Daft Punks's "Discovery" : Classic or Dud

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once and for all peeps. let it all out...

Stephen, Sunday, 1 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

No offence peeps but I sold it to my friend for a fiver last night. Just not my cup of tea I guess.

jel, Sunday, 1 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I've had it for a week and looks like a classic in-the-making. I'm not sure about a couple of tracks, especially "Too Long", though. I just love the "Buggles/Rundgren/ZTT" (or something) feel of the first 4 tracks. What an opening! I get the feeling that this album will spawn some imitators pretty soon.

Dr. C, Sunday, 1 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I must confess that I really can't stand the opening track, "One More Time," but I was completely won over by "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," which sounds like a daisychain of Cylons.

Alex in NYC, Sunday, 1 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I'm going to say classic.

It isn't my favorite music, but it's a real, real good listen. Also, the term 'classic' implies they're timeless, which I really think they are. It's the proper mix of emotion, kitsch, musicality, and spirit that will never get old.

Actually... I shouldn't say that, considering the album is probably too long. The point is, even though it might not be my favorite record this year, it'll make this year easier to come back to when I'm old/gray.

Keiko, Sunday, 1 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Hell, i'll go out with blazing guns and say it's not just Album of the Year (and if anything better is coming out, than we'll have one amazing year in Pop) but one of the best albums ever. But it's a very tricky album, the details, the jokes, the sounds can completely misfire. I'm floored on all counts, but I get the creepy feeling Discovery was almost made for my pleasure only. Also for such "ironic" album it's has more feeling and soul than anything else I've heard in a long time. So Classic ;)

Omar, Tuesday, 3 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

O.K. I've listened to it a few times - hated it at first - probably expecting it to be full of 'One More Time' dancefloor stuff - be under no illusions - 'Aerodynamic' has cleared many a dancefloor. Some of it has grown on me, I like crescendolls, high life, face to face ,one more time and digital love but find the rest merely interesting. I enjoy the Ladytron album much more.

Geordie Racer, Wednesday, 11 April 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

one month passes...
One of those albums that literally makes me shrink back, tense up, and want to smash my speakers and cover my ears.

Melissa W, Sunday, 27 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Like 'Alex in NYC' 'One more time' left/leaves me cold, a bit too Kool + the Gang, but then 'Aerodynamic', 'Digital Love' and 'Harder, Better, Faster Stronger' kick in and I can just about forgive them anything. Classic.

Stevo, Monday, 28 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

one year passes...
I think that people should not diss on songs that they dont like. I think that people should be able to like what ever type of music they want . I personally like the daft punks for their music.

T.W.Sikora, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I think your first two statements are a touch contradictory...

Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two years pass...
hee hee

amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 20 September 2004 05:11 (twenty years ago) link

Do 192 kbps MP3's and maybe my speakers do this a grave injustice (far more than they do to any other album) or is this actually the most overcompressed album I've heard in my life? I don't think compression levels on a professional release have actually hurt my ears before (and, no, Filament, Ryoji Ikeda, and Merzbow don't hurt my ears). And there doesn't sound like there's much low end. Have I somehow been ripped off (not of very much, admittedly)?

"Digital Love" is a great song. Cool 'guitar solo'.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Monday, 20 September 2004 05:52 (twenty years ago) link

I would say that yes it is the most compressed album ever (individual instruments and sounds and entire song sections overall).

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 20 September 2004 06:51 (twenty years ago) link

this album, it is good, still

the great doxology of heckmondwike town (gareth), Monday, 20 September 2004 07:06 (twenty years ago) link

Still a C for half the album and mini-c for the rest.

B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Monday, 20 September 2004 10:26 (twenty years ago) link

If you've got the MP3s, make sure you don't have the prerelease, which was ripped from cassette and sounds awful next to the CD version. I think it may have been ripped by a group called ESC or something.

Try downloading just one track, look for one that says retail, or has different filesizes from the one you have.

Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Monday, 20 September 2004 14:13 (twenty years ago) link

I don't see why anyone would choose "Homework" over "Discovery". Admit it, you're a pretentious dance-bastard if you think the awkward tuneless thwumping of a mid-tempo disco kick drum repeated over 12 tracks is better than what was to follow.

dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

amateur!!st, might I take a guess that you have been listening to house music recently?

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:48 (twenty years ago) link

i opened up a box of cd's in my mom's basement and discovered my basement jaxx and daft punk records!

