# Greatest Hits rip-offs! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733 "2007-04-26T13:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/101 "2007-04-27T18:31:23Z")
[QUOTE=McNew] Years ago I realized I had a hankerin’ for some Sinatra. Find myself in a record store and scout out the biggest Sinatra compilation I could find- _Sinatra 80th- All The Best_. A quick glance at the back shows 40 (40!) songs on 2 discs. Perfect. Everything I’ll want must be on here, since after all it’s called “All The Best”. Get it home, put in the first disc and inspect further. No “The Way You Look Tonight”. No “Fly Me To The Moon”. No “It Was A Very Good Year”. No Summer Wind". No “That’s Life”. No “My Way”. Grrrrr. [/QUOTE] With guys like Sinatra, Ray Charles or B.B. King, where they have a really long recording career on several record labels, those “Best of” compilations are often “\*\*The Very Best of Frank Sinatra \*\* from 1973-1977 when he was on our label.” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/102 "2007-04-27T18:41:54Z")
[QUOTE=Quint] Didn’t realize there were two pages to this one. I’ll be in the corner with the duncecap on. [/QUOTE] That’d be mighty white of you. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/103 "2007-04-27T18:53:04Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] My pet peeve is the GH of Don McLean that has a shortened version of American Pie :mad: [/QUOTE] I bought an album of his “classics”. Instead of the version of “Vincent” that was on the American Pie LP, it had some subsequent recording that was just horrible. Slowed down and over-emphasized – sounded like a cover done by a third-rate lounge singer. More generally, any re-recording of a classic song on a greatest hits (or live) album where they toy with the tempo or the lyrics irritates me. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/104 "2007-04-27T19:10:47Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] That’d be mighty white of you. [/QUOTE] You people who keep repeating the “mighty white of you” “joke” are doin’ it up brown, aren’t you? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/105 "2007-04-27T19:13:19Z")
Yes, it’s kind of a black mark on the SDMB’s record of only beating ultra-simulpost jokes to death. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/106 "2007-04-27T22:24:40Z")
Okay, guys. No more of this hijack; let’s get back to the discussion of the OP. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/107 "2007-04-27T22:40:14Z")
One of my dreams has always been to be a successful and popular musician, release a bunch of albums, and then release a greatest hits album called “Don’t Worry, FuSoYa Guarentees You Will Recognize Every Song on This Album” Personally, I’m not a fan of Greatest Hits albums, #1 because if I like an artist enough to actually buy their album, I would want to hear their entire repitoire. I tend to have a unique taste in music, and often lesser known songs are the ones I like the best. #2 Greatest Hits albums are often put together by the label, rather than the artist, and they often tend to lack the flow between songs that a planned out album gets. This matters more for some artists than others. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/108 "2007-04-27T23:01:24Z")
My worst disappointment with a greatest hits album was “Melanie’s Greatest Hits” on cassette that didn’t have “Brand new key” on it. I was totally bummed. ---
**Author:** ![percussion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/109 "2007-04-27T23:15:40Z")
[QUOTE=cmkeller] Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits (at least Volumes 1 and 2, circa 1985) do not contain _Scenes from an Italian Restaurant_. There are numerous other great Billy Joel songs that didn’t make the cut as well, but I don’t hear them on the radio at all -that one got (and gets) so much air play it should certainly should have qualified. Celine Dion’s Greatest Hits doesn’t include _Where Does My Heart Beat Now_, which was her first big hit in the English-music world. [/QUOTE] my copy of billy joels GH vol one and two has Scenes from an Italian Restaurant ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/110 "2007-04-28T00:33:47Z")
My best of Patsy Cline released in 2000 has no songs after 1963!! A different type of ripoff, The Harder They Come soundtrack, which is pretty much a reggae greatest hits package, has two songs that are on both side one and two! ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/111 "2007-04-28T01:29:55Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] My best of Patsy Cline released in 2000 has no songs after 1963!! [/QUOTE] […groan…] 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/112 "2007-04-28T03:38:43Z")
iTunes, sorted by “Popular”, people. This problem is largely solved. [Emusic.com](http://Emusic.com) for the indie bands. Seriously. You’re complaining about CD reissues? Who buys those? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733/113 "2007-04-28T03:54:57Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] Seriously. You’re complaining about CD reissues? Who buys those? [/QUOTE] People like me, who aren’t interested in mp3s or proprietary lossy compression for music. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-rip-offs/401733.md?page=5)