Music: All-Time Greatest, Nos. 100-76
Bee Gees, Ramones, N.W.A, White Stripes, Patti Smith, Led Zeppelin albums in this batch -- see how we rank 'em
By EW Staff Updated July 12, 2013 at 09:00 PM EDT
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100. Ramones, Ramones (1976)
Take teen angst and heartbreak, add glue sniffing, then repeat-repeatrepeat until the neighbors complain. Now, that's rock & roll! Download it: Amazon iTunes
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99. Erykah Badu, Mama's Gun (2000)
A freethinking, all-weirdos-welcome basement confessional, buoyed by backroom-juke jazz (''Green Eyes''), guitar heroics (''Penitentiary Philosophy''), and Badu's slinky warble. Download it: Amazon iTunes
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98. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (2002)
Calling it ''stoner rock'' is reductive, but it's also apropos: Songs for the Deaf offers all the brain-buzzing joys of a peyote-fueled walkabout — without
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97. Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis (1969)
So much more than ''Son of a Preacher Man.'' Dusty is a huskyhoneyed Tennessee postcard as sun-dappled and bittersweet as anything. When she cooed lines
So much more than ''Son of a Preacher Man.'' Dusty is a huskyhoneyed Tennessee postcard as sun-dappled and bittersweet as anything. When she cooed lines like ''Just a little lovin'/Early in the mornin'/Beats a cup of coffee/For starting off the day,'' you knew you'd never need Folgers again.
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96. Dixie Chicks, Home (2002)
Their fiddle-sawing, flag-waving neo-bluegrass masterpiece holds up so goddarn well, we'll bet George W. Bush is secretly harmonizing along with it right now. Download it:
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95. Various Artists, Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (1977)
The definitive disco album, heavy on latter-day Bee Gees hipshakers: ''Stayin' Alive.'' ''Night Fever.'' ''Jive Talkin'.'' Polyester melts, but this Fever still burns. Download it:
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94. Beyoncé, B'Day (2006)
Sasha was two years away from achieving her full official Fierce-ness, but here she had something even funkier: a killer mix of dance-floor scorchers (''Déjà
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93. N.W.A, Straight Outta Compton (1988)
''You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge...'' And with those words, gangsta rap was born. A profane, rat-a-tat distress call from
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92. Elliott Smith, Either/Or (1997)
In a voice barely louder than a whisper, the preternaturally gifted, emotionally fragile folkie (in 2003, he died at 34 in a possible suicide, though
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91. Sly and the Family Stone, There's a Riot Goin' On (1971)
This zonked-out funk bummer is full of bad vibes and molasses tempos — the sound of a tattered genius trying hard to keep it together.
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90. The White Stripes, White Blood Cells (2001)
A 16-song rampage of bleeding-raw guitar riffs and carnal rhythms honored the roots of blues rock while dragging it into the 21st century by the
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89. Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out (1997)
How do you start a grrrl-punk riot? With just words, drums, and guitars, the Olympia, Wash., trio delivered an underground classic that sounds as ferocious
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88. New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)
Shimmering hooks + lingering Joy Division moodiness = a definitive dancepunk classic. Download it: Amazon iTunes
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87. Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors (1971)
Never mind the wigs and sequins; Parton could dazzle with nothing but hard-won tales of joy and heartbreak, sung in a voice as high and
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86. PJ Harvey, Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)
Lush orchestration. Backup vocals by Thom Yorke. A love song for Vincent Gallo. Of all this album's great surprises, the best one is this: Harvey
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85. Tom Waits, Rain Dogs (1985)
Not just a collection of lovingly battered cabaret jams, Dogs gave birth to Waits' oft-copied archetype: the shape-shifting troubadour always on the hunt for a
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84. Patti Smith, Horses (1975)
Insisting that Jesus died for somebody's sins but not hers, Smith treats rock & roll like the only true religion — with all the agony
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83. James Brown, In the Jungle Groove (1986)
This speaker-rattling comp has some of the Godfather of Soul's best work, including the endlessly sampled ''Funky Drummer.'' Download it: Amazon iTunes
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82. Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted (1992)
Slacker savants armed with a dog-eared thesaurus and non sequiturs about ''fruit-covered nails'' turn a so-sloppy-it's-tight sound into indie-rock art. Download it: Amazon iTunes
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81. Pixies, Doolittle (1989)
Black Francis shreds his larynx on lines about brimstone and heavenbound monkeys while loud/quiet guitar squalls inspire a thousand alt-rock wannabes to start their own
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80. Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
Elton was at the peak of his powers — ''Candle in the Wind,'' ''Bennie and the Jets,'' and the title track are all stacked in
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79. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (1971)
''Stairway to Heaven.'' ''Black Dog.'' ''When the Levee Breaks.'' It's been a long time — been a long time! — since anyone rock & rolled
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78. Björk, Post (1995)
The heart of both a musical anarchist and a pop virtuoso beat beneath her elfin Icelandic skin; Post may be the wildest outlier ever to
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77. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991)
A front-runner for Loudest Band Ever, the Irish alterna-gods redefined the sonic boundaries of indie rock by setting bitter love poems afloat in a swirling
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76. Talking Heads, Remain in Light (1980)
Hypnotic and haunting, David Byrne & Co.'s polyrhythmic art-rock odyssey is like the soundtrack to the weirdest (and funkiest) sci-fi film never made. Download it:
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By EW Staff