Channel 4 knock out ’100 Best’-style programmes like there’s no tomorrow. And most of them seem especially designed to get people all angry. And none more so than this weekend’s ’100 Greatest Albums’.
Music is so subjective, there is probably not a single person on Earth that agrees with all of the entries. The easiest thing to do, then, is to fall for the trick and get angry at some of the choices that made the list.
Not hecklerspray, though. We’re going to be the better people and rise above all the petty squabbling.
Yeah, right…
There seems to be an overwhelming trend for ‘big’ music this year.
Number one, as you probably know by now, was Radiohead‘s OK Computer, a
sprawling album of some pretty good songs, and some mediocre songs.
Best album ever? Probably not.
The choice for number two, though, was so jaw-droppingly terrible
that hecklerspray has eaten it’s own hands off in dismay. The Joshua Tree by U2. U2! But they’re….they’re…rubbish! And that album in
particular is one of the most overblown,
guitar-solo-on-top-of-the-Grand-Canyon pieces of cack ever made.
Achtung Baby somewhere in the top thirty would have been understandable, but The Joshua Tree?
Dark Side Of The Moon was number five. Proof that no matter how much
fashion changes, there will always be thousands of first year
university students trying to make themselves look more interesting.
Sgt Pepper was number seven, somehow coming ahead of Revolver and The White Album. And Oasis were number six! Oasis – you were better than The
Beatles all along. We apologise with all our hearts for ever doubting
you. Lyla is still shit, though.
And obviously, as with any compilation show, there were so many
fantastic albums left out. No Wu-Tang Clan, no Histoire De Melody Nelson, no Pavement, no Al Green. Curtis Mayfield way behind Dido. Public Enemy
behind Fleetwood Mac. Five Leaves Left instead of Bryter Layter. Sign ‘O’ The Times instead of Lovesexy. The list goes on and on.
On the plus side, the show reminded hecklerspray how brilliant Screamadelica is, and Blue Lines.
What album do you think should have made it into the top 100? Leave a comment below. Just no more mention of U2, though.
[story by Stuart Heritage]
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
69 Love Songs. For its romantic title and sardonic prose.
Yeah, Magnetic Fields rock (in a sort of fluffy way). Speaking of droll, where was Zappa, Malkmus, Beefheart and Mark E ‘fucking’ Smith-ah?
How so fluffy?
You know, like a fluffy bunny. Epitaph of My Heart being the least fluffy vs Chicken With Its Head Cut Off being the most fluffworthy. I like the deep voice and the Moz lyricism, but you can leave the theatre at home as far as this rabbit is concerned.
Yes, I see now. I like the one about dancing and “I don’t want to get over you” has some great lyrics for unhappy relationship dwellers…