In the December issue of Blender, the magazine’s editors have compiled what they see as the “The 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever,” opening with this little graph:
Mumbled lyrics, couldn’t-care-less strumming, white dudes in sweaters–what’s not to love about indie rock? Born 25-odd years ago in suburban garages and spread via college radio, it has made distortion into something hummable, boredom into something thrilling and aimlessness into a raison d’être–and these days, thanks to blogs and the fine people at Grey’s Anatomy, it’s more popular than ever.
Grey’s Anatomy and blogs? Cute. Let’s take a look at 100-50 here and then round it up post-jump. There are a lot of classic albums on this thing … and a lot that aren’t.
100 The Shaggs – Philosophy Of The World
99 Dream Syndicate – The Days Of Wine And Roses
98 Palace Music – Viva Last Blues
97 The Mekons – Rock ‘N’ Roll
96 TV On The Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain
95 The Dismemberment Plan – Emergency & I
94 Half Japanese – Greatest Hits
93 Big Black – Atomizer
92 Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
91 The Chills – Kaleidoscope World
90 Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
89 Art Brut – Bang Bang Rock & Roll
88 Daniel Johnston – Yip/Jump Music
87 Wolf Parade – Apologies To The Queen Mary
86 Flipper – Album – Generic Flipper
85 The Clean – Anthology
84 Beat Happening – You Turn Me On
83 The Misfits – Walk Among Us
82 The Embarrassment – Heyday 1979-83
81 The Vaselines – The Way Of The Vaselines
80 Feist – The Reminder
79 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
78 The 13th Floor Elevators – The Psychedelic Sounds Of The 13th Floor Elevators
77 Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
76 Le Tigre – Le Tigre
75 Galaxie 500 – Today
74 The Fall – 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong
73 Meat Puppets – Up On The Sun
72 The Mountain Goats – We Shall All Be Healed
71 Stereolab – Refried Ectoplasm
70 Mudhoney – Superfruzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles
69 Nick Drake – Pink Moon
68 Descendents – Milo Goes To College
67 Hüsker Dü – New Day Rising
66 Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth
65 Various Artists – No New York
64 Cat Power – The Greatest
63 Nirvana – Bleach
62 The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
61 LCD Soundsystem – LCD Soundsystem
60 Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
59 Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine
58 Built To Spill – There’s Nothing Wrong With Love
57 Bikini Kill – Pussy Whipped
56 Archers Of Loaf – Icky Mettle
55 Bad Brains – Bad Brains
54 Unrest – Imperial F.F.R.R.
53 Smashing Pumpkins – Gish
52 Bright Eyes – Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
51 Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights
50 Rilo Kiley – More Adventurous
49 Spoon – Kill The Moonlight
48 Mission Of Burma – Vs.
47 Green Day – Kerplunk
46 Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
45 Fugazi – Repeater
44 Various Artists – Wanna Buy A Bridge?
43 Black Flag – Damaged
42 Brian Eno – Another Green World
41 Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West
40 New Order – Power Corruption & Lies
39 Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
38 The Strokes – Is This It
37 Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Fever To Tell
36 Elliott Smith – Either/Or
35 Liz Phair – Exile In Guyville
34 Superchunk – On The Mouth
33 The Shins – Oh, Inverted World
32 Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
31 Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand
30 Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
29 Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
28 The Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs
27 M.I.A. – Arular
26 Belle And Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister
25 Sebadoh – III
24 The New Pornographers – Mass Romantic
23 Yo La Tengo – Painful
22 Meat Puppets – Meat Puppets II
21 The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers
20 The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
19 Sleater-Kinney – Dig Me Out
18 Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures
17 The White Stripes – White Blood Cells
16 Slint – Spiderland
15 X – Wild Gift
14 De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising
13 Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade
12 Dinosaur Jr – You’re Living All Over Me
11 Minutemen – Double Nickels On The Dime
10 The Smiths – The Smiths
09 Big Star – Third/Sister Lovers
08 My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
07 The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
06 Arcade Fire – Funeral
05 Pixies – Surfer Rosa
04 R.E.M. – Murmur
03 The Replacements – Let It Be
02 Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
01 Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted
Nice to see Sebadoh’s III so high, but while we’re talking numbers, how can they say indie rock started “25-odd years ago in suburban garages” and include The Velvet Underground? No bother – it’s a great record. Also by the numbers: Bands with two albums on the list: 4 (Pavement, Hüsker Dü; Meat Puppets); Hip-hop albums: 1 (De La Soul); 2007 albums: 2 (Feist, Animal Collective). They obviously took care to highlight only early indie releases from some of the major-bound superstars (e.g., Bleach, White Blood Cells) … so why so much Interscope? OK, what else did Blender get right and/or wrong? We’ll start: Where’s Jesus Lizard?
