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February 13, 2002
4:37 AM Subscribe

are you a music loser?25 albums that make you a dido fan. how many have YOU got?
posted by nylon (95 comments total)

i got 6, but surely if the dido album, then u dont need any of the other 11 to qualify as a dido fan........ do u?
posted by monkeyJuice at 4:41 AM on February 13, 2002

I've got three, but none of them are for the reasons they list. What does this mean?
posted by j.edwards at 4:42 AM on February 13, 2002

i got 6, but surely if you have the dido album, then you dont need any of the other 11 to qualify as a dido fan........ do you?
posted by monkeyJuice at 4:42 AM on February 13, 2002

only four and i'm a music addict with loads of lps/cds. i suppose, dido fans are people without a particularly strong opinion about any music at all.
posted by arf at 4:46 AM on February 13, 2002

I've got 4... none of which are the Dido album.

"Look! a Flaw!"
posted by cheaily at 4:47 AM on February 13, 2002

humiliatingly i got three, but i'm so outraged by the explanation of why i have ok computer - i'm too scared of kid a, and paranoid android sounds like bohemian rhapsody (as good a reason as any not EVER to buy it) - that i don't think it counts. so mark me up as having two.
posted by nylon at 4:54 AM on February 13, 2002

ok, i've been away from metafilter (posting wise that is) for a long time (i'm sure to the quiet pleasure of a few) but this post has flushed me out of the woodwork.

there's so many good albums on this list, it's annoying. i suspect the rest of my day will now be spent in a crazy morpheus binge.

too bad the reviewer was just a tad glib. but that's in fashion these days, i suppose - especially at the guardian.
posted by will at 4:58 AM on February 13, 2002

Heh. I own none of this rubbish. Who is the boss of you? I AM THE BOSS OF YOU. (Where'd that come from? I forget).

I thought the inclusion of Bob Marley's Legend compilation was pretty sharp. The list should have included anyone who ever bought a Lee Scratch Perry record thinking that it was dub.
posted by chrisgregory at 5:06 AM on February 13, 2002

Who is Dido?
posted by bunnyfire at 5:11 AM on February 13, 2002

chris, what does "dub" mean?

i'm not hip to your hipster slang.
posted by will at 5:13 AM on February 13, 2002

....and what is this crap about Enya being for old farts????!!!

I am NOT going to tell you what the last cd I bought was ......
posted by bunnyfire at 5:22 AM on February 13, 2002

I'm a 3, but what I really want to know is whether Enya is a real person. Her voice sounds like the Human Voice setting on my old Casio CZ-5000 synth.
posted by tommasz at 5:25 AM on February 13, 2002

A brief history of dub:
http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/Meadow/8887/

I gotta admit, I probably stopped listening to popular music around the time DEVO got popular...

I still don't know what the difference is between techno and house music.
posted by chrisgregory at 5:27 AM on February 13, 2002

8 out of 25. Not too bad, but I'm closer to being a Dido than anyone here, so it seems.

And I shall second what j.edwards and will said. This list contains some truly excellent album, and even Dido's album, even if it's "easy listening", isn't THAT bad. Is good pop music just for losers now ? Do I have to be "underground" to be "in" ?
What the point of this list, really ? Being insultive ?

Then again, I'm not in my thirties, so that could explain why this guy's rules don't apply to me.

As for dub...
posted by XiBe at 5:29 AM on February 13, 2002

I have 8 of those albums listed and I can't stand Dido. But hey, I guess it was an easy column for Mr Jeffries to write during a musically-quiet midweek.
I too am nowhere near my thirties.
posted by williamtry at 5:38 AM on February 13, 2002

I have five -- and dido makes me cringe. Fluff piece.
posted by brand-gnu at 5:50 AM on February 13, 2002

okay. i seem to be beating you all with 13 out of 25, though i am not sure if that is a good thing. and why is there no #19 on this list?

you know, i dig dido, think she has an good voice, but her brother's band of musicians is so much more interesting.
posted by grabbingsand at 5:51 AM on February 13, 2002

3/25 (Chapman, Morisette, Vega) , but seeing that I have over 2,500 albums on CD & tape I don't think that is such a bad score.

