Acclaimed Music

Last updated
Acclaimed Music
Type of site
Review aggregator and database
Available in English
OwnerHenrik Franzon [1]
Created byHenrik Franzon [1]
URL acclaimedmusic.net
CommercialNo
RegistrationForum only, optional and free
LaunchedSeptember 2001;23 years ago (2001-09)
Current statusActive

Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden, [1] [2] [3] [4] in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, decade and all-time. [1] [2] [5] [6] [7] Lists that are submitted by readers to magazines or websites are excluded from the aggregation. [8] Author Michaelangelo Matos writes that "Franzon's methods are imperfect, but as indicators of overall critical appeal go, it's hard to beat." [2]

As of 2020, the site's aggregated lists name the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966) as the most highly rated album of all time, [9] and Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) as the most highly rated song of all time. [10] [11] Additionally, the Beatles are the most acclaimed band, Dylan is the most acclaimed male solo artist, and Madonna is the most acclaimed female artist. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beach Boys</span> American rock band

The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by its vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, the band is one of the most influential acts of the rock era. The group drew on the music of older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create its unique sound. Under Brian's direction, it often incorporated classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways.

Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an artistic statement, opting for a more experimental and conceptual outlook on music. Influences may be drawn from genres such as experimental music, avant-garde music, classical music, and jazz.

<i>Pet Sounds</i> 1966 studio album by the Beach Boys

Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966, by Capitol Records. It was initially met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States, peaking at number 10 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. In the United Kingdom, however, the album was lauded by critics and reached number 2 on the Record Retailer chart, remaining in the top ten for six months. Promoted there as "the most progressive pop album ever", Pet Sounds was recognized for its ambitious production, sophisticated music, and emotional lyrics. It is now considered to be among the greatest and most influential albums in music history.

<i>Dirty Mind</i> 1980 studio album by Prince

Dirty Mind is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter and musician Prince. It was released on October 8, 1980, by Warner Bros. Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Tambourine Man</span> 1965 song by Bob Dylan

"Mr. Tambourine Man" is a song written by Bob Dylan, released as the first track of the acoustic side of his March 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The song's popularity led to Dylan recording it live many times, and it has been included in multiple compilation albums. It has been translated into other languages and has been used or referenced in television shows, films, and books.

<i>The Beach Boys Today!</i> 1965 album by the Beach Boys

The Beach Boys Today! is the eighth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released March 8, 1965, by Capitol Records. It signaled a departure from their previous records with its orchestral sound, intimate subject matter, and abandonment of car or surf songs. Side one features an uptempo sound, while side two consists mostly of introspective ballads. Supported by this thematic approach, the record established the group as album artists rather than just a singles band.

<i>Beach Boys Party!</i> 1965 studio album by the Beach Boys

Beach Boys' Party! is the tenth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, and their third in 1965, consisting mostly of cover songs played with acoustic instruments. It reached No. 6 in the US and No. 3 in the UK. The album spawned one single, a cover of the Regents' "Barbara Ann", which reached No. 2 in the US and No. 3 in the UK, and was their highest-charting British single to that point.

<i>Wild Honey</i> (album) 1967 studio album by the Beach Boys

Wild Honey is the thirteenth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on December 18, 1967, by Capitol Records. It was the group's first foray into soul music and was heavily influenced by the R&B of Motown and Stax Records. The album was the band's worst-selling at that point, charting at number 24 in the US. Lead single "Wild Honey" peaked at number 31, while its follow-up "Darlin'" reached number 19. In the UK, the album peaked at number seven.

<i>Friends</i> (The Beach Boys album) 1968 album by the Beach Boys

Friends is the fourteenth studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1968, through Capitol Records. The album is characterized by its calm and peaceful atmosphere, which contrasted the prevailing music trends of the time, and by its brevity, with five of its 12 tracks running less than two minutes long. It sold poorly, peaking at number 126 on the Billboard charts, the group's lowest U.S. chart performance to date, although it reached number 13 in the UK. Fans generally came to regard the album as one of the band's finest.

<i>Actually</i> 1987 studio album by Pet Shop Boys

Actually is the second studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 7 September 1987 by Parlophone in the United Kingdom and by EMI Manhattan in North America. According to Neil Tennant and music historian Wayne Studer, Actually loosely critiques Thatcherism, the political zeitgeist of the 1980s, and was recorded in anticipation of Margaret Thatcher's re-election.

