ABC?
― piscesx, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:28 (seven years ago) link
Wait, it's Albatross, not Dragonfly. Not memorable, not iconic
― imago, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:28 (seven years ago) link
i'd definitely agree on Ride.
― piscesx, Thursday, March 2, 2017 3:25 PM (forty seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Can you clarify? Are they really that stylistically different?
― Evan, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:28 (seven years ago) link
Oh yeah, I really like "Stephanie Says", although it wasn't on an official album, in my semi-defence.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:28 (seven years ago) link
yeah i mean the post Nowhere albums are nothing like the debut. the debut and the EPs sound alike but they got very clean and slick after IMO.
― piscesx, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:31 (seven years ago) link
Wild Beasts.
― piscesx, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:33 (seven years ago) link
I guess production aside the formula doesn't seem all that different, and it's not like I'm a stranger to the early 90s Creation records sound. I thought this thread was more for bands that more significantly changed their whole approach.
xp
― Evan, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:35 (seven years ago) link
Lana Del Rey (Born To Die has an uptempo Pop/Hip Hop mentality that gradually got downplayed in subsequent releases)
― to fly across the city and find Aerosmith's car (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:40 (seven years ago) link
team imago
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:44 (seven years ago) link
I don't think you could describe "Pink Flag" as a straightforward punk record tbf.
OK more straightforward...
― Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:50 (seven years ago) link
what with Futureheads, MGMT and others, I feel that mid-00's indie might be quite a fertile zone for this. Don't say Arcade Fire or other similar shit though ffs, all their albums are the same dirge
― imago, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:51 (seven years ago) link
how is the futureheads 1st album that much different than the 2nd one? (other than having better songs)
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:51 (seven years ago) link
Isn't Fleetwood Mac's first lp the s/t one with garbage cans in an alley on the cover and isn't it a pretty straight Chicago Blues lp. Then Play On has things concurrent to Albatross which was a non lp single and has other originals on.I could never get into that first lp really, probably has some pretty stellar guitar on but too straight for me.
― Stevolende, Thursday, 2 March 2017 20:56 (seven years ago) link
Beastie Boys (taking 'most iconic' to mean 'biggest selling')
― Gavin, Leeds, Thursday, 2 March 2017 21:07 (seven years ago) link
Violent FemmesWeezer
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Thursday, 2 March 2017 21:14 (seven years ago) link
https://goo.gl/photos/EZBwdTWpvjPbAM6fA
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Thursday, 2 March 2017 21:21 (seven years ago) link
Lana Del Rey is a good shout. I miss that Lana.
― piscesx, Thursday, 2 March 2017 22:16 (seven years ago) link
Could make an argument about Van Morrison & Astral Weeks. Have to overlook the Bang Records "Blowin' Your Mind!" thing.
― that's not my post, Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:28 (seven years ago) link
"want a danish?" is van morrison at his most iconic as far as _i'm_ concerned.
― increasingly bonkers (rushomancy), Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:30 (seven years ago) link
Swans, maybe? People tend to think of stuff like Filth as their iconic era, although they dropped that style pretty quickly.
― heaven parker (anagram), Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:47 (seven years ago) link
The Knife
― Treeship, Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:53 (seven years ago) link
Even if that were true, which I'm not sure of, was Cop really a radical departure? xp
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:54 (seven years ago) link
No, but both Filth and Cop are outliers in their catalogue as a whole.
― heaven parker (anagram), Thursday, 2 March 2017 23:59 (seven years ago) link
Oh, I read the thread as being about iconic individual records.
― My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Friday, 3 March 2017 00:13 (seven years ago) link
Having the first album be the "iconic" LP of the artists catalog is the tough part of the equation. There are many other bands that stylistically diverged from where they started, but often the first albums is not the one they perhaps are most known. I gave it a good thought and came up with four possible choices. A couple of these are bands where the first record lineup just didn't last past the first record and in some ways the first one was very timely for their sound. The other two were major albums but are by artists that have such extensive catalogs, there is probably debate on what is the iconic album.
The Damned - Damned Damned Damned
The Damned never really abandoned what they did after the first record, but they did evolve and change as the lineup shifted. It also perhaps might not be the 'iconic' Damned album in the UK.
King Crimson- In the Court of the Crimson King
This lineup made this record, which is huge in the beginnings of progressive rock then split. The 70s group and 80s group did much more music, but perhaps this record is still the one KC album.
Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True
I'd probably lean that This Year's Model is perhaps the iconic EC album, but this one does have many of his most popular songs and since it was before the Attractions has a much different sound from what followed.
Frank Zappa - Freak Out
Zappa's music was pretty much constant change, even still if you were going to pull out one out of all of those albums this might still be the one. It is similar to In the Court of the Crimson King that it was a major record at the time and foreshadowed change.
― earlnash, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:17 (seven years ago) link
The Doors maybe
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 3 March 2017 00:59 (seven years ago) link
Ignoring the pre-album years, Black Flag's Damaged. Though in retrospect My War doesn't feel like the departure it did at the time.
― juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Friday, 3 March 2017 01:07 (seven years ago) link
I will say Gallowsbird's Bark, but I know most people on ILM seem to like their later stuff better.
― nickn, Friday, 3 March 2017 01:13 (seven years ago) link
The Fiery Furnacese, like many of the bands/artists mentioned itt, have no release that could even charitably be considered "iconic".
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Friday, 3 March 2017 01:21 (seven years ago) link
I considered Freak Out and the 1st Violent Femmes album, but they are pretty damn similar to Ruben And The Jets and Hallowed Ground stylistically, which was the OG question. Not totally sure they qualify, but they also get the "iconic and somewhat different from the rest" badge
― sleeve, Friday, 3 March 2017 02:10 (seven years ago) link
^ "Freak Out" is a good call
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Friday, 3 March 2017 02:25 (seven years ago) link
Hallowed Ground's plunge into darkness distinguishes it from the relatively upbeat debut, though the arrangements, performances & production are similar. Enough for me to call it an outlier, anyway.
― “Remember,” he says, “Noddy Holder is a gangster.” (contenderizer), Friday, 3 March 2017 02:30 (seven years ago) link
Mercury Rev - Yerself Is Steam? Though I guess one could argue Deserter's Songs is more popular...
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Friday, 3 March 2017 02:32 (seven years ago) link
No way on the Doors, all of the first album and Strange Days, and some of Waiting For the Sun were all from the initial batch of songs the band had prior to signing
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 3 March 2017 02:45 (seven years ago) link
there are probably a few ILMers who consider 'piper' pink floyd's iconic record
(i am not one of them)
― mookieproof, Friday, 3 March 2017 02:56 (seven years ago) link
Dizzee Rascal, perhaps?
― Ex Slacker, Friday, 3 March 2017 06:24 (seven years ago) link
DJ Shadow
― Wozniak on Kimye's Baby (jaymc), Friday, 3 March 2017 07:14 (seven years ago) link
bless you imago for saying what i was thinking as i ambled thru this bollocks
― Sacked Italian Greyhound (Noodle Vague), Friday, 3 March 2017 07:25 (seven years ago) link
Can't Buy a Thrill is in no way the most iconic Dan record btw
― Sacked Italian Greyhound (Noodle Vague), Friday, 3 March 2017 07:26 (seven years ago) link
yea wtf close thread
― flappy bird, Friday, 3 March 2017 07:27 (seven years ago) link
VU was always weird and droney. Zappa's "Freak Out" had that extended "Who could imagine?" bit with the silly voices. The Doors, as noted above, spread the same batch of songs across their first 3 albums.
pretty much all of these suggestions are weak. i don't have any good ones though - imo this isn't really a thing at all.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 3 March 2017 12:45 (seven years ago) link
I feel like Immolation fits this because even though most hardcore DM fans find their whole catalog to be amazing, the 'famous' album of theirs that everybody, including non-diehards knows is Dawn of Possession, which is a good album but doesn't really sound like any of their other albums as it's more of a traditional death metal album.
there's also Pearl Jam's Ten which, again, the non-diehards all rave over this one and it's the most polished, commercial sounding cut of their history, which they never really replicated (a good thing).
― waht, I am true black metal worrior (Neanderthal), Friday, 3 March 2017 12:54 (seven years ago) link
Bathory. First album is totally iconic and invented Black metal (even the cover is iconic).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathory_(album)#/media/File:Bathory_album.jpg
But the band quickly merged off and invented Viking Metal. Although the change was not immediate, gradually happening over the first handful of releases, the first one remains a quality that the band abandoned, yet there are many who still point to it as it's finest hour.
― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 3 March 2017 13:28 (seven years ago) link
http://www.bathory.nu/00discography/bathory.jpg
― juggulo for the complete klvtz (bendy), Thursday, March 2, 2017 6:07 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
this is a good one
― the raindrops and drop tops of lived, earned experience (BradNelson), Friday, 3 March 2017 13:34 (seven years ago) link
not the iconic Bathory album (maybe the iconic album art) and also not radically different from the other pre-viking stuff.
― circa1916, Friday, 3 March 2017 13:36 (seven years ago) link
impvho interpol's subsequent output is different enough from the 1st album that they qualify
― Roberto Spiralli, Friday, 3 March 2017 13:44 (seven years ago) link
Their first album still feels unique to me...short, Zoloish phrases, cool a capella bits, big early XTC influence. Nothing about their subsequent albums made me want to hear them again.
― frogbs, Friday, 3 March 2017 13:54 (seven years ago) link
Yeah Bathory is not really a good example, they did two more black metal records (more successful than the debut too) before going folk/viking.
Thinking of Robert Miles, there must be more dance producers that had initial succes with a novelty/commercial sound but then quickly moved on. Kevin Saunderson maybe (the Inner City debut was his first album, no?), Erick Morillo (Reel 2 Real), etc.
― Siegbran, Friday, 3 March 2017 13:57 (seven years ago) link
i'm afraid that is Rong xxp
― mookieproof, Friday, 3 March 2017 13:59 (seven years ago) link