I have to say this right now...suck on The Beatle's &^@#% all you want, Rolling Stone, but don't EVEN try to actually qualify your selections with any kind of rational arguements.

I'm referring to this, the Rolling Stone's top-500 albums of all time. As you can tell, I had a few thoughts of my own. First, is that 4 Beatle's albums in the top 10, 3 in the top 5, and the #1 overall album is just ridiculously bias. Look at the rest of the list; Nevermind, at 17, is the ONLY album made after 1985 to make the top 25. That's just stupid. Just as important and high-quality music has been made after the 70's; these selections have to be based on the creator's of the list's "Golden Era" of music falling in that 60's-70's range. Nevermind was just as important as Srg. Pepper, single-handedly destroyed an entire genre of music(hair metal), and ushering a genre into the public's consciousness who's influence is obvious in every popular rock band since. But Nirvana's best showing is at 17, and The Black Album, perhaps the greatest hard rock album ever, comes in at an INSULTING 252! How the hell can anyone justify that?

The biggest slight to me, however, is that Linkin Park has no entrants in the top 500. Hybrid Theory is one of the most amazing cd's ever made, blending genres like no CD has ever done before or since; metal, hip-hop, rap, electronica, alt-rock, and trance all meld into a symphany of sonic perfection. Need more proof of LP's skill? Listen to the Jay-Z/Linkin Park Collision Course CD; they further blend music in ways nobody has done nearly as well.

Oh yeah, Hybrid Theory sold 19 MILLION copies. That's absolute insanity, and almost twice as much as any Beatles album, and in FOURTY less years no less. That many people can't be wrong about what is good.

Let's compare lyrics, shall we? Linkin Park's breakout song, Crawling:

Discomfort, Endlessly has pulled itself upon me
Distracting, Reacting
Against my will I stand beside my own reflection
It's haunting, how I can't seem
To find myself again
My walls are closing in

Pure poetry. Now let's look at the Beatles. The breakthrough song they played on The Ed Sullivan Show;

I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand.

Wow. If I were six, I MIGHT consider that good writing. Maybe. Obviously, the standard's for quality have evolved mightily over the years; unfortunately, the critics haven't listened to any music since 1975. Here's some more food-for-thought; The Beatles kicked out their original drummer for, among other things, the fact that he wouldn't cut his hair to that ridiculous bowl-cut to conform with the rest of the band. CONFORM? FUCK THAT! Now look at LP; tell me who those guys are conforming with. The country has been built by individuals, and kicking someone out of your band because they wouldn't share your ugly haircut strikes me as a very communist thing to do.

The Beatles made pop music, and they made it well for their time. But at this point in time, how can anyone say they are NOT overrated? How can they even COMPARE to the greatest bands of the past 20 years? I haven't even tried to compare them to Nirvana, because it would be too easy; same with Metallica. Linkin Park, though, may be the most embarrassing comparison, not only because of their genre-blending and amazing lyrics, but also because they just do things the Beatles couldn't have dreamed of doing 50 years ago. They have an MC(Mr. Hahn) in the band, as well as TWO different lead vocalists; one, a rapper(Mike Shinoda), who also plays keyboard/piano/guitar/bass/ANYTHING, and the other, simply one of the best vocal talents in the world. As rumor has it, when LP was auditioning for a new lead singer, the auditioners were all in the auditorium listening to each other before they got their shot at singing on-stage. And upon hearing Chester sing, every single one of them just walked out, KNOWING they stood no chance. He provides a contrast with Shinoda that Lennon and McCartney couldn't have dreamed of. And, let's be honest; Lennon had a good voice for the way he used it, but Bennington can just sing, flat-out, no qualifications necesarry.

Linkin Park getting stiffed from TOP FIVE-HUNDRED consideration is an abboration, and just proves the list is completely bogus. Nirvana's Nevermind and Metallica's Black Album are also two of the greatest and most important albums in history, and both got severly disrespected just because they weren't made in the 60's. At least TRY not to be so obvious about it, Rolling Stone.