Albums you expect everyone to have ?

[ChrisO]

I was listening to an interview with Will Young on Magic or Heart or one of those (I was in a taxi OK ?) and he was choosing his favourite tunes.

One of them was Fast Car by Tracy Chapman.. can't fault him for that. But he said "Everyone I knew had this album - it was one of those things you just had to have."

Which made me wonder...

You're in somebody's flat/house/cardboard box etc and while they slip into something more comfortable/put the kids to bed/fold their paper bags you browse their music collection.

What 10 albums or even just 10 artists would you expect to see that make you think this person has OK taste. Nothing too obscure.

I'll go with:

Protection - Massive Attack

Shame About Ray - Lemonheads

Island Life - Grace Jones

Woodface - Crowded House

Dookie - Green Day

Something by the Clash

Life's Rich Pageant or any early REM (pre Shiny f**king Happy People)

Anything by Abba

Play - Moby

Dummy - Portishead

I would probably also accept anything by Blondie or Parklife by Blur as alternatives to the above. And maybe Scissor Sisters.

[FatBloke]

I've got something by ABBA somewhere. Other that that - zippo!!


I would expect EVERYONE to have Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits and Dark Side of the Moon by Floyd at the very least!

[Hummers]

For people of a certain age:

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Human League - Dare

H

[JT]

Any Radiohead album released after OK Computer
Queen's Greatest Hits (but no other Queen albums)
Any New Wave album
Anything by Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Underworld, Talking Heads, Massive Attack, Portishead
Miles Davis
Nothing by Faithless, Meat Loaf, The Scissor Sisters, Elton John, Wham (singles are OK), George Michael or anything that was produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman
No girl/boy band albums
A live album
Very few compilations
Some proper hard rock or metal (not Def Leppard or The Darkness or any of that pish)

[Gus]

Any Radiohead album released after OK Computer
Queen's Greatest Hits (but no other Queen albums)
Any New Wave album
Anything by Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Underworld, Talking Heads, Massive Attack, Portishead
Miles Davis
Nothing by Faithless, Meat Loaf, The Scissor Sisters, Elton John, Wham (singles are OK), George Michael or anything that was produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman
No girl/boy band albums
A live album
Very few compilations
Some proper hard rock or metal (not Def Leppard or The Darkness or any of that pish)

Finally one I can agree with.

I can live up to all demands, including the + 300 heavy metal albums

[pcolbeck]

Dark Side of The Moon - Pink Floyd

Led Zepplin II or III - Led Zepplin

Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys

Dummy - Portishead

Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis

Decade - Neil Young

Anything by Towns Van Zandt

Anything by Richard Thompson

The Bends - Radio Head

Ten is too few. That's only two from each of the last five decades.

[bikenerd]

This kind of shows the age you were buying music at, though, doesn't it?
For people of my age (30):

Soundgarden - Superunknown
Nirvana - Nevermind
Pearl Jam - Ten (personally, I can't stand it, though)
Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands
Pixies - Doolittle
Chemical Brothers - Exit Planet Dust
Radiohead - The Bends
Blur - Parklife or Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Underworld - 2nd Toughest in the Infants
New Order - Technique
Arcade Fire - Funeral

[pcolbeck]

This kind of shows the age you were buying music at, though, doesn't it?

Some of us don't stop. What tends to happen is that your tastes either get ridiculously catholic or very specialised though. So you don't end up buying the everyone has them albums any more.

[LEE]

Anything by Towns Van Zandt

I have never heard of him/her/them/it

I have never heard any of my friends, family or my family's friends mention him/her/them/it.

I would be surprised if 10% of people have anything in their collections by him/her/them/it.

Can you name a Towns Van Zandt album that was popular?

[Tom B]

For people of a certain age: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

... and Led Zep    Not if you cut your teeth on punk 

But Ziggy Stardust, quite possibly 'yes'

[bikenerd]

This kind of shows the age you were buying music at, though, doesn't it?

Some of us don't stop. What tends to happen is that your tastes either get ridiculously catholic or very specialised though. So you don't end up buying the everyone has them albums any more.

I've definitely slowed down, though.  You also tend to buy stuff made before you were born / old enough to buy music.  I also hear new bands and think "I heard that ten years ago, by somebody else!".
So, maybe a bit more discerning than when I was 18.  Still buy 20 or 30 albums a year, though (down from 200 at one point!)

[Rob S]

Stars - Simply Red

[rogerzilla]

The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

[Wascally Weasel]

Anything by Towns Van Zandt

I have never heard of him/her/them/it

I have never heard any of my friends, family or my family's friends mention him/her/them/it.

I would be surprised if 10% of people have anything in their collections by him/her/them/it.

Can you name a Towns Van Zandt album that was popular?

Quite a lot of people have probably heard at least one song by Townes without realising it, especially if they have heard the Big Lebowski soundtrack which includes the song 'Dead Flowers'.

'Pancho and Lefty' and 'If I needed you' are some of his better known songs.  He isn't that well known in the UK, especially if you don't like Country/American Folk/Bluegrass etc but has been very influential on other artists you may have heard of (in particular Steve Earle).

I came to him late so only have a collection CD rather than his albums.  Great stuff though.