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 19:49 (twenty years ago) link

they were glowing, it was weird

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 19:49 (twenty years ago) link

Homework is a brilliant record, if you can't see even the merits of techno at its most accessible basic form then perhaps you shouldn't bother. I mean the idea that "Homework" is pretentious is so absurd. the pretentious GIGANTIC GOOFY LOOP of "Da Funk" and the "pretentious" stupid climax of Rollin' and Scratchin', and hey "Around The World", that was practically on Underground Resistance! The two records are so different I fail to see how they can be compared thusly anyway.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:54 (twenty years ago) link

i think the idea was that preferring homework to discovery would be some kind of pretentious purism. i wouldn't hurl that particular clump of mud but i think that's what dog latin meant.

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 19:55 (twenty years ago) link

I love both records, but I DO prefer Homework.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:55 (twenty years ago) link

I'm not sure if Melissa's description means she likes it or not!

I just bought this album last week, btw. I am still trying to figure out how I feel about it.

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:57 (twenty years ago) link

Homework is pretty great.

jed_ (jed), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago) link

Jaymc, you think it's awesome.

n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago) link

I don't think Melissa liked it.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago) link

I like both Homework and Discovery, but I think the latter is more listenable.

n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

I thought that's what he meant too am, but surely preferring a first album is not always pretentious purism.

I think I probably prefer Discovery, and in a way the live album is amazing too, but fuck it I'm completely unreliable as regards Daft Punk.

FWIW my favourite Bangalter/Daft related thing is probably the Bangalter/Falcon stuff or "Music Sounds Better With You". And I think Carnival by Archigram is better than all of the above and anything on either Daft Punk album. And yes I could talk about this ALL DAY!

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 20 September 2004 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

jaymc the phoenix cd you copied for me is blank! there's only one track and no music! :-0

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

I remember when Discovery came into the college radio station I told the girl who liked Daft Punk a lot that it sucked and was just a bunch of disco shit and nowhere as good as Homework. Then like four years later I actually listened to it and was like whoah, this rules.

n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:00 (twenty years ago) link

What?? Oh no! I wonder if I accidentally made it an mp3 CD?

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:00 (twenty years ago) link

(xp)

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:00 (twenty years ago) link

I was about to say I played this album for Leee the other night, but no, it was "O Superman" -- but this is still relevant: he said he wasn't that into it because he has a problem with vocoders! WHO HAS A PROBLEM WITH VOCODERS, OMG THEY ARE AWESOME!!

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:02 (twenty years ago) link

I remember when Discovery came into the college radio station I told the girl who liked Daft Punk a lot that it sucked and was just a bunch of disco shit and nowhere as good as Homework. Then like four years later I actually listened to it and was like whoah, this rules.
-- n/a (nu...), September 20th, 2004.

just think what your life would have been like if you had told her, "yeah, daft punk rules"!

vocoders are like anything else, they can be employed poorly or well.

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 20:02 (twenty years ago) link

B-b-but vocoders are like NOTHING else!

jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:04 (twenty years ago) link

Leee has a problem with everything fun! ;)

I nearly bought a vocoder last month.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:05 (twenty years ago) link

i think "homework" came out after i graduated, so i have no idea what the college radio policy on daft punk is

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 20:05 (twenty years ago) link

That girl was already my ex, so at that point not much was going to happen. I was probably just being mean to her on some level. Especially because, whoah, I bought Homework for her as a present pretty soon before she broke up with me. PSYCHOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH!

n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:06 (twenty years ago) link

Homework is a brilliant record, if you can't see even the merits of techno at its most accessible basic form then perhaps you shouldn't bother. I mean the idea that "Homework" is pretentious is so absurd. the pretentious GIGANTIC GOOFY LOOP of "Da Funk" and the "pretentious" stupid climax of Rollin' and Scratchin', and hey "Around The World", that was practically on Underground Resistance! The two records are so different I fail to see how they can be compared thusly anyway.

Wait - Techno?! Okay, whatever. I dunno, I heard Discovery and was blown away and then I bought Homework thinking it was just as lush but instead was greeted with maybe a couple of good (but overlong) tracks mixed with nothing but "Whump whump whump whump". Sometimes the whumping goes on for a good five minutes without actually doing anything. Sometimes DP treat us to a 303 noise for the last two minutes of the track. But yeh, I can never see why a lot of people prize this so much and then say that Discovery is rubbish.

dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:06 (twenty years ago) link

i'm confused. so she got into d.p. thanks to you buying her a daft punk cd after you broke up, but you still insisted that you didn't like d.p.?

