The word ‘Classic’ can be easily misappropriated by Record labels trying to push their artists. However music magazines are regularly at fault too by applying the word to albums not worthy of such classification. Two often described as classics wrongly to my mind are Radiohead’s OK Computer and Nirvana’s Nevermind. Neither are bad albums but classic? Not a chance.
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SixDog says
I think OK Computer “is” a classic – very very different to what was being pumped out elsewhere in 1997 and it still stands up.
Nevermind, I’d agree with. Not a patch on In Utero.
I’ve never understood why either “Solid Air” or “Astral Weeks” are given such reverance. Moondance is so much better than Astral Weeks.
Wheldrake says
In Utero is unlistenable, painful noise. Nevermind is the one they will be remembered for. Truly a classic.
OK Computer is a good album. Classic though? Not so sure. Certainly the last coherent album before they disappeared up their own fundament.
JustB says
Unlistenable is a funny word. I find lots of stuff unlistenable, but it never occurred to me to apply that to In Utero. Savage, caustic, brutal – sure. But also tuneful and compelling and energising, to my ears.
SteveT says
Your point about Solid Air maybe suggests I should look at classics from a different position. At the time of its release I didn’t consider Solid Air a classic but looking back over the decades and listening to it now I can see why it was given that status and it just might be John Martyn’s best album.
On the other hand I regarded OK Computer more highly at the time of its release than I do now – today I find it difficult to listen to. That perhaps is why I think the term classic is difficult to correctly apply to anything. Surely it should be a case of once a classic always a classic?
Carl says
Solid Air, the middle entry in John Martyn’s golden era. Bracketed by Bless The Weather and Inside Out, it’s his crowning achievement. For me not just JM’s best, but one of the best albums ever made.
You’ve listened to. It hasn’t caught your fancy. Nothing I say will change you mind.
Sitheref2409 says
^^ Solid Air. You either get John Martyn or you don’t. If you do, this is it. Followed closely, in the singles stake, by “Couldn’t love you more”
SteveT says
Was listening to the live version of The Hurt in your heart from the Ain’t no saint box set. What a beautiful love song – heartfelt performance from a master. Love the guy and perhaps the one artist no longer with us that I miss the most.
nickduvet says
I listened to Solid Air a lot in the 70s. Perhaps too much because I don’t listen to it all now. But I do listen to One World and I think this album will stand for me as his crowning achievement. It’s really well produced and offers a remarkable range of moods and styles.
Bingo Little says
Depends what you mean by “classic”.
Nevermind isn’t Nirvana’s best record, but its impact on da yoof was much greater than OK Computer, and it penetrated the mainstream further, from an even less likely origin point.
For me, Nevermind is more of a classic album than most of the records that get discussed on here, but then I was 13 when it was released, so right in that sweet spot.
Dodger Lane says
Definition of classic, released in 1971.
madfox says
I think Bingo’s right. You have to define “classic” first. If you employ a consensus of the various reputable dictionary definitions around the Internet, there are several elements to the meaning of the word – the main ones might be characterised as “excellent of its kind”, “representative of a particular type” and “judged as being of high quality over a long period of time”.
So there are cases to be made for both albums cited in the original post – I think enough people have judged them to be of high quality over a long enough period of time for them to be widely regarded as “classics”. It’s not really a case of whether you happen to like them or “get” them. I’m not a massive fan of “Nevermind”, but I have to accept that it is widely regarded as a classic.
Gary says
I think, as well as the quality of the music, sequencing and cover, it’s the timing of an album that gives it classic status. Albums that come along at just the right time to capture something in the zeitgeist and make a massive impact. That’s arguably why Nevermind is the “classic” and In Utero isn’t (although, tbh, I prefer Nevermind). Astral Weeks as opposed to Moondance (although I far prefer AW), Rumours as opposed to Tusk, Psychocandy as opposed to Darklands etc.
Diddley Farquar says
The reputation can suffer though. That’s why allowing some time to pass is necessary. What’s The Story Morning Glory? was not so well received at first then was perceived as classic a little later, capturing the zeitgeist, but now? I would suggest it’s reputation has declined. A classic? No, not really. A record with some fine moments but that’s not lasted so well. Definitely Maybe? I guess there are many who would call this a classic. I’m not sure it is. Better than the second one though.
