If you could only own 10 albums to listen to your whole life what would they be?

DrSleepless@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 74 points –
89

Steely Dan - Aja

Tom Waits - Closing Time

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

Dire Straits - Self Titled

Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

Jackie Brown OST

The Beatles - Abbey Road

Nirvana - Nevermind

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

Pixies - Bossanova

Off the top of my head...

The Presidents of the United States of America - The Presidents of the United States of America

Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat

The Rainmakers - Flirting with the Universe

XTC - Black Sea

Morphine - Good

Bloodhound Gang - Hooray for Boobies

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Rattlesnakes

The Mattoid - Great Lovers

Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage

Was (Not Was) - What Up Dog?

...or something like that...

I did not expect to find bloodhound gang on any of these lists.

Can't argue with it much. Jimmy Pop is a dumb white guy. Not old or new, but middle school. Fifth grade like junior high.

Man I’d take Drums and Wires if I had to pick an XTC album but it’s so great to see them mentioned

Wow… didn’t know anyone else had heard of The Rainmakers. I was a huge fan when they were touring around the flyover states. Saw them half a dozen times in Wichita. I still listen to their first three albums pretty regularly.

I happened on them when they put out their first album and have been a fan ever since, and that's even without ever getting a chance to see them live. Bob Walkenhorst is easily my favorite songwriter.

Flirting with the Universe is their fourth album - after a bit of a recording hiatus after The Good News and the Bad News, and it's far and away my favorite. It's obvious that they took their time and carefully crafted an album designed to showcase their talent. It's unfortunate that it still didn't manage to bring them the recognition they've always deserved, but I appreciate it.

It took me a long time to find out about their 4th and 5th albums. By the time I learned they'd been released, they weren't available in the US. My girlfriend ordered them from a brand new little web store front in Iceland, of all places. That was before the age of streaming, obviously.

Looking at wikipedia, I see they got back together in 2011 and made a couple more albums. I may have to track those down.

I happened to run across a CD of the fourth one used, a couple of years after it released. I didn't even know it existed before that, and definitely didn't know it'd end up becoming my favorite. And I still don't have a copy of the fifth. I do have the last two though.

25 On is sort of reminiscent of Tornado or The Good News and the Bad News - a return to form. It's pretty good on its own, but sort of suffers by comparison. Monster Movie is odd but interesting. It feels kind of self-indulgent, but in a good way - just a bunch of guys sitting around playing what they want to play just because that's what they want to play. It's a bit disjointed, but I like it.

I just now bought 25 On and Monster Movie. Haven’t listened yet because I’m stuck on zoom for another 90 minutes!

Mostly replying as a personal challenge; I doubt anyone cares about my opinion. I think this is a hard but interesting challenge and I could probably spend a lifetime perfecting it, but this is my unadulterated first pass:

  1. “Stardust” - Willie Nelson
  2. “Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness” - Smashing Pumpkins
  3. “Blue Lines” - Massive Attack
  4. “Kind of Blue” - Miles Davis
  5. “Wildflowers” - Tom Petty
  6. “Blind Melon” - Blind Melon
  7. “Loaded” - The Velvet Underground
  8. “At War with the Mystics” - The Flaming Lips
  9. “Dire Straits” - Dire Straits
  10. “Pretty Hate Machine” - Nine Inch Nails

Fuck. How do you make a list like this without regretting every decision you made?!

1 more...

I'm autistic, pick any ten albums and they will end up being my favourite albums as I continue to listen to them and they become my familiar.

I anticipate a metric ton of "best of" albums, but I'll give it try avoiding that. In no particular order:

  • Billy Joel - the Stranger
  • Genisis - Genisis
  • Beach Boys - Pet sounds
  • the Beatles - Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Muse - Resistance
  • Rush - Permananent Waves
  • Radiohead - OK Computer
  • Boston - Boston
  • Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
  • Linda Ronstadt - What's New (that will throw a few folks off the trail)

Linda Ronstadt - What’s New (that will throw a few folks off the trail)

Not really, your tastes are very similar to mine. Although "What's New" was just a gateway drug and now my music library is full of albums by Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, Carmen McRae, Joao Gilberto, Frank Sinatra and more.

