This is the 10th post in this series. Click here to start from the beginning: Inhailer's Top 500 Albums of All-Time: (#500--476)
Every Friday, Inhailer is counting down our totally objective, completely undisputed, most-correct list of the Top 500 albums of all time. We're doing so in bite-size chunks of 25 albums (nobody has the energy in their thumbs to scroll through 500 albums in one sitting). Last week we continued our countdown with the likes of Burial, Peter Tosh, and Grace Jones. This week we continue with Nos. 275-251. The ask was simple: excluding compilation albums, what are the 500 best albums of all-time, ranked? Here's the tenth list in the countdown:
275. Shoes - Boomerang (1982)
These small town power poppers started out as high school friends who decided to form a band after graduation. The only problem? None of them knew how to play an instrument.
274. Eagles - Hotel California (1976)
Love or hate 'em, The Eagles put together a remarkably complete rock concept album on the wild west that is Hollywood. You may have heard it on the radio.
273. The Clash - Combat Rock (1982)
It all began with Joe Strummer shouting "Rock the Casbash!" while jamming with Eastern raga scales.
272. Love and Rockets - Earth, Sun, Moon (1987)
Moving away from their English gothic rock tendencies under Bauhaus, the new group explored psychedelia, folk, and downtempo.
271. Can - Ege Bamyasi (1972)
Can arrived on the ground zero of krautrock, influencing the likes of Pavement, Sonic Youth, and even Kanye West.
270. Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)
"I had been spending so much time exploring the upper atmosphere of music... Now there was this need to feel a little more tethered; a connection to the earth." says Hancock.
269. Jay-Z - Reasonable Doubt (1996)
As Jay-Z drove his Lexus as the "black Scarface," he carried the libations of upper class lifestyle to Gangsta Rap culture.
268. King Crimson - In The Court of The Crimson King (1969)
Robert Fripp's masterpiece was the intentional decomposition of all agreed-upon conventions of what a rock song should be.
267. Stevie Wonder - Innervisions (1973)
Wonder demonstrated his complete mastery of all aspects of the recording industry with his visceral capture of race, economic stratification, and cultural strife.
266. Destroyer - Kaputt (2011)
Battle-tested indie champion Dan Bejar wrote Kaputt to show the world on verge of collapsing in on itself. The result is beautiful and sad.
265. The Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow (1968)
Years before Tommy or The Wall, the tragic life of Sebastian F. Sorrow is told from cradle to grave through stunning folk rock imagery.
264. Cheap Trick - Live At Budokan (1978)
Cheap Trick's sold out performance to a swarm of screaming Tokyo fans may be the crispest, most energetic live performance ever captured on wax.
263. Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast (1982)
If you like death metal, this is your North Star. And, naturally, many deemed the band Satanists in response to the album's release.
262. Joy Division - Closer (1980)
Following the suicide of Ian Curtis, the rest of the band pieced together what is regarded as the first ever post-punk statement.
261. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes (1979)
This immaculately-produced record cemented the reputation of Jimmy Iovine and Petty as a top-notch rock and roll hit-writer.
260. Tame Impala - Currents (2015)
One of the most recent albums on our list, Kevin Parker broke new boundaries for neo-psychedelia and synth-pop on a near-perfect record.
259. John Cale - Fear (1974)
Ex-Velvet masterminded a critical comeback with a suspenseful rock record that remains crucial to alternative rock musicians today.
258. The Wonder Stuff - Never Loved Elvis (1991)
John Lennon Reportedly called the young bandleader Miles Hunt "the wonder stuff," and that's a vote of confidence to adopt as your namesake.
257. Electric Light Orchestra - Out Of The Blue (1977)
Jeff Lynne delivered an ambitious double album that peaks with Concerto for a Rainy Day, a four-piece concerto suite on side three.
256. T.V. On The Radio - Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes (2004)
Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone teamed up to release a complete artistic statement on their looping, dark, and artful debut album.
255. Joe Henry - Short Man's Room (1992)
Henry recruited Gary Louris and Marc Perlman of the Jayhawks as his backing band, to share an intimate portrait by way of a quasi-autobiographical folk memoir.
254. Sonny Rollins - The Bridge (1962)
Hard-bopper Rollins didn't have a private space to practice near his Manhattan apartment, so he lugged his saxophone up to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice what would become his magnum opus.
253. Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One (1997)
Ira Kaplan waded the band through the waters of melancholic soft-pop that retains a strong joyful undercurrent.
252. Outkast - Aquemini (1998)
The star signs of Aquarius's and Gemini's aligned on the hip hop duo's third album, showcase their contentious professional relationship and often contrasting artistic visions.
251. Talking Heads - The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads (1982)
Early live recordings reaching back to 1977 had sat on the shelf for almost five years, when the world heard the cynical, clever genesis of the new wave superstars they'd come to adore.
Want to listen to our choice cuts from this list? Follow our countdown playlist on Spotify!
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