Exile On Main St. didn’t have universal acclaim at first but has lasted and is undoubtedly a classic now, though some of us will say we don’t rate it. It also depends on who you ask of course. Us lot would have a different idea of classic albums compared to many a ‘civilian’ or radio 2 audience, let’s say, or compared to Mixmag readers. We would have our Afterword idea of classics which is not the same as what we personally think of as best, obviously.
Bingo Little says
Doesn’t “classic” just mean “still popular and respected several years later”?
Colin H says
Where’s Adrian Gurvitz when you need him?
Dave Ross says
In his attic……
Wheldrake says
Great minds….!
Wheldrake says
In the attic?
Dave Ross says
Seems we’re both addicts…
Colin H says
He has lofty ambitions. There’s no ceiling to his aspirations. They go through the roof…
hubert rawlinson says
after a night on the tiles.
chiz says
He’s a has-beam these days. Spends all day blogging on the Rafterword.
Colin H says
very good!
Vincent says
“Classic” is “the big popular one” to some, “the cool one” to others. IMHO, it’s a combination of your age when you heard it, and the wisdom of history. Views on classic albums (“classics” which are nothing of the kind, and which were not recognised as such though clearly are) is roundly exemplified by Rolling Stone’s 500 worst reviews: http://rateyourmusic.com/list/schmidtt/rolling_stones_500_worst_reviews_of_all_time__work_in_progress_/1/
Sewer Robot says
Some good reading there. Interesting line from Gil Scott Heron. He was already a published author before his music took off but he wanted to be a musician because “people aren’t reading novels the way they used to, but they are buying records”
I wonder what choice somebody like that would make today..?
dai says
Pointless really, I love OK Computer so it’s a “classic”, you don’t so it isn’t. BTW Kid A is a classic too, arguably greater.
SteveT says
Kid A is definitely greater in my book but I haven’t heard anyone suggest it is a classic. That’s what is baffling about the whole thing – I even think King of Limbs is better but the critics certainly don’t suggest that is a classic.
JustB says
Kid A definitely isn’t a classic. Some wonderful songs on there, but a load of old shite liberally mixed in, too – just like everything they’ve done since, barring In Rainbows.
You could make such a brilliant record and a half out of:
Everything In Its Right Place
Optimistic
How To Disappear Completely
Pyramid Song
I Might Be Wrong
Morning Bell (Amnesiac)
Knives Out
You And Whose Army
Packt Like Sardines
The live version of Like Spinning Plates
2+2=5
There There
Sail To The Moon
In Rainbows you can leave untouched – it’s perfect.
I genuinely much of the rest of it is just awkwardness. I listened to The King Of Limbs maybe 10 or 15 times in the first two weeks after it came out, and haven’t touched it since. I used to think Thom needed to just grow up and stop deliberately sabotaging himself after every time he makes something beautiful, but now I’ve just accepted that two thirds of whatever they do is just what you put up with for the transcendentally gorgeous other third.
Tiggerlion says
Kid A is one of those exceptional albums where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; the variety of styles, instruments, moods, rhythms, noises all blend into one another beautifully.
For years, I tried to sequence a better album from Kid A, Amnesiac and contemporaneous B sides. I even tried to make a double. I failed. I simply could not match the flow of Kid A. I’ve taken solace in *improving* Amnesiac instead, which is perfectly feasible.
I rate it as Radiohead’s finest album and one of the best this century. I play it all the time, from beginning to end, without pause.
My issue with In Rainbows and King Of Limbs, both of which I enjoy, is that the tracks are too similar. I’m of a generation that listens to albums as a whole. I don’t often select individual tracks. There may be *better* individual tracks on IR & KOL but neither work so well in one sitting.
JustB says
Each to his own and all that, but I don’t really buy the “greater than the sum of its parts” thing about albums. Albums are collections of songs, and for me the songs have to be able to both sit well in the sequence as a whole AND be independently good.
