You try to a good life and you realize we control so little when you see your picture being used to sell albums for people who own a harpsicord.
Yeah, this is someone with strong opinions who wants to go obscure. Even putting aside a bunch of artists I haven't heard of, going with a 2009 U2 album that I've never heard of over the extremely iconic The Joshua Tree cover is quite a choice.
This article is too easy. Let's go the other way -- music associated with a work of art. I claim "Pictures at an Exhibition"
I'm only at 32, I'm expecting #1 to be Nevermind, but now 1 is making me doubt that.
Ah, I hadn't realized they were repeating artists. I rescind my 6 complaint.
I don't agree with all of the choices, but I would still say that it was done about as well as you could ask -- informative, and reflective of a person's considered taste. It isn't the same as my taste but I appreciate that it doesn't try to be a "consensus" list.
I figured #1 would be Sargent Pepper. Well, not really- I kind of knew that would be too obvious.
10: Yeah, it doesn't look much like what my list would, but it's clear what he likes and why.
The Beatles were kind of overrated.
(Though part of me thinks any list of 50 that doesn't include an Ohio Players cover has misunderstood the assignment.)
This had better be number one or at least make the top 10
https://imgur.com/hands-down-best-album-cover-ive-ever-seen-mLFTRkf
Neat list!
I recognized 38 of them, which is maybe about what I expected. Fun to read informed and idiosyncratic opinion.
I didn't know #1, but it's a defensible choice.
(Sometime back a bracketology guy on twitter did "Most iconic first lines of popular songs," and he did use the rule of only one choice per artist. Advancement into the next round by poll. Inexplicably, his choice for The Beatles was "I heard the news today oh boy," which meant that Simon & Garfunkel eventually won the bracket.)
Most iconic first lines of popular songs
"Kick out the jams, motherfuckers!"
I recognised a lot of them. More than half. I think I own about a third of the albums on the list, but that's partly just because I have a lot of jazz and soul records.
As per comments above, the choices wouldn't be mine, but they are at least reflective of a certain kind of taste.
The two Grace Jones covers near the top are absolutely up there for me.
The Frank Wolff "BlueNote" covers are ubiquitous and they included some of my favourites (Hank Mobley and the Donald Byrd) but missed some great Sonny Rollins covers (the one for Volume 1 that Joe Jackson copied).
Most iconic first lines of popular songs
I'm not the biggest Weezer fan, but "What's with these homies dissing my girl?" pops right to mind.
Right up there with "Pump up the jam."
Said a hip, hop, the hippie to the hippie, the hip hip-a-hop and you don't stop a-rockin'.
Hear the drums echoing in the night.
I know I have an all-time favorite first line of a song, but I really can't seem to recall it right now. Some other favorites are:
"Even if I am in love with you, all this to say, what's it to you?"
"It's been 7 hours and 15 days, since you took your love away from me."
"I hope that our few remaining friends give up on trying to save us."
"Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I'm beggin' of you, please don't take my man."
"Turn down the lights, turn down the bed, turn down these voices inside my head."
"Put your lips close to mine, as long as they don't touch."
Oh, say. Can you see? By the dawns, early light.
24 is definitely it. Twinkle, twinkle little star is second.
Looking at some other lists, the Welcome to Aberdeen sign in Washington is such a delight:
Inexplicably, his choice for The Beatles was "I heard the news today oh boy,"
I don't get how that's inexplicable. What should have been chosen?
"Why don't we do it on the road?"
"She was just seventeen, and you know what I mean"
"I am he as you are he, as you are me and we are all together"
"Yesterday"
Is there a more iconic first line in a Beatles song?
I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused.
31 was me.
32 is a good one.
It's funny how money change a situation
31: There is "Living is easy with eyes closed"
One of my favorites isn't even correct, I always hear it as "Hot damn, summer in the city" rather than "hot town." But of course it wouldn't be "damn," what was I even thinking? I assume I knew the real one at some point.
The fact that I only needed the two words in 29 shows it is the correct answer....
