Token albums from genres people usually ignore?

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ6nwqnE2iLp3GkRvK_VgiiBwX3M_E2hmsyz2JhIP2I33q37fxS
From a post about Miles Davis on FB

According to the RIAA, Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album of all time, having been certified as quadruple platinum (4 million copies sold).

Which got me thinking that apart from 4 million being hardly anything compared to say adele,michael jackson,eagles , coldplay etc this is the token jazz album most own but what else could qualify

This has to be one
http://riddim-donmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/legend1.jpg

and amongst people I know this would certainly count -
http://2a56b976980e0793ddee-5cc5435fcbc367bb03f9a415e7067a97.r91.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/nirvana-nevermind.jpg

http://factmag-images.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/public_enemy_-_it_takes_a_nation_of_millions_to_hold_us-back-front_380270f8.jpg

http://media.classicrockmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Metallica-Black-Album.jpg

What else?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bf/Johnny_Cash_At_Folsom_Prison.jpg/220px-Johnny_Cash_At_Folsom_Prison.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Buenavistasocialclubalbumcover.jpeg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Chant_%28album%29.jpg/220px-Chant_%28album%29.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/12/Enya2.jpg/220px-Enya2.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Getz-gilberto.jpg

keep seeing this as "Tolkien albums from genres people usually ignore"

Which ilxor is gonna post the big n rich album ? :D

Token country album would probably be Dixie Chicks, right?

Or Shania Twain.

Shania probably more likely.

http://echdown.info/files/yanni-live-at-the-acropolis-1994-39160-46eeab5eead84filenameyanni-20--20live-20at-20the-20acropolis-20--20front-20cover-20-28l-29.jpg

yeah but jf i was talking about that time ilxors all bought the big n rich album (and hated it) because of chucks thread!

Big & Rich: Album of the Decade?

lol @ results
How Many Times Have You Played The Big & Rich CD That You Bought Because Of ILX?

Token country album would probably be Dixie Chicks, right?

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, July 25, 2013 2:12 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Or Shania Twain.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, July 25, 2013 2:13 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Shania probably more likely.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, July 25, 2013 2:13 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Or Johnny Cash.

johnny cash seems the obvious choice to me

http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/rhcp_bssm.jpg

I think if any rhcp album was gonna count it would be californication

http://www.backtoblackvinyl.com/images/album-artwork/big/eminem-the-marshall-mathers-lp-front.jpg

on a smaller level Rated R by QOTSA would be the "token rock album indie kids liked"

http://www.bitcandy.com/img/albums/572323.jpg

heheh
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT3xUJYZqxdOO1jKMoBW4jhJ7umPquWGyMXDqA8V24OwwMxEPqupA

I think if any rhcp album was gonna count it would be californication

Maybe if BSSM didn't exist, but since it does...

Also, yes I saw the token Cash album upthread. I was thinking more in the vein of modern country.

Maybe Dummy if one owns no other triphop?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/50/Sgt._Pepper

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9b/Robert_Johnson_-_The_Complete_Recordings.jpg

http://media.thelineofbestfit.com/wp-content/media/2012/04/queen_greatesthits-800x800-500x500.jpg

According to the RIAA, Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album of all time

I guess it depends on how you define "jazz". Kenny G's Breathless and Norah Jones's Come Away with Me have sold many more than 4M copies in the US.

When jazz was at the peak of its popularity, albums were less popular than singles.

What genre is Queen's Greatest Hits the token album from?

Mercurial Glampop

I think what turrican is trying to say is perhaps its the only hard rock album they own?

which i thus add
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/Bat_out_of_Hell.jpg

Having a hard time coming up with one for this...maybe:
http://www.espdisk.com/official/images/large/1002large.jpg

I guess it depends on how you define "jazz". Kenny G's Breathless and Norah Jones's Come Away with Me have sold many more than 4M copies in the US.

When jazz was at the peak of its popularity, albums were less popular than singles.

― EveningStar (Sund4r),

good points I'm sure I read elsewhere about ;)

but yes its down to the old "is it real *insert genre here*" conundrum

Back in Black and Led Zeppelin IV have also sold more copies worldwide, although not in the UK. If he meant prog, Dark Side of the Moon is the obvious candidate there.

2xpost

the albert ayler must be a good call for free jazz in recent years. The box set generated a lot of press.

Yeah, not everyone is on your FB so I thought I'd sum up those points here.:P

xpost

not this one for free jazz? xp

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/ColtraneOM.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MQeb3jTwL._SX450_.jpg

i love ska me ..

dark side of the moon totally belongs here
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/3b/Dark_Side_of_the_Moon.png/220px-Dark_Side_of_the_Moon.png

even prog was at its most unhip people still loved/got in to that album.

treeship if only :)

I like imagining Celine Dion-loving 12-CDers rushing out to pick up a copy of Spiritual Unity for Christmas after reading about it.

xpost Or Om!

xposts

the albert ayler must be a good call for free jazz in recent years. The box set generated a lot of press.