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 20:07 (twenty years ago) link

Sometimes the whumping goes on for a good five minutes without actually doing anything.

Just relax and feel the groove, dl.

adam. (nordicskilla), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:07 (twenty years ago) link

Sometimes the whumping goes on for a good five minutes without actually doing anything.

dan to thread

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 20:08 (twenty years ago) link

haha that's a pretty good description of dance music

jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:08 (twenty years ago) link

Sometimes the whumping goes on for a good five minutes without actually doing anything

it is dance music, afterall.

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:08 (twenty years ago) link

Five minutes? Pffft, rookie.

Dan Perry '08 (Dan Perry), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:09 (twenty years ago) link

this thread is a rorshach test with "Sometimes the whumping goes on for a good five minutes without actually doing anything" as the ink blot

amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 20:09 (twenty years ago) link

Well as someone who wasn't that into electronic music, Homework sounded awesome when it came out because it was the cool things about techno (squelchy synths, loud drums) without the stereotypically bad things about techno (overbearing diva vocals, wimpy sounding keyboards). So then I didn't really like Discovery when it came out because it sounded, I don't know, cheezier, not as hard-hitting, sillier, etc.

n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link

my dad regularly says (jocularly) "is the record stuck" when I am listening to music. however I am sure he is thinking "sometimes this 'whumping' goes on for 5 minutes without actually doing anything"

Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 20 September 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link

Cherished memory: taking the train across Chicago on a class break to Gramophone Records to pick up the (one-sided) 12" of this the day it came out. Returning for classes, training home and then playing it later that night at a pretty good-sized warehouse party where I would imagine 95% of the dancers had no idea what it was.

Psychocandy Apple Grey (Pyschocandles), Saturday, 5 August 2023 03:08 (one year ago) link

Lovely memory, I have since lost it but the Daft Club credit card had a spot in my wallet for many years

Florin Cuchares, Saturday, 5 August 2023 06:49 (one year ago) link

Great memory! Reminds me of a night Basement Jaxx dj'ed in NYC to a packed room. A phenomenal set of house and dancey post punk classics which slowly morphed into an unannounced preview for "Rooty". The crowd went bananas (no pun) with each new tune.

SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 5 August 2023 11:50 (one year ago) link

That sounds amazing, Psychocandles

vexingvexillologist, Monday, 7 August 2023 10:30 (one year ago) link

A real polarizing one. As an older millenial I love this album, including OMT. Older than me, Gen X? Anywhere from just-not-their-thing to really despising it. Younger than me, Gen Z: one of the most, if not THE seminal dance music album lol.

Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Monday, 7 August 2023 22:46 (one year ago) link

maybe it is an age thing as i just dgaf about it. would not make my top 1000 best dance records.

i do think a couple of tracks are ok.

stirmonster, Monday, 7 August 2023 23:24 (one year ago) link

Definitely all time for me. What's not to love?

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Monday, 7 August 2023 23:56 (one year ago) link

And I'll say this now: I can give or take pretty much all their other albums, probably make a nice comp of the best of those records, but there is nothing on Discovery I don't really really enjoy. It's their masterpiece, undoubtedly

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Monday, 7 August 2023 23:57 (one year ago) link

A real polarizing one. As an older millenial I love this album, including OMT. Older than me, Gen X? Anywhere from just-not-their-thing to really despising it. Younger than me, Gen Z: one of the most, if not THE seminal dance music album lol.

― Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro)

It’s kind of a “skip a gen” thing that happens a lot. Plenty of Gen X thought of several rock acts of the 70’s as boomer music, but milennials loved their dose of 70’s rock. I guess for Gen Z discovering “classic” albums from the early 00’s is similar to Milennials discovering Innervisions or Dark Side of the Moon or something like that.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:20 (one year ago) link

by far their best album

Nourry, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:21 (one year ago) link

It helps keeping it in mind as an aging act to probably take a decade off and have children or whatever after your prime and come back a hero to the next generation.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:23 (one year ago) link

Are Gen Z really into Discovery? Great if so, cause I find most younger Gen Ys seem to think RAM is their best, which is totally baffling to me

Roz, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:27 (one year ago) link

Daft Punk did the right move retiring in 2013 as they would’ve risked losing their momentum.