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Yeah, I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge to the kids from France and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I’m losing my edge to the Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978.
I’m losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
I’m losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.
But I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there.
I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, “Don’t do it that way. You’ll never make a dime.”
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB’s.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I’ve never been wrong.
I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.
But I’m losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they’re actually really, really nice.
I’m losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody. Every great song by the Beach Boys. All the underground hits. All the Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import. I heard that you have a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit – 1985, ’86, ’87. I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good ’60s cut and another box set from the ’70s.
I hear you’re buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, the Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, the Fania All-Stars, the Bar-Kays, the Human League, the Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra,
Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra,
Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc,
Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force (“just hit me”!), Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil! Scott! Heron!, the Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, the Swans, the Soft Cell, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
You don’t know what you really want. (x15)
Yep, “Slanted and Enchanted” is the Holy Grail of Indie Rock. Period. At least they got that right and also “Let It Be”.
It’s really weird to me that most of the Funeral bashing seems to come, directly or indirectly, from the fact that a) It’s only a few years old, or b)Successful.
It’s still a tremendous album, and it marks what I’d consider the defining moment in “indie” music of the last decade. Nobody could validly argue that it wasn’t massively influential, whether you like the music or not. Easily deserving of it’s place, IMO.
Loveless should still be higher.
why wasn’t the bravery on this list? THEYR TOTAL INDIEZ
neutral milk hotel one space away from the shins is RIDICULOUS. aeroplane and yankee hotel foxtrot are top 10, or top 5.
carp. Somehow this feels off topic, but personally I think All Hail West Texas is the Mountain Goats finest album. carp.
m.i.a number 27?
are you serious?
fuck you blender.
After a hundred comments no one has mentioned Polvo. I rule; you suck.
Agreed on Neutral Milk Hotel (should be top 10) and while I’m a huge Pavement fan – we didn’t need both crooked rain and slanted on there.
I will say this – regardless of which order they come in… the top 50 is a pretty damn worthwhile.
velvet undergrounds sucks
32-28 should be 1-5. I about had a heart attack when I saw that run of albums so low. And only one Elliott Smith? Arular higher than god knows how many great albums? Really?
yes i misspelled velvet underground, no i don’t care, and btw: please don’t ever post lyrics in here again. does anyone else despise lcd soundsystem? it seriously sounds like music for babysitting my younger ADHD-addled brother.
yes i know i spelled velvet underground wrong, no i don’t care, btw, why paste a full song’s worth of lyrics in here, that was messed up. especially lcd soundsystem, they sound like music for babysitting my adhd-addled younger brother.
damn i’m stoned.
I HATE JAMES MURPHY
Green Day is indie… okay then.
where’s the Flaming Lips?!
74 The Fall – 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong
Of all the great Fall albums, the only one they put on this list is a greatest hits comp? What the hell?
Tell me why The Strokes are not number 1.
Its just crazy to me.
The best album ever made.
The YYY’s before us..
It’s just sick.
I wont even speak on ROF . Its not even on the list. Explain
Maybe not in the top 100 but I think Lambchop’s Nixon album deserves an honorable mention. The self tilted album by The Glands too. Good stuff.
