Apologies if this has been addressed before, I went through 7 pages of search results but didn't find the search tool helpful even after reading the instructions.
Does anyone notice a "rock bias" in BEA - more specifically a "testosterone rock bias"
I thought "I'll just listen to the top 10 albums from every year and I'll get a sense for all the important albums" as part of a multi-year self-guided music history course for myself. However, I'm continually discovering albums from some really good and hugely important/influential genres that are hidden down lower in the charts.
This doesn't seem to be as big of an issue in the current decade as I can see GKMC right next to Lonerism for instance, but in earlier decades it seems some really influential albums are buried underneath rock albums. Often rock albums that are fairly low in the catalog rankings of certain rock bands like Rolling Stones, the Beatles, or Led Zeppelin will be very high for a particular year. Even though they weren't very significant compared to the bands other work, they just rank high simply because the band at some point released a significant album or two (to be fair the Beatles did release a lot of very dominant records)
I love rock music just as much as the next guy but I also love other genres. It would be nice to see if there could be a filter that would give me a good idea of important albums released in a given year and not just the Rolling Stone's 23rd best album. For instance here is a list of artists who did not crack the top 10 in any year of releasing an album (and most of them not even cracking the top 20):
Funkadelic
2Pac
The Notorious B.I.G.
Janelle Monae
James Brown (any of his funk)
Gil Scott-Heron
Curtis Mayfield
Scott Walker
Tortoise
Mike Oldfield
Moody Blues
Thrice
I'm not necessarily trying to argue these are better than the ones they're ranked above. They are all significant in some sense though, and a lot of them are criminally underrated on here.
How do I discover more of these these hidden albums and less testosterone-injected power chord driven hair metal?
On a slight tangent and as an idea why don't you look at one of the various genre-based charts that well-established users have lovingly made instead of going through the BEA year charts? There's a plethora of wonderful music to discover - Hayden or Meccalecca's African charts, Gowi's Asian chart, Skinny's Hip-Hop and funk/disco/soul charts, Cellardoor's Shoegaze Chart, Gussteivi's Baroque Pop chart, Norman Bates' folkie chart, Lady Godiva's Indie-Pop chart, dividesbyzero's 'Electronic Music' chart and Mercury's Blues chart are all worth a look if you get stuck for inspiration (as I guess are mine linked below, but then self-promotion's never been my style...) _________________ 'Reggae' & t'ing Folk 'n Stuff SHAMELESS RECORD DEALER PLUG
I love rock music just as much as the next guy but I also love other genres. It would be nice to see if there could be a filter that would give me a good idea of important albums released in a given year and not just the Rolling Stone's 23rd best album.
This sounds like it should go in the suggestions thread. Genre and subgenre filters could be very helpful.
corenfro wrote:
How do I discover more of these these hidden albums and less testosterone-injected power chord driven hair metal?
I would look for users who have that particular taste, and use their charts as a guide. You can also PM and ask them for suggestions.
corenfro wrote:
Does anyone notice a "rock bias" in BEA - more specifically a "testosterone rock bias"...in earlier decades it seems some really influential albums are buried underneath rock albums. Often rock albums that are fairly low in the catalog rankings of certain rock bands like Rolling Stones, the Beatles, or Led Zeppelin will be very high for a particular year. Even though they weren't very significant compared to the bands other work, they just rank high simply because the band...
I understand where you're coming from. Mediocre to slightly-better-than-average albums from dominant artists get ranked higher than they should, just because of who made them. I don't agree with it either, but it's the site's consensus. However, every artist suffers because of it including those in the rock genre. As a die-hard rock fan, I can name tons of rock albums I find underrated.
Thus I don't see it as a "rock bias." I see it as a Beatles/Dylan/Radiohead/Stones/Floyd/Zeppelin/etc bias.
I'm not familiar with these two, can you please tell me more about them?
In more general terms, I think a lot of people start with major bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones, and branch into more obscure stuff from there; it's just that there's a lot of different branches to go, so lots of worthy acts miss out on attention. Genre filters are a good idea.
Genre filters would be nice, but that's not always cut and dry, and when you are managing a database, you need cut and dry - name of album, year of release, name of artist, etc are rarely debatable topics. Genre is often debatable.
I suppose there's tagging, and if an artist/album has 10 or more tags that align, then that could be considered a way to overcome that.
For me, there are two types of Thrice fans:
1) those that like their earlier stuff
2) those who like it when they grew up and stopped using that made in a factory whiny voice of the early 2000s
I think you can tell which camp I'm in.
This album of their is phenomenal. It is 4 EPs of the Aristotelian elements and they do their best to represent those elements in sound. This is also the cutoff record for those with no soul. They stopped liking the band often at this point hahaha - kind of kidding.
This album onwards is Post Rock bliss in my opinion. They use a lot of baritone guitar, which makes me happy.
Funny this album makes the above list cause it totally is that white dude rock music... idk... that's my opinion.
At least the 1950s is properly represented by Jazz? The 1950's were equally an amazing time for classical music, but not really represented here so well. Of course the birth of rock n' roll is well represented in the 1950s list.
I think it has often been said that the majority of users are older Western thinking men and it shows. If the users of this site were spread across all demographic types equally, it'd be a much different site/result.
Been working on giving that chart a bit of an update. Found myself digging through a whole bunch of records from Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria that really floored me. Mali's also had a pretty stellar 2017. As time goes on, I'm assuming recording technology in Africa is getting more accessible. There's been some really innovative records coming out of there the past few years.
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How do I discover more of these these hidden albums and less testosterone-injected power chord driven hair metal?
And to corenfro, yeah, you're about right. That's been an issue with our charts since forever. But the more people spice up their lists, the more interesting our overall will get All the artists you mentioned are fantastic of course. As long as you listen to them and like them, it doesn't really matter where they are on our lists. No worries.
You just gotta dig around some of the user's custom charts. You'll find hundreds, if not thousands, of recs that aren't rock. _________________ Submit Your List for BEA's 2023 Film Poll!
If anything from around the time I joined traditional testerone-feuled "rock' music (or the slightly more snarky term for older music of the ilk "dadrock") has largely been looked down upon by at least some of the forum's and site's most regular contributors but generally popular with the vast userbase of BEA overall, which naturally encapsulates the opinions of a much broader range of music fans and since how many charts are a big factor in how an album is ranked, the more widely heard (ie "classic RS500 rock") albums are likely to score well.
I'm not familiar with these two, can you please tell me more about them?
In more general terms, I think a lot of people start with major bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones, and branch into more obscure stuff from there; it's just that there's a lot of different branches to go, so lots of worthy acts miss out on attention. Genre filters are a good idea.
Thrice is a post-hardcore/pop-punk band that started doing art rock records in the mid-aughts.
Janelle Monae is a female R&B and art pop musician who takes influence from James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, George Clinton, and hip-hop culture. She's really really dope.
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All the artists you mentioned are fantastic of course. As long as you listen to them and like them, it doesn't really matter where they are on our lists. No worries.
