Rolling Stone has come out with its top albums of 2012, and the Boss-worshipping mag has picked "Wrecking Ball" as No. 1. I am as big as Bruce fan as anyone — his "The Rising" is the best album released in the last 20 years — but "Wrecking Ball" is sub-par Bruce. I can't argue with the high rankings, though, for Frank Ocean, Jack White, Kendrick Lamar, and Japandroids.
Here is Rolling Stone's rankings:
01 Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
02 Frank Ocean – Channel Orange
03 Jack White – Blunderbuss
04 Bob Dylan – Tempest
05 Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel…
06 Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city
07 Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Here
08 Green Day – !Uno!
09 Japandroids – Celebration Rock
10 Neil Young and Crazy Horse – Psychedelic Pill
11 Mumford & Sons – Babel
12 Jimmy Cliff – Rebirth
13 Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas
14 Best Coast – The Only Place
15 Dr. John – Locked Down
16 Cat Power – Sun
17 John Mayer – Born and Raised
18 Nas – Life is Good
19 Band Of Horses – Mirage Rock
20 Killer Mike – R.A.P. Music
21 Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
22 Bonnie Raitt – Slipstream
23 Divine Fits – A Thing Called Divine Fits
24 G.O.O.D. Music – Cruel Summer
25 Donald Fagen – Sunken Condos
26 Django Django – Django Django
27 Gary Clark Jr. – Blak and Blu
28 Beach House – Bloom
29 Dave Matthews Band – Away From the World
30 Azealia Banks – 1991
31 Taylor Swift – Red
32 Hospitality – Hospitality
33 Grimes – Visions
34 Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls
35 Grizzly Bear – Shields
36 Bobby Womack – The Bravest Man in the Universe
37 Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now
38 Titus Andronicus – Local Business
39 Passion Pit – Gossamer
40 Escort – Escort
41 The Avett Brothers – The Carpenter
42 Allo Darlin’ – Europe
43 fun. – Some Nights
44 Garbage – Not Your Kind of People
45 Rick Ross – Rich Forever
46 Muse – The 2nd Law
47 Todd Snider – Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables
48 The Smashing Pumpkins – Oceania
49 Amadou And Mariam – Folila
50 Dirty Projectors – Swing Lo Magellan
