"I don't think his question was "what's everyone's favorite Radiohead album, but rather is this the most compelling album of all time." "

Remember that craziness? I'm not going to search for it now, but let's hear it.

To you, however you want to define it, what is the most compelling album you've ever heard?

And I mean defining it within a reasonable definition of "compelling." I don't want anybody defining it as, say, "adj. capable of making one vomit into a bag of tears."

My vote still goes to Kid A.

Based upon the terms you've defined, I'm going to go ahead and agree with you regarding Kid A. I can't actually recall a single album in recent memory that has been as imperative as Kid A was for me, I was, and still am, blown away when I put it on; Call it shit, rubbish, boring, pretentious, it got your attention and created a polarizing attitude towards Radiohead beyond what OK Computer ever did. It solidified my feeling for Radiohead, after it, Amnesiac was a letdown. It will always be a great album, for others, an unrepetant garbage dump.

^ wow. not the answer i was expecting, but good job. where were you when i asked this a month ago?

Dunno, I guess I was on the road or something.

In the last five years, I can't recall a single new release that grabbed me like Kid A. Love it or hate it, the fucker made you react.

I find Laurie Anderson's music compelling, especially United States Live. I mean, I just can't be doing anything else -- reading, driving, working, nothing -- when I listen to her, I must listen to her and do nothing else.

This is an old story but...

1988. Beloit, Wisconsin (of all places).


A WBCR college radio DJ cued the song You Know What You Are by Ministry on one of the turntables while I was awaiting my turn to go on next.




I couldn't believe that this repetitive, machine-gun fire layering, sounds of aggression and pain streaming out of the speakers was possible. It hit me full-force. Addictive, lethal, and sick as a full dose of heroin. It made the heaviest of heavy metal I had ever heard sound like Lawrence Welk. Completely shattered my beliefs about what power was and forever changed the way I heard music from then on.

...and it took me over a year to figure out what the hell that mess was on the front cover, too!

Everyone here already knows what my answer is.

I'm confused over "compelling". The album with the greatest "impact" for me is The B-52's debut. It's the first non-Disney album I owned, and the first I bought with my own money. I wore that album like a badge in middle school, because it set me apart from everyone else who was listening to Boston, The Eagles, or some other crap.

Apart from all that, it is a near-perfect album. Every track a winner, and probably the best album-opening track ever.

i would think i would have to go with the holy bible by the manic street preachers. it has so much anger and despair that i cant ignore it whenever i put it on. i dont think anyone else will ever be able to match the type of feeling that that album evokes.

Axis: Bold As Love absolutely set me on my ear at 13 years old. I just couldn't get over it for the longest time. There was depth, imagery, pain, happiness, just everything. I couldn't STAND hearing it on low or medium volume... it had to be either in headphones on "so loud" or on a stereo when nobody was home, same volume. It was like the best movie you've ever seen, just everything rolled up into one, start to finish.

More obscurely, perhaps, was the debut release from Self. When I was a freshman in college, I heard Cannon on the radio and had to pull over. I, much like the good Senator, am a junkie for a good pop hook, and this album had more hooks than a baitshop. Great live, too. HUGE guitar sound recorded and live (for the guitar nerds, first band I ever saw live with Mesa dual rectifiers, which cemented that amp as something I would later have to buy). I would put that album on in the headphones and just lie on the floor of my apartment room and soak up the quirky, heavy, poppy goodness, 2 or 3 times through in a row.

No shit.

"Compelling" from "to compel"
You know, I never did figure that out -- what is it?

I know what "to compel" means. Usually "compelling" is used to describe an argument, or an attempt at persuasion. It may also, but not commonly, be used to imply coersion or motivation to action.

In either case, I fail to see how an album can be "compelling." What is the album arguing that its effect is "compelling." What action am I supposed to be "compelled" to do? For example, "OK Computer compels me to vomit copiously." In this case, OK Computer is compelling.

My confusion is not over the definition of the word, but rather its use in this thread.

Well, I took it to mean that when you listen to it, it compels you to listen to it. In other words, it can't be listened to haphazardly, it mandates 100% attention.

Even after all these years, it still sounds decades ahead of its time.

I think the most ahead of their time band of all-time were the Silver Apples. Total geniuses.

I'll go High Fidelity on this one:
01. The Clash, London Calling
02. Laura Nyro, New York Tendaberry
03. Nirvana, Unplugged in New York
04. Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Relica
05. PJ Harvey, To Bring You My Love

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - From Her to Eternity
Slint - Spiderland
Radiohead - Kid A

If you look closely its actually a picture of a decaying head.


Seriously. That top part just left of the Ministry logo is the ear...

Oh, okay, it's sort of face down...? Wow, never saw that before...

to compel : " to drive or urge forcefully or irresistibly"

i guess that i am taking it to mean that this album forcefully or irresistibly grabs a hold of one and doesn't let go until it is done being played.

or something like that.