<i>Discography: The Complete Singles Collection</i> 1991 greatest hits album by Pet Shop Boys

Discography: The Complete Singles Collection is the first greatest hits album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 4 November 1991 by Parlophone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">God Only Knows</span> 1966 song by the Beach Boys

"God Only Knows" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, it is a baroque-style love song distinguished for its harmonic innovation and complexity, unusual instrumentation, and subversion of typical popular music conventions, both lyrically and musically. It is often praised as one of the greatest songs of all time and as the Beach Boys' finest record.

<i>Dusty in Memphis</i> 1969 studio album by Dusty Springfield

Dusty in Memphis is the fifth studio album by English singer Dusty Springfield, released on 31 March 1969 in the United States by Atlantic Records and by Philips Records internationally. Springfield worked on the album with a team of musicians and producers that included Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, Tom Dowd, conductor Gene Orloff, backing vocalists the Sweet Inspirations, bassist Tommy Cogbill, and guitarist Reggie Young. Initial sessions were recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis, while Springfield's final vocals and the album's orchestral parts were recorded at Atlantic Records' New York City studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West End Girls</span> 1984 single by Pet Shop Boys

"West End Girls" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the song was released twice as a single. The song's lyrics are concerned with class and the pressures of inner-city life in London which were inspired partly by T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land. It was generally well received by contemporary music critics and has been frequently cited as a highlight in the duo's career.

<i>Results</i> (album) 1989 studio album by Liza Minnelli

Results is the ninth studio album by Liza Minnelli, released in October 1989. It was produced by Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn.

"Tombstone Blues" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released as the second track on his sixth studio album Highway 61 Revisited (1965). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Bob Johnston. Critical interpretations of the song have suggested that the song references the Vietnam War and US President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Chamber pop is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other components drawn from the orchestral and lounge pop of the 1960s, with an emphasis on melody and texture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart (Pet Shop Boys song)</span> 1988 single by Pet Shop Boys

"Heart" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys from their second studio album, Actually (1987). It was released as the album's fourth and final single on 21 March 1988 by Parlophone. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in April 1988, becoming the duo's fourth and final chart-topper to date in the United Kingdom. Its music video was directed by Jack Bond and filmed in Yugoslavia. The group had initially written the song for Madonna, though they never asked her to record it, instead keeping it for themselves.

<i>Ocean of Sound</i> 1996 compilation album by Various artists

Ocean of Sound is a 1996 compilation album compiled and produced by English musician and author David Toop. The two-disc, cross-licensed "various artists" compilation contains 32 tracks culled from a variety of musical sources, including dub, exotica, free jazz, and field recordings. Toop compiled the recordings to serve as both a historical survey of ambient music and an aural companion to his 1995 book Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary Worlds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beach Boys' unreleased and bootleg recordings</span>

Many recordings and performances by the Beach Boys have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release, and several albums by the band or its members were fully assembled or near completion, before being shelved, rejected, or revised as an entirely new project. Since the early 1980s, numerous rarities compilations and album reissues have been released with studio outtakes included as bonus tracks.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rosoff, Matt (September 12, 2007). "The critics vs. the people". CNET.[ permanent dead link ]
  2. 1 2 3 Matos, Michaelangelo (March 31, 2004). Prince's Sign O' the Times. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   9781441191274.
  3. Feldman, Stan (January 10, 2008). "Music Notes: AcclaimedMusic.net". Star-News . Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  4. Keppler, Nick (August 27, 2015). "The Swedish Tax Agent Who Has Aggregated the Best Music of All Time". Mental Floss . Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  5. Wyn Jones, Carys (2008). The Rock Canon: Canonical Values in the Reception of Rock Albums. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 27. ISBN   9780754662440.
  6. Gomes, Lee (October 13, 2003). "Stuck on Steppenwolf? Now There Are Ways To Update Your Tastes". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  7. Raftery, Brian (April 3, 2007). "Project X: Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 1952". Idolator . Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  8. Franzon, Henrik. "Questions & Answers". acclaimedmusic.net. Archived from the original on February 13, 2014.
  9. Mendelsohn, Jason; Klinger, Eric (February 3, 2020). "Counterbalance No. 1: The Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds'". Popmatters . Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  10. Unterberger, Andrew (October 10, 2016). "The Beach Boys' 'Good Vibrations' at 50: A Masterpiece of Emotion as Much as Science". Billboard . Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  11. Buwalda, Peter (January 3, 2019). "Om te beginnen moet het volk z'n muil houden, wat natuurlijk het halve werk is". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  12. "Music - Top Artists". acclaimedmusic.net. Retrieved March 17, 2020.

Further reading