In Limbo and Treefingers are directionless cod-ambient drifts and The National Anthem is one fairly good musical idea stretched out to six minutes, by which time it’s entirely outstayed its limited welcome. Idioteque works quite well live, but I find its attempts to dance things up for anti-capitalism faintly embarrassing. Motion Picture Soundtrack is alright, but again, it really meanders: it’s a sketch, the beginnings of a beautiful song that loses the courage of its convictions and becomes a twinkling smear of nice sounds that could’ve been so much more.
I know they were trying to do something really different, and I admire that, but there’s a lot of real self-indulgence on that record, which relies (cynically?) on being “weird” to justify its inclusion, to my ears. So you get these vague daubs of songs that haven’t really been fully hammered out, but Thom gets to say “Oh, it’s meant to be like that” and we’re supposed to go, oh. Right. It’s art.
pencilsqueezer says
“Anyone would think Devil Woman had never been written.”
Moose the Mooche says
“They’re still wearing flared trousers”
JustB says
If those two records aren’t classics, then the term doesn’t mean anything. And perhaps it doesn’t.
But it does, and they are.
ivylander says
Isn’t a record, in order to be deemed ‘classic’, need to be not just good but influential as well? Exhibit A: the first Velvet Underground record. No question in my mind that it’s a classic – no one had ever heard anything like it before, and it had an outsized influence on pop music that continues to this day. That said, much of it (yes, you, ‘Venus In Furs’) is a tough listen. On a side note, was in a quite good but decidedly hipsterish restaurant a month or so ago, and ‘Waiting For the Man’ started playing over the sound system. Must say I never envisioned that scenario 40-some years ago….
ivylander says
‘Worst thing about locally sourced pork belly is you’ve always got to wait….’
Tiggerlion says
Venus In Furs is a breeze compared to Black Angel’s Death Song!
SteveT says
Funnily enough I was thinking of that first VU album after I submitted this post and that is one I would suggest is a classic along with Safe as Milk, Hot Rats and Forever Changes from that era. No doubt there are countless more but I am wondering if they become classics from the distance of time rather than at the point of release. Certainly they are not classics based on Album sales.
Baron Harkonnen says
I`ll agree with two of those classics Steve, one you`ll know…
Sewer Robot says
So, in summary, both records mentioned in the OP are, by any definition, classic albums but a lot of people, including SteveT don’t like them all that much. I might have put them into my Emperor’s New E.P. thread (OKC four track E.P. Nevermind one sided flexisingle) but I didn’t want to just keep shoeing everyone else’s favourite records…
Vulpes Vulpes says
Sorry, but not by my definition they’re not. Whiney sixth form drivel and whiney spoilt brat drivel respectively.
Tiggerlion says
If you mean over-rated classics, I’ll nominate any Pink Floyd album.
SixDog says
Meddle and Wish You Were Here (and arguably Animals) all exponentially “better” than Dark Side of the Moon and tiresome, plodding “Wall”.
SteveT says
Obscured by clouds pretty good too – disagree about DSOM but entirely agree with The Wall – dreadful tosh.
Colin H says
…wasn’t he in the Wailers?
Gary says
Oh Tig, Tig, Tig.
Dark Side and WYWH come after Kind Of blue and Before Astral weeks in the pantheon of fantabulous music. Everyone knows that. I can accept that The Wall is shite (although it isn’t though) and Meddle is grand, but Dark Side and Wish are just so stunning as to be beyond criticism, so they are.
Tiggerlion says
I do find them useful, though. They help me sleep. Except for those pesky alarm clocks.
Pink Floyd discovered a new technique with DSOTM & WYWH. They took a few simple melodies and six form lyrics. They played them slowly giving the impression of profundity. They sound deep but they are meaningless, man.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
The bells ring throughout the land as I 100% agree with Tigger
Gary says
“Six form lyrics”? But (and I involuntarily spluttered somewhat there) Roger Waters is the best lyricist this world has ever known. Ish.
I give you an excerpt from Shine On:
Remember when you were young,
You shone like the sun.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Now there’s a look in your eyes,
Like black holes in the sky.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
You were caught on the crossfire
Of childhood and stardom,
Blown on the steel breeze.
Come on you target for faraway laughter,
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon,
You cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Threatened by shadows at night,
And exposed in the light.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Well you wore out your welcome
With random precision,
Rode on the steel breeze.
Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
And let’s compare that to, ooh, let’s say an excerpt from Gotta Get That Feeling from Tigfave ‘ The Promise’ by Bruce Springsteen:
Yeah girl, now won’t you come on out tonight
Little girl, now where the stars will shine real bright
Yeah I gotta get that feeling
Yeah I wanna get that feeling
Whoa back again
Yeah back again
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da
Da da da da da da da
Tonight, well there’s something in the air
And tonight, yeah we ain’t got money but I don’t care
Yeah we gotta get that feeling
Yeah we gotta get that feeling
Whoa back again
Whoaaa
Say say say say
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Whoaaa yeah
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Do do hum do do do
Whoaaa yeah
Do do hum do do do
And there I rest my case. (Objection? Overruled.)
Diddley Farquar says
Also Wish You Were Here the song:
We’re just too lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year.
Or, Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail, a smile from a veil?
It’s not Shakespeare but pretty good by most pop standards. I admit Money is a bit shit. Comfortably Numb though? Some great lines too.
Tiggerlion says
Now you write it down in black and white, I can see Brooooce wins by a mile. His is full of joyful exuberance. Roger is disappearing up his own fundament. Besides, the word ‘precision’ should be banned from rockenroll.
Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom!
count jim moriarty says
What he ^^ said.
DogFacedBoy says
A slaved over Pink Floyd track v an out-take from the Darkness sessions.
Hardly apples and oranges is it? Cos that was a Floyd single from 1967
dai says
That’s right, compare the best of Rog with a Boss cast off that he couldn’t be bothered to release for about 33 years. Check out Racing in the Street (or many others) :
…
I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there’s wrinkles around my baby’s eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs “Baby did you make it all right”
She sits on the porch of her daddy’s house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we’re gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands…
(nice tune too)
JustB says
Oh, Gary, those Waters lyrics are pathetic! I don’t hold much brief for Springsteen – like, don’t love – but his lyrics at least sound like rock n’ roll. Waters sounds like he did a bit of Oedipus Rex in translation for Eng Lit A-level and is trying his best to sound effortlessly erudite. The result is hopelessly portentous, sententious, pompous. (Lots of things ending in -ous.) He wouldn’t know rock n’ roll if he found it floating in his patchouli oil.
Gary says
Pathetic? No way! I did, obviously, choose the Bruce lyric purposely to tease. He’s of course written some great lyrics. But Shine On is just beautiful. It sums up Syd so well, so poetically yet so precisely. His descent from the youthful personification of beauty, charisma, charm and talent into madness via stardom and drugs. “You wore out your welcome with random precision” is just perfect. “You painter, you piper, you prisoner”. That’s Syd right there. A fantastic, heartfelt lament for a much loved friend. Pathetic? I adore it both lyrically and musically.
JustB says
OK, perhaps a bit harsh. But perhaps not! They’re completely the opposite of what good lyrics should be, for me. Horses, courses, funny old world if we were all the same etc.
For me, context isn’t that important. I don’t care what or who the song’s “about” – that’s nice detail to know assuming the basic requirements of decent writing are met, but if the writing’s bad – as this, to my eyes, emphatically is – no amount of “but it’s about Syd” can redeem it. The words have to be able to stand alone, and I don’t think they can.
I know people love Pink Floyd, but I always assumed that was despite the lyrics. The music isn’t my thing, although I can see the musicianship and all, but I assumed that if you loved the music, that would allow you to overlook the words. It genuinely never occurred to me that anyone actually rated Roger Waters as a writer!
Gary says
As a big fan, I’ve kinda always thought the opposite about Floyd. The musicianship isn’t up to much (even I can play along, and I’m really rubbish). Gilmour’s obviously an extremely talented guitarist, but his playing is mostly restrained, understated, not showy-offy. Wright’s keyboards are often lovely and tasteful, but nothing particularly difficult. Waters is a very mediocre musician and Mason is a bit of a joke. It’s the scope, depth and ambition behind the lyrics/conceptual ideas that enthrall the fans, I feel. The charm of the music is its simplicity.
