Last week, Rolling Stone published our completely updated list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In making the new list, we received more than 300 ballots from artists, critics and other figures from throughout the music industry.
Among them all, the first ballot that came in was from Adam Horovitz (a.k.a. Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys), and it set a high bar for taste, erudition and hilarious bullshit. Seeing vegetable-loving psychedelic rockers Ultimate Spinach and German clarinet master Hugo Strasser on a best albums did our hearts proud, even if most of us filled our lists with less obscure choices. But even the sharpest music scholars on the RS staff weren’t hip to artists like Jan Pfundt and Pops Willard. In fact, a few of them sounded a little too theoretically good to be true, as if perhaps they may have been placed on the list not because of their musical quality but as part of some sort of clever satirical gesture. Sure, a record like Dr. Funk-A-Dunk’s Out Of Bounds On The Dance Floor could be a real thing. Or it could be fake. Or it could be so fake it’s real, or so real it’s fake. How are we to know? To each their own.
In any case, thanks Adam. Your list sure is a real education, and we’re gratified that you’ve been kind enough to let us share it with our readers. If anyone out there ever tracks down that Juan Epstein joint, let us know.
- Macka B, Sign of the Times
- Grits and Gravy, Nuthin’ But The Good Stuff
- The Frank Figueora Funk Ensemble, Double Bang Bang
- Chirp, The City Ain’t Tough Enough
- Sergeant Crikey, It Mek Dem Bubble
- Hugo Strasser, TanzHits ’71
- Ultimate Spinach, Ultimate Spinach
- The Outta Controls, I Need New Friends
- The Lover’s 2, Slip Into Something More Fantastical
- Merv Gelter, Unlinked Passages And Patterns
- Danice Wilder, Funk Your Body Down
- Strategic Orchestrations, My Suzuki Sierra Is Bumpin’
- Jan Pfundt, Gekreuzte Drähte
- Pops Willard, Bus Station Situation
- Janice Montcrieff, Pour me another Glass Of Whine, You Baby
- The Dapper Duo, Your Freaky Touch
- Urszula Dudziak, Urszula
- Miss Sally Murdoch, Turn Me On When The The Lights Go Off
- The Cosmonauts (Featuring Shep Greenley), Bump That Funky Bump
- Digitz, Why Is That Again?
- The Satin Velvettes, Sooth My Mood
- Ebbet Maynfield, Flutes A Plenty
- Video Kids, Woodpeckers From Space
- The Pete Smith Quintet, Dynamism
- Amy Cranterston, The Strength Of The Willow’s Shadows
- Ruff-N-Ready, We Rhyme Right
- Phil Collins, Dance Into The Light
- Westbeth, Down In The Basement (Where The Funk Grows)
- The Captain, 22lb Turkey
- Monotony, Witness The Rampage
- The Tremont High School Drum Line, Marching Band Favorites
- Chip Button, Drums Are My Bag
- Crabby Appleton, Rotten To The Core
- Dr. Funk-A-Dunk, Out Of Bounds On The Dance Floor
- Bridget Everett and The Tender Moments, Pound It
- The Clarence Widley Orchestra, Boxcar Business (Original Soundtrack)
- Melancholia, Exploration Interflection
- Al Carlton, Too Smooth
- Earl Wilson, Jr., Let My People Come (A Sexual Musical)
- Khia, Thug Misses
- The Dunes of Distance, Equanimity
- General Echo, 12” Of Pleasure
- Aileen Mccullough, An Oiread Sin Báistí
- Sweet Lou, Already On It
- The T-Bones, No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach Is In)
- Ladies and Lords, The Mod Way
- Crianças Loucas, é Meu Agora
- Juan Epstein, Boogaloo In Brooklyn
- Little Marcy, Happy Day Express
- Carmine Rittzi, Freak Your Way Out Of This One