Oh man, speaking of opening lines, it's not a good one but boy was it delightful when Learned League had a one-day themed trivia called "These Songs Actually Happened" and I got to tell RWM the answer to this question:
"A rock band called "Live" had a 1994 hit called "Lightning Crashes." A record company heard this song and actually decided it was good enough to release, like, for money. In the opening couplet of the song, what falls to the floor?"
31: Entirely gusty bus, but I think "I am he..." is a lot more iconic than the news.
I just realized that Doug misquoted the lyric -- it's not " I heard the news today oh boy," it's "I read the news today, oh boy". I'm sure you can all appreciate how iconic those lyrics are now.
31: Once I started thinking about it, I suppose there are lots of possibilities, given how much of their catalog overall is considered iconic.
Think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today
Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly
There are places I'll remember all my life, though some have changed
It's been a hard day's night and I've been working like a dog
THERES A BATHROOM ON THE RIGHT
"It's peanut butter jelly time."
44: Other than not being the opening lyric which is "I see a bathroom horizon."
41: My kid's guitar teacher teaches entirely through Beatles songs, so the Beatles are a far larger part of my life than I anticipated.
Has your child even seen a violin?
36: I think Yellowjackets cued up "Lightning Crashes" not long after a birth took place, but still had the good taste to edit out that part of the couplet.
29 is both the correct answer and also would have been my pick for #1 cover photograph.
I agree with 49. Certainly should have been in top 5 covers.
I like to think that 30 is just Stormcrow making smalltalk, in no particular context. Just sharing.
That's how he gets a whole row to himself on the bus.
JP Bremer on theme here, ranking the Catholic Hymms.
As a child, I found the lyrics "Lord let me cool your lips baked like clay" viscerally unpleasant. I also always chuckled at the lyrics "How many times have we nailed you up today," which is fun as an adult, but used to make me feel like I was going to hell. I don't know. This song sounds like the headaches I used to get while waiting for mass to be over with already. "How many times have we nailed you up today" is still so funny, though. I'm giggling.
I'm so pop culture illiterate I recognized maybe half a dozen of these, but I'm surprised that Nevermind wasn't on the list given how recognizable it is.
40: Whoops.
31: "It was twenty years ago today"
29: What song is that from? Search engines are, unsurprisingly, not helpful.
29: What song is that from? Search engines are, unsurprisingly, not helpful.
At the risk of being unhelpful, look at the #28 ranked cover photo (side 1 track 1)
58: That seems pretty helpful to me. Unhelpful would have been to point to the link in 53.
Let's have an unhelpful competition! Everyone goes first.
I think Prince should have been first, for the coy way he keeps his nipples safe from public view.
(I don't even have a nipple, let alone many nipples, to necessitate a nipple rack.)
I can't really rank nipples because I can't see Prince's.
64. He was surprisingly coy about his nipples! Or maybe WB was.
But was it a bluff or were they too amazing to show? That's the question.
In retrospect, they don't really stand out seem particularly exceptional, but as an eight-year-old, I'm pretty sure I considered these the ur-nipples.
I have a soft spot for psychedelic album art- Rick Griffin (Aoxomoxoa), Roger Dean, I love baroque layers of detail when it works.
I looked into trying to round up nineties rave flyers, decided not to. That was definitely an outburst of bottom-up creative expression with a lot of style. There are collectors....
All of these moments lost like tears in the rain
How can I ask this about his nips do they excite or unnerve?
There's some rumors goin all around
Cause they ain't been getting shown
I like to think that 30 is just Stormcrow making smalltalk, in no particular context. Just sharing.
And unbelievably (not really) I fucked even that up... "teapot" for fuck's sake, not "cup."
I an Stormcrow's Rampant Spout Aphasia.
62: Let's all rank our favorite nipples.
Tetilla Peak on the Caja del Rio. Which I would like to hike up sometime in the next few months (and a friend wants the hit the geocache on top).
