Billy Boots Fab 50 - The Albums - The Countdown - All the way to #1

[Mayo4Sam]

No. 2 - Bruce Springsteen - Darkness on the Edge of Town - #151 Rolling Stones Top 500. #5 in the US.

From Wiki:

Darkness on the Edge of Town is the fourth album by Bruce Springsteen. The album marked the end of a three year period of forced hiatus from recording brought on by contractual obligations and legal battling with former manager Mike Appel. Although the album did not produce high charting singles it nevertheless remained on the charts for 97 weeks. In September 2010 a documentary film chronicling the making of Darkness was first shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. Quoting Springsteen as saying "More than rich, more than famous, more than happy – I wanted to be great", reviewer Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger commented: "For many fans, that long journey pulled onto the Turnpike here."

Recovering from legal troubles and the stress of the breakthrough success of Born to Run, Springsteen released a somewhat less commercial album, Darkness on the Edge of Town.

In terms of the original LP's sequencing, Springsteen continued his "four corners" approach from Born to Run, as the songs beginning each side ("Badlands" and "The Promised Land") were martial rallying cries to overcome circumstances, while the songs ending each side ("Racing in the Street", "Darkness on the Edge of Town") were sad dirges of circumstances overcoming all hope. Unlike Born to Run, the songs were recorded by the full band all at once, frequently soon after Springsteen had written them.

This collection of songs, each of which Springsteen sang in the first person, was given unity by several recurring themes. The words "darkness" / "dark" appear in six of the tracks, while nine of them feature the "night" / "tonight". "They" are mentioned in eight songs, with a general suggestion of nameless people who exert a negative influence. "Work" / "worked" / "working" form part of six songs, and so do the words "dream" / "dreams". Six is also the number of songs in which Bruce and his characters are found "driving" / "racing" / "riding", or mentioning the names of cars. There are references to "blood", "born", "love" / "loved" in four of the tracks. In the song "Racing in the Street," Springsteen alludes to Martha & the Vandellas' Dancing in the Street with the lyric "Summer's here and the time is right for racing in the street," which is similar to the Rolling Stones similar appropration of the lyric in the song "Street Fightin' Man".

The album failed to generate any hit singles, with "Prove It All Night" barely making the Top 40 in the U.S. and follow-up "Badlands" not charting in the top 40.

The cover shot and inner sleeve photo were taken by photographer Frank Stefanko inside Stefanko's Haddonfield, New Jersey home.Springsteen says, "...when I saw the picture I said, 'That's the guy in the songs.' I wanted the part of me that's still that guy to be on the cover. Frank stripped away all your celebrity and left you with your essence. That's what that record was about."

[Mayo4Sam]

Combining 2nd and 3rd wouldn't have beaten this, there was really only ever going to be one winner,.

No. 1 - The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses- #86 in the US, #19 in the UK.

From Wiki:

The Stone Roses is the debut album by English rock band The Stone Roses, released on Silvertone Records in 1989. It cemented the band's reputation among critics, and is still rated by some as one of the most important albums ever. In 2004 an Observer Music Monthly poll consisting of musicians and critics voted the album the greatest of all time, as did the writers of NME in 2006, declaring it to be the greatest British album of all time. It is widely considered as the seminal record of the Madchester movement that was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and as being highly responsible for the mid 1990s resurrection of British guitar music that came to be known as Britpop.

The Stone Roses formed in 1984 and released their full-length debut in the spring of 1989, having previously released a handful of singles on several different labels. The band came from Manchester, where the so-called Madchester movement was centred. Despite not considering themselves part of this scene, their eponymous debut brought them nationwide success along with such Madchester groups as the Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays.

The band played a number of high-profile gigs supporting the album, including one at what was regarded as the centre of the "Baggy"/"Madchester" scene, Manchester's The Haçienda nightclub. Andrew Collins wrote in NME: "Bollocks to Morrissey at Wolverhampton, to The Sundays at The Falcon, to PWEI at Brixton - I'm already drafting a letter to my grandchildren telling them that I saw The Stone Roses at the Haçienda."

The Roses' 1990 Spike Island gig, organized by the band and attended by over 27,000 fans, also holds a formidable reputation. Critics have frequently labeled it the 'Woodstock of the baggy generation'.

As with most Stone Roses releases, the cover displays a work by John Squire. It is a Jackson Pollock-influenced piece titled "Bye Bye Badman," which makes reference to the May 1968 riots in Paris. Squire said: "Ian had met this French man when he was hitching around Europe, this bloke had been in the riots, and he told Ian how lemons had been used as an antidote to tear gas. Then there was the documentary—-a great shot at the start of a guy throwing stones at the police. I really liked his attitude." This story was also the inspiration for the lyrics to the song of the same name. The background of the piece is based on the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. The band visited the causeway while playing a gig at the University of Ulster in Coleraine.

[5 Sams]

Good result...although it probably refelects the age profile of the posters on here...might not necessarily be the best the best album ever...but...it's ours.


In 10 years time it will probably be Britney's greatest hits or some Lady Ga Ga shite...we were lucky to have lived in a couple of decades of excellent music.