200 Albums the recording industry thinks you need.

It's not just what's on that list, but where -- apparently Shania Twain's Come On Over is more essential than Who's Next, Songs in the Key of Life, Rumours, and The Wall, and albums by Eminem, Outkast, and the Dixie Chicks all rank ahead of Miles Davis' Some Kind of Blue.

Some what?!!

I own 12 of these myself. If my life isn't complete without the soundtracks to Footloose and Dirty Dancing, then I think I'm perfectly fine leading an empty existence.

The RIAA is only good for pelting with shitty used diapers.

Yeah, was multi-tasking and the "Some" slipped in there.

It's like a list compiled solely of albums from the 'Nice Price!' bin.

What a joke.
Although I have about 20 of those records.

At least Rush is on there, with predictably not their best album.

Shania Twain at 21.

David Bowie at 171.

WHAT is going on in the kitchen.

I own around 64 of those albums. And I'd say those 64 albums are the majority of the "big sellers" and "cultural phenomena" in my collection.

Lateralus HA HA HA HA

Did I really see a Creed album on there?

I own or have owned, in some format or another, about 70 or 80 of them.

Granted, it's a list composed of obvious best-sellers and LCD stuff that drives most "serious" music fans of all stripes nuts, but I think there's a place for it, though probably not the one its editors intended (which is clearly a feel-good-about-your-record-collection appeal to a very mainstream audience). It's instructive for a lot of us who spend our time listening to more obscure bands and the occasional high-quality best-seller. It's a way for me to keep perspective - most Americans probably DO think that Shania Twain is more important than the Clash and Black Sabbath.

Most Americans probably don't know who the Clash is.

I think I have 16 of those albums in some form.

I may be from Indiana but I know that phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust.

Oh, I don't know. They might remember that "Rock the Cash Bar" song.

Anyway, it's lists like these that help me remember that I'll probably get blank looks if I bring up the Velvet Underground at work.

I blame my taste in music for making me a water-cooler chit chat social hermit. But I don't want to fit in if that means listening to Linkin Park and Shania Twain.

I own 4 (!) of those albums. And I've never been prouder.

I'm sure they remember the song (and the wrong lyrics), but probably don't know the band name.

Okay, now I'm about to derail this thread - but I don't feel like starting a new one... but....

Velvet Underground/Lou Reed (probably more Lou Reed, but anyway) - I just don't get it. If you read about them, they have influenced EVERY SINGLE BAND ever... blah, blah, blah... and quotes like this (from Wikipedia)..

I've read a bunch of music threads here, and my choices are, for the most part, in line with a lot of yours. Sure, I have my guilty pleasures and things I know a 32 year old guy shouldn't listen to (I'm looking at you 30 Second to Mars) but I recognize that it's not "great" music, but just something I like to listen to. That being said - there isn't one VU or Lou Reed song I enjoy, not even in the slightest. In fact, Lou Reed speaking the lyrics to his songs like he is a drunk voice over guy just irritates me to no end...

Edit: I get why they have influenced people, my rant was mostly due to the fact that I can't stand them and everyone seem sto love them. I just feel so left out....

You shouldn't be. There are only three or four in the top 20 that aren't pretty essential. And there are probably 50 or so on the list, overall, that are pretty fantastic.

Just because some of the list is crap doesn't mean that all of it is.

I own 26. Screw you guys if OK Computer, And Justice For All, License To Ill, and Lateralus don't count as greatness.

Well, first off, the speak-singing is more pronounced in his 80s and 90s solo work than on the VU albums.

I know a lot of people with the same perspective, actually, though it's often sorely misinformed - for instance, my friend wrote off Lou Reed completely after hearing Set the Twilight Reeling, generally acknowledged as one of his worst albums. I can't quite explain the appeal - you get it or you don't, but I can explain the importance of the VU, to some extent (I won't bother with Reed's solo work, because, despite some absolutely phenomenal albums, I can't make a case for all of it. Plus, it's a seemingly futile task; I've barely been able to convert anyone to New York, which I think is so obviously one of the best rock albums of the late 80s.)

First, they were revolutionary in how tied they were to the avant-garde. There's the obvious Warhol connection, but even more importantly, there was the influence of 20th century experimental classical music on Cale and Reed - they brought this aesthetic to rock'n'roll (the drones, the deliberate minimalism, the use of electric viola, etc.).

Reed had a literary background that informed his lyrics. Sure, Dylan and others had certainly broadened the lyrical possibilities for rock, but Reed was the one who started incorporating dark and complex subject matter that, until that time, was foreign to rock. Sure, this included drugs and sex, but if that's all it was, they'd be no more important than the Doors. These were narratives with actual characters - identity problems and self-doubt plague Reed's protagonists. You don't find this stuff in the Beatles and Stones.

They were magnificently and un-self-consciously raw-sounding. Garage bands may have been sloppy, but that was a sort of lack of professionalism. The Velvets could actually play, to some extent, but they were assaultive - they recognized the dynamic possibilities of rock and could use it as a battering ram - at least, when they weren't going in the exact opposite direction with songs like "Pale Blue Eyes" and "Jesus."

I'm not sure exactly which albums you've heard by Reed solo or by the Velvet Underground, but that may have a pretty significant effect on how you take to them. The wrong Reed solo album, in particular, could probably breed some bitter hostility, if you hear it before the good stuff.

It's been said in many threads.. but damn DaveB is smart. Even if I don't always agree with what he says - not to many people can type so eloquently and get their point across.

