i have chosen an album from the AM top 1000. you have to guess it. here's a clue:
The album was originally going to be called "snowblind".
starting with an easy one (i think). the first to guess it correctly gets to pick a new album
I guess it's Black Sabbath 4
wow. i knew it was easy, but i thought that it would take longer than 10 minutes haha. nice work. please choose a more difficult one for the rest of us.
ok I have another one easy one)
the clue is about the cover
Posing is a former egerie of Salvador Dali, someone whose original gender (male or female) is still a mystery
For Your Pleasure, Roxy Music?
Roxy Music, For Your Pleasure. (I'm not totally certain what an "egerie" is, but I have a feeling Amanda Lear is who you had in mind, yes?)
I have a few.
Eight Arms to Hold You
Abracadabra
Everest
Here's another semi-easy one from the AM 1000.
This album was recorded in one day on one microphone in a church in Toronto.
Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Session. Gimme one that's not just down the street!
hahaha. i was thinking of using the same clue for the same album, john.
here's a slightly harder one:
the album credits a guitarist had no input on the album, and the frontman's name is spelled incorrectly.
Beckham, all three of your clues are the original titles for beatles albums
eight arms to hold you - help
abracadabra - revolver
everest - abbey road
Your correct Moeboid.
I skipped past your post Beckham thinking that you were just listing albums and asking to name the artists. Turns out I was the one missing the point. Good one!
Schleuse,
yes, I was referring to Amanda Lear.
and sorry about the word égérie.
It's a French word, it was the name of the nymph who was Numa Pompilius'(the 2nd legendary King of Rome) advisor.
So it means "inspiration" and "favorite".
Dali was the first one to claim that Lear was a man, though she denies it (she says that it was David Bowie's idea when he launched her career to present her as a transsexual)
Anyways, roxy Music's art cover is gorgeous
nicolas, you never need to apologize for teaching something new!
Try this one: this albums's title mocks Sammy Hagar's best-known song.
Couldn't resist one more: one title suggested for this album was Cat Butt.
scheulse,
Double Nickels on the Dime by the Minutemen parodies the Sammy Hagar song.
Have you been reading the book Our Band Could Be Your Life, by chance? That's how I knew that clue.
here's a slightly harder one:
the album credits a guitarist had no input on the album, and the frontman's name is spelled incorrectly.
Moeboid, could it be Layla & Other Assorted Lovesongs from Derek And The Dominos? During the recording, Eric (= Derek) was in love with Patti Boyd, the wife of his best friend ... George Harrison (who happened to be able to play the guitar as well).
Spot on, Jonah.
The Sammy Hagar song is, of course, the execrable "I Can't Drive 55." Double Nickels on the Dime refers to driving 55 miles an hour on Interstate 10 in Los Angeles--which is what Mike Watt is doing on the cover. It's a poke at the idea that speeding is some kind of rebellious act.
And, yeah, that tidbit does come from Our Band Could Be Your Life...one of my favorite books on rock (along with Chronicles--this seems to be my day to plug music books).
Despite the innocence of the image many accused this band of pedophilia after seeing the cover of their debut.
Throbbing Gristle?
Hey!!, about the Derek and the Dominos album, is true that George Harrison play in it??, i cant find credits of him on any link, only on allmusic.com
Moeboid??
DrDre??
by far one of my favorite records 
jonmarck, I'm guessing U2's Boy?
yeah that's it. I gotta think of something tougher.
This is a distorted album picture. Which one?
I thought jonmarck was talking about BLIND FAITH (original cover). The cover of BOY is just a distorted image of the band members - I think you guys are confusing it with WAR, and if anyone at the time thought that close-up of a Troubles-haunted boy's face remotely resembles a pedophilic image, that would say much more about them than about the photo ...
Henrik, is that image from Eno's AMBIENT 1?
Harold the original cover of Boy was replaced with the distorted band member graphic because many fans found it too creepy.
Here's the original cover: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/U2_boy.jpg
I had it wrong though. Apparently it was changed because Warners was afraid of pedophilia claims. No one actually accused the group of anything.
Henrik, is that image from Eno's AMBIENT 1?
Good guess, but no, the original album image I am looking for is not similar in colours.