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Thursday, July 25, 2013 3:06 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wasn't sure if it would be that, or an Ornette record, or maybe Ascension, but you're right about Ayler's increased visibility vis-a-vis the box (which was even nominated for a Grammy!)

Is either of those albums as popular as Free Jazz?
xpost

i suppose dylan might work as token folk. sadly mumford and sons qualify as the more recent one

alternative token jazz album
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/Keith_Jarrett_Koln_Concert_Cover.jpg

The Corrs have sold more in the UK, Simon and Garfunkel in North America.
xpost

Free Jazz was my other thought for that one. Do many people own Unit Structures? I always considered that one to be on the popular side.

haha youre pushing it now with the corrs as folk!

I don't know if it's really sensible to refer to any of those free jazz albums as token albums.

Gorecki's 3rd symphony (Dawn Upshaw recording) on the other hand.

Free Jazz was my other thought for that one. Do many people own Unit Structures? I always considered that one to be on the popular side.

― Treeship, Thursday, July 25, 2013 3:11 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I wondered about Unit Structures too, but that struck me as more of a token Cecil Taylor record than a token genre record (but then, Cecil's pretty much a genre unto himself).

there used to be a story that hundreds of people walked out of a harry connick jr gig (think it was in Glasgow but not sure) because he was doing lots of long instrumental jazz-funk numbers instead of the easy listening jazz torch songs he was famous for. I recall reading about it in The Daily Record in the 90s.
Would love to see their reaction if they bought a 70s miles davis album or one of coltranes free jazz lps.

ascension is more popular than Om as well, probably, if there is a token coltrane free jazz album

I always thought Interstellar Space was more popular than either.

For a long time, you could only get Ascension and Om as part of the 2CD Major Works set, which casual listeners likely shied away from.

lol that was the first free jazz thing i ever heard. being familiar with earlier coltrane i was amazed/fascinated that this was the direction he decided to take his music in.

Love Supreme probably in more households that Ayler or Taylor, I'm guessing.

that's not really a free jazz album though

Out-er than Kind of Blue, though. I was going more for "only own one Coltrane album" than genre, I guess.

I always thought Interstellar Space was more popular than either.

agreed, i've definitely known a few indie rockers and punks whose only Coltrane (and maybe jazz) album was IS.

Saturday Night Fever for disco. It's probably a generational thing but I think there are probably a lot of people whose only hip hop album was License to Ill. Or maybe a different Beastie Boys album.

Moby

keep seeing this as "Tolkien albums from genres people usually ignore"

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CdP659hKL.jpg

Tokin albums people usually ignite

http://image1.trefle.com/images/vente-instruments-musique/full/legalize-it-musique-cd-lp.38413934-94640055.jpg

Moby probably a great call for in the USA. next daft punk album too ;)

Is there a band called the Tokin Blacks btw?

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/list/fdc3487bbb7df7faa8ed3002497480cc5b3bccad.jpg

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTmcFOdoYmtCcQUXoRJ789ewbfJJ9_uIwHsFi-I7CIGVk8Reh1V-g

Oh! I have a good one!

http://www.metalsucks.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/whitepony.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Glassworks.jpg

Ha, I was thinking about what the token minimalist album would be. Music for 18 Musicians could also be a contender maybe? And haven't any of Glass's film scores outsold that?

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS-cAJCkR3r-eLvCktGKuTvc47dREjBgO8LQxRUclYma5leo2hi

yeah there might be a better Glass pick, but I would guess the top Glass is bigger than the top Reich

No way has that sold anywhere near what Music for 18 Musicians or Glassworks have sold.
xpost to Riley

In a much smaller restricted to pitchfork/wire readers way this :
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQWeL4CFKQzbWfmWiUahKx4STHqS1wbXSbdnJQ-p2AnqI054Czz

Does anyone know of a reliable source for Western art music sales figures? I've tried looking a few times.

probably not as relevant today but:

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSZ_B1Yn4KlAlpVO-faDjLLKeBamdMqChoJ8cyipbBb-FTaieBtNA

I forgot
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z9BheTf8xkM/UH3qXapiBRI/AAAAAAAABaI/asTHgXo-Io0/s1600/500976-guns-and-roses-appetite-for-destruction-album-cover-617-409.jpg

I wonder what the biggest Ladysmith Black Mambazo record is (presumably the one available at the time of Graceland)

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQCcfnR7LkICULM5DaNKifhpkYcsYagMGkgp_GvOtsQa-Z4BMxNWw

whatever Gipsy Kings record was a thing whenever they were a thing

was 7 seconds actually on an album by youssou n'dour? if so, that one.

