Apple Music reveals Top 10 albums of all time... WTF?!

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, CyberGene said:

It can also be a regional/ethnic thing. I think hip-hop is predominantly black (African-American) music and we have almost no black people here, which is probably why hip-hop is a rather exotic concept to me. 

Pick up the phone...it looks like Hip-Hop is calling from Bulgaria.🤣

 

As mentioned above, Hip-Hop has influenced music globally. I hear traces of it in everything from other genres to jingles, incidental music, soundtracks, etc. 😎

[Baggypants]

The UK has ChapHop

 

 

[TommyRude]

20 hours ago, stoken6 said:

Well, their first album with the "classic lineup" (mark LXXVI) was amazing. I thought "Smell The Glove" was overrated, and don't get me started on their "new direction" period. Just like Lennon/McCartney, every St Hubbins needs a Tufnel.

 

Cheers, Mike.

I’d put Big Bottom right up there with Stairway to Heaven, Satisfaction and Ice Ice Baby.

[CyberGene]

8 hours ago, ProfD said:

Pick up the phone...it looks like Hip-Hop is calling from Bulgaria.🤣

I bet that artist is known only by his friends and relatives 😀 The only reason you found it is because it's apparent you searched for "Hip-Hop made in Bulgaria" and he happened to name his song "Made in Bulgaria" 🤣

 

Actually the above is often referred to humorously as Ташак Рап (Tashak Rap, or Testicle Rap) which is used for amateur hip-hop records that are so bad that they become viral and people share them to laugh, I have a huge list of BS like that 😀

 

We have some famous hip-hop artists though, one of them became a politician. But I still believe it's not the most popular genre here. Coincidentally, today is our biggest national holiday, The Day of Bulgarian Alphabet, Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture. Our culture has its unique mix of ethnic influences but African is missing, so rap (hip-hop, what's the difference?) is mostly an imported style.

[nursers]

Aussie hip-hop:

 

 

[CrossRhodes]

1 hour ago, CyberGene said:

I bet that artist is known only by his friends and relatives 😀 The only reason you found it is because it's apparent you searched for "Hip-Hop made in Bulgaria" and he happened to name his song "Made in Bulgaria" 🤣

 

Actually the above is often referred to humorously as Ташак Рап (Tashak Rap, or Testicle Rap) which is used for amateur hip-hop records that are so bad that they become viral and people share them to laugh, I have a huge list of BS like that 😀

 

We have some famous hip-hop artists though, one of them became a politician. But I still believe it's not the most popular genre here. Coincidentally, today is our biggest national holiday, The Day of Bulgarian Alphabet, Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture. Our culture has its unique mix of ethnic influences but African is missing, so rap (hip-hop, what's the difference?) is mostly an imported style.

I find your notion that you need to have an “African” or “Black” population in order to be exposed to or enjoy hip hop music really bizarre. I can only assume this means you also don’t know about blues, jazz or rock and roll music either as none of these genres would exist without African-American musicians.

Hip Hop is huge in countries where the population is not predominately “black” and is enjoyed by millions of people across a wide variety of ethnicities. I will caveat by saying I know nothing about Bulgaria though so perhaps you really are the voice of the culture there and one of the few countries in the world that does not have any knowledge about this world wide cultural phenomenon that has taken place over the past 50 years.

***Edit
 

Oh wait, looks like you’re not speaking for all of Bulgaria after all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_hip_hop#:~:text=The Bulgarian hip hop culture,graffiti artist and unknown DJs.

Here’s a tiny sampling of other cultures as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_hip_hop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_hip_hop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_hip_hop#:~:text=Latin hip hop (also known,%2C South America%2C and Spain.&text=1970s%2C Bronx%2C New York City%2C U.S.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_hip_hop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_hip_hop

 

[CyberGene]

15 minutes ago, CrossRhodes said:

Hip Hop is huge in countries where the population is not predominately “black” and is enjoyed by millions of people across a wide variety of ethnicities.