Also I am still planning to buy OK Computer, so that would push me up 1 notch on the Dido scale.

and why is there no #19 on this list?
#19 got promoted to #5
posted by Berend at 5:56 AM on February 13, 2002

Nice article, but I think they forgot one album: Grace, by Jeff Buckley
Any others missing?
posted by jedro at 6:04 AM on February 13, 2002

I don't get it. I guess I'm a real "music loser" then. I only *own* two of the albums on this list, but I see nothing particularly wrong with most of them... What's the point?

and chrisgregory: "Who is the boss of you? Me! I am the boss of you! I AM THE BOSS OF YOU!" is from Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
posted by jozxyqk at 6:09 AM on February 13, 2002

I guess the point of the piece was to point out some of the albums over the past few years which have been bought by people because they thought they should.
Albums such as the Verve and Portishead's were good albums, but bought by people who'd heard maybe one song, or saw someone on TV playing them.

It's less about the music, more about the motivation for buying the music. Music journalist sneering at the record buying public, nothing new here, move along.....
posted by Markb at 6:10 AM on February 13, 2002

I thought it was pretty funny, as it listed all the albums from recent years that were hyped beyond too much by the more adult music journalists. Some of those albums may actually live up to the hype, but not many of them.

Personally, I scored two - Oasis and Radiohead. I don't play What's the Story much, so it probably deserves to be on the list. On the other hand, I still play OK Computer regularly and it still sounds as good as the day I bought it. (Actually it sounds better - it took 3 or 4 listens before I really 'got' it.)
posted by salmacis at 6:12 AM on February 13, 2002

So, if I get into the spirit of the article, and allow some substitutions (for instance, "Sense" by the Liightning Seeds instead of "Jollification," or "This Is Hardcore" instead of "Different Class") -- then I have a whopping 8/25! And I'm a college radio DJ and have lots of indie cred otherwise!

This was a pretty smart list, I laughed the whole time -- these are totally the CDs hip music people get seduced into buying despite their better judgment. I however would have added WEEZER to this list -- and who wants to bet that in four years they'll draw it up again with SIGUR ROS right on there? Hahaha -- Sigur Ros I hate you. Also, someone should put BJORK on there -- not Vespertine -- but maybe one of the earlier ones.
posted by josh at 6:13 AM on February 13, 2002

I own a bunch of Barenekkid Ladies and Sarah McLachlan too -- but maybe those aren't universal enough? Maybe Sarah McLachlan....
posted by josh at 6:15 AM on February 13, 2002

3 out of 25 (Solitude Standing, Graceland, Tracy Chapman's self-titled).

To demonstrate my utter cluelessness, I thought that Graceland was one of the best albums of the 80s. Why ask "Why"?
posted by alumshubby at 6:18 AM on February 13, 2002

I own, or have owned, four of those albums, but before I declare myself a dork I want to factor in the mitigating circumstances that they make up a miniscule percentage of my record collection, I have Pablo Honey, The Bends, Kid A, and Amnesiac, and I got Bob Marley's Legend as a gift in high school and it is far from the only reggae album in my collection.

But anyway, enough of my protesting too much. The people the article is picking on are the same kind of people who only read the books Oprah tells them to read. They don't think for themselves so much as just follow their chosen leader.

The article isn't ragging on the music, although I did experience a pang of pleasure to see The Strokes on the list. (I might be convinced they aren't all hype if they release another album or play different songs live, but so far, nothing.)
posted by jennyb at 6:35 AM on February 13, 2002

I actually have 2 of them.

But--woo hoo!--the new Chris Isaak CD came out yesterday, so today I could care less about all this pretentious musical hoopla. Wheee!
posted by rushmc at 6:42 AM on February 13, 2002

I have 6 but I haven't listened to any of them in a while. Anybody heard the New Pornographers lately? They're gooood.
posted by jojo at 6:48 AM on February 13, 2002

Well, I have Graceland - but it's on vinyl, and therefore immune from prosecution on a technicality. I plead guilty to owning and enjoying Legend.

