Eight albums from 2011 that made the best 1,000 albums ever — from R.E.M.’s stunning farewell to Foster the People, Duran Duran, and the Beastie Boys’ wild final bow.
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Category: Best 1,000 Albums Ever
The audacious (never before seen in human history?) ranking of the best 1,000 albums ever — each with a deep dive, personal stories, and pop culture tie-ins.
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Nirvana – Nevermind: #1 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I don’t care what you think unless it is about me.
R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi: #2 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I don’t know what I’m hungry for – I don’t know what I want anymore.
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti: #3 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Talk and song from tongues of lilting grace, sounds caress my ear.
The Doors – The Doors: #4 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Break on through to the other side.
Frank Black – Teenager of the Year: #5 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I want to live on an abstract plain.
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique: #6 of best 1,000 albums ever!
It’s the sound of science.
The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely: #16 of best 1,000 albums ever!
How you gonna top yourself when there is nobody else?
Operation Ivy – Operation Ivy: #7 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Sound system gonna bring me back up, yeah, one thing that I can depend on.
Wu-Tang Clan – Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers): #8 of best 1,000 albums ever!
And if you want beef, then bring the ruckus.
The Beatles – Abbey Road: #9 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Because the world is round, it turns me on because the world is round.
Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine: #10 of best 1,000 albums ever!
The land of the free? Whoever told you that is your enemy.
Nirvana – MTV Unplugged in New York: #11 of best 1,000 albums ever!
In the pines, in the pines, where the sun don’t ever shine, I would shiver the whole night through.
The Doors – Strange Days: #12 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Cancel my subscription to the resurrection.
A Tribe Called Quest – Midnight Marauders: #13 of best 1,000 albums ever!
We can get down.
The Beatles – Revolver: #14 of best 1,000 albums ever!
All the lonely people – where do they all come from?
R.E.M. – Live at the Olympia: #15 of best 1,000 albums ever!
This is not a show.
Radiohead – Kid A: #17 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I’m not here, this isn’t happening.
Beck – One Foot in the Grave: #18 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I got time on my hands.
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells: #19 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Said it once before but it bears repeating now.
Blur – Blur: #20 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I got my head done, when I was young.
Beastie Boys – Check Your Head: #21 of best 1,000 albums ever!
You think that you can front when revelation comes?
Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy: #22 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Many times I’ve lied, many times I’ve listened. Many times I’ve gazed along the open road.
Nirvana – With the Lights Out: #23 of best 1,000 albums ever!
One more day to complain my servant. One more doubt here to find a servant.
Beck – Odelay: #24 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Pulling out jives and jamboree handouts – two turntables and a microphone.
Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction: #25 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Welcome to the jungle.
The Suicide Machines – Battle Hymns: #26 of best 1,000 albums ever!
And what do we learn? To kill better.
Wu-Tang Clan – Wu-Tang Forever: #27 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I bomb atomically, Socrates’ philosophies and hypotheses can’t define how I be droppin’ these mockeries.
The Beatles – Rubber Soul: #28 of best 1,000 albums ever!
What goes on in your heart? What goes on in your mind?
Frank Black & The Catholics – Pistolero: #29 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Yo soy un pistelero, I’m not shaking in my boots.
Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin II: #30 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I’m gonna give you my love, I’m gonna give you my love.
Midnight Oil – Blue Sky Mining: #31 of best 1,000 albums ever!
But if I work all day on the blue sky mine, there’ll be food on the table tonight.
Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters: #32 of best 1,000 albums ever!
This is a call to all my past resignations. This is a call to all.
The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album): #33 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Everybody’s got something to hide, except me and the monkey.
Weezer – Pinkerton: #34 of best 1,000 albums ever!
This is beginning to hurt – this is beginning to be serious.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: #35 of best 1,000 albums ever!
We are Sex Bob-omb.
The Doors – L.A. Woman: #36 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Are you a lucky little lady in the city of light? Or just another lost angel, city of night.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Live From the Middle East: #37 of best 1,000 albums ever!
One, two, what’s in the stew? Three, four, no one’s really sure.
Frank Black – Frank Black: #38 of best 1,000 albums ever!
I’ll wait in Los Angeles – I’ll wait in the pouring sun.
The Streets – Original Pirate Material: #39 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Let’s push things forward.
The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night: #40 of best 1,000 albums ever!
Someday when we’re dreaming – deep in love, not a lot to say – then we will remember things we said today.
Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill: #41 of best 1,000 albums ever!
No sleep ‘till Brooklyn.