In the September 2007 issue of Rolling Stone Japan, contributing editor and Beikoku Ongaku founder Kawasaki Daisuke offered something brand new for Japan: a list of the 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time. While these master rankings are part and parcel for RS in the United States, Japanese magazines have intentionally avoided compiling such a useful service for those hoping to bone up on local rock history. Kawasaki explains why:

The Japanese music magazine industry resembles what existed in America before the rise of Rolling Stone. That’s to say, record companies — the main advertisers — see their wishes strongly reflected on every page, and because of this, magazines’ main job is to praise new releases. Is that why we’ve never seen one of these lists? It’s a strange situation, almost like the entire industry is infected with the idea that they should not rank releases because it would “make the record companies angry.” But even with Japanese mystery novels, for example, those chosen by critics in the “Best Ranking” become very popular, and rankings are used as a buyer’s guide. Japanese rock music is an even bigger market than mystery novels, so isn’t it strange that there are no trustworthy “Best Ranking Lists”? We must change this ridiculous situation into something more normal.

Besides rare exceptions, Japanese music magazines very rarely give critical or numerical reviews to new music. When Rockin’ On Japan sells the cover story to the highest bidder, there’s no way they can then give that featured record one-and-a-half stars. Within Rolling Stone Japan‘s somewhat foreign format, however, editors had wiggle room for an attempt at numerical review — at least in a retrospective manner.

Although no list like this can be perfectly objective nor complete, RSJ were mainly aiming to start a discussion towards a canonization of Japanese recorded music. (With no backlogs of critical review in old magazines to reference, the only way to construct a list like this is basically from “scratch.”) The article does not hide its goal: “With this story, we hope to stir things up. [この特集にて、そうした状況に一石を投じたい。]”

This month, RSJ began to achieve its goal when rival magazine Snoozer felt compelled to offer up their own list of “150 Greatest Albums of Japanese Rock’n’Roll” in the December issue. (The story is oddly titled 「ロック暗黒大陸ニッポン」: “Japan – the Dark Continent of Rock.”) The editors make it sound like they were forced to make their own ranking list in order to battle the suspicious choices over at RSJ: “We have long grown tired of seeing charts that have (Happy End’s) Kazemachi Roman at the top.” Although Snoozer gave the #1 spot to RC Succession’s 『楽しい夕に』(an album not on the RS list), there is generally lots of overlap between the two lists. This, my friends, is how a canon is born!

So for your enjoyment, here is Rolling Stone Japan‘s list of the 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time. In order to give voice to the Snoozer effort, every album on both charts is followed with the Snoozer ranking position in parentheses. Artists who appear in Snoozer although with different album selections will be marked with a dagger (†), the Snoozer ranking position, and the alternate album choice.

2. RC SUCCESSION『ラプソディ』(Rhapsody) / 1980 (#52)
3. The Blue Hearts『ザ・ブルーハーツ』(The Blue Hearts) / 1987 (#20)
4. YMO『Solid State Survivor』/ 1979
   † (#142, 『BGM』)
5. Yazawa Eikichi『ゴールドラッシュ』(Gold Rush) / 1978
6. Shoukichi Kina & Champloose『喜納昌吉&チャンプルーズ』(Shoukichi Kina & Champloose) / 1977
7. Ohtaki Eiichi『ア・ロング・バケーション』 (A Long Vacation) / 1981
   † (#115, 『大瀧詠一』)
8. Fishmans『空中キャンプ』( Kuuchuu Camp) / 1996 (#3)
9. Sadistic Mika Band『黒船』(Kurofune) / 1974 (#104)
10. Cornelius『ファンタズマ』(Fantasma) / 1997 (#9)
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