A century of makers

There can't be any real need for Top 100 magazine lists any more - even the most gullible of potential purchasers will start to smell a rat when one comes up with a different winner to the one that was published elsewhere two months before, and for everyone who really cares about the topic it goes no further than ritual slaggings on message boards and blogs. Speaking of which, here's the NME writers' 100 greatest UK albums ever:

1 The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
2 The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
3 Oasis - Definitely Maybe
4 Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks
5 Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
6 Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish
7 Pulp - Different Class
8 The Clash - London Calling
9 The Beatles - Revolver
10 The Libertines - Up The Bracket
11 Radiohead - The Bends
12 The Specials - The Specials
13 The Verve - A Northern Soul
14 David Bowie - Hunky Dory
15 Primal Scream - Screamadelica
16 Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
17 The Streets - Original Pirate Material
18 Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
19 The Smiths - Strangeways Here We Come
20 The Beatles - Rubber Soul
21 Muse - Absolution
22 Super Furry Animals - Radiator
23 New Order - Technique
24 Pet Shop Boys - Please
25 The Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society
26 The Smiths - Hatful Of Hollow
27 PJ Harvey - Dry
28 Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
29 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II
30 Suede - Suede
31 Massive Attack - Blue Lines
32 The Zombies - Odyssey And Oracle
33 Coldplay - Parachutes
34 The Jam - All Mod Cons
35 Radiohead - OK Computer
36 The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
37 Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible
38 Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
39 Ride - Nowhere
40 Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
41 Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love
42 The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy
43 The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main Street
44 Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
45 The Streets - A Grand Don’t Come For Free
46 Pulp - His 'n' Hers
47 The Libertines - The Libertines
48 Elastica - Elastica
49 The Who - My Generation
50 The La’s - The La’s
51 Billy Bragg - Talking With The Taxman About Poetry
52 Madness - One Step Beyond
53 The Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
54 Morrissey - Vauxhall And I
55 Bloc Party - Silent Alarm
56 Portishead - Portishead
57 The Cure - The Head On The Door
58 Suede - Dog Man Star
59 The Clash - The Clash
60 The Human League - Dare
61 Echo And The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
62 Saint Etienne - Foxbase Alpha
63 David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
64 Gang Of Four - Entertainment!
65 Radiohead - Kid A
66 Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
67 Coldplay - A Rush Of Blood To The Head
68 The Pretty Things - SF Sorrow
69 Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure
70 Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
71 Buzzcocks - Lovebites
72 Joy Division - Closer
73 Kaiser Chiefs - Employment
74 Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
75 Tricky - Maxinquaye
76 Cornershop - When I Was Born For The 7th Time
77 The Beta Band - The Three EP’s
78 Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
79 Teenage Fanclub - Bandwagonesque
80 Black Sabbath - Paranoid
81 Antony And The Johnsons - I Am A Bird Now
82 Happy Mondays - Pills ‘N’ Thrills And Bellyaches
83 Wire - Pink Flag
84 Redskins - Neither Washington Nor Moscow
85 ABC - The Lexicon Of Love
86 George Harrison - All Things Must Pass
87 Small Faces - Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
88 Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman
89 Blur - Parklife
90 Supergrass - I Should Coco
91 The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace
92 Oasis - (What’s The Story) Morning Glory
93 Brian Eno - Here Come The Warm Jets
94 The Futureheads - The Futureheads
95 Julian Cope - Jehovahkill
96 Adam And The Ants - Kings Of The Wild Frontier
97 Led Zeppelin - IV
98 Roots Manuva - Run Come Save Me
99 Patrick Wolf - Lycanthropy
100 Derek And Clive - Live

What's the worst job you ever had? Trying to find rhyme or reason behind this selection, possibly. We're not going to go on about ver Monkeys being so high as the release was probably the reason why it was commissioned and even then 5 was probably the compromise position after office rows about whether it should be at 2 or 3. Thing is, though, you look at that top ten, see them and the Libertines and wonder if this is going to be frontloaded towards whoever they've got on the cover over the forthcoming quarter, then you see the Zombies and Ride in the top 40. When did Modern Life Is Rubbish become Blur's quintessential statement on British mores? We know they played explicitly on the image possibly even more than they did around Parklife (the British Image No.1 business comes from this period, and it was after all marketed around not being grunge) but it's still a stretch to imagine this was where they found their niche. By the opposite token, we'd be interested to see where they see the Super Furries and Polly Jean in the all-time canon now, given Radiator and Dry are hardly influencing everyone since in the same way. The Redskins? Steven Wells has moved on, hasn't he?

Actually, isn't being talked about better than not being talked about? Bugger, done it again. Although actually, this greatest UK album ever - good to see NME consistency still shining through.