Greatest Rock Album of All Time

[MDS]

I agree that most popular music today sucks. The music died about 1994 when the industry switched to promoting images rather than musical talent.

Also it is true that record sales alone don't tell the whole story. The fact that Tupac sold 25 million albums doesn't make him talented and now that he has passed on, his lousy 'music' will quickly fade away (same for all the other Rap 'artists'). However, bands like the aforementioned are STILL selling records that were produced a long time ago. That is staying power.

I'm sure your assertion of less than 1% in rotation is a wild guess pulled out of thin air with nothing to substantiate it. Regardless, we can all disagree on what is musical and which bands are good and which are poor. It doesn't bother me if people like what I hate, but I have to reply when people use terms like 'phony corporate rock'. That is the kind of thing you would read from a critic; ie someone who knows nothing about the history of rock or the bands that were instrumental in creating it and just wants to attach a profound sounding label to it.

I am the only Anonymous and I cannot reply to the registration conf message, because I didn't receive it.

 

[miklorsmith]

I'm a rock fan. I'm also a hip-hop fan. People in the know often differentiate "rap" from "hip-hop" to denote record-label stuff from artistry. I agree that pretty much anything you hear on the radio is worthless - you have to try to find the good stuff, but good stuff there is. As far as musical innovation and pushing the art of music, there's a lot more happening there than in rock. Some of it is very musical and talented and deep.

Some of the pioneers such as Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Run DMC, and The Beastie Boys did some incredible things and will be selling CD's for a long time. Nouveax artists like Dan the Automator, Gift of Gab, and The Roots are turning music as we know it inside out in a way that is completely mind-blowing. I play some of it for my parents and friends who know nothing of the genre. They are universally impressed and say things like "I've never heard anything like that before - cool".

Point being - don't call out someone with an opinion that a few corporate rock bands aren't worthy of top all-time rock status when you're willing to write off an entire genre that YOU obviously know nothing about.

 

[Colonel_Tomb]

The notion that anyone would actually come back and defend Styx (or Journey or Kansas or Boston or REO Speedwagon) is just friggin' hilarious! That people still don't understand the made-for-FM-radio era is kinda sad, but still amusing to me.

I can remember reading a review once of a new Asia album where the reviewer wrote, "Put it this way. If 200,000 copies of this disk were accidentally slipped into Journey sleeves on the production line, they'd all sell anyway, and nobody would care -- not the record label, not the people who bought them, and especially not Asia or Journey." That summed up the corporate-rock era just perfectly.

Meanwhile, back in college, my girlfriend wanted me to transfer some LPs to cassette for her, and one was a popular Styx album ("Cornerstone," I think; whichever one had "Borrowed Time" on it). Of course I had to sit there and listen to it while I dubbed it (and flipped it), so I decided to follow along and read the lyrics off the liner. It actually had lyrics that said:

I had my car and I made the scene
Didn't give a damn about no gasoline

Not a joke! LOL! That sticks in my head to this day. Man, I still think that may have been the worst (and dumbest) pop record I ever sat through start to finish! (But I made her a good-sounding dub nonetheless.)

I tried to "help" her over time (to the extent that I could, anyway) by exposing her to Dylan and Van Morrison and the Stones and the Who and Neil Young and the Velvet Underground and Miles Davis and John Coltrane and others who constitute "the real deal." (But take note that all of the aforementioned have made plenty of lousy records, except for Van Morrison and Coltrane.)

Later we split up and she started dating an idiot who listened to Foreigner! Ha ha ha ha ha! No hard feelings, but, man, I wouldn't have expected anything less from that dolt.

 

[Leprkon]

(Styx is arguably the worst band of all time; one doesn't forgive trash like "Babe" and "Mr. Roboto.")

Looking at mistakes, Styx didn't make a "rock" album called Dynasty...


oh, man, now I have to figure out how to get "I was made for Loving you baby you were made for loving me" out of my skull...

 

[Rob Babcock]

Gawd, I would love to live in a world where Styx really was the worst band.

 

[Colonel_Tomb]

Looking at mistakes, Styx didn't make a "rock" album called Dynasty...

oh, man, now I have to figure out how to get "I was made for Loving you baby you were made for loving me" out of my skull...

Glam rock got you down? I walked around all afternoon yesterday with 'T-t-t-too much time on my hands, T-t-t-too much time on my hands" playing in my head, so, while I empathize, I have to real compassion.

