Kurt Cobain's Top 50 Albums

1. Iggy & the Stooges - Raw Power (1973)
2. Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988)
3. The Breeders - Pod (1990)
4. The Vaselines - Dying for It (1988, listed as Pink EP)
5. The Shaggs - Philosophy of the World (1969)
6. Fang - Landshark (1982)
7. MDC - Millions of Dead Cops (1981)
8. Scratch Acid - Scratch Acid (1984, listed as 1st EP)
9. Saccharine Trust - Paganicons (1981, listed as 1st EP)
10. Butthole Surfers - Pee Pee the Sailor (1983)
11. Black Flag - My War (1984)
12. Bad Brains - Rock for Light (1983)
13. Gang of Four - Entertainment! (1979)
14. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
15. The Frogs - It's Only Right and Natural (1989)
16. PJ Harvey - Dry (1992)
17. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
18. The Knack - Get the Knack (1979)
19. The Saints - Know Your Product (1978)
20. Kleenex - "anything by:" (1978-1983, possibly referring to 1993's Kleenex/LiLiPUT compilation)
21. The Raincoats - The Raincoats (1979)
22. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth (1980)
23. Aerosmith - Rocks (1976)
24. Various Artists - What Is It. (1982, erroneously listed as What Is This?)
25. R.E.M. - Green (1988)
26. Shonen Knife - Burning Farm (K Records version, 1985)
27. The Slits - Typical Girls (1979)
28. The Clash - Combat Rock (1982)
29. The Faith/Void - The Faith/Void (1982)
30. Rites of Spring - Rites of Spring (1985)
31. Beat Happening - Jamboree (1988)
32. Tales of Terror - Tales of Terror (1984)
33. Leadbelly - Leadbelly's Last Sessions Volume One (1953)
34. Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff (1988)
35. Daniel Johnston - Yip/Jump Music (1983)
36. Flipper - Album – Generic Flipper (1982)
37. The Beatles - Meet the Beatles! (1964)
38. Half Japanese - We Are They Who Ache with Amorous Love (1990)
39. Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician (1987)
40. Black Flag - Damaged (1981)
41. Fear - The Record (1982)
42. Public Image Ltd - The Flowers of Romance (1981)
43. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
44. Marine Girls - Beach Party (1982)
45. David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
46. Wipers - Is This Real? (1980)
47. Wipers - Youth of America (1981)
48. Wipers - Over the Edge (1983)
49. Mazzy Star - She Hangs Brightly (1990)
50. Swans - Young God (1984, erroneously listed as Raping a Slave)

Top 300 Albums (after detailed consultation with Kirk, Craig, and Jeff: More Punk, less Bunk)

Top 300  albums (in order):

 

Armed Forces, Elvis Costello

London Calling, Clash

Revolver, Beatles

Bitches Brew, Miles Davis

Beggars Banquet, Rolling Stones

Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beatles 

Rubber Soul, Beatles 

Imperial Bedroom, Elvis Costello

A Love Supreme, John Coltrane

 

Axis Bold as Love, Jimi Hendrix

Double  Nickels on the Dime, Minutemen

Velvet Underground & Nico, Velvet Underground 

Sandinista!, Clash 

Exile On Main Street, Rolling Stones

Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin

Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen 

Rain Dogs, Tom Waits 

Los Angeles, X

Bringing it all Back Home, Bob Dylan 

Nevermind, Nirvana 

Innervisions, Stevie Wonder

Abbey Road, Beatles

What's Goin' On?, Marvin Gaye

Superfly, Curtis Mayfield

Vespertine, Bjork

The White Album, Beatles

1999, Prince

OK Computer, Radiohead

Blonde On Blonde, Bob Dylan

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back, Public Enemy 

Live at the Apollo, James Brown

Songs in the Key of Life, Stevie Wonder

Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan

Kid A, Radiohead

Sticky Fingers, Rolling Stones

White Light/White Heat, Velvet Underground 

My Favorite Things, John Coltrane

The Harder They Come sdtk., Various (Jimmy Cliff) 

This Years Model, Elvis Costello

New Skin For The Old Ceremony, Leonard Cohen

Swordfishtrombone, Tom Waits

Never Mind The Bollocks, Sex Pistols

Unknown Pleasures, Joy Division

Paul's Boutique, Beastie Boys 

The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle, Bruce Springsteen 

Pretenders, Pretenders

Let it Be, The Replacements 

Out to Lunch, Eric Dolphy

Graceland, Paul Simon 

My Generation, the Who

The Doors, The Doors

Another Green World, Brian Eno

Metal Box, P.I.L. 