Yeah, I think something like that, like Kind of Blue or Gorecki's 3rd, is a much better example than many of these albums of a widely popular album from a genre that does not generally enjoy mass popularity.

xpost to Ladysmith Black Mambazo

for classical:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ANWKV7XWL.jpg

(xxxxxxxpost) why are there two LPs in that peter tosh jpeg? do you need two pieces of vinyl to clean your pot when you don't have a gatefold cover?

http://oniontomybelt.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/youvecomealongwaybaby-cd-front.jpg

i love this electronic dance music me ...

A spin off thread Unusual Albums with Mass Appeal

oh great ... confuse the groove why don't you.

whats the difference ?

its a sund4r thread! (so better)

ha !

fair enough ..

http://hypetrak.com/images/2010/07/Beastie-Boys-License-to-Ill.jpg

A fair few of my nothing but indie loving friends were really into the Lauryn Hill album back in high school.

Discovery by Daft Punk could be another one. Again most people I hung around with only listened to British indie music but everyone seemed to really like that album, or at least the singles from it.

Discovery is a very good choice for this.

as will the next album be for the usa!

Have we gone this far without mentioning the O Brother STK as a token bluegrass album?

For 'new age':

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Drz37Q7RL._SY450_.jpg

O Brother is a good call, trying to think of other soundtrack albums that fit the bill.

heh neil diamond the jazz singer?

Ha, I always think of Oldfield and Tubular Bells as kind of a meeting point of prog rock and 'soft' modern composition but I can see how someone could see it as New Age.

If it's New Age, then did it greatly outsell e.g. Yanni and Enya?

o brother totally

xp prob not

Yeah, the O Brother soundtrack is one of the best examples here imo!

i suppose the UK has the robbie williams "swing" album instead

is this the thread where I shd admit that I <3 le mystère des voix bulgares

it sounds so nice

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/NOFX_-_Punk_in_Drublic_cover.jpg/220px-NOFX_-_Punk_in_Drublic_cover.jpg

http://www.dejkamusic.com/images/album/large/sex_pistols/never_mind_the_bollocks.jpg

http://www.satriani.com/discography/Surfing_With_The_Alien/Surfing_With_The_Alien.jpg

what genre do you classify that is? guitar wank?

http://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/94/cover_23121642009.jpg

Is this the thread where we just post albums that are in the buy 2 get one free HMV sale?

no

its a thread about your CD collection though!

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-151648-1347655737-8875.jpeg
https://a4-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/131/543bf958865e493a89dc39edda6061f9/600x600.jpg

lots of rock/metal fans with an aversion to electronic music owned this
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wfmMa3HyEHA/Tbz54mEgkrI/AAAAAAAABzI/IYd_kzioWUc/s1600/The_Prodigy-The_Fat_Of_The_Land-Frontal.jpg
Still weird (but cool) they crossed over to a 90s Kerrang audience.

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-2549136-1360556604-5423.jpeg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/ABBA_Gold_cover.png

i really pissed myself off today going through my r&b records at the store and seeing all the cool lesser-known motown albums i have out for like five bucks and how nobody will ever buy them (some have been there for ages) and all anyone ever asks me for is Psychedelic Shack or maybe if they are really hip any "Norman Whitfield productions". fucking philistine motherfuckers. i can't sell smokey records and awesome early 70's stuff? i hate everyone. a famous stevie album, maybe a greatest hits here and there.

also, i used to sell more titles but now ALL anyone wants from Joni is Blue. that's all anyone asks for and that's all that sells instantly. it's Blue or nothing. all those sad copies of hejira...

if you type "Joni" into google the first two things to pop up on the suggestions thing are:

joni mitchell
joni mitchell blue

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/19/Dr.DreTheChronic.jpg/220px-Dr.DreTheChronic.jpg

http://www.silverdisc.com/images/88/886972470320.jpg

lotta damn good albums itt

http://www.musictech.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/new-forms.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Y07VKKHTL.jpg

http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/1179463593_shaday.jpg

http://www.silverdisc.com/images/00/016351455925.jpg

i sold a copy of herbie hancock's Thrust today. i do well with 70's herbie. 80's not so much.

