SPIN's Top 125 of the past 25 years

[Tequila Cowboy]

I have 17. what an awful list. Even the bands I like on the list often had the wrong album chosen (Husker Du New Day Rising over Zen Arcade????). Oh and it tops it all off with, not a cherry but a big ol' stinkin' pile of crap in U2's Achtung Baby. Best album of the last 25 years? That album sucks, along with pretty much everything they did after The Unforgettable Fire. Guess I know why I don't read Spin. Yikes.

[RevMatt]

I believe Zen Arcade was released in 1984, making it ineligiable.

My biggest bone of contention, aside from no DBT on the list, is that there were very few albums from artists who were already established before 1985. For example, no Neil Young or Bob Dylan on the list. Both of those artists made some of the best albums of their career during that period. Another bone of contention is that many of the albums by a particular artist that were chosen. For example, Lucinda Williams' album Lucinda Williams[/i ]made the list while [i]Car Wheels on a Gravel Road did not.

[Tequila Cowboy]

I believe Zen Arcade was released in 1984, making it ineligiable.

I stand corrected. I would have gone with Flip Your Wig in that case.

[TruckerTomer]

Not my taste kinda list...I own only like 3-4 of this. A lot of artists & genres I dislike. And I hate U2...

I own a lot of albums from the past 2 decades. Kinda made me wanna make my own list. That's all this list did. It's also a very mainstream one.

[potatoeater]

Previous comment retracted. It's still not MY list but they did get a few good ones in there like Steve Earle, Pearl Jam, REM and Rage.

[PeterJ]

I have roughly 17 of them. Not a very impressive list.

[shuffle]

I've heard 52 of those, or at least I think so... There's lots of good albums there, mixed in with some crap, plus a bunch of stuff I'd like to here and lots that I'm not interested in.

The ordering is based on the most "influential" albums I think, which would explain some of the weirder rankings.

[beantownbubba]

Well, I have 80 of 'em, for whatever that's worth. I even listen to some of them, lol.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

43, not including ones I had but got rid of

Glad to see Sign O' the Times getting some serious love. Easily one of my favorite albums ever, and The Purple Man's finest moment

[Tequila Cowboy]

I see the list. I see Achtung Baby as #1, I discredit list. Several hours later and that still has me crazy. Does anyone actually like that record? Seriously? I mean I know I get shit for disliking The Joshua Tree, but except for hardcore U2 fans I've never known anyone to like Achtung.

Side note:At the time of it's release I wrote a letter to the late, lamented Musician Magazine dissing U2 and that record and caused a bit of a shitstorm. People were cussing me out on the letters page for months.

[potatoeater]

Side note:At the time of it's release I wrote a letter to the late, lamented Musician Magazine dissing U2 and that record and caused a bit of a shitstorm. People were cussing me out on the letters page for months.

Nice.

[RevMatt]

I see the list. I see Achtung Baby as #1, I discredit list. Several hours later and that still has me crazy. Does anyone actually like that record? Seriously? I mean I know I get shit for disliking The Joshua Tree, but except for hardcore U2 fans I've never known anyone to like Achtung.

Side note:At the time of it's release I wrote a letter to the late, lamented Musician Magazine dissing U2 and that record and caused a bit of a shitstorm. People were cussing me out on the letters page for months.

I don't know if I necessarily qualify as a hardcore U2 fan. I saw them at CBGB's and The Ritz back in high school. (Eveyone in my high school parking lot could have seen them in a small club for less than ten bucks but only me and my friend Paul were interested. I laugh at my Facebook friends from high school who now pay hundreds of bucks to see them in a football stadium. There was room in the car back in 1981!) After the first time I saw them, I predicted that they would be as big as Led Zeppelin.

Anyhow, back to the topic. I have always thought highly of Achtung Baby. In the U2 catalogue, I only rank it behind War and Boy, and only slightly behind those two.

[Tequila Cowboy]

Ok, well RevMatt I don't agree but I respect your musical tastes so now I know someone digs it. I too saw U2 a few times in the early days including once at the Park West in Chicago in front of 100 people or so. Loved them then. they jumped the shark for me with The Joshua Tree and I never went back.

[RevMatt]

Previous comment retracted. It's still not MY list but they did get a few good ones in there like Steve Earle, Pearl Jam, REM and Rage.

I was glad to see Steve Earle on the list, but I would certainly rank El Corazon and I Feel Alright above Guitar Town. Don't get me wrong, I like Guitar Town. I just don't think it is better than the first four or five post-prison Steve Earle albums.

[beantownbubba]

Previous comment retracted. It's still not MY list but they did get a few good ones in there like Steve Earle, Pearl Jam, REM and Rage.

I was glad to see Steve Earle on the list, but I would certainly rank El Corazon and I Feel Alright above Guitar Town. Don't get me wrong, I like Guitar Town. I just don't think it is better than the first four or five post-prison Steve Earle albums.

Agreed. And sorry, TC, I agree w/ the good Rev on Achtung Baby, too. Not my favorite album of theirs but certainly one i'd put w/ their best.

