Rolling Stone originally published their list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003, but with 17 years past, and constant needs for pageviews, the outlet decided to re-do the list completely from scratch, also taking into account all the new albums that came out since 2003. And, a good selection of metal albums made the list. Rolling Stone came up with the list after they "received and tabulated Top 50 Albums lists from more than 300 artists, producers, critics, and music-industry figures (from radio programmers to label heads, like Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman)."
Rolling Stone made a list available of all the people who voted, and the more rock-leaning voters include Alice Cooper, Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Halestorm's Lzzy Hale, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, and Yes' Rick Wakeman.
With that noted, here are how metal and proto-metal acts did:
488 – The Stooges, 'The Stooges'
487 – Black Flag, 'Damaged'
453 – Nine Inch Nails, 'Pretty Hate Machine'
445 – Yes, 'Close to the Edge'
408 – Motörhead, 'Ace of Spades'
355 – Black Sabbath, 'Black Sabbath'
320 – X, 'Los Angeles'
305 – Kiss, 'Alive!'
292 – Van Halen, 'Van Halen'
278 – Led Zeppelin, 'Houses of the Holy'
235 – Metallica, 'Metallica (The Black Album)'
234 – Black Sabbath, 'Master of Reality'
221 – Rage Against the Machine, 'Rage Against the Machine'
144 – Led Zeppelin, 'Physical Graffiti'
139 – Black Sabbath, 'Paranoid'
123 – Led Zeppelin, 'Led Zeppelin II'
122 – Nine Inch Nails, 'The Downward Spiral'
101 – Led Zeppelin, 'Led Zeppelin'
97 – Metallica, 'Master of Puppets'
94 – The Stooges, 'Fun House'
92 – The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 'Axis: Bold as Love'
84 – AC/DC, 'Back in Black'
62 – Guns N’ Roses, 'Appetite for Destruction'
58 – Led Zeppelin, 'Led Zeppelin IV'
53 – Jimi Hendrix, 'Electric Ladyland'
30 – Jimi Hendrix, 'Are You Experienced?'
I don't want to see any comments that Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin are not metal! Ultimately, they fared the best, along with Black Sabbath.
In case you're curious, here are the top 20:
20. Radiohead, 'Kid A'
19. Kendrick Lamar, 'To Pimp a Butterfly'
18. Bob Dylan, 'Highway 61 Revisited'
17. Kanye West, 'My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy'
16. The Clash, 'London Calling'
15. Public Enemy, 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back'
14. The Rolling Stones, 'Exile on Main Street'
13. Aretha Franklin, 'I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You'
12. Michael Jackson, 'Thriller'
11. The Beatles, 'Revolver'
10. Lauryn Hill, 'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill'
9. Bob Dylan, 'Blood on the Tracks'
8. Prince and the Revolution, 'Purple Rain'
7. Fleetwood Mac, 'Rumours'
6. Nirvana, 'Nevermind'
5. The Beatles, 'Abbey Road'
4. Stevie Wonder, 'Songs in the Key of Life'
3. Joni Mitchell, 'Blue'
2. The Beach Boys, 'Pet Sounds'
1. Marvin Gaye, 'What's Going On'
View the full list here.
