Quote:
Originally Posted by Josef K
Get out.
No, but seriously, Murmur, Reckoning, and Lifes Rich Pageant are all albums I would call classic. This may be the snobby elitist in me talking, but I definitely would not say the same thing about AFTP.
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I have something of a problem here.
I'm no REM fan. Most of the albums listed here (though not all) are either from artistes I have not heard or heard of, or are from ones I have heard of but know little of their music --- might know the singles, one album, a track or two --- so in general I don't know their discography. So what I did was looked at what is GENERALLY ACCEPTED as their most famous/classic album. This could be due to the number of hit singles, the sales, the chart position or just its general reception by the music world and its place, if any, in music history. It should be, usually, the one album that comes to mind when you think of the band. U2, most people will go with "The Joshua Tree". Springsteen, "Born to run". Madonna, "Like a virgin". Motorhead, "Ace of spaces". And so on.
It doesn't necessarily mean it's their best or the one you would rate. Someone might prefer "Meddle" over "Dark side", but the latter is universally accepted as a classic Floyd album, the former less so. In compiling this list I was advised by people who know certain bands better than album X was more regarded as a classic when I had chosen album Y, and if necessary I had made the amendment on the list. But when I think of REM I think of AftP, as pretty much everyone who isn't a fan I would think does. Reading through its Wiki article backed this up: it was even seen as "one of the best albums of the 90s". Not sure if I'd agree with that, but as far as classic REM goes, I think that album is the one. Just like INXS: "Listen like thieves" may be a better album overall, but "Kick" gets the nod when it comes to classic albums.
It's not necessarily about which is the best, or my favourite, if I have one: it's the one that's seen as being the classic, the epitome of that band, the go-to album and the one non-fans are most likely to know, if not actually have heard.