• Got_Bent@lemmy.world
    5·
    6 months ago

    This was a real issue back when we had to buy full albums (cassettes) back in the eighties.

    Sure, we look back to some epic albums from that time, but a whole lot of them were the one top forty hit and a bunch of crap filler songs. But we had to suffer through it because we’d spent eight dollars of our hard earned money on that crap. (Eight dollars back then would be over twenty dollars in today money)

    It was groundbreaking when the CD listening stations came to record stores.

    All this said, I love listening to full albums and was one of THOSE guys back in the nineties who would seek out things like Japanese releases that had ever so slightly different versions of songs.

    • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
      2·
      6 months ago

      there are a few albums that only had a top 40 hit but were actually good all the way through, did u ever buy one of them? or was it all just filler?

      • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
        3·
        6 months ago

        That’s a good question. I gotta ponder that for a while.

        I can think of albums like Nothing’s Shocking that didn’t have any top forty hits but was good all the way through, but one hit supported by an entire good album, that’s a challenge.

        • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
          2·
          6 months ago

          steve mcqueen by prefab sprout comes to my mind. it only hit in the uk after its 3rd reissue of the single

          also pocketful of kryptonite by spin doctors is solid but i think it had 2 charting singles

          • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
            2·
            6 months ago

            It’s the one hit criteria that makes it tough. I didn’t much listen to anything top forty after 1985, so I can name a bunch of great indie albums that didn’t chart. But if it was a good album that charted, it likely had several hits on it. You’ve really posed a great challenge. It may take me a week to come up with something.

            • BigBananaDealer@lemm.ee
              2·
              6 months ago

              i thought of another but it depends on how much you like frank zappa, but it fits to a tee for me

              Ship Arriving Too Late To Save A Drowning Witch had Zappa’s ONLY top 40 hit ever, and is also a great album. But I’m a huge Zappa fan so YMMV

              • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
                2·
                6 months ago

                Found one that’s close.

                Oingo Boingo had Weird Science chart at 45 on Dead Man’s Party.

                They’re admittedly an acquired taste, but if you were in southern California in the eighties, they were… How do I state this? Foundational.

              • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
                2·
                6 months ago

                Zappa has always been tough for me. His stuff is so out there and so complex, you gotta actively listen to it like a hundred times before you can even scratch the surface of understanding it.

                The guy was definitely a generational musical genius.

          • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
            2·
            6 months ago

            I never could get into Paul Simon, especially after he had the gall to go steal Edie Brickell away from me. That bastard!

      • Got_Bent@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 months ago

        Found one - Skylarking by XTC. Dear God peaked at #37. No other songs charted. It’s long been one of my favorite albums.