The Gist of it.

During my first year of college, I compiled a massive list of all the classic albums that were supposedly great, and I began to embark on a personal quest on a massive scale. Over the course of about 22 months, I listened to over 475 albums. During this quest, my friends often requested my list for themselves and encouraged me to blog about it, which is what is happening here.

That was years ago. I’ve finally decided that I would share my experience with as many people as I could. I would encourage people to listen and think for themselves while sharing my own thoughts. The whole point of the Quest is to provide a definitive crash course on popular recorded music of the last century. If that’s what you came here for, I guarantee you are in the right place.

What’s actually being done here?

I showcase an album of what I call “popular recorded music,” as the “Featured Album.” Spend the week listening to it. Jam it on your commute. Rock it in the living room. Doze off to it in bed. Then we can share thoughts and look forward to the next album.

What are we listening to? What makes a “great album”?

This blog focuses on “popular recorded music”, a term that I invented to distinguish it from written classical compositions or live improvised jazz, or any other such thing. The style of music that usually involves recorded tracks of songs listed together in a single opus referred to as an “album,” or “long play,” usually between 30 and 60 minutes long. When I talk about a “great” album, for these purposes I’m talking about:

1. A collection of songs consisting of good music
2. Somehow a source of influence for the future of music

It’s too vague a definition, I know. Just about every album capable of touching the heart of a human being fills those requirements. I don’t want to come across as a curmudgeon critic, smashing people’s favorite albums because they don’t fit my cultured taste. But I also want to choose albums that truly inspired people, not just that novelty hit from the 1980s that can only offer nostalgia to the table. The result is a list of albums that are “great” because, well, because I say so. And even I have had to exclude some of my favorite albums from this list because they had too much of a niche audience or didn’t make a big splash. Don’t think of this list as a definitive list of every album called “great”. Think of it as a conversation starter, something to think about when you turn on the radio or browse Spotify, so you’re aware of the forces at play when people follow or break trends.  

What’s the list?

The list is…kind of classified for now. I am the only one who currently holds the final version, and I want to stress some points about the albums we’ll be listening:

• The list is in chronological order. I’m not the first person to do a blog like this (Rawckus and Sputnikmusic.com have had similar projects), but I haven’t seen anyone do it like this. It’ll be a wild ride.
• The list is incomplete. There’s always something you miss. I’ve already said this enough, but I want to underscore that no list of great albums in existence includes every single one, because they are innumerable.
• I am totally open to suggestions. Please contact me for any that you have! No guarantees, but I’ll never know that I missed something unless you tell me.

Enjoy. I’ll see you soon!

Gratuitous Backstory: A Tale of a Quest…

I love music. And even more, I love to share it with people. And this love, over time, grew so great that I simply had to do something about it. I could not remain inactive. The world had to hear music.

The story begins sometime in mid-2014.

When I was in high school, I was obsessed with rock music history. I decided to start a club to help evangelize this love. I sent in the club application form for the “Great Albums Club.” Mondays at lunch. All are welcome. The school year was like taking a tour of music history that everyone could participate in. We’d start with jazz and blues of the 50s and end on 2000s indie rock, with everything in between. You could trace the arcs of musical styles while listening to your favorite classic records. It was everything you wanted!

The club was the greatest club in the school. It was also technically a failure, but no less great. Sharing art is always better than keeping it to yourself, and there was always a feeling of wonderful togetherness when my friends and I ate lunch in the tiny little classroom, listening to Pink Floyd or Radiohead and shooting the breeze. Of course, it was only a matter of time before my project met its slow, decaying end. I lasted for about a few months before I got restless again and planned something on an even more needlessly epic scale – I compiled a list of hundreds of albums and listened to pretty much all of them. It took me almost two years of listening pretty constantly, but I finally got it done. And now, I’d like to do it all over again -with you to accompany me, dear reader! ONWARD!