Have you ever wondered what your opinion would be on the Top 10 Best Albums Ever if you spent absolutely no time at all to think about it? I recently joined the Facebook group Top 10 Albums. I literally joined, scrolled through some of the votes, and posted my picks within 5 minutes. I wanted to know what would happen if I just tossed out the first 10 great albums that came to mind. Of course, they’re not in order. That would have taken another hour. Looking back at the list, some of the choices are really interesting. I could almost stand by this list as if I spent hours on it; days even.Sure, some of the choices are a stretch, and in no way would ever be voted onto an all time list (as decided by people other than me). However, I tried my best to find a balance between favorites and albums that are commonly perceived as the most impactful. I was surprised at many of the choices I made, and at which albums I completely forgot about within that 4 minute period. Still, it was fun to just spit them out as if it weren’t important to me at all. In reality, I would love to take a week off from work and spend it on my ‘Top 100 Albums Ever’ list (I’m…completely…serious).

I, for one, hate critics lists (love making them, though). Recently, Rolling Stone put out their 500 Greatest Albums Ever issue, and 4 Beatles albums were on the top 10. Personally, I have absolutely no problem with that (though, Sgt. Peppers at No. 1 seemed like an odd choice), but it would have been a much greater list if they had mixed it up a little more. The top 30 basically consisted of only Beatles, Dylan, and The Stones. One of the rules in the Top 10 Albums group was that you could not pick more than one album by any artist. This is a great rule that other list-makers should consider.

I advise anyone to try this exercise. Maybe you’ll realize you have some ultra favorites that you never really knew about. Or, maybe you’ll just randomly name 10 albums and not really care that much. Either way, it will kill 4 minutes.

*For the record, A Rush of Blood to The Head and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ran through my head at some point.

Top 10 Albums Ever:

The Beatles
Rubber Soul

My favorite Beatles album changes roughly every 6 months. Right now, it’s Rubber Soul, and I think if I had spent hours thinking it over, comparing track by track, I’d still pick this one. This is the beginning of The Beatles for me. It got even more intense with Revolver, which was actually my favorite Beatles record for years. It’s a challenge to pick just one for any list like this, to be totally honest. Rubber Soul is one of many that’s absolutely perfect from beginning to end. Perfect.

Radiohead
OK Computer

This is my most surprising pick by far. For years, I have stood by my conviction that Radiohead’s Kid A is their best record. It’s funny how this record divides the band’s own fan base. OK Computer just seems like a better fit for a list such as this one. How can you really say one Radiohead album is better than another (with the exception of Amnesiac, which many feel was a collection of Kid A b-sides. I disagree)? They are all completely different, and I still don’t know what it is exactly that made me pick this.

Marvin Gaye
What’s Going On

Didn’t really see how you could make a list without this album on it. Really, the track “What’s Going On” alone could hold it’s own against the best albums ever. Noticed a lack of Motown in the voting in the group, and didn’t know if it was because they were only sticking to “rock” albums, or if it was possible that no one had thought of this record yet. Mercy, mercy me.

The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds

Listening to this record, it’s almost hard to fathom that these songs were actually written at some point in time. It just feels like these songs were somehow always around. This is basically a collection of the greatest pop melodies ever written; “Wouldn’t it Be Nice,” “God Only Knows,” “Caroline No.” Really, am I the only one that thinks it’s crazy that the same person wrote all of these?

Michael Jackson
Thriller

It’s so sad to see the laughing stock that Michael Jackson has become. This was one of the defining releases in music history, and one of the most incredible contributions of the millennium. Seriously. I’m not really shocked that this one popped into my head, and I’m glad that it did. This could easily be on a top 5. This is one of the few top selling records that truly deserved to sell every single unit that it did. Every human on Earth should own this.

At The Drive In
Relationship of Command

OK, I have no idea where this came from. This band has always been a strange favorite for me. I don’t like many other bands that sound like this, and I certainly don’t lump them into any trendy sub-genre that most would. When this band broke up shortly after the release of this record, I thought to myself that they could have easily been the next Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. Though The Mars Volta have drawn comparisons like that, they’ve strayed very far from the more compactful songwriting of At The Drive-In. Strip these songs down any way you’d like if you’re not into the heaviness of it. There’s an indescribable element of shere amazingness within these recordings. It seems like this one came out of me subconsciously. I don’t see this getting many votes as one of the Top 10 Albums Ever, but it damn well should!

Travis
The Man Who

I guess this is another odd pick. It’s actually a pretty tight race between this and The Invisible Band. In the UK, every song on this record reached #1 on the charts (I’m exaggerating), and deservingly so. This is another band that tends to escape me every once in a while. I guess it’s somehow ironic that I thought of this album for this list. I don’t ever give them the credit I would like to, and want to take this opportunity to say that Travis is one of the best bands ever…in my faux humble opinion.

The Smiths
The Queen is Dead

I guess I managed to get my fair share of british bands on this list. I actually would not have thought of this record if I hadn’t seen it on someone else’s list in the group. This is one of the top albums ever. Excellent point. This could be the better half of a double disc Smiths Greatest Hits album (it pretty much is). The Smiths are a hard band to understand from a pop standpoint, but the mixture of Johnny Marr’s effervescent guitars and Morrissey’s suicide letter lyrics is pure genius.

Stevie Wonder
Songs in the Key of Life

Another artist who made too many great albums to choose from (and I’ve personally been partial to Fullfillingness‘ First Finale of late), but I think this is the obvious choice for Top Album. Perhaps too obvious to elaborate on.

Gnarls Barkley
St. Elsewhere

I don’t really understand a world where this is not as obvious as the rest of these albums, though…I do know better. As I’ve said many times before in recent months, I think Danger Mouse may be a God. I’m actually starting to believe that Cee-Lo may be one as well. The combination of these two mega-talented songwriters is almost too much for me to handle. If you are shaking your head right now thinking, “Are you serious? I’m so sick of ‘Crazy’,” I recommend my highest possible recommendation that you get this record and listen to it in it’s entirety.