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episode date - August 15, 2006
The Observer’s List of “Fifty Albums that Changed Music,” Part Three
This week, we continue our exploration of The London Observer’s list of “Fifty Albums that Changed Music,” and we can hardly believe our eyes (or our ears). To be blunt, are they serious????
Up until now, I had a few disagreements with the Observer’s choices (placing Kraftwerk’s “Trans Euro Express” at #3 is laughable), but at this point, their list moves from the occasionally sublime to the utterly ridiculous. Things start off well enough with today’s show, but at #21, they throw in a curveball that sails right over my head…and out of the ballpark. What right-thinking adult human being would praise the Spice Girls for their influence on pop music? I can only presume that their point was to convey how present day pop music contains an unhealthy amount of formulaic product disguised as music, but is that innovative or influential? Furthermore, why single out the Spice Girls, when there were dozens of other bands that pre-dated them, and lasted longer?
The most maddening aspect is the Spice Girls appearance on this list! Especially when you consider who is NOT included on their list of 50 influential albums - the Rolling Stones - for instance. How can you take them seriously if they place the Spice Girls ahead of Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix and James Brown? And once again, the Rolling Stones? None????? Even if you HATE the Rolling Stones, you cannot deny that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are genetically perfect rock stars, providing the look and the attitude that influenced virtually every music act in their wake. So, with their credibility seriously shaken, and with a renewed resolve to compile my OWN list of “50 Albums that Changed Music”, here is the continuation of our presentation of the Observer’s list, starting at…
16) Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
17) The Stooges – Raw Power
18) The Clash – London Calling
19) Mary J. Blige – What’s the 411?
20) The Byrds – Sweethearts of the Rodeo
21) The Spice Girls – Spice
22) Kate Bush – The Hounds of Love
23) Augustus Pablo – King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
24) Youssou N’Dour – Immigres
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