Comments on: Where's Dokken?

Where's Dokken?

Kattullus — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:29:18 -0800

A Collection of 'All Time' Best Albums Charts from the US, UK, Netherlands & Belgium. Guess which chart has 3 dEUS albums in the top 20?

By: ori

ori — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:50:58 -0800

(The Belgian one?)

By: Dunwitty

Dunwitty — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 23:53:12 -0800

Well, AllMusic.com does give 3 out of their 4 albums 4.5 out of 5 stars... Disclaimer: I've never heard or heard of the band, nor am I Belgian.

By: nenequesadilla

nenequesadilla — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:09:50 -0800

You wouldn't be knockin' Dokken if you'd heard their live Beast From the East album. Oh thank you Columbia Music House. I think I still owe them 3 at full price

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:36:08 -0800

The dEUS thing was more a comment on how these things are a matter of culture. I could also have commented on how the 1998 Q readers' poll had 16 British albums in the top 20 (17 if you count U2).

By: mr.marx

mr.marx — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:39:16 -0800

dEUS = awesome.

By: TheDonF

TheDonF — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 01:30:52 -0800

I'm with mr.marx - dEUS is an excellent band. It's a shame that they're so unknown outside of Belgium (or at least that seems to be the case). Actually, Belgium's top 100 is quite cool: dEUS, Jeff Buckley, Eels, Tool, Therapy?, The Afghan Whigs, Tom Waits.

By: OneOliveShort

OneOliveShort — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 02:40:49 -0800

No Belgian love for Hooverphonic??

By: pracowity

pracowity — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 03:06:52 -0800

My favorite Belgian act is Big en Betsy. But, yes, these charts are of course biased, and not just according to nationality. That "2005 Studio Brussel Album 100" chart is based on that radio station's listener votes; listeners are self-selected to like a particular kind of music played by a particular kind of station, and so there is no such thing as, for example, jazz. Not one jazz album in the entire history of jazz, according to those listeners, is better than, for example, The Doors' "L.A. Woman" album. R&B does not exist. Country does not exist. Classical does not exist. There's probably a much bigger difference between the average American country listener and the average American jazz listener than there is between the average Belgian and the average American.

By: prolific

prolific — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 03:07:26 -0800

dEUS is fairly well known around Europe and they have played gigs in the UK and Ireland as well. They certainly deserve more recognition. dEUS' music isn't particularly 'European', so it should and could have wider appeal. Their song 'Hotellounge (Be The Death of Me)' is in my all time top 10.

By: twistedonion

twistedonion — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 03:21:41 -0800

16 British albums in the top 20 (17 if you count U2) Don't ever let Bono catch you saying that!

By: dickdotcom

dickdotcom — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 05:54:24 -0800

I have a dEUS CD. Haven't listened to it for a while (7/8 years!) though.

By: Jezztek

Jezztek — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 06:55:58 -0800

I knew Bee Thousand wasn't gonna be on any of those lists, but I still felt the compulsion to check just in case.

By: Duck_Lips

Duck_Lips — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 06:57:11 -0800

Two things. When I worked for a media company (MTV/Viacom) ,we used to say that our exports allowed other countries to subsidize their own higher culture with our cheap imports. Thus, we send sitcoms, they could fund Shakespeare. Plus it "leveled" the world ( I think this is Simon Frith's term). And, we could make buckets of dollars. Second, cultural hegemony aside, being from the U.S. I am actually a little envious when I travel abroad or look at charts like this. I'll go to some remote village, and kids know rap lyrics word-for-word. Not only do other cultures get all of our stuff, but they get their stuff, too. Isn't there some music/culture (even pop junk!) that we can call our own? Or is it just my cultural bias, is there tons of our culture that doesn't travel? What's big in the USA, that isn't "big in Japan?"

By: blag

blag — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 07:33:41 -0800

Penises.

By: tuxster

tuxster — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 07:50:39 -0800

Dunwitty writes "Well, AllMusic.com does give 3 out of their 4 albums 4.5 out of 5 stars... Just to be academically correct: AllMusic's ratings are relative within each artist's discography. That means, a 4.5 star dEUS album is not comparable to a 4.5 star U2 album. It simply means that with respect to within all the U2 albums, that specific one is better (according to AllMusic editors, which can be very subjective obviously) than another album with 2, 3, or 4 stars, but not as good as another U2 album that might have 5 stars. Read more about it at their FAQ.

By: HTuttle

HTuttle — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 07:53:04 -0800

Stop the Pop!

By: pracowity

pracowity — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 07:54:49 -0800

What's big in the USA, that isn't "big in Japan?" Look at the music sales chart from Japan here and here. If this is indicative of what people are listening to in Japan, they sure aren't listening to much American popular music.

By: The Bellman

The Bellman — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 09:29:59 -0800

"Hey, Dokken! You sukken Dokken!" (Can anyone remember what comedian had that line?)

By: Dunwitty

Dunwitty — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:35:01 -0800

tuxster, I did not know that. Thanks for the pointer. So AllMusic really does not offer comparison values between bands/albums? That blows.

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:51:43 -0800

Duck_Lips: Not only do other cultures get all of our stuff, but they get their stuff, too. Isn't there some music/culture (even pop junk!) that we can call our own? Europeans, such as myself, are always perplexed by the phenomenal success of Dave Matthews Band and Hooty and the Blowfish. I used to include Phish in that list, but after I married a Vermonter I've actually sort of come to appreciate them (a little bit). Prince Caspian is a damn fine song. Don't worry, there's a whole bunch of stuff that no one outside the US cares about. Foghat probably never had an arena tour of Europe (as much as I appreciate Foghat).

By: pracowity

pracowity — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 12:30:58 -0800

The Atlantic has protected me from Dave Matthews Band and Hootie and the Blowfish, too. I still don't even know what they sound like. Phish, I think I've heard a couple of times, if it's that band that sounds like old Genesis.