To quote the cutting edge lyrics of Huey Lewis: it's hip to be square.
posted by groundhog at 6:51 AM on February 13, 2002

ha! 16/25, but that is a combined husband-wife collection & mp3s [and not just one song from the CD]

should i be ashamed? I would be...but i hate Oasis, so i feel redeemed.
posted by th3ph17 at 6:57 AM on February 13, 2002

I have some of those, but I have to say my WIFE has brought most of the 'didoish' music into the household. But then, I suppose mentioning my WIFE in this pretty much nails me as a Rogaine-spraying Neon-driving Want-to-sit-down-at-a-concert yuppie or something.

But I bought my stuff BEFORE it was cool, and still enjoy it not because it was the last good music to be made, but because it's good to listen to old and new stuff.

I don't care if anyone reads this, I feel a little more.. justified.
posted by fnirt at 6:57 AM on February 13, 2002

as i understand it, there are people who are amusical or 'tune-deaf'.

'They just cannot comprehend the basic components of melody such as meter, rhythm and pitch and consequently do not feel any emotion when listening. The disorder seems to affect men and women equally.'

this, coupled with peer pressure, advertising and a need to belong could explain why some people choose which music to purchase by looking at the pop charts, or believing the hype/reviews in the press.

oh, i scored 1 (or three if you count copies). i have a somewhat perverse approach to this type of thing; if it's on the radio 3 times an hour, why buy? as soon as you get it home you'll be sick of it, or it'll be out of fashion. if you are 'tune-deaf' music being out of fashion could be a disaster, how do you explain why you bought it? alternatively, if you still want to buy it after the hype has passed, check out the sales, it's bound to be there!
posted by asok at 6:57 AM on February 13, 2002

asok...some of the music on the list only gets radio play in the UK...most radiohead has never been on the air here in the US [like blur's Song Two hit here...its all anyone knows.] Lightening Seeds and Beautiful South can get on the charts in the UK and remain esoteric and obscure over here. Besides, who listens to the radio?
posted by th3ph17 at 7:09 AM on February 13, 2002

Shit. I have all but three(Madonna, Eminem and The Lightening Seeds))but have never heard of Dido. I hate The Guardian!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 7:25 AM on February 13, 2002

Only three: Joshua Tree, Play and Urban Hymn.... I listen to PLay regularly but the other two...
posted by Baud at 7:27 AM on February 13, 2002

Only three: Joshua Tree, Play and Urban Hymn.... I listen to PLay regularly but the other two...
posted by Baud at 7:28 AM on February 13, 2002

I own four of the albums on the list -- though I like more songs on Coldplay's album than just "Yellow" (even though they will be one-hit wonders, and even though that's the reason I bought it), and I never had the idea of air guitaring to it. OK Computer, What's the Story Morning Glory, and Graceland are all great albums. Is Graceland forgiven if you have the rest of Paul Simon's albums, even the ones that no one has?

Personally, I find these lists dumb. I listen to popular and obscure music equally as long as it's good. I switch easily between prog rock and Barenaked Ladies. So what?
posted by dagnyscott at 7:31 AM on February 13, 2002

I have to agree with MiguelCardoso here. articles that try and state why the author is cool and you are not really rub me the wrong way. Listen to music you like, fuck what the critics/other people/your friends say. If it's good, than dig it. If you think it sucks and you still buy it... well... Whooops. Sorry, just fell off the soapbox there.
posted by bob bisquick at 7:31 AM on February 13, 2002

Gives me a good deal of music to try out now. (13/25). I had heard of a bunch that sounded good, but the MarshallMathers-Eminem-kill-fags-and-women crap doesn't deserve to be on the same list as Moby, Lauryn Hill, and Radiohead. That's one of the reasons I'm not sure if I like Dido. Worked with Eminem. *shudder* Tough call.
posted by gramcracker at 7:37 AM on February 13, 2002

Yeah, it was Zork Grand Inquisitor...I remember now.

I thought the piece was funny, and I only recognised half the stuff. I don't think it's fair to dismiss the piece as fluff - any article espousing some preference in musical taste is obviously going to be highly subjective. You have to allow a certain amount of irony there.

In my own youth (I'm thirty two, almost), there were records which were played at every party, and which everyone seemed to have in their collections: The Cure's Head on the Door, the Stone Roses, the Violent Femmes (the album with the song that had the dirty word in it). This article was an attempt to put together a similar, more contemporary list of once essential recordings that are unlikely to stand the test of time...

