✅ 60 most important albums of NME's lifetime (1952-2012)

[RB]

Piss poor substitute for the usual top 100 albums ever but anyway better than nowt'

50s
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley (1956)
Little Richard - Here's Little Richard (1957)
Billie Holiday - The Lady Sings The Blues (1956)
Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (1959)

60s
The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones (1964)
James Brown - Live At The Apollo (1963)
Jerry Lee Lewis - Live At The Star Club, Hamburg (1964)
The Beatles - Rubber Soul (1965)
The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (1968)
Leonard Cohen - Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
Dusty Springfield - Dusty In Memphis (1969)
The Stooges - The Stooges (1969)
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II (1969)

70s
The Who - Live At Leeds (1970)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)
Black Sabbath - Master Of Reality (1971)
David Bowie - The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars (1972)
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Bod Dylan - Blood on the Tracks (1975)
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run (1975)
Television - Marquee Moon (1977)
Suicide - Suicide (1977)
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (1977)
The Clash - London Calling (1979)

80s
Joy Division - Closer (1980)
Talking Heads - Remain in Light (1980)
Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982)
Prince - Purple Rain (1984)
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy (1985)
The Smiths - The Queen is Dead (1986)
Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill (1986)
Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (1987)
Public Enemy - It takes a nation of millions to hold us back (1988)
NWA - Straight Outta Compton (1988)
Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses (1989)

90s
Primal Scream - Screamadelica (1991)
Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
Portishead - Dummy (1994)
Oasis - Definitely Maybe (1994)
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing (1996)
Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
Eminem - The Slim Shady LP (1999)

00s
Daft Punk - Discovery (2001)
The White Stripes - White Blood Cells (2001)
The Strokes - Is This It (2001)
The Streets - Original Pirate Material (2002)
The Libertines - Up The Bracket (2002)
Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner (2003)
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black - (2006)
Burial - Untrue (2007)
MIA - Kala (2007)
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (2008)
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs - (2010)
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake (2011)

[Moonbeam]

Horrible list.

[Nick]

Horrible list.

Eh, it's not an extraordinary list, but it manages to get more right than it manages to get wrong. The only totally egregious flaw in this list is putting The Rolling Stone's self titled album in instead of one of their masterpiece albums. That is just criminal.

[Moonbeam]

It entirely ignores certain genres. Heaven forbid they include some disco or synth pop. Or jazz. Or country. And The Suburbs does not belong anywhere near a list of the top 60 anything. This list tries wayyyy too hard to be cool.

[Nick]

It covers a fair amount. Proto-punk, punk, post-punk, folk, soul, r&b, rockabilly, shoegaze, electronica, grime, garage rock, trip-hop, britpop, hip-hop, heavy metal, hard rock, alternative rock, glam, progressive rock, pop, and psychedelic rock all have a presence. The list may be a bit rockist, and ignore whole genres, but when you limit yourself to only 60 albums it's hard to get everything. Although it wouldn't have killed them to throw in a Johnny Cash album or a Miles Davis album. Though I guess you could count the Billie Holiday LP as vocal jazz.