I guess he's in the list of artists you might recommend people to listen to, rather than expect them to own.   Bit like Guy Clark or Lighting Hopkins.

[alan]

I have none of the albums on ChrisO's opening post.
I assume that everyone has the following

War of The Worlds
A Rolling Stones album
A Beatles album
Something by Queen
The Eagles
ZZ Top
Some Motown 60's stuff
Simon & Garfunkle
Van Morrison
Heavy/hard rock

As said above,your record collection will reflect your age

[MattH]

It is very age related. Trying to avoid repetition - Pink Floyd, Queen, Led Zep, War of the Worlds etc. would have been there - I'd say (throwing in a couple of odd ones)

AC/DC - Back in Black / If You Want Blood You've Got It
Earth Wind and Fire - I Am
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden
Kraftwerk - Computer World
Macc Lads - Beer & Sex & Chips & Gravy / From Beer to Eternity
Sky - Sky 2
Whitesnake - (something pre their 1987 embarrasing hair period)
Something classical on a good label (e.g. Decca, Deutsche Gramophone) rather than a bargain bucket recording
Something classic jazz - Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker...

Going back to the original question, I think a wide breadth of music would give me a better impression of the person than a collection that is very specialised or featuring just one type of music (e.g. only classical, or only thrash metal)

[D0m1n1c Burford]

Just ten....that's going to be hard (as the actress said to the Bishop)

Mother's Milk by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Master of Puppets by Metallica
Joe's Garage by Frank Zappa
Grace Under Pressure by Rush
Stone Roses by Stone Roses
The Bends by Radiohead
Nothing Shocking by Janes Addiction
Get Up With it by Miles Davis
I Sing the Body Electric by Weather Report
Play By Moby

I could add loads more....

[Pingu]

Also:

Automatic For The People - REM
The Joshua Tree - U2
Led Zep IV
Highway 61 Revisited - Bob Dylan

[Really Ancien]

I take it that we are talking vinyl here, those nasty little drinks coasters can't possibly count. A big stack of 12 inch LPs ought to be a feature of every house.





Damon.

[Jaded]

Closer - Joy Division
No Teacher No Mystic No Guru - Van Morrison
Joshua Tree - U2
DSOM - PF
Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts -Eno Byrne
Pornography - The Cure
Dig your own hole - Chemical Brothers
The Undertones - The Undertones
Fear of Music - Talking Heads
It'll End in Tears - This Mortal Coil
New Gold Dream - Simple Minds
Metal Box - Public Image
The Fat of the Land - Prodigy
Dummy - Portishead
Nadir's Big Chance - Peter Hammill
Orbivion - The Orb
Insides - Orbital
Orblivion with Bells - Underworld

There, I think that's 10.  

[alan]

U2 & Fleetwood Mac I concur

[pcolbeck]

Anything by Towns Van Zandt

I have never heard of him/her/them/it

I have never heard any of my friends, family or my family's friends mention him/her/them/it.

I would be surprised if 10% of people have anything in their collections by him/her/them/it.

Can you name a Towns Van Zandt album that was popular?

No, none of them really were. As has been said he was massively influential though. I know quite a lot of people with some of his albums he's not that obscure. Loads of people have covered his stuff including Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, Allison Krauss, Norah Jones and Emmylou Harris. Having an album by Townes or someone like him in any genre is a sign of someone who knows a genre reasonably well and the roots of it. The obvious example another genres would be say the MC5 for punk.

[Mrs Pingu]

The OP said something about 'showing you have OK taste'.
I'm afraid any Moby and Scissor Sisters would be an instant 'No taste' signal for me!
But I'm pleased to see no-one's mentioned Dido yet.

While I'm at it I'd scratch Woodface by Crowded House and replace it with Crowded House or Together Alone

War of the Worlds

Ooooooooo-laaaaaaa! 

[D0m1n1c Burford]

Closer - Joy Division
No Teacher No Mystic No Guru - Van Morrison
Joshua Tree - U2
DSOM - PF
Tubular Bells - Mike Oldfield
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts -Eno Byrne
Pornography - The Cure
Dig your own hole - Chemical Brothers
The Undertones - The Undertones
Fear of Music - Talking Heads
It'll End in Tears - This Mortal Coil
New Gold Dream - Simple Minds
Metal Box - Public Image
The Fat of the Land - Prodigy
Dummy - Portishead
Nadir's Big Chance - Peter Hammill
Orbivion - The Orb
Insides - Orbital
Orblivion with Bells - Underworld

There, I think that's 10.  

This Mortal Coil....completely forgot about them...love this band to bits. 

How could I have forgotten about The Orb.  The album "A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld" was in my car for years, as it contained the brilliant track Little Fluffy Clouds.

And Talking Heads...what a great band.

This is why ten albums is just not enough. 

Some great albums listed here Jaded....top marks 

[nicknack]

Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart
A Love Supreme - John Coltrane

Umm...

Now I have to think.

Third - Soft Machine
A Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Made in Japan - Deep Purple
Led Zep 1
Liege and Lief - Faiport Convention
Gentleman  - Fela Kuti (anything by him really)
The Night - Morphine
Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix