[TJ Elite]

 

  Did someone mention The Mars Volta yet. It seems they are ranked among the best Prog. Bands Of All Time List along with Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree...
 
Personally never heard of them but their on the top 12 prog. band list on Rolling Stones. I'm planning on trying them.  It's like progressive punk. 

It's the thing with shelving bands under subgenres as if these things have specific components to "fit". Mars Volta is not on the same shelve as other "prog" bands, imo. Not my thing at all but I give to them the creativity thumbs up.

They… are not for everyone.

 

[xaval]

Which is a good thing. One size fits all bands quickly join the radio charts and even quicker get forgotten unless they use under dress dancers with loads of lighting effects lol
 
You have to respect musicians/artists who are faithful to their own sound and personality.

 

[TJ Elite]

  Which is a good thing. One size fits all bands quickly join the radio charts and even quicker get forgotten unless they use under dress dancers with loads of lighting effects lol
 
You have to respect musicians/artists who are faithful to their own sound and personality.

That's pretty self-evident, I'd say.

 

I've… never really listened to radio. Radio was one of the major reasons it took me nearly the first two decades of my life to even attempt to listen to music and even consider the notion there might be music in the world that was actually good and worth listening to. For someone to whom music is probably the most important thing in life today that is a pretty big thing. It's pretty much safe to say that anything that gets played on radio is not something I would enjoy. Perhaps somewhere out there there exists a decent radio station, but of the music I've heard being played on radio 99.9% was not something I would voluntarily listen to. I think the quality today has even gone down from my childhood.

 

After trying a few different kinds of music, it was finally rock music that gave me my initial foothold into the world of music. As prominent as rock was in the early years for me, during the past couple of years I've grown tired of the vast majority of guitar-based music – even music I enjoyed in the past – apart from the very cream of the crop. In every genre I've ever encountered thus far, it is always about the top 10% of what's on offer that is even worth listening to for me. For rock music that has currently diminished to around 2–5%. I'm not sure if this is just a phase or what. Hopefully I can someday come back to the albums I used to like and be able to listen to them again. The majority of rock music just feels so uncreative, repetitive and stale to me now. Creatively, as far as guitar-based music goes, there seems to be a lot more going on on the metal side of things, but I'm extremely picky when it comes to metal as well and thus it takes quite a bit of research to find music that meets my standards. However, when you know where to look, some of the biggest things creatively today are happening in metal, and when you hear the right album it can be a quite transcendental experience, life-altering even.

 

I can't really have proper respect for any artists other than the ones you mentioned with faithfulness to what they want to do themselves as opposed to making music that their "fans" want. It's acts like Boris that I have to admire for their incredible vision and absolute disregard for what their fan base would want them to make (clones of their favorite albums by the band). I feel it is an artist's duty to deliver people what they don't know they need, not what the people think they want. I have very little interest personally in music that entertains me; I crave music that has an impact on my life, music that tells a story that words cannot express, music that will make me feel things, inspire me and stick with me through my life. There couldn't be a more meaningless thing in this world than what's the current number one single on top of the charts.

 

[xaval]

Sweet post TJ. Thanks! 

 

It's not very often we can read and discuss the essence of why we're getting poorer buying new equipment and music to enhance our quality of living and not just a collectors hobby.
 
I'll tell you about Texas radio and the big beat (/sounds like Jim Morrison)... when I was a kid there were very few opportunities to get to know new music. There was no internet or the little there was (for me) in through the 80s was good for other things not music related. 
 
There was radio, though, my small LP collection (and my parents) and my friend’s small LP collection... oh, yeah and cassettes for recording friend's small LP collection (hot arguments regarding which was the better tape. I know I loved BASF Chromium for almost anything. The Metal IV ones were for the really special stuff. So, Radio was the only way to listen to new music outside this little circle. Radio was big with my favorite programs scribbled on a small notebook page with the days and time of broadcast. 
 
Today there's a huge over exposure to music, thanks to the internet mainly.
 
Back in the day we had meets for listening to LPs, everyone would bring their small LP collection for the afternoon goodness. Huge importance was given to gear used on the recordings (yeah… what guitar is that guying using on this riff part), where it was recorded, “is this song really in the right place on side A, following this track?!”…My cart is better than yours... It was great!
 

We listened over and over to the same album sometimes for days.

 

Today many people I know don’t even care today to know who the artist is, let alone if it belongs to an album or if the song actually has a name. It’s just a file on a smartphone… in today, replaced tomorrow.

 

I wonder how much of this detachment with the artists’ work doesn’t help not to feel to be creative and elicit a real emotional response from the listener. No point as it will quickly be replaced by something else. This is beyond or parallel with the illegal download of music… Hence the general feeling that rock/pop music is not what it used to be for many.

 

Of course it’s not.

 

So… radio was the only way sometimes to find new music back then. Maybe I was lucky to have “good” radio programs. I still remember their name and when they were aired. Internet Radio is even better today. Poorer audio quality though. Nothing net based can even touch my Magnum Dynalab with an analogue program coming in.

 

I still listen to a lot of rock today. The thing is that most of it was recorded some time ago. I too feel a hard time, despite this over exposure to music, to discover new interesting artists that seem to really have something to say. I don’t remember 20 years ago of thinking “this is this year’s best rock album”. There were loads of new things coming in. This days it’s like… “wow, I finally listened to something new that’s really good this year”.

 

Some old stuff I cannot really connect to anymore. Others feel as fresh and new as if they are being played for the first time. Has a blast last night listening to Van Halen’s 1984!

 

I do completely  agree with you. Metal has been for the last decada where new and interesting stuff is being made and created. It’s challenging as many times it’s stuff I cannot simply feel any connection. It’s all right. Some other stuff is coming in great. I’m loving Opeth more and more to name a widely know band. I’m not sure I’m a metal fan, though. However, it’s the genre I feel compelled exploring.

 

Another genre I keep loving, today, is Jazz. I think Jazz is where artists can really expand and express themselves freely. Rock sold out some time ago. Not sure when it was… early 2000 with Napster? Not sure… Jazz is a tough one to get into. Loads of subgenres and playing techniques. I love that challenge.

 

Finally Classical. Too large of a catalogue to ever run out of. It’s a genre I really need to feel especially in the mood for, which doesn’t happen with Rock or Jazz. So, Classical is taking longer to develop… I have time J

 

[Hijodelbrx]

Cool thread! Some 'live' albums -
The Stones - Get Your Ya-Ya's Out
Johnny Winter And - Live
Hendrix - Band Of Gypsys
Edgar Winter's White Trash - Roadwork
Little Feat - Waiting For Columbus
Humble Pie - Rockin' The Fillmore
The Mothers - Live At The Fillmore
The Allman Bros. - Live At The Fillmore
David Lindley & El Rayo X - Live
Los Lobos - Live At The Fillmore
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Between Nothingness & Eternity
Taj Mahal - The Real Thing (Live At The Fillmore)

S'funny, I never bought a Guns 'n' Roses record but I dig Slash. His 2 records with Velvet Revolver and his latest 'World On Fire' is killa! Ol' skool slammin' crunch rock!

 

[YtseJamer]

This

 

[Harry Manback]

Queens of The Stone Age - debut album
The Eagles of Death Metal - Peace Love Death Metal
Tool - Undertow
Weezer - The Blue Album
Van Halen - debut album
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
Nine Inch Nails - Broken
Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
Tool - Aenima

 

[MacedonianHero]

Here are some of my favourite rock albums from the 1980s (when I was in high school):
 
1.) Van Halen - 1984
2.) Def Leppard - Hysteria
3.) Bruce Springsteen - Born in the USA
4.) U2 - Joshua Tree
5.) Black Sabbath - Heaven and Hell
6.) Jeff Healey - See the Light
7.) Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
8.) Metallica - The Black Album
9.) Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
10.) AC/DC - Back in Black

 

[rfan8312]

TaraDikov check out Mastodon album Once More Round The Sun. Great heavy rock album that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age meets Neurosis meets Infectious Grooves. An addictive album with a lot happening and creative playing.

 

[grols]

He heard the new album by Pink Floyd - The Endless River?
After 20 years, they are back

Its first song that i heard
PINK FLOYD - LOUDER THEN WORDS

[VIDEO]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzICIrKzXu0[/VIDEO]

 

[YtseJamer]

This album.
 

 

[xaval]

I'm a big fan of Katatonia myself. This is probably my fave:
 

 

[TRapz]

I don't know about anyone else here, but I don't really have a favorite album. I prefer to listen to my single favorite songs of a genre in a playlist, not full albums from the same artist. I really only listen to full albums from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, though these aren't necessarily my absolute favorite bands (Zeppelin and The Beatles are very high up though). From these, albums I listen to in full and recommend include The White Album, Sgt. Pepper's, Abbey Road, Revolver, Wish You Were Here, Dark Side Of The Moon, Full Moon Fever, Nevermind, and In Utero. 

 

[Karnoffel]

The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Ride - Nowhere
Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden
 
My reference albums. The late 80s/early 90s were definitely IMO the best years for sound quality. Lacking the murky analogue sound of the 70s and back, and the dynamic pains that are the albums post Morning Glory.

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

  I don't know about anyone else here, but I don't really have a favorite album. I prefer to listen to my single favorite songs of a genre in a playlist, not full albums from the same artist. I really only listen to full albums from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, though these aren't necessarily my absolute favorite bands (Zeppelin and The Beatles are very high up though). From these, albums I listen to in full and recommend include The White Album, Sgt. Pepper's, Abbey Road, Revolver, Wish You Were Here, Dark Side Of The Moon, Full Moon Fever, Nevermind, and In Utero. 

Same here. Back in my 7th grades I had 2 other friends and we would borrow CDs, rip them into mp3 and put the songs on random with Winamp or Jetaudio. That were how we became fans of Led Zepplein, Guns n' Roses, Metallica, Nirvana, Scorpions & Iron Maidens. 
 
But I do have an all-time-favorite album. "Best Ballads" by Guns n' Roses. Later it turned out to be a bootleg...