1,000th Album

10th album virtually means nothing, 100th album signifies a growing collection. But as soon as you hit the 1,000th album mark, you are officially crowning yourself as a music geek. I am still far from being a music historian, though, but having heard 1,000 albums is already an achievement in itself. Yes, heard and not necessarily owned. In the digital era, what can you expect? Some albums are hard to be found and this is a pretty good alternative (although I still love CDs and cassettes).

Please click here to access the list of all the albums that I have heard. I am thinking about occasionally updating this list so you guys can watch me as it grows to reach a total of 10,000 albums (which will probably take some decades, haha).

So, my 1,000th album is:

The Angus Drive EP by Avril Lavigne. Oh yes, I cheated a little bit. What I did is basically look at the tracklisting and listen to the songs. My damn perfectionism forced me to listen to something by Avril, who is basically my first love in music. I go with this since it is the only thingy of hers that I have never played before. The rest of her catalogue is nothing unfamiliar to me, while waiting for something new to come out of her camp would not agree to well with my music obsession.

Yet if you still think that I cheated too much, then forget whatever I said above and take my 1,001st album as the real 1,000th album. I have not yet listened to this, but I will listen to it as my 1,001st. It also has to be something special because it opens my path to the next 1,000 albums, you know. And because 1,001 is also a palindrome, haha.

I originally wanted it to be the best damn album from the rock generation. But I have already listened to the albums argued to be one: any studio albums from The Beatles or The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Even the so-called best albums from the modern days did not escape from me: Radiohead’s OK Computer or Nirvana’s Nevermind.

I considered the most critically acclaimed albums (as listed on Metacritic) Brian Wilson’s SMiLE and its polar opposite, the horrendous Playing with Fire by Britney’s ex-hubby Kevin Federline. But the former did not intrigue me much (I still do not understand the hype on Pet Sounds, let alone a solo album from its member) and the latter would not be much of a celebration.

Other two albums fell into my consideration: The Flaming Lips’ Zaireeka (the idea of having it played with four different players is not very logistic-friendly at this moment) and the biggest middle finger to the music industry ever, Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music (seems to be a significant statement, but 64 minutes of noise is not exactly an ear candy that I would want).

At the end of the day, I picked:

Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, said to be the most bizzare album in the rock history. It is widely-acclaimed, appearing on most all-time top albums list, and being a one-of-its-kind. Eclectism rules, and I do not mind eccentricity nor acquired taste. I do not know whether I will like it or not, but this may very well open the path for me to explore the possibilities of music.

And here are some boring statistics:

Total artists: 329
Total albums: 1,000

• 1950s: 3 albums
• 1960s: 33 albums
• 1970s: 64 albums
• 1980s: 82 albums
• 1990s: 214 albums
• 2000s: 604 albums