# Earliest non-descriptive album title. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013 "2017-04-22T19:18:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/1 "2017-04-22T19:18:40Z")
My mind went in a weird direction this morning. The Grateful Dead’s _Aoxomoxoa_ was playing on the radio and it got me thinking - that was a meaningless album title. It isn’t the title of a song, a phrase in a song on the album, the artist’s name or nickname, nor was it in any way descriptive of the album itself. Then I started thinking of other such album titles, and couldn’t come up with any. I’m sure they are out there. So, Doper music buffs - what is the _earliest_ album title you can find that is the _least_ descriptive? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/2 "2017-04-22T19:21:15Z")
Zep 4? ETA: Beatles White album. . ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/3 "2017-04-22T19:23:28Z")
_Ummagumma_ came to mind immediately, but it turns out to be 4 months younger than the OP’s offering. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/4 "2017-04-22T19:46:52Z")
_Surrealistic Pillow_, Jefferson Airplane, February 1, 1967? ---
**Author:** ![DMGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@DMGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/5 "2017-04-22T20:17:26Z")
Disraeli Gears—Cream Rubber Soul—Beatles ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/6 "2017-04-22T21:05:13Z")
Elvis released “Something for Everybody” on 6/17/1961, although I guess that is still descriptive. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/7 "2017-04-22T21:26:17Z")
Both Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” and Zappa’s “Freak Out” came out in 1966, and both titles seem to fit. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/8 "2017-04-22T21:27:00Z")
“Voice of the Xtabay” by Yma Sumac, 1950/ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/9 "2017-04-22T21:54:53Z")
Sinatrahad “Poit of No Return” in 1962. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2017, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/10 "2017-04-22T22:53:38Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Zep 4? > > ETA: Beatles White album. > > . The Beatles “White Album” was actually titled “The Beatles”. Led Zeppelin’s fourth album technically has no title, so I don’t know if that fits the bill for the OP or not. How about Blue Cheer’s _Vincebus Eruptum_ (released 1/16/68)? Does _In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida_ count? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/11 "2017-04-23T00:33:59Z")
The Bonzo Dog Band did “Gorilla” in 1967 and “The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse” the next year.The former did have a gorilla on the cover. Their third album, “Tadpoles,” also had nothing to do with anything on the album. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/12 "2017-04-23T02:28:36Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Does _In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida_ count? 😃 No, because there’s a song on the album with the same name. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/13 "2017-04-23T02:51:53Z")
I wonder when the first recording of Erik Satie’s “Trois morceaux en forme de poire” (Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear) was. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/14 "2017-04-23T03:02:37Z")
The Kinks’ 1966 album [Face To Face](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_to_Face_(The_Kinks_album)) also, I think, qualifies (with the added bonus that the album cover doesn’t show the artist or anything related to the album’s musical content). ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/15 "2017-04-23T03:04:19Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > “Voice of the Xtabay” by Yma Sumac, 1950/ Also in 1950 “Souvenir Album” by Ella Fitzgerald ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/16 "2017-04-23T03:18:11Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > The Beatles “White Album” was actually titled “The Beatles”. An older sister, who was in college in 1968, bequeathed me a day-glo pink pin-on button reading “The Beatles is Coming.” Confused the hell out of me for years until I realized it was a promotional button for the White Album. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/17 "2017-04-23T12:32:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Both Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde” and Zappa’s “Freak Out” came out in 1966, and both titles seem to fit. Correction: It’s _Freak Out!_ by the Mothers of Invention. Of the well known albums mentioned so far, _Rubber Soul_ has the lead: December 3, 1965. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/18 "2017-04-24T11:55:42Z")
In the UK **Donovan** released his 1st album, What’s [Bin Did and What’s Bin Hid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_Bin_Did_and_What%27s_Bin_Hid#Track_listinghttp://), in May 1965, 7 months ahead of the aforementioned Rubber Soul! In the US, though, it was re-titled after one of the songs on it, _Catch the Wind_. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/19 "2017-04-24T12:25:55Z")
Okay, what about “Point of No Return” by Frank Sinatra, in 1962? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013/20 "2017-04-24T12:30:40Z")
It dawned on me that hip jazz artists must have used odd titles before the rock era. How about the 1959 “Ah Um” album by Charles Mingus? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-non-descriptive-album-title/785013.md?page=2)