The Rolling Stones’ Top 8 Albums Of All Time
Prince (Prince Rogers Nelson) was born on June 7, 1958. Throughout his lifetime, he earned 2 Grammys for one of his most popular albums, Purple Rain. The album was published on June 25, 1984. Another album of his that gained popularity after its release was the album 1999. Although his personality was quite flashy when he was on stage, he went through various struggles in his life, including bullying, epilepsy, and even other issues such as family problems. His passion for music was fueled at a young age. Among the songs he created and released throughout his lifetime, his album Purple Rain comes into the top 100 songs on the Rolling Stones’ “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” As an artist, he took inspiration from other musicians such as Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell, and Jimi Hendrix. He passed away from an accidental fentanyl overdose on April 21 of 2016. He died at the age of 57. He was an extraordinary person in his lifetime as he used his influence to promote things such as human rights, while also pushing the boundaries of the time.
Song #3: Out of all the other songs on the album Purple Rain, “Let’s Go Crazy” is the third most popular. On Spotify, it ranks as his 5th most popular overall. The lyrics lead the song in a religious direction. Some of the lyrics are references to the devil: “And if de-elevator tries to bring you down.” Prince was a very religious person, eventually becoming a Jehovah’s Witness. There are multiple ways it could also be interpreted. One take involves going as crazy as you can since you are only alive for so long.
Song #2: Prince’s second most popular song on the album, “When Doves Cry” similarly features lyrics about a doomed relationship, much like the lyrics on the song “Purple Rain.” The song mentions the “fear” of turning into your parents, with Prince feeling as though he is heading down the same path as his parents whose relationship did not work out. He sees the same events occurring within his current relationship. Every instrument in the song is played by Prince himself. This includes the piano, the guitar, and other instruments such as synthesizers and more.
Song #1: The song “Purple Rain” is the biggest hit on the album. On Spotify, it ranks as his most popular. It is considered to be a breakup song, with sad lyrics that all feature a doomed ending. Originally, the song was intended to sound very different from how it was produced. The idea was for it to be a country song that included a collaboration with the artist Stevie Nicks. This idea wasn’t executed as Stevie Nicks quotes that she got “overwhelmed” after listening to the instrumental recording. Instead, the final product didn’t turn out like a country song, but it became a track that features meaningful lyrics and a catchy tune, making the song extremely popular for generations to come.
The 1960-1970s were revolutionary years in music for American and British culture. The 60’s British blues boom was caused by people wanting their music to speak to them during their fights of rebellion, freedom and expression. Signed by the Warner Bros, Fleetwood Mac’s most remarkable band members were drummer Mick Fleetwood, their keyboardist and singer Christine McVie, their bassist John McVie, Guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham, and singer Stevie Nicks. The album Rumors, won two Grammy awards and ranked Fleetwood Mac as the 21st in overall artists.
Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors was greatly influenced by the conflict within the band. The relationship issues caused some of the members to suffer and put a huge weight on all of their backs. Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were in a toxic and ending relationship. At the same time, Christine McVie and John McVie were freshly divorced. All that tension, alongside the pressure of fame and a hint of drugs ultimately shaped their award winning album, Rumors.
Song #3: “Go Your Own Way” is no exception to how they write about their band drama. While upbeat, it is a reflection of Stevie Nicks’ and Lindsey Buckingham’s breakup. Lindsey Buckingham was the main songwriter and he took inspiration from The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man,” focusing on the song’s rhythm and beat. Later on he had Mick Fleetwood create a rich guitar line in order to draw out the pure emotion.
Song #2: “You Make Loving Fun” stands out as one of the few joyous and upbeat songs on the album. The funky rhythm shines as a light of optimism on the band during their sad times. Christine McVie wrote and sang the song. This was one of the few songs she really struggled to write, “I thought I was drying up,” she said in Q magazine, “I was practically panicking because every time I sat down at a piano, nothing came out.” After days of pondering, “You Make Loving Fun” was the result of time and emotion.
Song #1: “The Chain” is the only song in the album written by all of the members in the band which gives it a complex emotional theme that mirrors the band’s relationship problems: “And if you don’t love me now you will never love me again.” Throughout the process of writing “The Chain” and in the lyrics, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham remind each other that if their relationship can’t be fixed at this point, they would never work out: ”Their chain would be broken.”
Released on September 24, 1991, Nirvana’s Nevermind is an album that can sum up the term “cultural impact.” This was the band’s second album, and is the most popular and best selling one to come from the band. Kurt Cobain, the lead singer, wrote most of the songs by himself and was the main contributor to making it happen. Nevermind was described as “One of the most influential rock records of the ‘90s,” by The Rolling Stones magazine. The album thrusted grunge rock into mainstream music, which killed the “hair metal” scene that came before it. It was originally planned to be named “Sheep” which was something Cobain created as an inside joke directed towards the people he expected to buy the album. Later he decided to name it Nevermind as a nod to one of Cobain’s favorite records, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols. However the name wasn’t what gave Nirvana’s Nevermind so much success, it was the songs.