IV, Led Zeppelin

Kind of a Blue, Miles Davis

Skylarking, XTC 

Let it Bleed, Rolling Stones

69 Love Songs, Magnetic Fields

Argy Bargy, Squeeze 

 

Closer, Joy Division

The River, Bruce Springsteen

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Wilco

Band On The Run, Paul McCartney & Wings

Wild Gift, X

The Future, Leonard Cohen

Brilliant Corners, Thelonious Monk

Let's Get it On, Marvin Gaye

Burnin', The Wailers

Something/Anything, Todd Rundgren

 

My Aim is True, Elvis Costello

Arkology, Lee Scratch Perry

Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin

Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix

Straight Outta Compton, N.W.A.

Regatta De Blanc, Police

Parallel Lines, Blondie

Soft Bulletin, Flaming Lips

Tim, the Replacements

Low, David Bowie

 

Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin

Maggot Brain, Funkadelic

The Kinks Kronikles, The Kinks

The Clash, The Clash

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Elton John

Astral Weeks, Van Morrisson

Purple Rain, Prince

All Things Must Pass, George Harrison

Dummy, Portishead

Here Come The Warm Jets, Brian Eno

Pleased to Meet Me, the Replacements

Fear Of Music, Talking Heads

Raw Power, Stooges

Parliament, Mothership Connection

Rust Never Sleeps, Neil Young

Let it Be, Beatles

Ramones, Ramones

Tonight's the Night, Neil Young

Dirty Mind, Prince

Lady Soul, Aretha Franklin

Louder Than Bombs, Smiths

Zen Arcade, Husker Dü

Various Positions, Leonard Cohen

On The Beach, Neil Young

In Rainbows, Radiohead 

There's a Riot Goin' On, Sly and the Family Stone

Catch A Fire, Bob Marley & the Wailers

Rattlesnakes, Lloyd Cole

Before and After Science, Brian Eno

I'm Your Man, Leonard Cohen

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Neil Young 

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, Sinead O'Connor 

Pet Sounds, Beach Boys

War, U2

In Mono, Phil Spector

Figure 8, Elliot Smith 

Back To Black, Amy Winehouse 

Power, Corruption & Lies, New Order

Nebraska, Bruce Springsteen 

The Man Who Sold the World, David Bowie 

 

The Bends, Radiohead

3 Feet High and Rising, De La Soul 

II, Meat Puppets

Desire, Bob Dylan

Scary Monsters, David Bowie

Pink Moon, Nick Drake 

Fear of a Black Planet, Public Enemy

Are You Experienced? Jimi Hendrix

Talking Book, Stevie Wonder

Loaded, Velvet Underground

In the City, the Jam 

Stand!, Sly and the Family Stone

Zuma, Neil Young

Darkness on the Edge of Town, Bruce Springsteen 

In A Silent Way, Miles Davis 

Look Sharp, Joe Jackson

Fragile, Yes

Remain in Light, Talking Heads

American Beauty, Grateful Dead

Off the Wall, Michael Jackson 

Melt, Peter Gabriel

Appetite for Destruction, Guns n Roses

Nothing’s Shocking, Jane’s Addiction

Plastic Ono Band, John Lennon

Night and Day, Joe Jackson

License to Ill, Beastie Boys

American Recordings, Johnny Cash

Murmur, REM

You're Living all Over Me, Dinosaur Jr.