PS @ sonicyouth – Go punch yourself in the face you 4 post in a row retard.
say what you will…but i agree with more blender reviews than pitchfork reviews
I don’t understand how a list with such a loose definition of “indie rock” (Nick Drake? Seriously?) can not include any Radiohead.
And don’t even get me started on Bright Eyes at 52.
Are they really going to argue that the best (in their opinion) Arcade Fire album is better than the best (in their opinion) Velvet Underground album? Also, Arular over CR, CR? Is that for serious?
Neutral Milk Hotel should have been Top 5, at least.
Arcade Fire sucks!
That really wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Lists are for remembering things you can’t or won’t remember; to take care of tedious shit like laundry, groceries and oil changes. Your mind is so full of clutter from your day job and TiVO that you need something to remind you to be responsible. No one should ever “need” to make a list of their top 100 “all-time” anything. Give it a rest and put on some music; maybe even something from the “Shit list”.
could i interest anyone in a macy’s gift card?
There’s some great records on this list- I’m still confused with what “indie” means- when many of these were pressed and shipped by majors- It’s safe to say that 75% of the indie music audience & editors are middle to upper class college educated- yet steeped in corporate denial- Dig this- the higher the tuition- the more indie the campus station- Sam Phillips released some smokin’ indie records- so did Barry Gordy- and across the pond- Joy Division, Primal Scream, Jesus & Mary Chain- hello
Anyone who puts the Arcade Fire over the Velvet Underground needs to have their testicles flayed.
Shouldn’t Hum have a place on there somewhere?
NIN is indie?
the strokes should be in the top 20, if not the top 10. that record put bands like interpol, yeah yeah yeahs, rapture, and white stripes on the map. think of what that record did. it brought so many people into the indie world because of its greatness.
Fugazi’s 13 Songs should be on here, not Repeater. And higher.
Greatest Hits (Half Japanese) is not an album, it’s a compilation. A greatest hits cannot be considered in this bullshit list.
There is NO FUCKING WAY that AC’s Strawberry Jam is on this list. It came out 1, 2 months ago?
Sorry if I repeated anything, I’m not going through 130+ posts.
true, i agree about the strokes. new york city music scene became huge again because of those guys. #1
This list is just ridiculously over-american. Where is Ride, Jesus and Mary Chain, Teenage Fanclub, Boo Radleys, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Blur etc. etc. etc. …
Someone needs to Clarify what INDIE MUSIC is. last time I checked, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana and Green Day were not Indie. and that goes for many bands on here.
Shanetron’s comment where he listed a bunch of albums cracked me up, as he slammed any album that was modern day indie music like Franz Ferdinand, The Shins, Arcade Fire, CYHSY, or Interpol. Those are the Indie Scene. I love the Velvet Underground with a passion but they are not Indie, not the way I define the Indie movement.
-Illinois should be higher than 60.
-The Shins should be much higher than 32. They have become the defenition of the word “indie” and they are only at 32?
- It still annoys me that no one will ever give credit to anything Modest Mouse did from Float on Forward becuase its all too “mainstream”. Only cool people listen to old modest mouse music. give me a break.
- Seeing the hold steady at 20 makes me die a little inside.
- Milk Hotel should be top 10.
- Pavement? #1? Pavement? I guess thats a “cool” answer that the hipsters will like but i don’t see how its the greatest album of all time for indie. If you are going to call The Smiths, Velvet Underground and Nirvana Indie, and then put pavement way up at #1? I think not.
- As much as I like fiest, that album came out like 6 months ago? give it a break, its good but not greatest album ever. even if it was, give it more than a few months to see if it lasts the test of time.
- Seeing Wolf Parade and New Pornographers on the list makes me feel good.
- The Arcade Fire Deserve to be where they are. now are the velvet underground better? well they are legends and have had 40 years to sit on that work. I would put it ahead of Arcade fire in a greatest album of all time list, but not far. That album is amazing. give the arcade fire some time and they will become cool.
becuase thats all this list is about. what’s the cool answer. not the right one.