Oh and updating my own list because I listened to it this weekend - Songs in the key of life, Stevie Wonder

Gemini Syndrome - Memento Mori

Gemini Syndrome - Lux

The Beatles - One

Queen - Greatest Hits

Queen - Greatest Hits II

Aerosmith - Greatest Hits

Simon & Garfunkel - Greatest Hits

NWA - Greatest Hits

Snoop Dogg - Doggystyle

Eminem - Curtain Call: The Hits

Otis Redding - Otis Blue Marvin Gaye - What’s Going On Michael Jackson - Off the Wall James Booker - Classified The Meters – Rejuvenation Darondo - Listen to My Song James Brown - Live at the Apollo Dr. Dre - The Chronic Janelle Monae - ArchAndroid Anderson .Paak - Malibu

I think being able to draw a line from your classic albums to your modern hits is hella cool. Your list makes a lot of sense.

  1. Mark Lanegan - Whiskey for the Holy Ghost
  2. Stone Temple Pilots - Purple
  3. Gregory Alan Isakov - This Empty Northern Hemisphere
  4. Pink Floyd - Obscured by Clouds
  5. Nick Drake - Pink Moon
  6. Ella Fitzgerald - The Cole Porter Songbook
  7. Ray LaMontagne - Monovision
  8. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
  9. Tonic - Lemon Parade
  10. The Beatles - Abbey Road

Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti

Tool - 10,000 Days

Rush - Test for Echo

Metallica - Metallica

Rush - Clockwork Angels

Michael Jackson - HIStory

BIGBANG - MADE

[bodyendtag] - Information Superhighway

Kumi Koda - BEST 2000-2020

A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms

Wow, a fan of the later Rush albums! I also dug those. It's always felt like unpopular opinion for me to tell anyone, even other Rush fans, "I looove Presto." (I know that's not "later" Rush, but still.)

Number one by far: Perfect Circle Thirteenth step.

The rest are in the order I think of them off the top of my head:

System of a down: Toxicity and Mezmotize

Tool Aenema

Smashing pumpkins: Melon Collie

CCRs Greatest Hits

Pink Floyd: Echos

Metallica S&M

Live Throwing Cooper

Weezer

Difficult...

  • Lamb Lies Down on Broadway - Genesis
  • Misplaced Childhood - Marillion
  • Prequelle - Ghost
  • Oh, Inverted World - The Shins
  • Ten - Pearl Jam
  • Tubular Bells II - Mike Oldfield
  • Vast - Vast
  • English Settlement - XTC
  • The Friends of Mr Cairo - Jon and Vangelis
  • Appetite For Destruction - Guns n Roses

In no order:

  • Mothership - Dance Gavin Dance
  • Reimagined - Hail the Sun
  • The Artist in the Ambulance - Thrice
  • Appeal to Reason - Rise Against
  • In Silico - Pendulum
  • Good Kid - Good Kid
  • Rhythm, Chord & Melody - The Reign of Kindo
  • Wake - Hail the Sun
  • To Speak, To Listen - Eidola
  • NieR:Automata Original Soundtrack - Keiichi Okabe

311 - Grassroots

Tool - Undertow

Meshuggah - Obzen

Atmosphere - God Loves Ugly

Aesop Rock - Bazooka Tooth

Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion

Dr. Dre - 2001

Necrophagist - Onset of Putrefaction

Paul Oakenfold - Transport

First Fragment - Gloire Eternelle

Bazooka Tooth over all of aes' other work?

