What's everyone think of Kurt Cobain's top 50 albums?
 

I found this on RYM, and I'm not too sure where the user who posted it found it, but it looks accurate enough I'm sure.

50. Raping a Slave - Swans
49. Mazzy Star - Mazzy Star
48. Over the Edge - Wipers
47. Youth of America - Wipers
46. Is This Real? - Wipers
45. The Man Who Sold the World - David Bowie
44. Beach Party - Marine Girls
43. Takes a Nation of Millions - Public Enemy
42. Flowers of Romance - Pil
41. The Record - Fear
40. Damaged - Black Flag
39. Locust Abortion Technician - Butthole Surfers
38. We are those who Ache Amorous Love
37. Meet the Beatles - Beatles
36. Generic Flipper - Flipper
35. Yip Jump Music - Daniel Johnston
34. Superfuzz Bigmuff - Mudhoney
33. Last Sessions Vol 1 - Leadbelly
32. Tales of Terror - Tales of Terror
31. Jamboree - Beat Happening
30. Rites of Spring - Rites of Spring
29. Void/Faith EP - Void/Faith
28. Combat Rock - Clash
27. Typical Girls - Slits
26. Burning Farm Cassette - Shonen Knife
25. Green - R.E.M.
24. What is This? - Punk Comp California
23. Rocks - Aerosmith
22. Colossal Youth - Young Marble Giants
21. Raincoats LP - Raincoats
20. Anything by: - Kleenex
19. Know Your Product - The Saints
18. Get the Knack - The Knack
17. Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
16. Dry - P.J. Harvey
15. It's only Right and Natural - Frogs
14. Nevermind the Bollocks - Sex Pistols
13. Entertainment - Gang of Four
12. Rock for Light - Bad Brains
11. My War - Black Flag
10. Pee Pee the Sailor - Butthole Surfers
09. 1st EP - Saccharin Trust
08. 1st EP - Scratch Acid
07. Millions of Dead Cops - M.D.C.
06. Land Shark - Fang
05. Philosophy of the World - Shaggs
04. Pink EP - The Vaselines
03. POD - Breeders
02. Surfer Rosa - The Pixies
01. Raw Power - The Stooges

I think he had quite good taste.

I can't imagine him listening to Public Enemy. I know that he probably did, but can you really picture it? It's difficult.

why not? Public Enemy is the shit.

I know, but I just can't picture this little blonde grunge man pacing around next to his turntable to 'Prophets Of Rage' or something. It's just two separate worlds colliding and I can't imagine it. Haha I can't even explain this now without sounding stupid so NEVERMIND

The Shaggs are the greatest band. Everything else I either haven't heard or think is meh, but the Shaggs are the greatest band.

Pod at #3 sounds a bit silly though

kurt like pussy soft shit too.

he was sensitive.

My faves from his list

Numbers

43
41
39
34
25
17
16
10

Negative points for "Meet the Beatles" instead of "With the Beatles"

its pretty good.

i've actually been listening to my Nirvana CDs today and I forgot how great they were. Milk It and Radio Friendly Unit Shifter rule so much.

It lacks some mesborws

All of the Wipers' records look way too low considering how much Nirvana was influenced by them, but it is Kurt's list.

Another thing that always makes me go, "Huh...." when reading this, is the fact that the only REM record on here is Green. I can't imagine that being Kurt's favorite. He seems more like a Life's Rich Pageant kind of guy....

~Jeremy~

No Hüsker Dü?!!
I've heard Thurston saying that Nirvana ripp them off.

I remember reading once that Trout Mask Replica was one of his favorites but it's not on here. At least he had Yip/Jump Music. Very Kurt.

Look on the bright side is suicide
Lost eyesight I'm on your side
Angel left wing, right wing, broken wing
Lack of iron and/or sleeping

Protector of the kennel
Ecto-plasma, Ecto-skeletal
Obituary every birthday
Your scent is still here in my place of recovery!

I don't know why exactly but those are some of my favorite lyrics ever.

Yeah I know haha. They are great.

I'm picky...

50. Raping a Slave - Swans
49. Mazzy Star - Mazzy Star
45. The Man Who Sold the World - David Bowie
39. Locust Abortion Technician - Butthole Surfers
17. Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
16. Dry - P.J. Harvey
12. Rock for Light - Bad Brains
10. Pee Pee the Sailor - Butthole Surfers
02. Surfer Rosa - The Pixies
01. Raw Power - The Stooges

"We are Those" over "Charmed Life" is the only pick I give a real "ehh!"
Also, "Fear of a Black Planet" being superior to "Nation of Millions" is the
best-kept secret in music. Ssh.

I doubt he wouldn't put Alice Cooper in there too... no?

At least The Saints are at #19.

A lot of good stuff, and a few I don't like particularly. I'm sure that would be the case with the top 50 favorites of any artist I admire. I can't imagine why of all the R.E.M. records he'd pick Green instead of Murmur or Chronic Town for instance, but on the other hand, he did go along with Nevermind's undeniably commercial approach.

