Ha ha, ok sorry about the hyperbole there in the subject.
Okay, here's the deal. This is not a top 50 prog metal list. It's nicmos's top 50 list. A little about my tastes: I grew up listening to music in my mom's car on cassette, so it was her tastes. She liked showtunes and what you might call easy listening of the 60s-70s era. I took music lessons, practiced piano, but never went very far with it. I also listened to classical music at my grandparents' house, mostly Bach.
But I didn't really re-discover music until my older brother started driving, and he drove me around in the car listening to his music on CD. Funny, until I wrote this I didn't realize how much my musical experience was influenced by car-listening! Well, my brother had gotten into Rush, and this was the transformative moment for me. As I explored my own tastes I delved into more classical, metal, and electronic, as well as remembering the things I liked the most from my youth. I consider myself an appreciator of classical music, although no proper classical shows up on the list, and mostly this is because the music wasn't composed as albums. This is too bad because there are some grand orchestral pieces which are among my absolute most treasured music. But orchestral music, in the form of movie scores, shows up often. I think it's reasonable to count these since they were composed in a block. There's one musical theatre soundtrack in the list too. There are some more mainstream (you might call them pop, which I guess is sort of the definition since they have broad appeal) music albums as well, so brace yourself for the chance to be elitist and tell me how much more sophisticated your tastes are than mine!
But rest assured, there are at last count 10 of the top 20 bands from Big Hath's tabulated forum favorites. A lot of albums you are all too familiar with, but I guarantee at least a couple that are on no one else's lists, and things I bet you will enjoy if you havent' given them a try yet.
One more note regarding my criteria for what makes a top album: The whole thing has to be good. If an album has 4 great songs and 4 forgettable ones, it doesn't make the list for me. As you'll see with some of these, there's the occasional clunker song, but the way I think about it is if you took out any stinkers, does what you have left still make enough of a great album for a full listening session? That's my thought process. So with that, let's get started! And I'm just going to warn you that 3 of the first 4 (counting down, that is) are movie scores but it gets back to mostly rock music pretty quickly, so don't tune out too fast.
And we're off!
50. Stone Temple Pilots - Core (1992)
One of the "Core" albums of the grunge era, this album doesn't get as much credit as I think it deserves. The melodic structures are top notch for what some might think is a low-brow band. More importantly, it has the STP signature use of nonstandard rock chords. While I like some of the songs on their later albums a lot, I think lead singer Weiland's cooky-ness took the band in a weird direction (Big Bang Baby anyone?) and there's a lot of filler or non-rock songs that just don't work for me on those releases. But here, combine 7th and 9th chords (or who knows what else, I don't play so it's not immediately recognizable) with plenty of guitar chug and well-placed sustain, and it's a winning formula. Favorites: Sex Type Thing, Sin, Piece of Pie, Plush Missteps: Creep
49. John Williams - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981/2008 expanded-release)
But it's a movie score! You can't do that! Oh yes I can. Just because John Williams writes for 100 players instead of 4 doesn't mean he can't write astounding music. And astounding music it is. Here, in the score to the beloved action classic, Williams conjures adventure and excitement like no one else can, and no one else has almost since. The iconic Raiders theme shines, especially the "B"-theme, in the action music towards the climax. Combined with a great love theme, and sinister themes for the Ark of the Covenant and a Hebrew motif, it draws you in and you can't help but feel like a kid watching one of the most joyful cinematic experiences out there. Favorites: Flight from Peru, The Map Room: Dawn, Desert Chase, The Miracle of the Ark, Washington Ending (End Credits)
Topic: Re: nicmos' Top 50 albums v. #1 that is why you fail (Read 22872 times)
