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200 Greatest Indie Rock Albums

Criteria: Artists are ranked by their influence, musical and cultural impact, popularity, and innovation. This list considers "indie rock" to be a genre with a discernible sound rather than a designation of label status. Although the genre originated and was cultivated on independent labels, it is no longer exclusive to them.

Definition & List Parameters: (see below the list)

Last Updated: 2012-09-12
Greatest Indie Rock Albums
  1. In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
  2. Slanted & Enchanted - Pavement
  3. The Queen is Dead - The Smiths
  4. Spiderland - Slint
  5. Doolittle - Pixies
  6. Is This It - The Strokes
  7. Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain - Pavement
  8. Funeral - Arcade Fire
  9. Bee Thousand - Guided By Voices
10. I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One - Yo La Tengo
11. If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian
12. Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair
13. Either/Or - Elliott Smith
14. The Moon and Antartica - Modest Mouse
15. You're Living All Over Me - Dinosaur Jr.
16. Turn On the Bright Lights - Interpol
17. Illinois - Sufjan Stevens
18. Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
19. I Could Live in Hope - Low
20. Music from the Unrealized Film Script, Dusk at Cubist Castle - Olivia Tremor Control
21. Return to Cookie Mountain - TV On the Radio
22. Emergency & I - The Dismemberment Plan
23. You Forgot it in People - Broken Social Scene
24. 69 Love Songs - The Magnetic Fields
25. Tigermilk - Belle & Sebastian
26. There Is Nothing Wrong With Love - Built To Spill
27. Harmacy - Sebadoh
28. Surfer Rosa - Pixies
29. Kill the Moonlight - Spoon
30. Transatlanticism - Death Cab for Cutie
31. The Smiths - The Smiths
32. Strawberry Jam - Animal Collective
33. Dig Me Out - Sleater-Kinney
34. The Lonesome Crowded West - Modest Mouse
35. And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out - Yo La Tengo
36. Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground - Bright Eyes
37. Satanic Panic in the Attic - of Montreal
38. Seperation Sunday - The Hold Steady
39. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
40. LCD Soundstsystem - LCD Soundsystem
41. The Suburbs - Arcade Fire
42. George Best - The Wedding Present
43. I See A Darkness - Bonnie "Prince" Billy
44. Picaresque - The Decemberists
45. Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes - TV on the Radio
46. Fever to Tell - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
47. Jamboree - Beat Happening
48. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
49. Yerself Is Steam - Mercury Rev
50. XO - Elliott Smith
51. Alien Lanes - Guided by Voices
52. Wowee Zowee - Pavement
53. Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade
54. The Glow Pt. 2 - The Microphones
55. Boxer - The National
56. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
57. Viva Hate - Morrissey
58. Source Tags & Codes - ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail Of Dead
59. Internal Wrangler - Clinic
60. Oh, Inverted World - The Shins
61. No Pocky For Kitty - Superchunk
62. Fun Trick Noisemaker - Apples in Stereo
63. Good News For People Who Love Bad News - Modest Mouse
64. Bakesale - Sebadoh
65. Perfect From Now On - Built to Spill
66. Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? - of Montreal
67. On Avery Island - Neutral Milk Hotel
68. Give Up - The Postal Service
69. The Reminder - Feist
70. Meat is Murder - The Smiths
71. Set Yourself On Fire - Stars
72. Mass Romantic - The New Pornographers
73. Le Jardin De Heavenly - Heavenly
74. Tallahassee - The Mountain Goats
75. Mag Earwhig! - Guided By Voices
76. Echoes - The Rapture
77. Dear Catastrophe Waitress - Belle & Sebastian
78. Accelerator - Royal Trux
79. Painful - Yo La Tengo
80. Live It Out - Metric
81. Down Colourful Hill - Red House Painters
82. Bug - Dinosaur Jr.
83. Writer's Block - Peter Bjorn and John
84. The Curtain Hits The Cast - Low
85. Silent Alarm - Bloc Party
86. mclusky Do Dallas - mclusky
87. Back in the DHSS - Half Man Half Biscuit
88. On Fire - Galaxie 500
89. London 0 Hull 4 - The Housemartins
90. Bows + Arrows - The Walkmen
91. Elliott Smith - Elliott Smith
92. Brighten the Corners - Pavement
93. 16 Lovers Lane - The Go-Betweens
94. Neon Bible - Arcade Fire
95. For Respect - Don Cabellero
96. You Can't Hide Love Forever - Orange Juice
97. Broken Social Scene - Broken Social Scene
98. The Photo Album - Death Cab for Cutie
99. Boys and Girls in America - The Hold Steady
100. Fevers and Mirrors - Bright Eyes

