Greatest Hits Bands

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Generally I'm not a huge fan of best of/greatest hits compilations, because I like to enjoy music in the context of the album it was originally released on. There's also something irritating about being given a certain song sequence, and sometimes those hits/best of compilations might leave off songs that I like. They also tend to ignore a lot of artists' "deep cuts". Another annoying thing is that these types of compilations often edit songs' lengths down in order to fit more tracks in. Plus, when it comes to especially popular groups like the beatles, their hits compilations start to become redundant. Like, I'd rather see a Beatles compilation that showcased some less famous songs or that featured only non-single, non-hit tracks.


That said, there's some artists who I am meh enough about that I find these types of compilations are usually enough for me. Examples for me include:

-Queen (maybe with the exception of A Night at the Opera, I usually find their albums to contain a lot of filler tracks I want to skip)
-Red Hot Chili Peppers
-Huey Lewis and the News
-New Order (although some of the early albums are pretty good from start to finish, I find that the Substance and Best of collections adequately cover the later periods for me.
-U2 after Zooropa



What are your thoughts on hits/best of compilations? Do you like them or find them annoying? Are there any artists for whom you'd be content just to buy the best of/hits compilations?

 

[neko 4]

I like these:
Classic Queen
Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Greatest Hits
Red Hot Chili Peppers What Hits?!

 

[cascadeco]

A long time ago I purchased one of Madonna's first greatest hits albums, as I think she had a lot of really catchy good songs in the 90's. I can't fathom ever buying the full albums she ever released, so can't comment on whether they are terrible or good or not. But I view her as a 'greatest hits' artist. I think Aerosmith falls into the same category in my eyes, but maybe not. They have tons of hits, but can't comment on their actual albums.

I also at one point bought the RHCP greatest hits album... again, can't comment on their individual albums but I LOVE a lot of their songs, individually, and listen to many pretty frequently.

I also only ever bought a Soundgarden greatest A/B sides album, but would be curious to know whether their actual albums are any good. For my own tastes, though, despite the talent, I honestly can't listen to the sound they create for a super long amount of time. I think there are some artists like that, where if you listen to a handful of songs in a row, or in isolation, great, but beyond that you just can't take it. [The singer for Bright Eyes comes to mind... ]

 

[rav3n]

I'm not usually a fan of best of albums or albums as a generality since bands stuff albums with sub par songs or listening to too many songs by the same band usually bores me. That said, I have two, sorta. Best of the Cure and A Tribute to Nine Inch Nails (other bands doing covers of NIN songs).

 

[The Cat]

I enjoy Greatest Hits Albums. If I like the greatest hits, I'll probably look into the wider portfolio.

 

[Morpeko]

What are your thoughts on hits/best of compilations? Do you like them or find them annoying?

For my favorite artists that become popular or extensive enough for said compilations, I won't be satisfied with just listening to their hits since I'd be missing a lot of their work that I like, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the music in the order they were meant to be enjoyed in their respective albums. I wouldn't go so far to find these compilations "annoying" though.

I think "best of" compilations are great for "iconic" artists toward which I feel lukewarm. It's a great way to listen to them casually, get a feel for their music, but not have to put the same investment and energy I would put into music I absolutely love. I think they tend to be good for background music, or for a quick karaoke session in my car.

Are there any artists for whom you'd be content just to buy the best of/hits compilations?

I rarely ever buy music, which is shitty but true. I only buy music from my favorite artists. I think the only "best of" compilation I bought was from Billy Joel (I've bought a couple of them, actually), but I've bought his other music as well.
I think Korn's The Essential Korn is actually an extensive selection that even includes some good lesser-known stuff (I guess since they're not as iconic as the other bands I've mentioned here) except for their shitty cover of Pink Floyd.

Here are some "best of" / "hits" compilations I like from artists that I wouldn't consider to be my favorites:

ABBA - Abba Gold: Greatest Hits (1992)
Depeche Mode - The Singles 81→85 (1985)
Queen - Greatest Hits I II & III: The Platinum Collection (2000)
The Cure - Greatest Hits (2001)
Duran Duran - Greatest (1998)
Styx - Greatest Hits (1995)
Boyz II Men - Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection (2001)

I like scanning through 1 by The Beatles, The Greatest Hits by Whitney Houston, and The Best of 1980-1990 by U2, but I wouldn't listen to them in their entirety again.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

For my favorite artists that become popular or extensive enough for said compilations, I won't be satisfied with just listening to their hits since I'd be missing a lot of their work that I like, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the music in the order they were meant to be enjoyed in their respective albums. I wouldn't go so far to find these compilations "annoying" though.

I think "best of" compilations are great for "iconic" artists toward which I feel lukewarm. It's a great way to listen to them casually, get a feel for their music, but not have to put the same investment and energy I would put into music I absolutely love. I think they tend to be good for background music, or for a quick karaoke session in my car.



I rarely ever buy music, which is shitty but true. I only buy music from my favorite artists. I think the only "best of" compilation I bought was from Billy Joel (I've bought a couple of them, actually), but I've bought his other music as well.
I think Korn's The Essential Korn is actually an extensive selection that even includes some good lesser-known stuff (I guess since they're not as iconic as the other bands I've mentioned here) except for their shitty cover of Pink Floyd.

