I own 1 of Rolling Stone's 50 Coolest Records (Dig Your Own Hole, Chemical Bros.) and none of their 50 Uncoolest Records. (via bmp.) I am simultaneously not cool and not uncool. How cool/uncool are you, according to RS's lists?
I am majorly pissed off at their "uncool" list. Weezer's first album, Weezer, is on it. I must disagree. Not only does it look cool, but it is one of the best sounding albums. Ever. However, one should not take these lists seriously, as Rolling Stone magazine sucks.
Now doesn't the existence of a cool list inherently make it uncool, and visa versa for the uncool list, but then that makes it cool, which inherently makes it uncool, which also makes the cool list that is uncool cool?
Mark, my brain just exploded.
1/cool (dylan's john wesley harding), 0/uncool. i agree, RS sucks. when no one in the real world owns any of the records on their coolest list (or uncoolest for that matter), one can only assume that certain readers with underdeveloped and highly impressionable musical tastes will click that Buy This CD link and then all RS has to do is sit back and wait for their monetary kick backs to come in the mail.
I had 4 (beck, beatles, beastie boys, and chuck berry [huh, what's with all the B's?]). But I had two uncools as well (supertramp and the monkees), so I guess I'm not as cool as I'd hoped.
The cool list wasn't nearly as cool as I was hoping it would be. Or maybe I'm not cool? Who can tell these days.
Jason, I scored 35 of the 50 coolest, though I did fudge it somewhat since Michael Jackson has never been, or ever will be, cool. And K-Tel albums don't count but I do have most of the tracks (including the video of Cleoptra Jones "right on soul sister" is what some kids tell her when they are paid to watch her ride in the hood). Plus The Strokes and The White Stripes are nothing more than n-generation copies of better bands, so out they go. Also, "Maggot Brain" by Funkadelic is their coolest record, not the Texas one on the list. Also, any USA-ian who uses the 'murrican issue of a Serge Gainsbourg record rather than the proper Fontana label is just a fool.
As for the uncool, so far so good, while I don't own any Venom records, I do own Bathory and Celtic Frost, and really like Motorhead. And Klattu, you got me, but I was just a kid at the time, and don't own the record anymore. And now that I come it, The Monkees Greatest Hits, but they were really good. I'll claim an out on The Bare Naked Ladies because I don't own "Gordon", I have the indie releases before they signed with Warners. Oh, okay I own "Long Cold Winter" by Cinderella but since I was working for the record company at the time, it doesn't count, right? I was talking on the phone to somebody in Sweden at that time and he tried to teach me the Swedish for "hair-farmer". But I've forgotten it. Proclaimers!, just not fair that's a wonderful album.
So, 35 cool records, and five uncool records. Which out of a collection of about 6K (vinyl and CDs) isn't too bad. But they work at Rolling Stone, which I pick up once every 24 months to confirm that they don't have clue one about music.
Hmm... I'm neither cool nor uncool, it seems, as I don't have any of the albums on either of those pages.
Ah well... :/
One cool (Strokes) one uncool (Barenaked Ladies). Although I have many albums put out by groups on the Cool list, just not the same albums they listed.
I would just like to point out that I am only partially Krossed Out. I cannot claim full Krossedness. But I do remember seeing kids in suburban Ottawa with their clothes on backwards the day Kris Kross made it big.
Ha! I'm officially uncool. Well, kind of. I've got two from the uncool list (Weezer and The Proclaimers) while only number 49 from the cool list (The Strokes) gives me some salvation. But then I doubt very much that many people over here in Europe would classify any of those country music records as cool. Or know any of them in the first place...
I have 7 of the cool and 1 of the uncool (weezer). And I disagree with Jim C. I think Micheal J was cool once upon a time in a galaxy far far away (but none-the-less).
I have three of the cool records, and none of the uncool ones, but there was time when I thought Full House's Dave Coulier was funny, so I'm still really working against a negative cool balance, there.
I think I get that Andrew W.K. is mostly tongue in cheek, so I have that going for me.
cool vs. uncool 3:4 - interesting enough, they included Blue Oyster Cult's 'Secret Treaties' on both lists.
