The Wrap Up

Emily: What a journey this has been. Four albums, many months, and the one genre of classic rock. Well, kind of one genre. If this challenge taught me anything it’s that classic rock is rooted in and is the root of so many different breakout genres of rock music. With the Beatles, you have pop and some psychedelic influences, the Stones have blues, the Who are essentially proto-punk, and the Kinks are garage-ish. Each of these iconic bands and their equally iconic albums has left a lasting legacy on music history through this genre-bending prowess, but also by standing out on their own. Revolver and Aftermath showcase legendary bands at their peak, while Something Else and My Generation reveal burgeoning talent from which the best is yet to come. While I still dispute the validity of these bands as a “Mount Rushmore” of classic rock, each one at the very least deserves its own statue.
Ranking: Revolver; Aftermath; My Generation; Something Else

Matt: Which of the British Invasion albums is the best? My natural inclination would be to pick The Who, but to be realistic, the honor has to go to The Kinks. The Who is one of my all time favorite bands, but they were definitely a live act and a singles band until their third album (The Who Sell Out), certainly their fourth (Tommy). The Beatles are phenomenal and got the ball rolling for every other band in the British Invasion, but in my opinion, The Beatles could no longer maintain the size. The Rolling Stones were always for the “outcast” in the 1960s, as they were very crass and played a bit more on the wild side, as shown with Brian Jones dying in 1969. The Kinks were the perfect mix of the 3 big British bands. They had the grooves that The Stones had, the energy The Who had and the charisma of The Beatles. This album was beautifully written, best represents British culture and music, as well as a panorama of the musical transition of the mid to late 60s.
Ranking: Something Else; Aftermath; My Generation; Revolver

Zack: Let me just start by saying this was much harder than I thought it would be. When we set up this little ranking game, we didn’t establish particularly clear rules, preferring to let each writer figure out how to rank the candidates. Kind of like how the NBA MVP voting works. Of course, even in that arena this system isn’t always that effective, as evidenced by Joe Johnson getting a vote this year. For me, it always kept coming back to one question: am I ranking these four individual albums or the bands as a whole? It couldn’t be the latter, since that just isn’t reasonable. For instance, before we started this blog, I had listened to every Rolling Stones and Who album on the list but not a single one of the Beatles or Kinks (a fact I am rather ashamed to admit). Now, to be fair, I had listened to other Kinks albums and a few songs off the major ones here and there. And, of course, I had heard all of The Beatles big singles. But this can’t replace the intimate relationship I have with The Rolling Stones’ and The Who’s music. At the same time, how can I be expected to pass judgment on the four individual albums without positing Aftermath and My Generation in context with both bands development overall? If you look down to my reviews, you’ll even see I did it there. I mention that Aftermath is my favorite Stones album, as compared to three of my other favorites and I compare the Who of My Generation to The Who who made Tommy. I couldn’t separate my fandom there, so how could I possibly be expected to do so here? If you look at the rankings up top, you’ll probably conclude that I couldn’t do it. To some extent, you may be right. But I did try. At first, I thought about devising a ballot, ranking all four in categories like lyrics, concept, instrumentation, et cetera. But this isn’t a homework assignment, so I’m damn sure not going to put in that kind of effort. So, ultimately, I decided just to rank them in order of which album I enjoyed the most. I listened to all four within a span of 17 hours, and I have to say that I had the most run (re)listening to Aftermath. There’s no elaborate reasoning, no analogies, no backstory, and certainly no ballots. Just a shrug, point, and “that one.” And yes, it did take me over 400 words to get to that conclusion. Bite me.
Ranking: Aftermath; My Generation; Revolver; Something Else