Generally speaking, do you think that a musical artists' best songs are the album cuts, not the singles?

Question

Many of us -- myself included -- fancy ourselves as music snobs, at least in the sense that we will fiercely defend what we like to others.

For a lot of us, a song loses its appeal after being played countless times on the radio, adding a shine to songs that aren't as overexposed. We can listen to them, and often find an entirely new appreciation for them because those songs feel like they belong to YOU, "the real fan" versus "the radio fan".

Are there any commercially successful artists whom you feel this applies to?

Answer 1

Very few of my favorite songs can survive the onslaught of overexposure. Nirvana is a good example of this. I heard Scentless Apprentice earlier this year. This was a song that hasn't gotten any airplay. Yet, it was great to hear as opposed to Smells Like Teen Spirit for the 10th billion time. I don't think I ever felt it was "my" song per se. I'm a fan but I don't take it that deeply. I just like to hear variety on the radio, even though it has been deemed a "money loser." I still think that's a major cop out by Clear Channel.

Sweet, six thumbs down! C'mon people, I want double digits.

Answer 2

Well I usually try to get myself familiar with the entire album after I buy it. Lately it seems that I'll hear songs on the album and I'll say to myself, "That should definitely be the next single." Not just because I like the song, but because it could appeal to many types of music-lovers, and it grabs you. However, my pick will rarely end up as a single, and usually one of my least favorite songs will end up as the next single. This has been an ongoing issue with Korn. I love all of their albums, but I think for every album after "Issues", most of their singles have been the weakest songs. Staind and Nickelback face a different problem. These are 2 bands who generally play hard rock, but every single ends up being a ballad because of a mega-hit they had back in 2001. As a result, these bands are going to have "greatest hits" albums that will be very misleading to the sound of the rest of their catalogue. I agree though, most (not all) of my favorite tunes are the non-hits.

Answer 3

This brings to mind a few artists.........

Jeff Buckley - whenever I mention him, most people go "Oh, the Hallelujah guy!" or in rare cases a few remember Last Goodbye which came out circa '94 (and was on the Vanilla Sky soundtrack)........his music is amazing and everyone can connect to many of his songs......his Grace album is a classic

Alice In Chains - Many when they hear AIC think of Man In The Box, Would, No Excuses, Got Me Wrong, etc........... Their other stuff is amazing as well.......a little depressing, but yes good just the same

Dropkick Murphys - Living in Boston, I've been aware of these guys for years......seen them live in many a seedy club when I was supposed to be studying at the library or something...........they broke out with the Warriors Code......but their earlier stuff is largely ignored or undiscovered......songs like Far Away Coast, Caught In A Jar, Boys on the Docks, Billy's Bones are overshadowed by the killed to death by radio songs like I'm Shipping Up To Boston, Kiss Me I'm Sh*tfaced, and Tessie

Answer 4

I feel the same way about Pink Floyd. The first time i heard Another Brick in the Wall Part 2, I was blown away, but alot of Pink Floyd songs like Time, Us and Them, Money, Welcome to the Machine and Brain Damaged seen to lose their magic once the've been played so many times on the radio. When I hear them , it's just like, oh, it's that song again. They get overplayyed and I get tired of them. However, their songs that don't often get played on the radio like Cymbaline, Echoes and Atom Heart Mother Suite seem perfect since they're "untainted".
Same goes with alot of extremely famouse songs, like Freebird, Stairway to Heaven and Hotel California.
I got really sick of Stairway to Heaven so I would turn off the radio everytime I hear it, but after 2 months of not hearing it, I played it again and it sounded wonderful (better than i remembered) because I wasn't sick of it anymore.

Answer 5

All of them. I could go the rest of my life without hearing most bands' singles again. Prime example: Guns N' Roses. By the time they became popular in late '87, early '88, I had already devoured the Appetite album and moved on to something else. The kids at school were going ga-ga over "Sweet Child O' Mine" and there I was saying "But what about 'Nightrain' or 'Rocket Queen'."

Answer 6

Well, Regina Spektor comes to mind. Her new album, "Begin to Hope" is fantastic in every way, and there are at least 5 songs on there that would have made great singles to my mind, yet she never receives any radio airplay and the one single, "Fidelity" that actually did somehow end up getting played with some frequency on VH1, never ended up on my local Top 40 radio station, yet I have to hear Gwen Stefani's back up singers shrieking EEE-OOOOO, WEEEE-OOOO like 75,000 times a day. I have to say that I feel sort of special and music-savvy for having her songs in my iPod on heavy rotation, because when she does catch on with the mainstream (and she will), I can officially say I knew about her first.

And on a sidenote- I really liked that Gwen Stefani song I mentioned the first 10 or so times I heard it, but now that they literally play it once an hour, I can't stand it!

Answer 7

I don't think it's so much that the non-single tracks are better than the singles; it's just that we get sick of hearing the singles played so much on the radio.

I would say it definetly applies to Jewel. Her non-radio songs are so much better than "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "Standing Still."

Oh, and it also applies to David Gray.

Answer 8

I agree with the first two. I also like all the songs on Linkin Park's albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Sarah McLachlan is a personal favorite, Fumbling Towards Ecstacy is a great album period.

Answer 9

Billy Joel is a great example of this. He is quoted as saying "those people who only know my top 40 stuff don't really know my work at all" If you want the reall Billy Joel then check out his album tracks not necessarily his top 40 hits....all 33 of them!!!!!