For the distorted album cover my guess is My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.
jonmarck, thanks for the info about BOY - I never knew that. That's obviously not a "questionable" image any more than the cover of WAR is, but in this case I can see the concerns a little more clearly.
Though this album features guest artists Beth Orton and Johnny Marr they are on a list of over three dozen contributors. Prince isn't on that list but some suggest his presence is felt on the last track.
Just the last track, jonmarck? Most people would probably say Prince is all over ... Beck's MIDNITE VULTURES. "Step into my Hun-day!"
garrrr...I gotta get harder!!
sorry, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" was not the album i had in mind. oh, and sorry about the mistake in the clue. hope you all figured what it was suppose to say anyway. here's it with the correction:
the album credits a guitarist who had no input on the album, and the frontman's name is spelled incorrectly.
since no one has guessed it yet, here's another clue:
it was a debut album released in the 80's
For the distorted album cover my guess is My Bloody Valentine's Loveless.
Correct, Jonah!
Moeboid: Of course! It's BLEACH. Don't know why it took so long to remember the credit for "Kurdt" Cobain.
OK, here's my first crack at a clue:
This album contains a remake of a song from another top 1000 album released just two years prior, featuring one of the same people. (It's not a live album, in case you were wondering.)
(It's possible that this is easier to guess than I think it is, but it's a first try.)
Nobody's gotten the "Cat Butt" one, either. OK, here are two more clues:
1. Two of the songs on this album feature a guest singer from a band with an album in the top 1000.
2. One of those two songs was later performed, with modified lyrics--by the original act--on the TV show "Sesame Street."
well done harold! i believe he also spells his last name incorrectly, starting with a K rather than a C. the guitarist who had no input on the album was, jason everman.
I didn't see that one Schleuse. That's Out of Time: REM
Harold- I was sure that was Jeff Beck's Truth and and the Yarbirds's Having a Rave Up both featuring Shapes of Things, but I was wrong since they came out three years apart and Rave Up isn't in the AM top 1000. I'll have to think about it a little more.
I was going to say either "Electric Ladyland" or "I Never Loved a Man...", but I don't think either of those are right.
I'm not good at guessing myself, but here's another album image.
Right you are, John.
For 4 points...
Sgt Pepper's, through a kaleidoscope!
Yes indeed, that was quick!
Stephen Stills sure is a jackass. After provoking this artist to racist remarks during a drunken bar argument he ran to the press with the comments, severely crippling the artist's career. The artist responded by using this album to show his appreciation for "race" music.
Is it Elvis Costello - Get Happy!!
You guys are too good!
Here's another (probably another easy one):
Thanks to his self-titled debut this Canadian songwriter counts music greats such as Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello as fans.
I don't know if this is right but I'll guess Rufus Wainwright.
Ron Sexsmith
Yeah thats it...totally forgot about him. You should have mentioned Squeeze then I would have got it.
Here's one:
Initial pressings of this album featured the back of a band members' head as the picture on the disc itself, as a "f**k you" to the record executives who would be hanging the album's platinum award certifications on their walls. He wanted it to symbolize always having his back turned to them.
For jonmarck's clue I was thinking Ron Sexsmith too, until I remembered that Sexsmith doesn't have any albums in the AM top 1000 and that's kind of supposed to be the criterion for inclusion in this game.
No one's guessed my album yet, so I'll offer another clue. You'll recall that the first one was that it contains a remake of a song from another top 1000 album released only two years earlier, and that the two versions share a participant. Clue #2: Two of the other members of the band that made this album were previously members of another group that -also- has a top 1000 album to its credit.
I'm thinking CSNY Deja Vu.
Given CSNY's history, that's a good guess, jonmarck. Right decade, wrong country.
Here's another clue: the lead singer later went on to form another "supergroup" (one that didn't make any acclaimed albums) with the lead guitarist of one of the biggest bands of all time.
Blind Faith-ST?
Re: John's Blind Faith guess:
Right country. Right number of words in the band's name. Right first letter of the first word. But still not the right band.
One more clue, hopefully not too confusing. The album that contains the -original- version of the song from my initial clue was produced by one of the most acclaimed artists of all time (someone who was not a member of -any- of these bands).
Got it.