That people have been so willing to admit to their Dido-ness is a positive thing. In Australia, we have a subculture of people we call dags. Dags are the sort of people that still listen to their old Duran Duran records, in other words, dedicated followers of now despised fashions.

And dags are kind of cool too. Why do you think so many Australian films still have an Abba fetish? Hell, I still listen to Gary Glitter.

Rise up and embrace your dagginess!

I mentioned Lee Scratch Perry because, in the same way that when most people think of reggae they think of Bob Marley (whose music was more of a mixture of reggae and mainstream pop, whatever the value of that music might be), people think of LS Perry when they think of dub (who was a genius in his own right, and frequently produced Bob Marley, but who never really made conventional dub records, given his tendency to overproduce things). People want to hear dub they're going to be better off starting with someone like King Tubby or Scientist.
posted by chrisgregory at 7:41 AM on February 13, 2002

I own all of these, but they are only a small part of my record collection. My "main" collection contains 394493 albums, not including vinyl, 8 tracks, cassettes, and musical legends preserved in pickle jars. Obviously I'm hipper than you.
posted by corpse at 7:50 AM on February 13, 2002

corpse: I'll trade Rick Allen's arm for Jerry Garcia's finger.
posted by groundhog at 8:01 AM on February 13, 2002

I have (or have had in the past) many of these albums, more than 12. Many of them (including Dido, especially the Radiohead) I learned about and sampled via Napster before buying the CD.

The article brings to mind how Green Day, once darlings of the Berkeley punk scene, lost their credibility once they became a national act. As if having more people enjoy your music automatically makes it bad. If nothing else, it points out that those who would buy a CD to be edgy and cool are as pathetic as those who would buy a CD to be like everyone else; in both cases, love for the music takes a back seat.

It also reminded me of a programmer who walked into my office one day proclaiming that the Stone Temple Pilots in my CD player, circa 1994, as a Creed knock-off. What a loser.

I'm with MiguelCardoso and bob bisquik...listen to what you love whatever it is.
posted by troybob at 8:09 AM on February 13, 2002

I've got zero. Thank you very much :)
posted by riffola at 8:13 AM on February 13, 2002

crazy aussie dags.

i still listen to duran duran every once in a while in order to keep my 'hungry like the wolf' karaoke skills honed to a fine sexy edge. are dags also into old aussie stuff like midnight oil, the church, split enz, men at work, and the silencers?

corpse...you have those in alphabetical order or by theme?
posted by th3ph17 at 8:18 AM on February 13, 2002

Troybob, do you remember Tre's Usenet posting(s) around the time they signed the major label deal? From memory they pretty much anticipated the backlash.
posted by jedro at 8:28 AM on February 13, 2002

Re: crazy aussie dags.

Yes. A friend told me today that he was going to be investing the results of a recent windfall in an entire collection of Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel recordings.

Myself, I'm a Skyhooks and Mental as Anything fan. Cue: If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?

I feel like I'm hogging the discussion here. Can you tell that I'm procrastinating?

Is anybody reading this prepared to admit to still owning a recording they once thought was cool but that they're now embarassed about?

Am I the only living fan of Martini Ranch, whose only hit was the 1984 song How Can the Laboring Man Find Time for Self-Culture? And if you do remember it, do you realise that the actor Bill Paxton was half of Martini Ranch?

Nostalgia can be a cruel mistress.
posted by chrisgregory at 8:29 AM on February 13, 2002

What does it mean if you bought No Angel back in the summer of '99 when it first came out and before Eminem or anyone at the WB had heard of Dido? What if you own Over the Rhine's Films for Radio which contains a Dido cover? I'm so confused. There doesn't seem to be any way to judge how not-cool my collection is.
posted by jburka at 8:29 AM on February 13, 2002

dido-eminem-stan it all makes sense to me now, thanks gramcracker! i think dave matthews band belongs on there, too. enya rules :)

Tiro! Êl eria e môr
I 'lir en êl luitha 'uren.
Ai! Aníron...
posted by kliuless at 8:39 AM on February 13, 2002

I actually have two of them, OK Computer and The Joshua Tree, which I agonized over buying before coming to the conclusion that I don't really give a rat's poop chute whether it's cool or not. Every once in a while I get an urge to hear "Running to Stand Still". So just back off, OK man?!