They left pretty much untouched and seen as the coolest music ever even when the last album was frankly subpar. You’d see it at the top of eoy lists everywhere that year - as well as “get lucky” on the tracks polls - but by the end of the decade the shine got lost and very few people cared about it

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:30 (one year ago) link

Are Gen Z really into Discovery? Great if so, cause I find most younger Gen Ys seem to think RAM is their best, which is totally baffling to me

― Roz

From the few times it has entered conversation with them my perception was that they all love Discovery and think it’s their best but very underrated. They think the popular one is RAM - which maybe chart wise they have a point - and that more people should get into Discovery. I was a bit baffled when they told me Discovery was like a lost gem.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 00:33 (one year ago) link

Maybe it's because Get Lucky is kind of a "Hey let's do a big Discovery-style pop banger" song whereas most of the rest of the album is rainy sad jazz robot music, so people who enjoyed that one growing up also enjoy Discovery. Just a guess

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 01:19 (one year ago) link

Also it's 20+ years old now so ripe for retro-nostalgia

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 01:20 (one year ago) link

i can understand thinking discovery is underrated if your experience of daft punk in pop culture is just them being the one-hit wonders who made "get lucky" (which it would be for a lot of younger people) - finding out that they made some great and quite stylistically different music much earlier must seem quite odd

ufo, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 01:34 (one year ago) link

my take as someone on the edge of gen y/z depending on definitions is that it has some fantastic, all-time classic singles and a few great moments beyond that but i don't really care about the middle section too much

ufo, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 01:42 (one year ago) link

a group of twenty somethings lit up when i played 'digital love' the other night. that doesn't usually happen.

ꙮ (map), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 01:44 (one year ago) link

They left pretty much untouched and seen as the coolest music ever even when the last album was frankly subpar. You’d see it at the top of eoy lists everywhere that year - as well as “get lucky” on the tracks polls - but by the end of the decade the shine got lost and very few people cared about it

― ✖✖✖ (Moka)

I'm not sure this is totally true. Pitchfork definitely lowered their score when they did that albums revaluation thing a couple of years ago, but I think a lot of people are still into that album. At the record shop I work at in Saint Paul we sell a ton of Daft Punk and Random Access Memories is their biggest seller. People were even willing to shell out for the deluxe version earlier this year as well. It's still rated very highly on Rate Your Music (bolded and has 3.7 rating which is higher than Homework). It did appear in a few end of decade lists too including our very own. A lot of people did cool on it, but it's hardly a Be Here Now situation or anything.

kitchen person, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 02:03 (one year ago) link

Yeah you’re right “not cared about it” is too harsh… I meant that the hype of it definitely died down.

Here on ILM per example Get Lucky was voted #1 song of the year and RAM #2 album of 2013.

By the time we rolled the eod poll “get lucky didn’t even made it into the top 100 and RAM placed #56 several places below other albums from 2013.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 02:21 (one year ago) link

46 years old and Discovery was a huge album for me. I already owned Homework which I liked but didn’t love. Discovery >>> live albums > homework >>> HAA = RAM

Cow_Art, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 02:29 (one year ago) link

Yeah agree with that ranking tbh

Discovery is very clearly their best album imho. They could’ve probably trimmed a couple of tracks - personally I’d probably get rid of the 1-2 pack of “superheroes”, “high life” which are ok songs but make the album lose steam after those great 4 opening tracks. Crescendolls into nightvision works for me - I know the latter sounds like filler but it helps bring down the energy to settle into “something about us” and the album would benefit of being 12 tracks instead of 14.

Also most definitely edit “too long” into “not too long” and save the “too long” version as a b-side or whatever. I know some people like it but it’s a terrible closer as it stands.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 03:08 (one year ago) link

I really like how superheroes morphs though… it kind of redeems the whole thing for me. Still, it would have worked better as a b-side to Aerodynamic or something.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 03:14 (one year ago) link

it’s weird to think of somebody finding Discover _after_ RAM and i would love to hear what they thought of Homework then (which i’ll always rate higher than anything else but i do enjoy Discovery for what it is and hey, it’s got Todd Edwards)

scanner darkly, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 04:05 (one year ago) link

also a record store guy over here! I would say that RAM sells very well, but Discovery and Homework seem to sell a little better, simply because they've been a little less available the last ten years... it seems like more of a score for customers. Some people were willing to shell out for the deluxe edition, but not many. A $60-$120 box set for any album from 2010 to present is not as appetizing as you'd think.

Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 06:03 (one year ago) link

Yeah you’re right “not cared about it” is too harsh… I meant that the hype of it definitely died down.

Here on ILM per example Get Lucky was voted #1 song of the year and RAM #2 album of 2013.

By the time we rolled the eod poll “get lucky didn’t even made it into the top 100 and RAM placed #56 several places below other albums from 2013.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, August 8, 2023 3:21 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah that's an incredible phenomenon. I remember DJing a work's summer party the year it came out and I had to break my "no song more than once" three times in the night becaus people loved it so much. Later I went on holiday with a bunch of friends and that song was on repeat. And I didn't care - I loved it!

Daft Punk were back with an actual cool song, one everyone could dance and sing along to. It was OMT all over again. Of course it was SOTY.

These days? Oh jesus, I never need to hear it again. Never ever ever. Shaky video footage of mashed up townies in Ayebeefa. Endless plays on the local radio station I work for jammed in next to 'Rude' and 'Galway Girl'... Never!

But I think another big factor is the context of hearing it on RAM. Call it the "Fat Of The Land" factor: Big band comes back with a world-dominating mega-hit that everyone goes ballistic for. But when the album comes out, it's underwhelmingly all of the same pallette, with said single being the key highlight. It's not that the album is bad, not at all, but it feels more like different, varyingly paler, iterations of the big hit single, which ends up having an adverse effect on one's perception of the single.

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 09:47 (one year ago) link

I love the mid section of Discovery after the opening four-song hit salvo.

'Crescendolls' is a proper party banger in its own right.

'Nightvision' is a nice, short, well-needed salve with those synth washes which I always enjoy.

'Superheroes' harks back to Homework with its repetitive filter sample 4/4 thing going on. Always used to enjoy getting stoned with my best friend at uni and trying to figure out what they were singing. We settled on "golf in the air". Love the triumphant 16-bit marching-band vibe as well - makes me think of when you win the Gold Cup in Super Mario Kart. Aptly named.

'High Life' and maybe 'Voyager' are the two track I might drop if I absolutely had to as they don't bring much new to the table. Still, neither is unpleasant or boring. I'd be sad to lose either of them and they serve as well-placed pacers to guide the flow of the album*.

'Something About Us' is gorgeous and I would have it on any Best Of playlist. You could say it sets the template for RAM, but it works so well here and the interplay between the bass and guitar is just so satisfying. The lyrics have, at once, that slightly janky Euro feeling while still being very touching. This is going to sound ridiculous but it makes me think of ABBA - maybe not as tragic as something like 'One Of Us', but there's something about the melancholy groove that hits the same way for me.

As a big fan of JRPG soundtracks, 'Veridis Quo' I would also include on any 'Best of' playlist. Not much to say other than I love this sort of medieval village SNES adventure story vibe.

*I'd hold this up as being one of those records that flows perfectly, which I can happily listen to all the way through as a performance rather than skipping anything or feeling like anything juts out too badly.

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 10:30 (one year ago) link

Veridis Quo also one of my favorite bits on the album.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 14:30 (one year ago) link

“Something about us” probably their best song to crossover into other genres. I’ve heard live renditions of it as a jazz improv instrumental, a groovy funk number and a cafeteria band version with piano and acoustic guitars. Sounded great in every version.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 14:37 (one year ago) link

i can understand thinking discovery is underrated if your experience of daft punk in pop culture is just them being the one-hit wonders who made "get lucky" (which it would be for a lot of younger people) - finding out that they made some great and quite stylistically different music much earlier must seem quite odd

― ufo, Monday, August 7, 2023 8:34 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this is a pretty cool phenomenon, maybe something that could be its own thread. for me I had this experience with Underworld, I only knew Born Slippy and Beacoup Fish, when I discovered all the stuff they'd done prior to that it really blew my mind. I guess it wasn't terribly different but I'd thought of them as being similar to Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Bros. so hearing that stuff was really cool. I love the stories of people in the 80s really digging "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and then discovering Close to the Edge a few months later.

frogbs, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 14:37 (one year ago) link

Happened a lot for me when I was 11, 12 in the mid 90’s. My first approach for several “legacy” acts was with their most recent hits as presented in compilations like “Now!” So per example this were all songs I first heard by these artists:

The Cure - mint car
Rolling Stones - anybody seen my baby
Inxs - elegantly wasted
Pet shop boys - se a vida e
Def leppard - slang
Queen - heaven for everyone
Bon jovi - something for the pain

