Where should I start with?: Chuck Berry, They Might be Giants, Half Japanese, and a shitload more...something for everyone!

worth noting is that with artists who've been anthologized a lot (and recorded for several different labels), the quality of greatest-hits packages can vary wildly. so find out specifically which best-of to buy.

Pretenders: first album, then 2nd album, then Learning to Crawl if you still want more, but that's plenty.

START WITH: Flood, pretty much for the reasons outlined by JB. Some of their most developed melodies combined with a production aesthetic that lets them sound like themselves and also sound very full.

Move on to SEARCH Lincoln and the self-titled debut (available with associated EP and b-side material in the excellent, excellent Then: The Earlier Years double-disc set. Also, Apollo 18.

DESTROY about half of John Henry and 90% of everything after Factory Showroom; they got old and lazy and raked in millions on their Malcolm in the Middle song and basically ended up becoming a parody of themselves...

cheap trick: i like in color and live at budokan. destroy: the later years.

chuck berry: well, you pretty much have to go with a hits collection here! look for the sadly outta-print the great 28, possibly the single most essential pop record ever. there's a few collections in print but this really boils it down to the very best stuff. i also like st louis to liverpool a lot: you might even start there, as it's got some of his best songs, only a couple of which are on TG28. one of the great overlooked albums of the '60s.

pretenders: first album's easily the best.

Pretenders: Biggest hits and many worthwile album tracks on Learning to Crawl.

As for the rest, keep them coming.

Oh, one last question. Is that 2-disc "Essential" Sly & the Family set enough, or do I need to own Stand and There's a Riot on their own?

Buddy Holly -- the one-disc "Greatest Hits" or two disc "Collection" are both superb. I also like the BGO (UK) twofer of the "Buddy Holly" and "Chirping Crickets" albums.

Raspberries -- "Greatest Hits" will get you going. "Tonight" is one of *the* great rock and roll 45s.

seconded. this one's got everything you need.

Iggy's got a two-disc set called "A Million in Prizes" that cherrypicks all the worthwhile stuff, pretty much, from his solo career, and throws in some Stooges songs for good measure ("I Got a Right"!).

TMBG: Not to sound like a broken record, but "Flood."

Daniel Johnston's "Early Recordings Vol. 1" has "Songs of Pain" on it, so yeah. But if you find "Hi How Are You," snap that one up.

The Byrds: greatest-hits album was remastered very nicely a few years ago and is a thing of beauty and a fine, fine starting place.

The Idiot and Lust for Life, everyone will be quick to point out as his best.. and maybe they're right... I'd take the Idiot over Lust for Life, if I had to choose only one of them.

The first Pretenders record is one of the finest records ever made.

Half Japanese has a Greatest Hits record (hits? I don't know where) .. The Band that Would be King (record, not video) is my fave - although I don't know if it's in print.

Redman - Check out Doc's da Name 2000, or his collaboration with Method Man, Blackout!

Half Jap: Search Sing No Evil. It's really great, and much more of a balance between skronk and bullshit. I picked up the greatest hits from the library a couple years back and it put me off of Half Jap for years until I got Sing No Evil.

Screamin' Jay Hawkins: Destroy the Essential Recordings comp. It has no liner notes, no recording dates, and a lot of the tracks are "remastered" into (or are later recordings of) overly clean, antiseptic versions of his songs.