Rank the Artists Discographies You Can't Live Without

[PHATJ]

I feel like this list would be very short for me right now. Would I be able to live without hearing my favorite "legacy" artists like Pearl Jam or Radiohead or Led Zeppelin again? Yes. I love them, but it's not like I need to listen to them all the time anymore.

Also, a lot of my most essential listening these days is album specific. I don't need the artist's full catalog.

So, all of that considered, I think that leaves me with a total of three artists I feel like I really need:

Kanye West
The Dillinger Escape Plan
Acid Bath

Well in THAT case...

Imagine Dragons

Bammer gonna bam

[chewm]

1.REM
2.Sleater-Kinney
3.Pearl Jam
4.Built to Spill

[Higgs]

Midnight Oil
The Clash (including Joe Strummer's solo stuff)
Joy Division
Nick Cave
Pearl Jam
Thelonious Monk

[Kevin Davis]

What are some of your favorite Monk albums, Higgs?

[Higgs]

Just today I listened again to 'Live with Coletrane at Carnegie Hall', and for sure that is up there. I also quite love Brilliant Corners and Monk's Music.

Interestingly though, if you were to have asked what was the Monk album that I most often go to as a default option it would be "Thelonious Monk - Complete Originals Vol 5" curated by one Kevin Davis.

You can't really go wrong with Monk though, can you?

[ABNorman]

The Beatles
Joanna Newsom
Pearl Jam
Tom Waits
Run the Jewels

[LetMeSleep]

Bob Dylan
Pearl Jam
Springsteen
Paw
Laura Marling
Arctic Monkeys
Bon Iver

[Kevin Davis]

Just today I listened again to 'Live with Coletrane at Carnegie Hall', and for sure that is up there. I also quite love Brilliant Corners and Monk's Music.

Interestingly though, if you were to have asked what was the Monk album that I most often go to as a default option it would be "Thelonious Monk - Complete Originals Vol 5" curated by one Kevin Davis.

You can't really go wrong with Monk though, can you?

Hey, that makes my day! And no, you really can't, which is one of the things I love about him -- his career doesn't have the same forward creative arc as Miles or Coltrane, but it's dependable and consistent from the first note to the last, which puts the focus squarely on the songs and the performances.

Overall "Solo Monk" has gotta be my favorite -- an intimate take on a few tested Monk classics, some ad-libbed, off-the-cuff new originals, and a slew of crookedly skewered pop standards.

[Bammer]

Since the rules of this thread have been clarified:

Pearl Jam (and extended family tree)
Alice In Chains
Counting Crows
Silverchair
Tom Petty
Jimi Hendrix
The Killers / Brandon Flowers
Michael Jackson / Jackson 5
Rage Against The Machine
Jimmy Eat World
Snoop & Dre
Boyz II Men
Death Cab For Cutie
Eminem
Tool
Oasis
Regina Spektor
Tupac

[guestT]

i was approaching it as "artists for whom a greatest hits/best of comp would not be sufficient for you."

meaning that in the nightmare universe where these lists would be necessary, you would still have a access to comps by artists not on your list. but no b-sides, deep cuts, etc.

[tragabigzanda]

[LoathedVermin72]

I made my list from a standpoint of "artists who changed my fundamental outlook on life."

I have no idea how people can quanitfy something like that.

[Kaius]

I made my list from a standpoint of "artists who changed my fundamental outlook on life."

I have no idea how people can quanitfy something like that.

Same here. This happens basically every time I discover a new artist that I really like, which is probably every month on average.

[tragabigzanda]

[stip]

1. Pearl Jam
2. R.E.M.
3. Mark Lanegan
4. Tom Waits

[evenslow]

1. The Beatles
2. Pearl Jam
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Stevie Wonder
5. Elvis Costello

and then in no particular order cuz it's too hard...

Outkast
Ryan Adams
Fleetwood Mac
The Clash
The Walkmen (and Hamilton Leithauser solo)
Spoon
Prince
Michael Jackson
Fiona Apple
Kanye West
Al Green
Bruce Springsteen
The Black Crowes
The Strokes
David Bowie

[Bammer]

Serious lack of female vocalists here, ya jerks.

[Kaius]

Um, Prince, HELLO

[guestT]

alright i'll sub in kathleen edwards for the stones

[PHATJ]

Serious lack of female vocalists here, ya jerks.

I tend to love female vocalists, but only for specific songs and not so much for entire albums, or even more rarely entire careers. There are some exceptions, most notably would probably be Tori Amos.