The last “great” album was.....

[hefdaddy42]

I think the last album created  that will some day be considered one of the greats is in this group.

Radiohead - Kid A
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Green Day - American Idiot

[Stadler]

I think the last album created  that will some day be considered one of the greats is in this group.

Radiohead - Kid A
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Green Day - American Idiot

I LOVE that you included The Rising.   I thought about putting that out there, and didn't, but I wholeheartedly agree.

[Skeever]

I know you don't like when I push back, but I promise, I'm not arguing with you, just shooting the shit.  Picture a conversation in a bar over a Dr. Pepper or a Tito's.

I don't mind pushback. What I don't like is having to entangle what seems like a reduction or misrepresentation of something i said, which isn't happening. Anyway...

In the end, I think we agree that there are very few artists/albums that hold up as "great" the way great artists have endured traditionally. So, there are two ways of looking at it. The first way is to focus on why the industry has changed, and then come up with some rationale as to why there are so few groundbreaking albums in the mainstream. We could do that for months, but whatever the reason may be, if not a combination of factors, a cursory glance of Youtube tells me it's not due to any fundamental lack of talent.

The other way, and the way that I prefer, is simply to say that times have changed, and while the mainstream record industry still has its place, the way that great artists and their works is valued going forward is changing. I understand the mental tendency to maybe exclude this stuff, but to me at least, doing so would be far too depressing.

[hefdaddy42]

I think the last album created  that will some day be considered one of the greats is in this group.

Radiohead - Kid A
Norah Jones - Come Away With Me
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Green Day - American Idiot

I LOVE that you included The Rising.   I thought about putting that out there, and didn't, but I wholeheartedly agree.

I have my moments.

[darkshade]

I think once you go below "masterpiece that cannot be denied by anyone if you like any type of music" everything else is subjective to taste or submission to what is considered "trendy" and commercially viable music today or within the last 20-30 years. Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

I think there's only one of these types of albums every 20 years, give or take, since WWII. I considered all genres, took into account quality, commercial success, impact on the music world, the appeal among different groups of people, the context of the era it was created in, and it's continued appeal long after its original release date. I narrowed it down to these 4 albums.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Metallica - The Black Album (1991)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

Sad to say, the Daft Punk pick was the easiest one to decide on because the bar is so low these days in regards to what is both popular AND good music most people can dig. Lots of people don't like Green Day, Radiohead, Eminem (or any hip-hop), Springsteen, Billy Joel, and pop artists are throwaway if we're talking decades and decades here. Kids don't like/know/care about Madonna and Mariah Carey already, and Britney is hanging on by a thread.

[HOF]

I think once you go below "masterpiece that cannot be denied by anyone if you like any type of music" everything else is subjective to taste or submission to what is considered "trendy" and commercially viable music today or within the last 20-30 years. Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

I think there's only one of these types of albums every 20 years, give or take, since WWII. I considered all genres, took into account quality, commercial success, impact on the music world, the appeal among different groups of people, the context of the era it was created in, and it's continued appeal long after its original release date. I narrowed it down to these 4 albums.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Metallica - The Black Album (1991)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

Sad to say, the Daft Punk pick was the easiest one to decide on because the bar is so low these days in regards to what is both popular AND good music most people can dig. Lots of people don't like Green Day, Radiohead, Eminem (or any hip-hop), Springsteen, Billy Joel, and pop artists are throwaway if we're talking decades and decades here. Kids don't like/know/care about Madonna and Mariah Carey already, and Britney is hanging on by a thread.

That’s the second mention of Daft Punk in this thread. I will confess I never heard them until it was announced they were splitting up (had heard the name but didn’t even know what kind of music it was). I can see how that kind of thing they do might have been a big part of the music world over the last 20 years, but they flew completely under my radar.

[hefdaddy42]

Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

What?

[darkshade]

I think once you go below "masterpiece that cannot be denied by anyone if you like any type of music" everything else is subjective to taste or submission to what is considered "trendy" and commercially viable music today or within the last 20-30 years. Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

I think there's only one of these types of albums every 20 years, give or take, since WWII. I considered all genres, took into account quality, commercial success, impact on the music world, the appeal among different groups of people, the context of the era it was created in, and it's continued appeal long after its original release date. I narrowed it down to these 4 albums.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Metallica - The Black Album (1991)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

Sad to say, the Daft Punk pick was the easiest one to decide on because the bar is so low these days in regards to what is both popular AND good music most people can dig. Lots of people don't like Green Day, Radiohead, Eminem (or any hip-hop), Springsteen, Billy Joel, and pop artists are throwaway if we're talking decades and decades here. Kids don't like/know/care about Madonna and Mariah Carey already, and Britney is hanging on by a thread.