101. Merriweather Post Pavilion - Animal Collective
102. Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
103. The Charm of the Highway Strip - The Magnetic Fields
104. Up the Bracket - The Libertines
105. Your Arsenal - Morrissey
106. The Dismemberment Plan is Terrified - The Dismemberment Plan
107. Imperial F.F.R.R. - Unrest
108. The Sophtware Slump - Grandaddy
109. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
110. ...And Don't the Kids Just Love It - Television Personalities
111. Strangeways, Here We Come - The Smiths
112. Trompe Le Monde - Pixies
113. The Body, The Blood, The Machine - The Thermals
114. Before Hollywood - The Go-Betweens
115. Fabulous Muscles - Xiu Xiu
116. Gimme Fiction - Spoon
117. Superchunk - Superchunk
118. The Milk-Eyed Mender - Joanna Newsom
119. Let's Get Out of This Country - Camera Obscura
120. Sound of Silver - LCD Soundsystem
121. Let It Die - Feist
122. Everything All the Time - Band of Horses
123. Terror Twilight - Pavement
124. More Adventurous - Rilo Kiley
125. Dare to Be Surprised - The Folk Implosion
126. The White Birch - Codiene
127. Figure 8 - Elliott Smith
128. Alligator - The National
129. The Boy with the Arab Strap - Belle & Sebastian
130. Red Apple Falls - Smog
131. Black Sheep Boy - Okkervil River
132. The Shepherd's Dog - Iron & Wine
133. You Are Free - Cat Power
134. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
135. Forever Again - Eric's Trip
136. Red House Painters (Rollercoaster) - Red House Painters
137. Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. - Deerhunter
138. Ys - Joanna Newsom
139. Everclear - American Music Club
140. Hearts of Oak - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
141. Icky Mettle - Archers of Loaf
142. Secaucus - The Wrens
143. Today - Galaxie 500
144. Gulag Orkestar - Beirut
145. Blood Visions - Jay Reatard
146. Highly Refined Pirates - Minus the Bear
147. Room on Fire - The Strokes
148. I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass - Yo La Tengo
149. All Hands on the Bad One - Sleater-Kinney
150. Michigan - Sufjan Stevens
151. Sung Tongs - Animal Collective
152. You Turn Me On - Beat Happening
153. Starlite Walker - The Silver Jews
154. Where You Been - Dinosaur Jr.
155. Reveille - Deerhoof
156. More Parts Per Million - The Thermals
157. Snowball - The Field Mice
158. The Sunlandic Twins - of Montreal
159. The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire - mclusky
160. You're A Woman, I'm A Machine - Death from Above 1979
161. The New Romantic - Pretty Girls Make Graves
162. Favourite Worst Nightmare - Arctic Monkeys
163. Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express - The Go Betweens
164. Fiestas and Fiascos - Lifter Puller
165. I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning - Bright Eyes
166. Palomine - Bettie Serveert
167. Gone Glimmering - Chavez
168. Up for a Bit with the Pastels - The Pastels
169. Perfect Teeth - Unrest
170. Strangers from the Universe - Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
171. So Jealous - Tegan and Sara
172. Let's Stay Friends - Les Savy Fav
173. You Are the Quarry - Morrissey
174. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
175. Dum-Dum - The Vaselines
176. Today's Active Lifestyles - Polvo
177. You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand
178. Antics - Interpol
179. The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
180. Good Health - Pretty Girls Make Graves
181. Feels - Animal Collective
182. Night Falls Over Kortedala - Jens Lekman
183. The Hour of Bewilderbeast - Badly Drawn Boy
184. In Case We Die - Architecture in Helsinki
185. Bang Bang Rock & Roll - Art Brut
186. All Hail West Texas - The Mountain Goats
187. Shake the Sheets - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
188. Employment - Kaiser Chiefs
189. Blank Wave Arcade - The Faint
190. The Albemarle Sound - The Ladybug Transistor
191. Will Anything Happen - Shop Assistants
192. Bossanova - Pixies
193. Bizarro - The Wedding Present
194. Cryptograms - Deerhunter
195. Featuring "Birds" - Quasi
196. Fuckin' A - The Thermals
197. Whip-Smart - Liz Phair
198. Andrew Bird & the Mysterious Production of Eggs - Andrew Bird
199. Dear Science - TV on the Radio
200. Black Foliage: Animation Music Volume One - Olivia Tremor Control

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea CD cover

Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe and Reduxe CD cover

The Queen is Dead by The Smiths CD cover

Spiderland by SLINT CD cover

Doolittle by Pixies CD cover

Is This It by The Strokes CD cover





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WHAT WILL BE INCLUDED

• what the general public often considers "indie rock" to be, those artists in the indie rock genre who have remained on indie rock labels their entire career.
• key indie rock bands (like Modest Mouse and TV on the Radio) which have been signed away from their indie labels and are now on major labels.
• Dance-punk, twee pop and various genres often considered to be offshoots of indie rock

WHAT WILL BE INCLUDED ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS

• bands that are on indie labels in one country, but a major in another (such as Phoenix).
• British indie bands. In Britain, the genres that America calls "indie rock" and "alternative" are one genre, called simply "indie". This makes it difficult to those unfamiliar to the genre to deduce which bands are actually "indie rock" and which are merely alternative bands signed to an indie label.
• select post-punk and college rock bands that also happen to be apart of the indie rock genre (The Smiths, Pixies)
• Non-"rock" artists that are considered to be apart of the "indie rock" genre (Animal Collective)

WHAT WILL NOT BE INCLUDED

• artists (such as Creed and The Offspring) who were or are signed to indie label, but were never considered "indie rock" in the first place.
• Most 1980's "college rock" and "post-punk" bands (R.E.M., Hüsker Dü)
• most, if not all, Britpop artists.
• Certain artists that have never been considered to be "indie rock" which used to be on a major label but have left to become an independent-label or unsigned artist (Nine Inch Nails, XTC)




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