YOu all complain about how shitty a magazine Blender is, yet you are all so offended that they don’t list your own top 5. Fuck, who cares really?
No Broken Social Scene…?
MIA is “Indie Rock”…?
Joy Division at number 18…?!
But Arcade Fire get number 6!!!!
@ Hoppergrass: I have never read Blender Magazine (can’t get it over here), but from seeing this list, I assume it’s a piece of shit.
Arcade Fire albums should NEVER be on any “Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever” list, no matter how shitty the magazine/webzine is. Especially if Broken Social Scene and Stars are not present on questioned list. Neither should any records by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Arctic Monkeys, Art Brut, LCD Soundsystem, The Hold Steady, Nirvana, nor Green Day (not even “1000 Smoothed Out whateverthefuckthatrecordiscalledidontgiveahorsesshit”).
Morrissey’s a prick, but The Smiths’s should of still been closer to #1
these comments crack me up. people do take this crap too seriously, including me, who had to spend ages blogging about it because i was surprised at just how many of these albums i actually have. and i could care less about the ranking, that’s even more arbitrary than the actual list.
a few responses:
to the person who asked where the pixies were. um, at like #5 – how’d you miss that?
re: “indie” – as this is a list of indie *albums*, green day’s “kerplunk” absolutely counts – it was released on lookout records, berkeley’s punk rock bastion of indiedom – maybe not as indie as say, sarah records, but pretty damn indie. nine inch nails on the other hand – did they ever put anything out on an independent label? and yeah, there are several other non-indie records on there, but i understand their selection as representing an indie ethos (like REM in their early days – whereas NIN were always played on mainstream radio as far as i know. okay, i just think they suck. there ya go.)
i also agree with the person who said it was too american-centric – i’d have added the boo radleys and ride for sure, and probably mojave 3 or neil halstead, as well as the bats and the verlaines.
guess i’m the only one who thinks camper van beethoven should be on this list (and yes, most of their albums were indie – released on independent project records originally). i will admit huge surprise that the people at blender (which i’d never heard of but which apparently sucks according to the commenters here) had actually heard of the embarrassment.
and to the guy who asked about the clean vs. wilco, yeah, i’ll grab a beer with you!
I’m glad to see such an outrage regarding Broken Social Scene NOT making this list. “You Forgot It In People” practically pays homage to Pixies, GbV, Husker Du, Replacements, etc.
Also, glad to see Spoon’s “Kill The Moonlight” just make it below the the top 50, but I think “Girls Can Tell” should be on there too.
If Black Flag, Desendents, Bad Brains, and the Dead Kennedys made it, then where the fuck is Minor Threat?! Fugazi IS on here but still …….
Franz Ferdinand …….. WAAAAAAAAY too high.
And if Arcade Fire is #6, then The Strokes, GbV, Modest Mouse, and Neutral Milk Hotel should be ranked just as high.
Leigh, just because some of those records were released on “Indie” labels doesn’t justify them being on this list.
As stated at the top of the post, the 100 albums are being classified as “Indie-Rock”, not “bands who have released music on Indie-Labels.”
Really – Nick Drake as “indie rock”?
This list doesn’t seem based on anything at all lol
It simply looks like the list of the editor’s favortite records or something
Why is The Fall, which has been one of the most important and influential bands in existence, if not one of the more famous, for thirty years, represented by a greatest hits comp that only came out a few years ago?
thing is, Funeral IS that good. over time, it’ll be hailed as a classic.
but if you’re going to include Velvet Underground, it should be at #1.
NMH & Strokes should be higher, and there’s lots of missing stuff.
but yeah, Funeral is perfectly placed, it’s just that VU should be at the top.
Love Cat Power, but The Greatest over Moon Pix? Whaaaaa?
if my subscription to that magazine wasn’t free, i would cancel it because of this list. actually, i would cancel it because it’s horrible in general, not just this.