That was a really good clue, and it got me thinking all week long. But what got my brain (and my Google searching) running was the "supergroup with the guitarist" clue. I knew Jimmy Page did a song called Radioactive in a supergroup of some kind. After some searching I was reminded that supergroup was The Firm, who do not have any acclaimed albums. The lead singer is Paul Rodgers who was in Bad Company, whose self-titled debut in 1974 contains Ready for Love, which was a remake of part of a song (Ready for Love / After the Lights), which was on the 1972 album All the Young Dudes by Mott the Hople (which was produced by David Bowie). Mick Ralphs was in both Mott and Bad Company.
I hope I got that all right, or else I'm going to sound like a know-it-all.
That was an awesome clue, because I almost got fooled and thought that there would be a Free / Bad Comapny connection through Paul Rodgers.
Funny that the one-hit wonder of the LEAST acclaimed 80s supergroup was the key to get this worked out. Other than Rodgers I really don't know anything about the other band members involved and don't have any of their albums.
I've got 3 right so far... I need to try to come up with a clue of some kind.
I'll give my own clue a shot.
This highly acclaimed album contains a song whose subject appeared in the photo on the cover of another highly acclaimed album released over 35 years later.
Hopefully this doesn't apply to more than one album pair, but I guess it could.
Congratulations, Jonah! BAD COMPANY is correct (as is all the other information you deciphered from the clues). The only piece of the puzzle you didn't complete is that Paul Rodgers and BC drummer Simon Kirke were both in Free, whose top 1000 album is FIRE AND WATER. Great job!
Wow, that was a great question. I was actually looking at the Bad Company album tonight for a minute trying to put a connection together and skipped passed it. Good work Jonah.
that's a good one, Jonah
Hmmm - obvious candidate for the "35 years later" album could be a Smiths release, but that would probably be too easy (and the one to guess would be *really* early ...)
very well done Harold, i was convinced that it had to be something to do with the blues guitarists associated with the yardbirds. that's probably the best question in this little game so far.
Jonah, I think the album is Velvet Underground- ST which has a song called Candy Says about Candy Darling who is on the cover (on her deathbed) of Antony and the Johnsons- I Am a Bird Now.
You got it John!
Good question. I'll take the wheel with one I think might be a little too easy but I'm not sure.
This AM 1000 entry was named after a book by a 19th century philosopher.
Either/Or (unless there's another album named after a 19th century book on philosophy).
Either/Or, by Elliott Smith. Named for the book of the same title by Soren "Mr. Fun" Kierkegaard.
Dagnabbit, that's twice I've been runner-up by a few minutes!
(You can have it, jonmarck--I'm allergic to philosophy.)
I cheated by looking up 19th century philosophy. I've never heard an Elliot Smith song in my life (not knowing it was him, anyways).
Here's one: This was the first contemporary music release by this novelty/jingle label. They initially hated it for not being Depeche Mode enough.
Is it in the AM 1000? I'm having a tough time with that one even though I swear I've heard this piece of trivia before.
Not sure if my clue was lost in the mix, or just generally ignored. But here it is again for your consideration:
Hint #1: Initial pressings of this album featured the back of a band members' head as the picture on the disc itself, as a "f**k you" to the record executives who would be hanging the album's platinum award certifications on their walls.
Hint #2: The album has five songs in the AM top 3000.
Yeah I gave up on that one. Maybe that hint will help somebody else out, but not me.
Alright, I'll take a stab at it Anthony but I'm taking an educated guess without ever finding info about the original clue. I think the second clue narrowed it down to four albums. The only one that makes sense to me in respect to the first clue is Oasis- Whats the Story Morning Glory. I'll leave the other three unnamed in case I'm wrong.
Yes that must be right John,that album has Some Might Say,Wonderwall,Roll With It,Don't Look Back in Anger and Champagne Supernova in the AM3000
Just a piece of trivia - I wonder which album has the most songs off it in the AM3000
Well it looks like Revolver and Velvet Underground + Nico have 6 each. I guess they must have the record(although my reissued copy of Are You Experienced on cd has 7)
Well, I'll name the other 3 and my rational since nobody else seems to know the answer either:
Since you said picture on disc it has to be in the CD era so that narrows the list down to REM: Out of Time, Stone Roses: Stone Rose, and The Strokes: Is This It along with Oasis. It might be REM and after a lot of searching I couldn't find that piece of trivia connected to any of the albums. The initial albums I looked at when trying to figure this out before hint #2 were Nirvana:Nevermind, Metallica:Metallica, Radiohead:OK Computer and Oasis.