[RevMatt]

Ok, well RevMatt I don't agree but I respect your musical tastes so now I know someone digs it. I too saw U2 a few times in the early days including once at the Park West in Chicago in front of 100 people or so. Loved them then. they jumped the shark for me with The Joshua Tree and I never went back.

I thought they jumped the shark with Rattle and Hum (the most pretentious piece of crap I ever saw. Very presumptious for them to sort of force (buy) their way into the presence of people like B.B. King. Who the hell were they to wear this bogus America fetish on their sleeves? Actually, that movie was what made me stop hiding the fact that I still listened to Skynyrd. I remember saying after the movie that if Ronnie Van Zandt were still alive he'd kick Bono's ass for that condescending piece of crap.) and was prepared to hate Achtung Baby. But my roomate bought it and was playing it. I couldn't get the songs out of my head and after a month or so admitted to myself that it was a pretty good album. Ended up buying it. I still listen to it.

[shuffle]

I actually think that Achtung Baby is good nowadays, the first time I heard it (about three years ago) I thought it was terrible (I only liked U2 up until, and including, War). I've changed my mind now, but I still think it's pretty overrated.

[Smitty]

Previous comment retracted. It's still not MY list but they did get a few good ones in there like Steve Earle, Pearl Jam, REM and Rage.

I was glad to see Steve Earle on the list, but I would certainly rank El Corazon and I Feel Alright above Guitar Town. Don't get me wrong, I like Guitar Town. I just don't think it is better than the first four or five post-prison Steve Earle albums.

Agreed, but none of those albums made half the impact of Guitar Town, I can see why it was ranked and the others weren't.

The Hard Way, I Feel Alright and Train A' Comin are my top Steve albums

[dime in the gutter]

35.
i like achtung baby.
all such lists are shitty.

[lajakesdad]

35
I only counted cds I actually own. not burned ones or mp3s.

[scotto]

Weird. I have 35, too. I wonder if we all have the same 35?
And yes, all such lists are doomed from the flip.

[sactochris]

I have some of the better discs that appear on the list.

[shakeywaits]

I have and like about 60 of those so I guess its a OK list (as someone pointed out all these lists suck in one way or another).

Completely agree with that Neil, Bob, Bruce and DBT (of course) are major omissions. Given they skipped DBT its also not surprising they missed Stranger's Almanac, Trace, What Comes After the Blues, and Heartbreaker.

And what about Southern Harmony and Musical Companion? C'mon!

[rlipps]

Achtung Baby is probably my favorite U2 album, or at least in the discussion. That said, not sure I'd put it at #1 on the list.

[lotusamerica]

I have 17. what an awful list. Even the bands I like on the list often had the wrong album chosen (Husker Du New Day Rising over Zen Arcade????). Oh and it tops it all off with, not a cherry but a big ol' stinkin' pile of crap in U2's Achtung Baby. Best album of the last 25 years? That album sucks, along with pretty much everything they did after The Unforgettable Fire. Guess I know why I don't read Spin. Yikes.

Just for fun I thought I'd bump this thread from the beginning of 3DD - wherein TC complains about which Husker Du record Spin chose for their best-of list, and continues the old 9 Bullets piling on of U2. Ah, the good old days...

[Iowan]

Achtung Baby is a good album. Some of U2's better songs, IMO. I don't care what anyone says, "One" is a beautiful, heartbreaking song.

But I'm not a huge U2 fan, and it wouldn't crack my Top 50 albums of the past 25 years, let alone top it.

EDIT: Didn't realize this thread was so old. Doesn't change my thoughts.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I'm not the world's biggest fan of Achtung Baby either but at that point in their career, I thought U2 did a remarkable job of reinventing themselves. They certainly shouldn't have been expected to keep rehashing War. For whatever it's worth, I paid around $35 to see them on the 360° tour when it came to Raleigh back in 2009. I had an opportunity to see them on the War tour in Chapel Hill in 1983 but in those days, if I couldn't find someone to go with me to a concert, I didn't go. I eventually got over that. Out of that list, I have 15 of the albums.

Maybe I missed it but here's a link to the list.

[John A Arkansawyer]

I see the list. I see Achtung Baby as #1, I discredit list. Several hours later and that still has me crazy. Does anyone actually like that record? Seriously? I mean I know I get shit for disliking The Joshua Tree, but except for hardcore U2 fans I've never known anyone to like Achtung.

Oh, yes. I love that record. Most days it's my favorite U2 record. And I don't care that much for The Joshua Tree, either, nor am I a particular fan of theirs.

[John A Arkansawyer]

8, 4, 4, 2, 0. I own eight of the top 25, four of the next, four of the next, two of the next, and none of the bottom twenty-five. Eighteen total. But I tell you--of those eight I own in the top 25, every one of them is killer.

[beantownbubba]

I lost count but I have either 77 or 78 and still don't think it's a great list, lol.

I still like Achtung Baby. It's not the best album of those 25 years, but I do understand placing it there because (i) it's one of the great examples ever of a band re-inventing itself and (ii) it's probably the album that has the widest appeal across the presumed Spin audience.