Gawd, I would love to live in a world where Styx really was the worst band.

OK, I'm game -- who "tops" Styx? I really don't care for 311, but they're not "Styx bad" to me.

Remember when The Simpsons slammed Styx? Homer was Odysseus, and as he passed by hell on the River Styx, "Lady" was playing. Homer screams, "Oh, god! This is hell!"

 

[Leprkon]

Glam rock got you down? I walked around all afternoon yesterday with 'T-t-t-too much time on my hands, T-t-t-too much time on my hands" playing in my head, so, while I empathize

I figured it out... started singing "Kung Foo Fighting" and the badness all went away... I have karate-chopped every pillow I own, but I feel so much better..

 

[Rob Babcock]

To me the list of stuff worse than Styx would be massive, including but not limited to: all rap, all hiphop, almost all country, most of the Rolling Stones, Jackson Browne, Jimi Hendrix, everything thing by Elton John, anything by Britney or any of her clones, any Celine Dion, any Liza Minelli, Van Hagar, the complete works of Zamphir, master of the pan flute...again, the list is virtually endless.

And lets not forget Lynyrd Skynyrd- they get my "award" for being the single worst band ever to curse the planet. They're the musical equivalent of a magma enema. I can't imagine why anyone with more than four teeth left would ever listen to them voluntarily.

 

[Duffinator]

To me the list of stuff worse than Styx would be massive, including but not limited to: all rap, all hiphop, almost all country, most of the Rolling Stones, Jackson Browne, Jimi Hendrix, everything thing by Elton John, anything by Britney or any of her clones, any Celine Dion, any Liza Minelli, Van Hagar, the complete works of Zamphir, master of the pan flute...again, the list is virtually endless.

And lets not forget Lynyrd Skynyrd- they get my "award" for being the single worst band ever to curse the planet. They're the musical equivalent of a magma enema. I can't imagine why anyone with more than four teeth left would ever listen to them voluntarily.

So what you're saying is you really only like Alvin and the Chipmonks?

 

[Mudcat]

And lets not forget Lynyrd Skynyrd- they get my "award" for being the single worst band ever to curse the planet. They're the musical equivalent of a magma enema. I can't imagine why anyone with more than four teeth left would ever listen to them voluntarily.

Because Freebird still get endless airplay on most college stations, right after the Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This place". They, Lynyrd Skynyrd, belong in the one hit wonder catagory.

 

[20to20K]

I agree that Wall isn't Floyd's masterpiece...

...it's definitely "Wish you were here". I think fans of blues and jazz prefer
"Wish..." and those who are more rock fans prefer "Wall'. Those who are
more fans of recording techniques prefer DSOTM. At least that is what I've found to be true in talking to people about Floyd.

I like a lot of what's been said here...Aja, Moving Pix, Joshua Tree, Electric Ladyland...but if I had to pick one rock album to listen to in one sitting from cover to cover it would probably be Santana's Abraxous. I only wish it was recorded better. The analogue hiss is almost unbearable during certain
passages.

 

[Colonel_Tomb]

To me the list of stuff worse than Styx would be massive, including but not limited to: all rap, all hiphop, almost all country, most of the Rolling Stones, Jackson Browne, Jimi Hendrix, everything thing by Elton John, anything by Britney or any of her clones, any Celine Dion, any Liza Minelli, Van Hagar, the complete works of Zamphir, master of the pan flute...again, the list is virtually endless.

Well . . . hmmmmmm . . . in order to be "heavyweight bad," I think they need to be guilty of personal pretentions, and I don't know if Britney really takes herself seriously. But Celene Dion certainly does. Not doubt about that.

As for Hendrix and the Rolling Stones . . . you'll never get far bashing them. The Stones have made their fair share of bad music, but their '68-72 period (the monumental "Beggar's Banquet," "Let it Bleed," "Get Yer Yas-Yas Out!," "Sticky Fingers" and "Exile on Main Street") has long been the consensus pick as the second-best string of popular-muisc records ever made (topped only by the Beatles' five records from 1965-69). Once you make a five-pack like that, you're impervious to criticism, and they know it. And Hendrix made "Are You Experienced" and "Electric Ladyland"; most bands would kill to make records like those.

And lets not forget Lynyrd Skynyrd- they get my "award" for being the single worst band ever to curse the planet. They're the musical equivalent of a magma enema. I can't imagine why anyone with more than four teeth left would ever listen to them voluntarily.