But then again I have stopped caring about Rolling Stone Magazine a long time ago...
7 cool vs 1 uncool.
god! RS thinks i'm cool... i feel dirty.
one cool (joy division, unknown pleasures) and if cassette copies count, one uncool (pet shop boys, actually).
Counting only records that I've purchased, 5 cool vs. 2 uncool. However, if I count the vinyl I've inherited from my parents, the ratio is 5:5. Which, of course, makes me way cool. Or does it?
Wait, Jason only has one from the cool list? I thought there was a federal edict requiring everyone under 35 to own Paul's Boutique, Odelay, and Vespertine. I got the new Wilco album issued to me last week as part of the same legislation.
I had a number of the "cool" albums, but unfortunately they're the ones that make me feel the list bit "cool" (Prince's 1999 album for example). Also, a magazine dedicated to music SHOULD be able to get the album titles correct on their so called "coolest" list.
Blondie
Even the cover image they show says "Parallel Lines".
I'm barely cool, weighing in with only three (Vespertine, Paul's Boutique and Odelay!). However, my once having owned that Kriss Kross album (it was eight grade people!) makes the three cool ones null.
Who wants to be cool anymore these days anyway? Being hip is way cooler than being cool.
YOU DON'T OWN PAUL'S BOUTIQUE?
crazy man.
But don't worry about it - those lists are total bullshit. The White Stripes? The Strokes? My ass.
Don't own any of the uncoolest albums, though I should have Bob Seger. Most of that stuff is way before my time.
Do own Massive Attack's 'Protection,' The Beatles' 'Revolver,' The Chemical Bros' 'Dig Your Own Hole.'
Most of the choices seem like bullshit 'obscure is cool so let's be esoteric' rock-critic politics. And I can't believe they forgot the sexiest, coolest album of all time - Shuggie Otis' Inspiration Information.
Three cool and only one uncool (with a couple of near-misses).
I guess I'm only saved by the fact that I have never even seen a copy of Rolling Stone, much less read it. In the UK our musical tastes are dictacted by the NME, or at least they were back when I used to buy two or three albums a month.
I read an article recently where someone said: "There are 52 weeks in the year and each week NME puts up the group of the year, so there are 52 "groups of the year"." Which is pretty much how I remember it.
my ratio is 8 cool (i'm proudest of roxy music's for your pleasure and serge gainsbourg's comic strip) to 2 uncool which strongly suggests that the lists are bogus, because i'm so not cool. anyway, how can you have a list of anything cool and not include dean martin?
I own 5 of the cool records (but I have records by 13 of the mentioned artists) and 3 of the uncool records (but I have records by 7 of the mentioned artists). There are some weird choices including Wowee Zowee as the coolest Pavement album and Vespertine as the coolest Bjšrk album and Weezer and Actually by PSB as uncool records. And what's with all the Greatest Hits and compilations? And why isn't Shout at the Devil mentioned on a list of uncool records that we love? That doesn't make any sense!
I own 21 of the coolest, but then again I used to be a public radio DJ, so I have a rather unusual collection. Surprises include Jorge Ben's excellent "Africa Brasil" (despite the fact that he was kind of made famous by an Intel commercial), the Blood and Fire Sampler, Culture's "Two Seven's Clash" (which is one of the best reggae albums ever), Serge Gainsbourg (wait, I take that back, he's a critics darling as much as Beck or Bjork, even though he's dead and Dean Allen hates him).
I own 4 of the uncoolest (Weezer, moog cookbook, Pet Shop Boys, and [YES!] Elvis' "Clambake").
As usual, another music mag plays it safe by doing a "so bad it's good" list, instead of just saying the albums suck.
Cool: six. (And I have a few Jorge Ben tracks courtesy of DJ Brian Nylon.) Uncool: I own 'Actually', my parents own 'Best of Bread' on vinyl. And it also feels very RS-US-regional (though Rob Sheffield's a Brit), because 'Actually' has never been uncool in Britain, and many of the other uncool characters, I've never fucking heard of. And the NME loves Andrew WK, so he'd be in the 'cool' list over here, no doubt. And yeah, Serge = Fontana: don't accept cheap compilations. ('De Gainesbourg ˆ GainsbarrŽ' is acceptable, but only in the three-CD version.) Though 'Histoire de Melody Nelson' is probably uncool now because it's so famously cool. (Anyone catch the Luna covers of 'Bonnie and Clyde'?)
cool = 1
uncool = 4
ouch.