Head Hunters would be the ONE 70's one though.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AelhnwL53-4/T0rvNdttJcI/AAAAAAAAAtE/MdxgA_XXJBY/s1600/andrea_bocelli_-_romanza-front.jpg

Opera

token opera record has to be the 3 tenors with zubin mehta

http://oddpavarottiblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/three-tenors-1994-cd.jpg

http://83.103.52.33/maggiesfarm/fotovarie15/dg5gqbmj_154hr3fcjfb_b.jpg

http://eil.com/images/main/Isaac+Hayes+-+Best+Of+Shaft+-+LP+RECORD-542498.jpg

xposts

...or one of the Three Tenors albums, or--to more philistine--il Divo...or this dude:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51w6xxk5WAL.jpg

http://www.backtoblackvinyl.com/images/album-artwork/download/james-brown-live-at-the-apollo-part-1.jpg

otoh, i don't think people "usually ignore" funk, so...

Show Tunes:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5184G8HmB%2BL.jpg

http://www.therichest.com/wp-content/uploads/Saturday-Night-Fever.jpg

When the swing revival was happening, this was in every record store "catalog cd sale" newspaper ad:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MQw4UjjZL.jpg

If you own any more of his music, you were probably once a member of Stereolab:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5123BGY4D2L.jpg

lol, beat me by 33 seconds

settle for:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h20/bitter69uk/ymaxtabay.jpg

http://www.wobc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Squirrel_Nut_Zippers_-_Hot4.jpg

Contender for Jazz album:

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/charlie-brown-christmas-vince-guaraldi.jpg

Contender for Bossa Nova album:

http://img.noiset.com/images/album/frank-sinatra-francis-albert-sinatra-antonio-carlos-jobim-album-art-cover-48234.jpeg

depending on whose house you're in, jazz & funk also goes like this:

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/53824605/A+Love+Supreme++600++600+PNG.png
http://static.qobuz.com/images/jaquettes/0723/0723485720071_600.jpg

coltrane sort of the anti-drake. couldn't take a bad picture to save his life.

[countdown to wrong-proving]

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcqhv0Gsvs1qzkl12_1351647597_cover.jpg

no way. this one:

http://www.kvlt.fi/img_upload/records/1657r.jpg

xp no way is maggot brain anyone's token funk album. "deep funk" maybe.

sorry i keep saying "no way" i sound like a dick.

maggot brain is so good.

I think the real token Funk* album, it would be Sly's Greatest Hits or whatever the EWF equivalent is.

*Which as aforementioned isn't that an ignored genre.

xp no way is maggot brain anyone's token funk album.

you'd be surprised

and it is so damn good. one of my favorites.

that album featured prominently in a novel i was writing but then abandoned.

it's so fucking amazing. the transition from the title track to can you get to that gets me everytime.

yeah, esp while peaking

the above albums make a set, btw. the person who started on jazz w/ a love supreme and funk w/ maggot brain (ahem) might very well dip their toes into black metal via filosefem. throw in the smithsonian folkways set, and you've set brackets around a good chunk of my record collection.

this person would be on a good path but they seem unlikely to me, like someone starting out on rock with the velvet underground...

no, that was cheap trick

i guess i'm trying to boil down a reduction of "sophisticated listener" classics. like they might not be the first thing person x ever bought in that genre, but they're the display-quality keepers, the ones out on the coffee table.

makes sense. a good thread might be "first album from x genre you became obsessed with" as in, listened to only that for at least a day. i have vivid memories of most of those albums, i think

My brother and his friends who only listen to rock almost all own this one:

http://madonnacicconelive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/madonna20-20the20immaculate20collection1.jpg

Burned Mind is the only noise album my mum and dad own, good call.

This million-selling album is the lone ragtime album in many record collections (unless maybe you count "The Sting" soundtrack), and many of those who have it couldn't name even one other ragtime artist:

http://www.nonesuch.com/files/imagecache/section-albums-coverart/albums/coverart/rifkin-joplin-piano-rags.jpg

i showed kids in a music class i was subbing for a documentary about scott joplin and they were violently opposed to it. three real quotes from that day: "this sucks!" "do you like this mr. f1nn?" "this is the worst music ever made."

WTF was wrong with those kids?

ahaha i have no idea. it was crazy. they were pulling their hair and groaning. i think they were annoyed because they thought i would be a "cool" sub but i am nothing of the sort.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/buena_vista_social_club.jpg

(oof, that was huge)

i think that's been posted already but that is definitely a relevant one for this thread

in every suburban corporate coffee bar ever

http://www.gipsykings.net/VamosABailar/pix/AlbumCovers/GipsyKings.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5107XD8268L._SY300_.jpg

haha how has that not been posted yet? i like that album tbh

http://www.similarsong.com/sites/similarsong.com/files/Harry-Belafonte-Calypso.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/619ShLXPVxL._SY300__PJautoripBadge,BottomRight,4,-40_OU11__.jpg

lol i have 90% of these albums and in many cases started exploring their respective genres after first purchasing these token albums. definitely still have a lot of single tokens though. i'd often feel a need to flesh out certain genres like "oh i can't have only that album to represent x genre, then it just feels like a token, better buy 3 or 4 more tokens and then i'll have it covered." you can't be an expert on all genres.

