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Writer's pictureJay Burgin

INHAILER RADIO'S TOP 500 ALBUMS OF ALL-TIME: (#350—326)

Updated: Jan 27, 2021

This is the 7th post in this series. Click here to start from the beginning: Inhailer's Top 500 Albums of All-Time: (#500--476)


Every Friday, Inhailer is counting down our totally objective, completely undisputed, most-correct list of the Top 500 albums of all time. We're doing so in bite-size chunks of 25 albums (nobody has the energy in their thumbs to scroll through 500 albums in one sitting). Last week we continued our countdown with the likes of Blur, Fugees, and John Prine. This week we continue with Nos. 350-326. The ask was simple: excluding compilation albums, what are the 500 best albums of all-time, ranked? Here's the seventh list in the countdown:


350. Rockpile - Seconds of Pleasure (1980)

Pub rockers Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe team up on a rockabilly album that oozes young love.

349. David Bowie - Blackstar (2016)

Who other than Bowie to leave us with arguably the best late-career rock album just three days before he would leave this world forever.

348. Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward (1984)

The trio from Essex strikes back-to-back lists! The symphonic bravery of their fourth album shot this album to the Top 5 in the UK.

347. Michael Jackson - Thriller (1982)

Each of the whopping 7 of the album's 9 tracks that were released as singles hit the Billboard Top 10. What can we say? Thriller wasn't groundbreaking, but it was a near-perfect pop record.

346. Outkast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (2003)

This massively successful Southern hip hop double album (with a run time that lasts as long as a full-length film) was executed as separate solo albums by André 3000 and Big Boi.

345. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band - Volume 3: A Child's Guide to Good and Evil (1968)

That mouthful of a title is actually a misnomer: it's their fourth studio album. Logistics aside, it's an avant-garde psychedelic classic that still stands as one of the best trips from the era.

344. Rodriguez - Cold Fact (1970)

2012's Oscar-winning documentary Searching For Sugarman allowed the rest of the world to know what South Africa had already for nearly four decades: Rodriguez is the hero we need.

343. Bruce Springsteen - The River (1980)

The Boss' first #1 album was chalk-full of bright sounds with a pained undercurrent and heavy lyrical insight.

342. Björk - Homogenic (1997)

From the visually stunning Alexander McQueen cover to the experimental art pop contains within, Björk's homage to her native country Iceland continues to drop jaws.

341. The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin (1999)

Already seasoned guitar-centric indie rock veterans by their ninth record, the band pivoted to a synth heavy neo-psychedelia.

340. The Runaways - The Runaways (1976)

"Hello Daddy, hello Mom/I'm your ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb!"

339. Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers (1969)

The Airplane's comeback album was vehemently anti-Vietnam War and and is notable for being one of the first albums to be approved by a major label despite profanity in the lyrics.

338. Odetta - It's a Mighty World (1964)

One of the best illustrations of traditional American folk music, Odetta deserves to be in any conversation regarding Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, or Joni Mitchell.

337. Queen - A Night At The Opera (1976)

Tired of hearing Bohemian Rhapsody a trillion times? Can I interest you in any of the other cuts from the album? There's "'39," "The Prophet's Song," "Seaside Rendezvous"...

336. The Jam - All Mod Cons (1978)

The U.S. didn't know what to make of this punkish mod revival album. Their management oddly put them on tour with the prog-metal Blue Öyster Cult and nixed the one of the best cuts the album, "Billy Hunt," from the U.S. version of the release.

335. D'Angelo - Voodoo (2000)

Selling 320,000 copies in the first week of release, this self-produced neo-soul maturation for the singer became an instant classic.

334. Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1970)

A landmark release in jazz fusion, Davis reportedly named the album after strong black women in his life who had opened his eyes to the societal changes happening around him.

333. Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970)

Jazz wasn't the only genre infused with psychedelia at the start of the new decade. The former Impressions solo debut was a clever blend of psych funk and soul.

332. Deltron 3030 - Deltron 3030 (2000)

The rap supergroup wrote a hip hop opera that tells the story of an intergalactic computer programmer rebelling against his alien overlords in the year...you guessed it, 3030.

331. Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, M.A.D.D. City (2012)

Lamar set the world on fire with his universally-acclaimed gangsta rap record that is both an array of everything good about hip hop to that point and an exceedingly novel body of work.

330. Daniel Johnston - 1990 (1990)

Noted bedroom musician and lo-Fi wizard fought bouts of bipolar disorder to eventually complete the outsider music staple that was originally supposed to be titled 1989.

329. The National - High Violet (2010)

The Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati quintet somehow topped their critical breakthrough three years prior to deliver quiet, self-aware musings of middle-class tedium.

328. Gil-Scott Heron - Pieces of A Man (1971)

The controversial "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," Heron commented, "was the only political piece [on the album], one of the 11 pieces....they just missed the point."

327. Big Star - Radio City (1974)

Accidental innovator Alex Chilton set the stage for the launch of alternative rock with his sinister, raucous masterclass in power pop.

326. The Smiths - Meat is Murder (1985)

Morrissey and Marr's only #1 album targets everyone, from omnivores to the media to Margaret Thatcher.

 

Want to listen to our choice cuts from this list? Follow our countdown playlist on Spotify!

Stay tuned for Inhailer Radio's next installment in the totally objective, completely undisputed, most-correct list of the Top 500 Albums of All-Time. Disagree with our rankings? Definitely don't @ us on our Facebook and Instagram. Next week: #325-301.

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