Australia's Favorite Albums
Usually when we post these lists it's a chance for you to sit in judgment of a magazine editorial staff -- but how about opening the windows in those glass houses to cast stones at an entire nation? ABC Down Under polled 100,000 Aussies, asking for their record picks. For such a proud country ("Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oy Oy Oy!"), they don't seem too high on their rock, with a domestic rock album first surfacing at #23 with Midnight Oil's 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. We've always been impressed when our Aussie friends have told us just how much that country "gets" Jeff Buckley, and while this list totally backs them up, it seems there's still folks down under wondering who the hell he is! Anyway, here are the poll results (via ABC):
01. Pink Floyd — Dark Side Of The MoonThe rest of the Aussies' faves below.
02. Jeff Buckley — Grace
03. Radiohead — Ok Computer
04. The Beatles — Abbey Road
05. The Beatles — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
06. Nirvana — Nevermind
07. Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin IV
08. Red Hot Chili Peppers — Blood Sugar Sex Magik
09. Meat Loaf — Bat Out Of Hell
10. U2 — The Joshua Tree
11. Pink Floyd — Wish You Were HereAussie readers (we have Aussie readers, right?), if you're up to it: Care to explain #9?
12. The Beatles — The Beatles - White Album
13. The Beatles — Revolver
14. Pink Floyd — The Wall
15. Radiohead — The Bends
16. Neil Diamond — Hot August Night
17. Neil Young — Harvest
18. Carole King — Tapestry
19. Pearl Jam — Ten
20. Fleetwood Mac — Rumours
21. Tool — Aenima
22. Bob Dylan — Blood On The Tracks
23. Midnight Oil — 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
24. Silverchair — Diorama
25. AC/DC — Back In Black
26. The Clash — London Calling
27. The Whitlams — Eternal Nightcap
28. Queen — A night at the Opera
29. The Pixies — Doolittle
30. Missy Higgins — The Sound Of White
31. Paul Simon — Graceland
32. Anthony Callea — Anthony Callea
33. U2 — Achtung Baby
34. David Bowie — Ziggy Stardust and the spiders from Mars
35. Radiohead — Kid A
36. The Beatles — Rubber Soul
37. The Stone Roses — Stone Roses
38. Wolfmother — Wolfmother
39. Oasis — What's The Story Morning Glory
40. Tool — Lateralus
41. Coldplay — A Rush of Blood to the Head
42. Bob Dylan — Highway 61
43. Sex Pistols — Never Mind the Bollocks
44. Van Morrison — Astral Weeks
45. The Living End — The Living End
46. The Strokes — Is this It?
47. Silverchair — Neon Ballroom
48. The Eagles — Hotel California
49. The Smiths — The Queen Is Dead
50. You Am I — Hourly Daily
51. The Cure — Disintegration
52. Bob Dylan — Blonde On Blonde
53. Lou Reed — Transformer
54. Bruce Springsteen — Born To Run
55. Red Hot Chili Peppers — Californication
56. Metallica — Master of Puppets
57. Cat Stevens —Tea for the Tillerman
58. R.E.M — Automatic For The People
59. Muse — Absolution
60. Joni Mitchell — Blue
61. Prince — Purple Rain
62. ABBA — Arrival
63. Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
64. Dire Straits — Brothers In Arms
65. Miles Davis — Kind of Blue
66. Cold Chisel — East
67. The Smashing Pumpkins — Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
68. The Who — Who's Next
69. Yes — Close To The Edge
70. Deep Purple — Machine Head
71. Rage Against The Machine — Rage Against The Machine
72. Green Day — American Idiot
73. Guns N Roses — Appetite For Destruction
74. INXS — Kick
75. David Bowie — Hunky Dory
76. The Smashing Pumpkins — Siamese Dream
77. Def Leppard — Hysteria
78. Foo Fighters — The Color and The Shape
79. U2 — Rattle and Hum
80. Delta Goodrem — Innocent Eyes
81. John Farnham — Whispering Jack
82. You Am I — Hi Fi Way
83. Darren Hayes — The Tension & The Spark
84. Crowded House — Woodface
85. Live — Throwing Copper
86. Nine Inch Nails — The Downward Spiral
87. Massive Attack — Blue Lines
88. Led Zeppelin — Led Zeppelin II
89. Mike Oldfield — Tubular Bells
90. Radio Birdman — Radios Appear
91. Ben Folds Five — Whatever and Ever Amen
92. Crowded House — Crowded House
93. Powderfinger — Vulture Street
94. The Killers — Hot Fuss
95. The Rolling Stones — Sticky Fingers
96. Silverchair — Frogstomp
97. Queens Of The Stone Age — Songs For The Deaf
98. Portishead — Dummy
99. Soundgarden — Superunknown
100. The Velvet Underground & Nico — The Velvet Underground & Nico
Posted at 6:00 PM in Shit List
Tags: Jeff Buckley | Pink Floyd
Ooh, Ben Folds Five! And there was me thinking this list would primarily consist of Rolf Harris.
