sonic slang

Oasis Tops List of Best British Albums

As a band, Oasis has had more luck making tabloid news via the warm-and-cuddly brothers Gallagher, but it seems that we've underestimated the lasting appeal of their early, Beatles-lovin' work.

Q and HMV recently took a poll of the 50 Best Ever British Albums, and Definitely Maybe and (What's The Story) Morning Glory? took the top two spots respectively.  The discs held off legendary albums like Radiohead's OK Computer, London Calling from The Clash and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.  (Not to mention the entire Beatles catalog.) 

But before we crown Oasis the greatest band of all time, let's note that Keane's Under the Iron Sea came in at #8.  That's #8, all-time.  Ever.  Riiight.

Read the full top 50 after the jump

The "25 Best Eighties Movie Themes"

When a reader's "Best Of" list kicks off with Starship's "We Built This City," perhaps the worst song by a once great band (in the Jefferson Airplane days) in history, we had to wonder who the heck RS was polling for the "25 Best Eighties Movie Themes."  #24? - Frank Stallone's "Far From Over."  Sweet Jesus! 

Michael McDonald, Ray Parker Jr. - the cheese just keeps on comin'.  There are a few highlights (Lindsay Buckingham, Oingo Boingo, Survivor) but let's admit it, even the "classics" are exactly the kind of stuff that gave 80s music a bad name.  So if you're still reading (God bless you), strap on your proton accelerator and check out the full list over at Rock and Roll Daily.

London Live New Year's Eve Countdown

Now this is pretty cool way to spend tomorrow's snow day - MojoHD is featuring live footage from over 80 bands and artists including Albert Hammond Jr, Amy Winehouse, Bat For Lashes, Beck, Bloc Party, Editors, Feist, The Flaming Lips, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Rufus Wainwright, Jarvis, Wolfmother, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Killers, The Kooks, Lily Allen, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Kaiser Chiefs, and many more performing at The Koko Club in London.  Phew.

Now, while sifting through all of this might take you right up to Christmas Eve, your determination will grant you a vote for which artist you'd like to see on the "London Live New Year's Eve Countdown,"  as the top 20 vote getters will be broadcast starting at 10pm EST.  Just log on, crank that laptop speaker and voila, this time that lame NYE party you end up at could have a kick-ass soundtrack.

NME Crowns The Klaxons as Best of '07

NME just published its Top 50 albums of 2007, and even though the British music press pretty much thinks every band in existence is destined for super-stardom, at least for a day...This list ain't too shabby. 

We won't get behind The Klaxons as the year's best (or Arctic Monkeys at #2 for that matter), but a top 20 featuring Bloc Party, The White Stripes, The Shins, Arcade Fire, MIA and Radiohead can't be all bad. 

Our only WTF moment comes at the bottom reaches of the chart where Kaiser Chiefs' Yours Truly, Angry Mob, one of our most-disappointing of '07, holds down the #46 position, three notches above Interpol's latest.  Hah!

See the full list after the jump.

Jay-Z Tops Maxim Year End List

Maxim's top ten of 2007 might be just a case of picking out the most radio-friendly and/or recognizable discs from the thousands of blogger year-end lists and hitting shuffle, but we gotta say, this list ain't all that bad. 

Sure, the summaries are the typical 8th-grade reading you find in the "laddie" mags (Interpol is not "crazy and fun" but definitely "worth a listen."  Such insight!), but we can't argue with including the likes of Spoon, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, MIA...cripes, they all are pretty good actually.  That's it - Maxim is the new Pitchfork!

Read the full top ten after the jump.

Radiohead Tops Filter's Year-End List

Our pals at Filter have announced their Top Ten Albums of 2007 and surprise surprise, a little indie band  called Radiohead topped the list.  Though including Thom Yorke and co.'s best work in a decade was a bit of a no-brainer, the rest of the list is certainly going to conjure up its share of fanboy debates.  Our main gripe: Band of Horses at #2!!??  Sigh...If only. 

See the full top 10 after the jump, and check out Filter-mag.com for staff and artist lists from the likes of Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock, Paul Banks of Interpol and Kings of Leon guitarist  Jared Followill.

