Bands with the strongest discographies
 

So what bands in you guys opinions have the strongest discographies?

I'd say Sabbath, Zeppelin, and even The Smashing Pumpkins. Velvet Underground and Rush too.

What qualifies as "strong"? I would argue Radiohead for this list.

Strong as in deep, like alot of good stuff? Radiohead, Pixies, Led Zeppelin, etc.

I'd put The Beatles at the top.

Pixies
Nirvana
Big Black
Built To Spill
Husker Du
Sebadoh
The Velvet Underground

By strong, I mean good. Acclaimed and liked by both fans and critics. So yes, Radiohead definitely qualifies.

REM too maybe?

REM has a very strong catalogue of albums, especially the six albums that were released between 1987 and 1996: Document, Green, Out of Time, Automatic for the People, Monster, and New Adventures in Hi-Fi. All those albums also spawned the majority of their hit singles.

Not really a fan of REM or some others mentioned here. Pink Floyd might qualify for me, though I haven't listened many times to their classic albums yet.

I feel that Jandek, with his 60+ albums, has established a solid discography. He would sometimes venture out a bit by going A Capella, using different instruments, and utilizing other people's voices... but even when doing this he never compromised the uniqueness of his music. I think that in itself at least counts for something.

I will admit, though, that I haven't listened to all of his releases.

Of course, I am obligated to mention The Velvet Underground (who have already been previously mentioned a few times)seeing as that I am a huge fan of them.

You know, New Adventures to me seems a little underrated. All this talk about Murmur and Automatic, New Adventures needs some love! What did you think of Reveal and Up?

Pearl Jam has a pretty damn strong discography as well.

Up and Reveal are okay. They're not bad albums, considering they were still figuring themselves out after Bill Berry left. Considering the fact that Up was the first album they made after his departure, it must have been a difficult one for them to record. Up was okay, it's not one of my favourites by them though. Reveal was a little better - I think they had sort of reorganized themselves as a band by then. Around the Sun (2004) was panned by critics, and I have to agree. It's not my favourite album from them by any stretch. It had to be their lowest point musically speaking. Accelerate (2008) was a big improvement, I quite liked it. It was an attempt by them to recover from the disaster that was Around the Sun and I think they did a good job. I have yet to listen to their newest one, Collapse Into Now entirely, but the couple of songs I have heard from it are pretty good. I think a few years down the road, those two albums will become an integral part of their already strong discography.

Why has no one mentioned Boris?

For me everything up to Automatic For The People is really great. I've never really liked Monster, apart from 'What's The Frequency, Kenneth?', I think from that stage on the band became a parody of themselves.

I think Monster is terrible and never got into New Adventures in Hi-Fi but everything from Chronic Town through Automatic for the People is fantastic imo.

Mastodon immediately comes to mind.

Miles Davis

One band that really should be mentioned is Yo La Tengo. 12 studio albums since they formed in 1984 and they've never allowed themselves to drop below awesome.

I suppose I have to go ahead and mention Sonic Youth as well. The only album of theirs that I've ever felt underwhelmed by is Washing Machine and even that album contains one of their best songs, 'The Diamond Sea'. It really takes something special to stay relevant after all these years.

Steely Dan wins the thread

proof: Albums by Steely Dan - Rate Your Music

every single album above 3.3, and all their 70's output rated at 3.94 or above. Damn.

The Lawrence Arms.

The Rolling Stones. Hands down.

Oh, definitely! Although they've had some low points in terms of albums, like with Their Satanic Majesties Request and Goat's Head Soup (which is not all that bad, but it definitely isn't up to par with their other stuff), overall I'd say they deserve to be mentioned here.

Radiohead, Pablo Honey aside have a pretty amazingly consistent run of brilliant albums

I'm actually a big fan of Goats Head Soup, and almost everything leading up to it. They released much worse stuff later on, imo.

I forgot about Voodoo Lounge, which I think was their first album without Bill Wyman? I'm not really a fan of that one either.

Some of Frank Zappa's albums are better than others, but he's astoundingly consistent for the volume of work he has put out imo.

I got to thinking about Stereolab after posting in that thread a couple days ago...they really have a solid discography. It's sometimes hard for me to pick which album I want to listen to.

The Rolling Stones (up to & including Tattoo You)
Genesis (Peter Gabriel era)
The Beatles

I have 5 of those 6, so I guess that REM are in

Pink Floyd (for me at least)
Deep Purple
Electric Wizard
The Mars Volta...so far
Tool
and going out on the limb on this one but...The Clash

As much as I love the Mars Volta, I can't agree. I am a fan of just about all of their albums, but Deloused is such a masterpiece that the other albums really can't touch it. They set the bar too high on that one.

Some personal favorite discographies:

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
Foetus
Unsane
Electric Wizard
Trans Am
Alien Sex Fiend
Bauhaus
Amon Tobin
The Church
Dalek
Earth
Godflesh/Jesu
Killing Joke
Swans
Pig Destroyer
Pink Floyd
Rocket from the Crypt
Mr. Bungle/Secret Chiefs 3
Shining

Yeah that's a pretty mediocre one. Overall though, considering how many albums they have, I'd say their discography's pretty solid.

The amount of good albums they have heavily outweighs the not so good ones, I think.

:laughing: I guess you're right. You never really hear of a band like that, damn that perfect album.

I think if you are just talking about people having a decent / solid discography then you are just basing it on taste and just liking their style of music than on them keeping at a general considered high standard for many albums. I doubt any band has done great music outside of a 10 year period either.

What a list! I never expect any less from you! Trans Am and The Church? You, sir, are pretty much the ****. I'm confused about the '/Secret Chiefs 3' after Mr. Bungle. Apparently they've lived up to their name because I don't know who they are.

Gong

This is so subjective that I almost don't even want to bother. But here goes.

Pink Floyd
The Beatles
Simon & Garfunkel
Fugazi
Faith No More
Built to Spill
The Smiths
Skinny Puppy
Autechre

I would include The Rolling Stones but I haven't heard any of their albums after 1978 - and those seem to account for at least 1/3 of their discography.

velvet underground you guys come on

Those bands that have been around for 20+ years are going to have some stinkers. As long as the ratio is 3:1, I think that would count as a strong discography.

R.E.M.
Talking Heads
Cream
Violent Femmes