classics Thou Shalt Not Steal and Black Deaths In Custody.

1927 - ....ISH (1988)

Is there better pop in the world than late-'80s Australia? Eric Weideman and brothers Garry and Bill Frost got together with their mates and came out of the gates with this huge pop record. With If I Could, That's When I Think Of You, You'll Never Know and Compulsory Hero, this was the Savage Garden of its time (and was produced by Charles Fisher), with hit after hit peeling off the year's biggest Australian album.

KATE CEBERANO - Brave (1989)

With an album title that could summarise Kate Ceberano's career, this debut record from one of our most important artists was a triple-platinum smash, adding 'pop star' to a biography that was to include Models backing singer, jazz singer, musical theatre star and more. Bedroom Eyes proved that Aussie women could do '80s pop as well as anyone in the world. Already in the Rolling Stone 200 as a member of I'm Talking, we reckon Ceberano needs a spot to herself.

DARYL BRAITHWAITE - Rise (1991)

Selling over 300,000 copies, the ex-Sherbet singer was coming off the back of a monster comeback album with Edge (which arguably could also be included), but he wasn't done yet. With Rise and Higher Than Hope, Braithwaite stormed the charts, but while the record was a strong album project, one thing tipped it into Australian music folklore... The Horses. 

DEBORAH CONWAY - String Of Pearls (1991)

Deborah Conway was a founding member of Do Re Mi and has been a guiding light for female artists around Australia for four decades. On String Of Pearls, Conway hit the perfect balance between music with meaning and just enough pop to resonate. It's Only The Beginning is the perfect breezy pop gem to get a record purchased, but it's the depth of the album that has kept it as one of the important records in Australian pop history.

SCREAMING JETS - All For One (1991)

Newcastle's Screaming Jets epitomise late-era Aussie pub rock. The link between the '80s pub rock of the Oils and Hunters and then the heavier '90s sounds of Silverchair and Grinspoon, the Jets were (and still are) a voice of a working-class generation with their debut album tearing out of the gates with their biggest hit Better as well as fan (and teenage boy) favourites like FRC. 

DIESEL - Hepfidelity (1992)

Like the Jets, Diesel was a bridge from the excesses of '80s pub rock, but unlike the Jets, Hepfidelity was the bridge for those who were on a journey towards a more adult-oriented sound. With his blues influences starting to emerge in One More Time and Come To Me, the record still had its rocking moments on Man Alive and Love Junk, but it was Tip Of My Tongue where it all came together into true magic. 

WENDY MATTHEWS - Lily (1992)

Wendy Matthews had been a mainstay of the Australian music industry as a member of Absent Friends and as a backing singer on many big Aussie records in the '80s. She had a hit with her first solo record Emigre, but it was Lily where it all came together for her, largely thanks to the massive hit The Day You Went Away. One of the most unlikely of hits, the subtle ballad took over Australia's hearts, with the album also spawning further hits Friday's Child and If Only I Could, cementing Matthews as one of our all-time great female artists.

CHRISTINE ANU - Stylin' Up (1995)

One of the first big female First Nations records to land in the charts, Christine Anu's Stylin' Up is a top listen from beginning to end. Featuring the hit single Party and the now-classic version of Warumpi's My Island Home, the record is the perfect mesh of pop and art with the Neil Murray penned Wanem Time, groove-based jam Monkey And The Turtle and the touching Come On. 

NATALIE IMBRUGLIA - Left Of The Middle (1997)

Helped by a push from her Neighbours career, nobody expected Natalie Imbruglia's debut to be as accomplished and artistic as it ultimately was. Unashamedly pop, but with the kind of songwriting that proved her "actor/singer" title needed a reversal, the album spawned the global hit Torn but also Wishing I Was There, Big Mistake and Smoke. 

JIMMY LITTLE - Messenger (1999)

When legendary Yorta Yorta musician Jimmy Little teamed up with Karma County's Brendan Gallagher to produce a comeback album, little did we know the masterpiece that would emerge. An interpretation of Australian classic songs, this album took an artist known for his great singing career, dating back to the late '50s, to being recognised for being the true genius interpreter that he was. 

SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM - Sneaky Sound System (2006)

One of the biggest crossover pop/dance records in Australian history, Sneaky Sound System's album was shopped to all the labels and rejected before being released independently and taking off. Undeniable jams like I Love It, Pictures and UFO just kept peeling off as Miss Connie (previously vocalist for '90s band Primary) and DJ Black Angus took over Australia's dancefloors. A true Aussie example of all killer, no filler. 

THE VERONICAS - Hook Me Up (2007)

After their first album was a quadruple-platinum smash, Brisbane duo The Veronicas proved that they were more than just a young pop act, doubling down in the US with Hook Me Up, a mature pop album that was as important to 'girl power' in 2000s Australia as the Spice Girls were in '90s UK. Hook Me Up, Untouched, Take Me On The Floor... we could go on.

THE JEZABELS - Prisoner (2011)

We're surprised not to see this great Aussie album in the list, but then it's not the first time The Jezabels have been underestimated. Taking three EPs to really crack through, this debut album came out and immediately turned heads, as accomplished as you'd expect from a band who had the time to develop. Accomplished and important, the record featured the big first single Endless Summer, but that was just the entry point to what was a truly great album. 

RUSSELL MORRIS - Sharkmouth (2012)

Russell Morris' surprise ARIA-winning album Sharkmouth took Australian folk stories and turned them into song, bringing out a side of Australia that had rarely been tackled in song. Best known for his hit The Real Thing, Morris was already a star of the Australian business, but Sharkmouth really cemented his claim to the cultural zeitgeist and opened a whole new blues audience for Morris. 

GENESIS OWUSU - Smiling With No Teeth (2021)

Is it too soon to put this in a list? Genesis Owusu's ARIA-busting album from this year is already settling in as a classic Australian album. History will judge, but we're pretty sure it'll make its way into the list if it's ever done again.