That’s the second mention of Daft Punk in this thread. I will confess I never heard them until it was announced they were splitting up (had heard the name but didn’t even know what kind of music it was). I can see how that kind of thing they do might have been a big part of the music world over the last 20 years, but they flew completely under my radar.

I'm sure someone in 1981 thought the same thing about TDSotM.
"Those damn hippies and their drug music. Who knew?"

RAM is one of the only popular releases in the last 15 years I can think of that actually has mass appeal AND was pushing musical boundaries, even with it's slightly retro feel (if you are familiar with some of the funky music from the 70s), plus, everyone likes the singles from this album.

[KevShmev]

Well, I look at here as a microcosm; after 1989, there were one or two people that pimped it (I was one; I still think that's a phenomenal record; her "Joshua Tree" maybe) but the general consensus here in this prog metal site (and MP.com, and another site I was at for a while) was "whatevs. She still lips synchs and has 1000 writers for each song.".   folklore was the one that sort of also said, "you might not like all of it, but she's really writing these, really singing them, and really means them."   This is her "adult" record in a way.   Her "Scenes From A Memory".  Her "2112".   Where she said "my way, or highway, this is who/what I am."   And that resonates with people, I think.

Agreed about the adult record.  I like plenty of Taylor's previous material, way more than I thought I would when I first got into Folklore and Evermore five months ago, but Folkmore, and by extension Evermore, just comes off as a mature and artistic record, and that will almost age better than something many will see as just a pop record like 1989, which is definitely a damn fine record.  Now, the question is, will anything from it hold up as being as iconic as Love Story or Shake It Off? That is the question, because to be a classic record, you almost have to have at least one or two songs that hold up to the public as being classics. Cardigan has nearly 100 million views now on YT, but will it hold up as one of her major classics? Time will tell.

[KevShmev]

I hope at least some Taylor fans who have enjoyed her recent two album will take a little time to go and check out The National's (Dessner's band) output, because to me they have been one of the consistantly brilliant bands of this millenium - The four album run of 'Alligator', 'Boxer', 'High Violet**' and 'Trouble Will Find You' is just plain stellar.

**One of my top 5 albums of all time.

I've not heard 1989 besides the singles - and unfortunately two of them are really annoying for me in 'Blank Space' and 'Bad Blood'.

The National are definitely on my "bands to check out" list now.   

[KevShmev]

Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

What?

It does feel like an odd comment, considering 7 of the 9 songs were top 10 singles here in the States (!!!), but it could certainly be argued that some of the songs have not aged well.  I have zero use for Human Nature or The Girl Is Mine anymore, but that's me, and in the grand scheme of things, what I or anyone else thinks about this song or that song on Thriller is irrelevant.  I always tells people, if you did not experience the force of nature that was Thriller in real time, it is impossible to truly grasp its impact. 

[HOF]

I think once you go below "masterpiece that cannot be denied by anyone if you like any type of music" everything else is subjective to taste or submission to what is considered "trendy" and commercially viable music today or within the last 20-30 years. Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

I think there's only one of these types of albums every 20 years, give or take, since WWII. I considered all genres, took into account quality, commercial success, impact on the music world, the appeal among different groups of people, the context of the era it was created in, and it's continued appeal long after its original release date. I narrowed it down to these 4 albums.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Metallica - The Black Album (1991)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

Sad to say, the Daft Punk pick was the easiest one to decide on because the bar is so low these days in regards to what is both popular AND good music most people can dig. Lots of people don't like Green Day, Radiohead, Eminem (or any hip-hop), Springsteen, Billy Joel, and pop artists are throwaway if we're talking decades and decades here. Kids don't like/know/care about Madonna and Mariah Carey already, and Britney is hanging on by a thread.

That’s the second mention of Daft Punk in this thread. I will confess I never heard them until it was announced they were splitting up (had heard the name but didn’t even know what kind of music it was). I can see how that kind of thing they do might have been a big part of the music world over the last 20 years, but they flew completely under my radar.