Song #3: The song “Come As You Are” is one of the most popular songs on the album. This is evident as there are over 1.4 billion views on YouTube for the music video alone. The song was built around Cobain’s low end guitar riff and was made to be simple and easy to follow. The lead drummer on the song, Dave Ghrol, even said “We wanted them to be almost like children’s songs.” However the lyrics made these claims seem like a joke, as many speculate the song to be an allusion to Cobain’s heroin addiction. When Cobain was asked about this theory around the song’s lyrics he said the song was “about people, and what they’re expected to act like.” Regardless of interpretation, “Come As You Are” became one of the most played radio songs of the ’90s.
Song #2: The second most popular song is “Something In The Way.” In a recent NPR music review, journalist Lars Gotrich summed up the song: “Sometimes a song just gets inside you: A chord, a beat or a howl finds a root and digs deep.” The song reemerged to the top charts in 2022 when it was featured in The Batman movie. The song was reintroduced to the young generation and opened up a new wave of listeners.
The song’s reemergence with modern teens reinforces the versatility of the song, and carries it throughout generations.
Song #1: The most popular song from the album, as well as Nirvana’s most popular song overall, is “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The song has the most plays on the album, 1.9 billion on YouTube across 15 years. It was so popular the Library of Congress inducted the entire album, with the explanation being “Who could forget the way that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ curated dissonance with space?” The song’s iconic music video was hailed as the third most recognizable music video by The Rolling Stones magazine. Its iconic riff under the lyrics “Hello, Hello, Hello, How low” has maintained its popularity over the years.
Most people are familiar with The Beatles and their music, but many have seemed to find a liking for their 11th album Abbey Road, as it is ranked 5th most listened to on Apple Music. Even though it was released nearly 56 years ago it still has its place on many other charts as well. They became a band in 1960 while living in Liverpool, then just four years later they became a global sensation and symbol for liberation. The four men who made The Beatles were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Star. They were all self taught musicians and found a shared interest for American rock and roll which is what brought them together. The Beatles had, and still do, a special place in many people’s hearts, especially musicians. Abbey Road was officially released on September 26, 1969 and sales blew up immediately. This album is especially important because it was the very last one the band recorded together. It is 47 minutes long and uses many different styles such as rock, pop, and blues. It was made to try and bring back the sounds of their old albums. Abbey Road in its entirety has received mixed reviews, but overall positive ones that were about how revolutionary the album was.
Song #3: “Something” is the second song in the album, but ranked third in popularity by the amount of listens it has. The song “Something” was written by George Harrison, the lead guitarist of the band. Harrison wrote this song from many inspirations, some of them being James Taylor, Ray Charles, and most importantly Pattie Boyd, his wife. He started writing the song during a session for their album, The White Album, in September 1968 and then it was later released in 1969 as a part of Abbey Road. The Beatles constructed the song with a Leslie-effected rhythm guitar, piano, bass, drums. They included Billy Preston as a guest musician who played the Organ. The song “Something” is loved by many, but why? Newsletter, Time Out, seems to think it’s because of the love it shows as they ranked “Something” third on their Best Love Songs Of All Time list.
Song #2: Second on this list is “Come Together,” which is the opening song for Abbey Road. This song was inspired by Chuck Berry’s single “You Can’t Catch Me.” Another inspiration was the campaign that Timothy Leary used to attempt to become Governor of California. The song was even going to be used to promote the campaign but it closed early due to Leary’s arrest. Lennon even used an identical lyric from Berry’s song which later got them into legal trouble with the publisher of “You Can’t Catch Me” who filed a lawsuit against The Beatles. The song was created with John Lennon as the lead vocalist, Paul McCartney on the bass, George Harrison on a rhythm guitar, and Ringo Star on drums. It took 8 takes to complete and was on US Billboard Hot 100 chart for a total of 16 weeks and even made it to #1. Many people liked it for its original “swampy” and “groovy” sound. Not only was this song loved by listeners of The Beatles but John Lennon himself even said that “Come Together(is)…one of my favorite Beatles tracks”.
Song #1: “Here Comes The Sun” is officially the number one listened to song on the album Abbey Road and of all time for The Beatles on Spotify with over 1.5 billion streams and nearly 663,000 new ones daily. The inspiration behind this song came from literal and metaphorical meaning of the winter ending and the sun shining through. It was written by George Harrison when he skipped out on work to go to singer-songwriter Eric Clapton’s house. John Lennon did not contribute to the song but the rest of the Band worked together to compose the song in 13 takes using an acoustic guitar, rhythm tracks, vocals, electric guitar, and many more instruments. People liked the song specifically because of the imagery it brings and the comfort it holds for people who are going through hard times, and the metaphors used such as “I feel the ice slowly melting” and “here comes the sun…it feels like years since it’s been here.” The song can be taken in a literal sense and seen as how the sun and warmth is coming out after a long winter. Most listeners appreciate the metaphorical meaning which is seeing “the sun”, the good, after a long, hard, “cold winter” meaning the hard times.
Stevland Hardaway Morris, or “Stevie Wonder” born on May 13 1950, in Saginaw Michigan, is a legendary singer, songwriter, and musician. Blind since infancy, he signed with Motown’s Tamla label at the age of 11. He’s known for hits like “Superstition” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” He has won 25 Grammy Awards and is known for his contributions to music and activism.
Stevie Wonder’s album Songs In The Key Of Life was inspired by a mix of social issues, personal experiences, and his desire to explore various musical styles. The double album was released on September 28 1976 and covers themes like love, spirituality, and social justice. Wonder was influenced by the political climate of the time, his own life events, and his desire to create a great piece of music that reflected the complexities of life. The album is considered one of his masterpieces and includes iconic tracks like “Sir Duke,” “I Wish,” and “Isn’t She Lovely.”
Song #3: The 11th track on the album was made after his daughter Aisha Morris was born. He decided to write the song “Isn’t She Lovely,” to celebrate her birth. When he created it, he added her voice at the beginning. The song is well known and remembered for its melody and harmonica solo that was played by Wonder himself. “Isn’t She Lovely” ranks as the third most popular song on Songs In The Key Of Life.
Song #2: The song “I Wish” was released as a single in November 1996. It is the second most popular song. Like “Sir Duke,” it reached number one on the billboard hot top 100 chart in January of 1997. The lyrics include a nostalgic and reflective feel, as they reference memories of his childhood. It is the 6th track on the album.
Song #1: The 5th track on Songs In The Key Of Life is “Sir Duke.” It ranks as the most popular from the album. Not too long after its release, it reached number one in the top 100 billboard charts and continued to stay there for three weeks. The song is a tribute to Duke Ellington, a jazz legend who had passed away in 1974. Stevie Wonder admired him, and decided to dedicate a song to him in his memory.
Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, released in 1971, is considered to be one of the best albums ever released because of the way she composes her own genuine feelings and thoughts in her songs. Her songs mainly focus on all of the raw emotions that she went through and was going through during her life. Her song “My Old Man” explains what she felt in her relationships, the struggles she faced and also included some of the joy she felt while being in the relationship. Mitchell decided to release the Blue album because she wanted the listeners to know what it felt like to be a woman during the 1970s, because not a lot of women were allowed to do or feel certain ways at the time. As Joni Mitchell was writing Blue, she wanted the people to hear and feel the lyrics in such a comprehensive way so people would know that in order to heal, you need to release all your emotions. She wanted people to know that it’s okay to feel a certain way because she did too, and she was able to work through everything that she went through while writing Blue.
Song #3: The third most listened to song on Blue is “Little Green.” It is a song that Joni Mitchell dedicates to her daughter. It gives an explanation on why she put her daughter up for adoption. Mitchell was going through the toughest time of her life while being pregnant and on her own. Thinking that she wouldn’t be able to raise a baby by herself, without money, and without having the ability to step up and be a parent, she just couldn’t imagine raising her daughter in such a bad state. For that reason she decided to give her daughter away for adoption so she could live her best life with loving parents and a better lifestyle than Mitchell could possibly give her.
Song #2: The second most listened to song on Blue by Joni Mitchell, “My Old Man,” is based upon Mitchell’s past relationship with her ex partner Graham Nash. She mainly reflects on what they could’ve been if she had agreed to marrying him. Given the name of the song, “My Old Man” is supposed to symbolize the idea of a happily ever after marriage. Graham Nash sought for that in a relationship. Unfortunately, Mitchell truly did not view herself being that specific partner, and she couldn’t imagine herself being happy in the marriage that he asked for. Even if they both brought the best and the worst out of each other, she couldn’t help but think to herself that the idea of being in the traditional marriage that Nash really wanted, wasn’t right for her at the moment. Joni Mitchell knew that she just wanted to be free, since they were both way too young to get married, and she was at the peak of her musical career.
Song #1: The most listened to song on Blue, “All I Want,” is Joni Mitchell communicating with her audience what she truly wishes for and desires in a relationship, while wanting to be a free independent woman on her own at the same time. She talks about how difficult it is for her to stay in a long lasting relationship with someone as she struggles to overcome her own emotions of fear and jealousy. Although Mitchell is struggling to stay loyal to herself she figures out that in the end, if someone is willing to love her for just being herself, they will. Overall, she finally gave herself time to reflect and continue on her personal growth as an overall human being and artist.
