In October, 2006, I began a musical odyssey I thought would be fun and enlightening. I've been listening to and collecting music (primarily rock and metal) for over 30 years, and my collection has grown quite large during that time. So, I decided to listen to the studio albums* in my collection and rate each song and the album as a whole, with the goal of weeding out the "bad" albums and keeping only those I really like.
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Top 50:
98.14 -- Deep Purple - In Rock (1970)
97.98 -- Rainbow - Rising (1976)
96.37 -- Queensrÿche - Queensrÿche (EP) (1983)
95.70 -- Deep Purple - Machine Head (1972)
94.86 -- Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984)
94.24 -- Sweet - Give Us A Wink (1976)
93.73 -- Black Sabbath - Born Again (1983)
93.67 -- Ted Nugent - Free-for-All (1976)
93.55 -- Megadeth - Rust In Peace (1990)
93.02 -- Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
92.75 -- Scorpions - Lovedrive (1979)
91.90 -- Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind (1983)
91.88 -- Wolf - Black Wings (2002)
91.79 -- Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack (1982)
91.76 -- Metal Church - Blessing In Disguise (1989)
91.67 -- Anthem - Heavy Metal Anthem (2000)
91.64 -- Savatage - The Dungeons are Calling (1984)
91.52 -- Murasaki - Impact (1976)
91.47 -- Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)
91.46 -- Fastway - Fastway (1983)
91.45 -- Uriah Heep - Wake the Sleeper (2008)
91.28 -- Domine - Stormbringer Ruler (2000)
91.22 -- Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry (1984)
91.18 -- Iced Earth - Something Wicked this Way Comes (1998)
91.18 -- Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation (1991)
91.16 -- Buffalo - Volcanic Rock (1973)
91.04 -- October 31 - Meet Thy Maker (1999)
91.00 -- Sweet - Desolation Boulevard (US) (1974)
90.97 -- Aria - Armageddon (2006)
90.85 -- Black Sabbath - Tyr (1990)
90.85 -- Metal Church - Light In the Dark (2006)
90.83 -- Dokken - Tooth and Nail (1984)
90.82 -- Elixir - The Idol (2003)
90.80 -- AC/DC - Let there Be Rock (1977)
90.73 -- Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2 (1988)
90.68 -- Mob Rules - Among the Gods (2004)
90.64 -- Slough Feg - Ape Uprising (2009)
90.64 -- Jaguar - Run Ragged (2003)
90.59 -- Dark Moor - Dark Moor (2003)
90.55 -- Saxon - Metalhead (1999)
90.52 -- Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (1971)
90.51 -- Anvil - Metal On Metal (1982)
90.51 -- Gamma Ray - Majestic (2005)
90.49 -- W.A.S.P. - Dying for the World (2002)
90.48 -- Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations (1981)
90.41 -- Bow Wow - Era (2005)
90.39 -- Uriah Heep - Salisbury (1971)
90.39 -- Messiah's Kiss - Prayer for the Dying (2002)
90.36 -- Grand Funk - We're an American Band (1973)
90.36 -- Riot - Restless Breed (1982)
*I purposefully avoided live and compilation albums, although I may get around to rating live albums at some point.
I always felt that the standard rating systems (1 - 10, 10 - 100, etc.) were inaccurate, and that a perfect score just doesn't exist. I have yet to find an album where I truly love every song from beginning to end. Even my favorite albums have songs that are fillers, or have bad lyrics, choruses, solos, etc.
I wanted something different. As a result, I not only rate each song, but I also take into account song length. If you think song length is irrelevant, consider this: the Iron Butterfly album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida contains six songs with a playing time of 36:15. Let's say you love the first five songs, but hate the sixth. You could reasonably rate the album 9/10, or 90/100. You could even take a more mathematical approach and divide 5 by 6 to give the rating a value of 8.3/10 or 83/100. These could all be legitimate ratings. However, on this album, the sixth song is just over 17 minutes long, while the first five total just over 19 minutes. So out of 36 minutes of music, you really only like 19 minutes, or just shy of 53% of the album (19 divided by 36). Does that album still deserve a rating of 90, or even 83?
So, my ratings don't reflect how much I like the album; instead, they reflect how much of the album I like. For example, I rated In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida at 82.63, which means I like just over 82% of the album.
I've now reviewed and rated almost 2,300 albums. (A quick side note: I rated a wide variety of artists and genres, from Amon Düül II to ZZ Top. But there are genres such as Grunge, Nu Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal and others that I don't care for, and will not generally collect. To rate these types of albums would be unfair as they would most likely receive low ratings.)
As time permits, I plan to write about my ratings and publish some interesting lists, such as rated discographies and Top Ten lists by decade, year, country, genre, etc. For now, though, I'll start with my Top 50 albums. (Actually, I listed 52 albums because the first Queensrÿche album, although excellent, is an EP, and because there was a tie for the 51st album.)
