Here's the VH-1 Top 12 - the best albums from the last 25 years:

#1. U2 / Achtung Baby (Playing the video to: "One")

#2. Prince / Sign "☮" The Times (Playing Sign "☮" The Times)

#3. Nirvana / Never Mind (Playing "Smells Like Teen Spirit")

#4. Radiohead / OK Compter (Playing "Karma Police")

As seen on VH1 Denmark,

I only catched the Top 4.

Damn,

U2 is always smashing "the perfect picture"......

[Edited 1/24/11 21:22pm]

[Edited 1/24/11 21:23pm]

[Edited 1/24/11 21:24pm]

I look at it like this....U2 will have made around 760 million dollars on their 360 tour which ran from 2009-11(ends ths summer in Pittsburgh). Prince will have sold out a few shows at MSG. I just think of what could have been. I may tend to overestimate Prince's talent, but I see him as 10 times better than U2, The Beatles, and James Brown combined. I do think he has the business sense of the guys who made up new coke in the 1980's. U2 is my second favorite act, but other than seeing them both in the same topic...the topic really has no purpose, which is of course, why I would want to post in it.

But to suggest that VH1's dumb little list means anything...is insane. Even that 1987 Grammy was U2's reward for great Management. The Joshua Tree was not even close to SOTT, although I will admit that It's Gonna Be A Long Boring Beautiful Night kept SOTT from being damb near perfect. If it would've had Old Friends 4 Sale and Witness instead of long boring night, I would've probably died on March 31, 1987. It was that good.

Remember by 1987 Prince was really managing Margnoli, Macaroni, and Spaghetti. They were not managing him anymore. They were just hanging on getting a check.

u2 360.second best ever concert i attended...obviously u can guess whose #1

stillwaiting said:

I may tend to overestimate Prince's talent, but I see him as 10 times better than U2, The Beatles, and James Brown combined.

You 'tend' to?

Really?

I'd never have guessed.

Cant argue with that. U2 is the band!! Thats great Prince is ranked 2. Im kinda surprised he got that high. Congrats P!!

Lets be honest with ourselves for a minute. SOTT may be overrated at #2. While brilliant, SOTT did not have the cultural impact of either Joshua Tree or Nevermind. I know its trendy to say that SOTT is the "best" Prince album, it just doesnt flow as well as Purple Rain, 1999 or even Parade. (U got the look, It and Slow Love are sort of clunkers IMHO), Strange Relationship? come on. admit it. its just aaiiight.

emesem said:

Lets be honest with ourselves for a minute. SOTT may be overrated at #2. While brilliant, SOTT did not have the cultural impact of either Joshua Tree or Nevermind. I know its trendy to say that SOTT is the "best" Prince album, it just doesnt flow as well as Purple Rain, 1999 or even Parade. (U got the look, It and Slow Love are sort of clunkers IMHO), Strange Relationship? come on. admit it. its just aaiiight.

I honestly dont think having a "cultural impact" is that big a deal. Strange relationship is a fantastic song and Slow Love is one of the best rnb ballads of the 80's

SOTT deserves to be ahead of Joshua Tree IMO because of his sheer versatility. Prince did everything here ranging from minimalistic pop (Sott), rnb (Slow Love), funk (Housequake, Hot Thing), psychedilia (Starfish and Coffee), dance pop (U got the look), ballads (Adore). Who else matches that kind of versatility? No one

hhhhdmt said:

emesem said:

Lets be honest with ourselves for a minute. SOTT may be overrated at #2. While brilliant, SOTT did not have the cultural impact of either Joshua Tree or Nevermind. I know its trendy to say that SOTT is the "best" Prince album, it just doesnt flow as well as Purple Rain, 1999 or even Parade. (U got the look, It and Slow Love are sort of clunkers IMHO), Strange Relationship? come on. admit it. its just aaiiight.