Just to name a few… it was weird there were massive fans of these bands by what I had sampled. It would take at least another 4 years for me to actually start listening to any of these bands and realize I had started with all the wrong tracks and albums.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 14:55 (one year ago) link

probably a lot of people having that same experience with Animal Collective in 2009

frogbs, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 15:02 (one year ago) link

Also Radiohead I guess, for many younger generations their first Radiohead album was hail to the thief or in rainbows.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 15:07 (one year ago) link

For me it was the Velvet Underground. The only LP (in print or otherwise) I could find when I got into them was the 1985 odds & ends comp... which is not to say it wasn't a great listen but certainly not on par with the big 4. Then a couple years later I found a SEALED copy of WLWH for $8.99 lol.

citation needed (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 15:20 (one year ago) link

REM too - I was first aware of them as the band that did Shiny Happy People with the singer out of B52's when I was about 10. Later got Out Of Time out the library as a young teen, and soon after that Automatic For The People came out, this very big serious grown-up album. It was ages until I walked into a bigger record store and realised they had stacks of albums prior to that.

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 15:31 (one year ago) link

Loads of people must have come to Blur via Song 2.

I also know people who came to the Prodigy via stuff like Warrior's Dance who say the earlier albums sound thin and old-hat. Nutters

Stomp Jomperson (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 15:56 (one year ago) link

See also:

Madonna - Ray of Light album (and chart singles)
Santana - Supernatural (and smooth)
Cher with Believe
Most recently Elton John for newer generations with the Dua Lipa remix/cover thing.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 16:25 (one year ago) link

Ditto the falsetto TikTokification of pretty much every song ever made

fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Tuesday, 8 August 2023 16:53 (one year ago) link

xp I definitely had a wrong impression of Blur after "Song 2". Years later I realized I DID know another Blur song - "Girls and Boys" - but had no inkling it was the same band

Vinnie, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 17:41 (one year ago) link

Are Gen Z really into Discovery? Great if so, cause I find most younger Gen Ys seem to think RAM is their best, which is totally baffling to me

― Roz

A fairly good barometer of what online Gen Z music people think is RYM, where it sits at #79 of all time.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 19:54 (one year ago) link

If anything I think the zoomer love for RAM is growing, in spite of the grubbing it seems to have increasingly gotten elsewhere. My love for it has probably grown too. How I wish drums sounded like that on every pop or rock (or disco) record made today.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 19:56 (one year ago) link

yeah I found most of RAM to be a strung out snoozefest too but no doubt it's a really great sounding record which shows the kind of shit you can and should be doing with an actual budget, I wish more big acts tried to sound like that

frogbs, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 20:01 (one year ago) link

Happened a lot for me when I was 11, 12 in the mid 90’s. My first approach for several “legacy” acts was with their most recent hits as presented in compilations like “Now!” So per example this were all songs I first heard by these artists

This was always me when I was little - the years-long gaps between loving lots of songs by an artist (in childhood) and becoming an actual 'fan' (generally in adolescence) - but it was sometimes via some probably odd tracks, i.e.

David Bowie - New Killer Star (via Brit Awards 2004) (I did already sort of know "Heroes" but never listened to it)
Erasure - Solsbury Hill (via Now 54)
George Michael - Flawless (Go to the City) (via Now 58) and the Shapeshifters Remix (via numerous summer 04 club compilations) (again, I sort of liked Fastlove but rarely listened to it)

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 20:02 (one year ago) link

My opinion of Human After All has increased over the years and RAM declined sharply after I initially enjoyed it. Now they’re even for last place, although neither are bad by any means.

Cow_Art, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 20:45 (one year ago) link

Human After All is my favourite

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 8 August 2023 20:45 (one year ago) link

the best Daft Punk album is the Musique Vol 1 best-of compilation and even that suffers by using the radio version of One More Time and by not featuring Burnin'

boxedjoy, Wednesday, 9 August 2023 11:45 (one year ago) link

“Something about us” seems the most RAM thing on the album

corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 9 August 2023 11:53 (one year ago) link

Not exactly what you're asking, but a few music enthusiasts my age had their first serious encounter with David Bowie via Blackstar.

vexingvexillologist, Wednesday, 9 August 2023 12:29 (one year ago) link

Prince’s Batman would be mine

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 9 August 2023 17:24 (one year ago) link


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