It's the same old thing of not being afraid of popular music anymore. Which is another symptom of this whole ageing thing. Another symptom is actually liking music on commercials, like when they put Nick Drake on the VW ad, or when you find yourself tapping your toes to that accursed Mitsubishi ad.

Some that were missed on the list (Hey that sounds like that Hall & Oates song):

That Breakfast at Tiffany's song
Primitive Radio Gods (that was the "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth song)
......and go ahead and bitch if you want, but I'd include Bjork on the short list with Dido and Portishead. And I do have a Portishead album...just not Dummy.
And Definitely the Dave Matthews Band.
And Counting Crows too.
posted by Kafkaesque at 8:52 AM on February 13, 2002

chrisgregory,

I have the EP of that song somewhere. Never realized that was Paxton though.
posted by alumshubby at 8:56 AM on February 13, 2002

i think dave matthews band belongs on there

I'm guessing they're not because the Guardian is a british paper and no-one's heard of them over here..... I know in the states they play stadiums, last year in London they struggled to fill clubs.
posted by brettski at 9:07 AM on February 13, 2002

damn browser.... sorry...
posted by brettski at 9:08 AM on February 13, 2002

alumshubby: And the song title is from an 1838 address to the Franklin Lectures delivered by the Unitarian William Ellery Channing. Visit http://www.athens.net/~wells/channing/selfculture.htm

What a bizarre way to be introduced to an admirable American.
posted by chrisgregory at 9:12 AM on February 13, 2002

I only have one of the mentioned albums, Radiohead's OK Computer, though nothing they said about me is true. My first Radiohead album was The Bends, and I now own all of their other albums, along with a collection of more than 80 B-Sides, unreleased tracks, demos, covers, and other rarities not found on their standard discography.

I guess you could call me a fan. Or slightly obsessed.

I'll have to politely disagree with Kafkaesque's assertion about Counting Crows. (I have nearly all of their B-Sides and such, too.)
posted by Danelope at 9:27 AM on February 13, 2002

Three. I have three of these CDs. Like Danelope, I too have OK Computer (and all the other Radiohead albums). Also Macy Gray (can't really defend myself here). And the Coldplay CD - I've even sung along to Yellow - but it's a bootleg disc I bought for about 50 cents in Vietnam, so I'm thinkin' I can get off on a technicality there.

Two. I have two of these CDs.
posted by varmint at 9:43 AM on February 13, 2002

I have a four of these albums - Legend, Joshua Tree (vinyl!), Mezzanine and OK Computer. That's out of a collection of around 1000 cd's, lp's and tapes.

I think that the author's premise-- that a lot of people are buying these records because they're perceived as 'cool' or 'hip' when they don't know what 'hip' really is anymore -- is a good one, tongue-in-cheek it may be. It happens all the time. It's happened to some of the coolest people I know. People grow up, have more important things in their lives thna music. Luckily this hasn't happened to me yet (I'm 30).

And of course many of us here will not own a lot of these due simply to the sheer Englishness of it.

I'm also reminded of a list that Pitchfork did a few years ago (sadly not online anymore) called "20 albums for people who don't like music". It listed the discs that your friends who own about 6 cd's have. Included: Legend, Abba Gold, Eagles Greatest vol II and the like.
posted by sauril at 10:16 AM on February 13, 2002

I have nine of the albums on the list. I don't have Carry On Up the Charts, but I have all of the Beautiful South's albums, so I suppose that counts. I also have Clannad, Dire Straits, and Enya, who were all mentioned in the article but weren't on the list. And I'll have to cross Radiohead, Portishead, and Lightning Seedshead off my list or else I'll climb even higher.

