RS readers poll

ANYTHING THAT’S ROCK & ROLL: From the looks of Rolling Stone’s six-month readers’ poll, a whole lotta rock fans participated, because all 10 of them are definitely rock albums—including Lana Del Rey, who chose The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach as her producer. Our Bud Scoppa was surprised and delighted to see five of his own midyear picks in the readers’ Top 10. Feast your eyes on this, boys and girls:

Jack White, Lazaretto (Columbia)
Linkin Park, The Hunting Party (Warner Bros.)
The Black Keys, Turn Blue (Nonesuch)
The War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream (Secretly Canadian)
Beck, Morning Phase (Capitol)
Lana Del Rey, Ultraviolence (Interscope)
Mastodon, Once More Round the Sun (Warner Bros.)
St. Vincent, St. Vincent (Loma Vista)
Phish, Fuego (ATO)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hypnotic Eye (Reprise)

So what’s the takeaway from this surprising result—that Jack White is a rock star. Duh. That Warner Bros. Records remains a nurturing home for rock bands? Unquestionably. That rock isn’t dead? We already know the enduring ridiculousness of that cliché. All we can say for sure is that Stone’s most vocal readers are rock fans (still) who tend to have excellent taste in their preferred genre. (7/21a)