Channel 4 had a Top 100 Albums show on last night. It was quite interesting. You can take a look at the
programme details here, which also has links to the original nominations and - more importantly - the
results. As you might gather, the poll was done by drawing up a shortlist of 125 nominated albums, and then getting the public to vote for their favourite albums from the selection. While probably easier than letting everyone vote for any old thing, it does obviously limit what can be voted for, so perhaps it's a bit flawed. You also have to question the sanity of the people doing the original nominating, when
The Libertines make it into the top 125. They're not really my thing, so maybe the album is great and I just don't know it, but I still find it slightly dubious that they would get in at number 50, putting it above Margin Gaye, Dusty Springfield, Public Enemy... I could go on, but all I'd be doing is listing most of the bottom half of the results page.
This of course leads into the other problem with these kind of polls - the more recent stuff will invariably do disproportionately well. There are certainly many more young people voting in these polls who've never even heard of Nick Drake or Jeff Buckley, who will thus end up voting up Oasis, or even Blur for that matter. Even then, the older generation may be less likely to vote for some of the stuff they grew up with, when the newer stuff is fresher in their minds. The top 20, for example, has two Oasis albums, a Blur album, Parachutes by Coldplay (!) and even Alanis Morisette's not-actually-her-debut-even-though-everyone-thinks-it-is Jagged Little Pill one place above Led Zepellin IV. Hmm.
Now, about 7 years ago
Q Magazine ran a top 100 albums chart, allowing the readers to vote for anything ever. The number 1 on that chart, was OK Computer, by
Radiohead. At the time, I thought that this was a case of the fresh things getting to the top of the heap. Yes, OK Computer is a great album, no doubt. It's experimental and different and emotional and it takes you to all manner of weird musical places. Is it the best album ever? Well, I don't know. Channel 4 viewers clearly think so, as it came top of their little rundown. This time it's a bit more interesting, as it's getting on for 8 years since OK Computer was released. That's not quite so fresh anymore, is it?
I don't know if it is the best album. I certainly like it a lot, but at the same time I appreciate that it's not exactly accessible and certainly not for everyone. I guess I'll have to wait another 30 years and see if it's still topping charts.