The answer is (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Seems like something Oasis would do, huh? Not only antagonistic, but arrogant enough to "know" that their second LP would go multi-platinum. The picture on the disc was the back of Noel's head and the initial pressing was only in the UK I believe, although it might've been in the US as well.
Yeah that one crossed my mind. I didn't follow up on it though.
The album that I hinted at is in the AM 1000. Here's a follow-up clue: due to the bad relationship resulting from this release the artist/band never recorded for that label again.
jonmarck, I think your album is PRETTY HATE MACHINE by Nine Inch Nails, which was initially released by the TVT label (best known for its "TV's Greatest Hits" volumes). Yes, I suppose the album wasn't quite what they were expecting - although, compared to THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL, the debut -is- Depeche Mode.
You got it. They originally signed Trent Reznor because they were hoping to exploit the electro-teen scene. They never imagined that he would give a label otherwise known for TV jingles a piece as provocative and nihilistic as Pretty Hate Machine. I can see why they got upset but they really should have known better.
At least this one took longer than 10 mins for you guys to get.
The last 4-5 questions have been really great. Except mine. That one was too easy. Anthony's wasn't even googleable! Keep them coming, this is really fun and a good time waster.
I'll try another one:
Hint #1: This album (within let's say, the AM top 500) contains 12 songs. Seven written by one band member, and five written by another.
Though this artist/group was involved in the recording of more albums than any other top 200 artist/group (not counting reissues, compilations, etc.), only about 10% of these albums are acclaimed. Which of these has received the highest acclaim?
(This might be really obvious to people who know the list)
I'm guessing the artist is Phil Spector; the album is Plastic Ono Band.
Zombies- Odessey & Oracle
Nice John.... nice.
And that's even before I was going to give the hint of a Faulkner reference.
Man, when you think about the Zombies you think Argent/Blunstone, but Chris White was just as much of a force. My two favorite songs on that album are This Will Be Our Year and Beechwood Park. I'll forgive him for Friends of Mine. That song's hard to listen to.
The album cover of this AM 1000 entry is the only painting the artist ever made.
Bob Dylan - Self Portrait
Phil Spector is not the correct answer to my question. He was a singles producer, he didn't record nearly as many albums.
That could be a correct answer Jonmarck although I think I've seen other Dylan paintings. Not sure about that though. I was going to put- This is one of the most famous album covers ever and also happens to be the only painting the artist ever did. That would have been better, but now I think it's too easy.
I made a mistake in my clue. I miscounted the number of acclaimed albums that the artist/group had a hand in because there was a group I hadn't previously considered. The number is actually 22.5%. To make up for it I'll give you two completely useless additional hints:
1) it isn't the Sex Pistols
2) he/she/they had their fun with heroin
Narrow it down? Didn't think so.
Here's a more useful clue: He/she/they would fit well into a group including Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, Bob Dylan, U2, Kanye West, Sufjan Stevens, Al Green and Alice Cooper, for a reason unrelated to music.
How about King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King?
jonmarck
My answer is : Layla and other assorted love songs
John: I'd take the Argent songs, simply for "Hung Up On a Dream". Although, White's songs are quite good too.
jonmarck: Interesting question, I think Brian Eno? With his most acclaimed album being Another Green World.
Hm, nevermind, I misunderstood the question I think. Most acclaimed would be Joshua Tree for him I guess.. but it's not him. I thought you asked for an artist that was involved in more albums than the rest but didn't have that much personal success.
Mmm.. I'll go think some more.
Neoptolemos, I think Nicolas may have already answered jonmarck's question: that the artist is Eric Clapton and the album is LAYLA. The clues all fit: Clapton was a heroin addict and is now, like the other artists in that list jonmarck provided (yes, even Alice Cooper), a Christian.
Oh, didn't think he had quite as much influence, but I didn't bother to look it up. Alrighty then.