Rolling Stone's 500 "Greatest Albums" Part 43 Quiz

Answer: The Sex Pistols

"Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols" was, "Rolling Stone" magazine noted, the band's only studio album and sounded "like a rejection of everything rock & roll - and the world itself - had to offer."

The Sex Pistols have been credited as kick-starting the British punk movement and "God Save The Queen" was their biggest hit. It topped out at number two in the UK, though some say the charts were manipulated to keep it off the top spot in 1977, Queen Elizabeth II's silver jubilee year. The album was to reach the top of the charts, though.

For all their rejection of earlier rock music, The Sex Pistols were not the first punk band. There is not enough room here to debate the genesis of punk, and certainly they were not even the first band to release a punk single in the UK - that had been The Damned. It has even been claimed that the Pistols were little more than a boy band. "The 1970s group famous for hits like 'Anarchy in the UK' and a less-than-patriotic rendition of 'God Save the Queen' were cobbled together like a boy band, "the Daily Mirror" reported in January 2021. The group was "...a collection of caricatures dreamed up by music and fashion guru Malcolm McLaren and his then partner Vivienne Westwood, the acclaimed designer."

Answer: Frank Ocean

A second entry in the countdown for Frank Ocean. "It's a boldly personal statement full of layered harmonies, as Ocean mutates his voice to match every mood", according to "Rolling Stone".

In 2016 "Blond" (aka "Blonde") was the second LP from Frank Ocean. It topped the charts in Australia, the USA and the UK and was a number two in Canada. The "Guardian" called it "a baffling and brilliant five-star triumph". Tim Jonze wrote: "...it's undeniably one of the most baffling, contrary and intriguing records put out by a major pop star - not just this year, but any year".

Answer: Elvis Presley

Writing for "AllMusic", Cub Koda characterised "The Sun Sessions" as "...a young Elvis Presley, mixing elements of blues, gospel and hillbilly music together and getting ready to unleash its end result -- rock & roll -- on an unsuspecting world."

The 1976 compilation contained tracks that Elvis had laid down at Sun Studios in 1954 and 1955. It reached number two on the US Country Music chart and number 16 on the Official UK Albums chart.

Answer: The Who

Released in 1971, "Who's Next" came after the "Lifehouse" project was abandoned. "Baba O'Riley", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Bargain" all survived that session. The album reached number one in the UK and number four on the Billboard 200.

"Classic Rock Review" contended: "Perhaps THE most complete rock album in history, "Who's Next" has just about everything a classic rock fan can want in an album."

Ranking The Who albums "in order of greatness", "Far Out" magazine placed "Who's Next" at number one of 12. The magazine opined: "Since its release, "Who's Next" has often been considered as The Who's best album. In fact, to some, it is considered to be the best hard rock album ever created."

Answer: Curtis Mayfield

In 1972, Curtis Mayfield released "Super Fly" (aka "Superfly") as the soundtrack for the movie of the same name. It spent four weeks at the top of the US Pop Albums chart

For BBC Music, Greg Borman wrote: "Superfly was the vehicle for Mayfield to make more of his acutely observed, incisively written, and gently phrased observations on black life in the early 1970s. Aside from the poetry and social commentary, there is obviously the music to accompany the film, one of the better-made and received 'blaxploition' movies of the time."

Mayfield's career began in 1956 and he worked steadily with several bands before finding success with The Impressions and later going solo. In a crowded field of black singer songwriters of the time, Mayfield was sometimes underrated. He died in 1999, nine years after a horrific accident during a concert that left him paralysed.

Answer: Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin - "the Queen of Soul" - was undisputedly one of the greatest singers of her time, as 18 Grammy awards testify.

In 1968. "Lady Soul" was Franklin's 12th LP and topped the Billboard Top Soul Album chart. The track listing included "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", which Carole King and Gerry Goffin, wrote for Franklin and which reached number eight on the US Pop singles chart. "Chain Of Fools" did even better, making number two on that chart.

Answer: Kanye West

In 2004, "The College Dropout" was the debut album from Atlanta, Georgia, rapper Kanye West. It reached number two on the Billboard 200 and was also a number two in the UK.

West had been a producer behind many other artists, but initially had difficulty getting his own music heard. While he was supposedly working on putting together a compilation of other musicians for a record company, he wrote "The College Dropout". This, according to "Billboard", was ..."a paradigm-shifting solo LP which would come to influence almost every bit of hip-hop that came after it." At the Grammy Awards in 2005, it was nominated in ten categories, and won three.

Answer: My Bloody Valentine

Formed in Dublin in 1983 and with an Irish/English lineup, My Bloody Valentine was said to have pioneered a genre of music that involved obscured vocals, instrument effects, and very loud volume.

In 2012, "New Musical Express" produced a magazine "The 60 Most Important Albums Of NME's Lifetime" and said of "Loveless" that it was "one of the world's most renowned and fawned over albums". Allegedly the album cost £270,000 to make, a vast sum for an indie release. It also led to friction between band members and the record label.

But, Alan Newhouse wrote for "NME", "the bottom line is that 'Loveless' was worth all the hand-wringing and hassle. It was a record that forged a new path for indie rock music, one which many have openly cited as a huge influence but no-one has been able to better."

In 1991, the album topped out at number 24 on the UK album charts, but a re-release reached the top ten in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK.

Answer: Neil Young

If "After The Gold Rush" (earlier in this list) was named as the second best Neil Young album ever, then "Harvest" was his number one, according to some. The title track also gave him his first Hot 100 number one. The "Guardian" disagreed over the album, placing it at number 17 in a list of Neil Young albums.)

It took a year to make, but according to "Billboard" this was the best-selling album of 1972. It went on to top charts in Australia, Canada, the US and the UK.

"Far Out" magazine wrote: "Few albums can claim to be as iconic as Neil Young's 'Harvest'. It is a record that straddled the seldom sustained pop-culture boundary of commercial and critical success. It added: "Following on from the seminal success of 'After the Gold Rush', Young strung together back-to-back masterpieces, both similar in terms of musicology, but this only shows that the genteel songwriting of Young is perhaps when he is at his best."

Answer: Bob Marley and the Wailers

Bob Marley came to prominence in the UK before he did in the US, and this is perhaps reflected in a better performance for "Exodus" on the charts, number eight in the UK and number 20 on the Billboard 200.

It also came to be regarded in some quarters as Marley at his best. "Time" magazine made it their 'best album of the 20th Century'.