The most played records – ever!
Here’s an interesting question for you. What’s the most played album in your collection?
I overheard someone talking about this very subject this morning and although they were probably referring to the present time, it set my mind thinking. So during a bored moment at a conference today, I found myself speculating on what my most played records ever might be.
The following list is based on 25 years of accumulated music buying and listening, and comprises the records that I have probably put on the ghettoblaster / walkman / family hi-fi system / bedroom CD player / turntable / ipod most during that time.
So in no particular order of painful authenticity:
- Colour by Numbers – Culture Club
- Grand Prix or Songs from Northern Britain - Teenage Fanclub
- West Side Story – Original film soundtrack
- Whitney – Whitney Houston
- Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
- Liberty Bell and the Black Diamond Express – The Go-Betweens
- My Favourite Things – John Coltrane
- America’s Greatest Hits - America
- Extricate – The Fall
- True Blue – Madonna
And I still play all of these records quite a lot to this day. Yes, really.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:34 am
1- Smiley Smile/Wild Honey
2- Nevermind
3- Pet Sounds
4- The Holy Bible
5- Automatic For The People
6-Tiger Bay
7- Dirty
8- Marquee Moon
9- Yoshimi
10- Ok Computer
Ah well, that’s me outed………..
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:47 am
Ooooh, that is interesting Ill Man. Deconstructing your list, I’m seeing someone who started really getting into music in 1991 and whose self is torn between angst/misery (isn’t Automatic for the People the most miserable REM album ever?) and pure pop… ;)
I’m really impressed by your list and the fact that you actually play these records a lot. My selection doesn’t especially reflect my favourite albums. It’s what I have been most likely to chuck on the stereo in my life. I mean, I don’t come home from work of an evening and make tea while listening to The Holy Bible.
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:49 am
Best of Echo & the Bunnymen.
Lowlife by New Order
Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth
Best of Aretha Franklin
The first Portishead LP
Elvisbelt by Cud
London 0 Hull 4 by The Housemartins
Bach’s Goldberg Variations (I have a cheapy Naxos recording)
Automatic for the People by REM
Suedehead by Morrissey
Allegri Miserere by Tallis scholars
Touch Me I’m Sick by Mudhoney (in fact that whole ep)
Ace of Spades by Motorhead
Bend Sinister by The Fall
As to children’s records we had a Wombles LP that had such classics as “Hall of the Mountain Womble” on it plus Johnny Morris doing Thomas the Tank Engine complete with weird sound effects
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hmmm a toughie but I’d guess top 5
Sex Pistols – NMTB
Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street
Mother Earth – People Tree
XTC – Nonsuch
The Beatles – Side 2 of Abbey Road
December 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Well, as I suspected you’ve all got very good music taste, but you all must have been very cool teenagers!
As much as I have played say, Sonic Youth, Bob Dylan or Calexico a lot over the past 15 years, nothing will make up for the fact that I played Whitney Houston and Madonna practically every day between the ages of 12 and 15.
I can’t believe you don’t like ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ and ‘Octopus’s Garden’, Planet Mondo?!
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 am
C:
I know it looks cooler than thou but I was being honest, my first gig was to see New Order and Billy Bragg. It’s not a snobbish thing i just never had any whitney records. I maybe exorcised my pop demons by me and mate djing for under 16’s disco we use to play enough dollar, madonna and whitney there (along with blue monday, HMHB and other indie fare) so never played it at home. And now when I don’t care ever more so what people think and play music I like I still don’t pop on girls aloud but good luck to those who do.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Sorry Cocktails, didn’t make that very clear. My list is similar to yours, in that it reflects what I’ve played most over my life. It’s been an eternity since I played the Holy Bible, but there was a time……..
As for Automatic For The People, again, it was an album I played a lot once upon a time.
I missed the whole ‘pre-cool’ thing with music. First album I bought was Nevermind, closely followed by Marquee Moon and Copper Blue. Prior to that, it was my fathers Simon & Garfunkel tapes in the car.
The CD currently getting slammed on at every opportunity is ‘That Lucky Old Sun’ by Brian Wilson. It’s a wee belter.
I
December 3rd, 2008 at 2:21 pm
That is a cool post. I had never really thought about that. I’m not sure if I could think up a list like that or not. I do know there are certain artists that have gotten a lot of play from me over the years, such as Prince, Madonna, Elton John, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Dean Martin, etc. I”ve got 1, 4, 5, and 10 on your list.
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Ill Man, do you still play Copper Blue? I never got into it and gave it away some years ago with absolutely no regrets.
Keith, it is a really interesting exercise. Well, it kept me amused for a bit. And I’m pleased to see that somebody else likes Whitney Houston and Culture Club!