Wait, Jason only has one from the cool list? I thought there was a federal edict requiring everyone under 35 to own Paul's Boutique, Odelay, and Vespertine.
I know, I know...I'm so lame musically. I also tend not to buy anything that's not electronica, so that sort of explains it. Sort of.
Rolling Stone thinks I'm uncool.
So...
That makes me cool, right?
Stats: 4 cool/5 uncool
RS once again proves itself to be a good-for-nothing, pontificating, posturing publication with little relevence. I hate lists that rank the best this or the worst that; TV Guide's recent enumeration left of some of my favorites, but at least they seemed to THINK about it a little. RS, with their list leans heavily on the 70s and the 80s and forgets about such cool cats as Leonard Cohen, Paolo Conte, Tom Waits, Nick Cave and fer gods sake what about Sammy Davis Jr? Ella Fitzgerald? Them? The Yardbirds? Billie Holliday with a voice so sad she could make Don Rickles cry? White Stripes, The Strokes my candy ass. What about Husker Du? Black Flag? How do you define cool? T-Bone Burnett? Big Mamma Thornton? Lonnie Johnson? John Coltrane? Miles Davis, sure, but why not The Birth of The Cool fer Chissakes? Charles Mingus? Hank Williams? Thelonius Monk? Really there is no such thing as The Coolest. A shade of blue is different to everyone who looks at it. Right? Ecch! The Sex Pistols. The Ramones. Jimmy Smith...ROOT DOWN! Don Lewis. Hendrix. Sigh. Remember the one who says he knows does not know. I don't know shit. Make your own list.
Six of the coolest, and none of the uncoolest (although there are a couple I want to get after being reminded of them). Keep in mind that they didn't say "50 Worst Records." They said "50 Uncoolest Records (That We Love)." But I guess it's better to take something fun and make a federal case out of it. For me, those lists and WinMX make for a pleasant Sunday morning.
Good to see "Telephone Line" mentioned on there. I can't get that song out of my head after Zach Galifianakis did a funny/angry/weird/touching performance piece to it on the final week of his show.
Oh, and Michael Jackson was indeed cool. Back when he could still pick his nose without putting his finger through the back of his skull.
I agree with Quinn - except (s?)he left off The Jam and Stereolab and Bill Evans. Oh, and I had 5 of the coolest, 0 of the uncoolest.
D'oh. Definitely a he. Likes salmon, and Kierkegaard, evidently...
The three Rolling Stone Certified Coolª albums I own are all from the hip hop camp: Jungle Bros, Erik B & Rakim and The Beastie Boys. This causes me great anguish.
For years I've been trying soooo hard to cultivate a dusty hesher/incognito Indie Rock boy-look and here RS has held a mirror up to my face and what am I confronted with???
Beneath my crusty black CBGB T beats the heart of yet another middle-class suburban, wigga, thugsta, *bling *bling.
Tis a sad day in nowheresville. Thanks for giving me something to reflect upon, RS.
anyone wanna buy some old punk records?
I'm definitely down with Quinn, except the Miles album should be Kind of Blue. Any publication that calls Vince Guaraldi "uncool" should be dismissed out of hand.
Two from the cool (Parallel Lines from 1978 and 1999 1983) and none from the cool. So I guess I'm not only cool, but old skool cool.
And Jen is right. What's up with the Blondie snafu?
Cool
08. Massive Attack "Protection"
21. David Bowie "Station To Station"
24. Joy Division "Unknown Pleasures"
32. The Chemical Brothers "Exit Planet Dust"
49. The Strokes "Is This It"
Uncool
34. Pet Shop Boys "Actually"
Two cool (Beatles and Blondie), two uncool (Weezer and The Proclaimers). I have a bunch of the cool artists, but on their best-ofs. The Weezer CD is flat-out cool, and I had Sunshine on Leith for years before "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" was a hit on the Benny and Joon soundtrack, which should be cool.