Woo Australia!
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Yes you have at least one regular Aussie reader here!
Meatloaf must've been the yobbos (redneck/trailer trash type) having their say as we do have quite a few. Also most Aussies are pretty traditional rock lovers so this list is pretty accurate. And #32 Anthony Callea?!?!?!?! (This guy came 2nd in Australian Idol a few years back and he is real gay)
And btw its "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!".
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I've had a really bad day, and I hate the fucking eagles!
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Who knew?
The Aussie list is cooler than the US and Brit lists combined.
DwD
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What DwD said. This list is... pretty damn good. Wow.
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What, no men at work? The fact that ABBA is higher on the list than Miles Davis makes me sick.
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Enough with the Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi! Oi! oi! stuff - we hate that crap. It's popularity is as inexplainable as #9, the inclusion of #32 and the lack of Pet Sounds.
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What, no men at work? The fact that ABBA is higher on the list than Miles Davis makes me sick.
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Interesting that there is no love for Ben Lee/Noise Addict. No matter. I'd throw those 100 on random.
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does rap not exist in Australia?
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youve been posting lots of pointless lists lately..........
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does rap not exist in Australia?
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Anthony Callea = The Gay Midget
That's one thing all Austrlaians can agree w/ Fat Kyle.
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All the Brit expats in Australia took over the poll, obviously.
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please stop posting shitty lists.
hip hop anyone?
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Please NO Hip Hop.
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please stop posting shitty lists.
hip hop anyone?
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Yes. Yes. Please use some discretion with the lists. I just don't give a fuck about Australia.
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Did the aussies have a ban on importing the Stones and Velvets or something? How is it that these two make their only appearance at the very bottom of the list? Even Yes beats them by great lengths. What's the deal?
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Hey, look at that! You Am I is on a best of list! And only 26 below the crappy band that named themselves after 'em!
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holy crap. i'm taking my half-australian wife and moving us there... people actually have some taste!
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As an Aussie who actually watched this program, I have to say this list is pretty skewed.
For a start everyone could vote online up to ten times. So I think there was a lot of hardcore fandom going on. Also the ABC television network is kind of like PBS in the U.S, so it has a pretty small audience share that leans more towards the over 40's demographic. Hence a lack of Hip Hop, Velvets at the back etc..
And yes, we Aussies do have a deep, deep love for Jeff Buckley that is not matched anywhere else. I guess you could say that if we were Germany he would be our David Hasslehoff.
Oh and there is such a thing as Aussie hip-hop. Check out Macromantics (signed to Kill Rock Stars in the U.S) http://www.myspace.com/macromantics
and the Herd http://www.myspace.com/runningwiththeherd
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Any 'best of' list can and will not be taken seriously when there are not one, not two, but three entries for Silverchair. Unless of course it's a best of list for Silverchair albums that are terrible.
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as an aussie i am a little ashamed of the list. i can't really explain #9. frightened the hell outta me. there really should be an AC/DC & rolling stones album in the top ten... oh and someone mentioned aussie hip-hop, i was a little surprised about no hiltop hoods.
