Where's the John Adams?

The issue of SPIN magazine on the stands now features the magazine's take on what the 100 best albums released from 1985 to 2005 were (the top 11 are listed below). Now, I love lists like this, but as I read through the magazine's selections, one thought did bug me--and not that my favorite album wasn't represented. Sure, as a U2 fan of considerable passion, it did bug me that their masterpiece, The Joshua Tree, didn't make the cut, and that they had their second masterpiece, Achtung Baby, at only number 11. But in all honesty, I haven't heard probably 90% of the albums on the list, so it's hard for me to reasonably insist that the albums they did pick are less worthy.

That aside, as I read through the selections I noticed that alternative and hip-hop albums were, not just highly represented, but almost exclusively represented. And what came to mind was the arbitrariness of it all. I have no problem with SPIN respecting hip-hop and not listing exclusively rock albums. But it's interesting that, for example, there are no jazz records on the list. No classical music. Almost no country. No blues. I guess I can't reasonably expect them to title the issue the "100 Best Alternative and Hip-Hop Albums of the Last Twenty Years," but in reality that's what it is. This myopic view of the music world, one in which only "hip" music counts (after all, The Joshua Tree was too square for inclusion; what hope did John Adams masterful Naive and Sentimental Music have?), can sometimes irritate. The fact is there is a lot of brilliant music being written and recorded in all sorts of "square" obscure corners of the musical universe. I tend to object to the genres I love being excluded, but I have no doubt that there are genres I'm not even aware of that have also produced albums in the past twenty years worthy of inclusion. What would a completely inclusionary and non-prejudiced list look like, I wonder? I can't say, but I wish someone would show me.

The SPIN Top 11

1. Radiohead, OK Computer
2. Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of a Million to Hold Us Back
3. Nirvana, Nevermind
4. Pavement, Slanted & Enchanted
5. The Smiths, The Queen is Dead
6. Pixies, Surfer Rosa
7. De La Soul, 3 Feet High and Rising
8. Prince, Sign 'O' the Times
9. PJ Harvey, Rid of Me
10. N.W.A., Straight Outta Compton
11. U2, Achtung Baby

Until Whenever