Not sure why everyone slagging this list off. I think this is quite a 'cool' thing RS have done. Dull mag sure, and these anal lists usually bore me with sgt pepper/bowie/floyd coming best album blah blah, yet rock n roll / pop is most about coolness, hipness etc, and so the notion is quite novel and good i reck-on. Better to have a canon that is from the outset shallow and fickle by definition. So far as the cool list goes a little weird in ref.ing the compilations/k-tel (???), utterly weak in the white stripes and strokes plug ( a pointer to the origin of the idea perhaps )and odd hiphop choices. (jungle bros apart)
Dusty in Memphis on the cool list! I was so sure I was completely uncool for listening to it as often as I do. It was my little secret. I knew I was cool, thanks Rolling stone.
1 and 1 for me. Beck's Odelay from the cool list, BNL's Gordon from the not cool list.
I own 6 of the cool ones, but I have copies of another 4 of them. So that is kinda 10.
2 of the uncool - Weezer (come on now...) and Meat Loaf (isn't this standard issue in a vinyl collection?).
These lists are so subjective anyhow...
i refuse to accept george michael as uncool. he is a god of coolness. as are burt bacharach and neil diamond.
I own paul's boutique, massive attack's protection, and revolver from the top 10. I only have 7 more after that.
From the uncoolest list: I always laughed when I would read those BMG flyers with the stamps, and one would read "accept balls to the wall". It just sounds a lot funnier when there's no dash to indicate where the artist ends and the album title begins.
Weezer is certainly not uncool- but it's the only cd I have from their uncool list. However, at least 10 (I lost count) of their 'uncoolest' albums were actually covers for Rolling Stone when those albums were popular- George Michael and Hanson being two that come to mind.
Then again, this is the same publication that gave Mick Jagger's last solo album five stars- I'm sure that will be on the next 'uncoolest' list....
8 cool vs. 2 uncool
I feel dirty.
i agree that
the strokes are ripoffs, but who have the white stripes ripped off? i think they draw from a lot of artists and genre's, but i cant say that they sound like many other bands i've heard.
I have 6 cool, and 2 uncool from the lists. However, what I loved most about the uncool list was the "Satan Is Real" album by the Louvin Brothers, which if you look at the URL, happens to have a "pid" of 666. Coincidence? Maybe.
I've never felt more cool than I do right now...equal parts RS Cool and RS Uncool:
4 Coolest
Pavement, Beatles, Beck, Strokes
4 Uncoolest
Hanson(I know! I'm sorry), Perry and Kingsley, Barenaked Ladies, America
But now that I've participated in this discussion I have just made myself VERY uncool.
I like 9!
I guess I am Limbo. I own no albums from either lists (unless 1 mp3 track -Linus & Lucy- counts).
Any kind soul care to post the lists so more unfortunates don't have to wade through Rolling Stone's peddle-rama? I'm dying to know if I'm cool. Oh, wait... I'll bet that if you're cool, you know it. Crap.
I think it's pretty uncool to have to click through a hundred web pages to check Rolling Stones' cool and uncool records. What's wrong with lists?
Is anyone else here irked by the fact that the lists aren't available as, well, lists? I got through about eight clicks and got bored.
Are these available in a more user-friendly format anywhere that I was just too lazy or ign'int to find?
I agree with Rikard; I wanted to figure out where I stood but didn't feel like slogging my way through Rolling Stone's horribly designed 100 separate screens to figure it out.
I did find 4 "uncool" albums that I own (Weezer and Proclaimers on CD, Burt Bacharach and the Commodores on vinyl).
These lists are interesting but I don't really hold much faith in any sorts of lists, whether they're done by some huge multi-national magazine or a DJ at your local college radio station. And if you make the egregious mistake to classify Vice Guaraldi as "smooth jazz," well, you lose all of my remaining respect.
4 cool. If we're counting tapes that my VW Rabbit ate, 2 uncool. Sad, but it might have been ZZ Top and Cinderella that got me listening to the blues.
Say what you will about Rolling Stone and these kinds of lists - but the top two "cool" records (Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat & Rolling Stones - Aftermath) are both Great Albums. And cool.
