John Lennon may just be the most widely recognized of The Beatles. His career as a solo artist, however short as it sadly destined to be, was mercurial.
The songwriter’s best songs as a solo artist are known worldwide. His more experimental work leaves most casual fans glad to overlook it.
There’s Bob Dylan, Shakespeare and Michelangelo as far as many Western art fans are concerned. And, making my job of ranking the songwriter’s albums is the fact that he’s produced more material than his William and Mickey combined.
Uncredited musicians, or ghost musicians, make the music industry go round. Or, at the very least, they make the job of the producer’s life a whole lot easier. Recording iconic albums seems to involve plenty of requirements – talents, inspiration, showing up. Unreliable and sometimes unremarkable, some famous rockstars needed to be cut out of their own songs.
The greatest indie rock albums of all time all have a few things in common. They contain great, usually off-kilter songs. They’re made following the muse, often to dark corners, not trailing commercial expectations. And, all, without exception, have caused a few other musicians to purchase the album and exclaim: “I must do something like this!”
Rob Sheffield, a music reviewer and a man who never interacted with an album in any genre that he didn’t enjoy, once said that bands who couldn’t cut it in punk-rock got another chance in the new wave. Indie-rock, after the 90s, can be a bit like that in relation to alternative rock. There is a good deal of cross-correlation.
The greatest alternative albums of all-time have staying power. They have great. They were innovative daring audiences to broaden their horizons. And, more often than not, they were made by bands and artists who sponsored seriously bizarre fashion choices.
Yes, the greatest alternative artists didn’t just live off their myths alone, or stories about their swanky fashion sense. They relied on great collections of songs.
Sometimes hailed as the greatest of all rock n’ roll bands, this is a look at the very best, and the very worst of The Rolling Stones’ discography.
Elton John is a singer-songwriter who fashioned himself as a pop superstar. His 1970s releases are ranked as some of the best albums of that decade. And his work has had a surprising amount of influence across genres.
Paul McCartney has had the most impressive solo career of all four members of The Beatles. While critical recognition for his work rarely came easy, McCartney’s solo albums and those made with Wings are ranked highly by those willing to give it a fair shake.
George Harrison never intended to be a solo star. He just had a lot of songs that wouldn’t get on The Beatles’ albums. A lot of really good songs, as it turns out, making for some terrific, highly-ranked albums by both the public and critics.
Nirvana is, to many music fans, the definitive rock band of the 1990s. Its rise was meteoric and stunning, the band’s life span was tragically short, and Nirvana managed to cut some of the most influential albums of that period.