I can’t stand greatest hits albums.

So I was reading a delicious new book last night, and this particular chapter dealt with the phenomenon of cover bands. It got me thinkin. Sure it’s a sad day when people will pay $12 to see a G’N’R cover band rehash Appetite for Destruction songs but not pay $5 to see somone play original music. But what about greatest hits/best of albums? Is this not another symptom of the same disease?

Why do people buy best of albums? Because they haven’t bothered to listen to an artist’s entire catalogue. I’d be hard pressed to believe that die-hard fans devour greatest hits collections at the same rate as one-album fans. Seriously. Why would someone who owns the entire Elton John collection buy a best of album? To hear all the chart toppers on one disc I suppose. But usually the type of people that own an entire artist’s catalogue isn’t there for the chart toppers.

So it leaves me to wonder what type of people are voraciously buying these albums. Is is the lazy listener who doesn’t want a multitude of cds? Is it the radio-friendly fan who only wants the hits and nothing else? Is it the poor person who can’t afford an entire collection but still fancies the artist’s work? If it’s the last category, I cannot complain. Money can be an issue for someone with a really extensive catalogue. But really I think it’s the first two types. People will buy a “best of” the doors album or greatest hits of depeche mode purely because they think all the best songs are on there and they can buy it in one instance. To me, this is like people that don’t know what painter to like, so they cling to Klimt’s “The Kiss” or some of the lilies that Monet did. They think that their work is too extensive to study, so why not just enjoy the more famous ones. After all, the reason they’re the most famous (chart-toppers) is because they’re the best, right? No.

The problem I have with best of albums and deckthewalls artwork is that you miss the gems. Singles, at least musically, are selected because they’re possible hits, appealing to the largest number of people possible. However, at least personally I find these to be the most shallow and radio-friendly on albums. The truest jewels lie buried in the rest of the albums. REM’s “Leave” is hidden in the middle of the disc. Surely it would never make a best-of album but it’s one of the most beautiful and haunting songs they’ve ever written.

This trend also applies to the new age of downloading. Typically teens are now just downloading singles, as opposed to entire albums…which is slowly reforming the way people record albums. If we move to a system where you pay for music downloads on a per-track basis, artists will soon learn to make singles, not albums. And thus sparkling treasures like “Leave” might never make it out, since perhaps it wouldn’t stand as a single.

It saddens me. I admit to owning, er, “owning” one or two best of albums. They’re springboards for me, a place to branch out from in a catalogue. I just pray I don’t get to a point musically where I exclusively buy these collections.

It’s like just eating the cream out of an Oreo. It’s just not the same without the other stuff that makes it whole.