I have 9 from the cool list--10 if you count "No Protection," the Massive Attack/Mad Professor remix of "Protection," which is so much cooler than the original--and 5 uncool.
I find it interesting that I have albums by 20 of the artists mentioned in the cool list, even though I don't have the specific albums mentioned (e.g. lots of Bowie but no actual copy of "Station to Station"). Just goes to show you can't homogenize taste. Unless you're Britney, of course.
For someone that takes great pride in their 2500+ album collection, I take great offense to Rolling Stone's lists. They just suck. Where the hell were Nirvana - Nevermind or The Replacements - Let It Be?? Anyhow, I own 11 of the "coolest" and 3 of the "uncoolest."
I'll never know, since I'm not about to click through 100 pop-up infected pages to find out. What an idiotic interface, unless you're an idiotic marketing jack-off.
That was disturbing ... let me get this straight, those are supposed to be COOL to own?? ;)
Turns out I own 6 from the "cool" list and 2 from the "uncool" (I'm not giving up my Tesla cd)
Yeah, the 100 clicks through all the albums process sucks....I'm surprised so many of you made it through.
I'm ... maybe 20-percent cool, and only have a few of the uncools
Both lists are stacked. Plenty of cool and uncool albums are not available on CD and so not on the list.
Both lists also really low on Funk and country, in my opinion.
As long as RS is online, they ought to do a really COOL feature, listing the coolest local bands from various regions. Some of my best age 15-25 memories are of certain local club bands that never, ever made it big. This must be true for people in other cities.
I own one of the cool albums (Massive Attack - Protection) and none of the uncool ones. However, I would not call all of those cool albums cool, and Weezer is not uncool.
Also, personally, I think Massive Attack's Mezzanine is cooler.
cool: revolver and odelay
uncool: weezer, gordon, america
see, i'd always thought weezer was cool.
My coolness ratio is 0/0. If I recall my second-year calculus correctly, this means I'm both infinite and nothing when it comes to coolness.
I can therefore only conclude that, to resolve this paradox, I'm about to collapse into a coolness black hole, sucking in all things musical that stray too close to my event horizon.
0 cool and 3 uncool, *Marge Simpson voice* but you know kids, I am cool because I don't care about being uncool, right? right? common, but that makes cool right? *Marge voice off*
6 cool ones (+ bjork on mp3, i sold joy division years ago, i borrowed sinatra from my parents for a long time [that album is easily his best]), none of the uncool ones. plus plenty of other records by artists on both lists. anyway, there are so many good albums that who cares about rolling stone's 50?
9 cool: revolver, odelay, vespertine, eric b. and rakim, chemical brothers, the strokes, paul's boutique, prince, and white stripes
2 uncool: weezer (i disagree, along with everyone else), and ELO. But I'm probably going to buy Andrew W.K., I think he's hilarious.
I am not a young person. I am approaching 40 this year, and Rolling Stone still seems like this bunch of Janis Joplin listenin' fossils who started losing touch as soon as punk exploded nearly 25 years ago. What was the criteria for uncool? Music that's a guilty pleasure to a music critic? Albums they'd be really embarrassed to have seen on their shelf by other music critics? Ugh.
One cool---Protection---but agree that something's missing when Mezzanine's not on the list.
Maybe I'm just bitter they didn't include both so that I could achieve four percent coolness.
However, according to Rolling Stone, I'm zero percent uncool, which only proves that it's easy to fool Rolling Stone.
Before English was English, there was a debate about whether to call Weezer cool or cool Weezer, as both are one and the same. Obviously the Rolling Stones person didn't know about this pre-English-Language-Formation debate.
joy division and blondie can'ts save me from having owned the bay city rollers, the proclaimers, hair cut one hundred and two others... there was never any doubt, my music taste has and will always be uncool.
I have Paul's Boutique and Odelay like everybody else, I think they were thrown in to make us feel good. I lose points for having Weezer's eponymous album but the dude's right, they do sound like The Cars. Probably in part because Ric Ocasek produced it, and because the final vocal utterance on the album is Rivers Cuomo taking the piss out of Ric Ocasek quite blatantly. I'll throw away my sole remaining cool point by admitting to liking The Cars too.
