Going back to my Day 02 post, where I talked about how much I'd rather take a chance on an album than just buy a single, it should come as no surprise that I have a LOT of albums to choose from for this. There are a handful of bands that I put in my upper echelon, like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, NIN, and Muse, and at one point or another I owned every studio album from those four bands. Here and there over time, I have picked up hundreds of albums....and a good share of those have been stolen from me at one point or another, but that is a story I can tell some other time. Right now I have to choose some favorite albums and songs.
Now with this challenge, I could easily include EVERY album I have ever owned. The best album track may actually come from one of the worst albums I own....all it takes is one great song on the album. That being said, I weigh this one heavily in favor of my favorite albums....and therefore, more toward concept albums like Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall. Aside from those two albums, I'd also have to consider Led Zeppelin IV in the running for favorite album. Black Holes and Revelations from Muse would have to be up there too, considering that is by far the most listened to album for me since I've had an iPod. And Wish You Were Here is my favorite album from start to finish from my favorite band, Pink Floyd.
Other albums that really stick out to me are Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt, which is the only one on this list to have the designation of being stolen from me three times, and American Idiot by Green Day. Both have a couple strong candidates with songs like Don't Speak and Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Unfortunately, I just can't put them in the same category as the others.
Eminem has some great albums, and I'll always be very partial to Appetite for Destruction....but they can't contend either. Heather Nova's Oyster is definitely one of my favorite albums too, and probably comes the closest of the runners up so far....but it's still just a step behind the top front runners.
Seeing that I have named nine possible top albums, I might as well add one more to give me a de facto top ten. The Chronic by Dr. Dre was an amazing album all around, and introduced us to Snoop. There is no way I could leave that out....but again, it's not strong enough to me to be in the top 5.
So now, which of the top 5 do I choose? Or do I just choose which song I think is strongest out of them all, since they are so close in terms of being my favorite album? Alright....I am thinking way too hard about this. I'm just going to list my favorite songs from each, then compare them.
First, I have to mention Map of the Problematique off of Black Holes and Revelations. It is by FAR my most played song on iTunes, but just don't think this album will get the favorite track. Next, I'd have to bring up Dark Side of the Moon because I don't have just one favorite that sticks out. I rarely, if ever, listen to one song off of this album without listening to several of them. Because of that, I just can't give any of them the top spot.
The third album is The Wall. Just like Dark Side, I can't listen to just one song from this album....plus I can't help thinking about how neither of those albums is my favorite from the band. Which leads me to Wish You Were Here. This is my favorite album from start to finish, yet one that I often do listen to just one song at a time from. Have a Cigar and Wish You Were Here are both great songs individually and in the context of the album, but they still can't beat out my favorite album track.
Led Zeppelin IV is regarded by a lot of people as one of the best rock albums of all time, and I certainly agree. This is an album that I like and listen to as much as my mom did, if not more. One of the things that makes this album so good is the way it ends, leaving you on a really high note, and that high note is due to the orchestration and composition of Stairway to Heaven. The song is widely regarded as one of the best in rock, and for me it's easy to see why. The lyrics are great, and the way the song takes you from low and slow to high and mighty. I really can't say enough about this song and, in the end, I didn't really have to go through all of this to decide. With my first iPod I was offered free engraving for two lines on the back. My choice, after about this much debate, just happened to be lyrics from Stairway.
"Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven"
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