Greatest Hits CDs

[Alex]

Once upon a time most of my CD collection were Greatest Hits CDs, then my friend told me I was missing out because not all of a bands greatest songs make the Greatest Hits CD and he was right, but he also said that sometimes a Greatest Hits CD is a good idea because you don't have to listen to the filler, again he was right.

What do you think of them. Are they a good thing or are they a shameless cash in???



My first experience of a Red Hot Chili Peppers album was the Greatest Hits CD one of my friends gave me, after a couple of years I decided to have a look at their studio albums and listened to some of the songs that weren't on my Greatest Hits, and I found them to be fantastic; I now own nearly all the Red Hot Chili Peppers albums and haven't listened to the Greatest Hits since.

I became a fan of Blur a couple of years ago and started listening to some of their songs. However I just couldn't get into their studio albums as I felt there was quite a bit of filler on it, I eventually got their Greatest Hits and really enjoy it.

I feel sometimes a Greatest Hits CD is a good thing as I can listen to all the songs of a particular artist without the filler (Blur, Queen etc) however there are some bands where I got the Greatest Hits, then bought the studio albums because I get the full range of the artist with some really good songs that haven't made the Greatest Hits cut.

 

[Davi323]

I feel sometimes a Greatest Hits CD is a good thing as I can listen to all the songs of a particular artist without the filler (Blur, Queen etc) however there are some bands where I got the Greatest Hits, then bought the studio albums because I get the full range of the artist with some really good songs that haven't made the Greatest Hits cut.

That's kind of how I look at it. For some bands, a Greatest Hits album will be more accessible to a listener who might not otherwise bother with their music. A casual U2 fan might not purchase every album, but if they see one of their greatest hits CDs, they may look at the playlist, and think, hey, I know those songs, sure, why not? Someone who only hears Ozzy Osbourne on the radio, and hasn't displayed much interest in getting the entire Ozzy collection, might buy the 2 disc Essential Ozzy instead, because they know they don't care about most of it. They might not buy every Led Zepplin album ever, but, they may buy a Greatest Hits that has Stairway, Black Dog, the Immigrant song, etc.

But, others will start that way, and then realize that they really love the artist, and it might compel them to purchase more. In that case, the Greatest Hits might serve as a primer, to get them ready for the rest of it. My brother started out that way with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. One borrowed greatest hits album from each, from a friend, and it turned him into a fan.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Greatest Hits CD's are arguably one of the best things to ever happen to the music industry because it gives fans most of a band's famous songs on the same disc, which saves them money on having to buy a whole discography. The one main issue everyone seems to have with Greatest Hits CD's is that there is always the one song by the band that YOU liked but most others didn't and it never makes the track listing of the Greatest Hits CD due to not being famous enough. No big deal though, it's a small price to pay for saving money on not having to buy an entire discography, which gets insanely expensive for bigger bands. I would say that roughly 9 times out of 10, Greatest Hits CD's have included all the songs I was looking for with that particular band though, so they deliver more often than not and are a massive asset to the music industry.

 

[INDYjon22]

I have no problem with greatest hit albums. As previously mentioned it puts a lot of the more popular and well known songs on to one disk for someone to listen to. If they like what they hear then maybe it will encourage them to buy the actual albums that the songs are from. With people using the internet to download music now anyways, they can just download a greatest hits CD or an entire album without paying for it. So I really see no problem with greatest hits. It could encourage new listeners to listen to older and less known songs but in the grand scheme of things it won't make anyone not download the songs for free.