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This week’s discussion prompt: “First Album Bias”
“First Album Bias” is the theory (well, my theory) that more often than not, the first album we hear by an artist ends up being our personal favorite by said artist. There are several reasons why this may be the case. First of all, when checking out an established artist for the first time, it’s not uncommon to start with what is considered their “best” album (or the one most often hailed as a classic), which may result in all other albums by said artist being compared (fairly or not) to what may widely be considered the artist’s masterpiece – for example, I’d be surprised if anyone who discovered Love or My Bloody Valentine in this century didn’t start out with Forever Changes or Loveless. And as we have discussed here before, there are no shortage of artists who arguably never topped their debut, so if we jumped on the train right at the beginning, then the albums that came after may have seemed vaguely disappointing or overly familiar in comparison.
But in my experience, I also find that many of my personal favorites are the album that served as my introduction to a group, regardless of whether or not it’s universally considered their “best” album. It might be that hearing something by a “new-to-me” artist for the first time makes a huge impact that fails to feel quite as monumental upon hearing other releases by the same artist, even if they are the “better” or “more important” ones.
But then, it also might just be nostalgia.
My introduction to Sonic Youth was their 1992 album Dirty. Their second album for DGC (Geffen), it was produced by Butch Vig and mixed by Andy Wallace (the same duo who had worked on Nevermind the previous year) and has been described by the band as their most conscious effort to make a “mainstream” record1. While the album was plenty noisy and uncompromising at certain points, some long-time fans were apparently disappointed by how relatively “radio friendly” the album was compared to their pre-major label work. But for me, hearing this album as a 15-year-old2 was a mind-blowing experience, and much as I love the vast majority of their albums, if I could only listen to one Sonic Youth album for the rest of my life, I would choose Dirty without hesitation.
So, is “first album bias” a thing? Or is it just me? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences down below!
As always, any and all music-related posts are welcome. Have fun, and rock out with yr guac out!