I'm sure someone in 1981 thought the same thing about TDSotM.
"Those damn hippies and their drug music. Who knew?"

RAM is one of the only popular releases in the last 15 years I can think of that actually has mass appeal AND was pushing musical boundaries, even with it's slightly retro feel (if you are familiar with some of the funky music from the 70s), plus, everyone likes the singles from this album.

I’m not saying they’re bad or anything, I just never heard anything about them until they broke up. Had no idea who or what they were. They do have a certain funky appeal for sure.

[darkshade]

I think once you go below "masterpiece that cannot be denied by anyone if you like any type of music" everything else is subjective to taste or submission to what is considered "trendy" and commercially viable music today or within the last 20-30 years. Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

I think there's only one of these types of albums every 20 years, give or take, since WWII. I considered all genres, took into account quality, commercial success, impact on the music world, the appeal among different groups of people, the context of the era it was created in, and it's continued appeal long after its original release date. I narrowed it down to these 4 albums.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Metallica - The Black Album (1991)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

Sad to say, the Daft Punk pick was the easiest one to decide on because the bar is so low these days in regards to what is both popular AND good music most people can dig. Lots of people don't like Green Day, Radiohead, Eminem (or any hip-hop), Springsteen, Billy Joel, and pop artists are throwaway if we're talking decades and decades here. Kids don't like/know/care about Madonna and Mariah Carey already, and Britney is hanging on by a thread.

That’s the second mention of Daft Punk in this thread. I will confess I never heard them until it was announced they were splitting up (had heard the name but didn’t even know what kind of music it was). I can see how that kind of thing they do might have been a big part of the music world over the last 20 years, but they flew completely under my radar.

I'm sure someone in 1981 thought the same thing about TDSotM.
"Those damn hippies and their drug music. Who knew?"

RAM is one of the only popular releases in the last 15 years I can think of that actually has mass appeal AND was pushing musical boundaries, even with it's slightly retro feel (if you are familiar with some of the funky music from the 70s), plus, everyone likes the singles from this album.

I’m not saying they’re bad or anything, I just never heard anything about them until they broke up. Had no idea who or what they were. They do have a certain funky appeal for sure.

You never heard their older hits from the late 90s and early 00s?

[HOF]

I think once you go below "masterpiece that cannot be denied by anyone if you like any type of music" everything else is subjective to taste or submission to what is considered "trendy" and commercially viable music today or within the last 20-30 years. Also you have to define "album" as something to be listened to straight through, as opposed to something like "Thriller" which may or may not be cherry picked tunes.

I think there's only one of these types of albums every 20 years, give or take, since WWII. I considered all genres, took into account quality, commercial success, impact on the music world, the appeal among different groups of people, the context of the era it was created in, and it's continued appeal long after its original release date. I narrowed it down to these 4 albums.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)

Metallica - The Black Album (1991)

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories (2013)

Sad to say, the Daft Punk pick was the easiest one to decide on because the bar is so low these days in regards to what is both popular AND good music most people can dig. Lots of people don't like Green Day, Radiohead, Eminem (or any hip-hop), Springsteen, Billy Joel, and pop artists are throwaway if we're talking decades and decades here. Kids don't like/know/care about Madonna and Mariah Carey already, and Britney is hanging on by a thread.

That’s the second mention of Daft Punk in this thread. I will confess I never heard them until it was announced they were splitting up (had heard the name but didn’t even know what kind of music it was). I can see how that kind of thing they do might have been a big part of the music world over the last 20 years, but they flew completely under my radar.

I'm sure someone in 1981 thought the same thing about TDSotM.
"Those damn hippies and their drug music. Who knew?"

RAM is one of the only popular releases in the last 15 years I can think of that actually has mass appeal AND was pushing musical boundaries, even with it's slightly retro feel (if you are familiar with some of the funky music from the 70s), plus, everyone likes the singles from this album.

I’m not saying they’re bad or anything, I just never heard anything about them until they broke up. Had no idea who or what they were. They do have a certain funky appeal for sure.

You never heard their older hits from the late 90s and early 00s?

Nope. At least I don’t think I did. What were some of the more popular ones?

Edit: just looked up Around the World and I definitely heard that somewhere but didn’t know what it was.

