Brendan asked a good question on his site the other day: do you own any albums on which you never skip a track?
I can think of one genre of music that no one would volunteer as an answer: rap. Now rap is all fine and good, but it seems like rappers are obsessed with stuffing skits onto their albums. Without exception, the skits are terrible, 7th grade talent show material. I always skip them.
What I don't understand about this is that rappers don't write any music to begin with; how can they resort to these filler skits? Which part of the record creation process is sapping their creative juices? Is it the talking into the microphone part? I don't think so, because they're doing the same thing on their skits! Yes, I am getting irrationally wound up about this. Allow me to conclude on a high note: Kayne West, you're no Soupy Sales.
I wondered if perhaps some recognized classics could be the answer to Brendan's questions. I don't own many of these, as I usually only listen to Turkish house music, which is still establishing itself. I do, however, have a few classics and I don't think they fit the bill.
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - nope, due to "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite". You can't tell me people actually listen to that song.
Blonde on Blonde - nope, due to "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". I realize that's heresy to some, but I have no patience for 11 minute songs.
I tried it with as many albums as I could think of, and still no luck. What I've found is that the more passion I feel for a particular album, the more likely I am to skip tracks. If I like it a lot, I skip anything that isn't excellent. If I dislike it fiercely, I skip straight to the non-crappy stuff. I am certain this says more about me than it does about the music I possess.
Do any such albums exist? What am I missing here? Crazy concept albums with one song don't apply, nor do Greatest Hits releases. I am excited to hear any possibilities. If nothing fits the bill, then I fear we may have another great paradox on our hands along the lines of "Can God create a taco so big he can't eat it?" That question will be, "Can God create an album so impressive, no one skips a track?" Based my samplings of the Christian rock stations, that answer is no.
Posted by Cody at August 17, 2006 8:12 PM