Then the road just ended. There were detours, but they always came from the same from the main road. I discovered post-rock bands through screamo. I listened to some indie, but it was usually of the upbeat variety with clear roots in punk. I had only heard of Wilco because of something I'd read on AbsolutePunk.net.
I think most people do something similar to this. Music genres aren't like movies. People will watch any movie if it's supposed to be good. There are the always the people that don't like horror films or reading subtitles. I know I'll watch anything, and I have my favorites in all the big film genres. But music is somehow different. It would seem that most people know whether or not they'll like a hardcore band before they hear them. They don't like heavy and fast guitars, or they don't like the screaming and yelling. Most seek out music in the genres they know and love, not curious about all the other music out there.
This is fine. I certainly did it for 21 years. Most people certainly don't need to listen to screamy music. But I can't do it anymore.
I got sick of listening to instrumental post-rock bands that sound the same. I was listening to a large amount of post-rock. Long, slow builds. Epic songs of epic length. It's still a genre I love, but I think I burned myself out. I was still listening to screamo and a bunch of indie bands, but I wasn't interested in regressing. I turned to the popular music reviews of Pitchfork.com and AVClub.com; places I could discover all kinds of indie bands (and the occasional outlier). I didn't like this very much. I wasn't loving what they loved, and there wasn't enough musical variety amongst the good reviews.
One day, a new hire to the AVClub did a giant "primer" on metal, a genre I'd never had any interest in even though I'd liked metalcore (they really are often barely related, though lines are always being blurred by new bands). I checked out the primer, got a hold of some Black Sabbath and other bands, and found that I absolutely loved it. It was time to explore. A website I'd heard of and long forgotten came back into my life: rateyourmusic.com. It's the IMDB.com of music sites (user voted, user uploaded info for bands), but it held worlds of music I'd never been exposed to before.
Fast forward a year or so. I've explored many of the avenues heavy metal has to offer, but that's just the tip of the musical iceberg. I have a desire to consume all genres I've never had before. It's time to tackle.....The List.
Rateyourmusic.com has a 5,000 album list of the highest voted albums of all time. I've never given jazz a chance. I haven't listened to anything from earlier than 1991. I loved punk but didn't care about hearing The Ramones or The Clash. This is inexcusable as a music fan. Being user voted, that means the list includes lots of popular music, lots of stuff I've always ignored, and lots of stuff I've never heard of. That also means, like IMDB's Top 250, the list will be updated every month. Things will go up and down, new albums will appear.
I plan on covering these albums here, in brief (anywhere from 5-500 words), as I go. I'll never make it through 5,000 albums, and I don't intend to try. I'll just slog through this while I have some free time, hopefully expanding my musical tastes.
Now on to the top three albums of all time.
They're painfully boring choices in their obviousness, but I imagine they're also many people's favorites. In the past 3 months each of has rotated into and out of the top spot. So it's really like a tie for number one. Currently they are:
1. The Beatles - Revolver
2. Radiohead - OK Computer
3. The Beatles - Abbey Road
Abbey Road is so easily the best here. It's the first Beatles album I've ever listened to in full, and it remains my favorite. It's full of Beatles classics like "Octopus' Garden", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Come Together"; and includes Paul McCartney's greatest accomplishment with The Beatles, "Oh! Darling". Revolver is also great, but not nearly at the level of mastery as the later Abbey Road. Not every song is great, but most are.
I know I spent a good deal of time telling everybody I knew that I didn't care about this band. To my friends, I'm sorry. You'll still never hear me say they're the greatest of all time (I don't even think Abbey Road is the best album of 1969), but I've learned I was mistaken. Please one day forgive me.
Which leads me to Radiohead. I've been judged quite harshly in my days as a man unable to get into Radiohead. After giving OK Computer (always my favorite of theirs) a fresh listen, my critics will not be pleased. I still don't care. It's pretty good. It does not emotionally involve me at all. Sorry guys.
Up next: Dylan, Floyd, lots of jazz, and everything I ever told you I didn't like in high school.
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