If you understand the history of "southern rock," you'll remember that Lynard Skynard was dumb man's Allman Brothers Band, and was, inevitably, more popular at the peak of the raunch-rock craze. (The original Allman Brothers were nearly a straight blues band, by the way, and had almost nothing in common with all the semi-imitators they spawned.) But to this day, I think 'Skynard has its share of hard-core loyalists; and they all own guns.

Because Freebird still get endless airplay on most college stations, right after the Animals "We Gotta Get Out of This place". They, Lynyrd Skynyrd, belong in the one hit wonder catagory.

In fairness to 'Skynard, they have a long string of FM-radio hits. I could live without hearing most of them again, but they don't qualify as a "one-hit wonder."

 

[Leprkon]

So what you're saying is you really only like Alvin and the Chipmonks?

he still probably doesn't like the country album they did....

 

[Rob Babcock]

How "far" do I have to "get", Col Tomb? Saying they're worse than Styx is hardly bashing, but luckily I don't expect criticizing those more overrated bands to transport me anywhere. Styx isn't great by any stretch, but the fact that the man who animates Homer Simpson dislikes them isn't exactly damning criticism.

In fairness to Britney, she has a long string of FM radio hits. I think you can guess how much stock I place in whether or not something is a hit! Hendrix had one hit, so where does he rank vs the Brit-ster? There's a danger in relying on public adoration (ie sales and chart position) while simultaneously dismissing those figures in other contexts. I reject the notion that a band is better or worse because they're taken seriously or not.

What to do by, then? Hard to say. I'd like to meet one intelligent member of AH who doesn't snort out loud when reading Rolling Stones Top 100 albums of all time. But they're a great magazine, right? PUH-LEAZE! Mark Twain said a classic is something everyone wants to have read but no one wants to read, and that translates pretty damn well to many of the "classic" albums listed by many critics.

As for the Chimpmunks, I couldn't say. Maybe you'll have to lend me their albums, Duffinator. If you can bear having 'em out of the rotation that long. Better make it CD-Rs.

The only safe method to choose the very best music? Why, ask me of course! Or barring that, use the most reliable method I've ever found- if it sounds good to you, and you like to listen to it, then it's good. At least to you. If you like Hendrix, then listen to Hendrix. Ditto for Styx. Don't get all obsessed about whether listening to something's gonna damage your cred as a stick-up-the-butt fuddie duddie.

 

[Duffinator]

As for the Chimpmunks, I couldn't say. Maybe you'll have to lend me their albums, Duffinator. If you can bear having 'em out of the rotation that long. Better make it CD-Rs.

Leprkon, when you are finished listening to them pass them along to Rob.

 

[Rob Babcock]

Leprkon, when you are finished listening to them pass them along to Rob.

You guy's kill me.

 

[sjdgpt]

The music died about 1994 when the industry switched to promoting images rather than musical talent.

I thought the music died when Buddy Holly died.

 

[sjdgpt]

I gotta wonder, all the bashing of a particular group or style of music, is it because at one time in your life, you were a fan?

Gasp

I wonder. I wonder.



Personally, my tastes have evolved. No, that doesn't mean that I am a better person than I was in the past. Sorry, no WAF going on here. Maybe I am a better person, because today I am more respectful of the variety of music that has existed.

As a teen, I absolutely hated the Eagles. I was publically outspoken, at the risk of being tar'd and feathered and driven from town. You could have given me free tickets and that darn back stage pass and I would have thrown the stuff in the trash. And then Eagles broke up, and made solo albumns. Oh god, gag me with a spoon (Sorry, it was about that same time that Valley Girl was a popular movie), the solo stuff was even worse.

Then, a few years ago, I "had to" listen to their live reunion concert.

Wow, those guys actually did make some pretty good music.

So, to come full circle, have your tastes changed? Or is this some kind of rebellion against your past?

 

[Rob Babcock]

No, I'm just smarter than everyone else. I never have been content to meekly parrot the recommendation of the hacks that write for rags like Rolling Stone, People, Tiger Beat, whatever. You can keep saying that stuff is great, but saying it don't make it so.

I will say my taste in music has changed slightly over the years; it's gotten even better.

 

[sjdgpt]

I will say my taste in music has changed slightly over the years; it's gotten even better.

So has mine, I actually purchased a Shania Twain video for reasons other than watching Shania .