[Anguyen92]

I mean there's bound to be a time where you hear that song, "One More Time," somewhere in the background.  You may not know the song name or the band at the time, but the tune has a sense of familiarity to it.  I didn't know it was Daft Punk that created that tune until they came back with the run they had with their Random Access Memories album.

[HOF]

I mean there's bound to be a time where you hear that song, "One More Time," somewhere in the background.  You may not know the song name or the band at the time, but the tune has a sense of familiarity to it.  I didn't know it was Daft Punk that created that tune until they came back with the run they had with their Random Access Memories album.

Just checked, and One More Time also sounds like something I’ve heard before for sure. Like I said, I’m not so much surprised to find out that their music was popular or a big thing in certain circles, I just wasn’t aware of who they were.

[darkshade]

Their biggest hits before RAM came out were Around The World, and One More Time, at least in the U.S.
but I've heard other singles of theirs over the years like Aerodynamic, Voyager, and Da Funk.

[SoundscapeMN]

for those who've never seen this, a rolling clip by week going back to the 50's of Billboard #1-3 Songs. When you get to the 2000's especially, there's a lot of NO-NAMES to the mass public.

https://pudding.cool/2017/03/music-history/index.html

[EPICVIEW]

for those who've never seen this, a rolling clip by week going back to the 50's of Billboard #1-3 Songs. When you get to the 2000's especially, there's a lot of NO-NAMES to the mass public.

https://pudding.cool/2017/03/music-history/index.html

Thank you   I never saw that and its pretty cool for sure

[Stadler]

I mean there's bound to be a time where you hear that song, "One More Time," somewhere in the background.  You may not know the song name or the band at the time, but the tune has a sense of familiarity to it.  I didn't know it was Daft Punk that created that tune until they came back with the run they had with their Random Access Memories album.

Isn't that The Captain and Tenille? 

[Anguyen92]

I mean there's bound to be a time where you hear that song, "One More Time," somewhere in the background.  You may not know the song name or the band at the time, but the tune has a sense of familiarity to it.  I didn't know it was Daft Punk that created that tune until they came back with the run they had with their Random Access Memories album.

Isn't that The Captain and Tenille?

I was thinking about this song?

Daft Punk - One More Time (Official Video)

[IDontNotDoThings]

Digging the new GYBE too.

That’s my pick.

I third this. I understand that I'm in the minority in being so hyped for it (which I suppose brings into question whether the subject is based on """objective""" quality, which I don't want to delve into), but imo it's one for the ages

[jammindude]

I haven’t read every single post from all three pages, but if someone hasn’t mentioned Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park it would be a shame.

If we are talking about albums that transcended their genre to the point that even people who didn’t like the genre seemed to love “that album”, I think LP’s debut qualifies. I think almost all the rest of the material that they have put out is fairly “meh”, but there is something special about Hybrid Theory.

[The Curious Orange]

There's lots of great albums being released all the time. But there hasn't been a truly great album since Rush's Moving Pictures...

[hefdaddy42]

I haven’t read every single post from all three pages, but if someone hasn’t mentioned Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park it would be a shame.

If we are talking about albums that transcended their genre to the point that even people who didn’t like the genre seemed to love “that album”, I think LP’s debut qualifies.

I don't.  I literally haven't heard anyone talk about this in years.

It doesn't seem transcendent or timeless to me; on the contrary, it seems very much of its time.

However, it's cool that it has apparently had that big an impact on you.

[Zantera]

I haven’t read every single post from all three pages, but if someone hasn’t mentioned Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park it would be a shame.

If we are talking about albums that transcended their genre to the point that even people who didn’t like the genre seemed to love “that album”, I think LP’s debut qualifies. I think almost all the rest of the material that they have put out is fairly “meh”, but there is something special about Hybrid Theory.

It was my first album ever and arguably responsible for making me love music. I think it's a classic but on a personal level I rank the albums differently depending on the mood. Part of me feels Meteora is slightly better (but not as classic) but there's also been times where I think The Hunting Party or A Thousand Suns could make the claim for the top spot as well.

Hybrid Theory is a good shout though. No matter how you feel about it, I feel it is a classic and it's one of those albums a lot of people have heard and know.

[Stadler]

There's lots of great albums being released all the time. But there hasn't been a truly great album since Rush's Moving Pictures...

