Thanks, Justin from Winds Howling, for your Blur-themed blogpost, which was based on a recent post of mine. I enjoyed reading it, and in return, I'd like to write something inspired by a post you wrote. You mentioned the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", and it reminded me of a book I've heard of before.
That book is 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, which has by now gone through several different editions. The core concept is the same, though: there are 1001 albums that are deemed so important, so exquisite, that you've got to hear them at some point in your life.
To be honest, I doubt I'll ever get through all 1001. Loads of them were released far before I was born, or are in genres I've never paid much attention to. I only got round to rap last year, after all. I also don't want to become a checkbox-ticking completionist, listening to all 1001 for the sake of it. I know the book's not saying "these are the only albums worth your time", obviously, that's another reason why I don't care that much. I'll continue listening to whatever I want to, and if it aligns with the book, then great. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.
Either way, I've decided to see how many albums I've listened to from the list. I found a website compiling all the albums from every edition, from In the Wee Small Hours by Frank Sinatra to Chemtrails Over the Country Club by Lana Del Rey. That's sixty-six years worth of albums, if you're curious - 1,089 albums in all.
My final score was 146/1089, which is...alright, I guess. I mean, I know I've still got a long way to go when it comes to listening to music, but it's not like I need to listen to everything, right? The oldest album on the list was Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, with the newest being To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. That covers fifty-six years worth of music, which I think is an alright range. However, I will admit most of the albums span the late 70s through to the 90s - I just like post-punk too much.
Scrolling through the list, I saw several albums which I probably wouldn't include in a book like this. For example, Franz Ferdinand's debut is great and has some terrific tracks on there, but it's not life-changing, really. Linkin Park are a decent band, sure, but do people really need to hear Hybrid Theory? I also found myself seeing some artists and wondering why that album was chosen, and not any of their other works. It's a very subjective list for sure, then again I suppose music isn't exactly something you can easily rate.
There were also several experimental albums I wouldn't recommend if you prefer your music having melody, such as Kollaps by Einstürzende Neubauten. That's a German industrial album from 1981, by the way. I've listened to it purely because Depeche Mode were inspired by their music, so I gave it a go, and came away slightly confused. That said, I do think everyone should listen to at least one out there album in their life, if only to hear how far you can push the limit on what music is. I also don't know if Kollaps is the album for that job.
If you want to hear all 1001 albums from the latest edition, why not sign up over here? This is a website where you get to listen to one of the 1001 albums every day, maybe leave a review, and see what everyone else thinks. I might end up taking part as well, if only to alleviate boredom. Who knows, maybe you'll find a new favourite album!
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