Controversial I know. There was a point where I listened to that album everyday at work for months. Could be swapped for Hail Mary Mallon - The Bestiary

Geez that's tough. Let's see if I can do 10:

  1. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
  2. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
  3. Johnny Cash - At Folsum Prison
  4. Metallica - Master of Puppets
  5. B-52s - B-52s
  6. Nirvana - Nevermind
  7. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
  8. Electric Wizard - Electric Wizard
  9. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
  10. The Beatles - Abbey Road

I'll hate myself in a couple weeks for this selection because my taste varies week-to-week, but right now it'd be:

Devin Townsend: Ziltoid the Omniscient, Empath

Gojira: From Mars to Sirius, Magma

The Ocean: Phanerozoic I, Phanerozoic II (can I count these as one album?)

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard: PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (I think they were going for a record for the longest album title ever).

Voivod: The Outer Limits

Mastodon: Leviathan and Crack the Skye

If Phanerozoic I and II count as a single album, then I'd ask if I can leave the last one open to be filled by a single random studio album of an artist of my choosing, replaced weekly/monthly.

Edit: removed one because I miscounted.

This is hard but I’ll give it a go:

  • The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
  • Dance Gavin Dance - Happiness
  • Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
  • Flying Burrito Brothers - Gilded Palace of Sin
  • Midland - On the Rocks
  • Volumes - Via
  • King Gizzard - I’m in Your Mind Fuzz
  • Rush - A Farewell to Kings
  • Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog
  • Basement - Colourmeinkindess

I think I'd be pretty happy if I had these albums in a desert island scenario... especially if I could do some sampling/remixing 😜

  1. The Planets - Gustav Holst
  2. Billie Holliday on Verve
  3. Charlie Parker on Verve
  4. The Firebird suite - Igor Stravinsky
  5. Gnossiene - Eric Satie
  6. The Heart of Saturday - Tom Waits
  7. Ready to die - The Notorious B.I.G.
  8. 20 Street Years - DJ Muro
  9. Brilliant Corners - Thelonius Monk
  10. Somethin' Else - Cannonball Adderley

Smart to have an eclectic list. Yet keeping a few standards because thats your vibe.

I reckon these would keep me going for a good old time.

  • Colors - Between the Buried and Me
  • The Shape of Color - Intervals
  • Handmade Cities - Plini
  • Odyssey to the West - Slice the Cake
  • Esoteric Malacology - Slugdge
  • Crux - Moon Tooth
  • Death of a Dead Day - Sikth
  • Daughters - Daughters
  • Oxidized - Frontierer
  • Doppelgänger - The Fall of Troy

I don't know how to appreciate Fall of Troy outside of F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. and its unpronounceable original version. Even seeing them live (they opened for Alexisonfire) left me feeling like i was missing something.

Doppelgänger has some reasonably accessible tracks outside of FCPREMIX. Try ‘act one, scene one’ or ‘mouths like sidewinder missles’. Your mileage may vary of course.

Nah that's exactly what i was looking for. Recommendations. I.listened to the album all the way thru and bounced off, so i figured I'd ask a fan next time i saw one.

Good looking out.

This question gives me anxiety. Would learn to play guitar I guess.

  1. Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown

  2. Jethro Tull - A Passion Play

  3. Pink Floyd - Animals

  4. Paramore - Brand New Eyes

  5. Stone Temple Pilots - Shangri-LA DEE DA

  6. Yes - Drama

  7. Yellowcard - Yellowcard

  8. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

  9. Mariya Takeuchi - Love Songs (I've never actually listened to this in full but I love "September" off this album)

  10. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP (Same as above, I love "Stan" but have never actually listened to this in full, I picked the last two because I wanted some non-rock picks but I'm not much of an album guy in genres that aren't rock.)

Dammit for picking some real killers. Takeuchi? Tull AND STP? I like the cut of your jibb.

Ugh this is so tough!