I wanted something different. As a result, I not only rate each song, but I also take into account song length. If you think song length is irrelevant, consider this: the Iron Butterfly album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida contains six songs with a playing time of 36:15. Let's say you love the first five songs, but hate the sixth. You could reasonably rate the album 9/10, or 90/100. You could even take a more mathematical approach and divide 5 by 6 to give the rating a value of 8.3/10 or 83/100. These could all be legitimate ratings. However, on this album, the sixth song is just over 17 minutes long, while the first five total just over 19 minutes. So out of 36 minutes of music, you really only like 19 minutes, or just shy of 53% of the album (19 divided by 36). Does that album still deserve a rating of 90, or even 83?
So, my ratings don't reflect how much I like the album; instead, they reflect how much of the album I like. For example, I rated In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida at 82.63, which means I like just over 82% of the album.
I've now reviewed and rated almost 2,300 albums. (A quick side note: I rated a wide variety of artists and genres, from Amon Düül II to ZZ Top. But there are genres such as Grunge, Nu Metal, Black Metal, Death Metal and others that I don't care for, and will not generally collect. To rate these types of albums would be unfair as they would most likely receive low ratings.)
As time permits, I plan to write about my ratings and publish some interesting lists, such as rated discographies and Top Ten lists by decade, year, country, genre, etc. For now, though, I'll start with my Top 50 albums. (Actually, I listed 52 albums because the first Queensrÿche album, although excellent, is an EP, and because there was a tie for the 51st album.)
*This is the original list. I've since re-evaluated some albums and updated the Top 50, which you can check it out in the You Wanted the Best... post.Please feel free to post your comments, thoughts, opinions and requests. If I've rated the bands or albums requested, I'll post them. If not, I'll see what I can do about listening to them and rating them.
Top 50:
98.14 -- Deep Purple - In Rock (1970)
97.98 -- Rainbow - Rising (1976)
96.37 -- Queensrÿche - Queensrÿche (EP) (1983)
95.70 -- Deep Purple - Machine Head (1972)
94.86 -- Iron Maiden - Powerslave (1984)
94.24 -- Sweet - Give Us A Wink (1976)
93.73 -- Black Sabbath - Born Again (1983)
93.67 -- Ted Nugent - Free-for-All (1976)
93.55 -- Megadeth - Rust In Peace (1990)
93.02 -- Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
92.75 -- Scorpions - Lovedrive (1979)
91.90 -- Iron Maiden - Piece of Mind (1983)
91.88 -- Wolf - Black Wings (2002)
91.79 -- Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack (1982)
91.76 -- Metal Church - Blessing In Disguise (1989)
91.67 -- Anthem - Heavy Metal Anthem (2000)
91.64 -- Savatage - The Dungeons are Calling (1984)
91.52 -- Murasaki - Impact (1976)
91.47 -- Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)
91.46 -- Fastway - Fastway (1983)
91.45 -- Uriah Heep - Wake the Sleeper (2008)
91.28 -- Domine - Stormbringer Ruler (2000)
91.22 -- Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry (1984)
91.18 -- Iced Earth - Something Wicked this Way Comes (1998)
91.18 -- Armored Saint - Symbol of Salvation (1991)
91.16 -- Buffalo - Volcanic Rock (1973)
91.04 -- October 31 - Meet Thy Maker (1999)
91.00 -- Sweet - Desolation Boulevard (US) (1974)
90.97 -- Aria - Armageddon (2006)
90.85 -- Black Sabbath - Tyr (1990)
90.85 -- Metal Church - Light In the Dark (2006)
90.83 -- Dokken - Tooth and Nail (1984)
90.82 -- Elixir - The Idol (2003)
90.80 -- AC/DC - Let there Be Rock (1977)
90.73 -- Helloween - Keeper of the Seven Keys, Pt. 2 (1988)
90.68 -- Mob Rules - Among the Gods (2004)
90.64 -- Slough Feg - Ape Uprising (2009)
90.64 -- Jaguar - Run Ragged (2003)
90.59 -- Dark Moor - Dark Moor (2003)
90.55 -- Saxon - Metalhead (1999)
90.52 -- Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (1971)
90.51 -- Anvil - Metal On Metal (1982)
90.51 -- Gamma Ray - Majestic (2005)
90.49 -- W.A.S.P. - Dying for the World (2002)
90.48 -- Diamond Head - Lightning to the Nations (1981)
90.41 -- Bow Wow - Era (2005)
90.39 -- Uriah Heep - Salisbury (1971)
90.39 -- Messiah's Kiss - Prayer for the Dying (2002)
90.36 -- Grand Funk - We're an American Band (1973)
90.36 -- Riot - Restless Breed (1982)
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