As mentioned earlier, I am taking a pledge to listen to the greatest albums of all time. The first album is by alternative rock band Radiohead, it is their seventh studio album entitled In Rainbows.
It really wasn't a great start in what seems like it might be a long haul, I found In Rainbows to be made up of random noises that were uninteresting and ultimately gave me a headache.
Sorry to anyone who likes this but it doesn't really seem like it's for me. I don't understand how they are the first artist on this list.
It is definately atmospheric and can see people using this as background music, but anyone paying too much attention will definately want to change the cd.
How does he manage to reproduce this live, it seriously sounds like random moans...
I gave it two full listens from start to finish then proceeded to listen to the "best" tracks according to last.fm, by which time I could not stand to hear it anymore.
Overall feeling: Bland, Random Noises, Atmospheric, Background Music, Moaning, Wailing.
I must admit, I'm disappointed. The "greatest albums of all time" are determined by a list on last.fm? Come on, man! You've been on there long enough to understand how it works; the top artists are determined by how much they're scrobbled. This, among other things, immediately raises a lot of issues: shorter songs on albums with more tracks get scrobbled way more and people "cheat" to gain internet hipster cred... not to mention (and probably more importantly) last.fm is still relatively new, obscure and limited to people who primarily listen to music on their computers (leaving out whole generations and types of listeners). To think that the last.fm top artists/albums are in any way indicative of any sort of worldly consensus is just plain wrong. If you're set on continuing your music appreciation class in this way, you'd have to retitle the curriculum to something like "the most hyped albums of the last few years according to nerdy teenagers".
ReplyDeleteThe reason imdb's top250 list is slightly respectable is because it's a well established, highly regarded and widely popular site used by a relatively even cross-section of the population. It also has at least taken minute measures in it's calculation to take into account for any of the aforementioned hype problems.
I don't want to sound like a condescending arsehole but you're smart and passionate about music, dude; you don't need to reduce your journey of musical discovery to such popularist, entry-level limitations like this. Just listen to what you like, keep looking for new stuff and don't be afraid to take a gamble. Sure, you might find 10 bad artists/albums for every 1 good, but you'll have a broader while more refined sensibility and taste in the long run.
p.s. Hope you're well. Update more!
I find that the best of lists such as Rolling Stone are created for a certain market and leave out poppier or newer bands just because they are deemed unworthy. You're right I should call this something else like the most popular music on the internet. I'm happy going with the last.fm charts for now and I like that it's a list of what people are listening to now and not a list of classics that nobody really listens to. Who is this btw? And hey getting a kid who started out with Simple Plan to listen to Radiohead, that is a feat in itself, amirite?
ReplyDeletehaha none whatsoever.
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