How do you choose your "top 10"?
 

We're always making lists of our 10 (or 20, or 50, or 100) favorite albums, songs, and bands, but what is the criteria most people use? Is it down to personal experiences with the album? How good you think the album is? How often you listen to it? The three rarely apply to a single album. I can only think of about half a dozen records that I think are "good" (defined as not embarassing or hackwork), that I have a certain soft spot for (some albums remind us of a certain time of life), and play often.

So what is your criteria when someone asks for your "top 10" records? (Assuming that you don't dodge the question). The 10 you've been playing the most recently? The 10 that mean the most to you? The first 10 that come to mind?

I guess this is why some people refuse to answer music polls. :)


I have a few records that will always be on my list, no matter what, and the rest usually depends on what I've been getting into at that point in time. As much as I love the first VU album, I really don't listen to it often enough to put it on a top 10 list. I'd be more likely to put A Quick One on the list. It's not as "good," but I tend to play it more often.

The older you get the worse this becomes. I sometimes lament the days when I was 14 and owned about ten albums. Much easier to choose what to listen to!

No list is definitive as an album can drop that merits inclusion immediately into a top ten. This is the reason why I have'nt done a top 100. After spending time just choosing what 100 I then have to order them. No can do I'm afraid.

For songs, if I like to hear it over and over again. I often just compare songs to see which I like better.

Bands, same stuff.

Albums, if it has a lot of songs that I like on it.

I often try to create a list of albums/songs consisting of favorites that have endured throughout my life and new entries that I have a feeling about as to how long they might remain significant to me.

That's my take on it, anyway.

Making these types of lists are impossiable to create. It's based on personal feelings towards a song or band, and usually when ytou listen to SO MUCH music it's too hard to pick a favorite.

That makes me think of another point. When people say they like albums, are they referring to how many good tracks are on the album, or how few bad tracks are on the album?

Get Happy!!! is my "favorite" EC album, but I always skip tracks 12-14. On the other hand, I can listen to This Year's Model all the way through, but it doesn't do as much for me on the whole. For me, a consistant album (TYM) might not be as good as a relatively patchy album (GH). It's the same reason that I think Let It Bleed, County Honk notwithstanding, is better than Sticky Fingers.

I tried making a top 100 album list about a month ago when i was bored. It was bloody hard.
Making a list of my top 25 albums wouldn't be too hard. It's quite easy to say which albums i love enough to put up there because you just know, for whatever reasons. You know what your favourite albums are when, making a list, you couldn't possibly leave them out of the top places for whatever excuses you make up.
The top things i imagine i would look for in an album when making a larger list would probably be:

• Tunes. At the least something that grabs the attention, so to speak.
• Flow
• Innovation/Character
• Longetivity, i.e it won't get old.
• That little x factor sort of charm.

Not in that order and there's obviously exceptions and probably omissions.

Lists are very serious business!

Making my 101 was the thing ever. I began to resent the order immediately and I took almost three months compiling my list and ordering it. My new projects are the Van discography and the introspective auditorium which focus on celebrating the music, not ranking it.