Friday, October 15, 2004
Bugger That First List
The Albums You Should Have Listened To Before You Die
Copy this list onto your blog, put the ones you have listened to (completely from beginning to end) in bold and then add three more albums that you think people should have heard before they turn into their parents - remember, it isn't necessarily your favourite albums but the ones you think people should listen to... and when we say listen we mean from track one through to the end... If you put a link to your follow-on post in the comments of the site where you found it, the chain will be trackable. You are also allowed to DELETE up to THREE albums on the existing list, if you feel a) that this is an album which should not reasonably be foisted upon anybody, or b) that one Steve Earle album is quite enough for one lifetime, thank you.
The original list was rubbish, frankly; too much boring guitar shite, no dance music aside from the tokenistic Orbital pick (Brown, how imaginative [Brown gets picked by rock fans because the song titles are on the cover, like a proper rock album from the 60s by someone like The Small Faces]), no hip hop, no jazz, just standard canon picks left, right and centre. If we’re going to do this we have to consider why we’re doing it – are we making a list to fill in the gaps of a music fan’s historical rock education, for instance? And if we are, why the fuck are we doing that? There are reams and reams of lists and papers and essays and books of collected reviews that tread that same, well-worn path, and they’re all fucking boring and written by 40 year olds. We’re the blogosphere; we should seek to be a vibrant and irreverent (but no less thoughtful or passionate) commentator, not bound by received wisdom and rock historiography orthodoxy. This list, of records you absolutely must hear before you die, shouldn’t be about being the same as any list you can get in Rolling Stone; it should be about helping the participants in the list become better listeners, it should be about broadening horizons and opening minds, not reinforcing the status quo. And as such, being the all knowing genius that I am, I have deigned to redraw this list in mine own image, or something.
So here goes…
Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden
The Congos – Heart Of The Congos
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Orbital – In Sides
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Prodigy – Music For A Jilted Generation
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)
Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
Brian Eno – Another Green World
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
The Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
Missy Elliott – Miss E… So Addictive
Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left
Genius/GZA – Liquid Swords
Spiritualized – Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
A Guy Called Gerald – Black Secret Technology
Blur – Parklife
Aphew Twin- Selected Ambient Works Volume 2
Kate Bush – The Hounds Of Love
Twenty records that you ought to listen to, in my (not so) humble opinion. Ben, Ian, etcetera, it’s over to you.
NJS
10/15/2004 10:55:00 am
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9 Comments:
Nirvana should be in there. I know it's predictable, but imagine NEVER having heard Nevermind before you became a parent?!
woootooo more lists!!
Deffo Heard.................
My Bloody Valentine – Loveless
Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)
Miles Davis – In A Silent Way
Genius/GZA – Liquid Swords
Spiritualized – Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Probably Heard...............
The Congos – Heart Of The Congos
Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP
Deffo Heard some of....
Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Prodigy – Music For A Jilted Generation
Kate Bush – The Hounds Of Love
Not Heard........
Talk Talk – Spirit Of Eden
Orbital – In Sides
Brian Eno – Another Green World
The Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
Missy Elliott – Miss E… So Addictive
A Guy Called Gerald – Black Secret Technology
Aphew Twin- Selected Ambient Works Volume 2
Once again I only see fit to take away ones I've heard
Blur – Parklife (cos his singing is ruuuubbish and the Kinks did it better)
Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left (Good choice, but... Way to Blue is poor, and DAy is done is average - I prefer BL and PM)
Michael Jackson – Thriller (cos Off the Wall is less cheesy - and thus better - and Bad is more cheesy - and thus better)
2day Im gonna add:
Bob Marley & the Wailers - One of the numerous cheapo compilations of pre-Island stuff
Outkast - Aquemini (the best hip-hop album I've ever heard - tho still tooooo long)
and
Nat King Cole Sings, George Shearing Plays, cos its beautiful!
W
You rank egotist! What makes you think I'm going to participate?
...
Well, okay, but later. Once I've slept. Email me your # at morrolan118@hotmail, okay?
But but but Buzzcocks + Eminem + Loveless = no NEED for Nirvana?!
You need Nirvana in there as a marker from where the post-grunge dirge we are STILL exposed to sprouted from.
Mind you...I always preferred In Utero to Nevermind
Nirvana were rubbish. It's only the fact the wanker shot himself that they'll ever be remembered. As Nick says put together plenty of music and you get Nirvana. I think people should've heard Relationship of Command before they die rather than Nevermind.
Relationship of Command and The Self Evident Truth of an Intuitive Mind by T-Power are both records you should hear before you die (or become parents... interesting slip there). You should play them to your kids too and other peoples kids as well.
no dance music aside from the tokenistic Orbital pick (Brown, how imaginative [Brown gets picked by rock fans because the song titles are on the cover, like a proper rock album from the 60s by someone like The Small Faces])Oooooh! How PRESUMPTIOUS!
As it was me who picked the Orbital album, I can assure you that there was nothing tokenistic about my choice. I picked it because it was pivotal in re-aligning my musical horizons at that time, away from the self-imposed strictures of snooty soulboy fundamentalism, and towards an understanding of/empathy with electronic dance music that wasn't overtly predicated on an r&b/soul/disco/funk base. Thus, because it was so pivotal for me, I picked it precisely as a conversion tool for the people above me in the list who had made such overwhelmingly guitar-rock based choices.
One reason why you might be so seemingly horrified by the choices: the meme didn't originate on a music blog. (And also: the first 10 original choices were all made by the same person.) When it got to my place, Ben picked it up and placed it within the reach of people like yourself. Meaning that:
If we’re going to do this we have to consider why we’re doing it
doesn't altogether apply. The meme just entered your orbit by accident.
Finally: yes, I was less than thrilled by some of the choices as well... which is why I introduced an elimination rule, in a bid to get rid of some of them. :-)
I also thought it would be interesting to see the list gradually mutate, maybe to the point where it ended up containing none of the original selections.
Less second-guessing of my supposedly rockist tokenism in future please!
But, 3 adds two drops would make more sense. Let it grow.
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