Stephen King's Top Seven of '07

For a guy who made his living writing books about demonic cars, rabid dogs and telekinetic prom dates, Stephen King is a pretty fair music critic.  We've enjoyed, and often agreed with his take on pop music during his time as a columnist for EW, and Uncle Stevie's "Top Seven Albums of 2007" is certainly not without merit.  But gosh, Ozzy Osbourne's Black Rain ("finest heavy metal record of the year; a true speaker-buster") at number five?  Well that's just about the scariest thing we've read since The Shining.

Blender's 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums Ever

We'll dispense with the long dissertation on how silly a list of the "100 Greatest Indie  Rock Albums Ever," as comprised by the editors of Blender really is, and just give you guys the top 10.  Honestly?  It ain't all that bad.  A couple quibbles though: (1) We're pretty sure R.E.M.'s debut album wasn't called "Mumu"  and (2) We'll still never get over how many people place Let it Be as the very best 'Mats disc.  (Should be: Third place behind Tim and Pleased to Meet Me, barely beating out the criminally-underrated All Shook Down.) 

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

Best Screams in Rock History

Now this is a great idea for a list - The new issue of Paste has ranked the "Best Screams in Rock History" and although we wish Chris Cornell, the greatest pure screamer in modern rock, could have made the list, it's hard to argue with many of these picks.  You can also hear the screams at PasteCultureClub...if your eardrums are up for it.

Top 15 "Best Screams in Rock History"

15. "YEAOOOOOOO!" -- Seth Avett, The Avett Brothers, Nothing Short of Thankful (2:25)
14. "WOO HAH! WOO HAH!" Busta Rhymes, Woo Hah!! Got You All In Check (0:23)
13. "AGAAAAAAEAH!" Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Helter Skelter (0:12)
12. "OOOWWWW!" Patterson Hood, Drive-By Truckers, Sink Hole (3:12)
11. "WOOOOOH!" Little Richard, Tutti Frutti (2:10)
10. "AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Yoshimi Yokota, Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 2 (1:46)
9. "YEEAAAHHH!" Roger Daltrey, The Who, Won’t Get Fooled Again (4:28)
8. "OOOOAAAASCREEAAAAAOOOOHHHHH!" Axl Rose, Guns N’ Roses, Welcome to The Jungle (0:09)
7. "AAAAHHHHHHOWWW!" Paul Westerberg, The Replacements, Bastards of Young (0:04)
6. "LUUHUUHUUHOVE!" Robert Plant, Led Zeppelin, Whole Lotta Love (4:19)
5. "LOAAAAAAAARD! EEOW! HOO!" Iggy Pop, the Stooges, T.V.Eye (0:00)
4. "YEEEAAHHHOOOEEEOOOEEEOOHHHH!" Jeff Buckley, Mojo Pin (3:55)
3. "WAYYYGHGHHGHYYY!" Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, Territorial Pissings (2:15)
2. "NEEOOOHHHOOWWW!" Jim Morrison, The Doors, "When The Music’s Over" (8:09)
1. "OOEEEOOOWWW!" James Brown, Get Up Offa That Thing (0:00)

Spinner's 25 "Most Monumental Flops"

Spinner is a cool site and the SS staff reads it often, but we have to call foul on their new list of the 25 "Most Monumental Flops" of all time.  Little to no criteria is given, and the list ranges from the critically panned (K-Fed's Playing with Fire) to outright but expected bombs (JC Chasez's Schizophrenic) to average follow-ups for out-of-nowhere chart-toppers (Hootie and the Blowfish's Fairweather Johnson).  Anyway, maybe it sucks, but it's still fun to debate.  SS has inserted comments for selected entries.

The 25 "Most Monumental Flops" via Spinner.com:

