TIME 100 ALBUMS PODCASTS

PODCAST: Welcome to the All-TIME 100 Albums - the musical compilations of the last half-century that need no introduction. That said, listen in below as music critics Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light introduce the list and talk about the top albums of the 1950s and '60s.

PODCAST: We know. Twenty-nine of the 100 greatest albums of all time come in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd isn't there. Play this podcast to learn why we picked the titles we did, and if you have something to say, tell us about it using the talkback link below.

PODCAST: Maybe it's a Sign O' The Times that you're listening to critics' audio recordings about great music, but this podcast about how we chose the best albums of the 1980s really is a Thriller. Give it a listen below.

PODCAST: Here's music even the younger set will know by heart. Listen to selected clips from the 1990s through present day as music critic Josh Tyrangiel discusses his picks.

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It makes sense that this was the first country album to debut atop the pop charts, for Garth Brooks was as omnivorous a commercial force as music will ever see. With an advertising degree from Oklahoma State in his pocket, he invaded Nashville in the mid-80s with unparalleled instincts for how to walk the line between corn pone and pop. Music Row was suspicious — (particularly of his liberalism) but his tastes and influences were truly catholic—which explains how he careens so easily from the honky-tonk of Merle Haggard to the tenderness of James Taylor in a single verse. That Ropin' is only his second-best selling album (a mere 14 million units moved) probably sticks in Garth's craw, but it is his best, and "The River" and "We Bury the Hatchet" ("but leave the handle stickin' out") endure as monuments to the cleverness of his songwriting and the intensity of his genre-busting ambition.