Greatest Hits Albums: Your Opinion

[Goodsir]

What do you guys think about greatest hits albums?
Are they good?
Are they bad?
Are they irrelevant now with the ability to make playlists?
Are they still relevant?
Would you put one on your chart?

Let me know your opinion!
Don't just cast your vote, make a post and let me know your reasoning!

[Kiki]

All the artists best songs on one album. Saves me space having all the best songs by The Killers in one place.

[zdwyatt]

I like 'em. There are plenty of artists whose albums I can't get into, but who still have a solid collection of good songs. That said, I wouldn't put one on my charts, because that'd be cheating.

[HazeyTwilight]

Greatest Hits albums are sometimes a great place to start if you're not familiar with an artist, but the problem with that is; you'll only be subjected to only the artists most well-known tracks rather than having to listen to an actual album from "whoever, whatever" artist, where they would - hopefully - have a bit more variety. I'm not familiar enough with Greatest Hit albums, but considering some of the hate that some of these albums get is kinda unjustified in some way.

However, I wouldn't put them on my chart, they're another type of compilation and, unless they end up having previously unreleased material (though that's doubtful for the majority), it's basically what we heard just mixed in with other tracks we've already heard.
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[Romanelli]

[Dingerbell]

[paladisiac]

[Listmeister]

Most pre-1970 artists (including the Beatles) released a lot of their best stuff as singles. So, you need the Greatest Hits albums just for those. Plus, a really good way to get introduced to a band is to listen to their greatest hits, then, if you're interested, you can move on to their individual albums.

I have three or four Greatest Hits in my 100 myself. I'm not ashamed of that; those particular collections have been very meaningful to me. A lot of road trips have gone by quickly because of those albums.

The problem with Greatest Hits collections is that the record companies keep re-doing them. The Beach Boys did Endless Summer in 1974, a collection of all their hit singles from the 60's and their more popular album tracks. They didn't need to make more greatest hits albums after that, Endless Summer would have kept selling just fine. That was the Definitive Collection. But, they kept making more, and slightly different, Beach Boys greatest hits albums, with mostly the same songs on them, but in a different order and add one - subtract one sort of thing going on.

[Jasonconfused]

RHCP is definitely one of those bands for me that I really enjoy their hits, but not really any of their albums.

As far greatest hits albums in general, I appreciate what it can do as an introduction to an artist, but I can't see myself having a compilation on my chart. Live albums I make an exception for because I see them as a new piece of work with songs played differently than on original recordings.

I think they're still relevant, or should still be relevant as far as introducing an artist, but I would hope that if people like what they hear, they don't stop there and actually listen to the original albums. As far greatest hits albums for playlist purposes, yea it should be irrelevant in that category. With today's technology we can easily make our own personal greatest hits for an artist that we enjoy.
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[KinkyAfro]

Greatest hits albums for me are a starting point if you want a taster to someone youve never tried before. If you like what uve heard you can then move onto their albums (usually starting with the albums that contain your favourite tracks off the greatest hits).

What i tend to find though is that once you get into an artist, the playlist or cd that you put together yourself tends to be a lot different from what a record company would put out, mostly containing singles.