Is there a single token Fela record? Would it be the Broadway soundtrack, or the Best of the Black President comp?

Probably a good example of there being no one consensus pick, no?

fela?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pEoQAEs3Vq4/TV8VOgd7rpI/AAAAAAAAAAk/UpTuh2z5JNQ/s1600/3661585209591_600.jpg

I don't think that one is necessarily more "token" than other fela records. Great record though.

what would be the more recent hip hop pick?

something by kanye?

I probably would've either picked Zombie or Open and Close (the latter for being featured in The Visitor).

xp

xp mbdtf is probably a token hip hop album for "serious" music fans who value the auteur element of kanye and see him as more serious than other rappers. my brother accuses me of being one of these music fans because i love kanye and have more to say about him than i do most rappers. that is slander though.

xp this one got around a lot

http://s.pixogs.com/image/R-515650-1246723183.jpeg

What would be the token Stand Up Comedy album?

I think Open and Close is pretty much the catchiest Fela song. That or maybe He Miss Road.

See, I feel Lady/Shakara is the obvious Fela record

Zombie gets stuck in your head. Much better than the Cranberries' Zombie, although I (controversially) like that song too

whenever i listen to fela i always feel like i need more fela in my life

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/1362117626_tumblr_le7eiz0dL01qdh7bo.jpg

dont be silly nobody owns that in the real world

isn't souvlaki the token shoegaze album?

loveless is the "classic" but i think souvlaki had more crossover success. this is entirely based on a recent conversation i had where this girl loved slowdive but wasn't familiar with my bloody valentine.

Zombie feels like the token Fela pick to me. (The first one I heard was Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense, because Rolling Stone reviewed it back in 1986 when it came out.)

Yeah, that one was on Mercury, iirc, and got a heavy promo service push. I wound up with a copy on the basis of having written one record review for the Tupelo paper that year.

if anything the token funk(adelic) album would be one nation under a groove

this album is a critics token fave for sure

http://www.rhythm-and-booze.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Whats-Going-On-Marvin-Gaye.jpg

such a great photo

Could just look through any mojo ,rolling stone or nme best album ever poll results and fill the thread with those.
You usually find this in them
http://ek-lec-tik.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Stevie-wonder-innervisions-front.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/42/Juju_Music_%28album%29.jpg

nevermind the fact its usually better than the 84 albums that are above it in said lists
xp

lol rolling stone. the 3beatlesalbumsinthetopten school of music criticism.

treeship wire in and find the token albums
Writers http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rstone.html#100
Readers http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rstone.html#Readers%20100

Which has the most tokenism?

plus http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rs200.html#500_2012

The Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums (2012 Edition)

The list is a compilation of the two previous lists - 2003 & 2009 plus a further panel of experts to submitted lists of their favourite albums of the 2000's. The result is a predictable list of the usual suspects in a roughly predictable order. However as you get down below 300 a few interesting inclusions.

(ps you were wrong its 4 albums in the top10 not 3)

haha that http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/rs200.html#500_2012 has pretty much all the albums in this thread in it

weezer is insanely well-represented in the reader's list

the german one has tindersticks in it!

http://allnewcheapmusic.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/graceland1.jpg

Rolling Stone #1 tokenism from the above list

61. Greatest Hits - Sly And The Family Stone

re: Fela, I thought of him earlier but didn't post one cause agree with others who say there isn't one that is the go-to token one. Though "a Fela album" is gonna be the token one for the genre of "Africa". fwiw Zombie is the 1st one I bought cause I heard him mentioned somewhere and that was the only one the record shop in Urbana IL had.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512HGlwzgCL.jpg

when I was getting into Fela the albums that were available were always twofers on CD, and it seemed like they were kind of rereleasing them gradually, so maybe whichever was available at the right moment is the one you would have gotten into.

Burned Mind is the only noise album my mum and dad own, good call.