Ok ComFuckingPuter?!?!? Where is it?
i just puked a little
no at the drive in???? seriously???
no godspeed you black emperor??
no built to spill’s perfect from now on??
no lips?
no BSS?
no braid or get up kids or sunny day real estate???
are feist, MIA, Art Brut, Artic Monkeys and rilo kiley more indie rock than ATDI?? Feist is about as indie rock as buying groceries at walmart after church on sunday morning.
blender should stick to the hot girls on their covers and not trouble themselves with any kind of music analysis.
jesus h
It’s on their site:
http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=2974&src=GM7070:MD
So a bunch of interns from a Maxim spin-off make a “controversial” list of indie rock records, and we’re all taking it seriously? Niiiiice.
Definitely confused about the eligibility here.
Wilco’s YHF was not an independent record, unless they are counting the short period of time the band released it on their website. They held the rights to it, but eventually signed with another label under the Warner umbrella, and that label put it out.
Still, I appreciate the effort and the album deserves to be recognized.
About the list as a whole: no one likes any kind of best of lists, ever, end of story. I think there are a lot of good records on there, and if a few people discover some new artists or old favourites because of this list, it’s a good thing.
Animal Collective’s Strawberry Jam?
ummmm show me one person who thinks that is their best album(besides Blender).
Me thinks the people have been Blender has been reading Pitchforkmedia
Me thinks the people at Blender have been reading Pitchforkmedia
“I’m still confused with what “indie” means- when many of these were pressed and shipped by majors”
The fine print on the disc/in the liner notes is not relevant to this list.
“nine inch nails on the other hand – did they ever put anything out on an independent label?”
TVT qualifies as an indie label.
The thing about Fuenral is it came out after indie rock had become an established genre, while The Velvet Underground helped inspire the genre but was really on an island by itself. It’s kind of like including Zeppelin II on “a greatest heavy metal albums” list: obvioulsy it’s a better album than, say, Metallica’s Master of Puppets, but you could legitimately put Master of Puppets higher because it’s more metal. The Velvet Underground would obviously own Funeral on a general “greatest albums of all time” list, but I think it’s not completely crazy to place it lower than Funeral on this one.
To reiterate, some of those aren’t even on “independent” labels.
Zen Arcade may be one of the most important albums ever, but among Husker Du albums, it’s near the bottom. It’s incoherent, inconsistent, and at times, down-right boring. It’s predecessor and succeeder both blow it away.
Also, there’s a difference between indie and indie-rock. Many of these albums cannot be called rock.
And as someone else already said, where the hell is Drive Like Jehu? Not just was DLJ the best emo band of the ’90s (for that matter, where is Rites of Spring or Sunny Day Real Estate), but the best of all time.
Then there is the inclusion of Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, but no Minor Threat or Negative Approach (not to mention the far superior hardcore bands that Blender doesn’t know even existed).
But the biggest travesty is that there is no They Might Be Giants. TMBG’s first three releases are three of the most quintessential indie-rock albums ever conceived and you’d have to think that at least one would get a nod. Especially if Cat Power’s anemic The Greatest nearly cracks the top 50.
i think you could make a pretty good argument for strawberry jam being animal collective’s best album
Fuck the indie stereotype! The Strokes define rock and roll! It’s the modern age baby!
More than 85 percent of these bands will be forgotten in 30 years.
how did you forget the libertines up the bracket? thats ridiculous
Reservations:
“We Shall All Be Healed” is hardly the best Mountain Goats record. I would have chosen “All Hail West Texas”, though I’m shocked TMG made the list at all.
No TMBG?
And what’s with all of the fucking greatest hits albums?
Personal #1: “Lonesome Crowded West”
And 85 percent of these bands will NOT be forgotten within the next 30 years.
