100 Most Influential Albums? Why?

I've seen several people on Facebook taking a "100 Most Influential Albums" "quiz". And fool that I am, I commented to one of them, objecting to the whole thing ... because I'm opinionated that way. *g* But really, never mind the fact that people think they need an app when a list would work just as well -- and who knows what else that app is doing while you're telling it what albums you have and don't have -- and giving it access to all of the personal information that Facebook demands that you provide it. Remember the days when we didn't put any personal information on the Internet because, "Who knows what kind of people are out there?" -- And never mind their use of the word "quiz" instead of "survey": quizzes have right and wrong answers, and really -- it's not *wrong* to not own Bob Dylan's Another Side of Bob Dylan.
This is just one problem with the quiz, which Citysound Bohemian conveniently posted here -- why run "some fool app" which is going to gather all of your personal information (because Facebook is fun that way) when the survey would have been just as well served by a list. Or if they really wanted to display a score, it could be done much more simply with a little bit of javascript.
That brings me to what's really wrong in this "quiz" -- I also saw a list here, "The 101 Most Influentual Albums in Rock 'n Roll History" and guess what? They don't agree. Why? Because they're the list-writers' personal opinions. And to both of them, I say, "Pfft!" Lots of 60s "classic rock" and "folk rock"; plenty of Bob Dylan, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. But how many of those were influential? How many of them actually changed the face of music? And how many albums that did change the face of music were ignored because this person just doesn't like Pop? (Never mind that in 1964, the Beatles were pop.)
And where are the women? Okay, they did include women. But seriously, the "quiz" doesn't even include Carole King!They included Patti Smith, Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell -- one album each -- but how about Aretha Franklin? How about Heart (Ann and Nancy Wilson)? How about Janice Joplin? Every pop diva since has credited Whitney Houston with being her inspiration. If that's not influence, I don't know what is.
They included plenty of the first British Invasion (of the 1960s) but what about the second? What about the "New Wave"? Where is the Disco era? Where is Rap? Don't like Disco and Rap? Well, guess what? Not all influences are good influences. If you're seriously going to list the 100 most influential albums, you're probably going to have to include albums you don't like and any "Influential Albums" list worthy of the name has got to include the Hues Corporation's Freedom for the Stallion, which made Disco popular, and Run-D.M.C's self-titled album, which brought rap to the mainstream. Justin Beiber's first album may have been loaded with garbage, but it was the first album to spawn from a "YouTube Sensation". Love it or hate it, it should be listed in any list of Most Influential Albums. Somebody started the Disco Era. Somebody also killed the Disco Era. I blame credit Barbra Streisand for the album Guilty (because, really, if Streisand is doing disco, it's past its prime), but it would probably be more fair to say that Dance killed Disco. Maybe the credit should go to an album like the Fame soundtrack, so maybe it should be listed among the 100 most influential albums. Certainly something should.
Speaking of soundtracks, I think it's safe to say that the first movie soundtrack ever, and the first Broadway musical soundtrack ever can predate whatever influential list you want to make ... otherwise, you're going to get bogged down in Beethoven, Bach and Brahms. But in the early 1980s, something changed in the movie soundtrack industry. Before 1980, movies had a theme song, but to have a musical, the cast broke into song. Now, movies are just loaded with song after song so that the movie makers can have a soundtrack album without someone asking, "Why are New York City gang members singing and dancing?" The transition may have began with A Chorus Line and the aforementioned Fame, where it actually made sense for the characters to sing, but the most influential album of the New Musicals was probably Flashdance. The story of an exotic dancer who wants to go to "serious dance school" bridges the gap from A Chorus Line and Fame to Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun (and more) where music serves as a background to the action. Plus, it predates Footloose by 1 year.
The first Backstreet Boys album should be on the list, since it started the Boy Band craze -- even if The Beatles and various other mop-topped bands of the 60s started out as boy bands -- but including them won't please the folk/rock fans the list writer was trying to appeal to.
Where would Blake Shelton, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood be today if Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbit, Dolly Parton and Crystal Gayle hadn't opened the pop charts to country music in the early 1980s? But which one makes the "most influential" list? Well, Kenny Rogers' The Gambler and Eddie Rabbit's The Best of Eddie Rabbit (which started his cross-over success with the single "Every Which Way But Loose") both came out in 1978. Dolly Parton's Here You Come Again came out in 1977. Crystal Gayle's We Believe In Magic came out the same year, but is credited as the first album by a female country artist to go platinum. But in 1976 (the first year platinum albums were designated), The Outlaws' Wanted was certified platinum. (The Outlaws were Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Jessi Colter in case you were wondering). Of course, I wouldn't object to having two country albums on a list of The Most Influential, especially since Gayle shattered Country's "glass ceiling" so darn quickly, so she gets the female credit. Alas, reviews say that Wanted is not a very good album -- but as I said before, we're talking influence here, not good music.
So, really, "influential" doesn't mean good, and "influential" doesn't mean you want it, so who cares how many truly influential albums you own. Like Citysound Bohemian said, buy what you like and listen to what you like, and if you want to know what influenced the music industry? Go for it. There's a world of Internet sites out there to tell you what influenced the music industry. And if you don't have all those albums, it may just mean that you have good taste.