I honestly dont think having a "cultural impact" is that big a deal. Strange relationship is a fantastic song and Slow Love is one of the best rnb ballads of the 80's

SOTT deserves to be ahead of Joshua Tree IMO because of his sheer versatility. Prince did everything here ranging from minimalistic pop (Sott), rnb (Slow Love), funk (Housequake, Hot Thing), psychedilia (Starfish and Coffee), dance pop (U got the look), ballads (Adore). Who else matches that kind of versatility? No one

You don't think cultural impact is a big deal, but diversity is? OK then.

TwiliteKid said:

hhhhdmt said:

I honestly dont think having a "cultural impact" is that big a deal. Strange relationship is a fantastic song and Slow Love is one of the best rnb ballads of the 80's

SOTT deserves to be ahead of Joshua Tree IMO because of his sheer versatility. Prince did everything here ranging from minimalistic pop (Sott), rnb (Slow Love), funk (Housequake, Hot Thing), psychedilia (Starfish and Coffee), dance pop (U got the look), ballads (Adore). Who else matches that kind of versatility? No one

You don't think cultural impact is a big deal, but diversity is? OK then.

Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time and had more of a cultural impact then any other 80's album but that doesnt make it the best album of the 80's. I just dont think Sott is overrated because it didnt have a big "cultural impact".

purplemookiebut said:

u2 360.second best ever concert i attended...obviously u can guess whose #1

Really?

The U2 concert in Amsterdam is ranked very low in my personal concert list.

Snow Patrol was the support act and did a much better job then U2 in the main show.

hhhhdmt said:

emesem said:

Lets be honest with ourselves for a minute. SOTT may be overrated at #2. While brilliant, SOTT did not have the cultural impact of either Joshua Tree or Nevermind. I know its trendy to say that SOTT is the "best" Prince album, it just doesnt flow as well as Purple Rain, 1999 or even Parade. (U got the look, It and Slow Love are sort of clunkers IMHO), Strange Relationship? come on. admit it. its just aaiiight.

I honestly dont think having a "cultural impact" is that big a deal. Strange relationship is a fantastic song and Slow Love is one of the best rnb ballads of the 80's

SOTT deserves to be ahead of Joshua Tree IMO because of his sheer versatility. Prince did everything here ranging from minimalistic pop (Sott), rnb (Slow Love), funk (Housequake, Hot Thing), psychedilia (Starfish and Coffee), dance pop (U got the look), ballads (Adore). Who else matches that kind of versatility? No one

I think it would be more interesting to see the comparisons between SOTT and TJT if the latter had been released in its double album form that they were toying with before release. I find these albums, as a listening experience quite similar in some ways (different in others, obviously - one dealing largely with soceity and sociology, the other with sexual psychology, for example). There is a contrasting denseness and sparseness on both of them. Very atmospheric, yet the arrangements are given a lot of space to breathe. They are both crisp in their production, but there is a lot of color as well.

Single and Double albums are, by nature, very different beasts. Double albums are oten troubled affairs. While ambitious and fully formed artistic statements, they are often contradictory, frustrating and sometimes suffer from an overabundance of ideas (and, conversely, filler). Single disc albums (pre-CD age) are distilled artistic statements that are less prone to wear out their welcome or pull themselves apart at the seems in being all things to all people, overly indulgent versions of their creator's vision. At least in the case of these two albums.

They are both fantastic. And while there are a lot of comparisons to be made in their sound, their quality, and their impact, I think it's unfair to compare them because their formats are very different beasts, striving to be two different things. Both end goals are valuable and revelatory, but neither does the other one favors as they are both near-masterpieces.

I might go and assemble a "double disc" (or full 80 minute CD) version of TJT, from all of the b-sides and extras that have turned up on the remasters, etc., and compare them back to back. Or perhaps trim SOTT down to 40-50 of its best minutes. This would be a better way to compare the two, I think.

hhhhdmt said:

TwiliteKid said:

You don't think cultural impact is a big deal, but diversity is? OK then.

Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time and had more of a cultural impact then any other 80's album but that doesnt make it the best album of the 80's. I just dont think Sott is overrated because it didnt have a big "cultural impact".

