A friend of mine, who is an arsehole, occasionally makes cheeky public demands of me, knowing full well that I will have to cede to his wishes and carry out the demands, because that’s the type of person I am. The last one was a request for my top 100 albums ever. He knows I hate lists. You know I hate lists. Like I say, he’s an arsehole.

What’s the methodology for choosing your favourite hundred albums ever? My approach was simple, crude, and honest. I went along my shelves and nudged out any albums I decided I “loved” so they stood apart from the gathering hordes of musical mediocrity. Then I went back and counted them.

I nudged about 190.

So I thought, fuck it, and nudged another ten or so, to make two hundred. Then I typed them out.

The list is currently only in existence on a messageboard, and is probably about to fall off the end of the database, so I thought I’d conserve it for posterity here. It’s unranked, just alphabetical, so you’ll have to guess if you want to know my favourite record ever. The one I always say, whenever anyone asks me, is just a stock response, designed to either end or stimulate further debate depending on who asked me.

So… here it is…

Aaliyah - Aaliyah
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2
Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album
A.R. Kane - “i”
Asian Dub Foundation - Community Music
Associates - Sulk
At The Drive-In - Vaya
Augie March - Strange Bird
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Bark Psychosis - Hex
Bark Psychosis - //Codename:Dustsucker
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds
Beastie Boys - Paul’s Boutique
Beastie Boys - Check Your Head
Beatles - Revolver
Beatles - White Album
Beatles - Abbey Road
Belle & Sebastian - If You’re Feeling Sinister
Beta Band - The 3 EPs
Big Star - Third / Sister Lovers
Bjork - Debut
Black Grape - It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah!
Blue Nile - Hats
Blur - Parklife
Boo Radleys - Giant Steps
Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun
Bowie, David - Ziggy Stardust
Bowie, David - “Heroes”
Bowie, David - Low
British Sea Power - Open Season
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People
Brubeck Quartet, The Dave - Time Out
Buckey, Jeff - Grace
Bush, Kate - The Hounds Of Love
Byrds - Younger Than Yesterday
Can - Ege Bamyasi
Can - Future Days
Cave, Nick - The Boatman’s Call
Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole
Clash - London Calling
Clientele - The Violet Hour
Cocteau Twins - Treasure
Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas
Congos - The Heart Of The Congos
Cure - Disintegration
D’Angelo - Voodoo
Davis, Miles - Kind Of Blue
Davis, Miles - In A Silent Way
Davis, Miles - Bitches Brew
De La Soul - 3ft High & Rising
Delgados - Hate
Disco Inferno - D.I. Go Pop
Dismemberment Plan - Emergency & I
DJ Shadow - ...Endtroducing
Dodgy - Homegrown
Drake, Nick - Five Leaves Left
Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain
Elbow - Asleep In The Back
Elliott, Missy - Miss E… So Addictive
Elliott, Missy - Under Construction
Embrace - Drawn From Memory
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Eno, Brian - Another Green World
Eno, Brian - Music For Airports
Eno, Brian and Byrne, David - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Fela Kuti - Expensive Shit / He Miss Road
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
Four Tet - Pause
Fugazi - Repeater + 3 Songs
Fugazi - The Argument
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Funkadelic - Standing In The Verge Of Getting It On
Funkadelic - One Nation Under A Groove
Gang Of Four - Entertainment
Gang Starr - Step In The Arena
Gaye, Marvin - What’s Going On
Genis/GZA - Liquid Swords
Gibbons & Rustin Man, Beth - Out Of Season
Godspeed You Black Emperor - F# A# (Infinity)
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Guillemots - Through The Windowpane
Guns N’ Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Hancock, Herbie - Headhunters
Harvey, PJ - Rid Of Me
Hayes, Isaac - Hot Buttered Soul
Head & The Strands, Michael - The Magical World Of The Strands
Hendrix Experience, The Jimi - Are You Experienced?
Hendrix Experience, The Jimi - Axis: Bold As Love
Hendrix Experience, The Jimi - Electric Ladyland
Hubbard - Freddie - Red Clay
Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows
Jackson, Michael - Thriller
Jaga Jazzist - A Livingroom Headrush
Jane’s Addiction - Ritual De Lo Habitual
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
King, Carole - Tapestry
Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley
Lambchop - Nixon
Lambchop - Is A Woman
Led Zeppelin - I
Led Zeppelin - II
Lo-Fidelity Allstars - How To Operate With A Blown Mind
Love - Forever Changes
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
MAKE-UP - Save Yourself
Manitoba - Up In Flames
Marley & The Wailers, Bob - Exodus
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Massive Attack - Mezzanine
Mayfield, Curtis - Curtis
Mayfield, Curtis - Superfly
MC5 - Kick Out The Jams
MC5 - High Time
Mercury Rev - See You On The Other Side
Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
Mingus, Charles - The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
Mitchell, Joni - Blue
Mogwai - Rock Action
Morgan, Lee - The Sidewinder
Morphine - Cure For Pain
Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
Mountain Goats - Tallahassee
Mouse On Mars - Iaora Tahiti
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Nas - Illmatic
Necks - Drive-By
‘O’Rang - Herd Of Instinct
Orbital - Orbital (Brown)
Orbital - Snivilisation
Orbital - In Sides
O’Rourke, Jim - Eureeka
O’Rourke, Jim - Insignificance
Outkast - Aquemini
Outkast - Stankonia
Pablo, Augustus - King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Pixies - Surfer Rosa / Come On Pilgrim
Plaid - Rest Proof Clockwork
Polar Bear - Held On The Tips Of Fingers
Portishead - Dummy
Primal Scream - Screamadelica
Primal Scream - XTRMNTR
Prince - Sign O’ The Times
Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
Pulp - Different Class
Queens Of The Stone Age - Rated R
Radiohead - OK Computer
REM - Automatic For The People
REM - New Adventures In Hi-Fi
Ride - Nowhere
Rolling Stones - Let It Bleed
Roots Manuva - Awfully Deep
Royal Trux - Accelerator
Ruts DC - Rhythm Collision Dub
Screaming Trees - Dust
Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water
Six.By Seven - 04
Sly & The Family Stone - Stand
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse
Specials - Specials
Spiritualized - Laser Guided Melodies
Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Springfield, Dusty - Dusty In Memphis
Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
Streets - Original Pirate Material
Sugababes - Angels With Dirty Faces
Super Furry Animals - Radiator
Super Furry Animals - Guerilla
Talking Heads - Fear Of Music
Talking Heads - Remain In Light
Talk Talk - The Colour Of Spring
Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden
Talk Talk - Laughing Stock
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix
The The - Mind Bomb
Tortoise - Standards
Tribe Called Quest - The Low-End Theory
Tricky - Maxinequaye
Underworld - Second Toughest In The Infants
Verve - A Storm In Heaven
Verve - A Northern Soul
Waits, Tom - Rain Dogs
Waits, Tom - Mule Variations
Walker, Scott - Tilt
Welch, Gillian - Time (The Revelator)
Wilco - Being There
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wire - Chairs Missing
Witness - Before The Calm
Wolf, Patrick - Wind In The Wires
Wonder, Stevie - Songs In The Key Of Life
Wu-Tang Clan - Enter The 36 Chambers
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Young, Neil - After The Goldrush