Pet Sounds is an album made almost entirely by Brian Wilson, along with Tony Asher. It was released May 16, 1966. The album is regarded as a masterpiece by many, although only later on. It revealed how Brian truly was at the time, but it had a problem on release, not performing well. One reason as to why it didn’t perform well was because its theme deviated from the band’s usual, upbeat songs that left people feeling good. It went for love, loneliness, vulnerability, and self-doubt, which were all things describing how he felt. The album reflected his mental and physical health at the time—he had a panic attack on a flight in December 1964. He was using LSD and marijuana which contributed to his emotional instability. His relationship with his wife was tense because he was engrossing himself in his work.
Brian was heavily inspired to create this album after The Beatles’ released Rubber Soul, as he thought it was “probably the greatest record ever…”
With this in mind, he had one goal: create the greatest album ever. He wanted to make one so good he could live up to his idol, Phil Spector, and surpass The Beatles own Rubber Soul album. Creating Pet Sounds was definitely not an easy job; after all, he was trying to put together the greatest album of all time. It was recorded in 27 different sessions over the course of four months. Four different studios were used and picked for the unique sound they each had because of how they were structured with all of the different machines available.
Song #3: “God Only Knows” was risky to make and publish for Brian and Tony. At the time it was released, having “God” anywhere in the lyrics or title was frowned upon at the time for pop music. With that, the song is also very easy to misinterpret, with some people believing that the line following “should you ever leave me” implies that he would commit suicide if she ever left him: “what good would living do me?” but this was disproved by the other lyrics in the song and Asher himself saying that it was not intended.
Song #2: “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)” is a song that you can interpret in different ways. You could see it as romantic, and two people sharing an intimate moment together, or an extremely sad moment that may be their last time together. You can see it being romantic in the words he uses, “Being here with you feels so right,” but you could also see it as being heartbreaking, “Let’s not think about tomorrow.” Brian himself even stated that it was “One of the sweetest songs I ever sang.”
Song #1: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” unlike other songs in the album, performed extremely well. On release it became a Top 10 hit in the U.S.
This song is about love and him being in a relationship, but age is a constraint. In the song, the lyrics describe him wanting to be older instead of having to wait to truly live life with his special someone. It seems like he’s describing teenage love, how he wants to spend his life with them, how he wants to be something more with them, and it seems almost impossibly far as he describes that even if he wishes, prays, and hopes, it only might come true.
Marvin Gaye’s album What’s Going On was selected as Rolling Stones number one on their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album has been recognized many times as being one of the best because of how influential it was during a time of controversy. Marvin Gaye was a soul singer-songwriter in the 60’s and 70’s with Motown records. His biggest hit song was “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” which came out in 1968. The 1970’s were a time of protest in America, revolving around civil rights and the Vietnam War. Marvin Gaye noticed the injustices and issues in America and decided to speak about it through his music. In May 1971, What’s Going On was released and became his biggest album. The album reflected on the injustices in America during the time of the Vietnam War. Many of the songs contain themes of racism, suffering, and even environmental issues, and because of this Motown was unsure about the album being released. Motown wanted to create music that was uncontroversial and didn’t want to include political ideas into their label. Even with the initial disapproval from the label the album was released and for over a year stayed on the Billboard Top LPs. The singles “What’s Going On,” “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)” all were in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Song #3: “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” was the last song on the first side of the record. In this song Marvin Gaye shifted the problems he was speaking about to the environment. He shared his concerns for the earth through the lyrics “What about the overcrowded land/How much more abuse from man can she stand.” This song reached number 1 on R&B charts and number 4 on Pop charts, even during a time when ecological issues were not spoken about as much.
Song #2: Following “What’s Going On,” the next song on the album is “What’s Happening Brother,” a song dedicated to his brother Frankie. Frankie was in the Vietnam war and this song was based on his experiences of returning to America. Marvin Gaye sings, “Are they still gettin’ down where we used to go and dance?” / “Are things really getting better, like the newspapers said?” The song describes the feeling of a veteran coming home from Vietnam feeling cut off from American society.
Song #1: The opening song, “What’s Going On” is one of the most known from the album. The song sold 2 million copies and reached number 1 on R&B charts and number 2 on Pop charts. This song was really the first time Marvin Gaye spoke out in his music about current issues. Police brutality, the Vietnam War, and other civil rights issues are the main themes of this song, but its ability to be interpreted by many different groups of people helped its popularity rise. A quote from the song is “War is not the answer, only love can conquer hate.” Marvin Gaye was trying to declare a strong message through the soulful and catchy sounds of this song and it worked.
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