All fair points, but to suggest that diversity is somehow a more valid marker than cultural impact just strikes me as odd.

2 is good.. lol

[Edited 1/25/11 14:09pm]

hhhhdmt said:

emesem said:

Lets be honest with ourselves for a minute. SOTT may be overrated at #2. While brilliant, SOTT did not have the cultural impact of either Joshua Tree or Nevermind. I know its trendy to say that SOTT is the "best" Prince album, it just doesnt flow as well as Purple Rain, 1999 or even Parade. (U got the look, It and Slow Love are sort of clunkers IMHO), Strange Relationship? come on. admit it. its just aaiiight.

I honestly dont think having a "cultural impact" is that big a deal. Strange relationship is a fantastic song and Slow Love is one of the best rnb ballads of the 80's

SOTT deserves to be ahead of Joshua Tree IMO because of his sheer versatility. Prince did everything here ranging from minimalistic pop (Sott), rnb (Slow Love), funk (Housequake, Hot Thing), psychedilia (Starfish and Coffee), dance pop (U got the look), ballads (Adore). Who else matches that kind of versatility? No one

if it was a list based purely on musicianship, then yes you're right.

But it's VH1, so it's about cultural impact (pop culture to be more specific). There are other lesser known musicians who are technically brilliant like Prince, but he is #2 because of his cultural impact

hhhhdmt said:

TwiliteKid said:

You don't think cultural impact is a big deal, but diversity is? OK then.

Thriller is the biggest selling album of all time and had more of a cultural impact then any other 80's album but that doesnt make it the best album of the 80's. I just dont think Sott is overrated because it didnt have a big "cultural impact".

But "most versatile" doesn't automatically equal "best" any more than "biggest selling" does.

There are a lot of factors that determine what the "best" album is, and they are pretty much all subjective except for cultural impact. I am pretty sure all of the albums on that list were popular.

I might go and assemble a "double disc" (or full 80 minute CD) version of TJT, from all of the b-sides and extras that have turned up on the remasters, etc., and compare them back to back. Or perhaps trim SOTT down to 40-50 of its best minutes. This would be a better way to compare the two, I think.

When The Joshua Tree was released they had only demoed those songs. Even some of the B-Sides had not even been recorded at the time of the Album release. Wave of Sorrow, Drunk Chicken, Rise Up, and Desert of our Love are sub par tracks. Prince had 300 songs in the can that would thrash what U2 had leftover back then. Not sure how many on this site have over 1000 U2 and Prince cds combined, but I don't consider myself an authority on either, but have to figure my combined knowledge of both is pretty high.

By 1987, Prince had oversaturated the market, and only the most commercial stuff had any chance of being a hit by then.

I'm just happy he's in the top five, even top 3 for best album anything. Would've been perfect if he had #1, but I don't know anything about U2 and how other orgers are describing them, I guess they deserved teh spot. Congratulations Prince nonetheless!

Ah yes, the storied, trend setting VH-1 Denmark's top 12 of the past 25 year list. Finally, the world can exhale.

stillwaiting said:

I might go and assemble a "double disc" (or full 80 minute CD) version of TJT, from all of the b-sides and extras that have turned up on the remasters, etc., and compare them back to back. Or perhaps trim SOTT down to 40-50 of its best minutes. This would be a better way to compare the two, I think.

When The Joshua Tree was released they had only demoed those songs. Even some of the B-Sides had not even been recorded at the time of the Album release. Wave of Sorrow, Drunk Chicken, Rise Up, and Desert of our Love are sub par tracks. Prince had 300 songs in the can that would thrash what U2 had leftover back then. Not sure how many on this site have over 1000 U2 and Prince cds combined, but I don't consider myself an authority on either, but have to figure my combined knowledge of both is pretty high.

By 1987, Prince had oversaturated the market, and only the most commercial stuff had any chance of being a hit by then.

I agree about the sub-par songs included on the anniversary remaster. But the ones that actually made it to b-sides were finished by the time the album came out. Unless they devoted 2 months to finishing those 6 or 7 songs.