Anyway since when were albums by "Various Artists" cool? These guys need to actually listen to some records or something.
Yeah, the 100 clicks through all the albums process sucks....I'm surprised so many of you made it through.
Oh yeah, I forgot, it was 300 (-ish) clicks for me, as I have ActiveX controls on prompt in my browser. I suppose I could've sorted that out around page 5 really... Bugger.
Is it even cool to be cool anymore?
What lies between cool and uncool (besides me)?
Well, as if I needed more proof of it, I'm quite a bit more uncool than cool (if we're looking at my CD collection).
The only cool CDs I had were: Beastie Boys' Paul Boutique and Beck's Odelay!
I had four uncool CDs (though Shania Twain is actually my wife's CD), but I'm proud to own Weezer, Pet Shop Boys and the Monkees.
Interesting lists. . .not at all what I would've picked, but then again I'm not cool at all. . .
eight cool: beastie boys, massive attack, eric b and rakim, sinatra, chemical brothers, white stripes, issac hayes and aphex twin
three uncool: weezer, biz marquee, moog cookbook
of course, they missed so many better albums and there's always room for argument of glaring omissions... reguardless, weezer, the moog cookbook and the biz are the shit and those writers are fucking clown shoes.
It's all backward!
cool: Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers
uncool: Weezer
I'm all about Sinatra, but Weezer is way cool. "Swingin' lovers"? Come on.
Coolest? Two (plus a handful of alternate albums by "cool" artists).
Uncoolest? One (plus one alternate)
What gives? I've got a zillion really eclectic CDs, cassettes, and LPs at home -- I thought for sure that more of them would be on there ...
On the other hand, I guess I'm more cool than uncool ...
i was going to balk at their so-called "cool" albums...but joy division is in there. and holy cow, why aren't they all on one page? i gave up after about 30...the page loads, the ads load, popups appear. way to milk pageviews rollingstone.
I'm 90% lame, since I have 5 cool albums. I am, however, too cool, and lacking enough time, to scrool through the list of uncool albums.
None of my CDs are on either list. And I don't know how they picked some of those "coolest" CDs.
But I just get my hands on an iPod, which should automatically make me cool.
anyone who clicks through all 50 is "uncool"...
I've got 6 of the coolest records and 2 of the uncoolest. Hip hip hooray?
On a side note, the constant flow of "500 Internal Server Errors" every few records was really, really annoying. Was anyone else experiencing that problem?
11 cool
7 uncool.
Typical Rolling Stone idiocy. I hated that rag when I was a teenager many thousands of years ago and I still hate it. Michael Jackson is cooler than Sparks? (Kimono My House is one of the coolest records ever made.)
Also RS tended to trash a lot of the "cool" records when they originally came out. I can't believe they'd even heard or heard of Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure."
And no mention of Eugene Chadbourne. Grrrr....
I have 5 of the uncoolest. . .I would have had 6 but I owned all of the Monkees so I didn't have to buy their greatest hits. Oh and I also own/have owned 5 of the coolest.
Have we confirmed that the higher one's age, the more albums one is likely to have from the Cool list?
I've got 11 from the cool list (like Meg, all the B's: Beck, Beasties, Blondie, Beatles, Bjork, Bowie, plus Velvet Underground, Chemical Bros., Pavement, White Stripes, and the Strokes). Just one from the Uncool list: The Knack! (which was a big hit driving around at SXSW this year, I might add).
I am almost half cool (24) and nearly a fifth uncool (9). Make of that what you will. Age probably does have somthing to do with the number of records, I'm 38.
Obviously the purpose of a cool/uncool list is for the editors to list favorites recordings they could not defend being on a best/worst list. Just because it's cool, they are not necessarily making an argument for it being the best. Read the fond descriptions of some of the uncool records. Not exactly a savaging.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.
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matt21 04 2002 3:21PM
Much of the same... 1 coolest (Bjork's Vespertine) and none of the uncoolest. Although I do like the Bare Naked Ladies, I don't have that particular album... so slightly cool, and slightly uncool.