I'll toss out a few comments on a couple of the many topics brought up on this one...

The "rap's not music" thing is ridiculous on a board that's primarily rock based and in regard to a list that is basically rock/pop based. The arguments are no different than those who said rock was not music because it wasn't jazz or jazz was not music because it wasn't classical. You just define music by describing your favorite type and make a circular argument that anything not your favorite is not music. It's an easy ploy that's been used forever. But, c’mon the bottom line is people listen to it for pleasure, dance to it, drink to it, etc… It serves the same function that music always has in our culture. It’s music. If you don’t like it, fine. But, your personally not liking something does not mean it was music. If you want high art...go listen to a symphony. But, taking part in this thread and on this board pretty much says that for everyone except Pat D., you're not taking the high art road anyway.

Oh…and method of construction does not speak to the quality of the finished product in my opinion. But, this is an old process vs. product artistic argument. Personally, especially as time erodes the nature of creation and you are left with the product in the end, I feel you have to judge what has been created, not the method of creation. And, while the Beatles may not have used samples, they used enough studio trickery that they reached a point where they couldn’t even play their music live anymore. At that point are they creating music or are they just playing hi-fi tricks? An argument could be made either way, but I’ll stick with music for the same reason I just laid out.

As to how can it be influential if it didn't cross the Atlantic? If did. Jamaica to UK...a little thing called the Atlantic's in there ya know. Now, if the argument is that to be influential it has to be big in the US...that's a bit ethnocentric for my tastes. Besides, most of the albums mentioned in this or any other list are mostly influential within their genre. So, the judgment then becomes how influential to Jamaican dub was this record and considering until it was put out, you mostly had B-sides and singles and no full albums of dub, you'd have to say it was hugely influential. That dub then went on to influence a whole spectrum of other genres only adds to the record's significance.