Generic Album Structure

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Obviously this wouldnt work for most albums, but it seems about right for semi successful indie/alt rock bands.

Track 1 - Brooding intro. (1 minute)
Track 2 - Strong first proper track, the albums first single. (4 mins 30 secs)
Track 3 - Continuation of track 2, only much weaker. (4 mins)
Track 4 - The albums best track, second single to be released. (5 mins)
Track 5 - Slight change of pace, third single to be released. (4 mins 30 secs)
Track 6 - Another anthem, fourth single to be released (5 mins)
Track 7 - Short playing it safe track, running out of ideas (2 mins 30 secs)
Track 8 - Weak effort equal to a poor bside (3 mins)
Track 9 - Much like track 8, purely album filler (3 mins 30 sec)
Track 10 - Similar to track 3, not as good as the singles (5 mins)
Track 11 - An epic closer and live favourite (6 mins 30secs)

Total album length = 44 mins 30 secs

Anyone know any albums that match this? Or a better example?

― dmun drive-in (dmun), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

One of track 8 or 9 was reported to have "controversial" lyrics prior to release.

Also 4 singles isn't the norm any more, so replace Track 6 with "Fan favourite that nobody can believe wasn't a single."

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

Track 5 is normally the straight-up rocky one that isn't quite good enough to be an anthem.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

Yeh, I'd swap track 5 and 8 around.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

Track 10 has "a rap" in it. Or a sample! V. daring.

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 10:26 (twenty years ago)

often after the big, epic track, there's a short track with a change of pace at the end (eg of the top of my head, Source Tags & Codes, Decline of British Sea Power, lots of Pink Floyd probably)

― Lee F# (fsharp), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:35 (twenty years ago)

the best track is never track 4. it'll be at 3, 5 or 7.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:39 (twenty years ago)

Best track is usually 6. Never 5.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:40 (twenty years ago)

and it's also rarely a single - it's the fan favourite.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:40 (twenty years ago)

i don't own a single record where the best track is track 6.

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

I always liked the OK Computer model, barring the karma police abberation.

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

hip hop equivalent:

1. intro
2. anthemic first track proper, best beats on the LP
3. skit
4. slight variation on 2 (kanye produced)
5. slower jam, probably something autobiographical
6. skit - feat. guest rapper
7. party anthem feat. a different guest rapper
8. intro to 9 feat. guest r&b singer
9. duet with guest r&b singer
10. skit ("high time we had a sex jam")
11. sex jam
12. variation on 5 (kanye produced)
13. variation on 2 (best track so far)
14. variation on 2 feat. guest rap (even better than 13)
15. skit
16. old school hip hop track
17. the single (finally!)
18. another slow jam
19. skit or outro, sometimes feat. guest

― zebedee (zebedee), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:56 (twenty years ago)

The original poster's described Modest Mouse's "Good News..." to a T.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 11:57 (twenty years ago)

track 6 / 7 is/are usually the second single, and the biggest hit. it was the big opener on 'side two' of old, but for some reason it still exists today in the cd era. check track 6 on most cds with 10 tracks, or track 7 0n albums with 11 or 12 and see what i mean.

track 11 is called 'untitled' and is the upbeat rush-recorded pop track that's the total antithesis of the rest of the tracks. oh no that's probably only the case on one particular album.

― piscesboy, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

track 11 is called 'untitled' and is the upbeat rush-recorded pop track that's the total antithesis of the rest of the tracks. oh no that's probably only the case on one particular album.

"Green"?

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

Track 4 - The albums best track, second single to be released. (5 mins)

You've just alluded to what I sometimes refer to as "The Fourth Track Rule", which is usually when an album hits its funkiest/most danceable, poppy or most expansive/trippy/sublime peak and elaborates on it later in the record, though not usually with the same success. Or basically, in some ways, a change of pace track. The Beastie Boys - 'Egg Man' and 'Root Down'; Daft Punk - 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger'; Flipper's Guitar - 'Going Zero'; Tony D - 'Come Round Here', Prince - 'Raspberry Beret'; Cornelius - 'Perfect Rainbow' and 'Volunteer Ape Man (Disco)', Smoosh - 'Rad'; NERD - 'Brain'; Basement Jaxx - 'Lucky Star'; Plus-Tech Squeeze Box - 'Test Room' and 'f(ake)' and the Rapture - 'I Need Your Love' are examples of the dancey/poppy sides, and that's without mentioning some of the instrumental hip hop albums I own that a lot of you likely wouldn't know.

Examples of the latter would be tracks like Vitalic - 'Wooo'; Cornelius - 'Clash' and 'Drop'; Prince - 'The Ballad of Dorothy Parker'; Mekon vs Mad Frankie Fraser; The Shortwave Set - 'Repeat To Fade'; Basement Jaxx - 'U Can't Stop Me'; Sugababes - 'Just Let It Go' and 'Stronger'; Richard X - 'You Used To'; Timberlake - 'Take It From Here' and JC Chasez - 'Mercy'.

And of course, there are in-betweeners like Prince - 'I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man'; The Beta Band's 'Round The Bend'; Sugababes - 'Situation's Heavy'; Missy - 'Work It'; Basement Jaxx's 'Jus 1 Kiss'; Takako Minekawa - 'Fantastic Voyage' and Cornelius' remix of Coldcut - 'Atomic Moog 2000'.

A couple of these are my fave tracks from their respective albums, but I'd usually bet on the best occuring somewhere round 6-10.

― Negativa, True Believer (You know you love it when I'm dressed in drag) (Barima), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

i was tryin to get this to fit Performance and cocktails, but im sure every track was a single.

― pintofmeat, Wednesday, 8 June 2005 12:16 (twenty years ago)

There should also be a reprise of the album in a different act, either via lyricism, a replayed element, foreshadowing ('The Dust Brothers' 'Who Is Tyler Durden' samples 'Chemical Burn', mirroring a flashback sequence in Fight Club) or samples (I especially love this last option - see Cornelius' 'Thank You For The Music', Flipper's Guitar's 'The World Tower' and Mum and Dad's 'Donnington').

― Negativa, True Believer (You know you love it when I'm dressed in drag) (Barima), Wednesday, 8 June 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

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