how much time must pass for an album be considered classic

[ffudnebbuh]

Are there instant classics? How much time has to pass before an album can be called a classic...5 seconds, 5 minutes, 5 years? Are there any albums that you liked immediately but 20 years later, you didn't? What are your instant classics and what albums did you not like when you first heard it but you liked it more and more as time went by?

[Mr. Shankly]

Wow, you asked the $6,000,000,000 question!

Here goes:

I guess it depends on how the word "classic" is defined. To me, it first has to be great before it can be "classic," so I guess this is where history and musical/ cultural trends/,movements play a part. For an album to be great, one has to be able to play it multiple times (over 10, but preferably 100's of times) and enjoy it every time and/or find something new to appreciate about it. As for achieving classic status, these are the main factors: How innovative was the album? How influential? Did it change the musical landscape at the time? Did it change it years later (as in the case of the VU)? Does it never grow stale or dated? Does it have a timeless quality? Does it sound utterly unique to that artist's ouvre, or is it highly derivative and something a better band could have done better? If it's the latter, it's not a classic. On the other hand, does it draw from "classic" bands/artists/ideas and put a new spin on those influences that breaks ground and opens up new landscapes?

I've only heard one or two albums in the last five years that I think is an almost instant classic: Boxer by The National. Listen to it five times and you'll see what I mean. It was one of those albums that after listening to it, I felt compelled to listen to it again and again and again. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco probably is a classic as well. There are a number of other albums that came out this decade that come close, but are still in the "time will tell" category for me.

[ffudnebbuh]

I will have to check those albums out...VU and Nico was an instant classic for me...but Revolver wasn't ( and the White album was)for reason even though I grew up with the Beatles( I was 11 when Revolver came out), but as time went on, the more I loved Revolver as a total album, an overall listening experience and now it is my favorite Beatles album. Of course, there is also your age when you first hear music and how our personalities evolve over time, so much of our musical experience is encoded in our memory which is attached to what else is going on in our lives...are we going through a great period where everything seems positive and meaningful..?

[videoheadcleaner]

I think Mr Shankly summed it up pretty well. An album has to be great before it can be classic. But the timeframe that it happens in is the subjective factor. Some people may listen to an album and call it a classic straight away. Others may take time.

At the ripe age of 24 as I am, I haven't had much opportunity to revist an album I have heard 20 years later (10 maybe). The main one for me is The Cure's Disintegration. Even now when I listen to it, I can see how The Cure has influenced bands like Interpol and Bloc Party. Disintegration is the magnum opus for Robert Smith. Songs flow into each other and it is hard for me not to listen to just one track on the album. It seperated the Cure of the early 80s to the Cure of today. Dark, progressive in some respects and beautiful.

And for more recent classics, I see Muse's Absolution and Radiohead's OK Computer as the benchmark of great albums. Radiohead has had many successful albums but OK Computer is their maturity shinning through. Muse can be compared to Radiohead, but Absolution removes those ideas. Muse are all for anthemic sounds, ready to blow a stadium apart. Absolution seems to tell the story of a world falling apart; of socities crumbling and your rights being destroyed. This was the catalyst for Muse's later releases and a key album in the 2000s.

Also, in a personal reflection, Something For Kate's Echolalia is a classic for me. I gave the album a full listen recently which is something I haven't done in a while. Each song had an underlying theme that connected to others. Many people I know don't regard Something For Kate as a great Aussie band but to me, the band is a favourite of mine and Echolalia is an Australian classic album.

[Richie Hunt]

I dont have an opinion on this, i dont think i care enough about the topic.

[badfaith]

I think that judging by people's charts on this site (aside from my own personal taste), a good example of the instant classic would be In Rainbows, which has only been out for a little while relative to other best evers, and is a street ahead compared with other albums from the same period. And it seems to occupy a growing place in people's affections.

[Detroit Rock Citizen]

i do believe in an instant classic but IMHO In Rainbows is not it. Albums that I believe we're instant classics are Nirvana's Nevermind and The Clash's London Calling. However you can look at it this way, any album can be an instant classic no matter how old it is as long as you believe it is the first time you've heard it.
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http://www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=689

[RFNAPLES]

There are instant hits that with the passage of time may become classics. Personally I think 10 years is a good milestone.
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[joannajewsom]

Speaking of "classic" in the historical sense, based on its importance to the artform, there is no time frame. It can take 1 month or 20 years. Free Jazz, Highway 61 Revisited, Sgt. Pepper's, Ramones, Nevermind, and other genre-epitomizing works, we'll call them, had an instant impact, sealing their classic status. This is like asking how long do I have to date someone before we are in love. It's case specific. Putting any number on it is arbitrary.

[Charicature]