  • The Beatles - Revolver
  • Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue
  • Subhumans - The Day the Country Died
  • Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward
  • Billy Idol - Whiplash Smile
  • David Bowie - Let's Dance
  • Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
  • Crass - The Feeding of the 5000
  • Iggy Pop - Soldier
  • CSNY - Déjà Vu
  1. AC/DC - If You Want Blood

  2. Nirvana - Nevermind

  3. Fleetwood Mac - Rumors

  4. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R

  5. Cheap Trick - Live at Budokan

  6. REO Speedwagon - Live, You Get What You Play For

  7. Head East - Flat as a Pancake

  8. Foghat Live

  9. Kyus - Welcome to Sky Valley

  10. Albert Collins - Ice Pickin'

In no order:

  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles
  • Daydream Nation - Sonic Youth
  • Songs For The Deaf - Queens of The Stone Age
  • Still Still Stellar - Hoshimachi Suisei
  • You Won't Get What You Want - Daughters
  • Station to Station - David Bowie
  • Blackstar - David Bowie
  • Hunting High and Low - a-ha
  • Music For The Masses - Depeche Mode
  • DISCO4 :: Generations - Health

No order

  • Pickin' on Modest Mouse - Iron Horse
  • August and Everything After - Counting Crows
  • Closer to the Sun - Slightly Stoopid
  • Manners - Passion Pit
  • Dirt - Alice in Chains
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - Phoenix
  • Silent Steeples - Dispatch
  • The President of the United States of America - The President of the United States of America
  • Building Nothing out of Something - Modest Mouse
  • Dosage - Collective Soul
  • The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
  • Leo Delibes - Lakme
  • Dire Straits - Love Over Gold
  • Dire Straits - Making Movies
  • Green Day - American Idiot
  • The Manhattan Transfer - Brasil
  • Nanci Griffith - Blue Roses From the Moons
  • Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
  • Rush - 2112
  • Supertramp - Breakfast In America

I'm glad to see Breakfast in America here!

Sun ra - Sound Sun Pleasure

Ms Lauren Hill - The Miseducation of Lauren Hill

D'Angelo - Black Messiah

Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou - Ethiopiques, vol. 21: Emahoy

Lucy - The Music Industry Is Pointless

Black Midi - Schlagenheim

Dean Blunt - Black Metal

Animal Collective - Sung Tongs

My Body Valentine - Loveless

The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time

....Fucking brutal question.....

Trivium - in waves

Lorna shore - the pain remains

Metallica - master of puppets

Sum 41 - does this look infected

Arch enemy - rise of the tyrant

Florence and the machine - MTV unplugged

Frank turner - positive songs for negative people

Highly suspect - mister asylum

Maybeshewill - not for want of trying

The mountain goats - the sunset tree

Holy shit, one of these lists where I see albums I listen to haha. Why that particular Trivium album? Also, the black album gets all the love, but I'll take And Justice For All over it every day of the week.

I really like the whole composition of In Waves. It really feels like it's telling a story and all the songs flow so well into one another. I generally prefer albums that are whole and not just a collections of songs or singles. In Waves is probably one of my favorite albums for it's cohesiveness.

And yeah black album is great but I think MoP is just bangers all the way through. If I want thrash metal I want Metallica and I don't want to slow down haha.

Always a tough format to pick just 10, but here goes:

  • Leftfield - Leftism
  • R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant
  • Marvin Gaye - What's Going On
  • Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
  • Orbital - In Sides
  • Portishead - Portishead
  • Velvet Underground & Nico - Velvet Underground & Nico
  • Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation
  • Beatles - Abbey Road
  • Pulp - Different Class

But there's an awful lot that I would regret leaving behind.

Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Aha - Hunting High and Low

Roxy Music - Avalon

Alanis Morisette - Jagged Little Pill

Beatles - One

Paul McCartney and Wings - Band on the Run

Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark

Rickie Lee Jones - Rickie Lee Jones

Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run

Elton John - Caribou

Subject to change without notice Edit: format

Dire straits-self titled

Queen- night at the opera

Sublime-self titled

Peter Paul and Mary -self titled

Fleetwood Mac- rumors

Annenmaykantereit-Schlagschatten

Carole king- tapestry

Pete Seeger-If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle

Cream- strange brew

Dave Brubeck- time out

This is wild, I didn’t realize how dated my music taste skewed. I wanted frank turner, cistem failure, modest mouse, Amy Winehouse, and Adele, but I couldn’t cut anything else.

