Greatest Hits/ Best Of's

[Hollywood Naitch]

There are several circumstances when a band releases a compilation CD. These include a.) Reaching a certain level of success that they decide to cash in and release the big hits on one disc. b.) Break up and the record level wants to release a compilation to get the most out of the band before they leave, and c.) The fans want a collection of the bands best work.

Sometimes these releases are called greatest hits, sometimes "the best/very best of" and sometimes "the singles" or "the collection". As far as my understanding goes, this is what the various choices means

GREATEST HITS

The biggest and most well known hits by a band, usually from their singles releases. The most successful of the singles in the charts

THE BEST/VERY BEST OF

A mixture of singles and album tracks, usually containing the biggest hits and some fan favourites

THE SINGLES

Self explanatory, usually all the singles no matter how successful they were. This title is often chosen when a band only has enough singles that they ALL have to go on a compilation CD

THE COLLECTION

A mixture of all these optons. When a band leaves a record label this is often the option chosen


I personally am a big fan of Greatest Hit sets as a way of getting into a new band. You get to the hear the most famous and often the best tracks which give you a taste of what the band is all about. Having a best of set, where most of the songs were big hits is often a better place to start to get an overview of a band's work, rather than than blindly picking an album from their back catalogue, which are often hit and miss.

However, these greatest hits compilations can sometimes only give a small view as to what a band is/was like as musicians change their styles over time. To get the full view, you often need to go deeper into their discography and sample alot more.

So, what I want to know is:

ARE YOU A FAN OF "GREATEST HIT/BEST OF" COMPILATION ALBUMS?

and

WHAT GREATEST HIT COMPILATIONS DO YOU OWN?

As I said, I am a big fan of these and own many, even getting the compilation when I own all the bands other material, so my list reads:

Oasis (2 different)
The Verve
The Stone Roses (2 different)
Ian Brown
New Order
The Smiths
Happy Mondays
James (2 different)
Joy Division
REM
Motorhead (2 different)
Guns N Roses
Soundgarden (2 different)
Stone Temple Pilots
Alice In Chains (2 different)
Nirvana
Pearl Jam
L7
Inspiral Carpets
Stereophonics
Embrace
Paul Weller (2 different)
The Style Council
The Jam (2 different)
Primal Scream
Blur
Dio
The Cult
Diamond Head
Ozzy Osbourne
Black Sabbath
Bon Jovi (2 different)
Robbie Williams
Michael Jackson
The Doors
Skid Row
Motley Crue
Manic Street Preachers
Jimi Hendrix
Smashing Pumpkins
The Beloved
2Pac
Snoop Dogg
Notorious BIG
Eminem
Aerosmith
Saxon
Pantera
Chicane
Sash!
U2
Bruce Springsteen
Green Day
Feeder
The Charlatans
Foo Fighters
Flowered Up
The Prodigy
Jamiroquai
AC/DC
The Beloved
Ja Rule
The Farm
Bad Company/Free
Queen
The Beatles
Bob Marley (2 different)
Blondie
Faith No More
Faithless
Iron Maiden
Kiss
John Lennon
The Shamen
Red Hot Chili Peppers

 

[rollingrock]

I, too, have REM's, & some of Aerosmith's. I am a fan, to a point. What bothers me is something like Aerosmith, when you release 50 hits collections without releasing any new material, or (they have also done this) release something with 10 hits & 2 brand-new songs.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

Great thread naitch, and holy crap you have a lot of greatest hits albums lol. I am a huge fan of greatest hits albums, though I sometimes get scared whenever I see a band put out one. Usually when I was younger it meant that a band was breaking up or had already broken up. Sometimes greatest hits CD's can disappoint me. Depends though because sometimes I will be like "oh why didn't THIS song get on???", things like that. Then again I always make up my own greatest hits mix albums from my favorite bands on itunes.

