Where's Dokken?
January 2, 2006 11:29 PM   Subscribe

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?
posted by Kattullus (21 comments total)
 
(The Belgian one?)
posted by ori at 11:50 PM on January 2, 2006


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.
posted by Dunwitty at 11:53 PM on January 2, 2006


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
posted by nenequesadilla at 12:09 AM on January 3, 2006


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).
posted by Kattullus at 12:36 AM on January 3, 2006


dEUS = awesome.
posted by mr.marx at 12:39 AM on January 3, 2006


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.
posted by TheDonF at 1:30 AM on January 3, 2006


No Belgian love for Hooverphonic??
posted by OneOliveShort at 2:40 AM on January 3, 2006


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.
posted by pracowity at 3:06 AM on January 3, 2006


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.
posted by prolific at 3:07 AM on January 3, 2006


16 British albums in the top 20 (17 if you count U2)

Don't ever let Bono catch you saying that!
posted by twistedonion at 3:21 AM on January 3, 2006


I have a dEUS CD. Haven't listened to it for a while (7/8 years!) though.
posted by dickdotcom at 5:54 AM on January 3, 2006


I knew Bee Thousand wasn't gonna be on any of those lists, but I still felt the compulsion to check just in case.
posted by Jezztek at 6:55 AM on January 3, 2006


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?"
posted by Duck_Lips at 6:57 AM on January 3, 2006


Penises.
posted by blag at 7:33 AM on January 3, 2006


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.
posted by tuxster at 7:50 AM on January 3, 2006


Stop the Pop!
posted by HTuttle at 7:53 AM on January 3, 2006


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.
posted by pracowity at 7:54 AM on January 3, 2006


"Hey, Dokken! You sukken Dokken!"

(Can anyone remember what comedian had that line?)
posted by The Bellman at 9:29 AM on January 3, 2006


tuxster, I did not know that. Thanks for the pointer.

So AllMusic really does not offer comparison values between bands/albums? That blows.
posted by Dunwitty at 10:35 AM on January 3, 2006


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).
posted by Kattullus at 10:51 AM on January 3, 2006


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.
posted by pracowity at 12:30 PM on January 3, 2006


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