Sacred Cows
 

Idea that came to me due to a comment made on one of my journals.

Is there an album seen to be sacrosanct that you don't rate? One that you hear everyone rave about or revere and wonder what the hell is the big deal?
Without being nasty of course, I'd invite people to discuss either what makes an album sacred and why, or why they think it doesn't deserve the praise it gets.
Led Zep IV? The Wall? Loveless? Pananoid? Ziggy Stardust? Selling England? Any other album? Why or why not?

The Wall I can't see The Wall as a sacred cow. Dark Side of the Moon is their magnum opus which is tauted by critic and fans (and even casual fans) alike. My favorite album by Pink Floyd is Animals. It's the album I would rather play. I don't see it get much mention compared to the other two. I can't go more than 20 minutes listening to the car radio without hearing a Pink Floyd song and I haven't recall those songs being played to death on the radio - it's a shelter from pigs on the wing, not a sacred cow. I see The Wall (and the movie) aimed at children (not that I dislike the whole album) and DSotM & Animals at a more maturer audience.

Selling England That is my favorite, it has Charisma... maybe it's in my top three Genesis albums. Sometimes I don't know the sense of having a single all time favorite band or album. But in this case I can see why people love this album. tbh I don't know the track list on the album to me it is one 53:39 long piece of music. I hop-scotched through Genesis' catalogue, like I said before I slowly acquainted myself with each Genesis album. A Trick of the Tail was my favorite before discovering SEbt£. Comparing the two I would say with ATotT there are some songs I like better than others, with SEbt£ I like the album as whole.

If anyone has an album like that, they're not an honest critic. I can find something wrong with everything.

Of course I don't know what makes an album sacred, but when I reviewed Captain Beefheart's "Trout mask replica" a few days back it seemed to be considered as such. Of course you can criticise any album; the point is that there are albums that people will be surprised if you do so, albums that are deemed so universally liked or respected that they're untouchable.

Selling England is a good example to some degree. I do like it, but it's far from my favourite Genesis album and yet I see it constantly top polls, here and elsewhere. I consider "Wind and wuthering" and "Trick of the tail" far superior, but nobody ever seems to agree with me. "Selling" is a great album but I don't see why it's accepted as better than "Foxtrot", "Nursery cryme" or either of the two I mentioned. But the view seems to be almost universal, so is SEBTP a sacred cow?

Yeah I guess you can merge it. I just liked the phase sacred cows. There, said it again! :D

Anything Stevie Ray Vaughn has ever done is pretty sacred to me. The one guitar player that I have never ever tried to learn, or emulate (with the exception of him and Dick Dale doing the Ventures hit "Pipeline"). I just can't, it's too painful.

I compiled a quick list of over-rated "sacred cow" albums. I'm not saying the albums on my sacred cow list are bad, but their protected status as sacred cows of pop music mythology has provided them with an immunity to any sort of negative criticism.

My list only includes those albums which have frequently appeared on "all time great" lists of both fans and critics, over the years. Don't get the wrong impression... I don't dislike the artists or musical content of the many albums on the list. I simply think the greatness of the albums on the list has been over-hyped.

Overrated Sacred Cow Albums

1. Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band- The Beatles
2. Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys
3. Exile On Main Street- The Rolling Stones
4. Astral Weeks- Van Morrison
5. Joshua Tree- U2
6. Who's Next- The Who
7. Dark Side of the Moon- Pink Floyd
8. Trout Mask Replica- Captain Beefheart
9. Appetite for Destruction- Guns 'N' Roses
10. Kid A - Radiohead
11. Dusty In Memphis- Dusty Springfield
12. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road- Elton John
13. Odessey and Oracle- The Zombies
14. Sweetheart of the Rodeo- The Byrds
15. Ten- Pearl Jam

I'm willing to share the reasons why each album has been placed on my sacred cow list, but I didn't want this post to get overly long. If you think a certain album has been unfairly placed on the list, speak up and I'll tell you why it's on the list.

Why this? It's quite beautiful really.

They are all great albums but I agree with you that they are over-hyped. None of these albums are my favorites by their respective artists.