Time to kick this up a notch. Let's do a poll.
For me, pop music begins with The Beatles. I believe that one can know a lot about a person by their favorite Beatles album. And I am only referring to the albums that were conceived and created as whole albums, not song collections like Meet the Beatles or Beatles For Sale. Technically, Magical Mystery Tour falls under this rule, too, but I will let it slip through the dragnet.
So I want to know what camp you fall into. I have definite ideas about each of the seven records that I'm including, but I won't bias anyone by hinting about my favorite. I know everyone would just want to emulate me. Ha! Don't be like me.
So, vote, and I'd love to have a comment arguing your choice, if you have the courage of your convictions. Rock on!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
For me the Beatles marked the advent of modern rock'n'roll too. Trying to pick a favorite Beatles album though, is like going into a Baskin Robbins store and trying to pick out a favorite flavor ice cream.
ReplyDeleteI was a Beatles fan from their very first hit album, all the way to the end. But if I had to pick my favorite Beatles album of all time, it would have to be the White Album.
Melissa X
Difficult one.
ReplyDeleteHowever if there's one Beatles album that really "gets" the Beatles, it's one that wasn't a studio album at all. The "Live at the Hollywood Bowl" album with its never-ending crescendo of screaming fans may not be a musical masterpiece and may have just been an attempt to cash in after the demise of the band, but for those of us born too late to know it tells us just a little bit about Beatlemaina.
From your list? Sgt. Pepper.
Hmm... Sorry I only know two ablums by heart.
ReplyDeleteThe Blue Album and '1'.
I was born just a little too late I think :)
(I do own the '1' album though)
Stace
I loved the Beatles from day one, they saved my life by making longer hair possible after all!
ReplyDeletePerhaps because my parents did not buy a stereo music machine until I left home so I never bought the albums I have never really developed an album awareness. Lets face it they sometimes let Ringo sing and the album was instantly flawed!
This is so typical of my life there is no box for me to tick!!
Caroline xxx
Although I have just about all of the albums, I really was never much of a Beatles fan after the first.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia...Beach Boys...you know?
Please Please Me
Calie xxx
My vote did not stick in the poll, but I am down for Rubber Soul. All the formulas thrown out, the power relationship between the artist and the business upended, and such a startling array of unformulaic songs.
ReplyDeleteMagic.
Thanks for asking...
ooops. yes my poll vote is showing...
ReplyDeleteWill you ask us sometime for favorite Stones LP?
I suppose I should've swallowed hard and added an "other" category. Me and my snobby standards. Also might've added Help or Hard Days Night, which are terrific records without meeting my strict definition.
ReplyDeleteReally good comments, even if no one wants to commit to a choice. I suppose people that waver on gender can't be expected to choose one album.
@Petra
Yep, I think a Stones poll could also be revealing, if more than two people are willing to commit to a particular recording.
What? No Beach Boys?
ReplyDeleteBut Calie, everybody knows the Monkees were the zenith of musical achievement from your shores at the time!
ReplyDeleteWhy Jenny, do I detect some sarcasm here? Putting down that fab West Coast band? Trying to say that the your Beatles are better than our Monkees? Why, they were to busy singing to let the Liverpool boys put them down.
ReplyDeleteHere we come
Walking down the street
We get the funniest looks from
Everyone we meet.
Hey, hey we're the Monkees,
and people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing,
to put anybody down.
They had a god-awful show on the telly here too.
...which was still being repeated on British childrens TV about a decade later. A much younger and considerably less cool me probably found it quite entertaining.
ReplyDeleteI voted Sgt. Pepper, but honey I'm down with the Stones for sure. Oh, and maybe a David Bowie poll. This is someone who surfed thru so many phases and reinventions of self and of musical artistry. Bowie forever!
ReplyDeletePeace,
Tina
Hey Leslie - I think we can agree on Exile and leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteAt least I hope we are on that same page. I would still respect you if you went for Sticky Fingers, but with a slightly jaundiced eye...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteThis poll was torture, a tough choice but in the end it has to be Rubber Soul, simply for Norwegian wood. Look forward to a Bowie poll (great idea Tina!); still have the "laughing gnome" somewhere.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments, and I'm relieved to see actual recordings pulling even with the "I hate the Beatles" crowd.
ReplyDeletePetra - You have me totally dead to rights. Exile it is.
Calie - The Beach Boys!? Puhlease! One great album, plus an even better one that never got produced. Buncha sorry Cali slackers.
Jenny - Hmmm, the Monkees... Maybe. Head was a cinematic masterpiece. Not! Did love their show when I was a wee girl, though. Some of the best singles of the Sixties.
Tina & Claire - Yep, Bowie is the way to go next. Just have to narrow it down to seven or eight albums to choose from. I will put an "other" category, fer sher.
Put me down as another who "enjoyed" the Monkees TV show when it made its way to British shores. Yes, it's embarrassing now. Anyone else remember the Banana Splits? *cringe*
ReplyDeleteCan't vote on the Beatles, as I was not exposed to contemporary music until 1972 - my mother was a classically trained music conservatory graduate and our radio was fixed on Radio 3 (and no TV either!)
The Home service, the Light programme and the Third programme!
ReplyDeleteThen suddenly we no longer had to listen to a weak and hazy signal from Luxembourg in the middle of the night but got Radio One.
You were lucky to be stuck on The Third Programme, ours was welded on Light which just drove me from the house.
Caroline xxx
Liz, I loved the Banana Splits, especially Fleagle and Bongo! I would hate to see them as an adult, but a six year old can be excused. I'm sure it had to be better than Josie and the Pussycats.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find the Beatles till 1976 or so, but I managed to soak it all in, if slightly out of context.
I don't think I belong to your demographic, precisely, but since I'm related to the host, I hope I can get a pass.
ReplyDeleteFor me it always comes back to Revolver. It marks that delicate place at the top of the arc, just after they perfected the three-minute pop song, and just before they blew it up.
But if you said Rubber Soul, I'd still like you.