Seminal albums/bands

[paulo999]

Not sure I can do five off the top of my head, but here's a couple:

Prodigy / Jilted - They went from slightly cheesy-quavers to something quite defining of an era. In a single bound. To me, it still sounds fresh. Never been bettered as a dance crossover, and for that album at least, stayed very true.

Air / Moon Safari - After it's success, it was bracketed as 'Dinner Party Music'. But it still rates as the most exquisite experiment in retro-messing. You can almost see the flock wallwaper and cheese and pineapple snacks. But their "mock seventies" lounge tunes are so much better than they ever were back in the day. Pass me some more analog.

[Young Lover]

"Seminal" is one of those words that is frustratingly overused in music discussions. It doesn't mean "great", nor does it quite mean the same thing as "ground-breaking". I mean Up The Bracket was a great album in my opinion, but I'd hardly say it was seminal in that the seeds had already been sown by The Clash; by the same token, some truly singular talents (e.g. Jane's Addiction maybe?) have been ground-breaking without being seminal, because nobody significant has followed in their footsteps.

sem⋅i⋅nal

   /ˈsɛmənl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [sem-uh-nl] Show IPA

–adjective

1. pertaining to, containing, or consisting of semen.

2. Botany. of or pertaining to seed.

3. having possibilities of future development.

4. highly original and influencing the development of future events: a seminal artist; seminal ideas.

So who's capable of producing a seminal album right now? History suggests it'll either be an established band throwing caution to the wind with a leftfield release (e.g. Kid A or Sgt Pepper) or, more likely, a band we haven't heard much about who have stumbled upon a totally new sound. In the latter case, it's hard to guess right now who that might be. The artists from the last couple of years that spring to mind are The Klaxons, Arcade Fire, Dizzee Rascal, Kanye West, Four Tet, Justice, Sigur Ros, but then maybe I'm just betraying my own musical tastes. I don't think the "seminal" albums become clear until a long time after the event -- that's just the nature of the beast. I mean for a little while Bloodsugarsexmagik seemed destined to be the seminal rock album of the 90s, but in spite of its brilliance, the sound never caught on. Maybe replicating the sound was too difficult... maybe that's why Nevermind ended up being far more influential. Anyway, we're just dancing about architecture. Here's hoping for some great, ground-breaking and seminal performances at this year's festival

[Ricochet]

5 seminal albums :

Joni Mitchell :: Ladies of the Canyon

Genesis :: Nursery Cryme

Kraftwerk :: Autobahn

Joy Division :: Unknown Pleasures

Portishead :: Dummy

The band capable of producing one now (if they havent already):: Fleet Foxes

[daveinafield]

60's The Who - Tommy - narrowly beating piper at the gates of dawn and sgt pepper

70's The Clash - London calling very narrowly beating 'unknown pleasures'

80's Jesus and the Marychain - Psychocandy very narrowly beating 'if i should fall...' bythe pogues

90's Pulp - His n Hers - narrowly beating levelling the land, achtung baby and The Bends

00's Doves - The Last broadcast narrowly beating White Stripes/white blood cells

[OneLittleFish]

Pixies - Surfer Rosa

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation

Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows

Arab Strap - The Week Never Starts Around Here

A band at the moment likely to create a seminal work: Eagleowl

Edited March 28, 2009 by OneLittleFish

[Wooderson]

"Seminal" is one of those words that is frustratingly overused in music discussions. It doesn't mean "great", nor does it quite mean the same thing as "ground-breaking". I mean Up The Bracket was a great album in my opinion, but I'd hardly say it was seminal in that the seeds had already been sown by The Clash; by the same token, some truly singular talents (e.g. Jane's Addiction maybe?) have been ground-breaking without being seminal, because nobody significant has followed in their footsteps.

sem⋅i⋅nal

   /ˈsɛmənl/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [sem-uh-nl] Show IPA

–adjective

1. pertaining to, containing, or consisting of semen.

2. Botany. of or pertaining to seed.

3. having possibilities of future development.

4. highly original and influencing the development of future events: a seminal artist; seminal ideas.

So who's capable of producing a seminal album right now? History suggests it'll either be an established band throwing caution to the wind with a leftfield release (e.g. Kid A or Sgt Pepper) or, more likely, a band we haven't heard much about who have stumbled upon a totally new sound. In the latter case, it's hard to guess right now who that might be. The artists from the last couple of years that spring to mind are The Klaxons, Arcade Fire, Dizzee Rascal, Kanye West, Four Tet, Justice, Sigur Ros, but then maybe I'm just betraying my own musical tastes. I don't think the "seminal" albums become clear until a long time after the event -- that's just the nature of the beast. I mean for a little while Bloodsugarsexmagik seemed destined to be the seminal rock album of the 90s, but in spite of its brilliance, the sound never caught on. Maybe replicating the sound was too difficult... maybe that's why Nevermind ended up being far more influential. Anyway, we're just dancing about architecture. Here's hoping for some great, ground-breaking and seminal performances at this year's festival

[russycarps]

pffft did you really expect us to understand what difficult words like that mean??

