The Observer just put together a list of the “50 Albums That Changed Music,” just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the modern pop charts. I’d say it’s a pretty well-rounded group: The Beatles (2), NWA (4), The Beach Boys (10), Bowie (11), Sinatra (13), The Smiths (42). Who topped the list? The answer will shock you (okay, probably not).

1 The Velvet Underground and Nico
The Velvet Underground and Nico (1967)

Though it sold poorly on its initial release, this has since become arguably the most influential rock album of all time. The first art-rock album, it merges dreamy, druggy balladry (‘Sunday Morning’) with raw and uncompromising sonic experimentation (‘Venus in Furs’), and is famously clothed in that Andy Warhol-designed ‘banana’ sleeve. Lou Reed’s lyrics depicted a Warholian New York demi-monde where hard drugs and sexual experimentation held sway. Shocking then, and still utterly transfixing.

Without this, there’d be no … Bowie, Roxy Music, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Jesus and Mary Chain, among many others.

The only omission I can think of off the top of my head is that there is no Pixies album on here. I mean, come on. Without them there is no… Nirvana, Weezer, and Blur probably would sound a little weird. Read the whole thing here.