Tuesday, July 18, 2006

A List Without Controversy? Is it Possible?

The answer is no.

You see, I was looking through this book called 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and I love lists and such, so I thought it was a great concept. And then I saw something so horrible that it made me question the merit of the entire book.

How would this have happened you ask? Well, I flipped to page 864 and found out that one of the albums I must hear before I die turned out to be Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water by Limp Bizkit.

Allow me this Sheila Broflovski moment: wha Wha-WHAT?

Now, truth be told, yes, nu-metal is not my thing, and personally I think Fred Durst is about as appealing as an entertainer as a bowl full of septic tank runoff is as a meal. No, this wasn't about the fact that I don't like the band. It is the fact that they picked a horrible album by them, one that was largely panned. I mean, if they had taken one of their earlier albums, then I wouldn't have blinked an eye at it.

Now, I know the argument can be made that lists like these are a subjective kind of thing, and in all honesty, I agree with that. However, on some level, there is some concensus on what is and is not a good album, and I would have thought that a panel would have sifted through this process. I mean, there are always albums on these lists that I disagree with, and others that I think belong there, but never before have I been so stunned by an inclusion where money or services didn't change hands.

Maybe there is some critical gap between North America and Britain that caused this to happen. I mean, there has to be some explanation aside from the fact that Interscope records was underwriting the book, which is a tactic they've used in the past.

The proof is in the pudding really.



I mean, does this picture lie? Or does it represent too small a sample? How about this rating amalgamation then?

So I'll put it this way. I would rather die than listen to that album in this lifetime.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree!

I usually don't agree with most "lists" but anything by Limp Bizkit definitely shouldn't be on a list of "must hears" plain and simple.

MC said...

I'll put it this way. There are albums which I absolutely adore... like top 10 favorite work kind of thing, and I wouldn't have the nerve to put them on a list like this.

Anonymous said...

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

Fred Durst is a dickwad -- even the other members of Limp Bizkit can't stand his sorry ass. One particular Durst-related pet hate of mine is the video he did for Gothika, I think the song was "Behind Blue Eyes" or something equally dire by The Who. I used to flip the channel mostly, but sometimes Husband would want to see it and I'd sing along: "Nobody knows what it's like to be so gormless..."

Sorry about the rant, I really cannot stand this man!

MC said...

Rant away Red, rant away. After all, if you look at my technorati tags after his name, I do have what I really think about him.