The Best Album Of All Time - QF - Pink Floyd v Nirvana

[milo]

Wish You Were Here is the ninth studio album by the English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, released in September 1975. It explores themes of absence, the music business and former band member Syd Barrett's mental decline. Inspired by material the band composed while performing across Europe, Wish You Were Here was recorded in numerous sessions at London's Abbey Road Studios. The premise of the album was based on a song written by the band called "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". "Shine On" was a tribute to Barrett, who, coincidentally, made an impromptu visit to the studio while it was being recorded. It was lead writer Roger Waters's idea to split the "Shine On" in two parts and use it to bookend the album around three new compositions, forming a new concept similar to their previous album, The Dark Side of the Moon.

As with that record, the band made use of studio effects and synthesizers for Wish You Were Here. Additionally, the band brought in guest singers to supply their vocals to some tracks, another feature from their previous album. These singers included Roy Harper, who provided the lead vocals on "Have a Cigar", and The Blackberries, who made guest background vocals on "Shine On". Wish You Were Here was released in September 1975. The album became an instant commercial success and record company EMI was unable to print enough copies to satisfy demand. Although it initially received mixed reviews, the album has since been acclaimed by critics and appears on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Band members Richard Wright and David Gilmour have each declared Wish You Were Here their favourite Pink Floyd album.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_You_Were_Here_(Pink_Floyd_album)

[video=youtube;o5d_NI20V4A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5d_NI20V4A[/video]

To get to the quarter final Wish You Were Here beat the Stone Roses in the first round and Back In Black in the last 16.

v

Nevermind is the second studio album by the American rock band Nirvana, released on September 24, 1991. Produced by Butch Vig, Nevermind was the group's first release on DGC Records. Frontman Kurt Cobain sought to make music outside the restrictive confines of the Seattle grunge scene, drawing influence from groups such as the Pixies and their use of song volume dynamics.

Despite low commercial expectations by the band and its record label, Nevermind became a surprise success in late 1991, largely due to the popularity of its first single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". By January 1992, it had replaced Michael Jackson's album Dangerous at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. The album also produced three other successful singles: "Come as You Are", "Lithium", and "In Bloom". The Recording Industry Association of America has certified the album Diamond (over 10 million copies shipped), and the album has sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Nevermind was in part responsible for bringing alternative rock to a large mainstream audience, and has been ranked highly on lists of the greatest albums of all time by publications such as Rolling Stone and Time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevermind

[video=youtube;oYnv8upTVZY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYnv8upTVZY[/video]

Nevermind beat Rage Against the Machine in the first round and Are You Experienced in the last 16 to get to the quarter final.

 

[johnola]

WYWH.

In fact I'm putting it out to play in the car tomorrow.

 

[AuroRaman]

Nirvana

 

[RomanzoCriminale]

Other than Piper and The Wall i've never listened to Pink Floyd, always thought they were part of that smelly bearded lot that punk wanted to destroy, i'm going to download this album though and see why you lot chose it ahead of the aforementioned.

Nirvana for me, though again i think the wrong albums in here and it should have been In Utero, but both great albums non the less. Who chose this list????

Interesting that Michael Stipe said that Kurt was going to leave Nirvana and go solo, they were due to record an album together as well the flights were booked for Kurt to go out to start recording and that Kurt wanted to go more melodic with strings etc. Would have loved to have seen where that went, always thought the noise part of Nirvana was part of Kurt wanting to be accepted by the Seattle lot rather than him being true to his love of melodic pop/rock

 

[milo]

Other than Piper and The Wall i've never listened to Pink Floyd, always thought they were part of that smelly bearded lot that punk wanted to destroy, i'm going to download this album though and see why you lot chose it ahead of the aforementioned.

Nirvana for me, though again i think the wrong albums in here and it should have been In Utero, but both great albums non the less. Who chose this list????

Interesting that Michael Stipe said that Kurt was going to leave Nirvana and go solo, they were due to record an album together as well the flights were booked for Kurt to go out to start recording and that Kurt wanted to go more melodic with strings etc. Would have loved to have seen where that went, always thought the noise part of Nirvana was part of Kurt wanting to be accepted by the Seattle lot rather than him being true to his love of melodic pop/rock

The thread where we selected the albums is here.

I think that Cobain liked both melodic pop/rock and the "noise part", as you call it. One of the things that I liked about Nirvana and Cobain in particular is their willingness to talk about their influences. There were plenty that fell into each and both camps, so I do not think that Nirvana was that far away from his personal taste and I am sure that they did not sound like that to try and fit in.

 

[Bullet]

Nirvana please

 

[milo]

Nirvana go through to the semi-final

 

[Klinsmania]

Wow, this is genuinely tough. WYWH is my favourite Floyd album, and Nevermind is Nirvana's best. Tough one to call, so I'm not sure I could actually choose between them.