Is Pet Sounds the most overrated album? - Music

revolver94
professional dilettante

Gender: Male
Age: 29
Location: DC suburb

RockyRaccoon wrote:

fuck that noise man, anyone who would summarily dismiss any album simply because it would make them "look" a certain way if they listened to it and enjoyed it is a moron, and I have a pretty strong feeling that virtually none of the regulars here are like that at all.

i'm not saying that they do that it to look cool, simply that they tend to find niches and specialize. plus, it could be argued that most classics are kind of a common denominator between everyone, and that since they appeal to everyone a certain degree, theyre less likely to resonate w/ individuals the way certain, nichier albums.

also i mean what im saying isnt even like, hard to notice, like charts that are beatles/radiohead/floyd laden are called boring w/ no personality, which im inclined to agree with. it's like, find what makes you you, and that's what's going to resonate w/ you the most (if ur a cool cat) and make it to the top of your charts
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Necharsian
Best Ever User

Gender: Male

revolver94 wrote:

i'm not saying that they do that it to look cool, simply that they tend to find niches and specialize. plus, it could be argued that most classics are kind of a common denominator between everyone, and that since they appeal to everyone a certain degree, theyre less likely to resonate w/ individuals the way certain, nichier albums.

also i mean what im saying isnt even like, hard to notice, like charts that are beatles/radiohead/floyd laden are called boring w/ no personality, which im inclined to agree with. it's like, find what makes you you, and that's what's going to resonate w/ you the most (if ur a cool cat) and make it to the top of your charts

id also say that it also has something to due with BEA's learning curve. most people who start out listening to albums will start with the canonical choices off the bat, and gradually move into more of the niche that they are interested in. so with most members here, they've already heard the beatles and radiohead, but lean further and further away from them as they explore more music. that's how I feel at least.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Necharsian wrote:

id also say that it also has something to due with BEA's learning curve. most people who start out listening to albums will start with the canonical choices off the bat, and gradually move into more of the niche that they are interested in. so with most members here, they've already heard the beatles and radiohead, but lean further and further away from them as they explore more music. that's how I feel at least.

I never really leaned further away from the rock canon as much as I have expanded my horizons. I still love stuff like Pet Sounds, OK Computer and White Album as much as ever, and possibly appreciate them even more.
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sp4cetiger

meccalecca wrote:

I never really leaned further away from the rock canon as much as I have expanded my horizons. I still love stuff like Pet Sounds, OK Computer and White Album as much as ever, and possibly appreciate them even more.

Yeah, agree with this, though I think Nech also has a point that people do tend to start with classics (like the Beatles), even if their tastes end up veering in a totally different direction.

As for the whole Pet Sounds vs. Beatles albums, I know many people who have listened to a lot of music who still love the Beatles albums. However... the one thing I will say about Pet Sounds that can't be said about any of the Beatles albums is that it's a singular personal statement. John Lennon had said on several occasions that the songs on the Beatles albums were largely interchangeable and that they were not written (for the most part) to go with a particular theme or mood. While I think George Martin did a masterful job putting them together into great-sounding albums, I've had trouble convincing myself that any of them belong in my top 10 just because they tend to lack this special personal cohesion that an album like In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has. That may also be why Plastic Ono Band is higher on my chart than any Beatles album.

They're still my favorite band, though.

Necharsian
Best Ever User

Gender: Male

meccalecca wrote:

I never really leaned further away from the rock canon as much as I have expanded my horizons. I still love stuff like Pet Sounds, OK Computer and White Album as much as ever, and possibly appreciate them even more.

I guess the "moving further away" thing might not be accurate for the site itself, but I mean when you start listening to a lot more albums (and finding more great ones) it makes the number of possible chart entries (ie albums one loves) much larger as well. So the more great non canon albums slowly take over the canon ones. Could also be an age thing as well. You've listened to OKC and the White Album for longer than some members here have been alive Wink

so I doubt youll ever not love them.

ive definitely fallen into the moving away from certain things as ive listened to more tho. I don't hate the beatles or anything but ive moved into a sort of indifference. haven't listened to a full album of theirs in years and I don't really have motivation to either. Pet Sounds is the same way. I listened to OKC for the first time in a really long time a week or two ago and I didn't even finish it. tho to be fair I never loved it to begin with. Kid A still gets regular listen time tho, but that's it really.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

Necharsian wrote:

I guess the "moving further away" thing might not be accurate for the site itself, but I mean when you start listening to a lot more albums (and finding more great ones) it makes the number of possible chart entries (ie albums one loves) much larger as well. So the more great non canon albums slowly take over the canon ones.

I completely agree. This makes perfect sense. And there's users like myself who may stray from including canon albums on our overall charts because it just serves no purpose to do so anymore.
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craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

i just saw this thread for the first time, saw it was posted yesterday, saw it was 10 pages long and thought, "crap. who'd we lose this time?"

then i read through the most recent comments and discover there is actually some positive discussion taking place and (didn't read the whole thread, but) no drama. #sohappiness

*edit(s): seriously, i enjoy all of your opinions at this point, and i would be sad to see any of you go. (even those of you who are boneheads with horrible opinions about everything from life to music to dating to movies to board games and pocket monsters)

**also edit: for future reference, i think if this thread had been titled "let's talk about pet sounds", and the OP had still posted that he thought it was overrated, we'd have avoided some of the page one nonsense.

***still editing: i've read the whole thread now. props to revolver for the catalyst that brought this ship into friendly, conversational harbor.
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craola
crayon master

Location: pdx

Necharsian wrote:

id also say that it also has something to due with BEA's learning curve. most people who start out listening to albums will start with the canonical choices off the bat, and gradually move into more of the niche that they are interested in. so with most members here, they've already heard the beatles and radiohead, but lean further and further away from them as they explore more music. that's how I feel at least.

i would add that to some degree, it feels kind of silly to put the beatles in a chart at this point. it's not that they didn't create great music. i simply don't think i need to tell people they should listen to the beatles. they've already heard that a billion times. there's little that can be said about the beatles that hasn't already been said. beethoven, mozart, chopin, radiohead, pink floyd and the beatles are so canon that they need not be mentioned. that said, i love all of them, and i won't necessarily exclude them from my chart if/when i finish revising it. the beatles probably won't be. i love 'em, but i'm in the same boat as you - i have no incentive to re-visit them anymore. i'm a little burnt out on beatles.
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Last edited by craola on 04/27/2015 18:34; edited 1 time in total

shoopadoowop

Gender: Male
Age: 27
Location: Canadia

craola wrote:

**also edit: for future reference, i think if this thread had been titled "let's talk about pet sounds", and the OP had still posted that he thought it was overrated, we'd have avoided some of the page one nonsense.

***still editing: i've read the whole thread now. props to revolver for the catalyst that brought this ship into friendly, conversational harbor.

Yeah mistakes have definitely been made on my part, and I've definitely taken notes to try to avoid it again. My apologies.

shoopadoowop

Gender: Male
Age: 27
Location: Canadia

Ok, listened to Pet Sounds again. It's a good album for sure, but I still think 14th best of all time is ridiculously high.