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:20 pm
1. New Boots and Panties – Ian Dury and the Blockheads
2. Hunky Dory- DAvid Bowie
3. Computer World- Kraftwerk
4. New Gold Dream- Simple Minds
5. Reproduction – Human League
6. Swagger- Blue Aeroplanes
7. Gentlemen Take Polaroids- Japan
8. Head On The Door- The Cure
9. Pin Ups- DAvid Bowie
10. No More Heroes- The Stranglers
Hunky Dory and Pin Ups were the only two albums I owned in early adolescence, as they were given to me by my big sister when she left home when I was twelve. A pretty good bequest, actually. I played them incessantly on the family ‘radiogram’ (ask your parents). New Boots and Panties was the first LP I bought with my own pocket money, and has been on heavy rotation ever since (as an Essex girl, it described my surroundings right back to me). No More Heroes was the second…
Head On The Door was around as I was leaving University, and was my ‘mourning student life’ record. Swagger was the nineties for me – trying to find some guitars among all the dance crap of the day.
A bit of a shame there’s nothing too recent in that lot, but that’s how it goes, kids…
December 4th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Copper Blue is a decent album. I have to be in the mood for it though. It’s nothing spectacular, just noisy guitar pop. Their second album was unlistenable sludge, and their third tried too hard to be commercial.
I did like Bob Mould’s solo album ‘The Last Dog & Pony Show’. I play it more often than Copper Blue.
December 4th, 2008 at 11:36 am
ISBW, that’s another very cool list! Although the jury is out on Simple Minds…
The Blue Aeroplanes is an interesting selection. I really like them too and ‘Beatsongs’ might have even had made it on to the list, had I been less honest about my early love of Culture Club and ongoing devotion to American 70s MOR.
And Ill Man, I didn’t even know that Bob Mould was still around, let alone doing more solo work.
December 4th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
The Jury already ruled on simple Minds ISBW is right they are ok up to new gold dream!!
December 4th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I think they’re ok up to Belfast Child personally. OK, but not cool!
December 4th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I stand by New Gold Dream! It was their swansong though.
Beat Songs was a fine album, but I saw the Blue Aeroplanes at least fifteen times up to and around the Swagger era, astounding gigs all, so it reigns supreme.
Excellent post – generated some good stuff!
December 4th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Colour By Numbers and (to a lesser extent) True Blue are classic albums. I may have to go home and listen to Victims, forthwith.
And Copper Blue is yer actual rock pop genius. Hoover Dam would be enough to ensure that I would always buy Bob Mould any drink of his choosing, whenever he wanted. If I ever saw him, that was. If he lived next door to me, I might modify the terms of the offer.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:43 am
ISBW, I am envious. I have never seen the Blue Aeroplanes live and I’ve always been curious as to what Gerard Langley is actually like in ‘real life’. He comes across as an interesting chap…
Dylan, I do believe that Rolling Stone magazine included Colour by Numbers in their top albums of the 1980s. Entirely justified I think.
Just don’t get Copper Blue though. As I said, I gave my copy away and I don’t think I’d be in a hurry to get it back. I still listen to Candy Apple Grey though sometimes. Imagine living next door to Bob Mould! He looks like a man who’d be happy to lend you his ladder.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Bit of a tough one trying to guess at these. But I think these are they:
- Prefab Sprout : Steve McQueen (though I’ve also been through phases with Jordan: The Comeback and The Gunman and Other Stories)
- Steely Dan: Aja
- The Carpenters: cassette compilation from the eight (count them) scratched-up lps languishing to this day in my record collection
- Everything But The Girl: Eden
- The High Llamas: Snowbug
- Frank Sinatra: Come Fly With Me
- Trash Can Sinatras: Weightlifting
- Stereolab: limited issue “Best of” collection (i.e. only available on my iPod)
- Stevie Wonder: Greatest Hits Vol.1
- Jackie Wilson: Greatest Hits
- Teenage Fanclub: yes I think I waver between Grand Prix and Songs From Northern Britain too
I would say that they probably indicate my tendency towards music as comfort food. Not much aggression or confrontation here. Never did have much time for punk…
And don’t you think there’s a danger of over-playing music so that however great it just eventually becomes slightly mundane? I think I might ha’ve got to this stage with Stereolab and “Jordan: The Comeback”.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Music as comfort food. Hoops, my list is very much like that. And those records are the type that stand up to me overplaying them.
I have another list of records which I really, really love but never play because they are just too good to be slapped on to do the ironing to or after a day at work. There’s another blog post – music that is too good to listen to!
You know, I’ve never really got into Aja. I have a copy but rarely play it. I tend to stick on Can’t Buy a Thrill or Pretzel Logic. I might have to have another listen to Aja now. I’ve also been attempting to get a copy of Weightlifting on and off for quite a while. It’s hard to track down it seems.
BTW, I did get a copy of the Rachel Unthank CD and you’re right, it’s very, very good!
December 8th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
The Smiths – The Smiths
Grace – Jeff Buckley
Pet Sounds – Beach Boys
Songs From Northern Britan – Teenage Fanclub
Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space – Spirtualized (probably the most played album)
Everyone Plays Darts – Darts (from my distant childhood)
Cut – The Slits
December 8th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Hello there, Marmite Boy. Some fine albums you’ve listed and it’s always good to see another vote for Teenage Fanclub.
That Spiritualised album is a corker, but is probably more of a contender for my ‘too good to play’ list. Have you ever seen them live? They’re meant to be amazing.