Greatest Greatest Hits Album of All Time

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Compilations often get a bad reputation, especially in the world of rock music. However, I think occasionally, they can encapsulate what makes a band (or at least, certain eras of a band) so good or can help a mediocre band sound much better than they actually were. And they're probably the wiser choice for party playlists than whole ass albums.

My pick would probably be in category of "helping make a fair to middling band seem great". Bad Company's 10 From 6. If you're just judging on this compilation, you'd think they were one of the best rock bands of the '70s. Nope! Their album tracks are mostly boring and forgettable but 10 From 6 absolutely rules ass and includes pretty much every song from the band that you need.

 

[Valeyard]

There is literally no unbiased way to answer this.

 

[Big Papa Paegan]

There is literally no unbiased way to answer this.

Except for Motörhead. Because each of their "greatest hits" comps is in the running. Especially if they contain "Orgasmatron" and "Sacrifice."

 

[HarleyQuinn]

These probably aren't in the real running for greatest of all-time but they are worthy nominations IMO. Went for artists that have some good albums but their "Greatest Hits" helps kind of pare it down to the true highlights while giving the listener a taste of that band's style.

The Cure - Greatest Hits (18 Tracks)
Best of Chicago: 40th Anniversary (30 Tracks)
Greatest Hits by Pat Benatar (20 Tracks)
The Best of Kansas (12 Tracks)

 

[Valeyard]

Live albums, bootlegs, alternate compilations or mixes, demos, etc. make the concept impossible. What counts and what doesn't? I don't understand what line there is because it doesn't make sense to just say "best of" or "greatest hits" by themselves.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

The Alive records from Kiss are kinda like greatest hits, that's my pick

 

[BUTT]

The 2-disc Queen’s Greatest Hits album that I bought with my own money when I was 12 and then my brother’s friend borrowed it three months later and never gave it back. It was like 27 bucks!

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Live albums are their own category. I’m talking studio compilations. Generally, compilations of singles but sometimes album cuts are HAM jams that find their way on.


Classic Queen and Queen’s Greatest Hits (assuming what @BUTT got) are probably first albums I consciously listened to besides kids music, Beatles (incidentally probably the red and blue albums) and Thriller. That is an excellent choice.


Incidentally, KISS studio compilations are just fine. You they would have come up with one universally liked comp but there is always something slightly off with them. Double Platinum having the stupid disco remixes. Smashes, Thrashes & Hits (which I still have a lot of fondness for since it was 2nd KISS album I bought ) has re-recordings with Eric Carr and Bruce Kulick replacing Peter & Ace.

 

[Mickey Massuco]

Killers is the best comp for that. Nowhere to run and I’m a legend tonight are great unreleased tracks they added.

 

[BUTT]

Classic Queen and Queen’s Greatest Hits (assuming what @BUTT got)

Actually no. I got Classic Queen on cassette for Christmas when I was 7 (and I was still listening to it until 2007 when I got a car with a CD player) but the two albums you mentioned were different from the official Greatest Hits I and II. When Freddie died, both of Queen's hits compilations started selling huge in the UK. But in the US, neither was available on CD but Hollywood Records knew that if they released them both most fans would only buy the first since Greatest Hits II covered the period from Hot Space to Innuendo, during which they kinda fell off in the American market. So instead they reconfigured the albums, with Classic Queen consisting of Greatest Hits II tracks along with a few older songs (notably Bohemian Rhapsody and Under Pressure). Then a few months later they released a new Queen's Greatest Hits with most of the songs from the original version (minus Bohemian Rhapsody). At some point they released the original UK configuration of Greatest Hits I & II as a two-CD set in the US and that's what I had for three months. The same brother's friend also borrowed my WWF High Flyers tape and never gave it back. And we traded our SNES for his Genesis for a while but when we got the SNES back I found that he had loaned my Super The Empire Strikes Back game to another one of my brother's friends. Who took it with him when he moved to California. Then he got on drugs for a while. He's better now, but my brother thinks he's a loser and they don't talk anymore.

 

[Gary]

The Joy Division and New Order "Substance" albums. Contains both the singles (well, a good portion of them in the NO one) and some solid B-Sides.