So I guess I'm in the "Dido demographic," but I don't care about being cool or being part of the scene; I like what I like.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:27 AM on February 13, 2002

It also reminded me of a programmer who walked into my office one day proclaiming that the Stone Temple Pilots in my CD player, circa 1994, as a Creed knock-off. What a loser
That reminds me of something similiar that happened here at work.... a co-worker, overhearing me listening to The Red Hot Chili Pepper's album "Freaky Styley, ( from...1985?) made the comment,
"All the new music sounds the same. That sounds just like my favorite band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. That band should be ashamed for trying to copy them."

heh.
I own 11 of these albums, and damnit, I love The Joshua Tree, so shoot me.
posted by bradth27 at 10:32 AM on February 13, 2002

Hi. My name is Jerseygirl and I'm a Dido.
posted by jerseygirl at 10:49 AM on February 13, 2002

I have twelve of them, and thought the article was a good laugh.
posted by todds at 10:51 AM on February 13, 2002

9/25 (10/25 if you count my girlfriend's Oasis album)

I stand unashamed! I love pop and I love pulp (along with more hip and enlightened fare. Play and read whatever jumps your trigger.
posted by edlark at 11:14 AM on February 13, 2002

What fascinates me more is the 'fandom' displayed by people who buy past-their-best artists albums, knowing that they're rubbish, but out of a bizarre sense of loyalty... I'm thinking Morrissey, Manics, et al here. BTW, I used to be a Stereolab completist, so I understand a little, but I stopped that. As far as the list, I got Coldplay, Moby, Radiohead, Pulp. I still think those 4 albums are amazing. I'd say it's more the co-existence of all the 24 in a small collection. It's a fair comment that the article attacks an easy target though...music just doesn't quite have the same significance in everybodies lives.
posted by boneybaloney at 11:31 AM on February 13, 2002

I have 3 of the 25.I'll put The Joshua Tree up against the band of the moment anytime.

I laugh at the ultra-vain hipster types.

That article was good for a laugh.
posted by BarneyFifesBullet at 11:43 AM on February 13, 2002

I *like* my Dido album! Don't have any of the others mentioned, though. What I collect of current music is usually stuff other people haven't heard of, some techno, ambient and world beat stuff.
posted by Lynsey at 11:46 AM on February 13, 2002

I have twelve. I like being a Dido.
posted by feelinglistless at 11:57 AM on February 13, 2002

8. I had lots of Marley on vinyl, picked up Legend cuz it had hits.

Joshua Tree is still good. Dummy I gave away, same with OK Computer. Never did like OK Computer, it got "rave reviews" tho', so what the hell ?

I think maybe some reviewers should be taken to task here ? huh ??

Lightning Seed's Sense would make it 9. It's all good.
posted by Mondo at 12:01 PM on February 13, 2002

I'm guessing they're not because the Guardian is a british paper and no-one's heard of them over here..... I know in the states they play stadiums, last year in London they struggled to fill clubs.

One of the more intriguing musical questions to me of the last 10-15 years is how and why the British and American musical scenes have almost completely diverged. Back in the 80s the top 40 charts in both countries were about 3/4 identical in any given week, and rather heavily skewed towards the Brit artists. Now maybe 20% of the British charts are American, and maybe 3-5% of the Americans charts are of British artists. Which is rather sad, as British rock - and even prefab pop - tends to be a lot better than the Americans'.

Anyway, this writer's musical elitism totally pisses me off, and now I'm going to go blast some 70s pop just to spite him. Maybe some Carpenters.

posted by aaron at 12:04 PM on February 13, 2002

By the way, I only rate a 2 (I have the Oasis and Paul Simon albums, though I seem to recall snarfing Graceland from my college radio station because they had six copies of it, none of which they were ever going to play in a million years). I've never been much into buying albums, unless they're greatest hits collections. To me, the fact that a group can create one song I like is not at all a reliable indicator that I'll be able to stand any of the other nine songs on their album, with a few rare exceptions (and was Jeff Lynne not God when he had ELO?) . Every individual song stands or falls on its own merits.

I have never, ever been able to understand true music fanatics, who own thousands of albums, buy several new ones every week, go to concerts practically every night, read Maximum Rock N Roll and know every single band mentioned inside every issue ... I wish I did, I wish I knew it was that I was missing, what I'm not grokking. And I must be missing something because it seems like 80% of the public fits my definition of "music fanatic" to some extent or another. But to me it's as inexplicable as most of the questions on that whole "are there other universes?" thread.
posted by aaron at 12:15 PM on February 13, 2002

Anybody heard the New Pornographers lately? They're
gooood.

My fate is intertwined with the New Pornagraphers... Last Saturday my band played a show in Madison about 10 blocks from where they were playing, I was really tempted to sneak out early and go see them, really good 60ish rock.