So what are the essential VU albums or songs? I am much more familiar with Reed's solo stuff, so I am willing to give VU another shot.

That's fantastic, Dave. Seriously. I LOVE the VU, and you just made me appreciate them more.

They're all essential for various reasons, and there's only really four of them (minus live albums and non-album track collections). I'd start with the first one, the Velvet Underground and Nico. It's easily the most diverse of the bunch, and all of the songs are memorable. IMO, they decline chronologically in terms of quality (though not by all that much), but there are different aspects of the band fleshed out, release-by-release. White Light, White Heat focuses on the gnarlier, extreme stuff; the self-titled third album is mostly low-key and pretty; and Loaded is the most up-beat and poppy.

If you find yourself liking this stuff and want to give Reed's solo work another shot, try Berlin (it was The Wall before there was a The Wall - same producer even), the Blue Mask (the dueling guitars with the Voidoids' Robert Quine are amazing, and it shows a newly clean-and-sober Reed purging like Lennon on Plastic Ono Band), and New York (a product of its political and social time as much as Fear of a Black Planet - the references are dated, but the music's not).

No love for TRANSFORMER?

It's pretty amazing when you think VU + Nico came out the same year as SGT PEPPERS. One sounds as fresh and as vital as ever. And one sounds like, well, it's SGT PEPPERS. Pfft.

Dave gave Brian (and all) a very thourough and scholarly lesson on the importance of VU, hopefully the simple fact that they RAWKED wasn't lost in there - gotta go crank up European Son now.

If you don't really get the Velvet Underground, you probably aren't listening to enough older music. It's just like movies, the more you see the growth of the art form, the more you'll learn to appreciate those albums that everyone says were important to the art. Like Dave already mentioned, the VU were very important in terms of being artsy, yet still really rock, and the lyrics, and sometimes the delivery, was very fresh for the period. And like he said, they were actually decent musicians, so while a later band like the Stooges were just crappy musicians creating a really raw, punk sound, the VU did the same, but it was actually musically pleasant and well done (see the song White Light/White Heat).

Another aspect which I think was really introduced with the VU was just the vast difference in sound between every album. Off the top of my head, I can't think of too many bands that have had a particular sound to each album, and really managed to perfect the style featured on the album. A best-of album for the Velvet Underground really mustn't work because of the shifts between every album (and that the albums really don't contain any weak songs).

The Velvet Underground is by far my favourite band, and surely, there must be something that you can find of theirs to bring you into their sound. If you like something mellow, go for the stuff featuring Nico or most of the songs off their self-titled album. If you're more the type who enjoys classic rock, I dare you to dislike the songs 'Rock and Roll' or 'What Goes On', the latter being my introduction to the band. And 'Sister Ray' is the only song over 15 minutes that I can easily make it through. Finally, what band can claim that they've released nothing but classic albums throughout their career?

As an aside, I finally hear Squeeze for the first time not too long ago. It's not nearly as bad as fans make it out to be.

I figured if Brian had heard Reed solo, it was probably "Walk on the Wild Side," "Perfect Day," or "Satellite of Love," so I went with some others. Plus, I like Transformer okay, but I never got into it as much as the others. The only songs I own from Transformer are on the Between Thought and Expression box set, actually (and it sadly lacks "Perfect Day," but what can you do?).

I probably would have recommended Songs for 'Drella or Magic and Loss before it, but that's probably because I spent years with just the box set and the post-New York albums before getting into his non-VU back catalog (of which my knowledge is still pretty spotty, but Berlin and the Blue Mask are the standouts for me).

I own like 1 or 2 of those albums. What a shit list. I still don't see how Slint's Spiderland seems to get the shaft whenever these essential lists come up.

The O' Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack was a pleasant surprise. So was Dave Brubeck's 'Time Out', but I'd argue Bitches Brew is a more essential jazz album in terms of its players and the influence it had on the huge jazz fusion movement of the 1970s.

I own copies of around 60 of these picks. And most of them are great records.

Seriously? This list has Kenny G. on it, and you don't see how Slint gets the shaft?

I've actually seen Spiderland on a few, more indie-centric lists of this nature, but the fact is that, while it's good, it's simply NOT as essential as Houses of the Holy or Blood on the Tracks or It Takes a Nation of Millions... (or Doolittle or Daydream Nation or any number of other critic faves that didn't make the cut on this list because of Kid Rock or Phil Collins). It's hard to argue against the importance of some of those giant, dinosaur albums, even if it means that bands that are talented or important on a smaller scale don't always get props.

I know, I was just being a douche. Indie bands are never included on these lists. I like some of the stuff on this list. I know a lot of little bands don't get the respect they deserve until later on.

Yes they are. I'm shocked by the indifference that some have toward a good chunk of those albums. Almost a third of the list qualifies as essential listening if you're willing to ignore the huge cultural shadow looming over many of the choices.

I only own 4 of the albums on the list, but then I only own about 25 CDs total, so it's not that surprising.

Would've been nice to see Blondie - Parallel Lines on there, though.

There's no Talking Heads. Talking Heads is an important part of their era in rock. I'd call "The Name Of This Band Is Talking Heads" an essential rock album.

Even in this list's tendency toward popular appeal over critical cred, it's kind of surprising that none of their albums made it, since they have both. Although I'd think that Stop Making Sense or Remain in Light would probably have a better shot than an album that didn't get a U.S. CD release until three years ago (even if it's, in some ways, a better live album than Stop Making Sense).

But, then again, Kenny G.