100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums Ever

Before I get to the rest of the list – and which albums I think they totally snubbed – here are Amazon.com’s rules for defining what exactly is the oh so hip genre of “indie rock”:

“The term “Indie Rock” is undeniably tricky. We challenge anyone to definitively define what is and what is not indie rock–you will fail. For the purposes of compiling this list we’ve decided to use a combination of hard and fast rules and gut instinct. Our hard and fast rules are listed below, but as for gut instinct  – you just kind of have to know. For example: John Oates put out a rock record called Phunk Shui on an indie label, however, in no way should Phunk Shui be mistaken for indie rock. Likewise, Black Flag put out many seminal punk albums on SST, but we’re not talking about punk or grunge or classic post-kraut-rock, we’re talking about indie rock. Are Black Flag really indie rock? Not to our ears.”

Only one album per artist is allowed, no EPs or singles, no greatest hits collections or compilations of previously released tracks and albums on the list must have originally been released on an independent label.

Here’s the 10 most grandpa-cardigan- wearing, geek-chic-glasses-sporting albums ever, according to Amazon.com. For the full list, click here and then come back and tell us what albums you think they’ve left off.

1. Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices
2. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel
3. Spiderland by Slint
4. Exile In Guyville by Liz Phair
5. Imperial f.f.r.r. (Deluxe Edition) by Unrest
6. Slanted & Enchanted by Pavement
7. If You’re Feeling Sinister by Belle & Sebastian
8. Surfer Rosa by Pixies
9. Either/Or by Elliott Smith
10. Bakesale by Sebadoh

First of all, I hope this list isn’t in order from best to worst because I definitely don’t think Guided by Voices’ Bee Thousand should be sitting at the tiptop. I’m sure GBV fans would argue with me but I’ve just never cared for the band. I would trade Either/Or by Elliott Smith or If You’re Feeling Sinister by Belle & Sebastian faster than you could spot a hipster wearing old-school Pumas and a tight hoodie at a local rock show.

Spoon is sitting in #19 with Kill the Moonlight but I think that album should be replaced with the band’s Girls Can Tell. And what about #21 – which is Bright Eyes’ Lifted Or the Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground. I much prefer I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning.

Although Of Montreal’s Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse can be appreciated for how strange it is (I love, love, love the spoken word track “The Events Leading Up to the Collapse of Detective Dulllight”) I think it should be substituted for Aldhils Arboretum.

Oh, and if I could make one more trade I would switch spot #51, Stereolab’s Emperor Tomato Ketchup for the band’s Margerine Eclipse.

Here’s a few albums I think were left off the list:

Komeda’s What Makes It Go, My Morning Jacket’s It Still Moves, Interpol’s Turn On the Bright Lights, Mason Jennings’ Birds Flying Away, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Fever To Tell, The Strokes’ Is This It, The Rentals’ Return of the Rentals, Modest Mouse’s This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, The Decemberists’ Her Majesty the Decemberists, Wilco’s A.M., Ben Kweller’s Sha Sha, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks’ Pig Lib and Jets to Brazil’s Orange Rhyming Dictionary.

What do you think?

Check out Amazon.com’s list here.