Aly & fila - beyond the lights(already own it)
Craig Connelly - believe in magic
Silicon soul - staring into space
Jazzanova - In between
Deep dish - junk science
Nuspirit Helsinki – Nuspirit Helsinki
Giuseppe Ottaviani - alma
Dj patife - no Estrada
Kevin Yost – One Starry Night
Can't think the last one.

There are some tragic omissions here but i think i could make do with these 10.

  • Spirit World Field Guide - Aesop Rock

  • Good Kid M.A.A.D. City - Kendrick Lamar

  • Run the Jewels 3 - Run the Jewls

  • The Missing Man - AFI

  • Downtown Battle Mountain - Dance Gavin Dance

  • October Forever - Driveways

  • Gun Mouth 4 Hire: Horns & Halos 2 - Andre Nickatina

  • Divisi - A Lot Like Birds

  • Dedication 6 - Lil Wayne

  • The Melody and the Enigmatic Nature of Volume - Evans Blue

10 times the first and last self-titled album of our school punk band "Auswurph" ! The bass had one string. The guitar 5, on a good day, on all other days more 3 to 4. The drums were stolen here and there -ask me how I know, I was the drummer - and our frontman was a certified psycho. No really, he was. Several stays in the psychiatry. I think there weren't even 10 cd's made... I can't remember exactly. Now as I think of it I can't remember anything of that time in detail, all a bit blurry, but one thing I can remember: it was the best album anyone had made since the invention of noise.

In chronological order...

1 & 2 - The Beatles (White Album) (1968) by The Beatles 3 - La Invasión de los blátidos (1992) by Cuca 4 - In Utero (1993) by Nirvana 5 - Historias (1994) by Arjona 6 - Insomniac (1995) by Green Day 7 - Version 2.0 (1998) by Garbage 8 - Dónde están los ladrones? (1998) by Shakira 9 - Americana (1998) by The Offspring 10 - Enema of the State (1999) by Blink 182

Looking through my collection here, ten is a lot easier that just one. In no particular order:

  1. Roxy Music - Avalon
  2. Philip Glass - Akhnaten
  3. Electric Light Orchestra - Time
  4. Neil Diamond - Hot August Night
  5. Ella Fitzgerald - Best of the Songbooks
  6. Glenn Miller - A Legendary Performer
  7. Mike Oldfield - Songs of Distant Earth
  8. Vangelis - Blade Runner
  9. Cocteau Twins - Heaven or Las Vegas
  10. The Cult - Love

(Ask me again next week, or next month, and my list will probably change).

Bro I honestly can't even name 10 albums. I've never liked listening to albums because after the singles are over most of the songs suck imo. I basically have one playlist and it's just all of my favorite songs from every genre mixed into one thing, and it's basically the only thing I listen to lol.

Not going to downvote you because your tastes are your tastes. But it's kind of sad that the artists you like can't come up with more than one or two good songs per album. Or maybe it's the industry itself since so few people buy albums. When I used to buy albums my favorite song was never the hit single.

Haha yeah people always bash on me because all my favorite songs are always just the top 100 or whatever... but that's why I like them, they're normally the bands upbeat, catchy songs lol.

Same! I think the only album that I listened to and thoroughly enjoyed every song was Adele’s 25.

Get some weed and put on dark side of the moon.

The album is an art form. It's just one that the modern media industry has destroyed.

I grew up on classic rock, my opinion still stands. Also I’m pregnant, so I had to cut the weed off :(

Maybe, Nirvana Nevermind? Fleetwood Mac rumours? Even meatloaf bat out of hell?

