Albums with at least three undeniably classic tracks.

[KGS]

Time for some prog-rock…

Jethro Tull: Stand Up – “A New Day Yesterday”, “Nothing is Easy”, “Bouree”
Jethro Tull: Aqualung – “Aqualung”, “Locomotive Breath”, “Cross-Eyed Mary”, “My God”, “Hymn 43”, “Wind Up”
Jethro Tull: Thick as a Brick – “Thick as a Brick”, and…umm…ok skip this one.

Yes: The Yes Album – “I’ve Seen All Good People”, “Yours Is No Disgrace”, “Starship Trooper”
Yes: Fragile – “Roundabout”, “Long Distance Runaround”, “Heart of the Sunrise”
Yes: Close to the Edge – “Close to the Edge”, “And You And I”, “Siberian Khatru” (yep, every song is a classic!)
Yes: 90125 – “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, “Leave It”, “Changes”, “It Can Happen”

Rush: Moving Pictures – “Tom Sawyer”, “Limelight”, “Red Barchetta”, “YYZ”
Rush: Permanent Waves – “The Spirit of Radio”, “Freewill”, “Natural Science”
Rush: A Farewell to Kings – “Closer to the Heart”, “Xanadu”, “Cygnus X-1”

Queensryche: Operation Mindcrime – “Revolution Calling”, “Breaking the Silence”, “I Don’t Believe in Love”, “Eyes of a Stranger”
Queensryche: Empire – “Silent Lucidity”, “Empire”, “Jet City Woman” (bleh to all of them)

Def Leppard: Pyromania – “Photograph”, “Rock of Ages”, “Foolin’”
Def Leppard: Hysteria – “Women”, “Animal”, “Love Bites”, “Pour Some Sugar on Me”, “Armageddon It”

[mamboman]

@gigi

To be fair, he got laid off at the lumberyard and had to take the job at the car wash. I assume that after his halluciantion he did something Really Bad and got sentenced to hard labor on the road gang.

I’m just saying people would recognize it on the radio. Not commenting on its value. And :smack: on the name…must have been thinking of the Tom Waits song. Which song changes from Frank to John??

Wait, are you saying he’s written some really bad songs…? Heathen!

My bad! It’s Ralph to John (Ralph went out looking for a job, but he coudln’t find none… later on his name is Johnny, he’s waving a gun around and threatening to blow his top). Frank? What was I thinking - that’s a Tom Waits song!

I was possibly being harsh saying BS has written some really* bad* songs, he’s just written a lot of terribly interchangable ones - but, when he gets his formula right, he does pen the odd cracker!

[lawoot]

@spoke-

Yep. Missed it. But you see my point, I hope. Chart success does not define what is and is not a “classic” song.

Which is the whole point of the argument, I think. What the mainstream audience thinks is classic varies from what the critics think is classic, which varies from what musicians think is classic.

Two of my favorite performers/groups have been VERY influential on others, popular (at times) with critics, yet never had ‘mainstream’ success, or even top forty airplay, for the most part - Frank Zappa (and the Mothers) and King Crimson.

[An_Arky]

There are some British bands that sort of defy this classification because back in the day, they didn’t necessarily include the singles on the album of the same timeframe. A good example of this is The Kinks. They had hit after hit in the mid 60s, but many of them either weren’t on an album or the album consisted of one hit and some filler.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Ludovic

I hear Rio by Duran Duran is classic, too.

You bet your fuzzy white bum.

Okay, my post with Duran Duran included was a poke at the people who were posting things like those mentioned in my long list, but like it or not, I don’t think anyone can have a serious discussion about the history of rock and roll without including the pop rock of the eighties, and when you discuss the eighties, you can’t overlook Duran Duran (and Arcadia and Power Station). Were they hard rock? Hell no. Were they the biggest group in the world at the height of their careers? Hell yes. Were they video pioneers at a time when video was a wee, newborn baby? Hell yes.

For the record, we saw them live a couple of years ago, and they were fantastic. Simon LeBon is an incredible front man, and the band is tight.

[Cat_Whisperer]

@Leaffan

I, for one, completely agree. 100%
<snip>

I think I will print this post, and frame it in my office. I’m not sure anyone has ever agreed with me 100%, in real life or here.

My husband made a point that sort of fits in with this discussion; there was a time in the history of music marketing where record labels would only put one or two singles on an album, and the rest of the songs were filler (I think anyone around my age who bought a lot of records and tapes can vouch for the truth of this - you liked a song, you bought the album, there’s two songs worth listening to and the rest you kind of suspect you could have written yourself). It sounds like The Kinks would fit in with this, as well as a lot of popular bands in the late seventies, early eighties. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was earthshattering in its day for not having two singles on it, but having, what, eight? Unheard of!

[Leaffan]

@featherlou

I think I will print this post, and frame it in my office. I’m not sure anyone has ever agreed with me 100%, in real life or here.

My husband made a point that sort of fits in with this discussion; there was a time in the history of music marketing where record labels would only put one or two singles on an album, and the rest of the songs were filler (I think anyone around my age who bought a lot of records and tapes can vouch for the truth of this - you liked a song, you bought the album, there’s two songs worth listening to and the rest you kind of suspect you could have written yourself). It sounds like The Kinks would fit in with this, as well as a lot of popular bands in the late seventies, early eighties. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was earthshattering in its day for not having two singles on it, but having, what, eight? Unheard of!