Well, I would argue that Pearl Jam's Ten is that album.  Even if you don't buy into the Nirvana hype, the grunge movement changed music as much - I would argue MORE, since the music actually had lasting merit - as the punk movement.   "Ten" is probably the best overall example of that, and outsold Nevermind (13M to 10M) even if it's not the most popular in terms of perception.

[jammindude]

I haven’t read every single post from all three pages, but if someone hasn’t mentioned Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park it would be a shame.

If we are talking about albums that transcended their genre to the point that even people who didn’t like the genre seemed to love “that album”, I think LP’s debut qualifies.

I don't.  I literally haven't heard anyone talk about this in years.

It doesn't seem transcendent or timeless to me; on the contrary, it seems very much of its time.

However, it's cool that it has apparently had that big an impact on you.

I don’t even really care for that type of music at all, but that album was just “better” somehow, and I think the sales reflect the fact that far more people bought that album than just “nu metal fans”.  It had pop sensibilities that seemed to appeal to other people that wouldn’t normally listen to that type of music.

When I saw that idea being introduced in this thread, this was the first modern album I thought of.

[EPICVIEW]

I haven’t read every single post from all three pages, but if someone hasn’t mentioned Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park it would be a shame.

If we are talking about albums that transcended their genre to the point that even people who didn’t like the genre seemed to love “that album”, I think LP’s debut qualifies.

I don't.  I literally haven't heard anyone talk about this in years.

It doesn't seem transcendent or timeless to me; on the contrary, it seems very much of its time.

However, it's cool that it has apparently had that big an impact on you.

I don’t even really care for that type of music at all, but that album was just “better” somehow, and I think the sales reflect the fact that far more people bought that album than just “nu metal fans”.  It had pop sensibilities that seemed to appeal to other people that wouldn’t normally listen to that type of music.

When I saw that idea being introduced in this thread, this was the first modern album I thought of.

I agree that Hybrid Theory was amazing   

[Anguyen92]

The thing about Hybrid Theory was that the three big hits that defined Linkin Park (Crawling, One Step Closer, and In the End) were not just the only good-great songs from the album.  I enjoyed Papercut, Points of Authority, and Forgotten.  Runaway seemed to be a known track as well.

That stated, for me, if I was in a karaoke bar with co-workers that only listens to casual mainstream stuff in the background, I would think the two songs I would sing would be either Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams or Linkin Park's In the End and I think it would have a good reaction.

[Zantera]

The thing about Hybrid Theory was that the three big hits that defined Linkin Park (Crawling, One Step Closer, and In the End) were not just the only good-great songs from the album.  I enjoyed Papercut, Points of Authority, and Forgotten.  Runaway seemed to be a known track as well.

That stated, for me, if I was in a karaoke bar with co-workers that only listens to casual mainstream stuff in the background, I would think the two songs I would sing would be either Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams or Linkin Park's In the End and I think it would have a good reaction.

I feel like in general those hits, or maybe Crawling and In the End are considered among the weaker songs on that album. Papercut is my jam.

[Stadler]

Haha, I just listened to "In The End" and "One Step Closer" and I was like "Oh, THAT'S the song!"    I don't recall "Crawling", though.

That was a huge album.  Chester is a really good singer. I dig "With You" a LOT.  That's a great song with a GREAT vocal, IMO (I don't know if Chester does all the vocals or if Mike Shinoda is doing the clean parts).


(Though, FOR ME, my tastes only, "In The End" has a lot of the things I don't like about that genre of metal.  I love the choruses, I love the melodies, but the rhythmic "rap-like" singing in the verses (ITE) and as the response in the chorus (OSC) is off-putting to me.)

[HOF]

I haven’t thought about Linkin Park in years (I guess when Chester died I probably did). Definitely not a style of music I was ever into and very much feels like something that belongs in the time when it was made.

[Volante99]

I’ll add my two cents

Foo Fighters - Wasting Light: the last big “rock” album that actually meant a damn on the billboard charts

Avenged Sevenfold - Nightmare: the last big “popular” metal album
 
Skid Row - Slave to the Grind: the last dying breath of hair metal

[soupytwist]

Hybrid Theory the sound of a bratty spoilt teenager being angry at nothing in particular, barely anything else to it other than empty angst.