Monday, October 31, 2005

Greatness Revealed

A friend of mine likes to buy GREATEST HITS CDs because it saves you the time and space that multiple CDs take up. I agree with him on many levels. Elton John's Greatest Hits CD that came out a few years ago is a great example of the GREATEST HITS CD. It has all of the familiar Elton songs in a terrific two disc set. The theory of the GREATEST HITS CD is that some people only like the songs that are on the radio and do not want all the B-Side types. The Beatles would be a hard one for me to buy anything other than the GREATEST HITS CDs. I like The Beatles, but I am not a diehard fan like some. It would cost a lot for me to try to collect all of The Beatles CDs.

Even though I love GREATEST HITS complilations, I also like to have all the CDs of certain artists...Sarah McLaughlin, Shawn Colvin, Indigo Girls, Fleetwood Mac, Van Morrison. I like almost every song they sing/write.

So, yesterday, I was preparing the new releases for Tuesday. I love this part of my job. I like to see the new CDs and movies that are coming out. It reminds me of artists that I need in my music collection. Yet, I was disturbed to my musical core yesterday when I pulled out the copies of NSYNC GREATEST HITS.

"What? Didn't they have something like three songs?" I mutter to myself in the back room where there is only myself to answer this rhetorical question.

Seriously, I think there should be a rule. One rule should be that the band/artist has to have at least twelve songs on the GREATEST HITS CD and every single one has to have been GREAT! Yes, GREAT is subjective, but you can use radio play, chart location, or singles sold as an indicator. You can't just throw on a random song from one of the three albums that NSYNC put out and claim it as GREAT just to fill an album.

In the same box, I pulled out Blink 182 GREATEST HITS.

"What? Didn't they have something like three songs?" I mutter to myself in the back room where there is only myself to answer this rhetorical question.

I get that I am not a bigwig at some music house, but give the public a little credit and who are these people that believe there is a HUGE market for a NSYNC GREATEST HITS CD. They should get fired. I understand a Bob Dylan, a Dolly Parton, and EVEN a Journey GREATEST HITS CD, but a Richard Marx, really???? Please.

5 comments:

rose said...

I totally agree with you! Hilary Duff released a Greatest Hits cd this fall...officially lame. In addition to your rules, I would add that the artist needs to be over the age of 17.

shelly said...

when the world produces a Paris Hilton Greatest Hits CD, who is in for a mass suicide in protest? i love your blog so much sara! and for the record you remain the sole audience member for mine. except that your mom apparently reads it now? i am not quite sure she will want to continue that. it seems weird to me. whatever happens DON'T TELL MY FAMILY!

MandyGirl said...

haha! That's great. Your point, not the Greatest Hits of NSYNC. :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with you on this one Sara! Some groups simply do not deserve a greatest hits CD. Also, I prefer to have many cds by the artists I like because lots of times I like the unreleased songs best. Call me crazy! Jen

Troy said...

Sara, seriously, you call yourself a self-respecting Borders employee? What-ev! Don't you know that 'NSync had, like, eleven top ten hits! Duh! Get your facts straight.

For the record, I am quite similar to you in that I have the greatest hits of some artists who I kind of like (guilty pleasure, Sheryl Crow) and some artists whose catalogs are simply too expansive for me to even begin collecting (Stevie Wonder). For some artists, though, a complete collection is necessary! For the record, neither an 'NSync greatest hits CD nor any other 'NSync product (unless you count Justin Timberlake's solo CD, which is pretty damn good) is in my collection.