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 PMAlbums I don't skip tracks on(unless looking for a song):
1) Weezer, "Weezer"(The blue one)
2) Garbage, "Version 2.0"
3) Black Flag, "Damaged"
4) Sex Pistols, "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"
5) Bad Religion, "The Empire Strikes First"
That's all I can think of at the moment.
Posted by: Frito at August 17, 2006 9:21 PMWeezer's first one is a good answer and I'll give that one to you. I will debate Damaged though. I don't remember which song it is, Damaged pt 1 or Damaged pt 2, but one of them is really long and basically just Henry Rollins screaming over feedback. That's a skipper in my book.
Posted by: Cody at August 18, 2006 8:25 AMpossibilities:
Elliot Smith/Elliot Smith
Old 97's/Fight Songs
Pavement/Brighten the Corners
The Replacements/All Shook Down
The Sundays/Reading, Writing And Arithmetic
When I look at these, they're all either from low-key acts (sundays,old 97s,elliot smith) or low-key efforts from previously rockin' groups (replacements, pavement). does that make me a puss?
Posted by: mr chippy at August 18, 2006 11:56 AMHmm, pussification confirmed. I'll give you Elliott Smith's eponymous and Fight Songs is really consistent as well; I like that song on there, What We Talk About. I don't know anything about the Sundays so I'll have to take a look at them. Also, I have a good book about the 80s punk and indie scene that devotes 50 pages or so to the Replacements that I can loan you; it's excellent.
Posted by: Cody at August 19, 2006 9:30 AM