After much, much hassle, I’ve finally completed one of those “People’s List” things for Pitchfork. I found 100 albums that I like (I guess) from 1996-2011 and threw them together in order. I’m cool with it.
Some disclaimers and explanations for the list, though:
1. There is trolling on this list. I’m sure you’ll know it when you see it, if you make it to the very end.
2. Really, only the top 40/50 are in an order. Once you get past that, there’s not much difference between the 71st and 77th album, in my opinion. The latter half is all albums I really like, but it’s hard to discern their impact on me.
3. No one will be surprised by No. 1.
4. It’s backloaded. In my opinion, 2011 was a fantastic year for music, so there’s a ton of 2011 releases on here. It’s probably not an accurate representation, but albums from 2011 have the freshest impacts on me (and a ton of those records had impacts on me). Also, I’ve really been seriously listening to music since only 2008/2009, which explains the backloading as well.
5. Bon Iver sucks.
6. I just realized there are only 99 albums on this list. Whoops.
If I ever got the time, I’d love to write a ton of words on what a ton of these albums mean to me because there is a lot that’s happened involving these releases, but that time isn’t now. Plus, it would be really long and no one likes to read.