As regards contextualizing lyrics/poetry is concerned, I think generally I would agree with you. However, since I was 14 I’ve very much bought into the whole Floyd story. I grew up with these people and their stories; all their tiffs and shenanigans. I don’t think they’ve ever been into the idea of ‘perpetuating the myths’ themselves, it’s more that Waters just tends to write from a very personal perspective and so it all becomes part of the whole Floyd package. Intriguing, fascinating and moving for fans like me; understandably dull, meaningless and pretentious for those not interested.
JustB says
Manly handshake then. Sorry about the pathetic thing! Uncalled for.
Gary says
Hey, absolutely no worries at all! Feel free to insult Floyd all you like – I’d be a fool to find some personal offense in that! (And although you probably won’t sway my opinion, I enjoy the discussion).
Diddley Farquar says
Imagine from embarrassment of riches year 1971 used to be a widely agreed upon classic but I think the naysayers have grown in number with some justification. It’s status can no longer be assumed. Gimme Some Truth and Jealous Guy are great but otherwise, not really. Lennon’s first album I can see stands up because it uncompromisingly and effectively achieved what it set out to do though I don’t really like listening to it much.
Bingo Little says
Funnily enough, when I wrote above that Nevermind is more of a classic to my mind than most of the records discussed on here, Forever Changes is the one I was thinking of.
I quite like Forever Changes, it has its moments, but in my view it isn’t a patch on Nevermind, or OK Computer, and I suspect that’s a view most people under 40 would share.
Tiggerlion says
I can’t get over the snot caked on the trousers line. The rest is brilliant!
Moose the Mooche says
That’s something that actually happened. Arthur fell asleep in some kind of naughty stupor and when he woke up, “Uhhhh meeeaaan, wouldya lookit thaaat? I gotsta write a song about this!”. Like a lot of that album it’s semi-intentionally funny. I think it’s a great line – Half Man Half Biscuit on Sunset Strip.
You Set the Scene makes more sense when you know that when “Leapy” Lee wrote it he sincerely believed he was about to cark it.
I absolutely Shack that album!
Baron Harkonnen says
Shack, a band sadly ignored deserving of more recognition. HMS Fable is a `classic` and in the top 3 albums to originate from Merseyside.
Forever Changes will still be a `classic` in a 1,000 years time.
Moose the Mooche says
These days I find myself returning to Waterpistol more often, and I love the Strands album as well. But yeah, in 2000-2001 I was practically stopping people in the street to tell them about HMS Fable.
The two albums they’ve done since were okay but…. disappointing. It’s got to be said, they were so much better when they were strung out on hard drugs.
Baron Harkonnen says
I agree with you Mooche about the albums after `Fable, Waterpistol I to love.
If you`re into Shack you may or may not know that Michael Head`s `The Magical World Of The Strands` is being re-released in June preceded by an album of recordings from the `Strand` sessions – `The Olde World` in June
He is also reported to be recording a new LP – intake level of hard drugs is not known.
Kid Dynamite says
This thread sent me back to Forever Changes this morning for the first time in years. It’s brilliant. I can’t think of many better albums for a slow sunny morning.
Tiggerlion says
Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run.
The Promise is soo much better….
Gary says
S’not though, Tiggs. Really. S’not. Born To run isn’t that great, but The Promise is far shiter. (Darkness is the dog’s bollocks.)
dai says
No, it isn’t. Some could make an argument for Darkness, but for me Born to Run is close to perfection, 8 tracks and you could make a case for 4 or 5 of them being in his top 10 songs.
Thunder Road
Backstreets
BTR
Meeting Across the River-> Jungleland
Bingo Little says
BTR isn’t his best album (that would be TWTIATESS), but it’s quite clearly a classic by nearly any standard.
Is this thread just “well respected albums I don’t really like”?
If so: all of the Beatles and Pink Floyd records, bar none. I’m not daft enough to dispute that some of them are classics (what do I know about anything, after all), but I find them in turns trite and tedious, no matter how many times I give them a go.
Gary says
Bing! Chap! You don’t like The Beatles? I didn’t know that. Respect!
Bing! You don’t like the Floyd? You nutter! Get a grip man!
Tiggerlion says
Bruce Springsteen has made an album called Twatiness?? Ace!
*Rushes off to on-line CD merchant*
Rob C says
My name is Steel and you all owe me five quid on a spooky platform, because, you all go on and on and on and on and on and for aeons… about exactly the same shit, musically speaking, of course, like a fucking Mojo Grimoire.