There's one link I posted with statistics. According to that link, only 7% of white Americans listen to hip-hop. As you can imagine, that number would be even lower for Bulgaria but I don't have exact statistics. Unfortunately, the most popular genres here are rubbish too.

 

After all, top 10 lists are rubbish. We're a forum of keyboard musicians, so naturally nobody would put a hip-hop album at their top place but I stand corrected, the public might totally disagree and rank a hip-hop album as the best album of all time and I think I'm having to accept that one way or another.

[CyberGene]

21 minutes ago, CrossRhodes said:

Oh wait, looks like you’re not speaking for all of Bulgaria after all.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_hip_hop#:~:text=The Bulgarian hip hop culture,graffiti artist and unknown DJs.

Not sure what you mean by this link. I didn't say we don't have hip-hop in Bulgaria 🤔 I'm pretty sure that if you make a poll and ask what the favorite music genre of people is, and it's not just some young people from the poor districts but includes people from all ages, ethnicities, education, etc., hip-hop won't be at the top spot. And I am pretty sure that most people wouldn't know who Lauryn Hill is. But I am not trying to say Bulgaria should matter for something, we're a small and poor country, so who cares 😀 Not being sarcastic.

[CrossRhodes]

16 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

Not sure what you mean by this link. I didn't say we don't have hip-hop in Bulgaria 🤔 I'm pretty sure that if you make a poll and ask what the favorite music genre of people is, and it's not just some young people from the poor districts but includes people from all ages, ethnicities, education, etc., hip-hop won't be at the top spot. And I am pretty sure that most people wouldn't know who Lauryn Hill is. But I am not trying to say Bulgaria should matter for something, we're a small and poor country, so who cares 😀 Not being sarcastic.

Again, I don’t know anything about Bulgaria so you are my official cultural liaison. 😁 It’s an interesting discussion and no offense intended!

[ProfD]

7 hours ago, CyberGene said:

We have some famous hip-hop artists though, one of them became a politician. But I still believe it's not the most popular genre here. 

My point is that Hip-Hop has found its way around the world including Bulgaria.  Nothing to do with popularity.😎

[CyberGene]

16 minutes ago, ProfD said:

My point is that Hip-Hop has found its way around the world including Bulgaria.  Nothing to do with popularity.😎

It’s an American genre and the USA is arguably the most influential country around the globe, so it’s all understandable. 

[Shamanzarek]

Not wanting to possibly miss the greatest album of all time I listened to some Lauryn Hill yesterday after seeing news about that list. I remembered it getting acclaim when it first came out but don't know if I ever heard any of it. Anyway, I liked the videos and I can see how it might be a milestone in the Hip Hop/R & B genre but to call it the best album of all time is a stretch. It would need to have songs that have become timeless standards that get mainstream airplay and get covered by many other artists. I don't see enough of that here. Someone like Stevie Wonder whose songs from the 60s and 70s are still widely heard would be a better candidate with Innervisions.

 

As great as it was Sergeant Pepper might have had a better chance at making a top ten list if it had been made as The Beatles originally intended. Among the first songs recorded for the album were Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever. The record company needed to release a single and took those two songs. In England there was a policy that if a song was released as a single it didn't appear on the current album. This happened a lot with Beatles songs. When the Beatles put out a single or four song EP those songs were not included on an album. Capitol Records would then collect those songs and release them as a new album for the US market.

[CrossRhodes]

12 hours ago, CyberGene said:

I'm pretty sure that if you make a poll and ask what the favorite music genre of people is, and it's not just some young people from the poor districts but includes people from all ages, ethnicities, education, etc., hip-hop won't be at the top spot. 