― Doran, Friday, July 26, 2013 4:09 AM (15 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

weird, i thought burned mind was supposed to be the token wolf eyes album

http://cdn.7static.com/static/img/sleeveart/00/000/344/0000034449_500.jpg

http://foto.mv4u.net/data/media/122/Project_Pat-Ghetty_Green_cover_front.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqyvd4RKDt1qdjicio1_500.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JBV1iqZbL.jpg

"token fela album" seems a p shaky concept. i always thought this was the one:

http://metroheadmusic.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/tumblr_lydxsemn9r1r7nx1to1_500.jpg

i think the token fela album is the grand theft auto IV soundtrack which includes Zombie

damon albarns album belongs in here

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTgoPzOgswz6whjf_7ElAvXVhSbYlzmcWFhIq_OUrnVb8zsDt3c

neon indian's psychic chasms is probably the token chillwave album.

merriweather post pavilion was the token indie album at frats at my college, probably because a lot of the bros were from baltimore. they would play "My Girls" in between Lil Wayne and Dave Matthews.

http://jasobrecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Blow-By-Blow.jpg
http://www.progarchives.com/forum/uploads/4388/schooldays.jpg

hey, is this on here? cuz this:

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/745/mtransfer.jpg

wow u guys r gud @ this

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zb9DuEN7R-s/Th9niTH7HqI/AAAAAAAAAT0/xDlPO4Z9k_s/s1600/emoticon0111blush.gifthank youhttp://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zb9DuEN7R-s/Th9niTH7HqI/AAAAAAAAAT0/xDlPO4Z9k_s/s1600/emoticon0111blush.gif

http://eil.com/images/main/Keith+Jarrett+-+The+K%F6ln+Concert+-+DOUBLE+LP-358562.jpg

in amongst this silliness there's probably a sensible dissection to be made of genre and taste and popularity and consumption but it's Saturday, keep throwing the jpegs

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/78956317/The+Titanic+Soundtrack+Singersorchestra+bigtitanicmusicfromthemotionpi.jpg

this is a token something

Hardcore Punk:

http://img.youtube.com/vi/U0uSGsB59ko/0.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/URLfDVc.jpg

in amongst this silliness there's probably a sensible dissection to be made of genre and taste and popularity and consumption

go for it then

it's really hot tonight dude

roughly - there's a problem with hard-walling genre so people who buy records are not on the whole thinking "this is my only 'metal' album" or "i don't like 'funk' except for this record" - a lot of punters don't use genre labels like that if at all and that's gonna apply extra for big selling records, by definition

and then what makes a thing popular? styles or sounds go in and out of fashion so you get certain genres over-performing in one era saleswise before drifting back out to a more marginal place in consciousness, but on the whole i expect to find similar things in mega-popular albums - big poppy tunes (70s is a red herring because bands like Zeppelin their whole schtick was 'we don't do singles maaaaaan' - the tunes are still present, correct and poppy) - often albums where everybody knows all or most of the tracks either cos they're comps or the stuff has drifted into public consciousness thru osmosis - there was rock radio in the UK btw, but also TV, both directly and thru soundtrack, lots of sources of non-singles being accessible

it's funny starting this with Kind of Blue because y'know what Miles wd've said about pinning him with the Jazz label - but like i said, "genre" is doing a lot of undeserved work here - without people's testimony about why they only like record X in style Y everybody is strawpersoning wildly and to mildly comic - deliberately i thought - effect

see that is all disconnected cos i'm throwing half-chewed thoughts instead of explaining why i think the premise is flawed as musicology

put it another way - what if the mega-album is the genre? what if the big-selling stuff listed on here has as much in common with each other as it does with any other records?

popular stuff be popular.

i think brubeck would take jazz prize.

which would be annoying if take five weren't great

horrible box of shit + one brubeck album. my week in a nutshell when people bring me grandma's records.

this is what we need, statistics

i think brubeck would take jazz prize.

― scott seward, Saturday, July 27, 2013 2:49 PM (6 minutes ago)

hell, he'd take five of em

geddit?

take five!

see?

...

you people suck

other hc choizis

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/filepicker%2FQ0jB4oO9RhaT6QP4lFkS_bad_brains.jpg
http://1u.pacn.ws/640/fx/My_War_286557.1.jpg

personally, i'm just putting album covers

plus i like and own almost everything i've posted (often purchased as "token" entre to genre)

dead kennedys was the safe hardcore choice for years. suicidal tendencies too. and the dead milkmen if they count.

Have we tackled token "indie rock" yet?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/64/Pavement_Crooked_Rain.jpg/220px-Pavement_Crooked_Rain.jpg

No man, wowee zowie if we're doing pavement

Token "indie" is neutral milk hotel imo. Merriweather post pavilion for new millennium indie

"slanted and enchanted" innit?

Slacker 90s "indie" is weezer or beck probably.

definitely not neutral milk hotel. that shit's for insiders.

slanted and enchanted didn't have a big novelty single though. beck is more rap than indie, right? weezer is a good call.

token anything really depends on where you stand, when you came in.

as i remember it, baby's first indie was "slanted and enchanted", yeah, or "daydream nation", "sebadoh III", "surfer rosa", "hairway to steven", something like that.

later it was like "perfect from now on", "the lonesome crowded west", "the boy with the arab strap" and/or "in the aeroplane".

