Top 10 in Heaven

There's been a lot of chuckling over the Vatican newspaper's list of the Top 10 rock albums (dramatic pause) of *All* Time. But, as Althouse notes, the list is surprisingly mainstream, although it is idiosyncratic enough to make you wonder what they are getting at and, anyway: why is the Beatles' "Revolver" the best album of all time?

Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon, Oasis’ (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, and Michael Jackson’s Thriller, whose “illuminating simplicity and musical thrust” they hail. Also: U2’s Achtung Baby, Fleetwood Mac’sRumours, Donald Fagen of Steely Dan fame’s The Nightfly, Carlos Santana’sSupernatural, Paul Simon’s Graceland and David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name.

... I'm guessing they're just Baby Boomers like me.

Actually, for rock music, that's a very classy and sophisticated list (David Crosby excepted). If you will permit me to exercise my inner-Jann Wenner, I would also say that those albums all have something in common: each represents a moment when barriers fell, boundaries were crossed, etc:

1. The Beatles Revolver: the original genre-crossing studio masterpiece. The first side features "Taxman," "Eleanor Rigby," "Here There & Everywhere," & "Yellow Submarine." Even the Beatles couldn't improve on that. Love the guitar in "And Your Bird Can Sing."

2. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon: a psychedelic band becomes an ambient monolith singing songs about the human condition - daily struggles, quiet desperation, all ending with "The Great Gig in the Sky." Funny to imagine how many acres of marijuana have been smoked while listening to this.

3. Oasis' What's the Story (Mourning Glory): you want an inconvenient truth? This is one of the best guitar based albums ever. In the pretentious anti-star Nineties, Oasis unashamendly wrote big songs with big guitars. Plus, they had the common touch; Noel Gallagher once said he mixed his music so it would sound good on a boombox, the way he imagined most fans hearing this.

4. Michael Jackson's Thriller: music that effortlessly crossed national, racial and musical barriers. "You Are Not Alone" was not here, but it was the underlying message.

5. U2's Achtung, Baby: this isn't just U2's best album; it's also a celebration of a particular moment in time: the end of the Cold War, the triumph of the West, and the unification of Europe. For those of us who were there, the video for "One," with U2 driving through Berlin, is inexpressibly moving.

6. Fleetwood Mac's Rumors: a blues band goes pop with songs about the glories and limitations of uncommitted sexual love.

7. Donald Fagen's The Nightfly: a swinging jazz-rock suite about the Kennedy years. "IGY" has one of Fagen's greatest grooves and a nice lilting chorus. More keyboards than guitars for my taste, plus it's odd that this would get the nod over a Steely Dan album.

8. Carlos Santana's Supernatural: a Sixties survivor with a strong spiritual bent crosses paths with the Top 40.

9. Paul Simon's Graceland: a Jewish kid from New York goes to apartheid-era South Africa, reinvents his career, and writes what can truly be called "world music."

10. David Crosby If I Could Only Remember My Name: The only outlier. This really is hippie blather. At one point, he starts humming because he was too lazy to write lyrics. The cover art looks "heavenly," though.