It's interesting how similar this viewpoint is to the majority of white Americans in the past every time African Americans have reshaped music here (and eventually other countries as well). First the music is looked down on and considered "lesser than" by people who fancy themselves as being "better" than those making and listening to the music. Then it slowly catches on with the younger generation of white Americans and they begin to appropriate the music and the culture until it becomes "mainstream". It happened with the blues which then turned into rock and roll, it happened with jazz and it happened with hip hop. Eventually the music becomes a shared experience for many people with contributions from musicians across the globe but the roots of each genre are stained with racism and social prejudice. 

 

[CrossRhodes]

Ah, looks like this Top 10 comes from a much bigger list:

https://100best.music.apple.com/us

I'm still kind of baffled by their picks for top 10 but at least this acknowledges a wider range of influential artists.

[CyberGene]

32 minutes ago, CrossRhodes said:

Eventually the music becomes a shared experience for many people across the globe but the roots of each genre are stained with racism and social prejudice. 

That’s a bit generalized and maybe applicable only to the American scene and your specific history. Outside of the US, there are a lot of music genres that are not tied to race and social class, they are just a local cultural phenomenon and they weren’t born from any clash or a struggle. Speaking of which, are there any country records in that top 100 list? I’m under the impression that some people look down on (American) country in the same way as hip-hop, but I hear country influences in many other genres, yet there doesn’t seem to be any appreciation for it. My 6-year old daughter loves Shania Twain, for instance, and Apple Music would then offer similar music. While it’s not exactly my cup of tea, I’d prefer it over hip-hop any day or night. And, similar to hip-hop, I’ve heard it even in Bulgaria although rare 😀 So, why hip-hop and not country? But I’m really not familiar with country artists, so I might just not be recognizing them in the list. 

[CyberGene]

BTW, not having Queen in the top 100 is outrageous!

 

I don’t see any electronic music there either (besides Kraftwerk which is way too early Electronica) and IMO electronic and EDM artists have influenced every other genre in the last few decades. 

[CrossRhodes]

1 hour ago, CyberGene said:

BTW, not having Queen in the top 100 is outrageous!

 

I don’t see any electronic music there either (besides Kraftwerk which is way too early Electronica) and IMO electronic and EDM artists have influenced every other genre in the last few decades. 

 

Yeah they snubbed a lot of artists. 

[CrossRhodes]

22 hours ago, CyberGene said:

I bet that artist is known only by his friends and relatives 😀 The only reason you found it is because it's apparent you searched for "Hip-Hop made in Bulgaria" and he happened to name his song "Made in Bulgaria" 🤣

 

Actually the above is often referred to humorously as Ташак Рап (Tashak Rap, or Testicle Rap) which is used for amateur hip-hop records that are so bad that they become viral and people share them to laugh, I have a huge list of BS like that 😀

 

We have some famous hip-hop artists though, one of them became a politician. But I still believe it's not the most popular genre here. Coincidentally, today is our biggest national holiday, The Day of Bulgarian Alphabet, Bulgarian Enlightenment and Culture. Our culture has its unique mix of ethnic influences but African is missing, so rap (hip-hop, what's the difference?) is mostly an imported style.

Is this correct?

https://euro200.net/Bulgarije-top-40.htm

I see Kendrick Lamar all over that! May not be the official source though, not sure. 🤣

[CyberGene]

Here’s a playlist for the top 100 in Bulgaria on Apple Music:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/top-100-bulgaria/pl.040cf0b4c7e9467eb9eed2d33e7a29d6

 

Seems similar (the same?) to yours but take in mind that if you use the Radio feature in Apple Music, it offers you what it thinks is the top music and plays only crap 💩 Which is a clever and cunning way to impose the same music globally and amplify the same stats. 
 

In other words, those stats may not reflect voluntarily chosen music by the listeners.

[CrossRhodes]

37 minutes ago, CyberGene said:

Here’s a playlist for the top 100 in Bulgaria on Apple Music:

https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/top-100-bulgaria/

 

Seems similar (the same?) to yours but take in mind that if you use the Radio feature in Apple Music, it offers you what it thinks is the top music and plays only crap 💩 Which is a clever and cunning way to impose the same music globally and amplify the same stats. 
 