Baron Harkonnen says
That`s why we come here Rob, we are the lunatics that have taken over the asylum.
Kaisfatdad says
I had no idea what a grimoire was. A handbook of spells.
Clearly I should spend more time with witches!
Moose the Mooche says
You f***ing idiots!!
How on earth can you like The Thing You Like more than The Thing I Like?
Sitheref2409 says
@tiggerlion
Here’s the math:
Born To Run is the quintessential Springsteen album. Cars, escape, Thunder Road, sense of place, blue collar. It has it all.
There other individual tracks that are great – Rosalita; half of Nebraska.
But if you hold that he is an Important Artist – and I really, really do – then Born To Run is all you need.
To paraphrase someone, I’ve seen the history of Rock ‘n Roll, and it’s called Bruce Springsteen.
Tiggerlion says
Born To Run is overblown. The furrowed brow, the sweat, the strain in the voice, the overwrought lyrics, the kitchen-sink production. Darkness has better songs. The Promise is much more fun and, blessed relief, isn’t overproduced. Plus, you can dance to it.
Diddley Farquar says
But what you are describing is quintessentially Springsteen, it’s his schtick, which you either enjoy or don’t. Personally I find it too much, though now and again I like a track of his, and he does do more restrained stuff of course but there’s nothing more Springsteenish than BTR.
Mike_H says
Bellowing Bruce Stringbean is OK in smallish doses, I suppose. Wouldn’t spend money on any of his product, though.
Der Floyd are lyrical pomposity personified but do have their musical moments.
Not even Jon Anderson knows what he’s singing about, I suspect, but Close To The Edge is mostly good musically.
Diddley Farquar says
To be honest lyrics wash over me mostly and the music comes first, though the odd killer line will get my attention. Whole songs written out tend to look rather lame in cold, hard print. Waters is ambitious and wants to tackle the big themes, Springsteen has a more indirect approach, but his words can be moving and profound. The delivery is more of a problem for me.
Tiggerlion says
OOAA etc… IMHO …
Sniffity says
But…but…surely sales ie popularity count for something?
Or is it just the civilians that would consider, say, Out Of The Blue, Bat Out Of Hell and the Grease soundtrack to be classics?
Diddley Farquar says
They are classics of their type I suppose. Not ones I like particularly but arguably classic in the sense of being massive mainstream hits with a broad base of admirers, and enduring for their audience. Many would no doubt point to something by Bon Jovi as classic while we would piss on their chips and deride their choice, perhaps citing instead the likes of the second album by Big Star, a band they’ll never have heard of. Not that they’d care. You’ve got your cool, cult classics then you’ve got your massive, square classics and others in between.
Mike_H says
A car like the Mk.1 Ford Escort sold by the million everywhere, but nobody much has bothered keeping them, unlike the original Mini, the Morris Traveller or the E-Type Jag.
I would class the likes of Bon Jovi and Meatloaf with the Ford Escorts of music and class Forever Changes, Hejira and Axis: Bold As Love along with the Mini, the Traveller and the E-Type.
DogFacedBoy says
To be a classic album it has to have had a 90 minute documentary screened on Sky Arts with someone sitting at a mixing desk isolating the vocal or guitar tracks which are played over black and white images of the artist. said person has to occasionally flick a switch a good arms length away that makes no discernable difference to the sound we are hearing. The occasional nod of the head and wry smile.
