100 Top Alternative Albums - The Guardian

The Guardian - Best Alternative Top 100 Albums (1999)

A very peculiar list. I can't quite understand the criteria and to have Nick Drake at Number 1 is very strange! Still I have many of these albums so I'm happy.

Alternative Top 100 Albums Ever Top 100 (Even though there are 102 albums) Albums That Don’t Appear In All The Other Top 100 Albums Of All Time.

Big Thanks to Mike Gardner for supplying this list. See Also:

›› The Wire who also compiled a list with similar criteria.

This list appeared in the Guardian Friday Review on 29th January 1999. Tom Cox compiled it.

Some notes – A panel of 50 hand picked critics and music makers compiled the list. The brief was to select their top 20 all time favourite albums that don’t appear in most of the other all time top 100 albums. See the ultimate album lists #1 & 2 for a rough idea of the exclusions. They were also excluded from selecting albums that were less than 2 years old (to prevent the farce of having an album 3 months old at number one, as in the Q reader’s poll in 1998). A personal note: No Bob Marley albums – although only Legend was excluded!


1. Nick Drake – Bryter Later - 1970
2. Tom Waits – Rain Dogs - 1985
3. The Band – The Band - 1969
4. Gene Clarke – No Other – 1974
5. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left – 1969
6. The Beatles – A Hard Days Night – 1964
7. Curtis Mayfield – Curtis – 1970
8. Todd Rundgren – A Wizard And A Star – 1973
9. George Harrison – All Things Must Pass – 1970
10. Todd Rundgren – Something/Anything – 1972
11. Pink Floyd – Piper At The Gates Of Dawn – 1967
12. Bid Star – Radio City – 1974
13. The Flying Burrito Brothers – The Guilded Palace Of Sin – 1969

14. Earth Wind & Fire – I Am – 1979
15. Jeff Buckley – Grace - 1994
16. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything – 1988
17. Scott Walker – Scott 4 – 1969
18. Buffalo Springfield – Again – 1967
19. Laura Nyro – New York Tendaberry – 1969
20. Sly And The Family Stone – Fresh – 1973
21. The Beach Boys – Holland
22. Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Searching For The Young Soul Rebels – 1980

23. Joni Mitchell – Court And Spark – 1974
24. The Boo Radleys – Giant Steps – 1993
25. Steely Dan – Countdown To Ecstasy – 1973
26. Dusty Springfield – Dusty In Memphis – 1969
27. John Cale – Music For A New Society – 1982
28. Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure – 1973
29. Funkadelic – Maggot Brain - 1971
30. Blue Nile – Hats – 1989
31. Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Planet – 1990
32. Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man - 1988
33. Talking Heads – Fear Of Music – 1979
34. Chic – Risqué – 1979
35. Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story – 1971
36. Joni Mitchell – The Hissing Of Summer Lawns – 1975
37. John Coltrane – A Love Supreme – 1965
38. Iggy & The Stooges – Raw Power – 1973
39. Lou Reed – Berlin – 1973
40. Tim Hardin – Tim Hardin 2 – 1967
41. The Stooges – Fun House – 1970
42. Suicide – Suicide – 1980
43. David Bowie – Young Americans – 1975
44. Neil Young – Tonight’s The Night – 1975
45. Run Dmc – Raising Hell – 1986
46. Aretha Franklin – Young Gifted And Black – 1972

47. Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom – 1974
48. Captain Beefheart – Clear Spot – 1972
49. The Band – Music From Big Pink – 1968
50. Tom Waits – The Heart Of Saturday Night – 1974
51. Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Don’t Stand Me Down – 1985
52. The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall – 1992
53. Public Image Ltd – Metal Box – 1979
54. Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs & Stories – 1987
55. Grateful Dead – Live Dead – 1970
56. Moby Grape – Moby Grape – 1967
57. Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted – 1992
58. Miles Davis – Sketches Of Spain – 1960
59. The Beach Boys – Today – 1965
60. Laura Nyro – Eli And The Thirteenth Confession – 1968

61. The Slits – Cut – 1979
62. Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Too-Rye-Aye – 1982
63. Al Green – The Belle Album – 1977
64. Roxy Music – Stranded – 1973
65. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground – 1969
66. Little Feat – Dixie Chicken – 1973
67. Pere Ubu – The Modern Dance – 1977
68. Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85- 92 – 1992
69. Kraftwerk – Radioactivity – 1975
70. The Velvet Underground – Loaded – 1970
71. Neil Young – On The Beach – 1974
72. The Everly Brothers – Roots – 1968

73. Blondie – Eat To The Beat - 1979
74. PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love –1995
75. Todd Rundgren – Todd – 1974
75. Jane Siberry – When I Was A Boy – 1993
76. Big Star – Sister Lovers – 1979
77. The Zombies – Odessey (Sic) And The Oracle – 1968
78. Ar Kane – Sixty Nine – 1988
79. Isaac Hayes – Hot Buttered Soul – 1969
80. Nick Drake – Pink Moon – 1972
81. The Mothers Of Invention – We’re Only In It For The Money – 1968
82. The Beach Boys – Sunflower – 1970
83. Neil Young – Arc/Weld – 1991
84. Husker Du – Zen Arcade – 1984
85. The Rolling Stones – Get Yer Ya Ya’s Out – 1970
86. Crowded House – Temple Of Love – 1988
87. Tim Buckley – Starsailor – 1970
88. The Doors – Strange Days – 1967
89. Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey – 1971
89. Miles Davis – Bitches Brew – 1969
90. The Lilac Time – Paradise Circus – 1989
91. Al Green – Al Green Is Love – 1975

92. REM – Lifes Rich Pageant – 1986
93. Beach Boys – Summer Days (And Summer Nights) – 1965
94. Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain – 1994
95. The Millennium – Begin – 1968
96. Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen – 1985
97. TLC – Crazy Sexy Cool – 1995
98. Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders – 1993
99. Iggy Pop – The Idiot – 1977
100. Dr John – Gris Gris – 1968