Blender is a promotional mag. They took a few good historic records, mix it with a bunch of more popular records, and then add the bands they want to promote to make them seem credible. Does that help explain?
oops, missed both murmer & surfer rosa. sorrreeee. i agree about camper van beethoven also, our beloved revolutionary…is a great album, aside from being an album with great songs, its a great song cycle. oh, and the fucking strokes fucking blow. yawwwwn.
Flipper? OMG, nobody puts Flipper on a list!
more adventurous?! over takeoffs&landings? why is feist on there? wtf @ 95.8% of this list.
The current so called modern bands that are on this list are really just unoriginal mainstreamed versions of records that have already been made over and over again. And by including these bands with such original bands as the Velvet Underground made 40 years ago only shows how stagnant this music has become. Its like jazz was in the late 80s. Not bad, just unoriginal. And when music evolves and finally becomes something different only a few bands will be remembered as the true pioneers. Thats why more than 85 percent of these bands will be soon forgotten.
#1 was a great fucking choice – hell, the only choice. When I think Indie, I think Pavement. Im kind of surprised at Crooked’s spot, but then again its not too indie, more of a classic rock feel. If thats how they were directing this list.
THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES THE STONE ROSES
I realize Husker Du is on there twice, but what about Sugar’s “Copper Blue”? Bob Mould’s strongest album ever…hands down.
This sin’t a true indie list unless Brian Jonestown Massacre is on it.
you’ve gotta be kidding me. for the one fugazi record they choose they take repeater and then they put the fuckin hold steady in front of it? get real.
In case you weren’t aware, every genre ever created is now considered INDIE. This includes 80′s feelgood rap, industrial, 70′s folk, hallowe’en punk, and whatever the fuck M.I.A. is. IT’S ALL FUCKING INDIE!!
All jokes aside – Gish over Siamese Dream?
The Greatest over You Are Free?
“This sin’t a true indie list unless Brian Jonestown Massacre is on it.”
Riiiiiiiiiight. Might as well put Coldplay on that list if we’re trying to get that crap on there.
And if they’re putting that Arcade Fire garbage that high, might as well put Franz Ferdinand much higher.
Jesus Lizard are a band I only need to listen to about once a month. When I do, however, I feel that nobody should be higher. The rest of the time, maybe #5. Pixies #1, Modest mouse #2, Violent Femmes #3, Jehu #4 #6 MBV rest who gives a shit.
i hate blender.
WHERE’S PATRICK WOLF’S LYCANTHROPY?!
Kill The Moonlight is WAY too low for my taste. And not including You Forget It In People is a grave oversight. Grave!
You FORGOT It In People. There we go…
Also, if Oh, Inverted World is included so should Chutes Too Narrow.
Crooked Rain is better than Slanted and Enchanted.
Blur?
pulp?
Oasis?
Without an album (or three/four) by Pixies, the most influential indie-rock band of all-time, this list has no cred whatsoever. Good to see “Spiderland,” though.
P.S. lulz to the dude above who confused “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” with a Smashing Pumpkins boxset.
Oh wait, “Surfer Rosa” is five. That’s what I get for not having my non-prescription plastic hipster glasses on. D’oh!
They got the artists right, but screwed up the albums?
Mass Romantic > Twin Cinema?
More Adventurous > Take Offs and Landings?
The Reminder > Let It Die?
Oh, Inverted World > Chutes Too Narrow?
Besides that, what is Blender doing even mentioning indie rock? Shouldn’t they be busy posting scantily clad photos of Christina Aguilera or something?
This is the 33rd best list of songs I’ve ever seen.
This isn’t a true indie list unless the life-changing “Hell Hath No Fury” by Clipse is at number one.
With the understanding that most “lists” are basically fodder for pop culture vultures and are better off ignored, what the hell is Emergency & I doing at a bottom-feeding number like #95???? That’s atrocious.
Dinosaur Jr – Youre Living All Over Me
)
Husker Du – New Day Rising
2 great great albums ..pre – Nirvana and very
influencial nuff said..