The MJ and dark side are just exquisite, but have you listened to an album in a situation where all you can figure out to do is listen to an album?

I'm an elder millennial. I suspect you're younger than me. We're done having children. You've just got to not have screens.

This whole thread is making me want to go find a bong. Man I remember when I saw the Pink Floyd laser show in college at the planetarium. Everyone was high as balls.

I’m in the middle of the millennial generation. Music just isn’t my thing. I prefer stories, I enjoy podcasts and old radio shows. Not everyone is going to like the same things, some prefer movies, etc. I appreciate you taking the time, but you just sound pretentious. I’ve listened to every album you named, my opinion still stands. And that’s okay, because it’s my opinion, just like how you like and can name all these albums and it’s your opinion that these albums are great.

@Klystron @DrSleepless

I can name a lot more than 10 albums, but yes in some cases many of the songs are not interesting. In some extreme cases I have regretted not just buying the single instead.

There are a few albums, though, where I like every single song. But I couldn't be constrained to just them for my whole life, as that would exclude some really good stuff.

#Music

Toe- For Long Tomorrow.

Delta Sleep- Ghost City.

Good kid- Good Kid 3.

Car Seat Headrest- Teens of Denial.

Radiohead- OK Computer.

Nirvana- Bleach.

RX Bandits- Mandala.

Stone Temple pilots- Core.

Blind Melon- Soup.

Mayday Parade- A Lesson in Romantics.

List just off the top of my head. Would be different if I thought about it longer.

know it's more recent stuff than not, but

Madvilliany - Madvillian Drukqs - Aphex Twin To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar Since I Left You - The Avalanches The Glow, Pt. 2 - The Microphones Late Registration - Kanye West Remain In Light - Talking Heads Illinois - Sufjan Stevens The Money Store - Death Grips Cosmogramma - Flying Lotus

  • Sgt Pepper's, Beatles
  • Morning Phase, Beck
  • Origin of Symmetry, Muse
  • In Rainbows, Radiohead
  • What's the Story Morning Glory, Oasis
  • Random Access Memories, Daft Punk
  • Bossanova, Pixies
  • Swordfishtrombones, Tom Waits
  • Pretty Hate Machine, NIN
  • The Lord of the Rings film trilogy soundtrack

Without giving it tons of thought:

An Awesome Wave - Altj

Camp - Childish Gambino

Dear - Keaton Henson

So Long Forever - Palace

High Violet - The National

Trouble Will Find Me - The National

Romantic Works - Keaton Henson

Up From Below - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Off the top of my head and in no particular order:

  • Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan)
  • Blood on the Tracks: New York Session (Bob Dylan
  • Willie and the Poor Boys (CCR)
  • Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (Tally Hall)
  • 1990 (Daniel Johnston)
  • Z (My Morning Jacket)
  • I Had A Dream That You Were Mine (Hamilton Leithauser & Rostam)
  • London Calling (The Clash)
  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)
  • Roast Beef (Biff Rose)

If I thought about it longer, I'd probably end up with a more varied list as far as genre.

None? At that point, I'd just stop listening to music.

I can't play albums as it is, because hearing the same artist, the same songs, in the same order every time drives me crazy

What kinda music have you listened to? Bands/artists who compose albums with a central concept and/or sound are a lot easier for me to listen to than albums that are collections of unconnected songs. For an example, Devin Townsend's Ziltoid the Omniscient, and Empath, or King Gizzard's PetroDragonic Apocalypse are way more listenable as a full album than some pop-music album designed to hit the top charts with maximum radio/streamablility.

I mean, yeah, the power of a well composed album is something special. The first 5 or 6 times...

But after that, I just can't do it anymore. If I had only 10 albums to listen to, they'd pretty much sit ignored except for maybe once or twice a year

If you could shuffle 10 albums worth of songs it wouldn't be that bad. I'm sure it would still get old but not knowing what's going to play next is a much different experience than having to be locked into a whole album at a time.