I have quite a few actually. I think the first one I ever bought was Creed's greatest hits CD. Yes they get a lot of hate, but I grew up with them in the late 90's and loved them so to each their own. I also have Aerosmith's, The Eagles, Red Hot Chili Pepper's, Utada Hikaru (did the kingdom hearts video game theme songs for those nerds out there like me , Gun's N' Roses, the list goes on

 

[rollingrock]

Great thread naitch, and holy crap you have a lot of greatest hits albums lol. I am a huge fan of greatest hits albums, though I sometimes get scared whenever I see a band put out one. Usually when I was younger it meant that a band was breaking up or had already broken up. Sometimes greatest hits CD's can disappoint me. Depends though because sometimes I will be like "oh why didn't THIS song get on???", things like that. Then again I always make up my own greatest hits mix albums from my favorite bands on itunes.

I have quite a few actually. I think the first one I ever bought was Creed's greatest hits CD. Yes they get a lot of hate, but I grew up with them in the late 90's and loved them so to each their own. I also have Aerosmith's, The Eagles, Red Hot Chili Pepper's, Utada Hikaru (did the kingdom hearts video game theme songs for those nerds out there like me , Gun's N' Roses, the list goes on

Yeah; I forgot that one... I have Guns N Roses too. I only bought it after I saw them (or a band claiming to be them) on an MTV awards show a few years back, & wondered what happened to the band I remembered.

I've tried burning a few "mix CDs" of my favorite songs by a certain band (some turn out to be 2 discs), but the artist/band always seems to come out with something else new after.

 

[RicoLen]

I don't have that many CD like that. Most bands I like I'm so damned old I've been around long enough to buy each of their albums as they were released. The exception are the 80's bands. So I have a number of them.

I don't really see much of a difference in the names myself though.

Aerosmith, Def Leppard, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Black Sabbath, Megadeth... I think that's it.

I also have Alice in Chains best of the box because it had songs on it that weren't available on CD at that point in time when it was released. But then I went and bought the box a few weeks later too so... yeah.

And in the case of Aerosmith & Megadeth I went back and bought a large number of their old albums after getting their best of CDs.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I love greatest hits and similar compliation albums because they are the easiest way to find most or even all of a band's better songs all at once. They often end up having a collection of that particular band's best songs. Granted there always those fans out there whining about how a couple of songs don't make it onto the albums, but instead they should be happy that they can grab one cd to get all of the better songs by a band that has released 5+ albums by that point. Look at Def Leppard for instance. You could buy Rock of Ages (their hits compilation) to get two dozen of their better songs, or go out and buy all 10 of their regular releases. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, but going with just the hits cd saves you a ton of money.

Artists I own a greatest hits or compilation album of currently:
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Bon Jovi
Creed
Def Leppard
The Doors
Eminem
Green Day
Iron Maiden
Journey
Led Zeppelin
Nirvana
Queen
The Scorpions
Van Halen
and many, many more.

I also have several collection albums that are not greatest hits by one particular band but still great compilations such as a collection 80's New Wave artists, Monsters of Rock, and a ton of movie soundtracks.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I love greatest hits and similar compliation albums because they are the easiest way to find most or even all of a band's better songs all at once. They often end up having a collection of that particular band's best songs. Granted there always those fans out there whining about how a couple of songs don't make it onto the albums, but instead they should be happy that they can grab one cd to get all of the better songs by a band that has released 5+ albums by that point. Look at Def Leppard for instance. You could buy Rock of Ages (their hits compilation) to get two dozen of their better songs, or go out and buy all 10 of their regular releases. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, but going with just the hits cd saves you a ton of money.

Artists I own a greatest hits or compilation album of currently:
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Bon Jovi
Creed
Def Leppard
The Doors
Eminem
Green Day
Iron Maiden
Journey
Led Zeppelin
Nirvana
Queen
The Scorpions
Van Halen
and many, many more.

I also have several collection albums that are not greatest hits by one particular band but still great compilations such as a collection 80's New Wave artists, Monsters of Rock, and a ton of movie soundtracks.

Just have to say Dagger, I have all of those minus Green Day and The Doors, they are all awesome and Monsters Of Rock is the greatest compilation of kickass songs ever!

