Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time

[Sonnie]

AVRev.com's Top 100 Rock Albums of All Time

In a world where record companies seem happy to sell consumers songs by the single via a low-resolution, non-surround sound download - AVRev.com wanted to point out the importance of the album concept.

Inspired by the Sabermetric system used by Bill James in his baseball abstracts that attempt to make seemingly subjective elements more scientific in comparison - the AVRev.com staff compiled a set of categories to rate the Top 100 Rock Albums of all time. We offer a link below for readers to download the same sheet to see how your favorites do.




The Judges
The team of judges include: AVRev.com publisher Jerry Del Colliano Jr., AVRev.com Music Editor Charles Andrews, 5.1 music executive David Delgrosso, Xhifi's President Howard Schilling, Definitive Audio's Eric Ward, Bel Canto's President John Stronczer and record industry veteran and high-resolution enthusiast, Ted Cohen.

The Categories
Performance: (100 Points) Simply put, how well did the band or artist play on the record? Technical ability, soul and beyond.

Songs and Songwriting: (100 Points) How good are the songs on the record? Were they great originals, killer covers, reinterpretations that were better than the original? All would spike the score in this category.

Sound: (50 Points) - How good does the record sound? Did it ever get released in a high-resolution or surround sound format? If so, that would get a few extra points. Was the record a breakthrough record for recording techniques or does it just plain sound good on a CD? These are all factors in a high score for sound.

Production: (50 Points) - Great sound doesn’t always match with great production (think Wall of Sound from Phil Spector). Slick production, unique instrumentation, development of important "sounds" all factor into a high score in this category.

Staying Power: (50 Points) - To be a truly great album, the record needs to be as relevant today as it when it came out.

Concept/Continuity: (50 Points) - This is the X Factor category where albums that are great from the first note to the last get the highest grades. Think of The Police's Synchronicity and the stiff song "Mother" as an example of a great record with one bad track. Records that are great from top to bottom receive the best grades here.

Source: AVRev.com

And wouldn't you know... Pink Floyd tops the chart...









Judge for Yourself

Download a template in Excel here
so you can create your own list.

[Fincave]

Interesting list, I actually have quite a few of the albums on it. IMO there are some very surprising ommisions: Nirvana, Bob Dylan (though he does get an honourable mention), Black Sabbath, Elvis, The Clash to name but a few. I would not include Madonna and Michael Jackson as they have nothing to do with 'ROCK' music. Rolling Stone also have their Top 500 list and it is quite interesting comparing the two, Sgt.Peppers comes in at number one, DSOTM only at 43. The Beatles actually have four albums in the top 10!!!

Here is a link to the Rolling Stone Top 500, purely for comparitive reasons.

[jvc]

At one time, I had that issue of Rolling Stone. I think that's the one that had a free sacd sampler (very nice) in it. Seems like, but I can't swear to it, that Rolling Stone's list was determined by sales figures, instead of personal opinions of judges.

I agree with a lot of their list, but agree that Michael Jackson and Madonna don't belong there. They are pop, not rock.......... ) But, that's just disagreeing with someone's else's opinion.

[Sonnie]

One thing to consider it who determines the rankings. There is a vast difference between how these judges ranked the above and even who they are and Billboard's methodology...

Currently, Billboard utilizes a system called Nielsen Soundscan to track sales of singles, albums, videos and DVDs. Essentially, it's a system that registers sales when the product is purchased at the cash register of SoundScan-enabled stores. Billboard also uses a system called Broadcast Data Systems, or BDS, which they own as a subsidiary, to track radio airplay. Each song has a musical "fingerprint" which, when played on a radio station that is contracted to use BDS, is detected. These detections are added up every week among all radio stations to determine airplay points. Arbitron statistics are also factored in to give "weight" to airplay based on audience size and time-of-day.

Each of Billboard's charts use this basic formula. What separates the charts is what stations or stores each chart uses - each musical genre having a core audience or retail group. Each genre's department at Billboard is headed up by a chart manager, who makes these determinations.

For many years, a song had to be commercially available as a single to be considered for any of Billboard's charts. At the time, instead of using SoundScan or BDS, Billboard obtained its data from manual reports filled out by radio stations and stores. In 1990, the country singles chart was the first chart to use SoundScan and BDS. They were followed by the Hot 100 and the R&B chart in 1991. Today, all of Billboard's charts use this technology.

Before September 1995, singles were allowed to chart in the week they first went on sale based on airplay points alone. The policy was changed in September 1995 to only allow a single to debut after a full week of sales on combined sales and airplay points. This allowed several tracks to debut at number one.

In December 1998, the policy was further modified to allow tracks to chart on the basis of airplay alone without a commercial release. This change was made to reflect the changing realities of the music business. Previous to this, several substantial radio and MTV hits had not appeared on the Billboard chart at all, because companies chose not to release them as standalone singles, in hopes that their unavailability would spur greater album sales. Not offering a popular song to the public as a single was unheard of before the 1970s. Among the many pre-1999 songs that had ended up in this Hot 100 limbo were Nirvana's "All Apologies," the Cardigans' "Lovefool," Smash Mouth's "Walking on the Sun," OMC's "How Bizarre," Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta," Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity," Everclear's "Santa Monica," Stone Temple Pilots' "Interstate Love Song," Fastball's "The Way," the Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm," Veruca Salt's "Seether," and The Cranberries' "Zombie," as well as numerous Green Day, Live, Offspring, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mariah Carey, Alanis Morissette and Foo Fighters tracks.

Starting in 2005, Billboard changed its methodology to allow paid digital downloads from digital music stores such as iTunes to chart with or without the help of radio airplay.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Seems to be a lot of Zepplin fans on that panel…

I’m surprised Chicago made the list. They seem to be perennially underappreciated in polls like this.

Also – Lyle Lovett? Beastie Boys? When did they do any rock?

Regards,
Wayne

[trainCatcher]

Though everyone is entitled to their own opinion, the Metallica albums are definitely ranked incorrectly. I mean how can anyone rank Master of Puppets as the 4th best Metallica album (below Ride the Lightning and the Black Album? ) Speaking of metal, Slayer's Season's in the Abyss probably should be up there with Reign in Blood.

[lcaillo]

Wayne A. Pflughaupt;54339...Chicago...perennially underappreciated

Gulp! I would have to have included Sabbath, for sure, and 2112 was a great rock album, better than MP IMO.