When can you judge an album or artist?

[Puncture Repair]

There was a long period where I could honestly say I hadn't heard an album that I didn't think was worthwhile, but as I've tried to really expand what I'm listening to, I've heard a good handful of albums that I thought completely sucked. Some of them I knew I wouldn't enjoy from the first song, but I felt it was very important to listen to the entire album before I could rate it on any website, or even really formulate an opinion over it.

But I recently realized I'm just creating a double standard. There are lots of bands or artists that I actively dislike, but for almost all of them I've never actually heard an entire album by them. Yet at the same time, listening to an entire album is fairly alien to a number of my friends. For a lot of them, hearing only the top hits from a leading artist is enough to be labeled as a fan, I mean - that's almost how the entire popular music industry is built. I hate to make a hideous generalization, but it would surprise me if 'fans' of artists like Rihanna or Robert Thicke, for instance, haven't heard one of their respective albums in their entirety. There's nothing wrong with that, that's not the culture of that sort of music, it's not how the albums are constructed.

Are these 'fans' really 'fans', or are they conforming to the appeal of being someone that likes a certain band or artist? And likewise, is my dislike for certain artists, that I just didn't want to hear an entire album from, any better or worse a judgement?

Music is a unique art-form in that one artist will have a much greater portfolio of 'pieces' of work than a film director or an author. Judging books and films is easy: you need to have experienced the whole thing. Is music any different, especially in chart music?

Finally, have you ever put forward a rating of an album for an album before hearing all of it, in that you simply couldn't listen to all of it, and is that immoral or false?

[Guest]

Would you finish eating rotten food?

[Kiki]

[Guest]

[Puncture Repair]

[samistake2ice]

It is an interesting question that you pose. I have, for some time, equated albums to movies and books. Many of us have a favorite scene, or actor, or character, but none are as impactful unless taken in context with the rest of the work.

I think you can absolutely know you're not going to like something after listening to a few tracks, I try not judge musicians (sometimes i cant help it), but I also know that there is some stuff I just, plain, don't like. I dont think i have rated anything on this site without listening to it in its entirety.

However, I will go a step further on what people claim are their "favorites." I dont think, that someone who truly likes music (im guessing most people on this site) can say that "so-and-so is one of my favorite artists" after they have only heard one album. I don't believe that is a large enough sample size. If a new artist releases a debut and you just go absolutely nuts for it, than I think it is ok to say what a great "album" you think it is, but its premature to label them as a favorite artist.

If you also really enjoy the artists follow up or discover something done previously, then you can start labeling them as such.

i guess an exception can be made for those who have only ever produced one album and it changed your life.

So I guess I'd say "judge away, but try not to prejudge." and be careful when labeling someone your favorite until youve heard the follow up.

[Guest]

Maybe distasteful music doesn't make me ill, but it can make me feel down on life.

[Listmeister]

It's a good question. If I've heard an album, I'll either like it the first time and listen to it again, or else, not so much, and then I don't want to listen to it again. But I don't think I'm being fair to the album to not listen to it a second time.

There are some highly acclaimed artists that I just don't get, and listening to their albums, when I force myself to, becomes a chore. I remember one highly ranked double-album that I tried to listen to. The first track was the one that I was familiar with (from radio airplay). I got through three songs and then I'd had enough.

On the other hand, my album ranking is more a reflection of how many times I've heard it than objective quality; which reflects more about how long I owned the album than anything else - except for those albums I bought and then found I didn't like them as much as I thought I would.

[Kiki]

I have to listen to many albums by an artist before I consider them a favorite. One album won't do if there is more than one album.