‘Classic’ is in the ear of the beholder. I heart In Utero but find Solid Air / Astral Weeks dull
Tiggerlion says
That list in full:
The Band – The Band (1969)
Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)
Phil Collins – Face Value (1981)
Cream – Disraeli Gears (1967)
Deep Purple – Machine Head (1972)
Def Leppard – Hysteria (1987)
The Doors – The Doors (1967)
Duran Duran – Rio (1982)
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (1977)
Peter Gabriel – So (1986)
Grateful Dead – Anthem of the Sun and American Beauty (see Anthem to Beauty) (1968/1970)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland (1968)
Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast (1982)
Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt (1996)
Elton John – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
Judas Priest – British Steel (1980)
John Lennon/The Plastic Ono Band – John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970)
Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)
Metallica – Metallica (“The Black Album”) (1991)
Motörhead – Ace of Spades (1980)
Nirvana – Nevermind (1991)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Damn the Torpedoes (1979)
Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon (1973)
Elvis Presley – Elvis Presley (1956)
Primal Scream – Screamadelica (1991)
Queen – A Night at the Opera (1975)
Lou Reed – Transformer (1972)
Rush – 2112 and Moving Pictures (1976/1981)
Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks (1977)
Paul Simon – Graceland (1986)
Simply Red – Stars (1991)
Steely Dan – Aja (1977)
U2 – The Joshua Tree (1987)
The Wailers – Catch a Fire (1973)
The Who – Who’s Next (1971)
Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key of Life (1976)
Frank Zappa – Apostrophe (‘) / Over-Nite Sensation (1974/1973)
The first hour-long series, produced independently of Sky Arts, opened with Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms in May 1989, followed by The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet, Genesis’ Invisible Touch, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon, The Who’s Who’s Next, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, The Police’s Synchronicity, Eagles’ Hotel California and U2’s The Joshua Tree.
The first episode of Classic Albums is actually a documentary for ITV’s The South Bank Show, called “The Making of Sgt. Pepper”. This documentary lay the template for the Classic Albums series.
Moose the Mooche says
1992 – featuring George, Paul and Ringo. Quite a big deal at the time, like a mini Anthology. Pepper briefly reappeared in the LP chart as a result.
Even better was the 1987 docco It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, which looked at SP in the context of the summer of love – lots of good talking heads like Jim McGuinn, Derek Taylor and various SF hairies . Also, bizarrely, on ITV.
This stuff was my education…
Tiggerlion says
Note the absence of Solid Air, Astral Weeks, Nick Drake, The Velvet Underground and so on. Clearly, there was half an eye on viewing figures.
Moose the Mooche says
And interviewees.
John Martyn – incoherent.
The Velvets and Van – uncooperative.
Nick Drake – unavailable.
Moose the Mooche says
There was also the Classic Albums series that Radio 1 used to do on a Saturday afternoon, late 80s. Roger Scott, I think. First time I heard Beggar’s Banquet was on that.
One week they did Feats Don’t Fail Me Now, if you please.
Black Celebration says
“All Right Now” by Free. Can’t stand it.
Crap song with rubbish words with a really annoying vocal. It keeps getting an airing in TV ads and is played frequently by those bands you get in pubs.
Moose the Mooche says
The only pub band you would like is Electric Russell.
Black Celebration says
Well the audience, some of whom are pensioners, seem to be enjoying it.
Moose the Mooche says
…very poor. Very poor indeed.
Those two guys standing staring at Russell are pretty much guaranteed to be Afterworders.
pencilsqueezer says
‘Classic’ An abused word rendered meaningless by overuse.
See also :- Legend, Genius. Indispensable.
DogFacedBoy says
All moniker applied to you in your time, you old rascal you
Kid Dynamite says
My pet theory is that Radiohead (and OK Computer is indeed a classic*) will, in a decade or two, become the kind of standing joke Genesis or Jethro Tull are now**. It might mean a lot if you were at the time, but children yet unborn will find their po-faced self importance and “challenging” music risible. That’s my hope anyway. Children are the future, you know.
*it’s turgid humourless drivel as well, but who am I to argue with Johnny Punter and Charlie Critic?
**oh bollocks, I just remembered where I am
DogFacedBoy says
Nearly 20 years on from 0K Computer and Radiohead still seen as innovative artists. Genesis and ver Tull barely made 1\2 that before they were seen as old hat and past it.
This is less about Classic and more about people not liking stuff. Like me and Astral Weeks. Which showed up again at the last London mingle. Which means about 5 people have tried it and given it back in.
Douglas says
Why does it matter? If the term “classic” was a criterion for something else, then maybe I could see the point of denating it, but it’s just a word. A word, scattered around, sometimes wisely and more often not.
I hear films described as “legendary”, politicians as “towering” and food as “heavenly”, and I don;t hear anything other than hyperbole.
If someone descibes an album as a classic, will you or I make a point of checking it out? Probably not on that word alone, any more than if that someone described it as “great”, “phenomenal” or (god help us) “essential”.
Rant over.