The Most Self-Indulgent Albums EVER!
Posted Mon Nov 24, 2008 11:54am PST by Shawn Amos in GetBack
We are in the midst of two album landmarks: the 40th anniversary of the self-titled Beatles double LP known as The White Album and the release of Guns N' Roses' 17-years-in-the-making Chinese Democracy. When someone suggested that perhaps the two-disc White Album was a bit self-indulgent and would have been tighter as a single disc, Paul McCartney famously replied, "It’s the bloody Beatles White Album. Shut up." 'Nuff said.

Chinese Democracy, however, is another story. Even though it's only one disc, it's about as self-indulgent as you can get: millions of dollars spent, hundreds of musicians used, and arrangements so dense that only Axl can understand them.

Self-indulgence is a rock rite of passage for many musicians. Every generation has a bunch of artists who decide to make an album (or two or three) that's nearly indecipherable to anyone except the band and their followers. These records have one or more of the following hallmarks:


1. Lyrics with lots of medieval words, such as tempest, screed, manor, shire, cloister, parchment, and pilgrimage.


2. Songs that run more than ten minutes on at least half the album.


3. Covers that look like a Harry Potter book or a Dungeons and Dragons game.


4. Packaging that includes two or three discs.


5. Tracks that feature at least one keyboard solo.


Beyond these characteristics, there's just the vibe of a self-indulgent album. It reeks of self-importance and humorlessness. There's no sense of irony, humility, or humanity. Ultimately lifeless, these projects feel more like musical dissertations than real rock ’n’ roll. The White Album is full of playfulness, humor, heart, and soul. The ones listed below? Not so much.


Here are the five most self-indulgent albums in recent memory. I'm refraining from hitting the easy targets, like ELP's Tarkus, Yes' Tales From Topographic Oceans, and the Moody Blues' Days of Future Passed. In fact, I'm avoiding all of the late-'60s/early '70s rock album output. Been there, done that.

The rest of the story: http://new.music.yahoo.co...lbums-ever


Does anyone agree with the critics' point because I sure don't. I think that the world's greatest artists/bands who have made their best work with ambitious and outlandish material.

It seems that he implying that all "self-indulgent" albums are a piece of crap. There are a lot of albums that could be considered "self-indulgent" that are actually quite good, like Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Pink Floyd's The Wall, or Paul Simon's Graceland. By that token, Green Day's American Idiot is a self-indulgent album that kicks ass. Heck, all of Kanye West's albums can be considered self-indulgent, as he believes that they are all masterpieces.