500 Greatest Albums of all Times

These lists usually end up being more of a list of the most popular 500 albums of great, but overplayed and way too familiar music. My top albums tend to be less well known and I play them sparingly to avoid ruining them for me. I want a top 500 list from a credible source where I dont recognise any of the names.

500 gives Rolling Stone enough room to do A LOT better:
-Their list has multiple titles from Miles Davis and Coltrane, has one Stan Getz and one Ornette Coleman (way before his peak).
LIST DOES NOT HAVE:
Charles Mingus
Thelonious Monk
Eric Dolphy
Charlie Parker
Cecil Taylor
Albert Ayler
Duke Ellington
Roland Kirk
Art Ensemble of Chicago
Bill Evans
Dave Brubeck
Gil Evans
Don Ellis
Sun Ra
John Zorn
Henry Threadgill
Don Cherry
Anthony Braxton
Oliver Nelson
Oscar Peterson
Keith Jarrett
Cannonball Adderley
Sam Rivers
Lee Konitz
Paul Desmond
Personal taste aside, RS failed to competently assemble another list.

The list has multiple titles from Roxy Music, Brian Eno and Pink Floyd and has single albums from Kraftwerk, Suicide, Sonic Youth, Captain Beefheart and My Bloody Valentine.
LIST DOES NOT HAVE:
King Crimson
ELP
Yes
Can (omission of Can is a sub zero I.Q. act of pants shitting)
Van der Graaf Generator
Henry Cow (or any Fred Frith)
Amon Duul II
NEU
Soft Machine
National Health
Camel
Gong
Terje Rypdal
Gentle Giant
Weather Report
Mahavishnu Orchestra (maybe even dumber than the Can omission)
Brand X
Magma
Chrome

List has multiple titles of Metallica, Black Sabbath AC/DC, Kiss, Def Leppard, Mott The Hoople, MC5, The Stooges, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Aerosmith, one Van Halen record and a Peter Wolf record.
LIST DOES NOT HAVE:
Deep Purple
Scorpions
Thin Lizzy
Judas Priest
Rory Gallagher
Humble Pie
Kansas
James Gang
Spirit
Blue Cheer
Blue Oyster Cult
Captain Beyond
Wishbone Ash
Uriah Heep
Megadeth
Motorhead
Pantera
Slayer
Patto
UFO

The list does contain two Frank Zappa records, but both came out before 90% of his recorded output and well before the bulk of his best compositions were released.

Can't stomach going into detail about the whole list, but it seems likely that the first 500 discs thrown on the floor by a gang of chimps in a record store might have about the same ratio of slick formulaic flotsam. Thinking RS assembled a good list of the 500 greatest albums is kind of like thinking Geo. W. Bush was a good president.

No Deep Purple?

Ok that confirms it. The list is WORTHLESS.

As far as I'm concerned, this is about as useful as asking my 80-year-old father to name his 500 favorite rock records (and, just to be clear, he's not a rock fan).

These lists are really nothing to get excited about. Every person alive would come up with a different list of the 500 best.

If you are expecting a lot of post bop jazz to show up in a Rolling Stone 500 best, I'm not sure what you're thinking. Your time would be better spent reading DownBeat. Can you imagine Bob Dylan or the Stones showing up in a DownBeat best of? By chance, there's a Critic's Poll on DownBeat right now.

Check out the list, if there's something there that you like, read the review. If not, put it back in the rack and go home and listen to that death metal band you like so much and congratulate yourself on your good taste.

There is always Amazon for people who wish to be amateur reviewers. You can review individual albums and you can make up your own best of lists, and they'll be published on the web for the whole world to see. Don't get mad, have a go at it yourself.