In other words, those stats may not reflect voluntarily chosen music by the listeners.

Yeah, I honestly take every list from Spotify, Apple, YouTube, etc with a grain of salt these days. You never really know if it's actual facts or just someone paying to get your attention, clicks and advertising/streaming money.

Oh and I'm a big fan of funk and jazz music and the many permutations it has taken around the globe, particularly in the 70's and 80's. Nigeria, Thailand, Ethiopia etc. Our conversation inspired me to look up Bulgaria and found some really cool funk and disco from that time period in your country as well!

[CyberGene]

BTW, the Bulgarian list is mostly made of music which is called Chalga. Unfortunately, it’s the most popular genre here but is also the most controversial one, with dumb-down lyrics, mostly female singers that look the same (silicone breasts and lips, etc) and awfully same rhythms and arrangements. Most of the night clubs play ONLY that type of music. I guess some compatriots will find this offensive but I truly believe this is ugly music for people with low spiritual needs. It has completely stifled the rest of the music genres and established dubious and shallow values. Poor music for poor souls in a poor country 😕

[CyberGene]

31 minutes ago, CrossRhodes said:

Our conversation inspired me to look up Bulgaria and found some really cool funk and disco from that time period in your country as well!

We’re mostly famous for the odd meters in our folklore. It has inspired other genres here too, including jazz. Search for e.g. Milcho Leviev who deflected to the US during the communism and used to work with Don Ellis. He’s famous for blending jazz and Bulgarian melodies with odd meters. I was lucky enough to participate in one of his piano master-classes 20 years ago (I didn’t deserve it since I am a very amateurish jazz player but luckily there weren’t too many applicants at the time). 

 

[Dave Ferris]

I knew Milcho fairly well. Robby Robinson gave me his number and said to call him about lessons when I first arrived in LA in 1979.

 

I went over to his house in N. Hollywood and asked for help with regard to fingerings on the Chopin Etude #4 op.10. He gave me some alternate fingerings then those in the Schirmer edition that really helped. Later on I found out they were the ones in the Henle-Verlag edition.

 

I'd go to his gigs at the Comeback Inn in Venice and other places around town early on. We sort of lost touch as I got busier and more immersed in the pop/rock/casual scene. Then on a whim I went to see him with the Classical Jazz fusion band, Free Flight, who were very popular in LA. Whenever they played, they drew a very diverse crowd that was much different then you would see at a jazz club like Donte's for instance. Milcho preceded Mike Garson on keyboards.

 

Here's Milcho with Free Flight on the Tonight Show 1982. Jim Walker on Flute was the founder. That's Jim Lacefield on bass who I knew from the Musician's Institute in Hollywood. He shockingly and sadly OD'd on coke. Ralph Humprey on drums who just passed away last year from Prostate Cancer. He was a beloved part of the LA music community for 50 years. I played with Ralph often through the years. Both him and Milcho were Don Ellis alumni.

 

Then years later I got a call out of the blue from Milcho asking if I could sub for him on a Jack Sheldon gig. He probably called at least a dozen people before me...lol. Years later, I heard from Bruce Lett, the great bassist, that Milcho had decided to leave LA and the US and moved to Greece. And then I heard through FB that he passed away there in 2019.

 

I was very sad. He helped me and was always encouraging every time we spoke. He'd always ask if I was keeping up on the Chopin Etudes I knew. He had a lot of passion and energy (I remember him drinking a lot of coffee and smoking a lot of cigarettes), along with stunning chops, probably too much for LA straight-ahead Jazz. He could sight read anything of course and a total monster player.

[jazzpiano88]

That was just astonishing!   What a great performance!!  

