Music: All-Time Greatest, Nos. 100-76

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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!

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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.

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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 the sunburn or scorpion stings.

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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 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.

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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.

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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 Vu,” ”Ring the Alarm”) and to-the-left kiss-offs (”Irreplaceable”).

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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 South Central.

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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 the circumstances of his death remain murky) unfurled one of the most quietly devastating bedroom records ever made.

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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 seat of its red-and-white pants.

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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 as the day it was made.

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88. New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)

Shimmering hooks + lingering Joy Division moodiness = a definitive dancepunk classic.

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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 clear as Appalachian mountain air.

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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 never sounded so happy.

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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 cigarette and a bad idea.

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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 and ecstasy and ”Gloria” hosannas that implies.

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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.”

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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.

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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 bands.

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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 the first 20 minutes — on this sprawling opus of an album.

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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 quite like this.

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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 go platinum.

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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 ectoplasm of distortion.

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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.

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Replay gallery

Account

Music: All-Time Greatest, Nos. 100-76

1 of 26

100. Ramones, Ramones (1976)

1 of 26

2 of 26

99. Erykah Badu, Mama's Gun (2000)

2 of 26

3 of 26

98. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf (2002)

3 of 26

4 of 26

97. Dusty Springfield, Dusty in Memphis (1969)

4 of 26

5 of 26

96. Dixie Chicks, Home (2002)

5 of 26

6 of 26

95. Various Artists, Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack (1977)

6 of 26

7 of 26

94. Beyoncé, B'Day (2006)

7 of 26

8 of 26

93. N.W.A, Straight Outta Compton (1988)

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9 of 26

92. Elliott Smith, Either/Or (1997)

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91. Sly and the Family Stone, There's a Riot Goin' On (1971)

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11 of 26

90. The White Stripes, White Blood Cells (2001)

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12 of 26

89. Sleater-Kinney, Dig Me Out (1997)

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13 of 26

88. New Order, Power, Corruption & Lies (1983)

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87. Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors (1971)

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86. PJ Harvey, Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea (2000)

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85. Tom Waits, Rain Dogs (1985)

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84. Patti Smith, Horses (1975)

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83. James Brown, In the Jungle Groove (1986)

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82. Pavement, Slanted and Enchanted (1992)

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81. Pixies, Doolittle (1989)

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80. Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)

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79. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (1971)

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78. Björk, Post (1995)

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24 of 26

77. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991)

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76. Talking Heads, Remain in Light (1980)

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