Others I have are
Y&T
Guns N Roses
Reba
Brooks & Dunn
Kenny Chesney
Travis Tritt
Tracy Lawrence
Aaron Tippen
Bryan Adams
George Jones
David Allen Coe
Dwight Yoakam
The Eagles
Frank Sinatra
George Strait
Glen Campbell
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Meatloaf
Ozzy
Patsy Cline
Rush
Sammy Kershaw
Whitesnake
Pearl Jam
Michael Jackson
The Police
Ted Nugent
Tupac
Pantera
Bad Company
Kiss
Faith No More
but number one for me is Alabama


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[Hardcore Heathen]

Good to see some Faith No More Fans lol. Can I ask which Faith No More Greatest hits albums you have? I have Midlife Crisis: the Very Best of Faith No More and its so good, especially disc 2 with a small victory, ricochet, caffeine, absolute zero and the big kahuna. I only really got it because its a bitch to find Faith No More Albums in HMV In London lol.

I used to be against Greatest hits albums simply saying if you only listen to the good stuff your not a real Fan. And when a friend said there's only 1 or 2 good songs on Songs for the Deaf (Queens of the Stone Age) and now he's a fan, not as big as me but a fan. So they have their uses. I read that Aerosmith has like 10? There's gotta be a limit somewhere?

 

[Alex]

I personally prefer Best Of's because they give new listeners a more well rounded collection to listen to as well as (sometimes) songs that were never released on an album. They generally have all the singles/hits and fan favourites that you usually wouldn't get on a Greatest Hits/Singles compilation.

I have quite a few Greatest Hits/Best Of CDs. i usually use these as a gauge to see if I like a band or really like a band. If I really like a band I'll usually go get their studio albums as well to listen to their other material



Aerosmith
Alice In Chains
Black Sabbath
Blur
Bob Marley
The Clash
Foo Fighters
Green Day
Guns N Roses
Jane's Addiction
Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
Limp Bizkit
Manic Street Preachers
Motley Crue
Mudhoney
Nirvana
No Doubt
Prince
Queen
The Ramones
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rob Zombie

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Good to see some Faith No More Fans lol. Can I ask which Faith No More Greatest hits albums you have? I have Midlife Crisis: the Very Best of Faith No More and its so good, especially disc 2 with a small victory, ricochet, caffeine, absolute zero and the big kahuna. I only really got it because its a bitch to find Faith No More Albums in HMV In London lol.

Ermmm I am not entirely sure of the names but I remember rightly I have Faith No More: The Platinum Collection, and "We Care Alot". Both pretty good, I bought the Platinum Collection and the other one was given to me by a friend. There are alot of the same tracks as you would expect with a few differences. I prefer "We Care Alot" though, the title track is one of my favourites and it isn't on The Platinum Collection

I read that Aerosmith has like 10? There's gotta be a limit somewhere?

That probably is true, there are some bands who have a stupid number of compilation CD's, which can get really annoying when there is just one or 2 tracks different, if that. I know Motorhead have released at least 6, and so do Iron Maiden!

According to Wikipedia, Michael Jackson has 15! And that isnt even including any of the HUGE number of Jackson 5 compilation albums there is.

Also, I know Bob Marley has a stupid amount of compilations out there too, it has to be more than Jacko.....

 

[Dagger Dias]

there are some bands who have a stupid number of compilation CD's, which can get really annoying when there is just one or 2 tracks different, if that. I know Motorhead have released at least 6, and so do Iron Maiden!

I'm glad this got brought up, it is something that gets on my nerves too. A band does not need to release several greatest hits or compliation collections. I can understand wanting to release several hit singles together after the band has been through a lot, but there should be a large timeframe involved in between each compliation so that enough material can be added to convince older fans to still buy the new collections. For instance, I have Def Leppard's "Rock of Ages". If they released another greatest hits collection that was identical other than one or two songs, why waste the money when I have the rest already?

In my opinion when a band releases ANY compilation collection it should only be done once or twice unless they are one of those bands who have been around forever like Aerosmith, then having more along the way makes more sense. If the band has ONE or maybe two greatest hits collections and then say perhaps a compliation of lesser known tracks or tracks that were exclusives that are hard to find, then that is all they need. The fans will flock to buy those two or so albums rather than sit there confused about which of 5+ to pick from. If there ARE too many to pick from, ask your friends for recommendations. Iron Maiden was brought up as having too many. I'm a big fan of theirs. The Essential Iron Maiden is in my opinion their best compliation, so anyone looking to get a collection of theirs I would start there.