I love Rollins Band and would include ‘Life Time’ too
A Britsh band called New Model Army with ‘Ghost of Cain’ or ‘Thunder and Consolation’ also would be on my list
how bout PiL – Metal Box??
big problem with Franz Ferdinand BIG PROBLEM
(ah no not getting too upset but i really dont like em though)
where’s My Morning Jacket?
I don’t think I know what “indie” means.
Polvo sucks.
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY “JUNKYARD” or “HEE-HAW”
GRINDERMAN
LIGHTNING BOLT’S LAST 3 ALBUMS
SOCIAL DISTORTION “MOMMY’S LITTLE MONSTER”
PULP “DIFFERENT CLASS”
THE WALKMEN “BOWS + ARROWS”
T.REX “THE SLIDER”
MORPHINE “CURE FOR PAIN”
MR. AIRPLANE MAN “MOANIN’” or “C’MON DJ”
Madvillain – “Madvillainy”
J Dilla – “Donuts” or “The Shining”
Little Brother – “The Minstrel Show”
just to name a few.
im goin to post it again, b/c apparently you idiots dont get the point i was making with this song. This time READ the lyrics.
Yeah, I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge to the kids from France and from London.
But I was there.
I was there in 1968.
I was there at the first Can show in Cologne.
I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I’m losing my edge to the Internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1962 to 1978.
I’m losing my edge.
To all the kids in Tokyo and Berlin.
I’m losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties.
But I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there.
I’m losing my edge.
I’m losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in New York City.
I was working on the organ sounds with much patience.
I was there when Captain Beefheart started up his first band.
I told him, “Don’t do it that way. You’ll never make a dime.”
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids.
I played it at CBGB’s.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I’ve never been wrong.
I used to work in the record store.
I had everything before anyone.
I was there in the Paradise Garage DJ booth with Larry Levan.
I was there in Jamaica during the great sound clashes.
I woke up naked on the beach in Ibiza in 1988.
But I’m losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they’re actually really, really nice.
I’m losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody. Every great song by the Beach Boys. All the underground hits. All the Modern Lovers tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every Niagra record on German import. I heard that you have a white label of every seminal Detroit techno hit – 1985, ’86, ’87. I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good ’60s cut and another box set from the ’70s.
I hear you’re buying a synthesizer and an arpeggiator and are throwing your computer out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a Yaz record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your guitars and bought turntables.
I hear that you and your band have sold your turntables and bought guitars.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records? This Heat, Pere Ubu, Outsiders, Nation of Ulysses, Mars, The Trojans, The Black Dice, Todd Terry, the Germs, Section 25, Althea and Donna, Sexual Harrassment, a-ha, Pere Ubu, Dorothy Ashby, PIL, the Fania All-Stars, the Bar-Kays, the Human League, the Normal, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, Monks, Niagra,
Joy Division, Lower 48, the Association, Sun Ra,
Scientists, Royal Trux, 10cc,
Eric B. and Rakim, Index, Basic Channel, Soulsonic Force (“just hit me”!), Juan Atkins, David Axelrod, Electric Prunes, Gil! Scott! Heron!, the Slits, Faust, Mantronix, Pharaoh Sanders and the Fire Engines, the Swans, the Soft Cell, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics, the Sonics.
You don’t know what you really want. (x15)
@adrienne — nobody missed your point, it was just very obvious and not worth discussing, and made poorly by posting a very long set of lyrics rather than something that you might have come up with on your own. Also, I’m not sure you picked up on why the point itself was somewhat misplaced: nobody was just naming obscure yet influential albums for the sake of seeming knowledgeable. Most music fans over the age of 20 would be familiar with 99% of the albums listed in the comments above.
I love what music stirs in the mind…listen to all you wingers…Sounds like an English mag your’ll getting emo about? All I can say is that Slanted changed my musical life and Sigur Ros is missing…So I agree and disagree…nothing more-nothing less…We souldn’t live our lives by lists
Why is Blender still published?
this is the worst list ever.
grosssss.