[When Jokers Attack]

60's: The Psychedelic Sound Of The 13th Floor Elevators/Sgt. Pepper/Tommy

70's: Trans-Europe Express/Marquee Moon/Paranoid

80's: Psychocandy/The Stone Roses/Surfer Rosa

90's: Ok Computer/In An Aeroplane Over the Sea/Ladies And Gentleman We Are Floating In Space

00's: Is This It/Kid A/Relationship Of Command

[Wooderson]

pffft did you really expect us to understand what difficult words like that mean??

[ralph250]

...tried doing albums not mentioned yet...

50s, miles davis - kind of blue (sorry, it's 50s but needed including.)

60s, otis redding - otis blue: otis redding sings soul

70s, bob marley and the wailers - exodus

80s, michael jackson - thriller

90s, godspeed you! black emperor - F♯A♯∞

00s, daft punk - discovery

as for bands who could....I'd like to think sufjan stevens or mars volta....I toyed with the idea of both illinoise and deloused in the comatorium (tho I personally prefer frances the mute) for the 00s spot, bit early to say how influentual they may be, so went for daft punk instead. It would take some going to beat the earlier work, but both artists are experimental enough to create something with broader influence I feel....

radiohead will most likely produce another imo aswell, is "in rainbows" seminal? I think it's gonna be looked upon very fondly in the future.

think arcade fire aswell have a good chance, but again will be tough going to beat their earlier work.

Edited March 28, 2009 by ralph250

[beamends]

Pink Floyd - "Dark Side of The Moon" (if I only pick one)

Carol King - "Tapestry"

Gong - "Flying Tea Pot" (my first album - made me realise how irrelevant the pop charts were!)

Bruce Springsteen - "Nabraska" (or any album up to it), but NOT after.

Bob Dylan - "Highway 61" (if I only pick one)

Future ones? Maybe Elbow, but more likely to appear out of the blue from somewhere.

[ralph250]

Carole King - "Tapestry"

[Tugger2k]

im only going to go with albums out during my life time of music listening/buying but there are loads more

the queen is dead - the smiths

the stone roses - the stone roses

nevermind - nirvana

music for the jilted generation - prodigy

ok computer - radiohead

as for bands capable of making one, i think the arctics have a shot at it.

[reni]

Bloomin' heck ......No mention of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie!!!!

Seminal alright...Glamrock....Punk....Never bettered(in my opinion)

For those of us of a certain age,it had to be THE album of it's time!!!

[Red_Eye_Jedi]

The Damned - Damned Damned Damned

Primal Scream - Screamadelica

Stone Roses - Stone roses

Iggy Pop - Raw Power

Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic

[ralph250]

Bloomin' heck ......No mention of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie!!!!

[beamends]

Bloomin' heck ......No mention of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie!!!!

Seminal alright...Glamrock....Punk....Never bettered(in my opinion)

For those of us of a certain age,it had to be THE album of it's time!!!

[LupineHowl]

1) Neil Young - Harvest

2) The Clash - London Calling

3) Led Zepellin - IV

4) Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are you experienced?

5) Bob Marley - Exodus

Current band who could produce a seminal album - Arcade Fire. Funeral is already pretty close for me.

[reni]

Well spotted Ralph

[ralph250]

Well spotted Ralph

[sonic_sam]

Just because a few people have said they don't think there's many new bands capable of producing a seminal album, I've just picked some incredible albums from the last few years that will get remembered as seminal in time, but are perhaps a bit unnoticed at the moment, especially in the UK.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion

Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow

Black Dice - Load Blown

Deerhunter - Cryptograms

Flying Lotus - Los Angeles

As for my actual 5

Boredoms - Vision Creation Newsun

Charles Mingues - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin

The Velvet Underground - White Light / White Heat

The Fall - Hex Enduction Hr.

[ralph250]

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Edited March 29, 2009 by ralph250

[ralph250]

had a think of a few more definites;

Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers

Joni Mitchell - Blue

Aretha - I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters

Nick Drake - Five Leaves Left (as the first, tho bryter layter and pink moon could be regarded in such acclaim).

Edited March 29, 2009 by ralph250

[JungleJuice03]

Oldies...

The Beatles - Revolver

Pink Floyd - Dark side of the moon

Led Zeppelin - |||

Nick Drake - Bryter layter

The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

More Recent....

The Stone Roses - Second Coming

Beck - Odeley

The Cure - Galore

Pear Jam - Ten

The Prodigy - Experience

[b26354]

I won't repeat many of the above that I'd agree with wholeheartedly. But just to chuck in a few more that opened my ears to US West Coast music: Jefferson Airplane, The Doors and Love. Anyone remember Arthur Lee and Love's great set at Glasto a couple of years ago?