I wouldn't be all that inspired to listen to music made by someone who chose those as their favourite albums.

good list. any of those records would beat 'raw power' off the top 1 though.
♥ the vaselines

More negative points for calling the "Young God" E.P. "Raping a Slave"...and for not picking "Children of God" instead. Pretty nice list overall though.

Most disappointing selections: Combat Rock and Rocks. Seriously, Kurt.

and no minutemen

where's MPP?

Interesting. I would have expected at least one Meat Puppets record, funny to see none of them. I figured POD would've been higher than Surfer Rosa though, He said something once about how he wished Kim wrote more songs for the Pixies. That Aerosmith record looks pretty out of place.

^^I agree for Meat Puppets.
Also there's no Germs or Exploited.

He had a pretty good taste in music.

True but it's difficult to imagine anyone on this board who I've seen a picture of, in the Post A Picture Of Yourself thread, listening to Public Enemy too (yet I'm sure they do): except in an embarrassing, Leslie Nielsen-comedy way.


Definitely agree. I think Fear Of A Black Planet is astonishingly good while It Takes A Nation Of Millions is only average: its the same James Brown loops that were on every hiphop album of that era, so predictable and meek compared to FOABP (which is the true 'bring the noize' album). I prefer Apocalypse '91 and Muse Sick... to ITANOM too.

Nooooo! The whole point about It Takes A Nation is that it used all those same samples, but the Bomb Squad made it sound like a much tougher, and tighter record than anything before, or arguably since, in the genre. Its also still the pinnacle of Chuck's lyricism for me.
Fear of a Black Planet is also great, but not the ground-breaking album that It Takes a Nation was.

I'm agreeing with this.

Nation Of Millions is back to back powerful, noisy brilliance. It's like getting punched in the face for half an hour. My main point being that there is no rest, it just never quits until it's over.

Fear Of A Black Planet has too much filler if you ask me. Well maybe not filler, but just stuff that breaks up the flow of the album. Pollywanacracka, Incident at 66.6 FM, Anti-Nigger Machine, Reggie Jax, et al. Though Burn Hollywood Burn and 911 Is A Joke are two of my favourite Enemy tracks, I still don't think this album is a satisfying follow-up to Nation Of Millions.

I'm surprised that there aren't more Kurdtologists amoungst the SY massive. If memory serves, there were quite a few 'top 50s' that Kurdt put in his journals/ sent to fanzines. I'm sure one of the other ones will be re-posted here soon enough (including Meat Puppets, one would imagine).

NB - I am not a fan of Nirvana or Kurt, I just had a period of reading too many rock 'things'.

I too prefer Fear of A Black Planet. Not to take anything away from Nation Of Millions, which is a great record regardless, but the use of sampling and their quality on Fear is amazing. I once played the album on a winamp player while I'd click on various parts of each song randomly, and it all still gelled perfectly. Anway, they are both great records. Maybe my opinion on them is influenced by the fact that I've bought Fear first, and didn't get to hear Nation until a couple of years later.

I dunno... having listened to it again recently, the melodies on Bring The Noise, Cold Lampin With Flava, Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos, etc, are all based around single, over-familiar samples: they’re linear and flat.

To me, they're indistinguishable to the songs on Paid In Full, Critical Beatdown, Strictly Business, etc, which use the same samples, no more like getting punched in the face for half-an- hour than listening to James Brown is!

I know it seems like I’m being a bit reductionist here, as I’m not mentioning Chuck D's voice (which does distinguish them), but I’m concentrating on the music only.

However you listen to the first (proper) song on Fear Of A Black Planet, and there are about six layers of samples at once; a disco-sounding melody, electro flourishes, Prince solo, various sound-effects, and more, all at once... its controlled chaos, and as the album proceeds it becomes so full-sounding, so dense and claustrophobic! Also this gives it more replay-value. I like all of the short songs on it too, the little fragments: it gives it a DJ mixtape-feel.

Anyhow they're the impressions that I get...

Hehe, I think I might be the one to do it. I remember getting into a discussion with a friend of mine about Kurt's taste in music, and so later that night I went through Kurt's Journals and marked every page where he listed music he liked.

Here's a list of songs (the way he wrote it):

Led Zep - No Quarter live 1/2 time
Jaugernaut - Slow Death
Cowsils - Hair
Queen - Dragon Attack
Devo - Girl U Want live
Zombies - Summertime
Talking heads - dont worry About the Government
Melvins - forgotten Principles
Led Belly - [crossed out]He never said a[/crossed out] they Hung him on A Cross
AC/DC - Soul Stripper
Rem - 10,000
PiL - whatever
Lush - How does it feel to want
flipper - Shed No Tears HA HA HA
___________________________________________
Soundgarden - Heretic
Blue Oyster Culture club - kick out the Jams
Metallica - thing that should not be
Psychedellic Pistols - Pulse
Sexedellic Furs - Bodies
[crossed out]Sexpillic Furstols - Sister europe[/crossed out] Soul Asylum - Aint that Tough
[crossed out]Bad Brains - Joshuas song[/crosssed out] Jane's Addiction - 1%
Necros - Blissard Glass
Roy - in dreams
Green Biver - Ozzy
Aerosmith - Nobodys fault