25. U2 - Pop (OK, this isn't anybody favorite U2 disc, but it went double platinum and got lots of critical love at the time.  Monumental flop our ass.)
24. Chingy - Powerballin
23. Spice Girls - Forever (Did you REALLY expect another diamond seller?)
22. Green Day - Warning (Longevity isn't exactly a hallmark of the punk movement.  Much more significant was the follow-up smash of American Idiot, than the middling success of this disc.)
21. Run DMC - Crown Royal
20. Meatloaf - Dead Ringer
19. Kevin Federline - Playing With Fire (OK - we'll give you this one.)
18. Stevie Wonder - Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants
17. Matthew Sweet - Altered Beast (When did we start expecting smash hits from this guy?)
16. Peter Frampton - I'm In You
15. JC Chasez - Schizophrenic (Again, what were you expecting?)
14. The Knack - But the Little Girls Understand
13. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (Um, this disc is what you call a CLASSIC, not a flop.  Not a smash like License to Ill, but take a guess which album history will remember.)
12. Hootie and the Blowfish - Fairweather Johnson (Dude, they went double platinum with this thing.  Darius Rucker would have sold his Dolphins jersey for that before Cracked Rear View.  Oh, and it's a better album.)
11. Puff Daddy - Forever
10. Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch/Lucky Town (Human Touch was an adult-contemporary disaster, but Lucky Town has aged surprisingly well.)
09. Robbie Williams - The Ego Has Landed (Oh, so we're just talking flops in the U.S?)
08. Vanilla Ice - Mind Blowin (HAH!)
07. Sisqo - Return of Dragon
06. Michael Jackson - HIStory
05. Prince - Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic
04. Paris Hilton - Paris
03. Mariah Carey - Glitter (Our personal winner - A career destroying flop that sent Mariah to the loony bin and back.  Gotta give her props.)
02. Garth Brooks - In the Life of Chris Gains (Yes, this was as silly then as it seems now.)
01. Bob Dylan - Self Portrait (How did this happen anyway?)

Top 10 Comeback Albums

We haven't had a good High Fidelity-esque list debate in a while, and lucky for us, Rock and Roll Daily gave us a good topic this morning: Top 10 comeback albums.  Their picks are below.  Did they get it right?  Add your own picks with a comment!

1. Green Day, American Idiot *
2. Elvis, From Elvis In Memphis
3. Meatloaf, Bat Out of Hell II - Back Into Hell
4. Neil Young, Freedom
5. Paul Simon, Graceland *
6. Johnny Cash, American Recordings *
7. Bob Dylan, Time Out of Mind *
8. George Harrison, Cloud 9
9. Tina Turner, Private Dancer
10. Aerosmith, Permanent Vacation *

*SS approved

Top 50 MCs of All-Time

OK kids, here's something for you to chew on over the weekend.  It's might only be one man's opinion at About.com, but he did a pretty fair job from the looks of it.  And frankly, we just like the fact that Del the Funky Homosapien (below right) is getting some love.

Read the full Top 50 MCs of all-time (1987-2007)

The top 10:

10. Scarface
9. Ice Cube
8. Kool G Rap
7. 2Pac
6. Jay-Z
5. The Notorious B.I.G.
4. Nas
3. Big Daddy Kane
2. KRS-One
1. Rakim

Worst Cover Songs in Pop History

Sure, Cracked.com might not be what we'd call an authority on music (it doesn't take a rock genius to see that Britney Spears covering The Stones = awful), but ya'll know how we love lists.  A few of these are on the money (Hilary Duff's "My Generation," the truly AWFUL cover of "You Shook Me All Night Long" by Celine Dion - see below) while others are admittedly on our iPods (GNR's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," Counting Crow's "Big Yellow Taxi") but who dares place Bob Dylan at the pinnacle of ANY "wort of" list?

The 20 Worst Cover Songs in Pop Music History:

20. "You Shook Me All Night Long" — Celine Dion and Anastasia
19. "Downtown Train" — Rod Stewart
18. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" — Guns N Roses
17. "Demolition Man" — Manfred Mann
16. "American Pie" — Madonna
15. "My Generation" — Hilary Duff
14. "It's My Life" — No Doubt
13. "Video Killed The Radio Star" — The Presidents of the United States of America
12. "Walk this Way" — Macy Gray
11. "Another Brick in the Wall" — Korn
10. "I'm A Believer" — Smash Mouth
09. "Satisfaction" — Britney Spears
08. "Sweet Child O Mine" — Sheryl Crowe
07. "Big Yellow Taxi" — Counting Crows
06. "911 Is a Joke" — Duran Duran
05. "Anarchy in the UK" — Motley Crue
04. "Behind Blue Eyes" — Limp Bizkit
03. "Feel Like Making Love" — Kid Rock
02. "Dock of the Bay" — Michael Bolton
01. "And It Stoned Me" — Bob Dylan