"summer babe" = slanted's candy dangle

but maybe life's right, these records only appealed to the early adopters

beck and weezer out cuz they weren't indie by then-prevailing american rules. on major labels, and few bought stereopathic soul manure before mellow gold.

but wait! maybe that makes beck the right answer after all. gateway drug.

o wait, exile in guyville

etc

What I like to do (lol cheating) is go to rateyourmusic.com and see which albums have the highest number of ratings in a performer's discography. "Pet Sounds": over 12000; next-highest BBs is "Surf's Up", with 2173.

I didn't know that indie rock could be listened to in token doses

NV I dont think anyones slagging off the public. Pretty much all of these albums are great and id like to know why these albums crossover unlike the others in that genre. Also why do people not investigate a genre further rather than listening exclusively yo indie/rap/metal/techno or whatever.

Did you check out the Unusual Albums with Mass Appeal which sprung from the same FB chat sund4r and I had that caused this thread too.

aeroplane is entry level i think. but maybe that's just because i knew about it when i was 15. i introduced that album to a bunch of dylan fans in college and it was the best thing i could have done (in terms of getting those specific people to like me more.)

also re. the public, fuck those tokenistic fucks

i'm just kidding. i think people like a lot of different kinds of things but the music industry makes it hard for them to find interesting things because they underestimate what people will like/put their weight behind "proven" formulas

put anything on the radio and plenty would like it given the exposure. Sure, not anywhere as much as what is normally played , but it would still pick up new fans. But commercial radio is more interested in advertising demographics so its not gonna happen there but this is where the BBC should be leading the way.

the music industry makes it hard for them to find interesting things

there's only so much space in the racks.

Get Paul Gambaccini to the thread, he can tell the story about the post Kind Of Blue decline of Miles Davis in the 60's/70's.

there's only so much space in the racks.

― fit and working again, Saturday, July 27, 2013 3:57 PM (55 minutes ago)

death rattle lolz

Pretty much all of these albums are great and id like to know why these albums crossover unlike the others in that genre. Also why do people not investigate a genre further rather than listening exclusively yo indie/rap/metal/techno or whatever.

― Algerian Goalkeeper, Saturday, July 27, 2013 3:32 PM (1 hour ago)

speaking of implied discussions here, i'm wondering if there's any substantial difference between "token albums" and "entry points". legend is all the reggae half the world seem to need, maybe fortified with the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, but a lot of serious reggae fans probably first got hooked by those albums too. they're really just the most visible & celebrated examples of something that isn't otherwise a huge part of the modern pop dialogue.

i had a roommate for a while who was a HUGE dave matthews fan, played that shit all the time. one day, i was playing a copy of mingus live at antibes, and he just fucking flipped for it. basically stole it from me and played for weeks in nonstop rotation, like it was another doodly-doodly dave matthews album. at first i didn't mind...

he wasn't a jazz fan. i don't know that he went on to listen to any more jazz or even another mingus album. but he truly madly deeply LOVED live at antibes. hate to say this, but he probably loved it more than me, and call it one of my all-time favorites. that's honorable, afaic. he's got no obligation to the genre. maybe he's just monogamous.

musical monogamy thread: artists or genres from whom/which you're happy to own only one album

lots of worldly examples of that. mouskouri. makeba. aznavour. sparrow. esso steel band. ladysmith black mambazo. clancy brothers. planxty. kitaro. piaf. etc.

xp contenderizer, i think there are many mingus albums -- with their long, witty titles, raucous shouting, and lively rhythms -- that rock fans would find more engaging than "kind of blue", which is touted as the token "entry level" jazz album -- according to sources -- because a conspiracy on the part of rolling stone's editors to maintain the supremacy of 20th century canonical rock albums.

i mean... come on. he is pretending there is an audience when there obviously isn't one and he is talking to them in a dismissive manner. this is the kind of anecdotal shit rock fans live for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP6f_QpIal8

also there is just a lot of energy in this performance -- in the interactions between the different players -- and i think it gives a better sense of what's special about jazz compared to other genres than most of the token jazz records do.

mingus4lyfe

Also why do people not investigate a genre further rather than listening exclusively yo indie/rap/metal/techno or whatever.

maybe they do and see diminishing returns. pretty much every album here is great and arguably the best of its genre. it's like "I don't really like Indian food, but there's that one restaurant that is THE best Indian restaurant, so I fuck with that".

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4ab9vpYD61qfpoovo1_500.jpg

Are there really that many people who own that but would never buy Confusion Is Sex?

(And if you extend beyond the very narrow pigeonhole of "no wave" to "punk" or "postpunk" or "noisy art-rock", that's far from a token album.)