Here are some "best of" / "hits" compilations I like from artists that I wouldn't consider to be my favorites:

ABBA - Abba Gold: Greatest Hits (1992)
Depeche Mode - The Singles 81→85 (1985)
Queen - Greatest Hits I II & III: The Platinum Collection (2000)
The Cure - Greatest Hits (2001)
Duran Duran - Greatest (1998)
Styx - Greatest Hits (1995)
Boyz II Men - Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection (2001)

I like scanning through 1 by The Beatles, The Greatest Hits by Whitney Houston, and The Best of 1980-1990 by U2, but I wouldn't listen to them in their entirety again.

I enjoy compilations that present some interesting narrative to artists' careers and/or serve as a nice supplement to their overall discographies. If the compilation includes a lot of non-album tracks or alternate versions of songs, then even better. Those Depeche Mode singles collections are great examples because a lot of the trakcs on them are single versions that differ from the album versions and have become increasingly difficult to find. In those cases, then compilations are necessary parts of artists' discographies. Like I'd buy a Radiohead B-Sides collection because they recorded a lot of really good tracks that didn't fit their albums and ended up as B-sides. Compiling all of them would take multiple albums' worth of space. And there was a Pink Floyd compilation I really enjoyed because not only did it feature some very difficult to find tracks, it also presented everything in an interesting sequence with seamless transitions between each track. In that sense, it became more than just another repetitive hits collection and served as a nice overview of their entire career. A good album when you don't want to listen to all of theirs in their entirety but still want that PF album flow. Another one I like is Changesonebowie by Bowie. It's not the most comprehensive set but it works nicely as an album in its own right. changestwobowie is even more interesting because the track selection is peculiar--mixing some hits with some odd choices of deep cuts that I wouldn't expect to see on hits collections, but a great entry point for someone who wants to hear tracks less likely to be heard on the radio, but maybe they aren't quite ready to dive into his albums yet.

 

[Burning Paradigm]

They're alright; I love the Queen, ABBA, and Bill Withers Greatest Hits albums. Sometimes, greatest hits albums might by their very nature obscure some of the lesser-known, but equally amazing songs.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I also like collections by film composers, like Ennio Morricone has several decent compilations. Getting through his discography can be tedious so those provide a good entry point. John Barry another good example, as tracking down some of those old scores can be difficult, but you can find a lot of those themes on various collections.

 

[Morpeko]

I enjoy compilations that present some interesting narrative to artists' careers and/or serve as a nice supplement to their overall discographies. If the compilation includes a lot of non-album tracks or alternate versions of songs, then even better. Those Depeche Mode singles collections are great examples because a lot of the trakcs on them are single versions that differ from the album versions and have become increasingly difficult to find. In those cases, then compilations are necessary parts of artists' discographies. Like I'd buy a Radiohead B-Sides collection because they recorded a lot of really good tracks that didn't fit their albums and ended up as B-sides. Compiling all of them would take multiple albums' worth of space. And there was a Pink Floyd compilation I really enjoyed because not only did it feature some very difficult to find tracks, it also presented everything in an interesting sequence with seamless transitions between each track. In that sense, it became more than just another repetitive hits collection and served as a nice overview of their entire career. A good album when you don't want to listen to all of theirs in their entirety but still want that PF album flow. Another one I like is Changesonebowie by Bowie. It's not the most comprehensive set but it works nicely as an album in its own right. changestwobowie is even more interesting because the track selection is peculiar--mixing some hits with some odd choices of deep cuts that I wouldn't expect to see on hits collections, but a great entry point for someone who wants to hear tracks less likely to be heard on the radio, but maybe they aren't quite ready to dive into his albums yet.

I agree, I like compilations that provide alternate versions or even knew content. They're different from just greatest hits, but still notable to mention. I was a bit wary of even including the Depeche Mode singles album in my list since it is unconventional; as you said the versions are quite different from what's on the albums. And yes the Radiohead B-sides compilation is great, I'd fee fine buying it as well. The Pink Floyd one you mention sounds interesting, what I dislike about some greatest hits album is the lack of flow between tracks so it would be cool to hear a compilation that actually keeps that in mind.

 

[Burning Paradigm]

I also like collections by film composers, like Ennio Morricone has several decent compilations. Getting through his discography can be tedious so those provide a good entry point.

RIP. One of the absolute greats. To me, his soundtracks are a weird combination of gritty and utopian. Like, they evoke imagery of harsh environments like the movies they're set in, but an odd sense of hope as well.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

RIP. One of the absolute greats. To me, his soundtracks are a weird combination of gritty and utopian. Like, they evoke imagery of harsh environments like the movies they're set in, but an odd sense of hope as well.

Yes. His music is good at simultaneously evoking conflicting emotions. He was a master at balancing pretty melodies with unsettling sounds. I can only think of a handful of film composers that came close to that. Maybe Goldsmith in some of his more avant garde sounding scores.. Alien has that main theme which is both haunting and majestic, that theme is quoted a lot in the score but it’s always behind a curtain of unearthly sounds and dissonance, it sounds like music ENNIO could have made

ENNIO also had a gift for producing “big” sounding scores on limited budgets with small orchestras. Especially in the spaghetti westerns he scored

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]