Music from the Big Pink, the Band

Toys in the Attic, Aerosmith

Combat Rock, The Clash

Amnesiac, Radiohead

Fresh Sly & The Family Stone

Band of Gypseys, Jimi Hendrix

Wish You Were Here, Pink Floyd

Red, King Crimson

Stooges, Stooges

Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd

Funky Kingston, Toots and the Maytalls

New York, Lou Reed

John Wesley Harding, Bob Dylan

Some Girls, Rolling Stones

Hunky Dory, David Bowie

Sign O' the Times, Prince

Workingman's Dead, Grateful Dead

III, Led Zeppelin

Black Saint and Sinner Lady, Charles Mingus

Songs of Leonard Cohen

Queen, A Night at the Opera

Unplugged, Nirvana

Roxy Music, Roxy Music

The Revolution Begins (Flying Dutchman Masters), Gil Scott- Heron

English Settlement, XTC

II, Led Zeppelin

Rocket to Russia, Ramones

Let's Stay Together, Al Green

More Songs About Buildings and Food, Talking Heads

Rum Sodomy & the Lash, Pogues

Disraeli Gears, Cream

Transcendental Blues, Steve Earle

Slim Shady, Eminem 

Station to Station, David Bowie

The Queen is Dead, Smiths

Get Happy, Elvis Costello

East Side Story, Squeeze

Heart Attack and Vine, Tom Waits

Tender Prey, Nick Cave

Just Can't Stop It, English Beat

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Eno, Byrne

2d Edition, PIL

#1 Record, Big Star

Quadrophonia, The Who

Concert for Bangaladesh, Var.

25 o'Clock, Dukes of Stratosphere

It's Only Rock and Roll, Rolling Stones

461 Ocean Boulevard, Eric Clapton

High Land Hard Rain, Aztec Camera

That's The Way of the World, Earth, Wind & Fire

Tupelo Honey, Van Morrison

Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, Elton John

Up on the Sun, Meat Puppets

Basement Tapes, Bob Dylan and The Band

Tago Mago, Can

What Makes A Man Start Fires? Minutemen

Congos, Heart of the Congos

Get Your Ya Yas Out, Rolling Stones

Alice, Tom Waits

Exodus, Bob Marley

Pink Flag, Wire

St. Dominic's Preview, Van Morrison

Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society, The Kinks

Live at Fulsom Prison, Johnny Cash

Between the Buttons, Rolling Stones

Interstellar Space, John Coltrane

King of America, Elvis Costello

Burnin', Bob Marley & the Wailers

New Day Rising, Husker Dü

Repeater, Fugazi

Blackheart Man, Bunny Wailer

Two Sevens Clash, Culture

Sister, Sonic Youth

3d/Sister Lovers, Big Star

Close to the Edge, Yes

Frank’s Wild Years, Tom Waits

Trust, Elvis Costello

Harvest, Neil Young

Small Change, Tom Waits

Who are You? The Who

In an Aeroplane Over the Sea, Neutral Milk, Hotel, 

Daydream Nation, Sonic Youth

I'm New Here, Gil Scott-Heron

Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors

Illinois, Sufjan Stevens

Don't Tell a Soul, the Replacements

Apple Venus 1, XTC

Before the Flood, Bob Dylan and the Band

Hot Rats, Frank Zappa

Ray of Light, Madonna

School of the Flower, Six Organs of Admittance

Back in Black, AC DC

Oranges and Lemons, XTC

2112, Rush

Kick out the Jams, MC5

Blood Money, Tom Waits

Hospice, Antlers

Trout Mask Replica, Capt. Beefheart

White Blood Cells, White Stripes

Damaged, Black Flag

Reckoning, REM

Call Me, Al Green

Boy, U2

Entertainment, Gang of Four

The Payback, James Brown

Red Machine, Fugazi

'77, Talking Heads 

Chairs Missing, Wire

Security, Peter Gabriel

Live at the Fillmore, Allman Brothers

The Song Remains the Same, Led Zeppelin

Discipline, King Crimson

Rock Bottom, Robert Wyatt

Live-Evil, Miles Davis

Fables of the Reconstruction, REM

Untrue, Burial

October, U2

Raising Hell, Run DMC

Vs., Mission of Burma

In Utero, Nirvana

I Am What I Am, George Jones

Alone With His Guitar, Hank Williams

Nashville Skyline, Bob Dylan

Paranoid, Black Sabbath

Have One on Me, Joanna Newsom

Sweetheart of the Rodeo, The Byrds

Van Lear Rose, Loretta Lynn

Teatro, Willie Nelson

Elephant, White Stripes 

Lodger, David Bowie

Aladdin Sane, David Bowie

Bone Machine, Tom Waits

John Wesley Harding, Bob Dylan

Stand Up, Jethro Tull

Spirit of Eden, Talk Talk

Something Else, The Kinks

In the Court of the Crimson King, King Crimson

The Yes Album, Yes

After Dark, var. (chromatics, glass candy etc)

Life After Death, Notorious B.I.G.

Benefit, Jethro Tull

Blue Lines, Massive Attack

Selling England by the Pound, Genesis

Enter the Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang Clan

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie

Abbatoir Blues, Nick Cave

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, Pavement 

All Eyez on Me, 2Pac