(especially since I've never heard all of it but I've owned everything Sonic Youth released in the 80s, a bunch of things by Swans and Lydia Lunch, and a couple of Live Skull records)

like i was saying upthread, "token album" is often dependent on context and especially moment. no new york was reissued in 2005, to pitchfork acclaim (8.3), after having been out of print for ages. this was at a time when post-punk styles of all sorts were enjoying a renaissance. a new edition of mars' complete studio recordings arrived during the same year, along with a much-discussed collection of brazilian post-punk. two years earlier, soul-jazz had introduced their first new york noise survey (8.4), and the year before, 4 men with beards had repressed the james chance/black albums.

point is that a new generation of indie listeners, many freshly arrived from electroclash and interpol, were introduced to this stuff in the mid 2000s. in that moment & context, no new york might well have served as a token or gateway. this seems more likely though:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61pG1F%2B6t1L.jpg

http://mainlynorfolk.info/fairport/images/largerec/liegeandlief_ilps9115.jpg

Seeing some discussionon definition of genre above reminds me of reading about categorisation about 10 years ago. I read the book Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things by George Lakoff which was very interesting and left me with the conclusion that all categorisation was at least partialy artificial.
At one point he is talking about a system of categorisation based on proximity to archetypes, which I think comes from Lotfi Zadeh, but it was 10 yearsa go that i read the book. It seems to be a more natural means of categorising things, as far as I remember one bases what one categorises things as in terms of a central archetypal image for each category and then things are almost in concentric groupings of similarity to that thing until they are more in a different category. Or at least as far as the mind goes. Seems to be a handier way of dealing with music categorisation since it is very unlikely that anything is going to be black & white. New members come into bands with new influences that take things into borderline territory with other categories quite a bit.
& a listenable band has almost obligatorily to have some of its own individual style.
It's downfall may be in translating where you categorise things into somebody else's epistemology, which is likely to be a problem anyway with traditional categorisation in a lot of cases.
People will dismiss the existence of influences cited by the band tehmselves in order to hidebound firmly keep their categories rigid.

Also on a different aspect of this thread, I heard that the token jazz lp in a lot of rock collections was A Love Supreme. Though it was possibly 25 years ago when I heard that, so wonder to what extent these common tokenist lps change over time.

I guess I have a hard time with the concept of "token albums" when the albums are still relatively obscure albums and especially when they're representative of niche subgenres, although I have no problem with the idea of a token jazz album or an unusually popular bluegrass album. "Le Marteau sans Maître is SUCH the token post-war serial piece." "Oh, Leg End. That's the one rock in opposition album I see on everyone's shelf." Also, I'm sleep-deprived and grumpy.

"Le Marteau sans Maître is SUCH the token post-war serial piece." "Oh, Leg End. That's the one rock in opposition album I see on everyone's shelf."

That is a bit silly

Exactly.

I guess I have a hard time with the concept of "token albums" when the albums are still relatively obscure albums and especially when they're representative of niche subgenres

sure, but the discussion doesn't have to stop at "most common 'token'", right? the canonical "token jazz album" might not be the same as the young pop fan's token jazz album, or the metalhead's, or the avant gardist's.

where niche genres are concerned, i'd never suggest that everyone's mom has a copy of burned mind in the glove compartment, but it does seem to be a common placeholder among the curious few who've bumped into "noise music" but not delved deep. metal machine music served similarly for an older generation of listeners. while such albums aren't breakout favorites like almost blue and legend, they are high-visibility releases in a largely invisible genre. john zorn's naked city and boredoms' pop tatari occupy (or occupied) similar places in adjacent niches.

figure the token post-war serial composition would be something like stockhausen's kontakte. a work that found and still interests audiences outside dedicated avant-garde circles.

Ha, I forgot about that one. Yeah, Stockhausen's totally for poseurs. Boulez is the real deal.

I can imagine some saying that..
Boulez 4real carved into the arm might be a bit too far however

Also why do people not investigate a genre further rather than listening exclusively yo indie/rap/metal/techno or whatever.

maybe they do and see diminishing returns. pretty much every album here is great and arguably the best of its genre. it's like "I don't really like Indian food, but there's that one restaurant that is THE best Indian restaurant, so I fuck with that".

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger),

well, yes, quite possible however that isn't the case all of the time. Some are quite happy it seems going no further but I'm usually surprised a serious music fan wouldn't delve in further. But you could say the same about me & hip hop so erm..

put it another way - what if the mega-album is the genre? what if the big-selling stuff listed on here has as much in common with each other as it does with any other records?

I want to hear more about this pls

That's really got me thinking about this mysterious mega-album genre - like it's an emergent genre that forms itself out of 'standard' genres.