Yes, and then there are albums that are really great as a whole, but never really yielded any hits: Quadrophenia comes to mind.

Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty is a remarkable album considering it was recorded in hotel rooms, on the bus, backstage, live, etc. but 3 undeniably classic tracks? Probably not.

I could go on, and will. Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak. Someone already mentioned Ziggy Stardust, but I’ll mention it again. Or how about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Damn the Torpedoes. I guess my point is that you don’t need 3 hits for an album to work as a whole. I think we already knew that though.

[Cardinal]

@Leaffan

Kiss - Destroyer

• Detroit Rock City
• Shout It Out Loud
• Beth

I know this is biased, but I dispute this.

I actually do know “SIOL”, but I consider it a hack song that makes it on very cheap appeal.

I cannot sing DRC, even after listening to 95.5 KLOS Los Angeles for 20 years, and I only heard of the very existence of “Beth” in the past 7 years or so, and every performance I’ve heard has made me turn off the radio. And I’ve ONLY heard it on the type of radio station that has a very limited audience and has to go for the deep cuts to keep the diverse audience tuned in.

[gigi]

@mamboman

My bad! It’s Ralph to John (Ralph went out looking for a job, but he coudln’t find none… later on his name is Johnny, he’s waving a gun around and threatening to blow his top).

“Johnny 99” becomes his nickname after he gets nabbed for getting a gun and shooting the night clerk. I love that song! Although I’m ooged out by the idea mixing Tanqueray and wine. Pbbbt!

I see that Johnny Cash has an album including covers of Highway Patrolman and Johnny 99. I may have to consider getting that.

@Cardinal

and I only heard of the very existence of “Beth” in the past 7 years or so

Ooh! When I was in 6th and 7th grade, my friend Timmy Q was in love with Beth S and mooned over her and that song. It would have been around 1980.

[Dr.Rieux]

@Cardinal

I know this is biased, but I dispute this.

I actually do know “SIOL”, but I consider it a hack song that makes it on very cheap appeal.

I cannot sing DRC, even after listening to 95.5 KLOS Los Angeles for 20 years, and I only heard of the very existence of “Beth” in the past 7 years or so, and every performance I’ve heard has made me turn off the radio. And I’ve ONLY heard it on the type of radio station that has a very limited audience and has to go for the deep cuts to keep the diverse audience tuned in.

There are basically two kinds of people–those who thien “Beth” is KISS’s worst song ever, and those of us who think it’s their only good song ever.

[Ximenean]

@Wee Bairn

I gotta go with Tapestry as my fave (forgot who mentioned it)- “So Far Away”, “I Feel the Earth Move” and “It’s Too Late” are easily three of the best songs, ever.

Not to mention “You’ve Got a Friend”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” (those last two admittedly being Carole King covering earlier songs of hers made famous by other performers). Whatever the arguments to and fro in this thread, Tapestry easily qualifies.

[Spoke]

@Dr. Rieux

There are basically two kinds of people–those who thien “Beth” is KISS’s worst song ever, and those of us who think it’s their only good song ever.

Actually there are three types of people. But two out of three types of people agree that there is no such thing as a “classic” Kiss album.

[Max_Torque]

Well, I’ll throw one out and see who tears it apart with nasty big pointy teeth:

Blondie - Parallel Lines
Clearly, the first two are “Heart of Glass” and “One Way Or Another”, which is still being used in commercials. For the third, there are four options, all of which get play on the radio, all of which have a valid claim to the third-most-important-song spot. They are: “Hanging on the Telephone”, “Picture This”, “Will Anything Happen?”, and “Sunday Girl”, although not necessarily in that order.

Now, go ahead, shatter my illusions.

[Barrington]

@Max Torque

Blondie - Parallel Lines
Clearly, the first two are “Heart of Glass” and “One Way Or Another”, which is still being used in commercials. For the third, there are four options, all of which get play on the radio, all of which have a valid claim to the third-most-important-song spot. They are: “Hanging on the Telephone”, “Picture This”, “Will Anything Happen?”, and “Sunday Girl”, although not necessarily in that order.

No argument from this quarter, at least from a UK perspective. Good call.

[gigi]

@Max Torque

Well, I’ll throw one out and see who tears it apart with nasty big pointy teeth:

Blondie - Parallel Lines
Clearly, the first two are “Heart of Glass” and “One Way Or Another”, which is still being used in commercials. For the third, there are four options, all of which get play on the radio, all of which have a valid claim to the third-most-important-song spot. They are: “Hanging on the Telephone”, “Picture This”, “Will Anything Happen?”, and “Sunday Girl”, although not necessarily in that order.

Now, go ahead, shatter my illusions.

Sorry, I only hear “Heart of Glass” and very occasionally “One Way or Another” on the radio here. And I think OWoA only comes on because it was used in commercials and this reminded the radio stations that it existed. Not from Parallel Lines, but “The Tide Is High” and “Call Me” might also show up. But personally, I love the choice. I had all of Blondie’s albums as a teen and knew every tune.