I had 3 of the albums on the list and listen to all of them from time to time (Ok Computer, The Man Who, and The Strokes) but can't say I bought them because of hype (especially since I never bought the Strokes)... Hmmm... The list was just kind of Snarky...

The American List would probably have Ryan Adams, At The Drive In, The Strokes, Coldplay, and Jimmy Eat World... Maybe. But most of those bands are good.
posted by drezdn at 12:18 PM on February 13, 2002

I give up.

I have retreated into old fartdom.

'Enya's Greatest Hits' playing softly in background...

well, look on the bright side...least it isn't Peter Frampton...
posted by bunnyfire at 1:26 PM on February 13, 2002

It also reminded me of a programmer who walked into my office one day proclaiming that the Stone Temple Pilots in my CD player, circa 1994, as a Creed knock-off.

Blasphemy.

Someone should take all forms of radios from that programmer. How in the bloody blue hell can you mistake STP for a Creed knockoff?

(STP's Core currently gracing the CD player.)

As for this:
"All the new music sounds the same. That sounds just like my favorite band, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. That band should be ashamed for trying to copy them."

Good grief, what an idiot. Let me guess they own one RHCP album and it's Blood Sugar Sex Magik? Which I do have and love, but I know a lot of people who are 'fans' who own just that album.

I'm done ranting now, as I'm showing my age.
posted by SuzySmith at 1:58 PM on February 13, 2002

Aaron brings up a good point. What would be on the list if it was referring to the sames type of musical sheep in the U.S.? Anybody in the U.S. that owns Pulp, Portishead, Lightning Seeds, Massive Attack, Texas, The Beautiful South or even the Verve would be considered way out of the mainstream. Not a lot of taste in the general public here in the U.S.

I have about 3000 cd's and have 12 on the list. I picked up Dido for $5 bucks in a used bin long berfore she broke here. That's about all the disc is worth.
posted by chainring at 2:09 PM on February 13, 2002

I have never, ever been able to understand true music fanatics, who own thousands of albums

Phew, only 1100, aaron will understand me.

Nine out of 25 (does it matter which?), and only two are less than essential. While the article is amusing enough, and its implications pretty accurate if you owned 12 of these in a small collection, in a large collection it could just as easily mean that you buy the occasional 'album of the moment' to keep in touch with what everyone else is listening to. Same way you might switch on 'ER' to see what all the fuss is about. Buying any particular album is a big deal if you buy one or two a year; it isn't if you buy one or two a week.

What's particularly amusing, though, is that this is a classic case of The Guardian attacking its own. Half its readers would be perfect 'Dido demographics'. I'll have to buy it over the next couple of days to read the enraged letters...

It's also amusing that an article on those who 'don't like music as much as they used to' is in the paper where former rock journo Julie Burchill, who covered '70s punk for the NME, now spends her valuable column inches bagging her ex-husband and her local council.
posted by rory at 2:29 PM on February 13, 2002

Oh.

I thought this was for albums that made me a "dildo" fan.. Gotta quit those Eveyln Wood courses.

Seriously though... Not one in my collection.

::::::huge sigh of relief::::::::
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 2:44 PM on February 13, 2002

Yet they don't mention PJ Harvey... anywhere.
posted by holloway at 2:46 PM on February 13, 2002

Or Buena Vista Social Club. Or Sinead O'Connor. Or A-Ha. Or Jeff Buckley. Or that you have the 'Pretty in Pink' soundtrack on LP, and 'The Breakfast Club' on DVD. And you absolutely must buy that new Tori Amos CD. Time to listen to Garbage.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 3:19 PM on February 13, 2002

That's one very funny article and contains much truth.

