10 Glaring Omissions from Rolling Stone’s Top Albums of the ’80s

Rolling Stone, bless them, republished their list of “The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s” on their website this week. The feature – originally published in 1989 – makes for strange and occasionally bewildering reading. For a start, it’s topped by The Clash’s London Calling, which is undeniably a masterwork but also was undeniably released in 1979 (and no, we’re not buying the January 1980 US release date as an excuse here). Now, we know better than anyone that lists are always subjective, and whatever you include people are going to complain (hey, it’s actually nice to be complaining about someone else’s lists for once). And admittedly, we’re evaluating this list with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight. But even so, there are some glaring omissions from RS’s selection – here are 10 records that really should have featured somewhere near the top, but didn’t feature at all.

Pixies – Surfer Rosa (1988)

In Rolling Stone’s defense, Surfer Rosa was only a year old when this list was made. But then, the magazine clearly wasn’t really down with what was happening in the late 1980s indie scene – there’s no mention in the Top 100 for Dinosaur Jr’s You’re Living All Over Me or Bug, or for any of Throwing Muses’ records, or Jane’s Addiction’s killer 1988 debut Nothing’s Shocking, or anything by the Gun Club. We can just about forgive them for not including Nirvana’s Bleach or Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff, which probably hadn’t made their way to the magazine’s office by the time this list as compiled. But no Pixies? Really?

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[...] On the way home back to NYC, I started to think about all the great bands from the 1980s and the ’90s. Today, I discovered this online article from the Flavorwire website: 10 Glaring Omissions from Rolling Stone’s Top Albums of the ’80s. [...]

@James - that's probably the nicest thing that anyone ever said about us :) @PK - actually, the original release only had Elephant Stone. It was the second US pressing, released in Nov 89 (ie after the RS list was published) that had Fools Gold [sic] as the last track, as well as Elephant Stone.

This is not the first time that Flavorwire have decided to pick up on "glaring" omissions from the lists of Rolling Stone. Perhaps this is an attempt to establish that the musical authority is not an authority at all. As much as I resent lists, I understand that Rolling Stone cater to a specific rock audience. I understand that there is a particular rock canon that they return to, over and over again. I am not apart of that audience and I do not seek to have a career with Rolling Stone, because I am simply not in their target demographic. You can continue to publish articles which undermine the taste and authority of Rolling Stone. I understand that it is easy to establish who you are by what you aren't. But wouldn't it be much more interesting, much more profound to figure out the Flavor identity, independent of undermining the taste of another publication with an entirely different audience?

The bonus track on the US release of The Stone Roses record is Fool's Gold. Probably their biggest single of all time.

Brilliant, I agree with every single thing said in this article. You guys are not too snobby but just snobby enough!

Jerod - hmmm, yes, Night Time was also quality. I should probably have put both of those in. Debchas - yes! :)

Finally! Yes, the Gun Club.

Nice list, and I think there are enough dad rock albums in the bottom 50 of the RS list that could be removed to make room for these. One quibble: Brighter Than a Thousand Suns??? Night Time was KJ's peak, with what might be their 3 best songs: Eighties, Love Like Blood, and Kings & Queens.

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  1. [...] On the way home back to NYC, I started to think about all the great bands from the 1980s and the ’90s. Today, I discovered this online article from the Flavorwire website: 10 Glaring Omissions from Rolling Stone’s Top Albums of the ’80s. [...]