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im guessing the 12 year olds heard about this poll and voted ten times each for Anthony Callea, then pretended to be someone else and voted for him another ten times.
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Please don't judge all Aussies on this list! It makes me sad to be Australian when I see a list like this =/
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Australia loves Meatloaf.
Bat out of Hell is the bestselling album in Australia ever - going 22 times platinum.
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Australia has resolved the debate between U2 and R.E.M.
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Just a few things with the list:
* When I spoke to my mostly middle-aged workers about the list they all agreed that they loved Meatloaf. Rather scary.
* The main problem with the list is that they canvassed the entire ABC audience - they have stations that cover alternate music, adult contemporary, world music, jazz, classical...it is a rediculous broad section and was destined to never really work.
* As you can see, the majority of voters came from the alternate audience - I was pretty shocked at how high Buckley and Radiohead rated.
* You Am I fucking rules - they don't get enough love outside of Australia. They made albums that should have been bigger than Jet and The Vines, only 10 years too early.
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I am surprised to see only two Crowded House albums on the bottom of the list. I would expect they would be higher than that. Why isn't "Recurring Dream" up there, their greatest hits collection. I know that that has sold thousands upon thousands of copies in Australia.
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VU & Nico, where it belongs on every top 100 list, right below Hot Fuss and Frogstomp.
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this list makes me proud to be an australian!
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Appears that Australia is entirely composed of men.
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I am surprised to see only two Crowded House albums on the bottom of the list. I would expect they would be higher than that. Why isn't "Recurring Dream" up there, their greatest hits collection. I know that that has sold thousands upon thousands of copies in Australia.
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This is one of the most eclectic lists I've ever seen, that's for sure. I was going to make fun of the Meatloaf thing when I suddenly tried to picture what America's list would look like. Snarkiness evaporated.
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It's kinda funny what Americans think we listen to over here.
There is no love for Ben Lee here - we think he is a cocksnap just like you guys do. Men At Work sold fuck all albums here and no one listens to them now.
Also I'm fairly sure best of collections don't count - as such Recurring Dream wasn't eligible.
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I'm an Aussie and the fact exile on main street or Pet Sounds weren't on there shocked me to shit.
But others are right, it is a pretty ecletic list, reflective of the fact it was a poll comprised primarily of the listeners/viewers of our major public broadcaster.
If it had been more heavily promoted across other stations it would have been a real eye sore.
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Appears that Australia is entirely composed of men.
wtf is with the lack of kylie? i mean she's only the world's greatest popstar, for chrissakes. also, as an australia, #8 shames me far more than #9.
incidentally, the best bit from st etienne's most recent album, about a pub in london, "they took the jukebox out / and the aussie barstaff are playing red hot chili peppers / he tells them what he thinks / he manages to keep it clean / he buys another round"
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i live in sydney and watched the show, they did a reasonably good job, considering most people's taste in most countries runs to the bland and conservative, i would have liked more recent stuff, arcade fire, spoon, my morning jacket, but the chances of anything fresh turning up were minimal.
a broad list like this will always throw up some classics and a lot of turkeys
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That was one shit list. Where's the Saints, Nick Cave, Go Betweens, Sunnyboys, Birthday Party just to name a few great Australian bands.
#32 is a complete embarassment!
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Silverchair ranked higher than AC/DC. Hilarious. AC/DC next to . . . uh, Steve Irwin is that country's most popular export and they put the Aussie rock scene on the map.
Kind of Blue is the only jazz album on the list?! Is Miles Davis all they know?
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yep miles davis is the only jazz musican we've ever heard of... all 20 million of us... douche.
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Crikey! The Aussie Top 10 would have been pretty flawless if they'd just omitted the Meatster. Still, pretty damned impressive, nonetheless.
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Ben Folds Five a.k.a Rolf Harris. You clearly didn;t read the liner notes on his last album.
There is Australia and then there is Australia. This list is concerned with the former.
A concerned citizen.
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