30 Albums

Around this time every year, I release the QHS 200, a composite list of my friends' top albums of all time. This year, we decided that the list had gotten stale and needed an extra year to grow, so we chose instead to focus on next year's revolutionary movie list.

Not one to deprive my readers of an albums list, I decided to take a new look at my favorite albums- not the best of all time per se, but the ones I'm most likely to rock on the iPod at any given moment. A few old standbys, a few new favorites, and nothing by The Beatles. Here goes:

30. Scattered Longings, Matt Spence, 2003
29. Aenima, Tool, 1996
28. Reasonable Doubt, Jay-Z, 1996
27. Doolittle, The Pixies, 1989
26. When the Pawn..., Fiona Apple, 1999
25. Otis Blue, Otis Redding, 1966
24. Horses, Patti Smith, 1976
23. On Avery Island, Neutral Milk Hotel, 1996
22. The Velvet Underground and Nico, 1967
21. Mermaid Avenue, Billy Bragg & Wilco, 1998
20. Demon Days, Gorillaz, 2005
19. Agaetis Byrjun, Sigur Ros, 1999
18. Buena Vista Social Club, 1997
17. Quality, Talib Kweli, 2002
16. Red-Headed Stranger, Willie Nelson, 1975
15. Things Fall Apart, The Roots, 1999
14. Chutes Too Narrow, The Shins, 2003
13. I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, Sinead O'Connor, 1990
12. Blue, Joni Mitchell, 1971
11. Be, Common, 2005
10. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, 1998
9. Kind of Blue, Miles Davis, 1959
8. Sun Sessions, Elvis Presley, 1954-'55
7. The Queen is Dead, The Smiths, 1986
6. Something Else, Cannonball Adderly, 1958
5. Late Registration, Kanye West, 2005
4. Let it Be, The Replacements, 1984
3. Illinoise, Sufjan Stevens, 2005
2. Tigermilk, Belle and Sebastian, 1996
1. Enter the Wu-Tang/36 Chambers, Wu-Tang Clan, 1993