Artists Rolling Stone left out of its guides

Ever since Rolling Stone putout its most recent Album Guide a whopping nine years ago, I came to know the tremendous criticism it received on amazon.com for omitting a number of artists seen as important by other music critics.

When I first read the 1992 edition, it was fascinating to me because I realised there was a world of music far beyond what could be heard in the cloistered confines of Melbourne’s ultraconservative, ultraconformist suburbs. It took me a while to realise I might like some of it: I had assumed that what people called “alternative” was basically loud, thrashy and similar to the worst pop/punk bands of my young adulthood.

However, it did not take me that long to see that there was far more rock music than even Rolling Stone covered, especially when Joe S. Harrington’s and David Keenan’s writings shattered my conceptions of the period and place I had grown up - showing it of no significance to the music world whatsoever. Many of the groups praised by Harrington and Keenan were not even in the other rock guides I possessed, and they intrigued me even with no expectations of liking them.

When the 2004 edition came out, I clearly knew what was wrong with Rolling Stone, yet looking through it really made me think a great deal about how much I had known and have known since. This table is based on a list by “schmidtt” from the Rate Your Music site, and artists I like are italicised.

Those artists included on Joe Harrington’s and David Keenan’s best-albums list are noted in the last two columns. It would be possible to search for rock artists on those lists who have never been in a Rolling Stone Album Guide (Half Japanese for instance)

	1979	1983	1992	2004	Harrington	Keenan
David Ackles	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Radio Birdman	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Cockney Rebel	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Kevin Coyne	Unreviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Van Dyke Parks	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Flaming Groovies	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	#89 (Teenage Head)
Dave van Ronk	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Norman Blake	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
The Red Krayola	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	#44 (Parable of Arable Land)
Pearls Before Swine	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Hawkwind	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	#91 (Quark, Strangeness and Charm)
Hatfield and the North	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Henry Cow	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Yellow Magic Orchestra	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Ultravox	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Louis Armstrong	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Robert Johnson	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed		The Complete Recordings
Ella Fitzgerald	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Duke Ellington	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Bert Jansch	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Tim Hardin	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Incredible String Band	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	#88 (The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter)	The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
Captain Beefheart	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	#45 (Trout Mask Replica)	Trout Mask Replica
The Pink Fairies	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Sparks	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	#67 (Kimono My House)
Badfinger	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Raspberries	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Shoes	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Only Ones	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Damned	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Saints	Reviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed	#30 (Eternally Yours) #19 (I’m Stranded)
Big Star	Reviewed	Unreviewed	Reviewed	Reviewed	#55 (Radio City)	Third
Throbbing Gristle	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed	Reviewed		Heathen Earth
Giant Sand		Unreviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Dexy’s Midnight Runners		Reviewed	Unreviewed	Unreviewed
Grace Jones		Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Magazine		Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Gun Club		Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Talk Talk		Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
Aztec Camera		Reviewed	Reviewed	Unreviewed
The Chameleons			Unreviewed	Unreviewed
The Meat Puppets			Reviewed	Unreviewed
Michelle Shocked			Reviewed	Unreviewed
Slowdive				Unreviewed
Tindersticks				Unreviewed
Will Oldham				Unreviewed
Godspeed You Black Emperor				Unreviewed
My Morning Jacket				Unreviewed
Interpol				Unreviewed
The Delgados				Unreviewed
Arab Strap				Unreviewed
The Mountain Goats				Unreviewed
Broadcast				Unreviewed
The Walkmen				Unreviewed