What is the best album of all time, in your opinion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good ones on here that I have listened to over and over, Pink Floyd, Beastie Boys, PRINCE. I'll add:

The Cure - Disintegration
David Bowie - Let's Dance
George Michael - Faith

I forgot about that one! Every freaking song was released as a single, it was so strong!

[Anonymous]

Pink Floyd - The Wall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Def Leppard - Hysteria

My age is 46

Also 46. My friends and I would argue over Hysteria vs. Pyromania. (I was team Hysteria.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I nominate Born In the Usa.

That's a good one. The perfect Pop-Rock album. In fact, the genius of that album is overshadowed by the 'cheesiness' of the title track.

But I'll go as far to say that Born To Run is the greatest album of all time.

A perfect summer night of hope and romance and story-telling in a single album. Where each song perfectly works with the next. It's almost like a Broadway show in an album

[Anonymous]

Blue - Joni Mitchell

[Anonymous]

Sgt. Pepper, Beatles
Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd
Age 57

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Revolver

This is the right answer. And Abbey Road is number 2.

Come on, people, only two mentions of the Beatles? I'm not even a huge Beatles fan, but that's absurd.

I love the Beatles. And they would be on the short list for Greatest Rock Band of all time.

But they were too comfortable putting 'throw away' songs on their albums. Which is fine. They had fun making them, and put them on the albums.

But the 'best album of all time' can't have any waste.

And songs like 'Octopus' Garden' or 'Yellow Submarine' disqualify those albums.

Born to Run is the winner here. Not a single wasted song, lyric or note. A perfect album from start to finish. And you can tell from listening to the songs that didn't make the cut. Those songs are near perfect as well. But they just missed the mark. Most other artists would have included them in the album. But Bruce didnt; and that's what makes BTR the best album of all time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Def Leppard - Hysteria

My age is 46

Love Hysteria too! 43

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Off The Wall -- MJackson

This. I think OTW is head-and-shoulders above Thriller.

I also agree with other PPs on Purple Rain and Tapestry. I would have a hard time choosing among the three.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thriller by Michael Jackson

I'd say its a tie between this and A Night at the Opera by Queen.

But my personal favorite is Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Miseducation by Lauryn Hill

Damn. Yes.

Age 37

[Anonymous]

Not to take the fun out of this, but there's a difference between 'my favorite album' and what i think the 'best album' of all time is.

And I think you have to make an effort to quantify it with scores/categories

- Longevity: Do people still listen to it?
- Critical Success: Did the critics like it?
- Commercial Success: Did the general population like it?
- Influence: Can you see the impacts of the music on future artists?
- Consistency: Is each song on the album good? An album with 4 amazing songs and 4 duds would not qualify.

Obviously, the answers to these questions are still subjective and open to opinion, so I don't think it would get us to an absolute answer.

But I do think it would disqualify some of the albums suggested.

For example, Use your Illusion would fail the consistency test; its a double album with too many 'meh' songs. Or, Def Leopard would fail the influence test; you can't REALLY hear much Def Leopard influence in modern music.

Meanwhile (I'm the PP that recommended Born to Run in a PP), I can now see that Michael Jackson may actually score higher on these than Bruce in Influence (and maybe longevity). You're more likely to hear MJ's influence on the radio than Bruce's (though you are more likely to hear Bruce's influence on Country radio than Rock)

I think when we look at this though, I think we need to consider Metallica's Black album. There's not a bad song it. People still listen to it. It was a critical and commercial success. And it has probably influenced/introduced more people to Heavy Metal than any other album.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to take the fun out of this, but there's a difference between 'my favorite album' and what i think the 'best album' of all time is.

And I think you have to make an effort to quantify it with scores/categories

- Longevity: Do people still listen to it?
- Critical Success: Did the critics like it?
- Commercial Success: Did the general population like it?
- Influence: Can you see the impacts of the music on future artists?
- Consistency: Is each song on the album good? An album with 4 amazing songs and 4 duds would not qualify.

Obviously, the answers to these questions are still subjective and open to opinion, so I don't think it would get us to an absolute answer.

But I do think it would disqualify some of the albums suggested.

For example, Use your Illusion would fail the consistency test; its a double album with too many 'meh' songs. Or, Def Leopard would fail the influence test; you can't REALLY hear much Def Leopard influence in modern music.

Meanwhile (I'm the PP that recommended Born to Run in a PP), I can now see that Michael Jackson may actually score higher on these than Bruce in Influence (and maybe longevity). You're more likely to hear MJ's influence on the radio than Bruce's (though you are more likely to hear Bruce's influence on Country radio than Rock)

I think when we look at this though, I think we need to consider Metallica's Black album. There's not a bad song it. People still listen to it. It was a critical and commercial success. And it has probably influenced/introduced more people to Heavy Metal than any other album.

To be fair, the OP is asking “in your opinion”.... I mean if we want to look up lists on the internet re best album, there are surely multiple lists out there.

[Anonymous]

Thick as a brick - Jethro Tull.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to take the fun out of this, but there's a difference between 'my favorite album' and what i think the 'best album' of all time is.

And I think you have to make an effort to quantify it with scores/categories

- Longevity: Do people still listen to it?
- Critical Success: Did the critics like it?
- Commercial Success: Did the general population like it?
- Influence: Can you see the impacts of the music on future artists?
- Consistency: Is each song on the album good? An album with 4 amazing songs and 4 duds would not qualify.

Obviously, the answers to these questions are still subjective and open to opinion, so I don't think it would get us to an absolute answer.

But I do think it would disqualify some of the albums suggested.

For example, Use your Illusion would fail the consistency test; its a double album with too many 'meh' songs. Or, Def Leopard would fail the influence test; you can't REALLY hear much Def Leopard influence in modern music.

Meanwhile (I'm the PP that recommended Born to Run in a PP), I can now see that Michael Jackson may actually score higher on these than Bruce in Influence (and maybe longevity). You're more likely to hear MJ's influence on the radio than Bruce's (though you are more likely to hear Bruce's influence on Country radio than Rock)

I think when we look at this though, I think we need to consider Metallica's Black album. There's not a bad song it. People still listen to it. It was a critical and commercial success. And it has probably influenced/introduced more people to Heavy Metal than any other album.

To be fair, the OP is asking “in your opinion”.... I mean if we want to look up lists on the internet re best album, there are surely multiple lists out there.

Lol. Fair point. But they are asking for our opinion on the best album, not our favorite album. I have a favorite album. But I don't think I could ever argue that its the best album