[Note to teo: I am back in Santa Fe, and was able to get to the nearby petroglyphs at sunrise on the solstice and will share observations and photos if you email me at the linked address. Will also reach out via Bluesky.]
Sanctity is for weaklings.
36: Huh, Rob Sheffield plays LearnedLeague! And is in D Rundle. I knew 8/12.
Thinking about album covers sure is more pleasant than thinking about other things, but I don't have much to add. The Catholic list is fantastic.
70: Well sure, that's the song. But you, you're a little teacup.
Pilot Mountain, NC
https://www.visitmayberry.com/attractions/pilot-mountain-state-park/
That pervert Andy Taylor was always going there.
73: But you, you're a little teacup.
Nice. What are you wearing?
Prank comment! Prank comment! Don't respond! I don't know who wrote that!
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Mickey 17 is a blast. One of the lights in this darkening life is getting to watch Pattinson turn into a goddamn movie star.|>
Also, this time without accidentally quoting myself, I would have enjoyed it more if I had watched it totally cold. Not that it's a twisty spoilery thing, just that the first half hour would have been even funnier.
Also also, Anamaria Vartolomei performs a lovely subtle little trick. (Or, Bong gave her clever direction. Or, it was accidental gold. Cinema!)
Also^3, I'm seeing lots of little bitches complaining it isn't as good as Parasite. Nothing is as good as Parasite. That's an impossibly high standard. It's fun! Go have fun!
All the more reason to watch Mickey 17! The only place to go is up!
(In terms of film quality. Parasite is a real downer.)
Everyone list nipples movies they haven't seen.
Mossy, have you seen his Memories of Murder? I'd rate it as good or maybe even better than Parasite
85: No! So much K-darkness in my future!
Park Chan-Wook (who directed Oldboy) has directed a few episodes of and produced the serial drama Sympathizer, a surreal Vietnam war spy thriller, mixed Vietnamese and English. Uneven but Park's chapter's are fantastic, also the Apocalypse Now roast. All the powerful Americans are played by Robert Downey, there's a scene with five of him having a conversation.
I've been avoiding movies by Korean directors because the first thing I learned about a movie by one, I learned it was about eating your limbs on a train.
84: I've never seen ogged's nipples.
Oh my God, I was wrong
It was Ogged all along
16.3: Why men great 'til they gotta be great?
The dumb thread often didn't get heebie's jokes and worried that she was being made fun of.
The dumb thread should ftrust that I cherish it! and that my jokes sometimes lack coherence.
Stormcrow, I responded to you elsewhere with my email. Interested to hear your observations!
96: Just sent. Pepper me with questions. Also have mor epics than I included.
Tired tonight, however (heebie wore me out). Will respond tomorrow.
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Granted, according to the same monk, the citizens had behaved poorly, peeing on a copy of the Gospels that they then catapulted over the walls at the besiegers.|>
97.last: IYKWIMAITYD
The Third Branch.7 -> 99
Also, Kobe.
Pink Floyd, Dark Side is not there. Should it be?
For the covers it was limited to photographs not cover art in general.
Speaking of which, am used to seeing Who's Next show up, but I can see it probably not fitting the compiler's aesthetic.
Re Bong Joon Ho this is great news and a real timeline cleanse
https://bsky.app/profile/edataoldotcom.bsky.social/post/3lkzmhbcgjk2e
Thanks for the link, Nick.
I wonder if there's any lineage from Born in the U.S.A. to MAGA caps.
105: Not sure, but Cheech and Chong were prescient with "Born in East LA" in 1987.
Per Cheech Marin permission to parody was relatively easy to get since very early in his career Springsteen had opened for Cheech and Chong. Gig seems to have been one at West Chester University.
AIPMHOB, I saw Chong and his lawyer do a sidewalk press conference. But I didn't know what I was seeing until I saw the news that evening.
106.1: thanks for linking. I forgot how great that is. I wouldn't describe it as prescient though. That was something that happening at the time.
102: aha! Now that you pointed that out, the list makes a lot more sense to me
#/media/File:Prince_-_Prince.jpg){kind=link}