[Ivan May]

On 5/22/2024 at 1:51 PM, CyberGene said:

 

1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), Lauryn Hill

2. Thriller (1982), Michael Jackson

3. Abbey Road (1969), The Beatles

4. Purple Rain (1984), Prince & The Revolution

5. Blonde (2016), Frank Ocean

6. Songs in the Key of Life (1976), Stevie Wonder

7. good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), Kendrick Lamar

8. Back to Black (2006), Amy Winehouse

9. Nevermind (1991), Nirvana

10. Lemonade (2016), Beyoncé

 

I must be missing something enormous here but I've never heard about Lauryn Hill before, and apparently it's not a new album since it's from 1998 and I was born in 1979. I just started listening to it and I couldn't, it sounds like complete crap to my ears!

 

Can someone explain to me what dafuq is going on here?! Is that something US people know well and love? Do you consider that album the GOAT? 🤔

 

FWIW, I haven't heard of Kendrick Lamar or Frank Ocean either. And not sure if I'm somehow biased, out of my mind or just missing a huge part of our world but for the life of me I can't understand how Pink Floyd might not be in Top 10, whereas Amy Winehouse is 🤦🏻‍♂️

They didn’t include Rumours on that list either. I like Apple, but if they’re not going to include at least one Fleetwood Mac album on there, why bother?

[KenElevenShadows]

On 5/22/2024 at 10:51 AM, CyberGene said:

 

1. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), Lauryn Hill

2. Thriller (1982), Michael Jackson

3. Abbey Road (1969), The Beatles

4. Purple Rain (1984), Prince & The Revolution

5. Blonde (2016), Frank Ocean

6. Songs in the Key of Life (1976), Stevie Wonder

7. good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012), Kendrick Lamar

8. Back to Black (2006), Amy Winehouse

9. Nevermind (1991), Nirvana

10. Lemonade (2016), Beyoncé

 

I must be missing something enormous here but I've never heard about Lauryn Hill before, and apparently it's not a new album since it's from 1998 and I was born in 1979. I just started listening to it and I couldn't, it sounds like complete crap to my ears!

 

Can someone explain to me what dafuq is going on here?! Is that something US people know well and love? Do you consider that album the GOAT? 🤔

 

FWIW, I haven't heard of Kendrick Lamar or Frank Ocean either. And not sure if I'm somehow biased, out of my mind or just missing a huge part of our world but for the life of me I can't understand how Pink Floyd might not be in Top 10, whereas Amy Winehouse is 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

Those ten albums are all great albums. I don't agree that they are the ten greatest albums of all time, but they are all great. Actually, upon second look, I don't think I am familiar with "Lemonade". I don't know that I could create a top ten, but if I did, I'd probably put Peter Gabriel "So" somewhere on it if we're restricting this to English-sung pop music from 1969 onward.

 

P.S. I love that Lauryn Hill album.

P.P.S. All the albums on here are in English.

P.P.S. All the albums are pretty much within a 40-year range.

P.P.P.S. All the albums are all pop or rock. There's no classical, jazz, morning ragas, South American, Ubuntu, palenque, gnawa, or much of anything else from around the world.

P.P.P.P.S. There's no music from prior to 1969. I guess no "Dust Bowl Ballads" with Woody Guthrie or anything else if we're going with English-sung pop stuff.

[Docbop]

2 hours ago, Ivan May said:

They didn’t include Rumours on that list either. I like Apple, but if they’re not going to include at least one Fleetwood Mac album on there, why bother?

 

Rumors is on the full 100 list. 

[Synthaholic]

Anita Baker's 'Rapture' is a better album than the Hill or Beyonce albums. What a silly list.

[Synthaholic]

I just looked at the list. Neither Genesis, nor any member, is represented. How does Gabriel's 'So' not make the list?

[Truthurts]

Its the woke top 10, of course. Lauren Hill, while talented, had only one hit, a cover song. Prince and Stevie ok, but the rest is crap. Nirvana most overrated band ever.