Pantheon Artists prove their greatness by album #3. These artists are like the NBA greats (Jordan, Bird, Magic, Duncan, Kobe), while the newer artists are like the NBA players that are on the cusp of all time greatness (Durant, Lebron, Wade, Carmelo and Paul). The obvious Pantheon Artists and their 3rd album masterworks:
U2- War (and they kept improving on the next 3 albums)
Radiohead- O.K. Computer
Talking Heads- Fear of Music
Prince- Dirty Mind (you knew he was special and not even close to attaining what he was capable of)
The Clash- London Calling
Bruce Springsteen- Born to Run
David Bowie- The Man Who Sold the World
Jimi Hendrix- Electric Ladyland
The Who- The Who Sell Out
Led Zepplin- Led Zepplin III (not their best album, but still amazing)
The Velvet Underground- The Velvet Underground
Otis Redding- Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul
Metallica- Master of Puppets
Al Green- Al Green Gets Next To You
Elvis Costello- Armed Forces
Run- DMC- Raising Hell
The Smiths- The Queen is Dead
Not so obvious, but worth debating. For some it is too early to tell, while others may lead to people to disagree because their greatness is debated (i.e. Tom Petty, White stripes, Eminem, Aerosmith). But each of those created something masterful on number 3 and have sustained an excellent career arc:
The National- Alligator (sure, too early to tell and no one owns this album, but wow)
New Pornographers- Twin Cinema
The White Stripes- White Blood Cells (let the angry comments begin again)
The 77s- The 77s
The Choir- Chase the Kangaroo
Eminem- the Marshal Mathers Album
Aerosmith- Toys in the Attic (this surprised me, but I have to include it)
Ramones- Rocket to Russia
The Hold Steady- Boys and Girls in America
Tom Petty- Damn the Torpedoes
Vigilantes of Love- Killing Floor
Husker Du- Zen Arcade
2 comments:
Kudos for listing 'Twin Cinema' by the New Pornographers. Terrible name. Wonderful band.
They dipped a bit with 'Challengers' (the follow up to 'Twin Cinema'), but they've delivered another amazing album with 'Together.'
A special, special band.
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