Oh, how having a job and having gone to law school severed my connection to good music!
posted by ParisParamus at 3:29 PM on February 13, 2002

0 out of 25 here. i'd have a much higher number if this was the "cute guy with acoustic guitar" list.

meg
posted by hazelmeg at 4:24 PM on February 13, 2002

chrisgregory: house and techno, while both being 4 on the floor are pretty different otherwise. Part of it is based on lineage, most techno is descended from the early detroit scene (and before that electro), where as house is comes out of the 80's chicago and new york club scenes (and before that disco).

musically, the genres usually sound pretty different, house is generally much warmer, smoother, and funkier, while techno tends towards harder more artificial sounds. to a large degree 'techno' became genericized as a catch-all for electronic music before 'electronica' started being bantered around lending much confusion. also, the recent popularity/fusing of progressive trance and house hasn't helped much either.

for those interested, here's a good starting point.
posted by lhl at 4:34 PM on February 13, 2002

SuzySmith: A programmer that thought STP was a creed knock-off? Did you mean it the other way around? STP's first disc came out in '92 and Creed's '97. Who's knocking off who? If this is the way you meant it no wonder radio is so horrible here. Even the PD's have no musical knowledge.

To the average person Creed does sound like STP but anybody who likes music knows better.

I was quoting someone from earlier in the thread. Core is STP's first album, which is what I'm still listening to now.

I just don't see how Creed and STP sound anything alike. There is no comparison.

And obontopic: I own 1 album off that list.
posted by SuzySmith at 6:14 PM on February 13, 2002

Well I scored a big fat zero.

The closest I came to the list is that I own the first three albums by Texas (they're from Scotland of all places!) but don't own "White on Blonde".

Maybe it would help if I listened to commercial radio, or college radio, or watched videos on the TV I don't own.

On second thought, it wouldn't help at all.
posted by hotmud at 7:17 PM on February 13, 2002

That Breakfast at Tiffany's song

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe that was the Counting Crows. :)

I scored 2/25: Coldplay & Moby.
posted by somethingotherthan at 7:32 PM on February 13, 2002

I thought STP was a Pearl Jam knockoff. :)

I own two albums on the list (Graceland and Joshua Tree) and I've got the mp3s for OK Computer.

All I can say is "eh".
posted by daveadams at 7:43 PM on February 13, 2002

0 of 25 here
i would own joshua tree if all my friends didn't have it. and i do mean all of them.
on the plus side i listen to sinatra. that's pop isn't it?
posted by juv3nal at 1:35 AM on February 14, 2002

3 dammit. And another thing - if you've heard brother Rollo's remix of sister Dido's "Here With Me", you might agree that she doesn't altogether deserve to be the demarcation diva - it's actually pretty good - there, I said it.
posted by Opus Dark at 1:57 AM on February 14, 2002

What's a Dido?

Jeez, I knew I wasn't paying attention to pop music, but I usually at least hear of people like this....

Eh, back to scarfing up German Neue Deutsche Welle bands on AudioGalaxy....

(2 out of 25, both on vinyl....)
posted by geneablogy at 6:20 AM on February 14, 2002

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" was by Deep Blue Something, a one-hit wonder if ever there was one.

I wasn't aware that Dido was such a lightening rod for musical dissent. I've got a bunch of these. Sue me for liking music. I've done the whole music snob thing, but ultimately all it is is an arrogant conceit, one that leaves you a bitter old grump who doesn't even like your *own* music anymore, let alone anyone else's.
posted by me3dia at 9:47 AM on February 14, 2002

I wasn't aware that Dido was such a lightening rod for musical dissent.

Her 'No Angel' was the biggest-selling album in the UK last year. Which of course means that nobody likes it. :)

(No, I don't own it; but hey, I heard 'Stan' once on Triple J in Melbourne, so paint me decrepit!)
posted by rory at 11:35 AM on February 14, 2002

I have ten of the albums.

I got Dido's album a while back but never actually took the time to listen to it until two weeks ago. Wow, it's actually really good. Although the best album this year is definitely 'Point' by Japanese weirdo Cornelius. But, yah, Dido is good.
posted by wackybrit at 2:46 AM on February 15, 2002

None,zero.
Didn't we have this what ru listening to discussion before??
posted by johnny7 at 9:42 AM on February 15, 2002

Well, I am unfamiliar with the artist, someone gave me Tracy Chaoman (zzzzz.....) and Legends sucked so bad when I heard it at a friend's house, that, well, I stopped collecting reggae--or was that Exodus? Wow, that one--talk about your fossil vomit ...

Gee, I've been gone a week and it's like I haven't missed a thing. No, I mean, really...
posted by y2karl at 11:02 AM on February 15, 2002

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